Arizona republican., 1905-02-08
How People Walk.
to us.

/
When William Schuyler of st. Louis
in Addressing public school officials in
! Chicago last week, introduced the SUBJ
! ject of walking properly he made a
great hit. He confined his remarks to
! the slipshod gait of the women teach
| ers, but another speaker applied it to
all teachers and a third to all classes
of men and women in the United
States.
The indictment is that the people of
this country, far more than the people
of European countries, treat the mat
ter of gait and carriage with indiffer
ence. that they appear to be uncon-
scious of their awkwardness, that they
act as if they were ignorant of the
power there is in a fine walk and bear
ing that they take no pains to Guilt
vate an impressive walk-and it is
true bill.
If anyone will stand on a crowded
street for an hour and watch the pc
destrians as they pass by he will see
no end of awkward and ridiculous
things in their walk. Some seem to be
falling backward and some seem to be
falling forward. Many walk largely
with their shoulders some rocking
sideways, as if they were jerking their
feet out of sticky mud, some sagging
at the knees, some throwing first one
shoulder and then the other backward,
and some throwing only one shoulder
and arm backward, as if about to
throw a baseball. Some press each
foot hard on the pavement as if they
were trying to stretch new shoes. Some
make a sort of pause between every
two steps, so that every step looks like
a new start. Some rock their heads to
and fro as if they were completely ex-
hausted. There is an endless variety
of these queer and laughable eccen-
tricities and nobody seems to be con-
scious of it.
Once in q long while a person who
notices such things will see a man or
woman passing whose gait and car
riage are absolutely fine. The head
and shoulders are erect, the stride is
neither too long nor too short, there
is no hurry and there is no laziness, |
the whole body sympathizes but not |
obtrusively. there is no starting or
jumping or sagging motion, there is no |
appearance of excessive effort, and it |
is neither a glide nor a scramble.
No one can describe exhaustively |
such a walk because in every case it |
is different Out of fifty people who |
walk we'll no two will walk alike, and |
any one of them can be identified at a /
distance by his walk. Within the can
ons of good walking there is ample |
room for an endless variety of taste,
style and expression.
1t would require poet an artist and /
man of fashion combined to point out
all that may be expressed in a walk, /
but everybody knows that a good car
riage is a revelation of character and a
great social power. We know as soon
as we see a man walk whether he has
dignity and pride of character, whether
he is a precise and fastidious person.
whether he is courageous and ener-
getic, whether he is graceful and artis
tic and whether he possesses proper
and self-respect.
1t would be still more difficult to de-
scribe the fascination which fine gait
throws around a woman. Her move
ments may express poetry, refinement,
vivacity and amiability. or
the reverse. Women do not know it,
but the truth is that ten men will be
fascinated by woman's gait and car
riage to one who will be ensnared by a
pretty face, a fine voice or even for
tune. To tell exactly what sort of
gait has this power would be impossi-
bic, because it is different in every
case.
The upshot of it all is that every
man and every woman who wishes to
succeed in life, in any department,
should pay great attention to this mat
ter of gait and carriage. 1t is large
ly determined by anatomical differ
ences and by a persons daily employ
ment, but that it is to some extent Gull
tivatable is shown by the effect of mill
itary training on men and of dancing
on women. Everybody can make lit
tie improvement and some will find
that prosperity, fortune and happiness
lie in this direction.
We have military drill masters and
we have dancing masters, but there
is a fortune waiting for a professor
of walking.