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Show Phjslcal (nllure. Among the nations which have made the study of Physical Culture or first Importance, tho Germans may be said to rank first, The common school is called the gymnasium, nnd no studies nre taken without accompanjlng exercises exer-cises ol some sort They have apparatus, appara-tus, Indeed, most nil our vaulllng and leaping cxercifo come from this nation. Light weights ire used, nnd wands for special work. A great portion of their work consists, that is the class work, In dancing stem. These, Willi wand nnd light dumb bells, form the class work All of these exercises nre done to rylh mlc music, and nothing could be prettier than a largo class performing these graceful and intricate movements. Uars and horses form much of their heavy nnd special woik. Here men spring, Jump, climb, swing nnd perform with nl! the strength nnd grace possible. Here Is where much of our trapese performances perfor-mances originate, although the Japanese likewise have this art carried to perfection. per-fection. The German asserts that strength Is not the principal aim of I hysical Culture, but grace an agility. He discards thu precise and clockHork movements of the Suede, nnd is happy in the results he generally nttalns Iix prcsslon, except the general expression cf graceful movements, Is unknown to him And unknown lo htm also, is the lighter and more ethereal grace of his neighbor, the I renchman. 1 he Trench, so long the exponents of emotion by expression, have nt last reduced their arbritary teachings to nn exact science. This has been done through the studies nnd Inspiration of ono man, whose namo was Hclsarte. He asserted that men nnd women had been corrupted from tho highest nntl purest forms of expression expres-sion as understood by the ancient Greeks, and lie spent his whole life In studying the principles of the lost science It is not the uncultivated nntl unthinking savagu who ctn express the high and ho!) emotions of pure p isslon nnd pure devotion, but the savage can best express the emotions which betray Ills own untutored nature. To the haunts of poverty nnd v Ice, to the salons ot the cultured nnd elegant, went this man In his nttempt to find uhat had been so long lost. The emotions ol love, of fear, of hatred, of anger, and of despair, Here studied through their ablest exponents, .ami the secrets of un repressctl nature were gradually unfolded un-folded to this student. I Ike I'rocbel In onother line of stud, his work was marvellous In its result.,. A system of expression was formulated and elucidated, elucida-ted, and modes of expression feeling were nt last ready to be studied as a science. No thought of the effect upon the phjslcal structure was at first given to this sjstem of expression, but very recent years have convinced the highest nutlio itlcs that the study of the emotions emo-tions nnd their proper expressing cannot can-not be left out ol a complete sjstem of Phjslcal Culture. So that Delsarte, as this science anil art combined has been named, lias become a part of the curriculum of the highest cistern gjmnaslums |
