Evening journal., 1907-04-08
THE CHARM OF GESTURE.

T Is frequently observed by foreigners
/ that while the conversation OF Ameris
can women Is full Of vivacity, they make
hardly any use of their hands when talk
ing. Rather along with their animation
they retain a strict English repose Of man-
ner. In so doing, it Is thought by many,
they completely lose the charm Of gesture
making Indeed, in America there are no
national gestures except the hard and
mechanical ones OF nodding and shaking
the head and the use Of the fingers for
lbeckOning. To reprOYe another or TO af-
firm the conversation by shaking the index
finger of the right hand is regarded as
Extremely bad form. These few are ges-
lures, moreover. lacking in either charm
or beauty.
On the contrary. the French woman's
lshrug Of her shoulders, her palms held up
ward and her face alive in piquancy, is at
once picture and a volume Of Oratory.
The slight backward movement she at
times gives her head, the more than slight
elevation of her body, lends command to
her pose and expresses a negative as In
flexible as the laws of the Medes and Per-
slams. The acts OF her life, in fact are
Expressed by a French woman with her
hands and In such a way that he who
looks on her gestures may read their mean-
ling BY one slight movement she can re-
animate or keep from tagging a conversa-
l tion. As a rule, however, the trench
woman's hands are not as beauurul as
\ those of American women. They are more
thick set, less flexible. It Is in the grace OF
their use that she creates charm
/ But in the use of gestures the French
woman Is outdOne by the ladies OF Spain,
who from infancy are taught 70 regard
their gestures as the practice of hne
/ art The grace a Spanish woman wieldS
with her fan is proverbial. Without
iword she conveys her hatred, her love or
her Indifference. Generally her hands are
beautiful, often remaining so long after
her face has faded. She seldom mars, as
she thinks. the outline of her fingers by
the wearing Of rings.
1t IS in Sicily perhaps that gestures have
attained their height In acknowledged
meaning. Certain ones there have become
national while being so fanciful as to bat-
he foreigners in the island. The gesture for
leo away" Get out of my sight Is the
same as the one used in America for
Come toward me- while the outwaIu
turning of the palm and a wave Of the
fingers means Come, l wish you
strangers In Sicily complain bitterly that
lthev cannot get rid of the beggars and
lcab drivers who pursue them along the
lstreets. This is because they use the 81
Gillian gesture for come while tainl1lns
they are expressing Go away" Many a
Young man in Sicily begs a girl to marry
him without ever having spoken word
to her.
/ First he makes the gesture OF Come,
the one meaning to other nations Co and
Immediately afterward places the points OF
the five fingers of his right hand on the
palm Of his left hand. This indicates the
skirt or petticoat of the girls mother, Tor
no Sicilian girl can be properly married
unless her mother is in the arrangement.
The last gesture of the appeal Is one OF
lplacing the two palms together as though
for prayer but which in this case means
the church. SO by three swift movements
the young man has said, Come with me
nv your mothers consent to the church.
The girl wishing TO do so drops her chin
on her chest, thus making the gesture for
Ives" When refusing the plea, however,
She elevates her chin, throwing her head
far back This gesture means No In
lsicilv the gesture of shaking the head from
side to side as indicative Of No. is not
known.
The gesture for ''You are very pretty;
,,o1l please me-" IS in Sicily a rapid outln-
ling Of the face with the thumb and middle
finger of the left hand. Impertinent young
lmen are quite free in making this gesture
I'm me streets. When rebuffed they at once
80 through the same motion. only pinching
In the cheeks while doing So This changes
lthe meaning to "You are too thin." And
lthinness IS not at all admired