Tricycles | - Theodore Roosevelt Center

Some popular conceptions that the wheeling mania will change

This vignette cartoon depicts changes to folklore, fairy tales, courtship, and punishment, that will result from the cycling craze. Vignettes include witches riding bicycles instead of brooms, Father Time riding a bicycle, Cupid running over victims with a bicycle instead of shooting arrows at them, fairies on bicycles, and a cyclist’s nightmare in Hell.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1897-07-21

Life’s ups-and-downs — Puck’s improvement on Cole’s “Voyage of Life”

Two men ride bicycles. One is just starting out on life’s journey, being towed by Father Time. The second one is nearing the end of life’s journey and about to get caught by a scythe and thrown from the bicycle into a grave. Milestones and signs mark the journey: in youth there is “Health,” between 20 and 30 there is “Happiness,” at 40 there is “Pleasure,” at 50 “Hope,” at 60 there is “Neglect,” between 60 and 70 there are “Regrets” and “Sickness,” at 80 there is “Fear,” and at 90 is an open grave with an owl perched on the mile-marker. At the top center is a “Half Way House” and at bottom center, in a floral arrangement, is an hourglass on top of a clock.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-07-11