Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-01-07
Science Of Walking,
Strides as all Index to the
Character Of the PedeS-
trian.
Sprightly Steps, Weary Steps,
Struts, and the Students
Swing.

a direct 0IspenSatIon from heaven to
| become a walker" IF he meant by
this, says The Boston Globe, that
only taose men whom heaven has
specially favored love TO walk and can
walk well, he was no doubt correct,
| for in our time, at least, mankind Is
characterized by 8 great dislike for
using his legs, and seldom takes the
trouble to learn to use them skillful-
". And as men devote almost no at
tention to how they walk, what is
| more natural than that their ways of
walking should depend on their habits
Of Life? II you do not train the vine,
It will grow as wind and wall and its
own nature lead it. So if you do not
train the legs they will move as home
and work and brain and soul impel.
Therefore it is that mans walk is an
index of his character and an expon-
ent of his life. A mans legs often
write his autograph.
Seneca knew this when he made the
wife of Hercules say of Lychgs: His
mind is like his walk" You may know
man of whom you can say this. Ii
ne De man OF pompOus mind yon
can tell him by his strut. The boor-
lsn man moves along, regardless of
where he puts his feet. Does it not
give you a clearer insight into the
character of Cat line to read of that
trail which Sallust distinguishes
his walk sometimes slow and some
tiraes hurried" Can YOU not con-
ceive just how Uriah Heep sReaked
about.
Watch the passers-by on the street
and see how their walk betrays their
position In life. Here comes a coun-
tryman, trudging along as he would
In his cornfeld, there goes laborer,
whose vocation is not hard to tell,
even if he has left his hod by the
brick pile. This fellow you know is a
student, for he has the traditional
Harvard swing" That man sneaks
along as if he had been buffeted and
tossed about so much that he feared
the hand of every man he passes.
Those merry girls with sprightly,
springIng steps, have not yet had
their buoyancy stolen by late hours at
balls and parties. This woman, with
weary steps show her to be one of the
great army of American invalids.
That woman's naughty gait betekens
her to be an aristocrat, and close be-
hind her is one whose very walk is
shoddy. And here is one whose every
motion is ''purity and grac G"
This is the walk that Dante admired:
'Sweetly she goes. like the bright pea
cock; straight above herself, like the
lady crane"
Every man knows some woman of
whom he can say, 'Sweetly she goes"
but it is rare indeed that he speak of
her as straight above herself" In
fact, IN these days of school desks and
easy-chairs it is so unusual thing to
find woman who stands and walks
straight above herself" that the un-
thinking are apt to speak of such
one as having 'Eswallowed a ramrod."
It would be blessed good thing for
America If all our women would
straightway swallow ramrods and by
example teach their children to do the
same thing. For, in truth, lounging
in easy-chairs and STOPPING over desks
are making sad havoc with the youth
of this generation.
No military order is more worthy of
obedience from every man, soldier, or
civilian, than that of keep your chest
out" He who always does this and
throws his shoulders well back need
never fear New England's most dread
full scourge, consumption. If you
doh't know what this order msans just
take cane the next time you go out
to walk, put it through your elbows
behind your back, and stand up as
straight as you can. Keep this up and
you will soon find it so pleasant to
walk erect and breathe full draughts
of refreshing and strengthening air
that never again will you consent to
walk 'stoop-shouldered." Perhaps
you don't believe you are stoop-
shouldered. Just stand with your
side to the light and look at your
shadow on the wall. Ten to one you
will be astonished.
The easiest walk is that in which the
body is lifted very little. You will
notice, then, on the street that the
trunk of graceful walker moves lit
tie Or none up and down, nor right or
left.
Ohe peculiar thing about the body
is that it is actually easier to keep it in
motion than at rest. The tendency
when you stand still is to fall forward.
That is shown by the fact that people
who suddenly lose their senses Or die
generally fall on their faces. Physi
ologists say that less force is required
to walk slowly than to counteract this
tendency to fall by standing erect.
Perhaps this is the reason why pairs
of lovers can stroll the whole evening
and not get tired, but will be worn out
by standing an hour or two at a recep-
ton.
tits probable that men average steps
about twenty-seven inches in length.
Until recently the regulation military
step in this country has been twenty
eight-inches, and with a CONFIDENCE Of
10 to the minute. This gave a mile
in just trihe over twenty minutes.
Probably the majority of the city men
walk faster than that but you know
that very short men are not enlisted,
and they would bring the average step
of mankind down TO perhaps twenty