HOW TO SIT

Question. What is the importance of the sitting position?

Answer. Whether in private life or on the stage, no small share of the picture of every individual is presented in a sitting position, an attitude unknown to the people of the far East.

Q. Of what is this position characteristic ? A. It is eminently characteristic of European and American civilization.

Q. What posture prevails in other countries? A. The Asiatics and Africans crouch or squat, kneel back upon their haunches, or sit crosslegged on the floor or upon divans.

Q. Are there established rules for taking your seat and rising therefrom?

A. Yes; there is a method to be outlined which is capable of individual adaptation. It is easier always to tell what not to do than to set forth detailed laws. A good position in sitting is as essential in facing the world as when standing or walking.

Q. Wherein does the proof of this lie?

A. In a study, however brief, of distinguished personages seated upon a public platform and subject to the scrutiny of their fellows.

Q. What should I avoid in sitting?

A. You should not fall into a chair or throw yourself upon it, as if the process were a test of the chair's strength of construction and material producing a comic effect rather than one of dignity and repose.

Q. What is the other extreme ?

;

A. The apparent adoption of precautionary measures. It may safely be assumed that the chair is firm enough to bear your weight and will contain nothing likely to inflict injury upon either your clothing or person.

Q. Mention some inelegances which I should avoid.

A. Falling into your seat, as a house of cards collapses, as well as flopping, bouncing, and plumping—these are hard on the chair as well.

Q. What is the effect of sitting while my weight is borne squarely on both feet?

A. It gives the impression of enfeeblement and age, or produces an expression of unaccustomedness or inelegance.

Q. What is a general outline for sitting?

A. The subordination of one side of the body

to the other, avoiding the use of lines strictly parallel, which are equally unnatural and ungraceful. The head bends forward as the seat is neared, one hip coming first into contact with it.

Q. What part of the body first touches the back of the chair?

A. Your torso first touches the back of the chair at its lowest point and then proceeds upward until pliantly straightened at the neck, when the head falls into an easy position as a matter of

course.

Q. Should my body sink upon one side?

A. No; there must be no sinking down entirely upon one side, leaving your opposite hip protruded or angular.

Q. Should I hold aloof from the back of my chair?

A. No, not with a perceptible rigidity of the spine and head as if you were impatient or on the point of removal.

Q. Should there be a space between the base of my spine and the chair back?

A. No; there must be no compromise between sitting and lying down.

Q. Should my habitual position be one of relaxation?

A. Yes; of bodily relaxation, not collapse.

Q. Does mental repose accompany bodily repose?

A. Not always. Bodily repose does not necessarily call for mental inactivity nor betoken a sluggish mind. Your habitual attitude in sitting should be one of rest, not one of relief from palpable weariness.

Q. How should I rise from a seat?

A. Avoid suddenness of movement or evincing an eager desire to escape. You assume that the chair has been comfortable and the company present sufficiently entertaining to make departure something of a hardship.

Q. Should my feet be raised in rising?

A. Do not lift your feet and swing them forward as if their weight were needed to bring your body to a standing position.

Q. Should the abdominal region be brought forward?

A. No; do not bring the abdominal region forward as if some one was thrusting at the small of your back. The trunk bends forward from the waist, one foot retiring itself; the legs straighten themselves, the body following rhythmically.

Q. Where should my weight be thrown?

A. If there is haste in leaving, your weight

should be thrown immediately upon the foot advanced, and progression begun.

Q. Give a more graceful process.

A. It is more graceful and more considerate to settle back upon the foot in the rear and hold yourself there a moment before advancing.

Q. Should many muscles or few be used?

A. Just as a musical chord is more grateful to the ear than the sounding of octaves alone, just so the use of many members and muscles with easy grace is more pleasant to view than the exercise of a few with needless violence.

Q. Is time a subject for economy in sitting or rising?

A. Time is not supposed to be a subject for economy when in company.

Q. What do haste and hurry bespeak?

A. A certain social penury. To be at ease, nothing is more of an aid than to take a posture of ease. To appear to be uncomfortable is to induce discomfort not only in yourself but in others.

Q. Is lounging permissible?

A. No; in polite society you do not lounge or take on the appearance of indolence or sensuous satisfaction.

Q. Is the crossing of the legs prohibited?