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This Department is conducted in the interest of Girls and Young Women, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject so far as possible. Correspondents should address Editor.
In one of our most intimate and confidential talks a dear girl asked me to tell her what I think the most desirable gift for a woman. She spoke of several friends—one of them as having grace of movement; another, as rarely beautiful, with brilliant eyes and lovely complexion; a third, as accomplished, playing and singing, and speaking two or three languages besides her own; and a fourth, as very clever. We may multiply the list, and as we look over our circle of friends we easily see that nearly every one has something bright and individual which commends her to us; but the sum of the matter is that the gift of all gifts for a girl is expressed in one little word of five letters—charm.
If you insist on my defining charm, I am afraid I will disappoint you, for it is as difficult of analysis as a perfume. The better way, if I could manage it, would be to show you somebody who has it, as I would show you a painting on the wall, or a flower in the garden. Very plain girls and women are sometimes endowed with this grace. I remember one who was not pretty at all—a little dumpy brown thing, who had not the art of dressing very well, and who slipped in and out of a room as softly and shyly as a mouse, bless her heart! But this sweet Elizabeth was popular beyond all the girls of her class; she was constantly in demand, and nothing could be done without her. It was, "Where is Elizabeth?" "What does Elizabeth say?" "Will Elizabeth be of the party? if so, everything will go delightfully." Once Elizabeth was ill, and a hush seemed to fall on the little town, while people, old and young, were anxious to know how she was, and her house was a perfect bower with the flowers that were left for her daily. When she went away for a visit everybody was interested, and when she returned the town had a gala-day. There were any number of prettier girls, any number of cleverer girls, in her set, but none who compared with our little brown Elizabeth. She had charm.
In her case charm had several elements. Her voice was low yet clear. She never made an effect of insisting, as girls with shrill voices do; her tones were soft and distinct. She was gentle, but she was not overlooked in consequence. She always knew where to find things. At home her father and brothers appealed to her for the boots and papers which were out of sight, but which it was important to have on the instant. Elizabeth could explain away little vexations. She remembered people's names and faces—a very great talent, and one worth everybody's cultivating. Elizabeth was considerate and full of tact. I never saw her do a rude thing, or heard her say anything unkind.
Then, too, Elizabeth knew what was going on. She read the papers, and could talk intelligently about current events—another admirable plan for all girls to follow.
I know another girl, Melissa, who has all Elizabeth's charm, and superadded has great beauty. She carries herself gracefully, this tall, elegant young woman; her hair, her eyes, her face, her figure, express distinction. But when I asked a friend, the other day, what constituted Melissa's greatest claim to admiration, he said: "Well, it isn't that she's so pretty; it isn't that she's so dainty. I hardly know what it is. She has style; she has loveliness; I think, most of all, she has what you women call charm."
A few years ago, in London, an elderly lady—several years past eighty she was—passed away. A man who had known her for many years said, "The most charming woman of our time has gone." Once this gentleman was a guest at a country-house where the old lady was expected. Everybody was anticipating her coming; everybody wanted to meet her. When she arrived, she came into the drawing-room in black velvet and a lace cap, with a fan in her hand and a flower in her dress, and at once she held a little court. In her girlhood this woman had delighted Washington Irving. In her old age she had poets, artists, scholars, and statesmen in her drawing-room. She had charm.
In a little New England village a lady was living all by herself, and every morning I saw a pilgrimage of young people going up through her small garden to her door. "What is the secret of Miss Emily's having so much company," I inquired. "So many of the boys and girls and the young people here have errands to see her, and she isn't young, or in public life, or—anything, that I can see." The principal of the high-school answered my question. "Emily Lawrence, madam, is the most charming woman in Connecticut."
Margaret E. Sangster.
This Department is conducted in the interest of Bicyclers, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject. Our maps and tours contain many valuable data kindly supplied from the official maps and road-books of the League of American Wheelmen. Recognizing the value of the work being done by the L.A.W., the Editor will be pleased to furnish subscribers with membership blanks and information so far as possible.
The Department this week, owing to the number of questions on bicycling matters, will be entirely devoted to answers. Many of the questions received each week cannot be answered satisfactorily, since they are inquiries as to the roads from one place which the writer mentions to another city or town. Readers of this Department can readily understand that this would entail a large number of special maps or descriptions not likely to interest any one but the writer. Our idea in publishing maps is to give general routes which any one may use from beginning to end, or in parts, to serve his purpose, and often it is wiser to go a roundabout way from one point to another, thereby getting on to some good route, than to try the short route and perhaps walk half the way. Bicycling routes having the least number of miles are not always the shortest. Many a fifty-mile road is really shorter than one of thirty miles, since a bad mile, a sandy half-mile, a two-mile stretch of cobblestones are any and all worse than four miles of good road.
J. T. H. asks if we can tell him the best bicycle to buy and how to buy one. Possibly we may have an exhaustive article on this subject some day in the future, though it will be impossible to tell which is the best wheel. Most of the well-known makes are good bicycles, and one is pretty safe with any of them. Unquestionably, in a year or two, bicycles—new ones at that—will be sold at much less than $100, for as they cost but a small portion of that amount to manufacture, it will soon become impossible to keep up any agreement among bicycle firms to hold the price so high. Indeed, to-day almost any one can buy a '96 wheel of good make for less than $100, though this is still the retail price. Many a second-hand bicycle, especially a woman's wheel, is quite as good as a new one, and can be bought for half-price or less. A woman's wheel is especially adapted to this kind of purchase, since many women of means buy a new bicycle every year, and not being particularly athletic, do not ride any one wheel more than two or three hundred miles, perhaps, and take the best of care of it all the time. Such a bicycle of the '95 make, for example, is quite as good as one of the new '96 machines for practical purposes, and can be bought for $50. In the case of a second-hand man's wheel more care should be taken in examining bearings, chain, sprocket wheels, and so on. Some suggestions on these points have already appeared in this column.
Bicycle Crank asks what a military company of bicyclists does, what its movements are, and how such a company can be formed. Also if a bicycle military company is a good thing. As to the last, General N. A. Miles said in a speech in 1892, delivered before the guests at a banquet in Chicago given by the president of the L.A.W.: "The president has told us that your league numbers thirty thousand men. Suppose that out of that number you organize a corps of fifteen or twenty thousand young, intelligent men and mount them upon wheels and equip them as they should be. It would be one of the most effective corps ever organized. It is estimated that there are in this country a quarter of a million men who are accustomed to ride the bicycle. If out of that number fifty thousand men were organized it would make one of the most effective army corps that was ever marshalled in any country or any time." As to the movements, commands, etc., we can best answer by referring readers to the Cycle-Infantry Drill Regulations, prepared by Brigadier-General Albert Ordway. A company of cyclists consist of infantry mounted on bicycles. The regulations therefore are practically the same as infantry regulations, changed only to suit bicycling necessities. When the men stop, they dismount, of course, and become infantry. When they are mounted some of the drills are like cavalry drill.
Any questions in regard to photograph matters will be willingly answered by the Editor of this column, and we should be glad to hear from any of our club who can make helpful suggestions.