DECAY OF DEPORTMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13146, 7 April 1906, Page 6 (Supplement)

DECAY OF DEPORTMENT.

THE MODERN WOMAN ALTOGETHER -• LACKING IN GRACE. BY A CAPTIOUS MAX. j Fkoji the' day when the "new woman' first appeared upon the horizon, and girls took to playing hockey, and cricket instead of working at crochet and embroidery, the art of feminine grace, both in manners and movement, has slowly but/surely died. Never has there been such a craze as at the present time for physical culture", Swedish exercises, and other methods of improving the figure, and yet surely never has the great, bulk of the feminine population of the United Kingdom been so remarkable for its lack of grace. They may t have gained m physical strength, in health, in stature, and in freedom, but that they -have become • more graceful even their wildest admirer could not maintain. ' ■' , ;.-. , The average girl of to-day is tall enough to overtop her father and brothers, and she is flat and ungainly. Her -waist is flat, and her hips arc flatter; her shoulders are j square. Iter muscles hard, and she plants | her feet flat and firmly on the ground, and walks with a stride. Cone altogether are the champagne-bottle shoulders, the delicate lines and the feminine curves which I distinguish the ..woman of a century ago;' and no one can deny thai, although athletics and exercise may possibly have improved the general health and done . away with a. good deal of the nervous afflictions from which women suffered then, they have undoubtedly tended to destroy entirely the soft natural outlines and curves which essentially form the great beauty of a woman's figure, ~'. • • Till: GKAc'Ki--t;j, walk. V And in spite of the amount of time that, many women devote to athletics and phy- ; sical culture, in spile". of the disappearance. j of .the wasp waist and the tiny shoe, it is quite the exception to see.a woman walk either well or gracefully. They stride, they waddle, they squirm, they mince, and they strut, but not one in twenty walks. The majority of them, proper themselves along from their shoulders instead of their hips; and if they hold themselves erect, they do so with their backs set iu a rigid position, as if they were encased in a steel frame, and would fall tc pieces the moment it was relaxed. The light, springing step, the easy poise of the whole figure which is erect, arid yet. not rigid, and the well-set head which marks the Spanish woman, the Australian, and sometimes , the;' American', is seldom seen. Americans, by the way, are- apt- to exaggerate the erect position until they look as if they, were afraid to move ; but among ■the girls ,of the Western States natural grace is often a very, noticeable attribute. Not so many decades ago "deportment" was one of the things taught in every schoolroom. It was regarded us an essential part of the ■' prbperly-brought-up girl's education that she should,learn how to walk correctly, how to step in or out. of a carriage, how ; to bow, how to receive, her guests, how to enter or leave a room, and to sit or stand gracefully. . '■'■... ,-, ,!■• : GYMNASTICS NOT DEPOBTMJSNT. !- ;: But freedom and athletics have changed all this. Instead ot deportment we have physical culture and gymnastics,. and the manners- of the hockey; field and : the golf .course are < good enough for the 'draaving-

room. Girls flounce or rush into a room, fling themselves about in awkward, inelegant attitudes, and despise anything that savours .of a. cultivated manner. Gone are the days of the "great lastly ' of gracious, gentle manners and soft, cultured voice. fust cad we have strong, athletic young women with loud, strident voices, boisterous and abrupt manners, and wen-developed muscles. Does anyone seriously think that the change is. lor the better'' If they must be athletic, is it not possible for I hem to he feminine? , Need they copy all the worst amd most objectionable attributes of the male without being able to attain to some of his good points? The art of bowing gracefully to an acquaintance, too, once the great test of a woman's social standing, is now relegated to tin- back kitchen. The modem woman greets her friends' with a nod or jerk of her head and an off-hand salutation, while to those whom she does; not deem worthy to be included in the list of her intimate she vouchsafes a. slight droop of iicr eye lids. As to the unfortunates whom she looks upon as inferior in wealth or social standing they are regarded with a cold "stare and ate .metaphorically walked over. Yet in the.teaching of olden days courtesy arid grace of manner to those ill a. lower walk of life were other essential attributes of the gentlewoman.. , 1 TOO CONSCIOUS Or CLOTHES. To return to the question of walking gracefully, the modern Englishwoman is too® uncomfortably conscious of her clothes to be naturally graceful. Her idea of smartness is usually Lo hang about herself as many superfluous articles in the- way of ruffles, chains, and flounces as she can possibly .stow about her, . under the weight and'management of which it would be impossible for Venus herself to be anything but awkward, and she moves with an aggressive rustic, being apparently unable to forget the fact that, her garments are of the newest and most expeusive variety. To attract attention by her personality and not merely by her clothes is an art not yet mastered by the Englishwoman. To hold a dress up gracefully is a- difficult and unsolved' problem to most women. Some of hern grasp one side of if firmly, allowing , the other to trail along the ground, or hoist it up round their waists, exhibiting a liberal amount of flounced underskirt and open-work stockings, even on perfectly dry pavements, or, as in the case with most of the summer gowns this year, they grasp with both hands' as many yards of -material as ! they can possibly ■ hold, and wriggle along as best they can under the circumstances, apparently utterly regardless of the ridiculous and awkward picture they present- to the onlooker. • : ; . • .