The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-04-25
GRACEFUL MOTIONS.
A WOMAN'S ACCOUNT OF HER
FIRST LESSONS IN DELSARTE.

l Clple GLASS! uearU q man say 70 pretty
woman at dinner.
"Pray, how do you know" with Sigh,
lifting of the eyebrows and a suspicion OF
| a blush.
| From the manner in which you sat
| down at table, then took that olive and
] now nibble it. You are unconsciousfy con
| scious of new mannerism in which you
| are not perfect but which you practices
| whenever you remember to do so. / have
| detected dozen women within the last
| two weeks making the same effort. Come
own up. Aren't you Delsartean"
The pretty woman laughed so heartily
as to attract general attention. A conven
| lent lull in the service gave opportunity
| for broadside of questions. The pretty
woman, now thoroughly reused to spirit
Of repartee. confessed that she did belong
to a female class who had been making a
study of the Delsartean methods; that all
her set were in it,"
Oh, yes, our spirited little informant was
quite willing to give the whole snap
away" with illustrations too.
"You all laughed at the manner in which
took an olive. Now I'll show you the
difference between the old way and the
new. Mary" turning to our hostess, "jus,
help yourself out of that dish"
Mrs. b put her hand straight out to
the dish, captured the olive and drew ii
straight back to her mouth, evidently be-
Iieving that the shortest distance between
two points is the straight line that joins
them.
'OhI but that is too awful" shrieked the
Delsartean Now watch me-"
The little hand was poised, the wrist
moved slowly downward in gentle curve,
the finger tips dropped on the olive like q
butterfly on rose, the hand returned to
the mouth in an upWlDd curve, the whole
motion describing a parabola, and with
the slightest turn of the wrist olive met its
fate.
The movement was so pretty and grace
full that we applauded vigorously and
asked for more.
CONTRASTS IN CoLoRs.
So she went on:
at was very funny the first day our class
assembled. We all went in street costumes,
and were drawn up in line feeling rather
ashamed and inclined to giggle as our very
stern and aesthetic looking teacher stalked
in and eyed US keenly. She wore no stays.
''The first thing she did after looking us
you know, has a bright color, and touch
ing turquois brooch which pinned her
bonnet strings said, severely: Don't you
know that blue and red, being opposite
colors, should never be worn in juxtaposi-
ton? Your blue pin simply emphasizes
the redness of your cheeks, which, 1 pre-
sumo, you wish to subdue' Mrs. b
blushed from red to scarlet, but meekly
took her turquois off and put it in her
pocket.
Turning Immediately to Mrs. c.,
who is stout and was trying to suppress a
smoker, our teacher remarked coldly: May
l ask, madame, why you stand with your
arms hanging against your hips? You SIM
ply increase your breadth by the width of
your arms. Clasp you hands thus just be-
low the point of your stays, and you will
materially reduce your appearance of
BEAM
''Just then, as happy diversion, Miss
c., who, you know, is about as graceful
a woman as there is in town, came surging
into the room with Hello! girls and her
regular little wriggle of her hand in the
air.
SITTING DOWN.
"Our apostle eyed her keenly for mo-
ment and then spoke: Madam, your en-
trance into the room was as graceful a
movement as have seen since | left Eng
land; but the charming effect of your free
and easy carriage was completely marred
by that abominable little flourish of the
hand. Never raise your hand above your
head if you can avoid it. But let us revert
to other matters more physical than as-
thetic. VIII you ladies please sit down
and then rise again?'
"As we sank into chairs, fauteuils and
divans and then struggled to our feet
again the spasm of pain which shot across
our instructress' severe features told the
tale that we had done something awful
to her at least. Her voice sounded almost
sepulchral as she uttered her dictum:
".Not one-no, not e-of you ladies
knows how to sit down or rise again.
Watch me'
;'She approached close to chair, brought
her heels close together and sat down gent
ly in perfectly perpendicular line, with
out any lurch or swaying backward against
the cushions. AS she arose the heels went
slightly under the chair and she resumed
the perpendicular without any other mo-
ton than Strengthening of the knees
we were iii CONSCIOUS now Oh having
made terrible botch of the simple daily
process of sitting down. Some of US had
thumped down, others sprawled, and in
rising all of US had leaned forward with
jerk, while a majority had used the hands
on the knees or hips as sort of levers to pry
US up"
GOING UP STAIRS.
eve were now asked to go up stairs one
by one jolly little Miss N, who is
full of mischief. grabbed up her skirts,
doubled over forward, and went up with q
rush. We all followed more slowly, sup
posing we were on precisely the right
track
Again the incisive, steely voice blighted
our hopes:
"'You all bend forward humpbacked,
with your shoulders rounded and your
lungs conts sted. You need air in your
lungs IN climbing. Keep the body perfectly
erect, as in rising from chair. The strain
will fall on the calves Of your legs and
hips, and that is where it belongs So we
all marched up again. straight as broom
sticks and reallv Epou &c