Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 63, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 November 1912 — NATIONAL CAPS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

NATIONAL CAPS

Camel Hump and Giraffe Sway at the Capital

WASHINGTON.— In a furtive sort of way people have taken note of the “camel hump walk.” It’s here. It came to Pennsylvania avenue rather gradually, but by much quicker process than that by which the aboriginal man stopped walking on all fours; for it traces its ancestry back to the hobble skirt and no farther. Just as we used to have the “kangaroo walk,” we now have the “camelhump walk.” The camel-hump walk is nature’s way of adapting itself to the sheath skirt. It is nature’s law and probably the very best nature could do under the circumstances.

It will be seen by careful attention to the pictures that the genuine cam-el-hump is nothing more nor less than an attempt on the part of the hobbled female to get away from what is coming behind her, a direct application of the theory that self-preserva-tion is one of the primal instincts of humanity. The peculiar effect is due to the tendency of the upper portion of the torso to advance a little faster than the hobbled extremities. The hobble skirt, being true to its

name, deters the legs in their desire for freedom. The right leg says to its colleague, “May I pass?” Not to be outdone in politeness, the left leg answers, “Why, my dear, of course; but I warn you that you will not be able to go far. Your career necessarily will be somewhat limited.” “Cat!” exclaims the right leg, and fares forth confidently, only to come up against that hobble like a colt at the end of its tether. Meanwhile, the shoulders and spine, having the utmost confidence in the right leg to do its full duty and making no allowance for the confounded hobble, forge ahead just as they used to in the days before the tube skirt was ever dreamed of. >

Now, it is that very tendency of the upper portion of the torso to continue the old movements of a natural gait that produces that peculiar phenomenon -the camel-hump. There is also the “giraffe sway,’’ which is a variation of the camelhump employed by slender girls only. The complement of these two actions is the “wideawake sit.” , The. name originates with the tendency of the ankles and feet to come right out and greet you in broad davjigbt. The toes no longer peep from'out of the folds of a tailored gown; there are no folds.

Needless to say the wideawake is particularly popular with occupants of the opposite seat in the car and with the manufacturers of silk hose.