A Delsartean scrap-book

Front matter

ELL'S LITERATURE SERIES No. 124.

25 Cents.

a DELSARTEAN

Preface

fHE gospel of beauty gains an ever wider hearing: its message is, indeed, a much- ^ needed one in the modern world, which is apt to shut its eyes to all that distracts from the main business (or the whole duty) of man — to make mone} 7 . Until it is discovered that the faculties which are concentrated on the supreme ideal of " making a pile " — to say nothing of the faculties consumed in the pitiful struggle for a bare subsistence — are not in condition, or perhaps are the very reverse of those wanted in the sympathetic recognition and cultivation of things beautiful.

The half-awakened eye needs guidance in its search of a response to the appeal of aesthetic impressions: and since, in a mechanical methodical age, the body as w r ell as the mind has a tendency to become specialized, and with cramping, fixed habits, grace and ease of movement become difficult and rare, as natural and expressive action disappears with natural conditions of life : so that in our complex and unlovely civilization the laws

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of harmony, the sense of art, the language of line and curve, in the expression of beauty are only slowly recovered, if at all, by careful and conscious study.

With the gradual, and in some cases complete, removal of life from the beauty of wild nature in big cities, the loss of the daily countless impressions of beauty — of harmony of colors and stimulus to the imagination, common to a life in the woods and fields, is hardly, perhaps, appreciated in its full meaning, especially in the effect of its absence in early life when impressions of all kinds are strong. All these causes, daily and hourly at work, with habits of mind and body, cramping and mechanical conditions of work, indoor life, a restricted space and movement — all these causes can only be counteracted or mitigated in any degree by a study of the laws and expression of beauty. And therefore a work such as that of Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Kussell should be especially valuable.

Few indeed are more constant and devoted exponents of this gospel of beauty of which I have spoken, and as lecturers they have done much to elucidate, and to simplify by familiar illustrations in common life, in speech, bearing, and action, and domestic decoration those principles of beauty which underlie all varieties of its manifestation in life as in art. Indeed as exponents of the system of Delsarte, they aim, I believe, to reduce the laws

PKEFACE. Vil

of graceful movement and appropriate dramatic expression and action to almost scientific precision and definiteness.

Now, while I do not believe that the faculty for art in its positive, or creative and inventive sense, can be taught, yet on its negative side, certain principles can be laid down which would prevent at least mistakes being made.

Preaching, alone, will not save a world; and if the world insists on the adoption of conditions of life and habit, law and custom, which tell against external beauty and its enjoyment, its votaries can but wear out their lives in protest, until the arts become extinct.

But since the arts are human, and since the apple was given to Aphrodite, humanity all the world over, in all sorts and conditions own her power ; and I believe the appeal to the eye is too potent, and art too involved in life itself for the satisfaction of the one in the perfection of the other ever to cease to be ardently desired.

This awakening of the sense of art, this increased sensibility to beauty — this new Renaissance — shall we call it — that we are witnessing in our time, that has been slowly and silently growing these last ten or twenty years — what is its meaning ? Can it be merely owing to the increase of riches ? The uninformed possession of riches generally results in the smothering of the sense of art in luxury and vulgarity. No ! I be-

Vlll PREFACE.

lieve this awakening* search for beauty to be but a part of another movement — a rising* wave on the earth of aspiration for a fuller, freer, more humane, sympathetic and beautiful, if simple, life. A life now for the first time coming" within the bounds of possibility for the many, as more and more knowledge of art and of nature and refinement becomes diffused, and, united in community of interests a command of the resources of material of life, the peoples of the earth become one kindred together.

London, September, 1890.

Delsarte's work— Man's nature and man's expression— " Tuning the instrument" — Words, tones, and gestures— The bow of the Queen of Italy— Gladstone and Dr. Richter— The aim of the Delsartean gymnastics— Quotations from Delsarte.

II

The practical workings of the system— School gymnastics — Bad manners — Grace and elegance — How to train the body — A cure for nervousness — " Decomposing " exercises — How to rest — An Oriental prince and the English ladies— Edwin Forrest and Delsartism —The proper age and time for study 1

Chapter II. Art Education

(From " Education in the Industrial and Fine Arts,' 1 '' published by U. S. Government.)

Can good taste be acquired ?— The laws of beauty— The science of art-criticism— Prof. Walter Smith and industrial drawing — To understand the " reasons why " in art — Need of Delsartean teachings in our public schools 20

Chapter III. Health, Natural Expression, Grace

I.

Delsartean development— " Know thyself "—The different kinds of exercises — Grace— Rest — Sleep— Labor— Corpulency — " The pace that kills "—Vital economy— Broken-down old age.

X TABLE OF CONTENTS.

II.

PAGE

Expression development— Life gives force, education should give expression— Nerve-rest — Rhythm the law of health, growth, and beauty— The Delsartean gymnastics 27

Chapter IV. Personality

(From the Northivestern Journal of Education.')

The art of expression —Personal power— The meaning of Delsarte's teachings— His methods of studying nature— His discoveries in harmony with other scientific discoveries — Prof. Tomlin's inquiry — Does the study of expression make one self-conscious ?— Self-consciousness or self-possession 34

Chapter V. Delsartism In England

(From the Voice Magazine.)

Owen Meredith— Sir Frederick Leighton— The elder Garcia— The secret of youth— How actors regard Delsartism— All good acting in harmony Avith its teachings— Robert Browning— Lamperti and his method— The German school of singing— Salvini, Rossi, and Ristori at home 41

CHAPTER VI. THE BREATH OF LIFE. (From the New York Home Journal.)

Control at the centre — Freedom at the extremities— " Lift up your chest " — How to acquire the habit of breathing naturally — The child and the animal— Reserve power 52

Chapter VII. Dress And Development Of Woman

(From Scribner's Magazine.)

Dr. Sargent, of Harvard University, on physical development— The waist-line— The hips— The origin of lacing— The pure ideals of the early Greeks — Some physical experiments— A r° e for health — American women 59

TABLE OF CONTENTS. XI

Chapter VIII

THE NATURAL HUMAN FIGURE. (From the London Homeopathic World.*) page A London letter— The role of the body in expression— The effect of disturbing harmony— Our eyes accustomed to discord- Tight lacing— Health, beauty, and expression dependent on perfect freedom 66

Chapter IX. A Woman On Walking

(From the New York Sunday Star.')

The faulty carriage of belles of Broadway and Fifth Avenue — Walking up-stairs— A society girl's lament — Walking naturally not necessarily walking beautifully— The anxiety and strain of the shopper— Nervousness versus dignity — Some suggestions as to the cure of certain natural defects 74

CHAPTER X. ANOTHER WOMAN ON WALKING. (From the New York Mail and Express.)

How one ought to walk in order to be graceful — How to gain strength and ease— Advantages in health and beauty to be derived from a proper carriage and gait— Exercises which develop the muscles all over the body, head, shoulders, chest, waist, knees, and feet, all concerned in the art of walking well— Methods of training each in turn 83

CHAPTER XL

A PRIVATE LESSON. (From the New York Sunday World.)

Being aesthetically carved— Nell Nelson takes a lesson and tells her interesting experience in the New York World— Vanity completely crushed— The Delsartean's dissecting-room— Breathing and walking—Falling as a pastime 91

Chapter XII. For Comfort In Dress

(From the Chicago Daily News.)

Some ideas on men's clothes— The stupidity of modern fashions— The effect of fits— Linen, plush, and Oriental slippers — Some novel ornaments—A subtle compliment 102

Xll TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Chapter XIII. Woman In Black

(From the Chicago Tribune.')

PAGE

A popular fallacy— The traces of age— Street and house dressing- Colors for evening— How to wear jewels— Massive ornaments — Powder and rouge— The effect of ' ' make-up " 109

Chapter XIV. More About Black

(From the New York Sunday Herald.)

What it does to Mrs. Langtry and Mrs. Kendal— " Lace by the mile " —Diamonds— Girdles— Rings— Artistic dressing — Mme. Blavatsky —Marie Decker— The Indian princes 113

Chapter XV. Dress And Personality

(From Harper's Bazar.)

The gown and the wearer— What's wrong '—Different types of women and what they should wear— Cleopatras and tea-biscuits — Studies in color— Contrast or harmony— How to dress a stout woman. ... 119

Chapter XVI. Style Or Expression

(From Syndicate Letter.)

Tight-fitting garments— The lines of drapery— Design and ornament —The selection of brocades— Texture in dress— Fashion-plates are made for nobody in particular, the artistic dress studies the individual 126

Chapter XVII. How I Heard Of Delsarte

(From the New York Graphic.)

An adventure in a milliner's shop — Noses and bonnets— Learning to fly— The relation of dress to expression— Good taste — Artists' wives— Dress and the human body—" Coats of skin "—A Greek investigation , 130

TABLE OF CONTENTS. Xlll

CHAPTER XVIII. "gone daft on dress."

(From the Chicago Evening Post.')

PAGE

The effect of the preceding chapter — Chicago ladies crazy on the subject of being artistic — Edmund Russell to blame — Milliners saythat since he began lecturing there they cannot please their customers—Mrs. Hardcash and Miss Simperum — She wanted something to carry out the color of her eyes 140

Chapter XIX. Is A Change In Dress Impending ?

(From the New York Mail and Express.) The Prince of Wales— The queen's drawing-room at Balmoral — Our present clothes ridiculous, inartistic, and uncomf ortable — Sir Edwin Arnold at home — An Indian philosopher and the English ladies — Russian emigrants — Madame Ponisi's description of Rachel 146

Chapter XX. A Talk On House Decoration

(From the Pittsburg Press.)

A woman's description of another woman— How to arrange our walls- Striking contrasts call too much attention to themselves — Complexity in color— Black again— Practical art— What is conventionalization ? 152

Chapter XXI. Ivory And Gold

(From the Decorator and Furnisher, New York.)

The relation of objects— A copper dining-room — Complexion and wall-paper—A study in harmony— Frieze of magnolias— Painted portieres—A new simplicity 161

Chapter XXII. The Making Of A Home

(From the Decorator and Furnisher.) Our highest art-work — Walls or people — A dramatic study— The world in mourning — Picture-frames— Wall-paper— Decorations— Lighting.etc... 166

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Chapter XXIII. The Peacock Dining-room

(From the Neiv York Mail and Express.')

PAGE

Foreign palaces and American homes— How houses should be decorated — The colors used should harmonize with the complexion of the hostess — Bric-a-brac must be selected carefully and not merely because it is pretty— Choosing pictures— Some famous rooms 171

Chapter XXIV. Hints On Artistic Dinner-tables

(From the Chicago Tribune.') Color in table decoration— An effective scheme— How to plan an arrangement of color — A red luncheon— Sevres and Dresden— A bachelor and his brocades — A new sandwich— Some noted dining-rooms , 178

Chapter XXV. Artistic Love-making

(From the Detroit Free Press.)

Man's three languages— Gesture speaks louder than words— "Words are the least part of language as far as utterance is concerned " — The child, the cat, and the lover 186

CHAPTER XXVI. "the cause for divorce.'" •

(From Syndicate Letter.)

A new theory— An Indian poem— The effect of a starch diet — A transformation scene 191

Chapter XXVII. In London Town

(From the Milwaukee Sentinel.)

Pen sketch of Mrs. Edmund Russell and her receptions— A dream of a midsummer night in London— A Bayswater shrine— The countess and the Egyptologist— The violin-girl -A cosmopolitan gathering 193

TABLE OF CONTENTS. XV

Chapter XXVIII. A Talk About Pictures

(From the Chicago Tribune.')

PAGE

English gardens — " Stone walls do not a prison make "—The home of Holman Hunt— The pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and their purpose — A protest against academic composition — The ''Triumph of the Innocents' '—Domestic subjects and gilded frames— The peasant pictures of Jean Francois Millet 205

Chapter XXIX. Celebrated London Women

(From Syndicate Letter.)

One must have fine personal character to be beautiful in old age — Mrs. Gladstone and the Baroness Burdette-Coutts — Lady Wilde and Mona Caird — Lady Shelley— John Strange Winter— The noted women novelists 214

Chapter XXX. A London Studio

(From Belgravia, New York.)

An interview on the studio of Felix Moscheles— The cottage in Cadogan Gardens — Spoons and bric-a-brac from America — An interesting portrait-gallery— The artist's personality — A studio bedroom. 220

Chapter XXXI. Some Famous Art Houses

(From the Pall Mall Gazette.)

Gladstone as a conversationalist— Americans in London— The "Narcissus" hall of Sir Frederick Leighton— Alma Tadema and his Greek studio— The private theatre of Hubert Herkomer and Sir Percy Shelley— William Morris at home 226

Chapter XXXII. A Hindoo Soiree In London

(From the New York Home Journal.)

An evening at Mr. Matthius Mull's— The Oriental friends of the Shakespearean scholar— Some beautiful dresses— The Indian law stu-

XVI TABLE OF COXTEaSTS.

PAGE

dents— Indian music and dancing— Indian taste deteriorating under English influence 232

CHAPTER XXXIII. NOTES. (.By Edmund Russell.')

A Defeat tean Scrap -Book.

"The secrets of utterance, of expression itself, of that through which alone an intellectual or \ spiritual power within one can actually take effect voon others. 11 — Walter Pater.

" Will power— not the will of energy that moves the muscles of the animal body, but the will of stillness that controls the animal body. 11 — Lewes.

" Secure of possessing within yourself a standard of perfection toward which to aspire, you can henceforth contemplate undismayed all chances of finite and infinite. 11 — The Keys of the Creeds.

Chapter I. What Is Delsartism!

Delsarte's work — Man's nature and man's expression — "Tuning the instrument " — Words, tones, and gestures — The bow of the Queen of Italy — Gladstone and Dr. Ri enter — The aim of the Delsartean gymnastics — Quotations from Delsarte.

Francois Delsarte devoted his life to the study of the laws which underlie human expression. His work includes the observation of the laws of motion, the laws of gesture, the laws of expression; the roles played in gesture by the

Z A DELSARTEA^ SCRAP-BOOK.

special organs of the body, the laws of universal expression, and the analysis of individual deviations from these laws.

Regarding 1 man's nature as a trinity, he believed that one should educate the mental, moral, and physical at the same time and in perfect relation to each other. A trinity is inseparable; separation means death and the final loss of the power to unite and form a harmony. Modern education is too much of a mental strain, a desire for abnormal development in special directions. It ignores all the laws of real growth. Education should fit a man for the life he is to lead; should preserve and develop his personality, and strengthen all his powers of relating himself to and understanding others.

Our men either belong to the crude, brutish, low, physical type, or to the over-strained, nervous, short-breathed, broken-down, mental; which is especially common in America. A man with harmonious balance of power or interrelation of his mental, moral, and physical nature, is rare.

The soul struggles to speak through an imperfect instrument; sometimes it ceases to struggle, and finally has nothing to say.

Mr. Russell, for a concise definition of Delsartism, compares it to " tuning a piano." One is asked to play; a string is broken; a note refuses to sound. Will you say, " It will not seem like my piano if it is not out of tune ? " No : the whole

*

instrument must be tuned to perfect relation or harmony, perfect co-operation of all the parts with the whole.

For the expression of his triune nature man has three languages — the word, the tone, the gesture. Primarity speaking, tones express bodily condition, physical pleasure, pain, etc. "Words are arbitrary mental symbols, and interpret thoughts and ideas — they describe and limit. Gestures relate us to other beings, expressing our emotions and feelings. We study all the words that have ever been thought or said or written, in all lands and all ages; tones are mostly left to singers and gestures to accident, and there cannot be many " accidents " in modern clothes. " Tailor-made " is a good description of most society expression.

Ordinary labor, a blow, a simple motion, use but a few muscles and joints; noble feelings and elegant manners require the whole body to respond without tension or effort. In labor the brain commands special muscles to do a special work, but when the man does not move, but is moved, a wave of feeling passes over him and his whole body becomes eloquent.

A quick jerk of the head says to a passing acquaintance, " I know you," but to express reverence and love the whole bod} 7 speaks in unconscious rhythm (possibly some will argue that we do not need to express these feelings in such advanced civilization, but what does Mr. Ruskin say of its failure, "if it can't make civil men?").

It is the work of Delsartism to teach not how to come into a room and how to go out, how to stand and how to bow, but to train the body until" it is by habit unconsciously flexible, and feels not "self-conscious," but self-possessed for the expression of the moment.

A vulgar nature makes crude, animal-like gestures; so the refined shrinks back into itself, stiffens its spine, and says, " gesture is vulgar" So it is — when in the wrong- place, but it is just as bad to express, or seem to express, a narrow, hard, constrained nature, as a coarse, free, open one — and either may lie; being* only the result of circumstance, the building up of years of constraint or ignorance. The real self may struggle in vain for expression through the one body, which labor has narrowed down to a machine only speaking of labor; or the other, which respectability has stiffened up, till it can only express " respectability." It is a law of expression — the old law of economy, "just as much as is needed for the occasion; no more, no less."

Mr. Russell speaks of the graceful bow of the Queen of Italy, so loved by her subjects. While he was in Rome, she was visited by a cousin who sat up in the carriage with high collar, rigid spine, and angular arms, bowing to the people with a jerk of the head, in quick, comedy time — a straight line in space and moving only one point of .the neck. The queen bowed like a caress, in complex rhythmic time, and spiral line, bending every joint of her body. The Italians all thought the cousin haughty and disagreeable.

While analyzing the meaning of different bows one day, in the presence of a lady of the court who was his pupil, Mr. Russell illustrated the two just described. She exclaimed: "That is strange! Only yesterday, in the carriage, the princess said to the queen, ' How I envy you your bow; I love my people, but I cannot express it/ " And why not ? It was because her refined nature could not control her clumsy bodily mechanism, and make it express the good-will which dwelt within this haughty angular woman. She loved her people, but they never knew it; they had no good of it — the notes would not sound, the instrument could not speak in harmony. It might have been caused by embarrassment, or the fatigues of illness, or always wearing tight clothing, or by a mother who always said, " Don't do that, my daughter; it is not proper for one in your position," and never told her what she should do. Who knows? Control at the centre, freedom at the extremities, is a fundamental law of expression.

Once in Paris Mrs. Russell was reminded that Delsarte was a descendant of Del Sarto (Italian for tailor). " Yes," she said, " he fits men's bodies to their souls."

b A DELSARTEAN SCRAP-BOOK.

This new " art of expression " is largely studied by orators, actors, clergymen, painters, sculptors, and all scholars and artists who wish to get further knowledge of human nature. A leading physician in London studied two years with Mr. Russell, to understand motion in relation to nervous disease.

Mr. Gladstone declared, after hearing a lecture by Mrs. Russell, that this art should be taught in every school in England, while Dr. Richter, the Wagnerian authority, said to her: "Every actor should study it, but only the greatest will understand its need and value."

Delsarte's work has given a scientific basis for art criticism, for we find the laws of motion, color, sound, and form in perfect relation. The knowledge this affords is invaluable to the art-student, for with its aid he begins to understand nature instead of merely imitating her.

The aim of the Delsartean gymnastics is to give symmetrical physical development, and to take out the angles and discords, to reduce the body to a natural, passive state, and from that point to train it to move in harmony with nature's laws. The movements are without nervous tension, and all feats and exertions are discouraged. The practical e3^e of the teacher quickly sees if a joint is stiffened, or if a motion is made in nervous rhythm, and a special gymnastic is given until the whole body works together, and as an instrument is in tune. This usually takes long and patient practice, and when normal ease and control are attained, the pupil is only on the threshold of the real study of Art.

As the syste'n deals especially with physical reform, it can never be written in a book, for individual peculiarities need the personal criticism of a teacher, and the higher philosophy of the art is not given until the first steps have been mastered and the individual is under control, but important works on art subjects might be written by its exponents from the knowledge gained by it.

Mairy of our schools and colleges use Delsarte's work in some degree — Harvard, Vassar, Wellesley, Tuft's, Princeton, Cornell, Oberlin, and others. Of his writings but a few fragments remain. He left his work mostly in the form of charts and epigrammatic sentences. From them we take some interesting art definitions :

"Art is feeling passed through thought and fixed in form."

"Art is the idealization of the real and the realization of the ideal."

"Art is nature with the non-essentials left out."

"Art is at once the possession and the free direction of the agents by virtue of which are revealed the life, soul, and mind. It is the appropriation of the sign to the thing. It is the relation of the beauties scattered through nature, to a superior type. It is not, therefore, the mere imitation of nature."

II.

The practical workings of the system — School gymnastics — Bad manners — Grace and elegance — How to train the body — A cure for nervousness — "Decomposing " exercises — How to rest — An Oriental prince and the English ladies — Edwin Forrest and Delsartism — The proper age and time for study.

It is very difficult to write on gesture and motion; for gesture is a langauge by itself that cannot be adequately translated into words, and it would be impossible to give exact rules, as they would be modified with each pupil according to his needs. In practising the same exercise each pupil in a class might require a different criticism, according as this or that muscle or joint refused to obey the will.*

The object of the work is not to teach a special set of gestures or an arbitrary code of manners, but to train the whole body until it is an instrument of facile and natural expression. Most faces are but a mass of scars, the tide-marks of life's ocean, the past worries and cares and sorrows indelibly stamped upon them ; most bodies are so stiffened by the "left-over" pieces of past exer-

* Delsarte always insisted that the physical part of his training should precede the philosophical, and as the gymnastics are mainly for the correction of personal deviations from nature, they should never be printed as a series of rules to be applied to all

WHAT IS DELSAETISM? 9

tions or past repressions that the real nature finds hard work to express itself, and often gives up the attempt. " You must not judge by his appearance and manners," we hear it said; "you will like him when you know him better." The real him is hiding- behind the useless and uncomfortable framework, afraid to come out.

Oar daily work gives us command of the larger muscles. Blows, violent exertion, nervous jerks, angular motions, broken-down attitudes, rude expressions, and awkward manners, require but crude mechanism in their execution; but the rhythms which give calm and dignity, control to the nerves, expressive movements, good manners, and natural sentiment, require the whole muscular framework to act in perfect harmony.

The Delsartean teacher, in examining a pupil, usualty finds that not more than one-half of the muscles are ever called into action; and that this lack of co-operative power is made up D3 7 using the heavy muscles in strained violence and broken rhythms.

The first exercises are all of a relaxing nature. The old gymnastic doubled up the fist, and with great tension gave a blow which jarred the whole nervous system. Nature does not grow by violence, but by harmonious expansion from the simple to the more complex. Relaxing movements consist in shaking the whole arm and hand until the joints are loosened, the muscles gently put in

10 A DELSAKTEAN SCRAP-BOOK.

action, and a ting-ling-, magnetic feeling- passes up and down the arm, which is then allowed to hang- for some time quietly by the side as if dead. The effects are very much the same as result from the massage treatment. An awakening-, as it were, in every part, a feeling both of repose and power at being- able to control the whole machinery of the arm instead of only a few muscles — a greater power of endurance and an absence of the nervous tendency to " fidget " with our hands, or play with a button, or our g-loves, or the fringes of the chair we are sitting in. " I know how to rest for the first time in my life," an old lady exclaimed after practising these exercises. The arm hangs naturally relaxed at the side when not in use, not stuck out at the elbows like the dude, or tightened at the side in the manner of the conventional lady.

Exercises of similar purpose are given for other parts of the body — the legs and feet — a revolving of the head to take the stiffness out of the neck, a similar revolution of the shoulders and of the trunk. These are practised until every joint is flexible, every muscle alive, and the body under control. Then we begin ceasing to express ourselves by nervous, angular twitchings of the extremities — the rest of the body silent — or to repress ourselves by sitting bolt upright with a society smile, a stiffened neck, and rigid hands clasping a pocket-book.

An Oriental prince said to Mr. Russell in London that the English ladies reminded him of " magnificent antique torsos with movable heads," he had never seen their bodies move.

The first exercises reduce the body to a condition of natural freedom and flexibility; the second steps are to learn how to make use of this greater mechanical compass. The instrument has been tuned — we must learn now to play. The fingers have been developed by exercises; we will now practise our scales.

Floating movements, curves, spirals, all executed in perfect rhythm in order to acquire calm control — all parts of the body moving in harmony obedient to the will until at last they move in harmony unconsciously— the accord as firmly established as the discord was before. These motions are never practised simply for unmeaning* grace, as in dancing, the Swedish gymnastics, the exercises with wands, etc.; every curve, rhythm, and direction in space being in exact relation to our use of the body in natural expression.

The movements are very difficult for some people, and have to be practised a long time before they " strike in."

Some with quick intelligence appreciate the principles at once ; while, mental in their methods, they find it very hard to relax the nervous tension of -their bodies; but their patient study usually brings more return than the easily-acquired grace of a pliable body and sluggish mind. All degrees of susceptibility, mental, moral, and physical, are found in different kinds of pupils, but perfect balance is very rare.

The change produced by such study is often very striking, when, for reason of years of repression, embarrassment, bad dressing, and narrow education, one who could not express himself fairly, now, for the first time, feels all that richness of nature, pent up for years, which has only made him miserable, striking out unconsciously through the new, though natural, avenues of expression he has opened for it.

All of the studies so far are mere gymnastics, daily exercises to oil the wheels of the machine and get it in working order. Then comes the study of the service of the different parts of the body in actual life— how in walking the foot should be used as an elastic arch, the ball striking the ground first and not the heel.

The knees should bend as little as possible — with some people they seem to give way with every step; expressing a most feeble character.

The arms should hang flexible at the side, as pendulums, and swing from the shoulder, not from the elbow; above all, they should never be stiffened with the elbows stuck out, the expression being that of vulgar self-assertion.