FOREST AND STREAM 
619 
The Lady Afield 
Advice That Makes For The Comfort and Success of The Woman Who Goes Afield 
By Edward C. Crossman. 
Some of our outdoor women have taken a 
leaf from the book of the English and Scotch 
Dianas, who use skirts built on the kilt pattern, 
to throw around them when occasion demands. 
A kilt, if you do not know it, is merely a long 
strip of cloth that is swathed around the figure 
and the ends buttoned together. Such a gar¬ 
ment can be slipped on without the slow and 
perhaps embarrassing process of climbing into 
it—or however it is women get into such gar¬ 
ments. 
A modification of the kilt idea lies before me, 
made for an out-of-door woman who rides horse¬ 
back a great deal on her trips, and yet wants 
a skirt to wear while working or lounging around 
camp. I’ve called in expert feminine witnesses, 
and they describe the affair as follows. Pos¬ 
sibly it’s Greek to you without the necessary 
translation at your own end. 
They state that it is a four-gored skirt, slit 
entirely up the front much like a kilt, so it can 
be put on by wrapping it around one and button¬ 
ing up the junction of the ends. They lap about 
four inches at this junction. Then at the back 
the skirt is also slit up to within about four 
inches of the waistband, also with buttons, and 
a lap of a couple of inches. With the slits fore 
and aft buttoned clear up, it is a plain short 
hunting skirt. With the slits unbuttoned part 
way up it becomes a sort of divided skirt, neat 
for riding in semi-civilization and yet without 
the cumbersome amount of material of the real 
divided skirt. 
It can be put on without leaving the saddle, 
by the simple process of draping it around and 
buttoning the ends part way in front. For fuss¬ 
ing around camp, the skirt is draped around and 
the slits buttoned up, both back and front. Off 
the wearer it is simply a long strip, consider¬ 
ably more voluminous at the bottom than at the 
top. 
Two patch pockets are affixed, good big ones, 
with buttons to keep them closed. The material 
is a wool khaki, something of the fustian type. 
The color is a compromise between green and 
brown. Buttons are put on to stay, sewed to 
patches on the inside of the cloth. Such a gar¬ 
ment should be long enough to reach just below 
the knees. 
For handiness, ease of carrying, quickness of 
action and general all-round merit, this is the 
best form of skirt for the outdoor lady if her 
trips include riding horseback, hard hiking and 
perhaps patches of civilization mixed in. Such 
a garment could add considerably to the com¬ 
fort of the bird hunt, rolled up and carried 
along, and donned over the knickers on approach 
to civilization and the stares of the natives. 
The shirt part of the outfit should in all cases 
be woollen, made to order, full fashioned, either 
of good grey flannel or of the army olive drab. 
There are times when flannel is a bit warm, but 
better this than cotton, with a chill breeze strik¬ 
ing through toward night. 
A suit of featherweight oil skins, weighing 
around five pounds for skirt and coat, might well 
(Concluded from last week.) 
go along into the mountains if they are inclined 
to storms and the usual performance of the hills 
when the tenderfoot gets within their billows. 
There are two satisfactory hats, one a Stetson 
costing around $6, with Montana peak crown, 
three and a half to four inch brim, and the other 
a waterproof affair for the marshes. They are 
fastened on as usual, by hatpins running through 
the skull from side to side—you’ve seen them 
do it. 
Don’t forget gloves, good gloves of horsehide 
or buckskin with gauntlets, preferably with the 
take-up cord at the wrist to keep out cold and 
leaves. This means a glove made on a man’s 
last, not the flimsy “walking gloves’’ they may 
try to palm off on you. 
To this add a good silk neckerchief—not a 
handkerchief—a good big one. Teach the lady to 
tie this with square knot in front a la sailor, 
with the two loose ends hanging down the back. 
This does not mean with the knot behind and 
the loose ends in front like a baby's bib. This 
is the way the eastern illustrator invariably 
draws his 'cowmen. The kerchief keeps out the 
sun and the wind and the dirt and the chill 
breezes. At night it is a good night cap. 
Recollect that the lady cannot at first stand 
the discomforts that you accept as a matter of 
course. She is not comfortable when she is con¬ 
scious that she is a “perfect fright,” even though 
so unimportant a person as her husband is the 
only one to see. Therefore don’t kick and don’t 
laugh if she sneaks in a mirror and a powder 
puff—and uses them both. See that a jar of cold 
cream goes along; out of doors is fearfully hard 
on tender skins. See that liquid courtplaster is 
at hand for the broken places in the skin, and 
that surgeon’s tape is in the kit for that horror, 
a blister at the start of the trip. For your own 
comfort, take along plenty of your size handker¬ 
chiefs. This is warning based on experience. 
She will borrow yours, you can depend on it, 
by the time two days are gone by. 
For the long trips a little rucksack, in which 
to carry perhaps an army aluminum quart can¬ 
teen, a bit of lunch, and a spare, light-weight 
sweater, should be part of her outfit. Don’t get 
in the habit of carrying her impedimenta for 
her, unless the grey shade of weariness comes 
over her face. She’ll appreciate the trips more 
and be prouder of her share, if she paddles her 
own share of the canoe. An aluminum cup for 
the thirsty times, and a soap box of the same 
material full of sweet chocolate, are worth 
while on the long hikes. Chocolate has brought 
more than one tired hunter back to the camp, 
across the long high ridges which seemed such 
insurmountable barriers. 
Loss of sleep will do more toward disgust¬ 
ing her and cutting down her endurance than 
any other one thing. At first an air pillow, or a 
lace-up clothes bag, made up smoothly, should 
be part of the bed roll. A tick to be stuffed 
with browse is excellent. Failing that or better 
padding below one, dig a hollow in the ground 
where the hips strike—and you’ll be surprised 
how comfortable even hard ground can be for 
a bed. 
The fishing equipment I leave to fishermen. 
The most important part of the lady’s gun equip¬ 
ment is the knowledge of how to use one with 
no danger to bystanders, and with much danger 
to the game. The mild and kickless .22 is the 
best preliminary practice. 
Then for the rifle, your choice might fall upon 
one of the new .22 HiPowers; a .25-35 of the 
lever family, made in takedown, light-weight 
form, with revolving magazine or half-tubular 
