1 84 RIDING FOR LADIES. 



remove them after the exercise. This — if it will only be 

 believed — can be accomplished without any unsightly clum- 

 siness, or necessity for making feet or figure look in the 

 least degree larger than if tortured and compressed into 

 unnatural proportions. Well-made clothing, composed of 

 pliant materials and properly put on, will never impart an 

 appearance of bulk, even if worn sufficiently easy-fitting to 

 be slipped on and off at a moment's notice ; while ill-cut 

 garments, unnaturally strained and tightened, will make 

 figure and extremities look absolutely larger than they 

 really are. Who, for instance, that has ever seen a No. 6 

 glove stretched upon a hand that ought to take at least 

 four sizes larger has ever been deceived into believing 

 that there was not something painfully amiss } Straining 

 seams, fingers only half drawn on, and ominous gaps, 

 yawning and wide, where the first buttons ought to fasten, 

 attest the "vanity of vanities" against which we have 

 been warned. With boots and corsets it is just the same, — 

 and yet, despite the uncontrovertible evidence brought to 

 bear upon the matter, ladies still persist in destroying the 

 symmetry of their appearance, undermining their health, 

 and leaving themselves exposed to disparaging observations, 

 rather than give up the follies into which an undue desire 

 to appear '' slim " have by degrees drawn them. After all, 

 when we come to consider the subject, is it really worth 

 while to undergo suffering and inconvenience in order that 

 one or two persons may, perhaps, say, "That girl has small 

 feet " ; or " What a slender waist that lady has ? " Ten to 

 one the utterers of such remarks never think a second time 



