e or possibly two. The passenger in this case had to start his
machine and then jump on. The propulsion was effected by a pump-like
action of the legs, very tiresome and elegant. The passenger generally
leaned forward in a position strongly suggestive of the favorite
attitude of his arboreal ancestors. It was the peculiarity of the
Trol-lee that it made a sort of humming roar as it went that sounded
like a hundred prisoners groaning in unison; but the By-sigh-kel made
no noise in going except in collisions and wrecks. The latter were so
frequent that a whole cycle of restorative arts had to be undertaken
of which the principal was dentistry. At the close of the century
there were few front teeth remaining--except artificials.

Many accounts of the Age of the By-sigh-kel and Trol-lee have been
preserved among the old records of Am-ri-ka, and traditions of it are
found in the antiquarian papers of other countries. We have seen
pictorial representations made by Fo-to-graf-ure of scenes from the
age referred to. The streets of extinct cities are found pictured in
this way. There was an instrument called the Cow-dack which was used
in taking pictures in an instantaneous manner, so that the scene would
look like life.

A busy street, thus pictured, in that time, shows many Trol-lees
rushing by, filled with merry people. Along the side-ways scores of
passengers are seen, mounted on their 'Sigh-kels, going in divers
directions at full speed. The passengers present many aspects; for
riding the 'Sigh-kel was an art which had to be acquired; and by some
this could not be done--at least not gracefully done. Many tried, but
few were chosen. Two classes of people suffered much in this
particular, namely, the very fat and the very bony. Those whom nature
had favored in form and feature, and who had acquired the art of
sitting upright, look well enough in these old pictures of a past age.
But the clumsy and obese, the slender and angular people may well be
laughed at even through the shadowy retrospect of four centuries.

One of the 'Sigh-kel machines was made _double_; and an old cartoon
which is now before me gives to this kind the name of Tan-doom. On
this men and women frequently rode together, the woman going before,
for that was the age in which the woman, becoming new, showed her
newness by being forward.

Nor may we leave these reminiscences of a bygone age without
reflecting upon the absurdities of our ancestors, who had n