| Show IS A GRACEFUL AGE i S Women Have Learned to Run Without Awkwardness HOW NOT TO BE CLUMSY 4 The Training Young Women Undergo in Order to be Pleasing In Their Move ments at all Times WO men were walking 0 n aNew a-New York pavement r pave-ment the other U I day when one of I I them suddenly Packed his com swsro it panious sleeve 2 t Look at that j = iP 1 he said quietly That was a woman wo-man running for THE WHOSO WAYman a street car The car had stopped but it was one of the impatient Broadway ones and the conductors con-ductors hand was suggestively on the strap Two or three vehicles were in the way but the woman carrying herself her-self perfectly upright her skirt gathered in one hand just at the right spot to have the draperies clear the ground properly ran in and out between them with great skill and stepped aboard the car She did pause a moment on the platform to regain her poise after her chase but with head erect and easy gait entered the car and sank into a seat When 1 was young said the man who bad directed his friends attention to the episode as they passed on I TememUer I it used to be said that grace adorns a woman until she begins to run but that womans grace did not forsake her even at the critical moment In point of fact the old saw has quite lost its pith It does not hold in either proposition Grace does not adorn all women even to the running point and many women like the one who excited the t comment just quoted can run wr h elegant ele-gant ease and pleasing effect It all consists in knowing how Ten years ago that same woman perhaps would have run like the woman pictured in the initial letter at the head of this article arti-cle with head thrust forward torso well in advance of the lower limbs jeopardizing jeopardiz-ing the center of gravity and coin fff I I 0 pressing the dl j lungs and air passages cS < A it I L pas-sages just at the V Ii I timo when extra N 11 breath was needed need-ed We run J 1 111 r I with our legs fqf 4 j fill said a professor iMf 7 = W Jf in a gymnasium M for girls the other JfJfrIIAilM l I 1 day and carry 11flff J I 4 our bodies Dont < r reverse the proc A GRACEFUL CAIffiIAGE I ess running with the body and letting the legs drag after as best they may The same professor preached a short Sermon to her class on another occasion The grace of our grandmothers said she was the grace miscalled of suppression sup-pression that of todayis activity The physical development of the woman of this period begins at her toes and extends through every separate joint of her body Whereupon she proceeded to put the girls through a half hours practice prac-tice which consisted entirely in moving the finger joints to secure a graceful use of the hand The soul of grace is suppleness The old Greeks knew this and the fin du siecle young women are discovering it anew At the fashionable schools the gymnastic lesson has long since ceased to be an hour of calisthenics in blouses and short skirts with the conventional outstretched arm movements Said a pupil of one of them recently We do everything in our exercise practice We wag our heads and stretch our necks and work every separate muscle we own I should not be surprised any time to be asked to elevate my eyebrows for tent ten-t consecutive minutes or to grind my teeth fifty times every day When the modern girl is fairly started in her study of grace and the poetry of of motion which some one says should be BO perfect that if every muscle struck a note in this wonderful instrument of nature only harmony would result she begins to apply her knov edge to the ev ry day happenings of life Nbt long ago in the parlors of a Mew York boarding school the parents and guardians of the pupils were invited to oJ a presentment of the young womens proficiency in this applied grace The t girls were in everyday attire and they did everyday things They sat down and fi I stood ug they ran to overtake a friend c they climbed stemadder to drive nail they stepped a sofa thence to a table straightened a picture on the wall and got down again they picked up a handkerchief hand-kerchief from the floor they entered and left an improvised carriage raised and carried an umbrella in a wind storm I hurried catch a train buying a ticket and hastening onnIl in a manner that was a revelation to the onlookers Only one skeptic had the temerife to say that he didnt believe even these agile girls could climb elejruitlv o fho upper berth of a sleeping car and to be frank not one of them dared to dispute the assertion That their knowledge is valuable in unexpected places however is often proved Why said a young belle the other day it was worth all my a gymnastic 1 e s t4 sons and tedious I 5 c practicing to be able to rally as I J 5 did from a recent fri e threatened mortifying mor-tifying experience IJ R experi-ence I was tb waltzing in a crowded ball EISING WITH A SINGLE room and a clum MOTION Sy couple collided with us throwing me on my knees I should have fallen over quite if I had not known just the movement to protect myself and once steady it was easy to rise with a single motion erect upon my feet The other girl who did not actually ac-tually fall at the first shock floundered and staggered worse than I before she 1 recovered herself She did not know how All of which is extremely comforting I com-forting to the modern awkward woman sinceit inspires the hope that grace I which has not of itself perched upon her banner may be induced bv effort and practice to abide with her ffi hUe A |
