Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-05-11

school. 1t was little Daisy Letter, the
daughter of the millionaire Chicago mer,
chant, who is barely IL years old, and who
is one of the brightest baby riders of the
Capital. She wore aIlight gray habit, and
| beneath her jaunty riding skirt and falling
| over cute little boots were a pair of close
| fitting trousers, at which she peeped with
great complaisance. 1 dropped into the
riding school as 1 went by and saw her
whirling aroupd the ring with the instructor
at her elbow. She sits her saddle SO we'll,
| however, that she does not need any assist
ance. and as she flew around the tan-bark
turf her hair streamed out behind her, and
she created applause from the spectators
She is very pretty girl, and she will be
one Of the lively companions OF future paper
chases
Mr.. Bancroft has not been riding much
this year, and the long rides which he and
Librarian Spofford used to take into the
country have been discontinued. The old
historian has been confined to his house all
winter, and though it was only a wear ago
that he told me he could ride 80 miles with
out tiring, he has for this year given up
riding entirely. Mr.. Bancroft sits a horse
very well. Mr.. Spofford now rides out with
his daughter, and Miss Spofford is a verv
graceful rider. One of Chief Justice Fuller's
daughters is learning to ride, and she prom
ises to be one of the good riders of the Capital.
DIPLOMATIC RIDERS.
" ALI of the diplomats ride more or less. and
Alexander Gregor, of the Russian Legation,
has probably done more TO encourage horse
back riding in Washington than any other
man. He Is immensely wealthy, has large
estates in Russia and has plenty OF money
to spend In Washington. He has managed
mn IN hnP nj Oh I.
connection with Mrs. Whitney who started
them. The Chinese Legation has no riders
this season, but DIR. Vow, of the last Lega-
tiOn, was good rider. He wore his costume
of Chinese silk in the saddle and fastened
his queue by pinning it into his coat before
he mounted his horse. He would grow wild
Iy excited during paper hunt, aud he was
more picturesque than any woman who rode
with him. The Baron de StruYe, the Rus
sian Minister, rides a good horse, and Mr..
Levery, of the Danish Legation, is often in
the saddle.
Colonel Jerome Bonaparte, while he was
here In Washington, frequently rode with
Madame Bonaparte, and the two made a
striking picture as they went along the
country roads. Jerome Napoleon looks very
much like Louis Napoleon, and he wears in
the saddle high military boots and sits
his horse as erect as a statue. His horse was
a dark bay of large build, and his wife gal
loped along beside him on similar animal.
Mrs. Bonaparte is quite as good a rider as
her husband, and the two sometimes went |
along at an almost reckless gait
1t costs something TO own a horse in Wash
ington and since riding has become so fash
iouable it takes rich man to learn to ride. |
The rates at the riding school when the |
thing opened and President Cleveland was |
a member were 800 per season and you fur |
nished your own horse. A good riding |
horse costs 5000 and upward and it takes |
lust S25 month to board him at the livery |
stable. If he is highly bred animal you |
have to be very careful of him and there is
always danger of killing a horse in paper
hasing or hunting.
EASILY A THOUSAND A YEAR.
The riding outfit. including the pigskin
saddle, an expensive riding costume and
other little etceteras run the bill very close
to $500 for the seasons fun, and if you are
an aristocratic young maiden with desire
to be conventional, you can add another
$500 for the expense of keeping groom to
90 out with you. In this case you have got
to have two horses, and your groom must be !,
clothed in costly livery.
"They come high, 1 know" said mill
ionaire's daughter the other day to me, "but
we have to have them. You cannot have |
much fun in this world without paying for
it, and if you get the fun and have the
money to spend, it is worth it. Girls who
have incomes of $1,000 year for pin
money can easily afford 81, 900 for horse
back riding, and the chances are that their
fathers will be allowed TO pay these bills
and the money will not come out of their
pockets.
Some of the Washington girls have enough
confidence in their judgment of horses to
buy their own steeds, and the Bayard girls
can tell the weak and sound points OF a
horse as we'll as a jockey. Miss Alice
Maury, one of the fashionable riders of the
Capital, has a mare that Mr.. Childs, of
gave her when it was colt.
She broke this horse and trained it herself.
Miss Maury is posted on horse flesh, and
there is no danger of her making any mis-
take in a purchase. Miss Carlotta French,
the daughter of ex-Congressman French, is
another good judge of horses. She is fine
rider, and though she Is small, has good
right arm and is not afraid OF tumble.
MISS GRUEDY, in.