There are two classes of women who ride to hounds, or, rather,
among many possible classifications, there are two to which I
will now call attention. There is the lady who rides, and demands
assistance; and there is the lady who rides, and demands none.
Each always, I may say always, receives all the assistance that
she may require; but the difference between the two, to the men
who ride with them, is very great. It will, of course, be
understood that, as to both these samples of female Nimrods, I
speak of ladies who really ride, not of those who grace the
coverts with, and disappear under the auspices of, their papas or
their grooms when the work begins.
The lady who rides and demands assistance in truth becomes a
nuisance before the run is over, let her beauty be ever so
transcendent, her horsemanship ever- so perfect, and her battery
of general feminine artillery ever so powerful. She is like the
American woman, who is always wanting your place in a railway
carriage, and demanding it, too, without the slightest idea of
paying you for it with thanks; whose study it is to treat you as
though she ignored your existence while she is appropriating your
services. The hunting lady who demands assistance is very
particular about her gates, requiring that aid shall be given to
her with instant speed, but that the man who gives it shall never
allow himself to be hurried as he renders it.
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