are the very next best to father. My!
What a jolly time we will have!"

Joe's father and I had arranged it so that he could stay at home,
believing, as well he might, the boy was safe in my hands.

Since all traction companies are owned by States (and, of course,
subdivided into counties), it is a comparatively easy matter to get
permits to use the company's trolley-wires, have your meter inspected,
locked, and dated.

The universal application of electricity to the bicycle, tricycle, and
other road vehicles--not by batteries, which are still too heavy or
short-lived for long trips, but by the trolley-wire and connecting
track--is of very recent date. Minor difficulties still exist, and
should anything serious happen, I am mechanic enough to hope to repair
damages.

Our machine was a very simple affair--after all is said and left unsaid.
At first glance it looked not unlike an ordinary tandem--as in fact it
was, but with a very much wider tread forward, where the electric motor
was handily placed and most effective in operation. The treadles
remained connected, but could be operated in the forward direction only.
Coasting, with the pedals as foot-rests, whether going down hill or
driven at high speed by the motor, was thus possible and easy. The
electric head-light was supplied from the same source as the motor,
viz., the trolley overhead wire. Of course we had a kerosene lamp to use
when disconnected from the street current. Since 1896 the overhead
trolley has been abolished in large towns and cities in favor of the
underground method of electrical connection, while the overhead system
is still used (as so much cheaper for long distances) in the country,
between towns and all distant points.

We used a light bamboo pole, built up of five three-foot sections, to
reach the overhead wire. Inside was the connecting wire leading to the
starting, stopping, or reversing switch, thence to the motor. Another
wire, leading from the motor, passed through a light hinged shaft, upon
the end of which was a two-foot metal wheel, thus completing the circuit
with the rail. The current passed through a reduction coil before
reaching the motor, and was thus brought down to the proper resistance
at which the motor was built to run, otherwise a burned-out apparatus
would be the certain result.

This was not the first time I had handled the _Fleetwing_, having made
any number of short trips, none exceeding a hundred miles. Joe's rout