The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-07-12

GHOuSA from lnelr toes ana SWING
their feet well. But their bodies sway
with each step as if they were poised
on spiral springs like a jack-in-the
box. They don't know how to walk,
although they imagine that they are
walking beautifully.
1t is true that the forward and up
ward impetus in walking must be
given by the toes. But their spring.
ness and the springiness of the legs
must not be like that of a timber bell
spring that keeps on bobbing apd
wabbling long after it has been pulled.
The leg and toe muscles must have
the combined springiness and steadi-
ness that you find in a fine carriage
spring, which lifts the wagon over
obstacles but doesn't bounce it.
boy must not bounce along like
rubber bali and imagine that he is
walking. Yet lots of self-conscious
boys and men who have studied a
little about walking do absolutely
bounce.
Watch a cat walk. There is the grace
of walking for you. See how the mus
cles spring and coil and slide from
shoulders to flanks, and yet the body
| of the animal is as steady as a rock,
| except for its forward motion.
Then look at an overfed, overbred
dog, like a pug or a King Charles. He
waddles like a duck. All his body
shakes with every motion of the legs.
Look at a truck horse or a great
Percheron that hauls the heavy brew
cry and other wagons. It's walk will
show you what acknowledgment does
for the muscles. The beast is immense
II has chest and shoulders that are
wonderful. It's launches are masses
of muscle. But its walk is a combina-
ton of lurching and plodding.
Then look at a race horse as II is
being walked slowly along a road to
| cool Off. See how its slender legs
| carry it. superbly as a deer.
A man who really knows how to
walk should walk like cat or a race
| horse. His muscles should play from
| neck to heel, so that he can feel them
| contract and expand up and down his
back and across his abdomen as ii
they were alive and twining around
him. But anybody looking at him
should not be able to notice a single
motion of the body except the forward
motion, as he makes step after step.
With each step the ball of the toe
| must give an upward impetus, as well
as a forward one. But the body must
| not bounce. That upward force must
be taken by the knee, which bends just
enough to take it and carry the fool
| clear of the ground.
Nature is a magnificent economizer
Whatever is the least laborious in ma
ture is also the most beautiful. Hence
she has made that walk the most
graceful which involves the least labor
The foot must not be lifted higher
| than just enough to clear the ground
The toes should point almost straight
| in front, turning outward more and
| more as the body is propelled forward
until, at the moment the toe swings
| the body along the foot is well turned
| outward, but only for an instant.
"Springng the body forward ex'
| presses it exactly. The toe should moi
throw the weight forward, but merely
spring it ahead, keeping it in full con-
troll all the time.
A person who is walking correctly
in this way has his body in such per.
| feet command that only an over
whelming force can throw him. 1t Is
hardly possible for him to trip So
badly that he Will fall forward. His
knees would Immediately take up part
of the shock and the feet, being free
l. instead of being dragged, will step for
ward to overcome the fall.
If a person walking correctly should
step on a slippery place and fall back
wards, the free foot will swing FOR
ward at once and balance him, just as
a skater keeps his balance.
When jostled such person car
side-step as lithely as a cat. He runs
| into no one, because he can stop Shor
| without an effort.
Many persons might have escaped
serious street accidents from escap
ing vehicles to leaping out of the way
of falling objects if they had known
| how to walk.
OF all forms Of athletics, walking I.
not only one of the most important
but one of the finest. And it is
neglected almost entirely even by
otherwise excellent instructors. You
can pick up a dozen text books on the
care of the body and see no refer
ences to walking, except in chapters
that tell about expanding the leg mus
cles or for speed or long distance
contests.
Yet a person who walks correctly,
whether he is walking for business or
pleasure, will expand most of the mus
cles of his body as surely, though, per-
haps not as noticeably or swiftly, as
they can be expanded by specific ex-
ercises.
1t is queer, but true, that many per-
sons think more about the position OF
their upper bodies when they walk
than they do about their legs. The
poor legs have to learn to walk al
most without the help of the brain.
Every other person who thinks
about this upper body is most anxious
about the position of his shoulders
And what does he do as rule?
He pulls his shoulder blades back
until, instead of being straight and
graceful, he is actually deformed. He
has forced his chest out, 1T Is true;
but he has also forced his lungs to-
gether in the back.
BY the same action he has thrown
his arms entirely out Of balance, Sc
that they hang down almost behind
his body instead of being carried al
ease along his sides.
1t is a common sight to see a man
who thus imagines that he is walking
straight and majestically His poor
| shoulders, braced back into a position
| where they don't belong, make him