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Show PRACTICAL TALKS BY THE APRIL GRANDMOTHER "Learn to sit 'serenely' if you would acquire distinction of manner," advised the April Grandmother. "It may seem an unimportant matter, but nevertheless neverthe-less comparatively few young girls know how to properly seat themselves, look comfortable when they are seated or get up gracefully from a seat. One reason for this awkwardness is due to the fact that teachers who are not themselves fastidious in regard to physical physi-cal poise permit their pupils to rusli into a class room and fall upon a seat, instead in-stead of constraining them to enter deliberately de-liberately and sit down. After a time the pupil who is permitted to assume an unconventional position vhen at her desk gets into the habit of wriggling nervously from one side of her chair to the other, sits on, one foot or spreads her knees widely apart attitudes which are not only uncomfortable but vulgar. "Many girls look awkward and uneasy un-easy when seated because they slide onto a chair from its side Instead of from its front edge and do not allow themselves sufficient space to turn in when approaching a seat. When ready to sit down one foot should be slightly in advance of the other, so that by pivoting piv-oting on the toes, bending the hips and knees the body will swing easily onto the chair. Care should be taken to place the hips as far toward the back of the seat as it is possible to get them. "The girl who sits on the edge of a chair and leans far backward is in as awkward an attitude as she can possibly possi-bly assume and one that will not only impel her to cross her knees but help to injure her spine. She should remember that when seated the hips must invariably invaria-bly be further back than the shoulders, otherwise it will be impossible to sit erectly,- gracefully or comfortably which, of course, means serenely. This attitude will bring both feet in their correct position squarely upon the floor and partly covered by the skirts. The consciousness that one has small, prettily pret-tily shaped feet is not an excuse for thrusting them forward, and in my younger days every gentlewoman's ankles an-kles were solely a matter of supposition so far as the public was concerned. "In a praiseworthy effort to sit gracefully grace-fully a great many girls take elaborate pains to arrange their draperies, and consequently their pose looks stiff, whereas by simply seating themselves in the correct manner and with the knees close together their skirts if not too scant about the hips will naturally fall in graceful folds. "Unless the hands are allowed to lie idly on the lap," concluded the April Grandmother, "the effort to 'sit serenely" serene-ly" will be unavailing. Many girls have a habit of grasping the arms, side or back of their chair, of twisting their fingers or toying with some ornament while other people are talking to them and of emphasizing their own remarks by 'clawing the air under the mistaken impression that they are making gestures." |