220 RIDING FOR LADIES. 



rail, I strongly advocate the carrying of the valise. It will 

 not prove a source of the least trouble to you. You can 

 leave it either in your vehicle or at the railway station, and 

 it is an inconceivable comfort to be able to get into a dry 

 suit when every stitch that you have on is clinging to your 

 body, heavy with wet and mud. I advise the label- 

 ling of the valise in plain letters, if it is to be left in any 

 waiting-room. To attend to this may prevent a good deal 

 of possible confusion. Many ladies think it a trouble, I 

 know, to carry such things about with them — ^just as men, 

 when they go out walking, consider it " a nuisance " to 

 carry an umbrella or an overcoat, even on the most un- 

 certain and showery days — paying the penalty, of course, 

 in drenched garments, rheumatism, and catarrh. The 

 *' trouble " in the first instance is very small ; in the second 

 it may be serious. 



Having then made all square and ready, we have next 

 to consider in what way you intend to proceed to covert. 

 If by rail or vehicle, and that you happen to have friends 

 of an obliging sort living close to the proposed meet, you 

 may perhaps find them willing to give accommodation to 

 your mount for the preceding night. If so it will be very 

 pleasant, both for you and your horse, as the animal will 

 be as fresh as a daisy to carry you — a cheery thing for 

 both parties. You must, however, remember that you will 

 be under a very decided compliment — one which many 

 may not desire to incur — to the friend who shows you 

 this favour, inasmuch as putting up a horse signifies either 

 putting up a servant also, or sending a groom to meet the 



