From “A List of Don’ts for Women on Bicycles Circa 1895”
- Don’t be a fright.
- Don’t faint on the road.
- Don’t wear a man’s cap.
- Don’t forget your toolbag.
- Don’t cultivate a “bicycle face.”
- Don’t wear laced boots. They are tiresome.
- Don’t wear white kid gloves. Silk is the thing.
- Don’t imagine everybody is looking at you.
- Don’t use bicycle slang. Leave that to the boys.
- Don’t go out after dark without a male escort.
- Don’t scratch a match on the seat of your bloomers.
- Don’t discuss bloomers with every man you know.
- Don’t try to ride in your brother’s clothes “to see how it feels.”
- Don’t cultivate everything that is up to date because yon ride a wheel.
- Don’t emulate your brother’s attitude if he rides parallel with the ground.
- Don’t appear to be up on “records” and “record smashing.” That is sporty. (x)
Imagine the legions of women who must have been swarming the streets in kid gloves and bicycle face, lighting matches off their asses left and right.
