THE LADIES.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 7440, 10 August 1895, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE LADIES.

LADY CYCLISTS IN BATTER-

SEA-PARK

A (JAY AND PRETTY SCENE

It is worth while paying a visit to the pretty park on the southern side of the Thames between ten and twelve in the morning to watch the progress of the cycling equivalent of Rotten-row. There is quite a bustle around the entrance by Chelsea Bridge. Just within the gate stands a long row of bicycles, moored, if one may say so, against the footpath. Ladies in costumes which evidently mean business are examining the machines and arranging with the man in charge. Many, of course, ride their own machines, and every few minutes a rider comes smartly round the corner and glides down .tllS-g.ntle slope which .e-ffsf to the fiat road by the dedicated during these hours to cyclists. Ladies are decidedly in the majority, and though many are accompanied by gentlemen,, still more ride alone or in couples. Every now and then a hansom drives up, a welldressed girl steps out, her bicycle is handed down from the roof, and in another minute she, too, vanishes down the slope. Then an open carriage turn 3 in, followed by a hansom. A lady alights from the carriage, and the footman lifts her machine down from the hansom,- helps her to mount, and away she whirls. It is a gay and pretty scene, and r»s most who come at this hour can already ride, it is on the whole a graceful exhibition. Evidently it is a great enjoyment, for one sees the same girls there day after day, and among them a sprinking of older ladies, who do not seem to relish the morning's exorcise any less keenly for their additional years. A few horse riders are to be seen, but they soon retire to the soft track set aside for their benefit, and keep out of the way of the cyclists ; which, indeed, is wise, as there..are generally one or two tyros among/the company, and it is well known that with an inexperienced cyclist the machine tends in a niyster'—>us manner to rush against the -hfec'f: which the rider wishes to avoid. Carriages also are not wholly absent, and.the ladies who choose the southerly park for their morning drive have compensation for a less fashionable promenade in its rather more novel sur- | /foundings.

" The knickerbocker dress is not in vogne Ttn''BaF-sfsea-p-'ric. •■ Ye* one may see ladies in Piccadilly so attired and riding calmly along. On Hammersmith Bridge on Saturday afternoons the girls of the Mowbray-house Cycling Club are accustomed to meet for their weekly runs, and almost all wear long skirted jackets and knickerbockers. The superior convenience and safety of the dress are obvious, and the ease with which the rationally attired mount their machines and sail away is in itself convincing. The members of the Mowbray-house Club are mostly young women who are hard at work during the week at typewriting, teaching, or similar sedentary occupations, and the benefit of the Saturday outings to them must be beyond calculation. The ladies in Battersea-park make the best of the matter, short of adopting a rational costume. They wear plain dresses, some with very short and others with moderate skirts, neat shoes and boots, and in some cases gaiters. The wiser sort keep the skirt in place by an elastic band fastened to the hem and passed round the ankle, and for the most part the dresses sit neatly enough, though the best of skirts will blow about somewhat in a wind. Cycling dress for ladies is less severe in style than it used to bo, and straw hats and pretty skirts or blouses are now generally worn, together with a jacket and skirt of grey, brown, or blue woollen material, made with very little fulness at the back. Some wear gaily beflowered hats and loose-flying lace collars, but these do not look well. Nor are very short skirts necessary ; a medium length is best.—English exchange.