4a
Omaha Sunday Bee Magazine Page
Copyright. 113, by the Star Company. Qrent Britain night Reserved.
How Dancing
DevelopsaBeauti fill figure . A n
t
t
a
r
V
First of an Instructive
Series of Articles by
the WelbKjiown
Dancer, Ruth
St. Denis
THIS newspaper presents to-day the first of a series of articles by ths
most graceful woman In America. Miss Ruth St. Denis Is the
foremost dancer In the United States. Her fame, not limited to
her own country, Is worldwide.
Miss St. Denis has literally danced before kings, having been recelvea
and admired In the courts of Europe. She Is a mistress of the art of ex
pression without words, pantomime, and Is deeply learned In the grace and
beauty lore of the Orient. She advises her countrywomen upon a subject
In which every woman Is Interested, how to Improve her figure, and tells
them In clear, forceful manner and careful detail how this can be done.
She docs not hesitate to point to the faults In the figures and carriage of
her countrywomen( but while she tells of the evil she also describes the
remedy.
No. 1 The Neck, Bust and Shoulders
By Ruth St. Denis
DANCING Is the only exercise that will har
moniously develop the human body. Swim-
mlng will develop the torso, golf the arms,
rowing the back and walking the legs, but each
of these exercises trains one set of muscles at
the exponso of the others. One part of the body
becomes overdeveloped. The body becomes, so
to speak, freakish.
Dancing, on the other hand, develops all of the
body. Every muscle, every fibre, every tissue In
It Is nourished, strengthened and stimulated by
the dance, for dancing lp not the movement of
one part of the body but of all. Wo do not want
to become a nation of athletes. What Americans
want Is to become perfect human beings and
that dancing will bring about this consumma
tion I am profoundly convinced.
The dance Is not only life itself, but it Is our
attitude toward life. I heard a great truth
lightly uttered In the course of an ordinary con
versation ono day, and I have come to believe
that this truth will bo a generally accepted prin
ciple. All erroneous thought that Is, all thought
unworthy of us tends to downward and Inward
motions. All worthy thoughts tend to upward
and outward motions.
Dwell, please, upon that Idea before we go fur
ther, for it Is absolutely primal. What do we
do when wo are afraid? Our figures shrink
downward and Inward. Have you not watched
a timid little girl sitting on the edge of a chair,
her little figure drawn backward as though she
feared a blow, her head drooping, her eyes
averted?
Of courso, you have. Perhaps you have been
Buch a little girl yourself. I was. At eighteen I
was the shyest, most awkward, frightened crea
turo that over camo out of New Jersey. I waa
flat chested and narrow shouldered. I had huge
"salt cellars" in my neck. I stooped and looked
from right to left with frightened glances. I
was, indeed, a most ungainly young person. And
why? Because I was afraid. We fear for our
selves and we crouch and draw backward. We
fear for someone elso and we lean downward
and forward in a protective attitude
AVatch anyone with whom resentment, envy,
hatred are the keynotes of character, and wo see
the same postures, tho bent head, the eyes that
look sldowlse, the lowered chin and drooping
body. Depression manifests itself in the same
way. Tho habitually dejected person bends for
ward in body and in spirit. His muscles are as
dejected as himself. His mood is as flaccid as
his muscles.
The person of inward and downward thought
may be represented by a broken stick falling
earthward, tho person of upward and oi'tward
thought by a straight line.
Watch the movement of the person actuated
toy thoughts of hope and joy, of love and faith.
That person's head is upheld. The motions of
his arma describe a large, outward curve. In-
WH5SK8WSlE Thl I tho Downward and Inward Posture of
HfcS ,;V -pl l',Sh,r,0n ClUale ky fcl,r- Mis St. Denis
HP lliB Loved One Who Is Asleep and to Whom She
variably the person of
the other habit of mind
and character makes
Inward, downward mo
tions, but his gestures
are small and re
stricted. Those of his
antipodes are large
they sweep huge cir
cles. The tendency of tho
first Is to fall to the
earth. The trend of tho second Is to movo up
ward and onward in a word, to dance.
Wo havo there tho foundation of tho truth
about how to develop a beautiful nock, bust and
shoulders. Lead the person be it yourself, somo
awkward grown-up friend or a timorous child
into a mood of courage, train him to make the
mood permanent.
One of the greatest sontences ever uttered, a
bugle call to humanity, was "Be not afraid."
Say that to yourself or to the other out of
whose flat chest and scrawny neck and thin
shoulders you would metamorphose a beautiful
setting for a well-poised head. Say It again and
again, and after a while the dulled spirit will
hear it and obey.
Coax this child, even the child, yourself, who,
cowered a while beforo but now stands with
head upraised, smiling, from the chair In tho
corner, and say to him or her: "Play you are
a bird." Natural and gradual will bo the re
sponse. The arms will rise slowly from tho
sides. Draw the hands together in front and
slowly move them backward until they nearly
meet. Do this slowly; if with music, to a six
eight tempo; If to the accompaniment of a
voice, count slowly sir. "Playing bird" the arms
slowly dip and rise and balance in the precise
motion you have observed in a bird's wings.
This also is dancing.
While "playing bird" you think of a bird and
the chin rises, the eyes turn upward. Tho
muscles of the neck lift and strengthen. Tho
blood courses through the arms, feeding tho
muscles impoverished by disuse and somothlns
stranger still happens your fallen chest has
risen and its new proportions surprlBo you. Un
consciously and involuntarily you have been fill
ing your lungs with deep draughts of air; you
havo been breathing deeply, and have not
known it.
That is, as it should be. I am tired of the sys
tems of deep breathing. They are mechanical,
laborious in a word, a nuisance. The way to
teach a person to breathe deeply is not to teach
him. Oet him into a Joyous, hopeful, fearless
frame of mind and the deep breathing will take
care of Itself.
The shallow breather 1b a timid, dejected, de
spairing person. To prove this, watch your own
breathing the next time you permit yourself to
sink into a slough of despond. Probably you will
"Think of the Oriental Habit of Saluting the
Dawn. The Eastern Salutation Is One of Hands
Extended, the Palms Turned Outward, In
stinctively, as You Think of the Rising of tho
Sun and the Glory of a New Day, You Will
Lift Your Head and Smile."
Stage Traps to Catch Thieves Like Rats
"Play You Are Bird.
In Playing Bird the
Arms Slowly Dip and
Rise and Balance with
the Precise Motion You
Observed In a Bird's
Wings."
be startlod by finding
that you aro not broath
lng at all. You aro
holding your breath.
While "playing bird"
danco. Dance any steps
you choose, provided tho
tompo bo long, for the
motion of bringing tho
"wings," your arms.
back and front, should bo a slow and graceful
ono, and requires six beats. Tho waltz step,
then, would bo a good ono.
Another variation of the danco that will build
anew the nock, tho bust and tho shoulders Is
that after "playing bird" you dance about with
arms behind you and handB clasped.
This is a natural posture into which the body
adjusts Itsolf to the mood of courage and Joyous
ness and hope. The mood Is ono of gontlo,
friendly deflanco of all fear. With that tho chest
again rlBes and the deop rhythmic breathing
upon which a full chest and firm bust aro built
comos (ib naturally as sunrise follows dawn. At
tho samo timo tho chin rises, tho throat is made
firm and tho shoulder rlBe.
Think of froedom. Think "I am freo," and
thoro will follow an instinctive loosening of
every tightened muscle, an untying of tanglod
sinews. Movements to emphasizo that froedom
will follow. One arm will be flung above the
head, thon another, and, while tho fingers meet,
dance,
Think of the Oriental habit of saluting the
dawn. Tho Eastern salutation Is ono of hands
extended, the palms turned outward. Instinct
ively, as you think of tho rising of tho sun and
tho glory of a now day, you will lift your head
and smile. Danco the salutation of tho dawn.
Invont your own steps, always keoplng In mind
tho salutation.
Invent and practise movements of your own,
to make round and firm that scrawny neck, to
raise the drooping shoulders, and to restore the
chest that is most like a "caved In" cellar.
Exorcises that develop ono develop all.
First get your right mood. Then comes the
doep breathing. Thon tho rlso of the chest and
the renewing of the bust, the filling out of tho
neck and tho onlarglng of the shoulders. The
dancing follows, and In many cases need not be
taugnt. I am untaught, save by myself.
THE burglar's lot is not a hap
py one to paraphrase W.
S. Gilbert's comic opera re
mark about the policeman. The
Ingenuity commanded by the In
terests of law and order Is forever
devising somo new and Insidious
means of keeping him from making
a dishonest living.
This latest bugaboo which the
prudent burglar must learn to
sidestep Is the Invention of an
Englishman, William Norroys, of
Yattendon Road, Horley, Surrey.
The fundamental advantage of this
burglar trap lies in tho fact that
it is never in evidence to tho
marauder until he Is caught In It
It springs Itself automatically
when the burglar gets Into range
of Its Jaws, or can be operated by
a levor by tho bank cashier or
tradesman behind his counter.
Suppose, for Instance, a suspicious
looking person appears at the
cashier's window and, with drawn
revolver, attempts to enforce his
demand for a few thousand dol
lars out of tho stack of banknotes
at the cashier's window.
"Why, certainly,' says the
cashier, promptly selecting a fat
package from tho stack.
But while ho does this with his
left hand, with his right he presses
down a lever near tho cash drawer,
and. presto! Mr. Burglar walks on
sir. A section of tho tessellated
floor has dropped from under him.
He lands on his back In the base
ment on a Bort of spring mattress,
bo he won't be killed, and before
he can move he sees a sliding door
close over tho mouth of the trap
he has fallen Into. There's nothing
for him to do but wait patiently
Uia policeman who will be
along presently to conduct him to
the poltce station.
The accompanying diagram
shows how the mechanism works.
Without any indication to that ef
fect on Its surface, a section of
the floor In front of the counter
or wherever the marauder will be
most likely to stand while reveal
ing tols unlawful intentions is
hinged on one side and supported
on tho other side by sliding bolts.
Tho lever near the cashier's hand
controls the operation of those
bolts. And when they are drawn,
and the thief Is through the floor
into the pit, bis weight landing on
springs at tho bottom slides a
section of false floor over the
opening and locks It.
It will bo seen that tho private
offices of financial magnates, cap
tains of industry, and other people
who aro In constant fear that some
visitor will turn out to be a crank
with a pistol or an anarchist with
a bomb, could be equipped with
the new burglar trap, which, when
the intended victim pressed a but
ton, would solve the whole dis
tressing problem.
If tho late Russell Sago's olllco
had been thus equipped he would
not havo bad to use the faithful
How the New "Thief Trap" Works When a Lever Behind the Counter Is
Pressed, or the Robber's Weight Releases the Section of Floor Upon
Which He Stands, It Swings Downward, Dropping Him Into a Pit.
There, His Weight on a Spring- Mechanism Slides Forward a See
tlon of False Floor, Making His Escape Impossible.
fffc
"While Haying Bird You Think of a Bird and tho
Chin Rises, the Eyes Turn Upward. Unconsciously
and Involuntarily You Have Been Filling Your
Lungs with Deep Drauglis of Air. You Have Been
L Ureatlung Deeply and Have Not Known It."
Hatching Out Fish
Under Setting Hens
By Dr. Leonard Kcene Hirshberg, A. B., M. A., M. D.,
(Johns Hopkins University)
"With Drawn Revnlv.r W At.
tempts to Enforce His Demand
for a Few Thousand Dollars."
Laldlaw for a shield and Laldlaw
would have bad no occasion for
vain offorts In the courts to com
pel (he multl-mllllonalre to recom
pense him for permanently disa
bling injuries received when the
crank's bomb exploded.
As applied to the case of tht
i safe cracker, the device shows a
weak point. The recent New York
pawnbroker's sale robbery, which
"The Cashier Presses Down a Lever
Near the Cash Drawer, and,
Presto l Mr. Burglar Walks on
netted the thieves more than $300,
000 In diamonds, was to tho credit
of professionals who knew that
vault so well that they could at
tack Its concrete exterior In tho
one spot not protected by hidden
electric wires. If bank robbers
are generally as careful about their
preliminaries as this, probably
they would know all about that
burglar trap, and carefully refrain
from springing it.
OUT In the land where tho
youngest republic Is just
budding Into tho world's
powers, In the land of Confucius,
China no longor the Chinese Em
pire of tho school books tho
coolies that make their living as
flshormen and breeders of young
flsh have discovered a simple way
of making roe or flsh spawn do
velop Into young flsh.
They search the small streams
and brooks of tho country, wade
around in tho shallow waters or
row about in Btrango craft,
take from the surface all
bunches of spawn that aro found
floating thcro.
These multitudes of flBh eggs
arc then gently and without Injury
placod In the shells of hens' eggs
from the end of which a bit of
shell has beon removed to allow
tho contents to bo thrown out, and
then, when tho shell Is flllod with
the roe, the end 1b carefully
plugged with absorbent cotton and
the egg shell, filled with the
spawn Is placed Deneath a setting
hen.
After several days tho time, of
course, depends upon the bdrcI
and
the
of flsh aB woll as the condition of
tho setting chickon tho egg sholl,
flllod with tho fish eggs, Is emptied
Into fresh water, which has pre
viously been heated by tho sun's
rayB. In a couplo of moro days all
of tho small fry will have hatched
out, and thereafter for some time
they are kept In fresh water until
ready for distribution and salo to
tho various aquaria and small
streams of tho land.
The Chinese have known for
thousands of years how to lncu
bato artificially not only hen's
eggs but the eggs of flsh, reptiles,
birds and other animals. It is,
therofore, in accord with their pre
vious history to find them In the
load In Inventing methods of
hatching out young flsh.
As tho eggs of flsh incubate
naturally In their native element
water the experience of tho
Chinose in starting the process on
land, with the aid of a setting hen,
has taught them to be careful that
sufficient wator is introduced into
the hen's egg shell along with tho
roe, to keep the latter from drying
up Instead or hatching out young
fish.