m THE HIDING-SCHOOL. 35 



wisdom in equitation. To say nothing of police- 

 men, it is not many seasons since an ambitious 

 member of the governor's staff presented him- 

 self before a riding master to " take a lesson, 

 just to get used to it, you know ; got to review 

 some regiments at Framingham to-morrow." 

 And when, after some trouble, he had been 

 landed in the saddle, never a strap had he, and 

 long before his lesson hour was finished, he was 

 a spectacle to make a Prussian sentinel giggle 

 while on duty. 



And for your further encouragement, Esmer- 

 alda, know that it is but a few years ago that a 

 riding master, in answer to a rebellious pupil who 

 defended some sin against Baucher with, " Mr. 

 — of the governor's staff always does so," re- 

 torted, " There is just one man on the gov- 

 ernor's staff who can ride, and I taught him ; 

 and if he had ridden like that ! " An awful si- 

 lence expressed so many painful possibilities 

 that the pupil was meek and humble ever after, 

 and yet it was not written in any newspaper 

 that any of those ignorant colonels were 

 thrown from their saddles in public, nor did 

 the strapless gentleman furnish amusement to 



