Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-08


Learning to Kick.
WRITTEN FOR THE pIsPArcH.l
Awkward beauty wakens the pity Of gods
and men. The latter have been known to
desert stolid perfection of color and features
for grace with lesser personal attraction.
Grace comes OF two things-proportions OF
limb and good nervous control Both SYM
metry and control are gained by training.
The defects of stature and of limb are
overcome by exercise with greater ease than
by mechanical appliances in most cases.
You may take bow-legged lad and oblige
him to wear steel braces which cripple him
year or two in remedying the detorm-
ity, or you may put him under strict drill,
which will turn him out in the same time
straight as q model In one case the
steel force coerces the limb, in the
other nerve force does it. High shoulders,
irregular hips, rounded spine and awk-
ward figure are better cured by the military
drill than by any braces or apparatus what
ever. You will find the proof Of this among
the West Point cadets, who are straight.
clean Gmbed and well proportioned almost
without exception. 4. They are not chosen
for physical perfection, and only the drill
he works up into the carriage becoming an
officer and gentleman.
A Drillmaster for Girls.
What is true of boys is Just as true of
girls The drillmaster, soldier of expert
ence, was and is attached to every high
class finishing school for English girls.
Fanny Kemble tells US her French dancing
lessons failed to give her a good carriage or
teach her to hold herself upright She
| stopped, slouched and poked, one hip up
and one shoulder down, which greatly
afflicted her parents. Among other devices
for improvement she was made to wear "a
hideous engine of torture of the blackboard
Species of steel covered with red morocco" 1"
strapped around her waist and shoulders, a
steel rod at the top supporting steel collar
to hold her chin up.
The ease and grace with which this horri-
BILE machine was to impart was hardly per-
ceptible after considerable endurance of it,
and she was placed under the training of a
sergeant Of the Royal Foot Guards, who
selves well "Thanks to his instructions"
she says, "T remained endowed with a
fiat back, well placed shoulders, erect head,
upright carriage and resolute step, the drill
being that daily given the awkward squads
of the British forces. Of all women Of our
century Mrs Kemble best illustrated the
balanced high mental and physical gifts
No one else leaves the impression Of in
tense, abounding vitality like hers, which
showed itself in her passion for activity of
all kinds. She could not exist without long
daily horseback rides or walks. She must
be hours in the open air, and cared equally
for dancing as the sheer poetry Of move
ment. She could repeat from memory
whole dances after Ellsler.
Dancing Is An InstincA
Many another staid woman of middle age
can sympathize in this outbreak of physical
delight, for the passion OF dancing is
instinct is healthy blood and is warm in
Puritan vie s.-pity that ashes are laid upon
its fires! There is more in the exercise of
dancing to music than mere amusement, or
rather it is a favorite amusement because it
80 combines the stimulus Of music and its
nervous influence with lively and gentle
movement, which stirs every fibre Of the
body. It is worth something for woman
bred to restrained and conventional gestures
to hold her arms up and out, as she is
obliged to in round dances, and move in
time to quick music, setting her blood flow-
ing through her veins, and, so to speak,
arating her poor little brains.
The ideal of the woman who has taught
herself to walk is figure erect as dart,
carried without any perceptible motion, in
the straightest line between two points
Her shoulders, her hips are carried still
and as little play allowed any limb as
sufices to get over the ground. It is more
pleasing than the walk which kicks up the
skirts behind or strides with fencing step,
bending the knee prominently at each for
ward move, but it is neither natural nor
graceful To walk well, one must first stand
well. Perhaps as good practice as any for
this is to balance large tea tray loaded
with several wooden things which will not
break as they fall, and play image boy for
Is minutes at time. 1t would be we'll if
the contents were plaster and dinner de-
pending on their safety, for steady carri-
age would sooner be the result The two
hands may be used at first to steady the tray,
as the pose gives freedom to the arms, but
the balance must come from the neck, which
can be trained to look around and turn with
load on the head as surely as a good rider
keeps her seat Carrying burdens on the
head gives q noble development of the bust.
The shoulders, elbows and hips fall into
place and learn to stay there.
Playing Outdoor Games to Win.
The next point to gain is freedom of limb
and movement. If our girls played quoits
like the Greek girls of old, as youths play,
to win, not to be looked at, there would be
no need of teaching what the baby learns as
he leaves his cradle. have had the privi-
lege the past season of overlooking the
garfes of lawn tennis club on grounds ad-
Joining, and am constrained to admit that
the boys playing alone were much more in
teresting and graceful in their postures than
the girls, who always seemed to feel that
they were being looked at rather than the
game
They seemed afraid of stretching an arm
or taking step too wide for conventional
proprieties, to move too fast or stoop for
ball, if any one could be cajoled into pick
ing it up Tor them. The exception was a
lassie with bright coloring and fresh vitality,
who ran after balls and threw them with all
her might, flung herself after them and
sprang to catch them on her racket with the
same Inconsistencies and real beauty of
motion you will see in true antique. The
Greek athlete OF the maiden were not think
ing whether they were playing in good form
or not. They threw to hit the mark with
least waste of effort, and, so moving, so in
stinct, were supremely graceful; and models
for all time. They are the least conscious
of figures, and girl of to-day would be
Mortified at the idea of throwing her arms
out to their full length or springing in yard
wide steps in her game on the lawn like her
Greek forerunner in marble. Her move
ments are in a circle bounded by the
diameter of her hips.
A Girl Kicking Football
She can't throw ball forsooth, because
her Shoulders are not as square as those of
her brother. She cannot kick football,