The evening times., 1896-12-10

| tnred me on my manifold awkwardness.
! Ny walk. my carriage, my sitting do"h
and standing up We're series OF angular
movements. simply intolerable To her arts
tic nature. But IL never seemed TO me that
l could help it. / was made that way,
and how could l change myself'
We'll. one day l CHANGED To read OF an
actress who always studied her parts
before a fulllenEth mirror, i'll order TO re
sure that her gestures were graceful lt
caught my attention III some way, ana
thought of it many times in the next 1ew
days. At last / came T. deliberate
resolution that | would adopt her Ttah
and see what would come OF II. There
after all my spare hours Were passed IN the
drawing room, where there was large pier
glass took my looks there to read, and
chose 4 big old-fashioned armchair 10 SIT
in. At first l merely looked at my reflec-
tion after | was seated, and actually
hushed at its ungainly angles. Then l
observed the figure approaching the mir
rur in short. jerky steps, ana Diusiled again,
until 1 was dissatisfied with myselt
as my poor mamma, and became ABSORBED
in INV endeavor to improve l studied
pictures and copied their attitudes asclosely
as could When i went to the thedter
I gave earnest attention to the movements
of the actresses, and when went nome
tried to initiate them. am afraid that all
this sounds as if l had developed INTO n
most self-conscious prig and Eoseuse, but
/ can acuuit myself OF any such feeling. L
was stud ying grace OF motion as one might
study drawing, and with Lo more egotism
but, indeed, most humble self-depreciatinn.
II nracticed standing until / learned
to correct the faults so Clearly visible,
in that inspiring glass, until my limp spinal
column acquired selfreliance and firmness,
and the protruded chin drew back into line.
| practiced walking on the line suggested
nv a chance sentence in novel: she
walked with rather long. rhythmic steps as
If to music and studied the different
rhytbms, Until l found the one that
seemed to me most graceful. Girls, what
what do you think was the special measure
that adopted? 1t was from Tennyson's
sleeping Palace And DER the hills and
far away beyond the twilights purple
rim, and deep into the dying day, through
all the world she followed him. Try it,
Sallie. and see If you do rot find yourself
uncofsciously falling in.o rhy thmic
swing as you walk. You could not move
ierkily or awkwardly TO sucn shoothly
flowing measure.
Il said nothing, all this time, about my
efforts, and il was about o year later, when
habit had become so confirmed that re-
allied, almost without thought, If ! had
fallenintoanyofthe of the old. .ungracefulposture>,
that my IN other said to me one day as sat
reading: Helen, what has come over you?
/ really believe that you have completely
| gotten rid of your awkwardness. You do
not seem like the same girl!' You may be
| lieve that felt happy"
My dear Lille, any woman can be grace
| full and attractive if she will take the
| trouble and consider it her duty. wo-
| mans influence, for either good or evil, is
| vastly increased by her possession of per
| sonal charm
"But everyone can't be pretty" object
ed one, somewhat sadly.
Everyone does not need to be pretty
promptly answered Mrs. Ketherton, but
| everyone can be interesting, which is much
better. Let me give you another object les
| son, not myself this time! ! have friend
who has not one good point except her eyes
and her figure, yet she is a belle and almost
beauty She is few years older than I,
but we have been friends since our school
days, and ! have seen her change from a
( dull-faced, unattractive girl into brilliant
woman.
what did it? Booksi You can't read
Emerson, Ruskin, Carlyle, Matthew Ar
mold, Rossetti, Tennyson, and George Eliot
without getting your character developed
and your brain strengthened. Such a course
of reading would create brain: end, given
brain, character, and social experience, the
plainestfeatured woman on earth must be-
come charming. 1t Is inevitable, for the