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.
A girl who writes from a remote part of North Carolina inquires whether I approve of the bicycle for girls. It appears that where she resides there are still people who look rather doubtfully on the wheel as not adapted to feminine use, and who think girls should avoid it. These good people belong to a class with whom I was very familiar in my own youth. Then great stress was laid on being "ladylike," and the worst thing which could be said of a girl was that she was a hoyden or a tomboy. Our point of view has changed so much that we in the great cities, where public opinion is formed, and where all opinions are heard and sifted one by one, are surprised when we hear a condemnation of the bicycle. Doctors unite in praising it, and girls in ordinary health cannot do better than ride as their brothers do. Of course a beginner must be prudent, not take too many risks, and avoid going for long distances alone. A party of girls accompanied by an expert rider or a teacher may start out and enjoy a lovely day's journey, or, if all is arranged beforehand, set forth for a trip of some days or weeks, under proper escort and chaperonage. But a novice must not go far from home, or risk rough roads.
As for myself, I do approve of the bicycle for girls. My questioner's inquiry is whether a girl loses caste by riding a wheel. Emphatically no. It is as proper to ride a wheel as to ride a pony or to walk. But a girl must ride with grace and fearless courage. She must have the right kind of saddle, must have her handle-bars at the right height, and be dressed so that her skirts will not entangle or entrap her. There is no pleasure which surpasses that of swift motion, when one is young and strong and the blood courses buoyantly through the veins, whether the motion come from skating, running, riding, or going forward in any sort of progress which requires exercise. The old Greeks understood this, and one of their favorite goddesses was always flying along. Look her up in your mythology, and you will find which one I mean. Her name is very short, and a popular American author wrote a beautiful story about her, which I am sure you all have read.
This query of Annabel W. L. about corsets for growing girls needs a very definite answer. No girl should wear a corset while her figure is developing. A girl confined in an inelastic cage composed of steel and bone and buckram can never move as freely and carry herself as gracefully as one whose loose and comfortable style of dress affords free play to every part of her body. Skirts should be light, and dress throughout arranged with a view to deep breathing and the pleasure of unrestricted movement. Fancy a girl's learning to row or working in the gymnasium in tightly fitting corsets! A small waist is not beautiful or desirable. Health is beauty, and a look of strength and vigor the thing our girls should crave.
Margaret E. Sangster.