Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-10-29
THE ART OF WALKING.
Cant Be Learned bv Careful Study and
Practice.

Cant Be Learned by Careful Study and
Practice.
Something that is very much neglected
nowadays among young women is the art
of walking well. Most people reach their
desired destination at the cost of a great
deal of scrambllne, of jerking shoulders,
of angular elbows working like the vans of
a windmill, of arms laboring like oars,
swinging hips, heads nodGing as a COWS
does as she walks, the gown flung up be-
hind &C every movement Of the heels, the
knees bent, and the feet lifted with the
stiffness of jumping jack pulled by a
string; and. provided they reach the point
aimed for, a goodly proportion of their
number think no more about it. Others.
again, walk with fexibiity THAT is to
say, with the want of iD of a peripatetlc
ramrod, the head, the back, the legs, the
feet, all moving together with simultau.
eous and upjointed precision that gives
them the air OF automatic playing at life,
and the lmperturbable restraint no more
like the dignity or composure desired than
al angle is like the line of beauty.
There are others still who walk with a
olince and a wrlggle which are painful to
see, which make one think of a hitching
cankerworm, and welcome heartily the
SiS ho VI UiC III ISSS IopEtucuSlUlo n uldZDu
who stalks onward without measuring her
steps, hit or miss. so that she gets over
the ground, or The loose ointed Individual
who cattles along as if every bone 10 her
body were hung on wire, like those of
the skeleton in the physicians closet,
There, too, is the tripping young thing at
whose figure you never glance without
thinking Of the topical song, Zone, Two,
Three, Balance Like Me-" and among all
| others in the great procession there are
| those also who walk with such pains and
efOrt-as If the proper work and function
OF each muscle ana member were to be re-
membered tlrst-that you half fancy they
may have had the same lesson at the feet
OF the dancing man that he gave good
Peter in bad Ballads
"Come, walk like this the dancer said:
stick out your toes, stick in your head
Stalk on with quick, galvanic tread,
Your fingers thus extend
The attitudes considered quaint
There are very few who walk with the
easy, equable grace that would seem to
proceed from an easy aud equable mind,
neither hurrying impetuously and ftfully
and with pronounced exertion and evident
eager desire to reach some point, or with
the effort to condone delay, nor dawdling
along as if they had not an object in
mind and nothing were Of any conse-
quence.
Decent mental reserves, it is thus to be
noted, can be maintained almost as much
in the gait as in the conversation; and it
is to be doubted if we have the right TO
obtrude our business and worries and en-
nuts upon public observation, as we do by
any other than a calm and even motion,
whether the motion be swift or slow. OF
course one may walk as rapidly as neces-
sary, or as loiteringly as inclination
prompts, but equally, of course, without
the personal betrayal of the impatient,
nervous motion of haste or the aimIess one
of irresolution.- -Harper' Bazaar.
Character in Horses
1t is easier, perhaps, to read horses
character In It's face than it is to sum up
the hidden traits of a man or woman by
the facial expression, says Sporting World.
The horses head is a correct indication of
the character; the human expression is
often wholly counterfeit. 81 never ask
about horses traits, said horse buyer
the other day. "Ail want is a good,
square look at him in the face. Once in
hundred times | may mistake the head,
but not oftener than that, l believe" 1t
doesn t require an expert to read horses
faces, either. A person who has never
handled horse can saunter down main
city thoroughfare any afternoon and point
out the good, docile family carriage horse,
the biting horse, the treacherous animal,
the one that is likely to kick or run at any
moment, or the proud, high-splrited horse.
that may be dangerous and yet not vicious
in the least.
The most interesting horse is the good
natured family horse. He bears ill-will
toward no one, and has the good will of all
who look upon him. He has but to be
seen to become favorite. There are
thousands of families who would as soon
part forever with an immediate relative as
to lose the good-natured old family horse
the one that lived with all the children.
and oftentimes, it seems, showed as much
care and affection for them as their par
ents. The children or women of the fami
ly were always safe when out with him.
If some other horse ran away he was al
ways sure to get out of the way of all
danger, and he never allowed the carriage
he hauled to collide with any obstacle.
The biting horse always reminds one of
the dyspeptic mamie is always mad, al
ways irritated. Pedestrians frown at this
horse as they pass along the street, and the
horse, it may be remarked, never fails to
frown back, and if opportunity offers snaps
his enemy-and everything alive is his
enemy-on the back with his big, broad
teeth 1t may be said for the biting horse,
however, that he is not always Of a dis
position wholly bad. He may show bad
temper when approached by man, woman
or child, and still be one of the gentlest
and most liable while doing his daily
work. The kicking horse can nearly al
ways be singled out by the vicious CLEAN
In his eyes, which stamps him born
kicker. And, too, the kicker is nearly al
ways a restless, impatient animal, who
seems to imagine that his born right to
freedom is being interfered with. Of all
horses, though. the miserable looking
horse ATTRACTS p1uch attention. lnls Is
the horse that is presented by the use OF
the check rein. Like women ana men VINO
Wear shoes slza too small, ne shows the
outward evidence Of misery. Many good
natured horses, horsemen say, have been
made fretfui and vicious by being enslaved
by the infamous AID cruel check rein. Ii
there are men and women who are over
nurds ned with struggles for life, have los
they come, so there are horses broken down
by the hard and continuous service for
man, which show by their facial express
ion that they arr not caring whether this
old wofld continues to go or not. These
sad-faced animals may be found hitched to
the drays around town, to the rickety
wagons of the peddlers and rag pickers,
and occas ionaIy to tue wagons of the con-
tractors and teamsters. Once, perhaps.
they were full of the buoyancy of youth,
and constant drudgery has made them