Side-Saddles. 331 



to do. ' Sir,' said he, ' you should remember that I am only 

 a ^2-a-month servant. If I were as clever as you expect 

 me to be, you would have to pay me at least ,£30 a 

 month.' 



The craze for cheap riding lessons is not confined to 

 England. James Fillis told me that on one occasion when 

 he had created a very favourable impression by his high 

 school riding in Berlin, several ladies of the Prussian capital 

 asked him to give them riding lessons ; but that on his men- 

 tioning that his terms were eight marks (shillings) a lesson, 

 they all with one accord expressed their sorrow and went 

 away. 



Although our riding lessons did not bring us in much 

 money, for only a few people will pay highly for good quality 

 after having been accustomed to obtain an inferior article 

 cheaply ; they taught both of us a great deal. Long before 

 we commenced them, I was aware of the truth of the old 

 saying that one never knows a subject well, until one has 

 had some experience in teaching it. We were of course 

 delighted to get this opportunity of increasing our know- 

 ledge, and we stored up the results of our observations for 

 use in new editions, as well as on future occasions. One 

 morning in the riding-school, I remarked that my wife, while 

 going over some jumps and, consequently, while pressing her 

 leg against the leaping-head of her saddle, kept the fiat of her 

 knee away from the flap of the saddle, instead of close against 

 it. I could see this, because she was riding without a skirt 

 at the time. When she had finished, I asked her why she 

 rode in this manner, and remarked that she would be firmer 

 and 'squarer' in her seat, if she would bring her knee close to 

 the horse's side. She replied that what I said was quite true ; 

 but that the curve of the leaping-head forced the knee away 

 from the flap of the saddle, when the leg was pressed against 

 the leaping-head, and that this was a failing inherent in all 

 leaping-heads. I told her that I would try to remedy this 

 defect, and by a good deal of thinking, many experiments 



