i86 RIDING FOR LADIES. 



and the fact that I at times delay answering the multitude 

 of writers who ask questions and beg for immediate replies 

 is not really attributable to any discourtesy, but is rather 

 the result of over-work, coupled with a sense of difficulty in 

 detailing the average cost of a variety of articles which are 

 manufactured in every quality — good, bad, and indifferent — 

 the cheapest, or lowest priced, being in all cases the dearest 

 in the end. A thoroughly good article will look respectable 

 to the very last bit, while a cheap one can never be made 

 to do so at all. I can, for my own part, see no virtue in 

 the so-called " bargains " in which many ladies are so 

 curiously fond of investing. I use the word " curiously " 

 advisedly, for to me it is most strange how sensible prac- 

 tical women, who on most subjects have their wits well 

 about them, are nevertheless afflicted v^^ith a positive craze 

 for bargain-hunting, and are willing to bear any amount of 

 pushing and trampling upon, in slummy shops with " Sell- 

 ing off" emblazoned in large letters all over the windows, 

 for the very doubtful satisfaction of carrying home some 

 three or four pairs of half-soiled gloves at one shilling per 

 pair, or a few yards of mildewed ribbon at something very 

 much too dear for it. 



The average cost of riding gear, every article being of 

 the best and finest description, may be thus set down. Silk 

 hats, from £\ \s. each ; jerry ditto, 14^-. ; soft felt, \2s. 6d. ; 

 melton riding habits, £12 12s. each; rainproof ditto, 

 ;^io los. ; ordinary cloth, ^10 lOs. ; summer cloth, £Z ^s. ; 

 gingham or holland, £^ k,s. ; riding breeches, £4. 4s. per 

 pair; buckskin, £6 6s. tO;^8 ^s. ; trousers (chamois lined), 



