The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 5, 1902, Page 11

THE SUNDAY CALL. e 1 NosE PHOULD EQUAL \ |75 LENGTH Bace.” ~ WiDTH FACE. 7 JHUULD EQUAL ‘ - PvE. - RN = N\ SZEL S o kdd | R onaTo g D (s STumo 1 /¢ ISS LOUISE MIDDLETON, )( \\ one of the principals in the € 4D Marguerita Sylva Comic Opera Company, which will present “The Strollers” at the Columbia Thea- ter this week, has very nearly earned the distinctive appelation of being a perfect woman from the standpoint of those who claim to know what the proper proportions of a woman ought to he. At a zlance you would not notice anything to remark in the outline of the figure. She is not what you would icall & “voluptuous” woman, and in ‘every-dey dress you would probably credit her with having a very good tailor, but in this case it is not the tailor who has triumphed—it is sim- ply nature—and by all precedents Miss Middleton’s measurements will be found true to nature’s footrule, as is shown by the pictures on this page for which Miss Middleton posed. OW many peopie are trustworthy judges '9€ a beautiful face or fig- While every one is likely to ve very strong opinions in such importast matters correct very rare. There are man rules governing the proportions o the length of the features and rtion, while even the limbs certain proportion to other body. These are familiar st artists and sculptors, they are not, as a rule - é on of @imensions whict s of the body should bea: ther in the ideal face and fig nined from the great anclents, and from many persons of has taken an im- of research, but the rules "o~ Tae Ovrwmzr%s;z‘?avh E oM FINGER 2% Tip To FINGER THE Sl HeiGHT OF THE FleURE. RUUAL | / HE DisTaNc® Feam Tee Tip OF | / DDLE FINGER To THE Erpow \ . J . | / TEIRD %ETTH'HEE M{AMB As FRoM THE : Y 7 ¢ : 1 . : \ LBOW & 3 : — |\ sow To ODLE OF THE NeuCK 3 § THE INDEXTTINGER themselves are very simple and any one can, of cour berself. Beyond these rules there is no zourt of appeals. seven and a balf times the length of his head and that of a woman seven times. This standard obtaius in the " United Btates races have an average heéight wvarying rom six and 2 balf to seven heads. In e of the Greek statues the proportion uld bave a head measuring about eight % cw persons will agree as to what pro- portions constitute a perfect head, yet rules governing these proportions are very simple and may readily be tested. A t head shouild fall within a_perfect If the top of the head just touches the square. Fo test this proportion take the top of the square and the chin the bot- exact profile of any head and draw a tom, while the back of the head and the .}, )2 5 ) & Tere As , apply them for himself or ight of man should approximate as well as in France, England, any and Italy. The yellow and negro trifie over seven heads. Accordimg to proportion a man six feet in height 2 half inches Foor 1Sex o Be THE MZQ?ENGTH square about it. tip of the nose, respectively, reach the other-side you may depend upon it that the proportions, at least, are practically For men the square thus drawn TIMES THE LeneTys OF THE tizaD shculd measure exactly nine inches, while for women the squag€’should be eight and & half inches. Every feature should bear 'a certain fixed proportion to every other feature In a perfect face. These proportions are very simple, read &{emembered and are easily applied.. With & little praciice one should be. able to tell to a nicety-at the merest glance whether the'various measurementls fall into the proper. proportion. Take, for example, the relation between the width of the eyes and the width of the face. And this proportion is extreme- ly important, since one often forms a se- rious opinion of a person by the size and & HILE Maurice Thompson lived there were few authors whose private life viere invested wilh - .¥ .. more. romance. and curiosity. Since his death, following so clogely upon the wonderful success of his last novel, “Alice of Old Vincennes,” cu- riosity ‘has grown swiftly apace until every item, no matter how small, that revealed anything of hls poetic nature, his virile imagination or his methods of ‘writing his books, has been gathered from, far and wide, and eagerly read. There has been not a little discussion, t00, as to the authenticity of the histori- cal events round which his now famous novel is built, and the source from which he had gathered his material. In a mas- terful dedication which he made to M. Placide Valcour, M. D., Ph. D., LL. D,, Mr. Thompson shows how historically corrget his facts really are. It shows, too, 'the pretty dream fancies out of which the noted author builded so thrill- ingly, so poetically, in “Alice of Old Vin- cennes.” ) My Dear Mr. Valcour: You gave me the Inepiration which made this story haunt me untfl 1 wrote it. Gaspard Roussillon’s let- ter. & mildewed relic of the year 1788, which you g0 kindly permitted me to copy, as far as it remained legible, was the point from which my imagination, accompanied by my curiosity, Z proportion of the eyes, their distance “apaft and their relation to the width of the [face. In the perfect face the width - of the face should be equal to five eyes. It is very common for persons to con- denin a face because the eves are too~ close together. Few know, however, ex- actly how far apart the eyes should Lc. The distance between the eyes, which makes so great a difference in the expres- sion of the face, should be equal exactly te one eye.. Another important and little understood relation is that between the eyes and mouth. The width of the eyes should be equal to two-thirds that of the mouth. Any one with a passably good eye for measurements should be able with a little practice to reccgnize the relation of ‘Ehese measurements at a glance. The nose and ears. mo less than the eyes and mouth, should bear an exact proportion to one another in a perfect face. The length of the nose in any face, and no matter what type the nose may be, |sheuld be equal to exactly ome-third the|length of the face. A face would be called Iong in which the nose is less than oney(hlrfl. while a short face is one on SHOULD BE HALT THEH § LENGTB (& THE TACE which the nose takes up more than fts privileged third. Again, the ear should always be twice the‘width of the eye. A peculiarity about this measurement is that the same pro- portion holds good for all ages. Most of the proportions apply only to adults or to.at least well developed children. From the measurements taken in thousands of individual cases it has been found that the two sides of any face are very rarely alike. No face iIs absolutely and mathe- matically symmetrical. The face proper merely extends from the chin to the roét of the nose. Above this, scientifically speaking, is the brain receptacle. The part above this line is, therefcre, referred to as the head, whil Eéiow it is the face. The width of the ‘hedd measured just above the ears should «~ be from five and a half to six and a half irckes. The distance from the opening of the ear to the top of the crown should be exactly the same as the width of the head. In the case of women the meas- drements of the height and width of the hedd should be one inch less than in the head of man. The length and diameter of the neck in 2 “perfect proportion are “also definitely fixed. In men, the length of the neck shguld always be one-third the length of the head. In women, the neck should be somewhat longer. Then again the diame- ter of the neck should be equal to one- half “that of the head. With women, again, this dimension should be a trifle less. TRis proportion is seldom found cor- rect, however, most men being too thin or too heavy. A glance at the beautiful statues of the Greeks will show how bad- 1y proportioned most figures really are. The trunk varies very slightly in length, elther among men or wothen. Forga man six feet in height the width of theichest should be 11% inches, and. for womem $ inches. ' Measured across the shoulders from end of collar bone to end of collar bone & man should measure 127 inches and a woman from 10 to 11 inches. The width' of the waist for men should be 10 inches and for women 8 to 8% inclies. The width of the hips for men should be 11% inches and' for women 12 inches. It is impossible to give any fxed rule for the length of the legs. It is not gen- erally known thaj the legs should domble in length by the end of the third year, then triple by the end of the twélfth, and when their growth ceases, at the age of 20, they are five times as long as they were at birth. If one's legs were to Keep on growing at the same rate fof twenty- one years as they do during ‘the first three years they would be seventy-five feet in length. Here are a few simple tests of the cor- rect proportions of the arms, hands ‘and feet which any one may readily mal ‘with the aid of a mirror. They will serve /to reveal one's weak points very quickly if one is not already wel]l aware, of them. Extend your arm straight out from your side, then slowly bend the foredrm back until the fingers touch the chin; keeping the arm meanwhile perfectly hofizontal. ‘The distance from the tip of the middle finger to the befid in the elbow should be exactly the same as from the lelbow to the middle of the neck. If ywo arm is correctly proportioned, therefers, the tip of the longest finger will just el to the middle of the chin, no mo#‘:‘l‘l’ s, by a fraction of an inch. 1 The length of the hand and Wrist and hand, taken together, should be ‘equalex- actly to the length of the face.; If there be any discrepancy, either your hand or face, or both, are badly proportioped. This may -be readily tested by hoiding the hand beside the face while' standing before the mirror. To come next to the hand, the length and diameter of the fingers of a well shaped hand will also be found ‘to hojd a simple but definite proportion: to each other. -The length of the index finger, for example, should be exactly one-half “the length of the hand.: The two small joints of the index finger should be one- fourth the length of the hand. This measurement should be exactly -tHé same as the large joint. The large joint of the index finger should be equal in length to the nose. The foot should be the same length as the forearm. The simplest test of this proportion is to lay one’s stocking, provid- ed it is a good fit, upon the bare forearm. =T 3 Drearmn Fargics of the Ruthor of -~ “Qlice of Old Vincennes..” set out upon a long and delightful quest. You laughed at me when I\became enthu- siastic regarding. the possible sistorical im- portance of that ancient, and alas! fragment- ary |epistie; but the old saylng about the beatjtude of him whose cachinations are latest comes handy to me just now, and I must re- mind you ‘that “I told you so. e enough, it was history pure and sim- ple that I had in mind while. enjoying the large hospitality of your guif-side hame. Gas- pard Roussilion's letter then appealed to my greed for materials which would help along the making of my little book,./"The Story of Louistana.” Later, however, as my frequent call§ upon you for both documenis and su gestions have informed you, I fell to strum: mi a different guitar. 4 And now to you I dedicate this historical romance of old Vincennes, as a very appro- priate, however - siight, Tecognition of your scholarly attainments, your distinguished ca- reer in a noble profession, and your descent from one of the earliest French families (if not |the very earliest) long resident at that I e lm;:‘ m&t“ ;m dtaa wb..u.n, now one of the |most. beau les between the nd the ocean. e llowing, with ever tantalized f ‘and breesy hints in. the Houssilion , I pursued a will-o'-the-wisp, here, , yonder, until by slowly arriying incre- 1 gathered up & large amount of valu- able facts, which when I came t compare them with' the history of Clark's conquest of the Wabash Valley fitted amazingly well into certain spaces heretofore left open in that im- portant yet sadly mpertect record. You will find that I was not so wrong In suspecting that Emll Jazon, mentioned in the Roussillon letter, was a brother of Jean Jazon and a famous scout in the time of Boone and Clark. He was, therefore, a kins- man of yours on the maternal side, and I con- gratulats you. ' Another thing may please you, the snccess which attended my long and patient research with a view to clearing up the conmection between Alice Roussillon’s ro- mantic life, as brokenly sketched in M. Rous- sillon's letter, and the capture of Vincennes by Colonel Géarge Rogers Clark. Accept, then, this book. which to those who care only for history will seem but an idie romance, while to the loveys of romance it may look strangely like the’ mustlest history. In my mind, and in yours I hope, it will always be connected with a breezy summer- house on a headland of the Louisiana gul? coast, the rustliing of paimetto leaves, the fine flash of roses, a tumult of mocking-bird voices, the soft liit of creole patols, and the endless dash and roar of a fragrant sea over Thelr fight “and beside’ which ou . smesned e wl you dreamed. while 1 MAURICE THOMPSON. _ To those who read ‘“Alice of Old Vin- cennes,” which is only one of many fa- mous books secured for exclusive publi- cation in The Sunday Call, the dedication will whet the appetite, give zest to the author's work and at the same time show how. close he has kept his romance to ~historical detail. Under The Sunday Call's new lterary policy, which is to publish a complete $150 book for fifteen cents, the first in- stallmént of “Alice of Old Vincennes™ will be published Sunday, October 19. Don’t forget this, because it means something more than the complete novel in one or two editions. It means Mus- trations—big full page illustrations—from the play itself—photographic pictures of Virginia Harned and her company in liv- ing, moving, intensely dramatic scenes that give life and purpose and added power to every line. This s a brand new departure in West- ern journalism, for you not only ggt the novel complete for 15 cents, but yoi get the whole dramatization of the book as well, shown in flashlight pictures that are tr;ly masterpieces of the photographer's art. . Don’t forget that the first installment ‘will be published on October 19. next two Installments completing the will l;:m‘x.hu-hod on October 2§ and Novems r