92 RIDING DRESS. 



treble Melton should be chosen for the skirt, and a 

 lighter one of the same material, which all good habit 

 makers keep in stock, for the coat ; because, in order 

 to hang well, a skirt must be of heavy cloth, which 

 would, of course, be too hard and unyielding for a 

 riding coat. We require a " kind," pliable cloth for our 

 coats, to allow us absolute ease and freedom of move- 

 ment, but our skirts, even for wear in the tropics, should 

 be of a thick, heavy make. When I went out to India 

 in 1885, safety skirts were unknown, or, at least they 

 were not constructed by Creed, of Conduit Street, who 

 made my habits, and who was in those days regarded 

 as the best habit maker in London. He told me that 

 my thick Melton skirt would be of no use to me in that 

 hot country, and recommended a habit of khaki-coloured 

 drill, for which I paid sixteen guineas, as he would not 

 make any kind of riding habit for less than that sum. 

 I soon found that my investment was a failure, for the 

 skirt flapped about like a sheet in the wind, and the 

 marks of perspiration on my coat looked most unsightly, 

 so I handed over my drill habit to my ayah, a gift 

 which I know she did not appreciate at anything 

 approaching its cost. I found myself more comfort- 

 ably garbed in my Melton skirt, for heat in riding is 

 not felt to any appreciable extent below the waist, and 

 I provided myself with jackets of white drill, on which 

 marks of perspiration are not so unsightly as on a 

 coloured material. 



As safety in the saddle is the first consideration, and 

 as no article of riding dress has proved such a death- 



