WALKING AS A FINE ART 



THE first act of all animals is that of absorption. Feeding is a 

 primal necessity. The senses of smell, of touch, and of taste are 

 involved in it. Sight has little to do with it at first, but is soon 

 awakened. Coincident with this act among the lower animals is 

 that of locomotion. Man, whose desire to annihilate space has 

 become a supreme passion, approaches the act of locomotion 

 later than all other animals. Young ducks and geese fly from the 

 Arctic Circle to Florida a few months after they have been 

 hatched. Babies do not often begin to crawl until they are twice 

 as old, and rarely walk until more than a year of life has been 

 passed. There is nothing more interesting than the sight of a 

 child just beginning to walk. The look of glad surprise and 

 immense satisfaction which is displayed when a few successful 

 steps have been taken is delightful to the observer. The triumphs 

 of the most successful men do not in later years afford them so 

 much momentary pleasure as is experienced by the little fellow 

 who realizes that at last after many failures he has "got his 

 legs." 



In much of our going to and fro on this small globe we are 

 aided by adventitious helps. Stephenson, Fulton, and the fathers 

 of the science of magnetism and electricity have done much to 

 pave the way for our rapid transportation from one spot to 

 another. But there are some places to which we cannot be 

 hauled, and we have not yet reached the point where we can 

 dispense with the use of our pedal extremities. 



Happy is the man who has acquired the love of walking for 

 its own sake! There is no form of exercise more health-giving, 

 none which tends more thoroughly to invigorate, if it be wisely 

 undertaken. The effect of the act is to quicken the venous 

 circulation; to send the blood to the lungs, there to be purified 

 by contact with the oxygen of the atmosphere; to harden and 

 strengthen the muscles of the legs and to bring those of the arms 

 and the chest into play. People who walk do not have over- 

 loaded veins. The shop-girl who stands behind the counter all 

 day suffers from varicosis, but the man or woman who walks 

 avoids it. Standing is harder than walking; it is more fatiguing, 

 and brings no return of health to the system. 



270 



