4 HORSEMANSHIP FOE WOMEN. 



However, I bad been reading up a little on tbe subject, 

 and feeling tbe confidence in myself which a very little 

 knowledge is apt to impart, I was determined to try 

 my band. 



I bad remarked that there was a certain French sys- 

 tem which was, in the several works I had consulted, 

 always spoken of with respect as a complete and origi- 

 nal method, so I obtained a copy of the book, in which 

 is set forth the Methods cT Equitation hasee sur de 

 nouveaux Principes, par F. Baucher, and having dis- 

 entangled (no easy task) what was really practical from 

 the enveloping mass of conceited sham scientific non- 

 sense, I had numbered the margin so as to make a series 

 of simple progressive lessons of half an hour each. 

 The volume in question, which was not, by-the-bye, the 

 present improved edition, I now produced in a some- 

 what dog-eared condition from under my arm. My 

 wife, seeing that remonstrance was of no avail, took a 

 seat on the veranda, so as to be ready to advise and 

 assist, while my excellent friends, the farmer and his 

 wife, came out " to see the circus," as they said, and 

 established themselves in suitable midsummer attitudes, 

 with countenances of amused expectation. 



" The first few lessons must be given on foot," said 

 I, and spreading my Baucher open upon the " horse- 

 block," I proceeded to carry out its first injunction by 

 placing myself, with riding -whip under my arm, in 

 front of the horse, which was already saddled and 



