n and water, but
it is messy. The alternative, however, is a choice between complexion or
bathing, as it is otherwise prohibitive for the "sun afflicted" to have
both.

=RIDING CLOTHES=

The distorted circus-mirror clothes seen on men who know no better, are
not a bit worse than the riding clothes seen on actresses in our best
theaters and moving pictures--who ought to know better. Nothing looks
worse than riding clothes made and worn badly, and nothing looks smarter
than they when well made and well put on.

A riding habit, no matter what the fashion happens to be, is like a
uniform, in that it must be made and worn according to regulations. It
must above all be meticulously trig and compact. Nothing must be sticking
out a thousandth part of an inch that can be flattened in.

A riding habit is the counterpart of an officer's uniform; it is not worn
so as to make the wearer look pretty! A woman to look well in a habit must
be smart or she is a sight! And nothing contributes so much to the
"sights" we see at present as the attempt to look pretty instead of
looking correct. The criticism is not intended for the woman who lives far
off in the open country and jumps on a horse in whatever she happens to
have on, but for those who dress "for looks" and ride in the parks of our
cities, or walk on the stage and before the camera, in scenes meant to
represent smart society!

To repeat, therefore, the young woman who wants to look pretty should
confine her exercise to dancing. She can also hold a parasol over her head
and sit in a canoe--or she can be pretty how and where she will, so long
as it is not on a horse in the park or hunting-field. (To mention
hunting-field is superfluous; the woman who can ride well enough to
follow the hounds is too good a sportswoman, too great a lover of good
form to be ignorant of the proper outline necessary to smartness of
appearance in the saddle.)

In smartest English society it is not considered best form for a young
girl to ride astride in the hunting-field or in the park after she is
grown. A high-born English girl rides astride as a child, but as soon as
she is old enough to be presented at Court, she appears at a Meet or in
the "Row" in a lady's habit, trigly perfect in fit, and on a side-saddle.
In America this is an extreme opinion, and it is only among the most
fashionable that a young girl having all her life ridden in a man's
saddle, finds the world a joyless place and pare