The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 24, 1901, Page 2

iade their a dramatic long list of urse in fenc- the salle in fencing maste ngtry E. and others, y for the fray. 0dds the surest means ning control of one’s muscles and g a graceful bearing to one’s list tractions. It develops and brings into play those muscles which have most to do with the outline of the feminfne figure, it 1iNe8 @8 the wearer advances or retreats gives a quickness to the glance of the eye With the quick, decisive movement of the foot and knee. The waists, buttoning up on the left side and leawing smooth the expanse of cloth over the chest, are most businesslike and appropriate. Gymnasium shoes, or the popular fad of last summef, the white rubber soled ‘“‘sneakers,” are best for footgear, for the risk of slipping on a smooth floor is not to be lightly thought of. There are only three positions in-the list of fencing postures. They are: First, the s & spur to the most sluggish mperament stumes wa by the feminine attractive, The ac- falls into such pretty ers are really vi skirt rdion pleated SHOULD GIRLS| SMOKE? attitude taken by the fencer as he steps to the center of the floor, just before plae- ing himself on guard. In detail this is as follows: Standihg with heels touching, the right toe in a straight line with one's opponent, and the left foot at'a sharp an- gle to the other. The body s turned slightly to the right, in order to present a three-quarter vicw to the adversary, and the sword hand held at about the helght of the head. "The left arm falls natur- ally by the side. The second position is that of *‘on THE SUNDAY guard’™ The right hand, with knuckles turned downward, is lowered from the first position, and ‘the blade is moved so that the left hand grasps it lightly. Thet both hands are.rafsed slowly and grace- fully above the head; the left hand loosens its grasp and falls, into position at the back of ‘the head. the 'arm bent and haif outstretched, With the: open hand un level with the masked head. The right hand moves to the front, a little pelow the breast, to the right, elbow close to ihe bedy, and the foll held horizontally. so that the tip fs on a level with the eyeg, Advance the right foot about elghteca inches, keeping the right heel on a linc with the left, and let the weight divido itself equally, not putting any strain oa one mb more than on the other. The third position Is the extension, of lunge, and is attained by stretching tha right arm from its position close to the body, straight out at about the shouldel height. The Bod¢ is pot rigid, and is not Tent with the movement, and the right foot is advanced a trifle. with the knee kept directly in line above the right in step. One's bearing is a positive ona an upright, leaning nelther forward nor backward, except in the advance or re- treat. When on guard and the fencer desires to step forward always start with the right foot and follow with the left; never stride forward; small steps are always advisa- bie, the paosition being éhllled geherally by bending. The salute is the most imposing p tlon, or series of positions, and is alw a given before the conflict is begun. The féncers assume the first position at the correct distance, one from the other, and their arms fall gracefully at their sides, the buttons on the foils touching the floor in front and to the left of the right foot. Both step forward, raising the right arm to a level with the +on of the head, blades extended: the hands then descend 1o the chin, close, but not touching, blades upright. Then they are swept down and to the right with a full, graceful move- . ment. ON QUARD points of swords to the I 't of each other e engaged In “quarte.” To lunge t high and_to uarte is to follow the left the the thotigh by rights {t sheuld ry one, om how thumb be flat hilt, forefinger her fingers cugved at age left ther nst the )ld, but do not cluteh wrist and fore- f the greatest qualities 1 he must blade what attempt BLIND GLOBE- TROTTER. 0. URIQUS fact, but the .mast.1 { est harge "I ever had waa a man,” said the - head of a personally . conducted tourist s r two ago. We. ifornia . and Alaska vith .me on 1 to Europe .another Baedeker in the ly appreeia- A his son with him, a lad hereabouts, who used to go cstacies. over ‘the peaks of the Ster- r the beauties of the Riviera, but n dertved a lot of ¢ his family guide ild sit in the private comments of the occasionally drop a onished the rest of us, com- nd man. he got tired of sitting at conversation in a lim- soon exhausted itselt to s an Then the blas¢ left hand, both po: ar 2 y cirele head. The left, hand falls slowly ature mind and keen fancles; sition, arm half bent and hand on it . » drop In here and s with tep of the left The right $ ok -0 Baesecy Heohibou o iy b ssed it was time for him to take dxppe 8 m:;:'n; = rip. 1 fix up a route to sult -”\fi Lo .q”.mry terms in conneetion | him and off he'd go again, tickléd over Ty s ? pastures new as a boy a new pair of red topped boots:™ it is a well-known fact that 1 patrons of grand opera almost stone deaf. swords cf the fencers are crossed with points upward and the blades to the right of each ether theé fencers are engaged m | *“tierce.” When the same is true with - course STONISHING as it may seem, there /L are not a few people who advocate H the adoption of the smoking. habit by women. Opinign as to whether he members of the sex should smoke or | not is as varied as it ever was. - It is just | as true that the women who. enjoy a clgaretie persevere and do not apparently suffer from indulging this tasté with dis- cretion. Most women know the over- | grown collége student who' says patroniz- ingly, O, no; I don't. mind ‘women smoking; but I shauldn’t at all like to see my sister smgke ofgny wite if I had one.” is familiar oraclé is usually too youth- | ful to have it make much difference what heé says or thinks and only the most faint- hearted smoker would ever abandon her clgarette because of-his disapproval. Men of experience are eithér indifferent to the cigarette question, holding that a woman | has & right te do'ss she wants in such a-| HAT tenor, Lloyd D’'Aubigne of the Sembrich Company, has a great =tory to tell about his debut in opera. It happened =0 quick that he didn’t have time to get a stage fright until it all over. With thirty minutes’ no- =0 long as =he never forgets what tice Grau put him on to sing Faust op- se to her position, or they are decisive | posite Melba, and that for thé first time posed to it with no toleration of the | he ever sang upon the operatic stage. t in the woman they have a right to He started out on his =tage carecr as an ytrol. "There is practically no.class that | actor. For a good while he traveled with ownk to a delight in seeing women smoke. Augustin Daly, playing the singing parts Smoking among Women is'more commort | in the Shakesp. oductions, such as ope than in the United States, and | the jester in is much more frequently seen in | ~All the time he was bent upon something rk and the Eastern cities th bigger in this singing line, but he knew TOPe ANy Sug- | that the race Is not usually to the swift smoking was improper for | when it comes to grand opera. 8o he kept women would be received amaze: | on studying and working and earning his It might be thought unhealthful or.| not very -large salary. expensive, b ts impropriety would net When he was abroad he had a chance T sed rere could be no room for | to hear good people—yes, big people—sing, suc opinion in countries where smok- | and he made the most of évery opportun- ng ommon among the highly placed |ity, At last he wound up in New York. &s it i= in most of the European nations. | He began to study under Mancinelli. The Princess of Wales set the scal of the | He made buzzing progress under his nighest approval in Great Britain on the | new instructor. But he looked-upon his fashion of moking nearly a score of y she had her servan ner for wome s | debut as a far-off thing, hardly worth | planning for at all as ‘yet, and he saw | long vears of European study stretching | out before him before he should ever think ’nf singing even the least of small parts {1n grand opera. | | age about =mall cigar- ettes,of a kind she had smoked for years before t This made the habit per- missible all women in Great Britain, if it had indeed needed any such counte-| It was In the year 159 that Maurice nance. Queen Victoria's well-known op- | Grau came to griet one day. position to the practice was not enough to discourage Its votaries after the Princess had given it her frank approval. Jean de Reszke was at the bottom of it. That was because he was Important. If some little chirper in the chorus had sud- denly becorne unable to sing some other chirper would have been substituted, and there would have been an end of it. But when the leading tenor of the world takes it into his head to be indisposed there is all kinds of a row. Mr. Grau clutched his bair with frantic hands. The' box office writhed at the thought of the 315,000 matinee house that might be lost. Every tenor who heard of the trouble was on pins and needles. to he chosen. Maurice Grau groaned and sought the consolation of Mancinelll. “Can you think of any one?” he be- sought, despairingly. “To sing the Absura:” “Then I must close the house." “Plainly.’ “And the loss will be $15,000." “‘Alag,, my friend!” “Alas!” Maurice buried his head. Manctnellf dia the same. They emitted one deep groan in concert. When Grau had gone young D'Aubigne, the modest pupil, put in a remark. “I'll #ing that part,”” was what he said, Mancinelli gasped. “But you don't know it.” *“Oh, yes I do.” “You have never sang it for me." “No: but I've sung it for myself plenty of times. .“But you cannot mean that you will a tempt it in the place of De Reszke?" “T will” “But it is now after 1 and the matinee role of Jean de Reszke? 18 at 2. herefore you must make haste to tele- phone ta Mr. Grau that I am ready to save him $15.000.” Mancinelli was so dagzed -by this time that he could only obey. “A pupil of mine offers to sing Fausts he phoned, ' . Has he ever sung it?" asked Grau. “No.” *“Then tell himhe's a fool. Good-b; At 1:20 came a message over the phone. “Is your man still there?* inquired Mau- rice, . T . “Send him over.” It was 1:40 when D'Aubigne reached the theater, ““Where's your cnsmme"" was the first question. “I haven't any.” “‘What are we going to do, then?’ “Finad some feliow: who has oné and buy it of him.” When the costume was bought it was found te be too short in the sleeves, ton long in the back, too large in the shoes. But there was only one thing to do, and that was to wear it. Three ‘men nut D'Aubigne into it. One was jerking his arms into the sleeves, «while another daubed him with make-up and a third fastened the shoes. Then, etlll panting, he was shoved upon the stage and told to go ahead. He sang through the first act without a tremor. The rush had been such that he hadn’t had time to work up a case of Made His Faust Deblt With Thirty Minutes to Brepare for the Dart. Lloyd D’Aubigne, First Tenor of the Sembrich Opera Company, Gives “ His Own Case Where Stage Fright Was Impossible. ; His Voice Was Accep’cabYe t0. Melea, but She Dvdn”: Like His Shoes. stage fright such as would have been cer- tain with a ce to think over the enor- mity of his impertinence. The shoes kept him busy. They s0 much too big that he had to adent a peculiar walk. his feet not being raised from the ground. By shufing slowly he managed to keep the shoes on. Melba noticed the shuffle. She didn't know who on earth was this man who Fad heen sent to make love to her. IWhat she did know was that something was the matter with his feet. During the garden scene, when she and he were in the background looking unut- were terable things at each other, she whis- pered: MHave you ever been on the stage be- fore “Yes" he answered nervously. “Then what on earth manes jou walk like that?” “The shoes are too blg,” he replied, and 1ifted a foot to show her how the shoe dangled. thought, and as he gave it a gentle flour- ish off it flew and across the stage. Mel- ba's laughter cost her a cue. ‘' It was later In the act, when she had learned his true -osition, that she said to him: “You are either the pluckiest Yellow or the greatest idiot that T ever came across. The end of the performance will prove which.” And it did. The end of the performance was that Grau engaged him to sing lead- ing tenor roles in his grand opera eom- pany. 1t was looser even than he 4 ik s - B A LA S M R & ~ioyd I sAubigne.