Ima’s
father had a way with words. Here is an item from a Galveston newspaper in
1896:
It was the
Hon. James Stephen Hogg, not then governor of Texas, who spurned the bicycle,
not many months ago, as ‘a dromedary for dudes.’ But is it a useful and
tractable sort of dromedary, and the Hon. Jerry Simpson of Medicine Lodge,
Kan., a populist in good and regular standing, is one of the ‘dudes’ who rides
it. Contrition begins to boil within the vast bosom of the Hon. James Stephen
Hogg. He feels that he has slandered a worthy steed and a great institution. In
the moonlit nights and on bright dawns he may be seen, on quiet country roads,
ponderously revolving on a quadricycle, a most excellent device propelled by a
crank. With time, confidence and steadiness, he will come to master the
tricycle. Then, if he is not seriously injured in the trials, he will attain at
last unto the bicycle. It will be a great day for rotation when he bursts upon
the public on his wheel.”
-- The Galveston Daily News, Nov. 29, 1896
“Sockless
Jerry” Simpson on a bicycle, yes.
Jim Hogg, who weighed 300 pounds, no.
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