Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-04-18
IN THE SADDL E .
Facilities for the Enjoyment Of Eques-
trian Exercise About Washington.
AT THE SOLDIERS HOME.
No More Beautiful Spot in Which to Ride
Some Take Cross Country spurts and Others
Pretend They Do-A Typical Young Couple
Described.


Pretend They Do-A Typical Young Couple
Described.
NNHEY WERE ON HORSEBACK AND OF
l. course they rode up Connecticut avenue
and were seen by STAR reporter. This thor
oughfare Of fashion is the only possible route
by which one can get from the city into the
country-that is to say, many people seem to
think SO, and there are certain equestrians, both
male and female, who are veritable land marks
OF that street. At certain hours every fair AZ
ternoon you will see them going up the avenue
and at q certain hour later in the day you will
find them coming down. "what goes up must
come down" is q well-known law of nature, and
the unwritten, but equally memorable law of
fashion says that he or she who rides up Con-
necticut avenue must be certain to ride down it,
TOO. Itmatters not how shabby or dirty ypu look
coming down. but you must be spruce and clean
when you 60 up. Your horses shoes must be
blackened, and you yourself must be quite i'm
maculate. The more disrsputable you and the
horse look coming home the better. If mud has
better. If your hat has been smashed. well and
good. II you have broken stirrup strap or
glrth hanging you are quite hero. All these
things look as though you had been riding acrsss
country, had been jumping and racing, and al
together give you the air Of Q man who il not
afraid OF anything on earth.
YOUNG DUDES TRICK.
There used to be young man in this city
who was accustomed, whom he rode out in the
country, to throw his hat in the mud and make
his horse walk over it. Then he would come
down Connecticut avenue with this battered
0ead-Qear n hat ho
hat OF the old tramp that has been slept in for
months. after having been preserved in an ash
barrel before, isn't . circumstance to this dudes
hat Mr.. Evarts' famous tile, the grandfather's
Presidents peculiar property, the hat Of an I'M
dergraduste after college rush." are all
beautiful compared with the muddy, trampled
derby that this young man used to wear down
Connecticut avenue on horseback. He used to
put on tough look, too, and when people,
fall! We're you hurt?" He would reply: ~
put him at too high q fence and he couldn't
make 1t and fell back. I'm little shaken up,
that's all. You know I'm pretty tough" This
little farce went on for some time, until some
body came upon the fraud out in the country
trampling on his hat, and then the joke was
given away and the young man found it con-
venient shortly afterward to return to his ma
tive haunts in the north.
COST OF TIE LADY's CLOTHES.
All this is parenthesis and the thread Of this
article, which was broken before it had really
begun to b manifest. must be taken up again.
They were on horseback then, and Of course,
they rode up Connect icut avenue. She had on
Ya nlow vi habit %:ds b. famous tailor in New
little boots, worth their weight in gold almost,
cost SO. Upon hsr hsad . sawed-off silk hat
was psrehsd and this has cost $40. In her
hand she carried buckhorn handled malaccs
riding stick, present from some reckless
young man,lat cost of at least SIS. Upon her
wrist was a leather bracelet into which was
buckled q small gold watch with the face
showing, and this little toy had cost fond
parent s125 The whole value Of the outside
belongings Of the ''lady on horseback"-
heaven forbid that any interior accessories
should be alluded to- and, indeed, if such
allusion were made it would startle The Stars
readers by its brevity-the value, then, Of her
habit and the one or two things that necessarily
60 with 1t wGs about $500.
THE YOUNG MANS aET-uP.
The young man who was with her wore pair
OF riding trousers, very tight about the knees
and the body as loose as the balloon canvas of
yacht. He had had them made in London,
where they had cost him a couple Of pounds, or
about $40, but they had been sent over to him
and he had paid as much as they were worth in
duty besides, thus bringing the price of his
trousers up to the highest conceivable sum
that the same cloth and the finest tailor would
nave cost him at home. Whereas the ladys
habit was worth over 800. his trousers were
not worth more than so. His boots were
worth s25 and his spurs 50. He carried the
usual riding stick, which had cost So. All the
rest OF his attire was not peculiar to horseback
riding and the cost of his equestrian clothing
was thus less than $50. On the whole it is, per-
maps, better to be man than woman, except
that in this case the man paid for his clothes
and the girl didn't paw for hers
WHERE AWAY.
As the couple reached the top Of the incline
at the head Of Connecticut avenue he drew his
horse in and lazily turning to his companion,
said:
..Well, which way shall we go?"
81 leave it to you," said she.
"No," he said. Il follow you. You know all
the roads as well as l, and you are much bet
ter Judge Of their picturesqueness'
Home"
Accordingly they went OF on q fine trot for
the beautiful farm that is the particular prop
erty OF the retired soldiers Of the United
States
THE BEAUTIFUL SOLDIERS HOME.
The girl was right in her choice, for of all the
spots in the neighborhood of the city few are
SO beautiful as this. 1t offers every charm for
driving or riding II you want a view where will
you find a more beautiful one than that in front
of the statue of Gen. Scott? And the serpentine
roads through the deep thick woods are pic
turesque enough to please anybody. New
Workers are proud Of Central Park, and Justly
SO, for it is spot of varied landscape and
pleasant to the pedestrian as well as to the more
fortunate individual who uses horses. Fair
mount Park in Philadelphia also has q repu-
tation, to which its drives and the winding
Schuylkill fully entitle it. The grounds of the
Soldiers Home are more modest. Nature has
been allowed to have her own way to a great
extent and the hand of the landscape gardener
is not SO apparent. Moreover, it is a farm as
well as park, and its practical uses are mani
fest on every hand. But in an unostentatious
way the Soldiers Home is more beautiful than
Central Park or Paramount Park There is not
a drive in either Of them that is half so attrac-
tive the drive the east side of the Soldiers
Home woods. There is not view in either that
can compare with the Capitol vista or the out
look in front of SCOTS statue and. for the mat
ter Of that, there is no statue in Paramount Park
or Central Park that occupies as fine site or is
as imposing generally as this same statue of the
magnificent Gen. Scott.
THE YOUNG GIRL WAS RIoHr.
Tho young girl on horseback did well in
choosing the Soldiers Home for her afternoon
ride. 1t is not place for running ones horse,
Ia x<<~ h. e. ~