Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 February 1887 — THOMAS STEVENS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THOMAS STEVENS.

His Remarkable Tour Around tlu World Aatride a Bioycle. Arrested and Turned Back by the As gliaus and Stoned by the „ Chinese. ". ‘ ' ;t' _-- v , ... . ' ... |N«w York telegram.]... Thomas Stevens, (he bicyclist who mad« a tour of Europe and Asia on a bicycle, bui was arrested and imprisoned nineteen dnyi by the Afghans, and afterward conducted back to Persia, whence he continned hit journey through China,- has arrived in. toil city. Mr. Stevens, who started on his remarkable tour nearly three years ago, narrates many thrilling experiences. He narrowly escaped death at the hands of a Chinese mob, ap.d had many exciting adventures. He arrived in Shanghai on Nov. If

by the steamer Pekin, from Kiu-kiang, having all but accomplished his run rounc the world on a bicycle. A spare, wirv-look-ing man of about five feet seven, he seems none the worse for his journey and the discomforts of most of the last part of it. and speaks cheerfully of his experience generally. His first serious obstacle was encountered in Afghanistan. He was the guest of the British Delimitation Commissioners for several days, but by their advice turned back 300 miles to Berjande. after which he struck off again intc Afghanistan, at a point a safe dietaries from the commission and their messages; but at Furrah, halfway between Herat and Kandahar, he was arrested by an Afghan chief acting under orders, who, after some days, escorted him back to Herat. He was well treated by the Afghans, but they would not listen to hie explanation of his journeying without o political object, and so carried him to Persian territory again. He was obliged tc return to the Caspian, from which he went by way of the Caspiau railway, and reached Constantinople, and from thence by steamer to Currachee. So that to travel 30( miles by land he had to go G,OOO miles by sea. From Currachee he went -through Lahore, Delhi. Agra, Cawnpore to Calcutta, from whence he took steamer tc Hong'Konp. On Nov. 13 be got his bicycle under waj again and started for Canton, but he found it‘ simply useless from the badness of the roads. Fifty miles were not covered between Canton afid Kiukiang. One moment he thought that he was on the highway tc somewhere in particular, the next few yards brought him to the end of the pathway, which to his mollification he found terminated in a paddy field. So intricate anc difficult to travel were the roads that it took him over twenty-four hours to ride thirtj -miles alter leaving Canton. He found mosl of these pathways about twenty inches wide, and high boulders blocked his waj at short intervals. He reluctantly determined to give his bicycle a rest and take to a sampan. II took four days to reach Cliao-choo-foo bj this means, and then after a short time ok shore to stretch his legs, he got into th< boat again and did not leave it for four days more, when he found himself under the Heeling Pass and in the province ol Kiangse, Then he fancied that his waj was straight before him, for the roads suddenly improved and the bicycle, which had been for eight days borne by coolies, was once more put into requisition, and he spun merrily ahead till he reached Kin-gan-foo. The weather from Canton to the Heeling Pass was very warm, but aftei that it grew cold and l ain fell, which rendered that portion of the journey doublj difficult and disagreeable. The traveler was greatly impressed with the high state of cultivation in the provinces through which he passed, and with the beauty • oi some of the temples, notably of that between Tchinyuen and Lo-choo-foo. The people everywhere treated him very well till he reached Kan-tohou-foo, where the inhabitants attacked him with stones, and matters were looking very serious whes he reached the yamen accompanied by twe soldiers, who were sent with him by th< head man at Ta-ho. The crowd here was very noisy and threatening, and amounted to several hundred. But the populace whe were drying out to “kill tbo foreign devil* contrived to seize the bicycle, which, however, escaped with only one broken spoke, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that he was smuggled out of the yamen. and after great exertions on the part of the Cbe-ksien, who had to make several proclamations calling upon the mob to disperse. But beyond two or three bruises and many indentations in his topee, from stones, Mr. Stevens escaped injury. It will be interesting to epicures to know that Mr. Stevens carried no commissarial with him, but lived on the food of the people through whose countries he passed, 'nor did he carry a tent, although he started with one from Constantinople. He book discarded it, and was content to put up with whatever sleeping accommodations he could find on the way, sometimes under a tree or rock, again in the shelter of the tents or huts he came across, and still again in the gorgeous palaces of the civilized rulers of the many lands of the East, from Calcutta to Constantinople. In his opinion the only roads in China were watei roads—that is, the rivers, and he longed to be able to change his bicycle for a houseboat, only for his undertaking to go round the world en wheels. “Six girl friends,” says the Merry Bar, “pulled taffy with Miss Edith B last evening.*' TVhat was the matter with their hair, I wonder. Are the Clinton belles entirely bald? Men sometimes flatter themselvei that they are becoming better when they are becoming only more penurious. To abstain from ono evil because of the love of another is a questionable virtue. Thb home of* sentiment shonld be secluded. A flower planted in the streets of traffic has a mawkish air, and wins deserved derision. Wit is the spark strnck by tho hammer of wisdom from the hint of common sense. -