Year: 1874




tunity to survey and admire it, and then
pausing, began with Il graceful flourish the
most astonishing performance Of the even
ing. How these wonderful legs conducted
themselvcs They reared on the toes; they
spun about like a top; they hippity hoppcd
they minced back and forth in short steps:
they crossed and cntwncd with bcwildering
rapidiy; they leaped high in the air; they
chased each other by turn all over the stage;
they stamped vehemently, then fell upon The
stage as softly as thistlc-down; now one
sailed aloft as if bent on deserving its fellow:
and so they went, accompanied by wave of
the arms and a sWayiny of the body that as
sisted to constitute an exhibition simply indie
scribablc.


There are some people who look upon
picture, and it has for them world of mean
ing that to the less gifted is vailed in the
deepest obscurity. These favored beings can
discourse to you by the hour upon this rcvela-
ton of their kecner perceptions, telling you
world of wonderful things that the painter
designed to express by it, how this dash of
color meant such a thing, and this dash an
other thing, till what to the uninitiated or
obtusc is a very simple delineation Of tri1l-
ing incident becomes thrcc-volumc history
with unlimited appendices. Another class OF
persons no less favored of the gods listen to
musical performance, and what to the ordi
nary ear is but combination of sweet sounds
so varied as to length, pitch, and volume as
to produce pleasing impression upon the
sense of hearing, is to them revelation of
ocean pillows, waring tempests, signing
zcphyrs, clashins arms, varied human pas
sons, and thousand other things, all as re-
mote, to the ordinary apprehension, from
musical harmony as daylight from darkness.


People of such brilliant parts claim our
high and sincere admiration; if it were not
wrong to indulge in envy we should envy
them; and we regret that Scribbleton, not
withstanding his literary genius, is not cnti-
t'e" t" = .:"".'' with them in the same
week when painting and music are under
consideration. But when this drama of the
legs was presented to his view, in particular
when this single fair dancer in the gossamcr
dress executed her graceful and da ,hing steps,
bis genius was unable to assert itself. lie
watched with undivided attention the every
movement of her bewildering legs, read the
deep moral lesson they were designed to clu-
ci,late, and thus communed with himself
about them:


81 should say that crossing of the legs was
designed to illustrate the play Of cross-pur-
poses that puzzles us so often. Now she
glanccs at the one leg, now at the other. as if
undecided which to follow. Grave doubt
and deep indccision aptly and forcibly illus
trated


''Thcrc she goes now: the right leg won!
see it wiggle, triumphant in its victory, while
she pursues it with the utmost vigor and car
ncstncss of purpose. Such is the energy that
should ever characterize the performance of
labor once decided upon.


''That rearing upon the toes is symbolical
of the ever active craving after things that
we have not The foot planted tlat may be
said to represent the circumstances in which
man finds himself, where he stands firm and
safe; hut dissatisfied with his condition, and
hungering for something still beyond, he
rears metaphorically upon his toes, and per
chance misses the coveted prize and falls even
lower than he was before.


''How well that hop after the outstretched
toe expresses the idea of a fleeting pleasure
that ever recedes before us!


1T is by such short steps that we make our
first advance toward vice; her face expresses
the curiosity that may give us the first i'm
pulse to examine it, blended with the fear and
repugnance that its first contemplation al
WAYS excites within us.


''That spinning upon the toe is emblcmatic
of the maelstrom of folly into which the
weak and unwarry are so often drawn to their
inevitable ruin.


'.That-that somewhat puzzles me. What
do people clasp their hands that way for:
Let me see, it might he the stomach ache;
she looks sick No, this is moral perform
ance. and there's moral meaning there |
somewhere. May be it is repentance guess
the idea is repentance


':Ah. she looks happy again. See her
trustful glance upward, her treadlng of the
world with all its sinful allurements beneath |
her feet, her occasional bounce upward as if |
to escape to better locality. Repentance
has conferred the boon Of an approving con-
science, than which there is none greater, or
else the stomach ache is gone"


But edifvine Al il is TO be let into the |