RIDING RECOLLECTIONS 



No man, till he has tried the experiment, can 

 conceive how awkward and powerless one feels in 

 a lady's seat. They themselves affirm that with 

 the crutch, or second pommel on the near side, 

 they are more secure than ourselves ; but when I 

 see those delicate, fragile forms flying over wood 

 and water, poised on precipitous banks, above all 

 crashing through strong bullfinches, I am struck 

 with admiration at the mysteries of nature, among 

 which not the least wonderful seems the feminine 

 desire to excel. And they do excel when resolved 

 they will, even in those sports and exercises which 

 seem more naturally belonging to the masculine 

 department. It was but the other day, a boat- 

 man in the Channel told me he saw a lady swim- 

 minor alone more than half a mile off shore. Now 

 that the universal rink has brought skating into 

 fashion, the " many-twinkling feet," that smoothest 

 glide and turn most deftly, are shod with such 

 dainty boots as never could be worn by the 

 clumsier sex. At lawn-tennis the winninor service 

 is offered by some seductive hoyden in her teens ; 

 and, although in the game of cricket the Graces 

 have as yet been males, at no distant day we may 

 expect to see the best batsman at the Oval bowled 

 out, or perhaps caught, by a woman ! 



Yes, the race is in the ascendant. It takes the 

 heaviest fish — I mean real fish — with a rod and 

 line. It kills its grouse riofht and left — in the 



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