Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-03-18
A Lectur. ON Legs.

There is an cutlery about legs. We are told
We have too much Of Them at theaters. We
do, and / say this not because theexhitition
lie indecent, but because ii is ugly. What a
woman is expected 10 hide and what TO show
lie purely a question of convention. l re-
member once passing an afternoon lounging
about at the Sweet Waters of Asia, on the
BosphoruP. Princesses snd other lights of
The harem were being dragged about in
bullock-carts. Son some OF them got out OF
their couveyances and sat down upon the
grass. Among them WAS girl who L was
convinced was pretty and sat down near her.
Her face was covered with a thin veil. Moth
ing would have induced her TO raise it, but
slowly she pulled her wide trouser up above
her knee and proceeded TO scratch her bare
leg. This was her idea of a mild Irritation
with Frank. And why not? Her English
sister would go 10 ball with neck and arms
bare; or, TO put it more correctly, with
about quarter Of her body concealed only
by shoulder-straps. Am 1 not right, there
fore, in saying that the rule as to what por-
ton of the female form divine may with
propriety be submitted to the eyes Of man.
kind is local and not general. Here faces,
necks, backs, shoulders and arms may be
shown; in the Esst legs may be shown;
while In Zululand, according 10 all acceuntS,
fall.
But even in England the rule is different
in the thesters and bathrooms. II girl
were to apr ear at the litter in a dress only
reaching down TO her knees she would be re.
garded as peculiar girl, whereas sbe might
do this on the stage without adverse COM
ment. l make t.ese preliminary rensrks
in order 10 prove that | approach this SOL
emn subject without prejudice.
Ten or twelve years aso the ballet-girls
used TO wear skirts which came down little
below the knees. These skirts we're made Of
muslin, and there were so many of them
that when the weare.s were dancing they
looked like cloud. The effect was pretty
and graceful. But of late this cloud of skirts
has disappeared, and has been replaced by a
piece of silk fitting tightly 10 the figure, like
the trunks" Of an acrobat, and which do not
cover any part of the leg. To emulste this
display the principal dancers eschew every.
thing except one muslin petticoat, snd this
very short one. What is the result?
Exceeding ugliness. 1 suppose that it
may be taken ss a rule that when a girl
has small, thin arms she generally
has email, Thin legs. Any one, however,
has only to look at the modern balletgirl
to perceive that, although her arms msy be
sticks, her legs are elephantiBe in their pro-
portions. This lie because she pads the latter
and cannot pad the former. This is how it j.
done. The girl goes to a theatrical hosier;
the shape of her leg is taken, and then pair
CT tights is m ade, with wool woven into them
as the case may require. A girl with her
legs done up in cotton wool, with a small
piece of silk drawn tightly in by band,
and with naked arms and shoulders cannot
be said TO be making an indecent exhibition
of herself, but she is ungainly. She shocks
no morality, but che does shock good taste.
In the name, therefore, Of coed taste, let Us
go back to the days of cloudy muslin.-LOn-
dan Triih