8 IN THE BIDWG-SCHOOL. 



knowledge of a Hiram Woodruff or of an 

 Archer. Perhaps you may find a teacher who 

 will comply with your wishes ; who will be ex- 

 ceedingly deferential to your little whims ; will 

 unhesitatingly accept your report of your own 

 sensations and your hypotheses as to their 

 cause ; and, Esmeralda, when once your eyes 

 behold that model man, be content, and go and 

 take lessons of another, for either he is a pre- 

 tentious humbug, careless of everything except 

 his fees, or he is an ignoramus. 



It may not be necessary that you should be 

 insulted or ridiculed in order to become a rider, 

 although there are girls who seem utterly im- 

 pervious to teaching by gentle methods. Is it 

 not a matter of tradition that Queen Victoria 

 owes her regal carriage to the rough drill-ser- 

 geant, who, after making endless respectful 

 suggestions, with no effect upon his pupil, hor- 

 rified her governess, and astonished her, by 

 sharply saying : " A pretty Queen you'll make 

 with that dot-and-go-one gait ! " Up went the 

 little chin, back went the shoulders, down went 

 the elbows, and, in her wrath, the little princess 

 did precisely what the old soldier had been 



