obtained. The more rigid the formula devised for the regulation of your walk the less likely are you to reach adequate self-expression by its

means.

Q. How should my walk be characterized?
A. By grace and freedom.

Q. What is an artificial gait?

A. One appearing affected and stilted.

Q. When may I use faulty and inelegant forms in walking?

A. Only for purposes of characterization upon the stage.

Q. Describe the normal walk, which should be habitual.

A. Your normal walk should not be hasty or hurried; it should be legato, not staccato; not a mere striding forth with the lower leg and foot, but a deliberate rhythmical movement of your entire leg and foot in all their joints and muscles, including those of the toes, and with certain compensating movements of the head and arms.

Q. How should my back foot be advanced?

A. In this deliberate and graceful gait your back foot should slowly and smoothly advance. Let it take on, slightly, the appearance of dragging a weight or of adhering to the floor or ground. It is not to be picked up and disposed

of as hastily as possible; and in it neither your toe, heel, shin, knee, thigh, hip, arm, elbow, shoulder, nor head makes itself conspicuous.

Q. Give me an exercise helpful toward securing a becoming walk.

A. It is of value to practise walking as if it were on a tight rope, placing the heel of one foot exactly in front of the toe of the other. This practice gives security and balance to your walk. Q. How are time and rhythm secured in the 'walk?

A. Stand with one foot slightly in advance of the other, swaying your body back and forth, holding both feet firm on the floor, raising neither your heels nor toes, and slowly count, one, two, three, four. Advance four steps, counting one, and two, and three, and four. Repeat next the swaying motion, one, two, three, four, again advancing, one, and two, and three, and four, lifting the back foot slowly with seeming reluctance and keeping the toes close to the floor. You should have time and rhythm in your body corresponding to the time and rhythm in your mind.

Q. Define the terms "poise," "bearing," "walk," and "carriage."

A. Poise is balance. Bearing, the manner of holding the body at all times. Walk, the act of

getting from one place to another, dealing particularly with the feet and legs. Carriage is a combination of the three.

Q. Is my personality involved in all of these? A. Yes; your personality is intimately involved, whether your body be in repose or motion.

Q. Is it possible for me to have a good walk with a poor carriage and bearing?

A. Yes; but normally these three go together. Any approach toward excellence in either poise or bearing is an aid to a good carriage.

Q. Is my walk a means of identification?

A. Yes. You are identified in the minds of your friends and family by the sound of your footsteps. It is always worth recalling whether or not this expression of yourself is pleasant. To rid your coming or departure of the evidences of undue haste or other irritating mannerisms is a matter entirely within your own control.

Q. How many forms of walking are there? A. The number of forms of walking is limited only by the number of persons who walk.

Q. Name some of the faults commonly seen in the streets and drawing-room, together with appropriate methods of correcting them.

A. Trotting. This is the commonest defect in

gait, implying a walk in staccato time with a stride too short for the length of the leg. As it is due to the over-use of the lower leg and underuse of the thigh, the remedy is found in swinging your entire leg from your hips. This will cause your knee to bend less and remove the too common effect of plunging forward with every step.

Pigeon-Toed. This signifies weakness or rusticity. It indicates a defective development of the muscles of your foot and ankles and sometimes of your entire leg. The disused muscles must be developed by appropriate exercises, and the fact borne in mind until the better habit has been induced.

Mincing Gait. There are too many short steps, too many superfluous motions of the feet and body sidewise. A mincing gait is never prepossessing and is often ridiculous.

Waddling Gait. Whether accompanied by too much flesh or not, the waddle is suggestive of obesity, and is the customary gait of that much despised fowl, the domestic goose. If the person at fault will count one, and two, in the exercise previously described, it will be seen that the "and" marks a twist of the hip rather than the beginning of the removal of the foot in the rear. The awkward and ungraceful hip movement must be

stopped, and the leg taught to swing forward in a straight line.

Springing Gait. A springing gait is caused by too great a movement up and down and too little movement forward. This fault may be remedied by realizing the falsity of the rhythm involved. In counting" one, and two, and" the entire body is actually lifted on the "and," whereas the "and" should merely mark the slight drag of the foot in the rear, on its way to position in advance.

Churning. This curious movement is caused by rising too suddenly from the ankle and settling down at the end of the stride with the same suddenness. It resembles nothing so much as the dasher in an old-fashioned churn.

High Stepping. This is caused by raising the knee too high, thereby making it conspicuous as one advances. While this action may be admired in horses, it is objectionable in human beings. Such a fault can be remedied by bringing the knee into coördination with the thigh and ankle, which are equally entitled to consideration.

Knock-knees. The uncertain wriggling motion produced by lack of precision in the action of the knees is sometimes due to distortion or maladjustment of the bones of the thigh and