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Show li; IrFLJ a r"Wyf rIT TLJir ( I D T Q F V 1 H! $& ''4bI7I'I 1 I ff HEN" a young Englishwoman of V t5tlc Tifcitcd tuis country recently i sbe cxPrcssed astonishment at Y y the ignomncc of the art of formal for-mal social behavior which the j American girl displayed. They did not know how to bow correctly, the curtsey ' Bcemcd to have becomo an obsolete social ( form here; they have not learned the j graceful way to proceed down the length i . of a receiving line, and there were i countless other social manners and cus- torn1:, held in high esteem by foreigners, j ' which seemed to have been neglected in ' " the early training of American girls, she I Then it happened that teachers of social decorum began to consider how to improve the girl's 6oeial bearing, and in looking - ,' over the field they decided thnt a touch ' i 'of quaintness and old fashioned forms fjli ', would be both charming and 6iii table. So ki , the curtsey was introduced and now it is Sy ' - one of the first lessons in etiquette taught R$ , the school girl. Its revival is expected to j P ? have n decided influence on the deport- t ' ment of the futuro dtbutante, for with the ! , development of the curtsey there is grad- 5 ' ,' ' If iw VJhH lit4 mr- WBm -h ''BBi !,. 13 An 0lH Fashioned Figure Re ually growing n more formal attitude among young persons toward older men and women. The curtsey is a charming greeting from youth to its kind or from youth to its eldcra. It is graceful, quaint, has dignity" and respect in every movement, and when well executed is as attractive as any form of greeting vo have. Young girls master its intricacies of movements readily and after a few lessons arc as quick to adapt it to social life as were their grandmothers. ONE grandmother who had not seen her grandchildren since they were in the pinaforo stage w.as surprised the other day to observe one child aged fifteen curtsey to her mother's friends in the drawing room. It was the hour before afterward she Is told to lift her sklrti d.iintily.nml bow as she would, tp some great person. The idea of rank InspircH the girl with a sonsc of the great importance impor-tance of tho curtsey, although it is introduced intro-duced into simple home affairs quite as much os it is used upon formal occasions. The foundation principle of tho curtsey is balance. No girl can bow and drop almost to the lloor without toppling over and looking as if in nuother minute sho nould do so. unless she is well poised on her feet. One foot should bo placed in advance of the othor. usually the right, while the weight of the body is' divided between the two, unless a forward or backward movomrnl i to 'follow, when the body should be so lightly poised that the weight enn be shifted from one foot to the other without thd shifting becoming noticeable. THEN with' the lwly thus lightly poised so that no effort is required to lift it or; lower it, it should first be raised by standing on the tips' of tho toe, when tho ljody should be bent in a long, sweeping graceful bow. v When making a fonnnI( curtsey the body , Is loweied until it almost touches the floor. Less formal ones tic graded according to the depth of the bow or the bending of the bod As the knees are bent and tho body slips toward the lloor the head A . should be inclined and then lifted again ' as the standing position is resumed j When curtse.ing the old fashioned I position of the feet must be assumed, I with toes out at an angle from the body. It would beJ practically impossible to i curtsey with any freedom and grace of movement if the feet were held in n straight line. I With the feet placed at an angle to the body and one foot slight! advanced there is no dinger of swaying or f.illiug (when the rules aro obscned. And it Ms important that a step forward or backward back-ward be taken immediately preceding or I following the act of curtsc.ung. This position is one of the most important impor-tant in drawing room or ballroom deportment, deport-ment, for upon its master and use depends de-pends the easc'wirh which a young woman passes down n receiving line and does not get out of step or find herself trying to l advance with the wrong foot after she j has curtseyed to one of the personages in line. SUPTOSE you have made a quaint old fashioned bow to the head of the receiving line and you wish to lcpentl. the formal greeting lo the person standing) at the leader's left When there is :ij large number of guests a break in the line means confusion to every one and it takes timo to get the column of guests under way again. Rathe: than become the awkward cause of such a disturbance It would be well to rehearse the bowing and resuming one's progress time nftcr time at dnncing school or at liome until the movements follow each other correctl like clockwork. The inovemonts soon become more or less automatic nnd a girl learns to shift herself from ouc position to another with out giving an conscious thought to the act, yet if she made a mistake sh would realize it in a minute nnd might be able, if well versed in dsportment rules, to recover herself without Interrupting the procedure of others. Reviving tho old fashioned curtsey has suggested that there may be other little features of deportment requiring emphasis, empha-sis, and one of these is the graceful exit from a room. Tho nwkwanlness with which the'.average young girl quits a room has been the subject of much comment, com-ment, nnd certain circles are demanding .a reformation.' TEACHERS of etiquette and drawing room deportmeut are pulling their pupils through exercises which are designed to improve the carriage and grace of the debutante. They arc tcach- The Curtsey Introduced in a Modern Dance. the servjng of the informal dinner to which n few friends had been invited and the children were baring tea minutes' enjo-ment enjo-ment with the "company." When the time came for the little group of boys and girls, ranging in ages fiom eight to fifteen, to withdraw while tho older persons proceeded pro-ceeded to the dinlug room, each little one curtscjed gravely and gracefully. The grandmother was enchanted with the performance per-formance and expressed a hope that all children would learn tho good old fashioned fash-ioned style of greeting and leavetaking which is one of the sweetest tributes youth can pay to age or exalted positibn. There is more in the art of curtsciug than the novice imagines. It is, a bow, a graceful exercise and an excellent method of teaching balance. The young girl who early masters the dilllciilt movements move-ments need'never fear making an awkward awk-ward or unattractive appearance anywhere. any-where. It" might "bo said that the curtsey is the foundation of drawing room grncc, for through its bending and dipping self-conspiousucss, self-conspiousucss, which usually creates awkwardness, awk-wardness, is eliminated. THE curtsey is taught first as an exercNc by itself. The young girlj is given certain aesthetic movcmentsi to do which arc a part of the curtsey,' ing her how to open a door and pass out through it while keeping hor face toward her hostess or the person in the room.; Carelessness has made girls forget that this attention is due the person to whom "goodby" has been said. Usually tho girls are in a hurry to get to some other, place or the are occupied with the next! appointment or perhaps they have nevcri had their attention called to the fact that( saying "goodby" is not the final act of, departure Having had this done girls J are now beginning to ee that the formal' leavetaking is not terminated until thci guest has withdrawn from the room, ifj she is calling or has been summoned bc-i fore her parents or some older person in. authority In informal meetings these details off deportment are not generally observed, hut they should be learned as a preparation prepara-tion for more formal occasions, because) one never know at what time they will be valuable social assets. GIRLS often make the same mistake entering a room, especially if they shut the door behind them In entering en-tering they fice the centre of the room or the end where the persou visited is A Graceful Bow and Dip. j j spjtod-. then in order to close the door they turn squnrely around, back to the room, and gently push the door to. After accomplishing this act successfully they (consider themselves ready to go on with the formal entrance, which by this time has lost all its dignity and attractiveness. attractive-ness. For no person can suggest both of these qualities by presenting her back to a gathering It is cayy to close a door after you without nioviug the body around. The arms and hands do It while the face is turned townrd the centre of the room. Of course these details seem trivial to very young girls, who seldom take all the interest in their manners that they should, but by the time a girl has finished school and is ready to enter society she will bo grateful to the parent or tenchcr who insisted on her Z learning the little arts which seemed so useless to her before. j ': Parents who are overindulgcut with j their children should adopt a firmer attitude at-titude toward their growing offspring and j , make them take certain lessons -winch will be to their advantago in later e.irs One youug man whose .sisters are more ' j accomplished in dancing and drawing room behavior than he is said the other day that he wished he had been made to ; ( go to dancing school regularly, because i it would save him many unpleasant hours now and would make hiin a ' more eligible partner at dances His sis- f,v I ters, he explained, liked their dancing j' nnd deportment lessons nnd thercforo J they got ahead, while he now has to study K the things he should have learned a few f years earlier, muttvnutuutuMVMMutiw i |