Hobson was in Boston last week.

Of course the reader does n't think of asking, "What Hobson?"

Even though there were numerous other Hobsons in Boston.

Everyone knows that we refer to the man who, with "seven others," sank the Merrimac at the entrance of Santiago harbor.

Who were the "seven others"?

Off-hand, now!- can you think of the name of a single one of them?

Hobson was driven through the streets of this city in a one-horse carriage which had up to that time been used for hauling common, ordinary citizens.

Yet there were hundreds of people who climbed over each other in an attempt to touch even the harness of the horse that hauled Hobson.

Multitudes crowded into the streets to get a glimpse of the now famous hero.

The hotel where he "put up" was thronged with excited and curious persons, all striving, with little regard for politeness, to get a look at "the great naval hero," and even as he ate his breakfast he was subjected to the most scrutinizing and almost (if not quite) impudent "looking over."

Was it because his work resulted in substantial benefit to his country?

Cervera's fleet came out of the harbor, "just the same."

Why is it that you fail to remember the names of the men who were in the "stoke hole " of the Merrimac, and hence liable to be mangled by the explosion of a mine- or to be drowned like so many rats in a trap while you go crazy over Hobson, who was upon the breezy deck, exposed to no greater danger than the almost impossible contingency of being hit by a Spanish shot! Advertising!

Please be sure to write "Ad. Critic" and date in lower left-hand corner.

State which advertisement in this issue you consider best adapted to influence buyers in favor of the goods it advertises, and why.

It is hardly competent to say that you were influenced by a certain ad. because you happened at the moment to want the particular article advertised, but it is desirable that you state which advertisement is, in your opinion, best calculated to attract the favorable notice of the average reader, irrespective of his immediate wants.

We want to know which advertiser utilizes his space to the best advantage.

Also, state which advertisement is, in your opinion, least likely to be profitable to the advertiser, and why. Select from this number of the L.A W. BULLETIN three advertisements in which you see most room for improvement. Tell us what is the matter with them, and what you can suggest in each case to make them more effective.

Substitute an entirely new advertisement in any case, if you prefer to, but always give reasons for proposed changes.

To the writers of the best three letters we will send (on Aug. 19,) checks for $5.00, $3.00 and $2.00, as above.

Not to Her Taste.

'Twas at a candy-pull that she
And I together met,

Said I," Sweet maid, I'll candied be.
I'm stuck on you, you bet."
The maiden shook her flaxen head,
With curls like waving grasses,
"I don't like taffy, sir," she said,
"Though you may like the lasses."

THE TRUE TEST OF MERIT. Coasting is commonly accepted by riders as a test of the easy-running qualities and superior merit of their wheels. But watch the veteran rider with a new machine and see what he does. If he is experienced and expert, and uses his wheel over all sorts of roads and for touring purposes rather than for boulevard and park riding and for scorching, he seeks some stiff hill with which he is familiar, and which he has climbed often enough to know just how hard it is, and he proceeds to climb that. Such a hill is usually one that pretty well taxes his powers, and the manner in which the machine mounts it gives him an excellent line on its rigidity, responsiveness and easy-running qualities.

This single test may satisfy him of the machine's merits, but it is pretty sure to be followed by trips

CYCLERS' SNAP SHOTS.-"WE ARE SEVEN." (532 POUNDS.)
Photo. by Geo. H. Curtis, Merced, Cal.

over rough roads, bad spots and narrow paths, in order to prove its running qualities under the most adverse conditions. If it responds instantly under such circumstances, without any feeling of drag on hard grades, and steers steadily, it can be counted a satisfactory machine; but, if the labor of propulsion increases unduly when power is required and there is any unsteadiness in steering it is surely lacking somewhat in important constructional features.

A machine that is satisfactory under such tests may be counted on to run freely and coast well, and may or may not be surperlatively good at the latter. Very frequently it is found that inferior machines coast well, especially when new, and coasting is also so largely affected by the position and weight of the rider and the way he handles his wheel that it cannot possibly be a final or conclusive test of merit. The true test is made when power is being applied to the pedals, a hard road is ahead and the machine is being subjected to strains that bring out its latent qualities.

"THE MEANEST MORTAL."

"The meanest mortal" blue ribbon badge is now waiting to be placed upon someone in the vicinity of Hague, in northern New York, as soon as the party forwards his address. In a letter enclosing two vicious-looking bits of wood, designed for puncturing purposes, Mr. C. W. Willis, local consul at Somerville, Mass., writes: "While on a cycle tour, recently, around the west shore of Lake George, after a hard trip over the Adirondacks, I reached Hague, a post-office, steamer landing and small Summer resort on Lake George. Near this place there is a cool, restful sheltered place, in fact the only place where a wheelman can tarry for a little rest after coming over Hague Mountain. It is not necessary to relate in detail how I happened to discover these, but the grass on this spot, where nine wheelmen out of every ten would sit down to rest, was bristling with these wooden brads. They ranged in length from one inch to four, The short ends were stuck into the ground, and being hard wood, they would not break, and the "shoulder" would prevent them from sinking further into the ground. The effect of sitting down heavily upon one of these may be imagined. The grass would prevent their being discovered until one was wounded by them. I carefully removed all of these (scores of them all through the grass) before going on, and I now have them in my cabinet of curiosities. I showed them to a prominent physician at Larabee's Landing, Vermont, who said that one of them, penetrating the body, might easily cause death, and he pronounced it the most exquisite case of pure cussedness that ever came to his notice."

We trust there is no mortal so mean as to desire the removal of the badge from this party at Hague. Anyone yearning for distinction in this line should be given a coat of tar and feathers, and even a hemp necktie might be no more than he would deserve.

The summer girl who answers "yes"
To scores of wooing jays,
Must very certainly possess

The most engaging ways,

The idea of a pneumatic tire composed of a se ries of inflatable bulbs has been again resurrected. A continuous air passage connects them, but an instantaneous deflation cannot occur and, under certain conditions, cause an accident.

done in this way at a considerable saving of time, and the use of the wheel affords the housekeeper a change of thought and scene and a bit of agreeable recreation.

Except in large cities, cycle racks are found before nearly all classes of stores and at hotels and wayside inns. In the larger places, stabling room at nominal figures can generally be obtained, and in some buildings rooms are provided for the purpose. Special wheel quarters are arranged in some houses; appropriate accommodations are furnished in many schools, and some churches make similar provision. The utility of the wheel is universally acknowledged and preparations for its suitable housing and care are constantly being completed.

DUST-CATCHING PEDALS.

What kind of pedals can this man have used? The author of a little pamphlet on the care of wheels, published in England, says:

"In wet or dusty weather the pedals may need oiling every day, or on a long journey two or three times a day, the presence of grit manifesting itself by sound, and more oil being then needed, to dis lodge the grit, than is the case when the bearings are clean. A good plan to keep dust and mud out of the bearings is to buy a yard of chenille wire, such as is used to put around the bases of glass shades, and twist a single piece of this around the outsides of each bearing, where dirt would otherwise enter."

Is it possible that such grit-catching bearings are made to-day even for the cheapest machines?

Ball bearings are about to be applied to the rowlocks of boats.

ONE "go ahead" will accomplish more than a dozen of the "wait-and see kind.

It is n't so very hard to do the right thing for just a second at a time, and that's all the time we ever have at hand for doing anything.

MEXICO: SOME CONFLICTING VIEWS.

As a bicyclist, a member of the L. A. W., and a reader of the BULLETIN, I gladly respond to your published request for information regarding cycling in Mexico, and I think I can cover the whole question by unhesitatingly advising anyone who contemplates taking a bicycle tour in that country to immediately put any such wild fancy entirely out of his mind.

The country is not ridable, as roads do not exist there excepting in a few isolated instances of boulevards within the city limits of one or two Mexican cities. Their so-called roads are mere trails, and very bad at that, so bad, in fact, that even equestrians prefer cross-country riding.

During a recent trip over the entire country of Mexico, I have seen a few bicycles at railway stations, and have often wondered where and by whom they were used. The streets of the Mexican cities are not ridable, as they are, as a rule, badly paved with very large, rough stones. Really the only piece of road that I have ever seen in that country suitable for bicycling is the Paseo, running from Mexico city to Chapultepec, a distance of four or five miles, but I do not remember ever having seen a bicycle there. CHAS. F. SMILLIE.

In April of this year I took a bicycle into Mexico, and rode it a great deal, in and around the capital. On crossing the frontier at Laredo I was charged

CYCLERS' SNAP SHOTS.-"OLD MORTALITY." Photograph by Pleasant J. Harbour, Lindsay, La.

five Mexican dollars (equal to about two-and-a-half American), as duties, and paid perhaps as much more as expressage on the wheel, which I had unnecessarily boxed for the trip. A light crate would have been sufficient. On arriving in the City of the Aztecs, I found I must get a license plate (cost one dollar), and I was then free to roam as I would.

Many of the streets of Mexico are wooden block, and a straight macadam avenue leads to the castle of Chapultepec, enabling one to ride from six to seven miles in a straight course and about as much

more among the dense trees, through which winding paths form the park of the same name, at Molino del Rey battlefield; but as the table-land in which Mexico is built is, as its name implies, absolutely level, pleasant rides can be taken over fair roads in many directions, Atzcapotzales, Guadalupe, etc.

Almost all the traffic over Mexican roads is by leather-sandalled "peons," carrying loads, who wear down smooth paths where the wheel hums with pleasure; but you must "keep a-shoutin'," as the country people will not look out for you, and the Mexican judge promptly fines the "gringo" on general principles.

Just north of Atzcapotzales is a perfectly straight road, level as a billiard table and smooth as silk. How I did hum, and how hard I hit an Indian carrying a pigskin filled with "pulque " (the sticky, fermented juice of the cactus plant), and how I mounted and fled, in as much of a ferment as the "pulque "!- but that is another story.

AZTEC.

In the winter of '95-6 I took a bicycle trip from Lincoln, Neb., to the City of Mexico, crossing the Rio Grande at Lorado, Texas, in February, '96. I traveled alone and without any weapons of defence. At San Antonio, Texas, I received many admonitions and warnings that my life was jeopardized by such a rash undertaking. I found the much-maligned Mexican universally kind, hospitable and generous, and that my life was as safe in Mexico as in any State of our Union. At the custom house one can take his choice of taking his wheel in bond or pay duty. I preferred duty. They charge per pound, according to the weight of wheel. The price at that time was $2.50, Mexican money, but as I was touring I was let down easy by only paying $1.50, which was only seventy-five cents in American money. I followed the line of the Mexican National Railway. Americans are in all the large places, and little dif ficulty is encountered on account of not knowing the language.

I found splendid roads that would put American roads to shame. The scenery is grand and sublime, and if touring wheelmen only knew the happy surprises in store down there, there would certainly be more of them in that, what to us is, a new world.

To one with American money the expense is small and the returns are large. For instance: a Mexican dollar can he had for 455% cents; $1.00 American money would realize over $2.00 in Mexi can, and a Mexican dollar in Mexico will buy as many of the necessities of life as a United States' dollar does here. I stopped at the best hotel for $2.00 a day, which cost me only one dollar in American money. I am certain that wheelmen who visit Mexico will not regret it. A. H. WARREN. SYCAMORE, ILL.

FATE usually turns down the man who sits about waiting for a fortune to turn up.

Ho! for Indianapolis Meet, Aug. 9-13.

ENGLISH AND AMERICAN SADDLES. On several questions connected with cycling American and English views are at variance and about nothing perhaps more radically than saddle construction. The main body of English riders have their machines fitted with many equipments most of which have been discarded by Americans in their desire to reduce weight, improve appearances and get rid of everything not absolutely necessary to ordinary riding.

In the course of this process, the enormous four or five pound saddle of the past, with its great bowed or coiled springs, gave way to smaller and lighter patterns to which flat springs were fitted in order to bring them close to the frame, and wood cantels were adopted, so that a serviceable road pattern weighed scarcely more than a pound. These gave good satisfaction as long as the majority of riders were young and active men, but when cycling was taken up by hosts of people, including women, who were unaccustomed to active exercise, a call arose for some sort of seat that should be softer and easier.

In meeting this demand, the makers did not revert to the old plan of elaborate springs, which still holds sway in England, but sought to supply what was required by improvements in shape and con. struction. To the American mind, this seems the correct method; but the Englishman will have none of our ideas, and still encumbers his saddle with springs which add to its weight and detract from its appearance, without increasing its efficiency.

Those who ride little and have never become hardened to it doubtless do require an easier seat than persistent riders who get hardened, and especially those whose novitiate was on the Ordinary; but it should be remembered that the tendency always is to trust too much to the saddle and to carry too much weight on it, instead of riding firmly on

the pedals. If riders will secure correct adjustment of their machines and carry a good share of weight on their pedals, they will not only be comfortable on smaller, lighter and harder saddles but will increase the effectiveness of their work and make their control of the machine more perfect.

EFFICIENCY OF FRAMES AND TIRES.

The Bicycle Efficiency Tests made in the labora tories of Sibley College, Cornell University, are described with illustrations, plates and tables, by A. N. Eldredge and G. B. Preston, in the July issue of Machinery, and will be found interesting by those who care to enter into a consideration of the technical details of such investigations.

Racing, road, drop-frame and chainless machines were tested, with and without tires, with different weights in the saddle, with different degrees of tire inflation and at different speeds, and cushion and solid tires were also included.

The conclusions drawn from the experiments were that diamond and drop frames "do not vary more than two per cent. in the riding limit, while the chainless lies several per cent. below and the racer an equal amount above. However, the entire difference is no more than exists between tires of the same make and grade." It appears that "change of speed affects the light racing tire much more than it does the road tire," and that the effect of the alternate thrusts of pedaling was the greatest with

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the light racing frame, and greater within riding limits with the drop frame than with the standard [diamond] frame, but very small in all three cases." The difference between an old wheel and a new one was "nothing more than might exist between two new wheels of the same make."

The greatest loss was found to exist in the pneumatic tire, which is called "an inefficient power transmitting device"; yet, after all, if it is compared "with the cushion and solid tires which preceded it, it is seen to mark the greatest advance yet made in bicycle construction." The greatest efficiency was secured with a light weight in the saddle and a high degree of inflation.

Aug. 9-13, Indianapolis, National Meet.