HUNTING OUTFIT CONSIDERED.
It is time that we should now consider the additions and alterations
which will be necessary for your wardrobe before it can be pronounced a
complete one for a lady who intends to hunt.
A very great deal must, of course, depend upon whether you mean to be
an inveterate huntress, or only to enjoy the pleasures of an occasional
day out. Following the hounds thrice a week, and sometimes oftener,
I have found the following outfit sufficient: two silk hats, two
jerry ditto, and two soft felt; two Melton cloth riding habits; one
thoroughly rainproof ditto; one ordinary cloth, for mild days, such as
are to be met with even in winter time; two pairs of hunting breeches;
six chemises; six pairs of web drawers; six web vests; two corsets;
two pairs of Wellingtons; six pairs of fine wool stockings; six pairs
of silk ditto; one Latchford spur; three pairs of strong leather
gloves; one hunting crop, with long lash attached; three net veils; one
celluloid collar, with cuffs to match; six linen collars and cuffs; two
woollen neck-mufflers; two silk ditto; one rainproof cape or jacket;
one warm, lined jacket, to fit over habit-bodice; and one Newmarket
overcoat, to wear when driving to and from covert.
It will be only necessary to notice a few of these articles in detail,
having already given advice concerning most of them. To begin, then,
with stockings. Wear woollen ones if you want to have your feet always
dry and comfortable, with a pair of silk drawn over. Nobody who has
not tried this plan can possibly realise the warmth and comfort of
it--especially when the outer stocking is of _spun_ silk; a material in
itself almost as warm as wool. If the sensation of wearing wool next
the skin is objected to, the silk may be worn underneath. As a rule,
however, it is only cheap wool stockings that “tickle”; the finer kinds
seldom do, and I cannot recommend the “cheap and nasty” in any article
of riding gear, no matter how comparatively unimportant it may seem to
be.
Your breeches for hunting should be especially well-made; large enough
in the seat not to burst in case of a fall, and long enough in the
thigh not in any way to hamper the knees. Nothing save a garment of
this description can be worn with top boots, nor will anything else do
so well for hunting, or be half so comfortable. They should be carried
below the calf of the leg, in order to check the tendency to work up,
and ought to have the last four or five inches made of silk, or better
still, good serviceable satin, by which I certainly do _not_ mean the
abomination known as cotton-back, which in reality gives no wear at
all. This arrangement will prevent the top of the boot (a Wellington,
of course), from being overcrowded or bulky, and is in fact, for many
reasons, a desirable one. The legs of the breeches should button from
the knee down--four buttons being ample to allow--and the fastening of
the right leg should be on the inside, while that of the left is on the
outside, in order to prevent rubs. These breeches, if made of cloth,
should be lined with chamois; but I prefer deer-skin to any other kind.
With regard to securing perfection in the fit of them--a thing
indispensable where comfort is desired--it will not be at all necessary
to submit to a tailor’s measurements. Very few ladies indeed would
like to do so, and it is pleasant to know that nothing of the kind
is required. Application to any _first-class_ house will bring back
the necessary directions, simply given, for self-measurement, and by
paying attention to these and forwarding the precise particulars, a
perfect fit will be ensured. In saying this, I would draw attention
to the words printed in italics, for there is no other article of
ladies’ riding apparel which can be, and so frequently is, utterly
and completely ruined by incompetent cutters. I have heard ladies say
that they made their own hunting-breeches and found them answer very
well. No doubt they may do so, by ripping up an old tailor-made pair,
and proceeding to cut out exactly by them; but that they can succeed
in the first instance without a pattern to go by, I cannot bring
myself to believe, any more than I can credit the expediency of home
millinery and dressmaking, except when attempted by unusually clever
and competent hands.
I do not like riding _trousers_ for hunting, although many are wedded
to a firm belief in them. If adopted, they must, of absolute necessity,
be the exact colour of the habit, must be made long enough to allow
even fuller freedom to the knees than in ordinary riding, and be
fastened beneath the arch of the foot with a _leather_ strap (always
leather for hunting purposes), although elastic is in some respects
not to be despised, inasmuch as it yields easily with pressure, and is
consequently not altogether undesirable when the trousers have been
made too short in the legs. It very soon wears out, however, as stated
in a former chapter, requires constant renewing, and is unpleasantly
apt to give way when least expected to behave badly--very often on
hunting days, or when a long distance from home--and then good-bye to
everything save extreme discomfort, for the trouser-leg will assuredly
ruck up, and a good many lady riders--and, indeed, gentlemen also--have
a disagreeable knowledge of what that means.
I now come to speak again of boots, a subject on which I have
already given some advice. The so-called fashionable boot--an awful
invention, utterly misshapen, with toe narrow and pointed, and long
heel protruding like a spike from almost the centre of the sole--must
be altogether discarded. It is to be hoped that this will not go hard
with sensible girls, or women. Nobody can ride with comfort who is
not prepared to lay aside _all_ cherished prejudices in favour of
cramped feet, hour-glass waists, and gloves that are two sizes too
small for the hands they are meant to protect. I do not believe that
anybody really admires a stuffed doll on horseback. The elegance of
the figure depends upon its flexibility, and a supple foot is in its
own way quite as much to be commended. If the boots are too tight,
the feet will be cold; nothing on earth conduces so largely to that
oft-complained-of evil as wearing boots that are disproportionately
small and close-fitting. The foot should be able to move freely within
its covering, even though clad in the double stocking which I have so
confidently recommended. A broad sole, wide toe, and flat broad heel,
placed properly back, as far as the natural heel, are the requisites
for a comfortable riding-boot.
I have already drawn attention to the fact that a considerable distance
has sometimes to be walked in boots that have been made, ostensibly,
for riding in alone. For example, a horse may get away from his rider
after a fall, and leave her to walk across several fields--over very
rough ground perhaps--ay, and to climb fences, and get through rutty
gaps too, before arriving at a point at which he can be brought up for
her to remount him; while, in addition to all this, a gentle-hearted
equestrian will often of her own accord like to get off, when taking
a tired horse home to his stable, and will walk alongside of him with
the bridle thrown over her arm, a piece of humanity which eases her own
limbs as well as his. To have comfortable pliant boots, and everything
else proportionately easy-fitting, will be found both healthy and wise.
In short, a lady dressed for riding ought to be able _when_ dressed to
take down or put up her hair, draw off her boots and put them on again,
and walk a mile or two _with_ them on, if required, without feeling any
desire whatever to remove them after the exercise. This--if it will
only be believed--can be accomplished without any unsightly clumsiness,
or necessity for making feet or figure look in the least degree larger
than if tortured and compressed into unnatural proportions. Well-made
clothing, composed of pliant materials and properly put on, will never
impart an appearance of bulk, even if worn sufficiently easy-fitting
to be slipped on and off at a moment’s notice; while ill-cut garments,
unnaturally strained and tightened, will make figure and extremities
look absolutely larger than they really are. Who, for instance, that
has ever seen a No. 6 glove stretched upon a hand that ought to take
at least four sizes larger has ever been deceived into believing that
there was not something painfully amiss? Straining seams, fingers only
half drawn on, and ominous gaps, yawning and wide, where the first
buttons ought to fasten, attest the “vanity of vanities” against which
we have been warned. With boots and corsets it is just the same,--and
yet, despite the uncontrovertible evidence brought to bear upon the
matter, ladies still persist in destroying the symmetry of their
appearance, undermining their health, and leaving themselves exposed
to disparaging observations, rather than give up the follies into
which an undue desire to appear “slim” have by degrees drawn them.
After all, when we come to consider the subject, is it really worth
while to undergo suffering and inconvenience in order that one or two
persons may, perhaps, say, “That girl has small feet”; or “What a
slender waist that lady has?” Ten to one the utterers of such remarks
never think a second time about them, but turn away to make their
comments upon the next person who chances to come in their path--and
for this trifling gratification, distress and pain are borne, and the
seeds of inward disease are in some instances suffered to take root. If
anything that I can say, in this or future chapters, shall have even a
trifling influence in deterring my sisters from destroying the natural
attributes which a wise Creator has apportioned to them, I shall deem
myself happy in having written it, and feel that my efforts have not
been altogether in vain.
The Newmarket coat, for going to covert, is, I think, the only article
of which I have not now fully spoken. The nicest of these are made of
dark strong melton, or beaver cloth--the latter wears splendidly--and
are lined all through with _good_ satin, being well quilted about the
bodice to keep out the cold. Some ladies affect the coachmen’s garment,
a drab coat, with double capes, but I have a strong objection to it
myself. The collar should be made pretty deep, so as to be capable of
turning up about the neck in wet or chilly weather, and the skirts
should come quite down to the feet. It is almost superfluous to say
that an overcoat of this description should be cut so as to fit very
easily over the habit, nor need I add that the task of fitting should
be entrusted to none save a really first-class tailor.
Ladies have frequently inquired of me, by letter and otherwise, what
ought to be the price of various articles of riding apparel. Indeed,
to judge by the number of communications which have from time to time
reached me, a great and stirring interest appears to be centred in the
matter, and the fact that I at times delay answering the multitude of
writers who ask questions and beg for immediate replies is not really
attributable to any discourtesy, but is rather the result of over-work,
coupled with a sense of difficulty in detailing the average cost of a
variety of articles which are manufactured in every quality--good, bad,
and indifferent--the cheapest, or lowest priced, being in all cases the
dearest in the end. A thoroughly good article will look respectable
to the very last bit, while a cheap one can never be made to do so at
all. I can, for my own part, see no virtue in the so-called “bargains”
in which many ladies are so curiously fond of investing. I use the
word “curiously” advisedly, for to me it is most strange how sensible
practical women, who on most subjects have their wits well about them,
are nevertheless afflicted with a positive craze for bargain-hunting,
and are willing to bear any amount of pushing and trampling upon, in
slummy shops with “Selling off” emblazoned in large letters all over
the windows, for the very doubtful satisfaction of carrying home some
three or four pairs of half-soiled gloves at one shilling per pair, or
a few yards of mildewed ribbon at something very much too dear for it.
The _average_ cost of riding gear, every article being of the best and
finest description, may be thus set down. Silk hats, from £1 1_s._
each; jerry ditto, 14_s._; soft felt, 12_s._ 6_d._; melton riding
habits, £12 12_s._ each; rainproof ditto, £10 10_s._; ordinary cloth,
£10 10_s._; summer cloth, £8 8_s._; gingham or holland, £5 5_s._;
riding breeches, £4 4_s._ per pair; buckskin, £6 6_s._ to £8 8_s._;
trousers (chamois lined), from £2 2_s._ to £3 3_s._ Chemises, 8_s._
each. Web drawers (silk), £1 10_s._ per pair; (cotton), 7_s._ 6_d._;
vests (silk), £1 1_s._ each; (cotton), 5_s._ Corsets (satin), £4 4_s._;
sateen (red), £2 10_s._; sateen (white), £2 2_s._ Wellington boots, £3
3_s._ per pair. Wool stockings, 3_s._ 6_d._; pure silk, ditto, 16_s._;
spun silk, 6_s._ 6_d._ Latchford spur (plated), £1 1_s._; japanned,
9_s._ 6_d._ Gloves, 5_s._ 6_d._ per pair. Celluloid collar and cuffs,
4_s._ Rainproof jacket, £2 2_s._ Cape, £1. Warm over-jacket, with
braiding, £6 6_s._ Newmarket covert-coat, from £10 to £12. It would be
impossible to lay down any rule for the price of whips, as much must
necessarily depend upon the mounting; but I have always thought that
with them, as with all other articles of riding apparel, the plainer
they are the better. A good hunting-whip with long lash attached
averages from £1 10_s._ upwards.
Every article that I have named may be had at a very much lower price;
in fact for half (or even less) the ordinary cost that I have set down,
but the question of course remains, “Are cheap things, as a rule, worth
purchasing?”