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CHAP. XIII] that it will soon become so for women, for whom, as I have shown, it is a particularly suitable means of exercise, if only a sufficient number of ladies living in towns will cast off the fear of being stared at, and bravely mount the iron steed in public. Ladies in the country already largely patronize the tricycle. The ladies of the Royal Family have set a good example to the women of England in this matter. The Princess Mary, Duchess of Teck, took the initiative; then the Queen presented two machines to her young grand-daughters, the Princesses of Hesse; the Princess of Wales next gave her eldest daughter one for a birthday present; and the Princess Louise rides one herself. I believe that in Manchester it is quite the usual thing for a lady to do her marketing on a tricycle, or to use one when making a round of visits, and I cannot see why the same thing should not be done in London and other great towns.

Besides the healthfulness of the exercise, women of business, would find a great deal of time saved in travelling distances which in London are so great, and which a tricycle can cover much more pleasantly than an omnibus or the underground railway, which last can certainly not be recommended for its health-giving qualities. Moreover, one has very often to go to places not reachable by the routes of the public conveyances.

To ladies who are not accustomed to go out alone the Sociable should prove a great boon. I have often seen husbands and wives bowling along