Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-24

thing. 1t has been called innate-a thing
born in the blessed, as much as the power
of painting or the voice for singing. But
persistent effort will disprove the theory
that 1t is only innate. y
There are almost no children who cannot
be educated into grace True enough, some
come by it naturally. and no help is needed.
while others are so awkward by nature that
you must give constant effort to the I'M
making of their ways Mrs. E. S. G. has
hard work before her, but if she is in earn
est she can make beautiful woman out of
the ungainly little girl.
AwkwardnesS comes from one of two
causes-a mental cause or physical In
the former case, the child is awkward SOLE
ly because of diffidence and self-eonSeious-
ness. He may be as graceful as others
when unmatched. but the moment he thinks
he is noticed his legs take on strange
quirks, his hands double in size, his arms
are at a loss for place to hide. Awkward
ness of this kind must be treated mentally.
The child must be encouraged, fattered a
bit and thrust into company. f-'
But the other-the purely physical awk-
wardness-it is like unmaking the work
of nature to loosen Joints that seem to
have been born stiff, to turn angular mo-
lions into curves. The clay must be re-
modelled and the clay is fast hardening.
There is no school of grace that com
pares with the dancing school. Many
physical culture exercises give pupils pfac-
tically the same motions that fancy dances
give, but the result will never be as good.
especially in the case of a stubborn ch,ld.
I am afraid little Miss G. comes under this
head. But l can't help being nlt sorry
for her and those toes that insist upon
turning in.
No Beauty That Way.
Punishment may drive to duty but never
to beauty. Can you imagine being spanked
out of pigeon toes or slapped into straight
spine? Only coaxing will accomplish the
end. and the less the child knows he is
being coaxed the better.
Nothing serves this purpose so well as
dancing Gymnasium work is excellent,
but for a child who is disinclined to help
himself in the matter dancing serves best
of ALL for the reason that it is an en-
tirely sugar-coated pill. The youngster
may claim that gymnasium class bores
him-the modern youngster has reached the
point of being blase-but dancing never
does He is given caiisthenic lessons IN
with it's attendant joys of slippers and
fluffy frocks and music and tiny pro-
grams and gloves-this is the dessert of
l.fe.
Let your little folks learn to dance.
Folks" because the boy is entitled TO
grace as we'll his sister. But more es-
pecially give the little girl dancing les
sons. AS the world goes, grace Is &C
counted a more essential thing to her than
It is to those of the sterner sex, and 1t Is
your place to do what you can to start her
on the road to all that is feminine and love-
ly. In these days Of assertive womanhood
we cannot do too much to develop the
old-fashioned trait of being charming the
trait that was our mothers and our grand
mothers and her mothers before her.
Dancing Is the Best
In no way does the child come by grace
SO unconsciously as in dancing. especially
in the fancy dances There Is a great
riety of motion In all of these. The child
Is on his mettle. when dancing before spec
tators, to appear at his best. Before he
knows 1t he has Initiated the pretty poses
of his teacher and his more graceful COM
panions. q, ~,
Many of you. by the time this paragraph
begins, are crying out that you cannot
send your children to dancing school.
That is no reason why they should be de-
prived Of the fun and benefit BEN. of learning to
where it is impossible to reach school, or
perhaps you find the dancing masters
bills too high Neitsler is an excuse. Don't
you know how to dance yourself? If so,
have the PATIENCE to teach the little peo-
pie. Go to work, to recall the dances of
your youth, even though they have become
rusty in your memory. You Will gain
something at the salneoime that the child
is gaining. Manyoof the exercises given In
gymnasium classes all over the country
are nothing more or less than dancing steps,
such as have beenisaught by swallow-tailed
masters for generations
Serpentine Curve.
No dance compares with the serpentine
for physical culture in the broadcast sense
of the word Trunk and limbs are brought
into play in wonderful variety of diff
cult and beautiful curves. The difficulty of
managing long draperies during all the
motions adds greatly to the benefit of the
lesson. OF course dance of this nature
is given only TO advanced pupils In the art,
but it is worth while to any child to work
for advancement when 1t leads to such a
prize.
In the very beginning. the grace lessons
begin. BY the time little Miss Gangly has
mastered the five positions and their SUBJ
ordinate ones she Is we'll started toward
the mastery of her body. She has learned
first of ali, how to stand. When she Is
told to put her heels together she is told