The Columbus journal., 1909-09-22

writing successful French poetry un-
der a mans name. Another of the
coterie travelled to the orient and sat
under the sage who continues the rev.
citation of the Bah. The ritual is &C.
lectic, from the Roman pageant of the
spring to the Provencal courts of the
muses. by way Of Keats lode to q
Grecian Urn"
No pains are too great to throw
them back into the old graceful spirit
1t is no laughing adventure. Through
summer afternoons their songs are
accompanied by slow. rhythmic dances.
The responses to the priestess are
chanted amid studied figures. Drap-
cries weave in and out, arms rise and
fall. 1.-the bodies pose and change and
pose. in attitudes learned carefully be-
forehand.
They copy attitudes from Grecian
urns with pain and hesitation. Why
not? So the piano player finds her
way. awkward and hating: only little
by little does practice make those
hard notes fall like showers Of pearls.
So the graces Of these earnest girls,
at first stiff copies. became natural
and free. a poetry of attitude and ges.
ture all their own.
When they quit their classical drap-
cries for tailor suits they take their
graces with them into daily life
These solemn rituals become habit,
give them-in our careless daily life
touch Of gravity and dignity that
surprises and delights young men. So
they would have their girls.
''The classical draperies are of i'm.
portance to impose graceful habits on
our bodies" said one girl. "And these
ideals are in the air. Fashion itself is
coming round to them"
"Really?" 1 asked. HAS fashion the
slightest tendency to corset reform?"
was astonished by her answer.
Remember, these girls are girls of
fashion; and fashion has always
laughed at corset reform. Corset re-
form is in the air of Europe. yes; but
when wrote few months ago that
struction had prohibited the corset in
the highest normal and professional
schools as "a permanent obstacle to
the development of the body and the
normal functions of the organs"
felt, nevertheless. that l was mislead-
ing the reader.
What does Roumania count? What
does it count that the Bulgarian tsar
banishes the corset from "all schools
where girls remain up to the age
of 17?"
What does it count that all students
of Russian lyceums and high schools
of music. ballet and beaux arts are or
dered to deposit in the cloakroom the
cuirass which they wear under the
name of corset" and that the Car
Nicholas, in signing the regulation,
added in his own hand that 1.-The de-
velopment of feminine charms will be
the gainer?" 1t counts nothing that
in Scandinavian countries the mass of
girls have voluntarily abandoned the
corset through devotion to outdoor
sports"
These are questionable lands,
where the costume of women matters
nothing. Even in Paris the otherwise
powerful League of Mothers of Fami-
lies got itself laughed at by taking
up corset reform six months ago.
"The great dressmakers and the
corsetmakers themselves can alone
make the reform general" they admit.
And the grace movement is forcing
them"
The grace movement! Do you smile
at it! Do you see anything futile in
earnest girls copying the poses and
gestures from Grecian urns?
I'VE pay great prices for Tanaera
figurines and l ask why?" one of the
girls said. why do we so admire
them. if not for their grace alone?
Their beauty of face and figure is nil.
Their beauty of attitude and gesture
is everything. It is within the reach
of us all. Why not try for it,"
STERLING HELLO.