The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-08-16

white India silk. sprinkled over with blue
ylolets and trimmed with violet blue vel
yer with sleeves of white chiffon. The
bonnet is of violets and lilies.
With the beautiful faces and gay COS
tunes the scene is like nothing so much as
lovely flower garden. The hum of con-
yeTsation ceases as Mrs. Russell comes in
followed by her pupil and protege, Miss
Florence Sears, of Buffalo, who is doing
for the Four Hundred of that city what
Mr.. Russell is for Newport.
What does this woman who has set
Newport agog by her sayings and doings
look like? She Is not a big woman, though
she has the gift of making herself look
taller than she really Is. She is well
rounded, but in some mysterious fashion
will make you swear she is slender. She
is as 1.-the as serpent. and as capable of
vibrations as a violin string. Her
eyes and mouth are her beauty.
The eyes are blue gray, with long,
dark lashes, and express all sorts of emo
tions IN swiftly changing glances. Her
flexible, curving lips, parting over glisten-
ing teeth, are quite as suggestive. She is
not handsome woman, but fascinating
and magnetic. Her gown All Well, that
is riddle. One is conscious of some soft,
crepe fabric of golden tan hue, falling in
the most graceful lines and statuesque
there with bizarre ornaments of
carved ivory. The hair is cut
IN a pre-Raphaeiite fashion and
forms nimbus over the low brow, and
over it is set tiny Venetian cap of bronze
and copper embroidery. 1t is curious
medieval figure this, set among all these
modern frills. fiounces and fripperies. And
it is a more curious sight to watch these
women, bound in steel and whalebone
corsetted TO the last notch, try to initiate
the free, perfectly easy and subtle move
ments of their teacher, whose every Joint
is unfettered. There's no use-society will
have TO take off its corsets before it can be
as graceful as Russell.
Mrs. Russell puts her class through first
the relaxing motions, consisting of shak-
ing fingers, rolling the head and hips;
then the opposition of movement, TO get
balance and pose; then the succession of
movements during which the arms make
one movement while the hips are doing
quite another. Then, TO finish the exer-
cises, every blessed swell, save Mrs. Aston,
falls on her face. OF course one could not
expect such a performance from the
stately leader of the -Four Hundred.
And now the men are getting the Del
sarte fever. Mrs. Stuyyesant Fish gave
luncheon this week and Mrs. Russell was
called upon to do some of her work for the
men who were present. So the lady posed
and bowed and tainted for their benefit and
received storm OF applause. The result
Is that next season men are TO be admitted
. IL
nent social leaders have formed dinner
clubs. Each takes her turn giving dinner
party, after which there is TO be Delsarte
dance, when the men shall be put through
their PAGES and the women shall laugh at
their awkwardness.
The question arises, is this merely fad
or craze, or Is there something real and
substantial behind these seeming eccen-
tricitles and posings'
Mrs. Russell declares that there is a
great misconception in regard to the scope
of the work of Delsarte. "Delsartism,"
she says earnestly, is the analysis Of
human expression and the science of art.
The trouble is that his ideas have been
presented to the American public by
people who have only learned the
rudiments of his theory. Accord
iugly, the idea has gone abroad that
II means only kind of aesthetic gymnas-
tic, or new method of elocution But it
means much more than this. It is the
theory OF ali art, and Its principles are as
applicable 70 music, painting and scuIp-
ture as TO acting. Gounod was pupil of
the elder Delsarte and Schumann studied
with the younger Delsarte Gladstone
says 1T should be taught in every school in
England. am merely trying to show
people how by studying principles of art
they may make an art of life itself We
cannot ali be poets or painters, but we can
convert our daily acts into graciousness
and let our conversation be with beauty"
Mrs. Russell does not hesitate to attack
slang, boisterousness, bluntness and han
teur IN most uncompromis!ng fashion.
| She Is not one bit awed or overwhelmed
by the exalted character of her audience
She Is a lady born and bred, is accustomed
10 the best London circles OF society and
can hold her own anywhere with
perfect ease. She enjoys teaching
these lovely and refined women,
and says that she finds their inteIIi-
gence FAR over the average mark. They
acquire physical execution faster than
other women, owing, she thinks, to the
TACT that the greater part of their summer
lives IS passed in outdoor exercise, driving.
horseback riding and sea bathing.