Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1865-08-11
A Dissertation on Ankles.


Fac Ttiduae, whose conductors are
now the acknowledged arbiters Of ele-
gancc IN all its departments, entertains
its readers this morning with the follow
ing dissertation upon ankles. Speaking
of the exercises OF the German ladies at
Jones's Woods yesterday, it says:
are positively enchanting. and yesterday,
for the arst time, We took 1T into our
head to make a hasty study Of this
charming and suggestive feature of fe-
male beauty in an entirely ethonlogic
and purely esthetic point of view. Re.
representatives. of almost every European
nation participated in TIE amusement
The wind was high the eonvolutions of
the hobby horses were swift; and the
study was easy as well as deleetabe.
We ascertained by numerous examples
the following facts:
The German ankle, as general thing,
is not beautiful. 1t is short. thick,
clumsy. Yet to the eye Of the love
sick swain it may appear more graceful
than that Of the Venus de Medici.-
Nevertheless, there are many kinds of
ankles of the Germarc formation, and
some of them are not at all unsymmetrl-
cal
The Danish ankle is generally very
good. The blood of the sea-kings is in
the damsel's veins.
"Bright maiden Of Orkney,
Star Of the blue sea,
I've swept ore the waters
To gaze upon thee
SO sang the Berserker of old, and he
evidently haa cultivated his taste for
ankles in bis own native land But
generally the Danish ankle is too abrupt
IN Its descent from the swell of the calf
to the delicacy Of the approach to the
foot. This gives it clumsy appearance
and prevents it from being special
tavorite.
The ankle of Sayony (of course we
speak and always only Of female ankles
is worse than the Danish 1t is shorter,
thicker, and Indicative of sigor and yigor
only.
But the Swiss ankle is model Of
beauty. Long, slim, 4legant, de!eetabe,
it is something to think and dream Of.
The peasant stocking of plaid covers it
with fairy.like exactness. You can see
the keen muscles ply beneath the fabric
of the covering 1t swells not abruptly, |
but gently, upward into perfect calf.
Ouly the Alpine roads, the rude torrent
crossings, the romance OF Switzerland,
could have produced such an ankle 1t
is for picture rather than an everyday
sight; it is for the painter, the poet and
the philosopher. 1t is beautiful, charm
ing, enchanting. 1t is strangely suggest
i've.
The ankle of Bavaria is also beauti-
full. Lean and elegant, it however broad.
ems too quickly as it approaches the foot,
which is an impcrfection not easily to be
overlooked by the connoisseur.
Austria is worse. Her ankle has the
fault of having no taper. The calf oil
the leg ends at the foot.
Hungary is the same This is proba-
bly, owing to the inhuman tyranny which
has trodden over her for years. Women
are compelled to pull the plough and canal
boats, and engage in other species Of de-
grading labors more meet for cattle,
steam aud caloric engines, and nothing
better could be expected OF their ank-
les.
Prussia makes better show, but, on
the whole, her ankles are not good, and
in dancing she has a ludicrous custom of
switching up her petticoat, in order to
make special display.
The Irish needs no eulogy. 1t speaks
for itself.
The English is fair, Indicative of great
fea;s of walking and other exercises.
The French ankle is positively bad
The fault with the German is usually an
excess of size-a superiority Of flesh and
muscular power; but the French errs in
an entirely opposite direction. 1t is too
slim. 1t is long, thin, scrawny. The as
cending swell to the calf tinoraifatoly
large is too long and gradual, and the
largeness and homeliness Of the foot also
dctracts from the general effect.
Italy has an exquisite ankle, light,
graceful full Of elasticity, and yet with
languid listlessncss which recalls the
promenades Of Naples and the evening
lounge round the winged lions Of St.
Mark
But perfection is only reached in the
ankle Of the Spanish girl. 1t is soft,
slight, luxurious and rife with tremulous,
nervous thrills. 1t decends to the little
loot with firm confidence, but it rises to,
aud is slowly immersed in, the gradual
expansion Of the leg with the happiness
Of ililnitable progression.
\ Spanish maid was upon hobby
horse which was flying at full speed her
dark face was aglow with the exercise,
her little hands clutched the bride with
tremulous eagerness, and her large eyes,
"wid with the fire of the South, were
emitting more than their accustomed
blaze, but the gaze of the admiring
throns was fixed upon her aukles-her
chiefest charmes. As the wind-the
south wind, fresh from the sea, with all
the voluptuousness Of the topics-gently
lifted her criuoline, and that delightful,
perfect, detachable ankle was suddenly
exposed to view, a deep sigh arose from
the breasts of the gazers and when still
higher the amorous breeze elevated the