Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-03-05
ENGLISH DIANAS.
SPORTS THAT HELP TO MAKE OUR
 FAIR COUSINS ABSOLUTE.

Ladies That Walk with the Guns-TToP.
 erly Equipped for Tramping = Real
 Fisherwomen-Landing Salmon-Other
 Outdoor Sports-Physical Results.
 The woman who shoots is at present rare bird, and we only know, writes Lady Fairlie Cuninghame, few who attempt 1t. The Comtesse de Paris is a crack shot, and her bag has been chronicled pretty regularly every week lately. On three days visit to Lord and Lady Coventry, at Croome court, she shot no less than 22S rabbits to her own gun. Very likely this sport, like all others, will soon have its following of fair enthusiasts. The best makers have now some very light, small bore guns, whose killing powers, if only held straight, quite come up to the heavy twelve bore of twenty years ago; so there is no reason why the example set by a few should not soon be generally followed. Even now there are some ladies who shoot grouse in the Highlands, just as there are a very few who have brought down their stag in deer forest.
 Many ladies walk with the guns part of the day, and the going is often sufficiently rough to tax the powers of an ordinary wo- man, whether it be tramping knee deep over Highland heather, or crossing an Irish bog that shakes at every step, and whose deep ditches, full of peaty brown water, with 8 doubtful taking off, present difficulties only to be overcome by the young and active. Even the tanner sport of partridge shooting in England requires good walking powers; the sticky clays are very heavy going, and stumbling over turnips when Q bit tired is not over pleasant.
 Covert shooting is, no doubt, the kind ladies enjoy most, and to stand beside good shot for an hour or two in the afternoon at a 'warm corner," and see him bowl over hare or rabbit as they cross the ride and. rocketer after rocketer, as they swing over the high trees, is very exciting. One quite enters into the spirit of the sport and feels as much an- noyed if fair shot is missed, and as much delighted if difficult one comes off, as if one held the gun ones self. Whether ladies actu- ally shoot, or merely walk after the guns, or help to beat covert, they must be properly equipped. The boots must be of the strong. est; the petticoat, if not of leather, ought tc be of strong homespun; and the whole cos tune ne that can stand wetting.
 The same advice may be given about fish, ing, if this sport is to be taken up seriously and not merely as an excuse for idling along a river bank with a rod, whose butt is as often in the water as the flies and line are hung up in bush or tree. Fishing, as prac ticed by the Duchess of Roxburgh on the sil yer Tweed, or the Ladies Gordon-Lennox or the ''thundering" Spey. is very different business. These ladies are real fisherwomen and as Highland gillie said of one of the latter, "It was just a pairfect wonder to see her fush."' It must be remembered that witt heavy salmon rod, to make cast of some forty or fifty yards of line so that the fly shall alight gently within few inches of the desired spot, is by no means child's play, Ii requires not only great skill, but certain amount of strength. To play and land ( | salmon on a Highland river means to be able to dash up and down rocky banks, jumping from powder to powder. now in the water and now out, to have ones wrists and all the faculties of mind and body at tension pitcf fir sometimes half an hour together, and, 1T 1 fact, to have every nerve and muscle in full | play.
 There are ladies who call themselves fish erwomen who hand the rod to the attendant gillie to do all the work; but to take the bit ter with the sweet, as the ladies we hay, named and many others do, requires energy and perseverance, strength and some skill
 The same may, in a degree, be said of mos other outdoor amusements-indeed they hardly existed in any form; but now all il changed with vengeance. The real fact Ii that women have been gradually emancipat ing themselves in all countries from the con ventional trammels that used to letter thei lives. Especially is this the case within tn, last ten or fifteen years, and as in othel countries (America in particularly womel have taken to battle with the other sex il professional life, so in sporting England d. they vie with man in many athletic pursuits Nowadays there are few girls who canno either ride over fence in good style ane follow a lead across country, or play tennis cricket, fish and even shoot, aye! and. yer, we'll, too; and who can tramp over moor and turnip fields, and in every way are no left far behind in those very pursuits which a few short years ago, were looked upon a entirely the privilege of man.
 Kingsley says it is the hard east wind tha makes hard Englishman, and we in our tur1 may add it is the love of outdoor life an, sports spiced with danger that help to mak so many English women fearless and resc lute, and with "a heart for any ate."-Hom Journal