not long since another church dignitary, Dr. Morgan
Dix, objected to the entrance of girls into universities,
because it was not "proper for young women to be exposed to
the gaze of young men, many of whom were less bent upon
learning than upon amusement."

However little she may realize it, every girl who rides her
steel horse is a vivid illustration of one of the greatest
waves of progress of this century, the advancement of women
in freedom and opportunity.

A wise physician once said that the opinion that a good
woman should stay closely at home had killed more women than
any other one cause. In the days of our grandmothers the
suggestion of regular gymnastic training or athletics for
girls would have been received with horror. It was hardly
proper for a woman to have any knowledge of the construction
of her physical system.

It is a curious historical fact that the first women
lecturers upon physiology were women's rights women, and
viewed by the majority of people as dangerous to female
modesty, while the Ladies' Physiological Institute in Boston
was at first much disapproved of by the clergy. So long,
too, as old-fashioned "stays" (laced up sometimes by the aid
of equally old-fashioned bed-posts) remained in vogue,
neither physiology nor athletics stood much chance with
women.

But the often derided dress reformer has had her way, to a
great extent. Bathing dresses, gymnastic and tennis suits
which would have frightened an eighteenth century dame into
one of her favorite fainting fits.

Meanwhile the girls have mounted their bicycles. Bless you,
my children; what endless vistas of good times are before
you! What glorious landscape views and ocean moonrises, what
freedom, what fresh, airy delight in young life and
strength!

Already one young doctor has departed with his bride on a
wedding tour to Texas, each upon a bicycle. Other strange
affairs will no doubt take place. By and by the bishops will
see no more irreverence in bidding Godspeed to girls
starting on a journey to California upon bicycles than to
girls departing