Why, even a little woman, weighing but a hundred pounds, can make
herself grand by a certain style of walking.
How any of you who desire to appear well, to make a fine impression,
can consent to crawl about, poking your chins out, shoulder-blades
sticking out, and wiggling yourself along in that stubby, stumbling
way, amazes me.
Why, girls, if you were to give one-twentieth part as much time to
learning to walk, as you give to the piano, you would add immensely
to your attractions. Everybody plays the piano. It really is
refreshing to meet one who says, "I have never learned to play." Why
not a few of you, instead of sitting four hours a day on piano
stools, weakening and distorting your spines; why not just a few of
you, by way of variety, cultivate this beautiful, elastic, queenly
manner of walking? You have no idea how, to use a Yankee phrase, "it
would pay," as an attraction.
RULES FOR FINE WALKING.
There are certain prerequisites.
First, you must have low, wide heels, and broad soles, especially
about the toes, affording a secure surface, upon which, in taking
each step, you can push the body forward.
Second, the body about the waist must be perfectly at liberty. The
corset is a deadly enemy to fine walking.
But given perfect freedom at the middle of the body, through which
all the movements in walking must pass,--given this freedom of the
trunk, with good shoes, and you have the prerequisites on which this
general exercise of the body depends.
Suppose, instead of a free body, that you press a corset into the
pit of the stomach, and press it in so as to make a scoop-shovel dip
in that part of the body, of course you draw the shoulders forward,
and push the bowels down out of their natural place. Then you walk
like a deformed person.
With liberty of feet and liberty of body, you are ready to take your
first lesson.
I once read a book about walking. It was a French book, and, if I
remember right, it contained about one hundred and twenty pages. In
it the most elaborate directions were given. We were told how to
hold our heels and toes, what part of the foot to bring down first,
how, when the foot had been brought down, it was to be moved during
the step, just what angle must be maintained between the two feet,
the style of movement in the ankle itself, management of the knees,
the hips, the shoulders, the head, the arms, the hands, the thumbs,
--the position of the thumbs was the subject of several pages.
I have sometimes thought that I would write a book on walking. I am
sure I can write a better one than that French book, and my book
would contain only four words. Let us see, we must have two leaves,
and each leaf must be as large as your thumb nail. We have four
pages.
Now we will proceed to print this book. On the first page we will
print one single word, "chin"; on the second a single word, "close";
on the third page, "to"; now we approach the end of the volume;
turn over, and on the last page we print the word "neck."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account