1894: 128 Years Ago
Tuesday, September 20, 2022
“Man grows more and more lazy every year. He is living in a machine age, when his walking and his climbing, if not eating, are done for him by some mechanical invention too obvious to be recorded. If it were not for athletics and gymnasiums, it is believed the race would lose the use of its legs as scientists say it is losing its jaws and its teeth from too much civilization. Men who used to skip up the long flights of stairs of down-town buildings without a murmur now complain if they are asked to walk up one. And it isn’t age, either, for boys in their teens will “Wait for the elevator” an hour rather than give their legs needful exercise. The result of so much level action would be horrid was there no bicycle in existence. But the wheelman goes “up stairs” for hours and says not a word when there is a saddle under him. It may be this universal wheel is the real cause of principle developed by this popular motion, otherwise able-bodied citizens now refuse to live in houses with high stories and no “lifts” and kick at any “steps” over or under railroad tracks. In short, there are people who would rather risk their lives than have the grade changed on a road they would be in the habit of crossing.”