The Wichita daily eagle., 1894-03-13
THE ART OF WALKING.

How to Cultivate . Graceful and Beautiful
Carriage.
The art of walking gracefully is Sci.
dom if ever taught with any method OF
success; and yet it should be an essen
tial part of a girls physical training.
More or less attention is supposed to be
given to the gait and carriage Of the
body at the dancing schools. whore tho
pupils are put in line and made to
march to music, but natural, easy walk
ing such as would be required for tho
street or moving about the house is rare-
ly if ever taught To be sure. the pupil
is told to turn out and point her toes,
and hold up her head, but that is about
all; and what causes the difference be'
tween light or heavy tread, the cor
rect hip movement on which SO much
depends, or the position of the arms,
are seldom criticised or explained.
Hardly one person in a hundred carries
the body in correct position while
walking or standing, and yet the laws
which produce grace in either are very
simple and easy to acquire. The figure
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slightly forward, bending the body
little at the hips There should be no
bend of the knees, or rolling motion of
the body. A celebrated professor OF
physical culture, who teaches ordinary
walking among other exercises. recon-
mends the following easy exercises for
daily practice; these, he promises. will
insure grace in repose and motion. In
the first place, a-cs<rect posture should
be acquired while standing. Put both
feet together, draw the hips well back,
holding the stomach in, project tho
chest forward, draw the shoulders
back, hold the head erect with eyes
looking straight ahead, draw the chin
in. To get an absolutely correct pose.
it is a good plan to fasten q couple OF
blocks to the side of room, one fva
inches thick, to come exactly at the
height Of the hips, and another four
inches thick, to come at the height Of
the chin. Then stand with the chest
touching the wall, the chin and abdo.
men being held back by the blocks at
the proper distance, with the point OF
the toes two inches from the Dashboard.
If you will assume this posture and
keep it while walking, you can never
go wrong.
To practice walking. first take to po-
sition described; then set the right foot
back about twelve inches, a little TO
one side Of the left foot, with the ball
of the foot only pressing the floor light
ly; then raise ON the ball of the left
/ foot, and at the samo time swing the
right leg forward, keeping the knee
nearly straight and pitching the body
forward at the same time Then per-
form the same movement with the left
leg. The idea of practicing this exer-
else is to accustom girl to rise easily
and gracefully on the ball of the foot
at each step, SO that the leg which is
passing forward will not be made to
bend much at the knee, which is very
ungraceful, particularly In Q woman.
The foot, also, should be sot ssuare,y
on the floor instead Of touching it first
with the heels. BY practicing this ex.
ercise daily and very slowly, so as to
glide instead of jerking along. grace
full walk, it is asserted, will be &C.
quired
Sometimes there are unsuspected
physical defects, however. which give
an awkward gait. 81 have just discov-
ered," exclaimed young girl the other
day, who had recently joined '1adies
athletic club, 'why my shoes always
run down on one side of the heel, and
why l have always walked badly.
am what they call knock-kneed, and
neither mamma nor ever suspected it
It is quito durable, however, they say.
by taking certain exercises and have
strong hopes of becoming graceful a after
all" Many girls are knock -kneed with
out being aware of the fact It's when
the knees are so shaped that in fast
walking or running they eeme in con.
tact with each other; this causes the
child to walk on the inside edge Of her
foot, and gives . most awkward gait
To remedy this defect says one pro.
fessor, the pupil should stand in the at
titude already described as correct
posture, with the heels touching each
other and the toes turned out Now,
without moving the feet, make an eff.
fort to separate the knees by a side
movement, causing them 70 spring
apart Repeat this movement without
stirring the feet until the muscles are
tired. several times day. and it can.
not fail eventually to straighten the
legS-N. Y. Tribune