IN THE RIDING-SCHOOL. 193 



French pictures, nor the plumed hat which "my 

 sweet Mistress Ann Dacre " wore when Con- 

 stance Sherwood's loving eyes first fell upon 

 her, but the simple jockey cap, exactly match- 

 ing your habit, and costing two dollars and a 

 half or three dollars ; the Derby cap for the 

 same price or a little more ; or, best of all, the 

 English or the American silk hat, as universally 

 suitable as a black silk frock was in the good 

 old times when Mrs. Rutherford Birchard Hayes 

 was in the White House. The English Henry 

 Heath hat at seven or eight dollars, with its 

 velvet forehead piece and its band of soft, rough 

 silk, stays in place better than any other, but it 

 is too heavy for comfort. If you can have an 

 American hatter remodel it, making it weigh 

 half a pound less, it will be perfection, always 

 provided that he does not, as he assuredly will 

 unless you forbid it, throw away the soft, rough 

 band, which keeps the hat in place, and substi- 

 tute one of the American smooth bands, designed 

 to slip off without ruffling the hair, and doing 

 it instantly, the moment that a breeze touches 

 the brim of the hat. A hunting guard, fastened 

 at the back of the hat brim and between two 



