The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1920-03-30

Once ] read of queer old mar
whose favorite text in the Bible was
"At Michmash they laid up their car
riages." / don't know where Mich
mash was, nor what kind of carriages
we're kept there, but every time see
person with a particularly awk-
ward bodily carriage think of Mich
mash and wish we had some such
place now where modern people could
lay up their carriages for repairs.
sigh when / notice how badly
many women stand and walk. And |
sigh more when notice how they sit.
Of course, most women are expected
to hang on to straps nowadays, but
when they do sit, it really is sur
prising what awkward and ungainly
poses some Of them assume.
I used to think that my grand
mother was fussy. She would say:
"My dearl No lady sits with her
knees far apart"
"Oh, mercy, childl how are you
sitting7 Haven't told you time and
gain that it is not lady-like to have
your knees crossed? You may cross
the feet, if you wish, but not your
knees"
"Sit up, sit up, grille. You will get
round shouldered if you let your chest
fall in and you, yourself, droop down
in that listless manner. 1t is not good
for your spine, either"
And l would protest and say that
| could be lady no matter how | sat
or stood, Nevertheless, | knew in my
heart that what grandmother meant
by '1ady-like" and "being a lady"
was really graceful and refined"
Naturally, a graceful and refined girl
would be lady. She couldn't be
anything else. That which is ugly,
uncouth or vulgar cannot possibly
be called graceful and refined. There
S no beauty in any of the poses that
grandma objected to.
Sitting with the knees far apart, or
with the feet well extended lis ugly,
% say the least. Crossing the knees,
rs everyone knows, can be done
gracefully, but girl should use good
judgment when and where she as
sumes that position. Now if some of
YOU ask me why that is l am going to
quote again from grandmother's phil
osophy. She would say:
''My dear, there are times and
places when legs, no matter how
shapely, should not be exhibited, es-
oecially in a manner to attract atten-
ion. Those are the occasions when
even grace may become vulgarity."
Personally, think grandmother's
deas were, in the main, pretty good.
Certainly it does not harm to think
hem over. One is apt to forget and
grow careless. We of the screen have
20 be very particular how we sit or
talk, or even stand. If you could
hear what the directors say to us
when we fall from grace, so to speak,
you would not be surprised that we
acquire the habit of studying it from
every angle. That is, if grace may be
permitted to have angles. Personally
| think it should not. / never heard
an artist talk about the beauty of
angles. But all artists, as well as
baseball players, am told, admire
curves. Now there is a way to stand
and way to sit that makes people
look awkward and angular. And
there is another way to stand and
way to sit which delights the eye of
an artist, makes the film director
happy and causes others to observe.
'How graceful that person isr'
There is an ideal manner of stand
ing, sitting and bodily poise liz all
movements. Military authorities rec
ognize this to such an extent that
proper bodily carriage is considered
essential for military efficiency.
Since the war the majority of young