Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-06-22
As TO THE LEGS.
An Exc NINA ion Into Their I'd. NY Ill.
craSiea; As AlSO Some SuSSesftN. US.

Rough Notes
he position of The legs when the body O1ca
pies sitting posture is undeniably more cor
rect when the organs of locomoion are no.
made to intersect above the knee, but descend
point from the knee joint to the door.
The tendency to cross the legs is commonly
avagary of long legged men, who are at loss
to make proper disposition CT their neither
eXtremltleS. IL man has an extremely long
leg, he is more than likely to cross ii with tic
other in an awkward fashion and swing the
foot TO and fro like pendulum. This act is
especially noticeable on the part of shy men,
who by an unfOrtuitous combinati ion of cir
cumStances are thrown in the socie'y of la
dies. The agility with which they shit their
rice rersa-is the result of disturbing infiu.
ences within the mind; and although the fact
may appear at times sort of perfunctory
Sympathetic dependence Of the the MUSCLES 81 o.
the leg on the sphere of the emotions, or an eX
cited brain. And SO by crossing the legs it i,
urged, one acquires in the society of ladies
1t makes no difference with most men how
they make up their minds beforehand about
crossing their legs; it is impossible, they tell
us, to sit three minutes in the society of pref
~ women who have not the faculty of putting
them at perfect ease without crossing the legs
ike tailor or dancing master, and with the
utmost abandon. Ladies often eXpostulate
against this cosmopolitan practice, but as
swift said of his sweetheart Stella the sex
takes more delight, as rule in making man
IN an ahsurdiiy, than in trying to eXtricate
him. Men, too, are at times forgetful, and
cross the legs frequently without thinking. Ii
is OILY in that state of mental confusion pro
duced by drinking, observes an English novel
ISL, "hen mans legs appear to have mem
DRY independent of hi, mind.
And Is 1t only men with long legs who sit
with the legs intersected? Oh, no A short
legged man is apt to pose in this wise if he is
in my sort shy or philosophical. And cross
ing the legs does not always indicate state
II ,l.r,1
1t may frequently be construed into an EXPIRES
sion of vanity, for what person of fine ply
sique is not fond of showing to its best advan-
tage the contour of his leg? Pope had these
c0XcOmbS in mind when he wrote:
Seethem survey their mbS by Durer's rules
or all beau-k kind the best-proportioned fools.
1t has been proved by smart process of in
ductiOn that philosophers wear white hats and
yet the reverse of the proposition is not equai
~ tue, to wit that all men who wear white
hats are philosophical. wooden leg has like
wise been associated with literary turn of
mind-H0race tells us of a poet who dashed off
hundred lines of veISitication while standing
on one leg-but is every One-legged man or
every individual with a wooden leg a Hterd-
teuF? A sage Invariably sits with the legs
crossed, but what man is there beneath the
stars who will dare assert that every person
who crosses his legs in the drawng-room is a
SaTdnt? Because men of genius cross their
legs, pull out their watches, bite their nails or
va" IN company, 1t is no excuse for lesser
minds TO make themselves conspicuous in ser
vile imitation of these idiosy ncrasies.
Ii Is out of our way to refer to the practice of
twisting one leg around the other, which some
people affect in company, or elevating the feel
at an altitude above the head on the backs OF
chairs and mantelpieces. The former ha bit,
and that of rubbing the lower Joint of the leg
brlskly against its fellOw-as INDUCED in bv
,,ecturerS, potentateS and divines, like Ralph
waldo Emerson; the laie Ahkoond of Swat,
and The Rev. Dewitt Talmage-are the result
Of a high state of nervous excitability
The practice of crossing the legs which is
neither elegant nor comfortable, has its physi-
cal disadvantages, and if persisted in is likely
10 impede the circulation of the blood cause
the loot to be tortured with prickly sensations,
ana become dormant: The correct position of
the legs, then, is indicated in the cut above.
and it will not be disputed by any persoa of
true aesthetic tastes and sound Judgment.