Wichita eagle., 1886-12-30
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@ai1y - Eag1e|
A DELSARTE BOW.
~ ACCOMPLISHMENT WHICH ANY
LADY CAN ACQUIRE.

Grace in SaIutation-Secret of tho Seem
ing Ease With Which Many Society
Women Move and Sit-Eints for tho
Awkward.
THAT was a Delsarte bow" said q lady ii
her carriage to the friend at her side, IS an
other who was hastily passing gave them
recognition.
@What do you mean by Delsarte hows
How does it differ from envy other bow!"
you noticed my friend was graceful, did
you nots Well, the initiated know how she
= srnes by that grace"
"Will you be pleased, then, to enlighten the
uninitiated.'
The lady who questioned was from the
country. Her hostess was city bred and III
the full tide CT the latest fashions i'll study,
dress, manners and mode of thought.
Il will, gladly. But tell me first what you
noticed out of the ordinary in Mrs. a IS style
and grace"
'She moved, somehow, like a bird on the
wing"
THAT is it, exactly She knows how to
walk, and together with that she bowed
walking. You saw her just now out for a
constitutional going at a fresh air pace, but
she win move down the length of the most
spacious drawing room, slow as q funeral
<,,.I'ch with just as much poise as now. That,
you must understand, is quite a different
thing. To move slowly and to have arms and
body in perfect rhythm, with no angular
constraint at elbows or shoulders, requires
tie breeding Of a duchess"
"But how is one to have breeding WHO lives
all her life in a little country town.
NIL, Ill Do, .I,,,.l
Terry, were all pupils of his method. You
know it takes Bernhard anywhere from one
minute to fifteen to sit down. She is SO
flexible that there really seems to be no
material body inside her costume. She seats
herself like silken gown, with lace and fur
bellows tossed inditferently and languidly
over a sofa. Yet it is all by rule; all
studied"
"But about the bow?"
Al could illustrate it better than [ could tell
IL There should be no motion of the neck in
a bow-a nod is inadmissibe. The inclina-
ton is really from the hip joint. The body
must be pasSively erect, notrigd nor strained,
and you sway like u tree blown by the wind
to the front, to the side or backward, as the
case may be. Meantime, eyes level fronted
and a cordial light in them, if you wish to
express friendliness; or, if you desire formal
ity, leave expression entirely out of the face.
Try it,"
The country lady included neck, waist and
shoulders in her effort They both laughed.
Il never thought before that bow meant
anything but how do you do"
Her hostess then gave her examples Of diff
=. ferent bows, which could safely be done, lis
!. they were driving along very quiet street
But how about that walking bow-that
sweeping, side DETECTION while in notion"
"Yes, that is difficult. You must first be
able, without generalization, to relax all ten
sons of the body. They are fatal to grace,
and nearly every one has some fixed habit of
the kind Watch children at play. They
are never awkward. They are unconscious,
and their bodies respond to every mental
phase. Their emotions are transmitted to
their motions; anger, merriment, fright,
haste, affection, aversion, are not more in
their words and voices than gesture and atti-
tude. As soon as they are made conscious it
is like n brake put upon a revolving wheel,
which binders ard embarrasses. 4 bashful
child shrugs her shoulders, hangs her head,
=, pats her finger to her mouth and does no end
,.16f unganly things, every one of which says,
plain as placard: Il am self-consciOus and
therefore ashamed No child need act that
way. Those habits are within control of
mother or teacher by the very simplest rules"
But the how--the bow; You forget"
"Yes-ths walking bow. Suppose You are
passing along the street. as my friend was
just now, and meet acquaintance in a car
riagc. as we were mot. You do not come 10
n halt to deliver your greeting, nor yet duck
Your head rs if lodging missile. But you
incline the body at the hips tthe rest remain
ing erect Just as the foot toward Your object
is lifted from the ground The body bending
at that jjuncture-as we call it, over the weak
leg'-gives just the proper inclination. And
,ile the body is inclined the foot takes its
appropriate step forward at the same gait as
before, and the bow is made"
p "And the backward bow!
II see thai puzzles You because you still
cling to the old notion that the chin has most
10 do with the recognition OF our friends. If
' you were rigid from the base of the brain to
to the shoulder blades you could still fulfill
DelSarte's idea Of a bow Backward it is
: simply bending that way, while the eyes
and smile do the rest This bow is suited 10
the theatre or other crowded places And
there is still another bow if you wish to in
clude number of people, say Mt a public
table. beginning at the first one, let the
glanc2 impersonally include, without pause,
the entire table ending the bow at the last.
= should he like an inclusive wave of the
@1aand.
"Are there any more!" a
"Oh, yes all phases of dignity have their
specific pieadings and gradations. There is
the forward impulse OF greeting and the with
drawalof adieu These differ only in the
small matter of which foot tho weight Of the
body is poised upoE-in greeting it is the for
ward foot and in taking leave the back foot
Then there is tho box of superiority, the
deferential bow, the reluctant, the condo
scending, the alluring Believe me, good
manners have their laws, and SO have grace
and courtesy"