Weekly Trinity journal., 1868-11-21
A Chapter ON Ankles.

The German ankle, as general thing, is not
beautiful 1t is short, thick and clumsy. Yet
to the eye of the love-sick swain it may appear
more graceful than the Venus de Medici. New
ertheless, there are many kinds of ankles of Ger
man formation and some of them are not at all
unsymmetrical.
The Danish ankle is generally very good. The
blood of the sea king is in the damse's veins.
Bright maiden Of Orkney,
Star Of the blue
I've swept DER the water
To gaze upon thee
So sang the Berserker, of old, and he evidently
had cultivated his taste for ankles in his 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 of the foot.
This gives it a clumsy appearance, and prevents
it from being special favorte.
The ankle of Saxony (of course we speak al
ways only of the female ankle) is worse than the
Danish. 1t is shorter, thicker. and indicative of
vigor and vigor only.
The Swiss ankle is model of beauty. Long,
slim, elegant, delectable, it is something to think
and dream of. The peasant stocking of plaid
covers it with fRiry-like exactness. You can see
the keen muscles play beneath the fabric of the
covering. 1t swells, not abruptly, but gently,
upwards into a perfect calf. Only the Alpine
roads, the rude torrent crossings, the romance
of Switzerland, could have produced such an
ankle. 1t is for picture rather than an every
day sight; it is for the painter, poet, and phil
osopher. 1t is beautiful deectable, charming,
enchanting. 1t is strangely suggestive.
The ankle of Bavaria is also beautiful. Lean
and elegant it however broadens too quickly as
it approaches the foot, which is an imperfection
not easily to be overlooked by the connoisseur.
Austria is worse. Her ankle has the fault of
having no taper. The calf of the leg ends at the
foot
Hungary is the same. This is probably owing
to the inhuman tyranny which has trodden over
her for years. Women compelled to pull
plows and canal boats, and engage in other
species of degrading labor meet for cattle, steam
and caoric engines, and nothing better could be
expected of their ankles
Prussia makes Il better show but ON the whole
her ankles not good, and, in dancing, she
has a ludicrous custom of switching up her pet
ticoat, in order to make special display.
The Irish ankle needs no eulogy. 1t speaks
for itself
The English is fair, Indicative of great feats of
walking and other exercises.
The French ankle is positively bad. The fault
with the German is usually excess of size-a
superAuity of flesh and muscular power; but
the French errs in entirely opposite direction.
1t is too slim it is long, thin, scrawny. The
ascending swell to the calf Unfortunately large)
is too long and the largeness and homelinesS of
the foot also detracts from the general effect
Italy has exquisite ankle, full of elasticity
and yet with languid lstlessness which recalls
the promenades of Naples and the evening lounge
around the q winged lions of ST. Marks
But perfection is only reached in the ankle of
the Spanish girl. 1t is soft, light, luxurious and
rife with tremuous, nervous thrills. 1t descends
to the little foot with firm confidence but it rises
too and is slowly immersed in the gradual ex-
pansion of the leg with the happiness of llimit-
able progression.