The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1879-03-27
For the Cairo Bulletin
LITTLE AIRS AND GRACES.

a girl as she raced her hoop or skipped
her rope? What perfect poetry Of motion :
How light and airy every movement The
very poisc Of the little lady as she stands
erect, waiting for he downward curve of
the swinging rope, is loveliness personiiied.
How perfectly the supple limbs lust them
selves to the easiest and most graceful, be-
cause most natural positions. No effort
there. No studying for effect. No con
seriousness of self in the attitudes, positions
or expressions OF the tiny queen of grace.
No thought Of what impression she may be
creating in the minds of any one who may
be observing her; she is free and natural in
all she docs-thc very embodiment of
supple grace and poetical movements.
And our little boys, too. Not a day
rasscs but the true artist can find his model
ready at hand anywhere on our streets
Dirty faced, possibly; clad in raggedtweed
quite probably; and most assuredly if it be
moderate weather. bare of foot and shabby
hated but what OF that Just note his
supple limbs as he climbs that high rail
fence or mounts to the top Of that old
stump. Observe the perfect freedom of
every muscle of his body as he poiscs
himself preparatory to making big
jump Was there ever more perfect pic
ture of the beauty Of motion than exhibit.
cd in the big jump when he gives il,
Dear bless their little bones. We should
surely forget what the beauty of grace
meant il It were not perpetuated and dem
onstrated in our LITTLE girls and boys 4.
Butalas how soon, how very soon, this
charm Of early childhood
is cNunguished- submerged as it
were, in the acknowledgements that a
wrong education breeds in them-thc cd
ucation that tcars down but builds not up
again--ihe education that destroys the
beautiful fabric 50 deity woven in warp
and woot by natures skiIlful hand, and OF
fers only the poor equivalent of studied eff.
fleets Few things are more painfully ap-
parent among our growing up girls and
: boys than the almost total absence Of the
little airs and graccs so charming in them
sclies, when left to develop, naturally, un-
contaminated by the superficial embcllsh-
ments called attitudes and positions -
and expressions" and effects etc. This
thing Was most painfully illustrated to an
interested ana otherwise well pleased au-
diencc in one Of our school rooms, short
time since. At least four, il no more,
young girls who are gifted in many things
and especially gifted in the little airs and
graces that were wont 10 render
them 50 charming in manner
and address on similar occasions, before
were observed to have substituted the lit
tie airs and graces characteristic OF
the third rate actress-litt!c airs and grUccs
that are as false to nature as the rouge and
pcarl-powdcr roses and lilies painted on
the faces of such people, are false to every
ono who ever saw the natural flowers; and
far more painfully apparent. Owing to
} some lack Of adaptabiIity or 10 some dull
ness Of conception in their mental con
! structon, our boys are less easily warped
out Of their natural manners and actions,
, and, in consequence Of this obduracy on
r their parts, are much trucr delincatUrs Of
real feeling when reading or dccaming the
thoughts Of others. As an abstract fact
they read no better than our girls, but they
, do stick closer TO the meaning Of the
, words and ideas they wish to convey, thcir
listeners, and less TO just when it is proper
5 for them to drop the left hand to the side
and cross the right hand over the person,
= and vice versa, or when the eyes
= should be rolled up, the head
q thrown to the left or the right and step
, backward taken. Imagine Daniel Webster
, cayorting around on the rostrum like that
/ Think Of grand old Elizabeth Cady Stan.
: ton rehearsing before a mirror preparatory
} to lecturing to "A Cairo audicnce-or any
= kind Of an audiencc Why bless their
grand old souls, they never did--ncyer
( will--losc the charm of manner that was
4 born with them Daniel Webster was
r natural, every bit of him, else he had not
. been the man he was. Elizabeth Cadv
Stanton will soon be among us; will our
| dear, deludcd girls take n lesson from her
Z as she stands and talks Of Our BoysN
Q The true artist finds his subjects amona
$ the unframed and unspoicd children OF
Y nature He rcproduccs them on his can
vass, as nearly rs may be;or he paints with
pen and ink as he finds them It was thi,
S power that made of Shakespeare
: and Dickens the wonderful de.
G lineators Of characters they were
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