The Rivals

    Said the Bicycle to the Automobile:
    "How high and mighty and gay you feel;
    Yet I can remember the day when I
    Would let no other one pass me by
    Cart horse and roadster and racehorse too,
    Far ahead of them all I flew.
    Now my tires are unpumped and my warning bell
    The attention of nobody can compel.

    "Though you maim your thousands where I hurt one,
    Though ten times my farthest is your day's run,
    Still I have been learning while lying here,
    That a rival's coming for you to fear.
    I have heard them talk of a wonderful thing,
    That can fly in the air like a bird on the wing,
    That can carry a man over land, over sea;
    In a twinkling he is where he wishes to be.

    "So swiftly it speeds, in a week and a day
    One may girdle the globe, I have heard them say,
    While you are contented from dawn to dark
    With a few score miles to have made your mark."
    The giant, throughout his quivering frame,
    Felt the truth that was mixed with his rival's blame.
    "I'll never be such a clod as you,"
    He sputtered as off on the road he flew;
    And his end the Bicycle never knew.