DRESS REFORM 
 
 
Stephen and of Edward III women rode astride, and 
the ladies in Mexico and other parts of America 
regularly do so at the present time. 
  Chaucer described "The Wife of Bath" as wearing 
"on her feet a paire of spurries sharpe." From this 
we may judge that she also adopted a cross saddle, 
and as a matter of fact in the Elesmere MSS. we 
find a picture of her, showing that she rode astride, 
and was dressed in a curious garment like a divided 
bag. On the Continent, ladies who go shooting very 
often dress like their husbands, and a year or two 
ago the American newspapers were full of accounts 
of a lady who imitated the riding costume of a 
hunting man to the smallest detail. Apropos of this, 
The Field"1 told an amusing story of an English lady 
who in a measure unintentionally forestalled our 
American cousins, for after she had had the best part 
of her habit carried away by some aggressive bram- 
bles, she was seen scudding after her horse in a pair 
of real top boots. 
   Divided garments only appear unfeminine because 
we are unaccustomed to see them on ladies, and it 
is no secret that they are worn to a very great extent 
under skirts. Doubtless there may be some to whom 
the very idea of such a thing is abhorrent, and pos- 
sibly there are still wardrobes like those of a good 
lady mentioned by Miss Alice Morse Earle" in her 
book on the "Costume of Colonial Times." She 
was the wife of a respectable and well-to-do Dutch 
 
 
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