MODERN MANNERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19298, 10 April 1926, Page 6 (Supplement)

MODERN MANNERS.

So many girls to-day have adopted the masculine cult in dress and deportment that it is refreshing to know that thero is every likelihood that the pendulum may soon swing back to favour those charm-1 in* graces and sweet manners which, less than twenty years ago, girls valued far more than a plus handicap at golf or an exclusive recipe for a cocktail," remarks a well-known writer. Miss Belle Harding, the well-known dancing instructress, recounted ic cently a few of the trials she experiences iri showing Miss 1926' how to walk, stand still, shake hands, and perform all those other little acts which can bo done so prettily by some, and so appalingly by those who have never troubled to study such things. "As a rule," said Miss Harding, "when a girl comes fresh to my class, her arms are the greatest trouble. She simply does not know what to do with them. She either walks with her elbows pointed outwards, or else she sticks her arms straight down by her sides, or hangs them in front of her body like a kangaroo. Directly I see a girl thus affected or afflicted!—l stand her in front of a full-length mirror and make her execute a lew simple movements. r lhe chief of these exercises is this. The girl stands facing the mirror with all her weight on the big hip bones and the ball of the foot. No weight must be put on the abdominal muscles. Slowjv and lightly she raises her arms above her head until the finger tips meet. Her head is thus framed with gracefully curved arms. Then she draws them a nil rt verv lightly until they are in line with her 'shoulders. Turning the palms toward the ground she continues the slow movement until the arms come to rest in the natural and therefore the most graceful position. 'I he great secret of grace is to relax correctly. So many sport-mad girls walk with stiff legs and swinging arms. And the way most girls pick up a handkerchief! They bend themsejves from the waist, ther dresses jerk up at the hack—a thing to he avoided with the modern brevity—an arm shoots out, and thus the handkerchief is retrieved, ff they would only adopt the curtsy principle, 'that is to slide the right foot forward, the left foot being just behind it. and then bend both knees, how much more graceful. The skirt falls smoothly round the bended body, while the curved back and the extended arm form a pleasing line."