heel of the back foot is lifted slightly from the floor, and the foot rests upon its ball. The angle between the feet is about 90° (see Figs. 22 and 23). It is used where emotion is added to mentality and the speaker is impelled forward toward his audience to impart his thought with more friendliness and fervor. It is appropriate then in earnest interest, anxiety, welcome, appeal, supplication, and entreaty. The Second Right and Second Left are complementary to each other, and are interchangeable in expression, except that in speaking far to the right the Second Right is more sympathetic and appropriate, and in speaking far to the left the Second Left gives the more graceful appearance. Sentences illustrating the Second Position. NOTE. In the following short passages where earnest appeal and supplication are used there is opportunity, now and then, for the use of the Second Position Right and Left. (1) In the name, then, of common humanity, I invoke your aid in behalf of starving Ireland. Give generously and freely. Recollect that in so doing you are exercising one of the most God-like quali ties of your nature. (2) But yesterday the word of Cæsar might Have stood against the world; now lies he there, And none so poor to do him reverence. O masters, if I were disposed to stir I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong, I will not do them wrong; I rather choose 3. FIRST ATTITUDE Shakespeare. An Attitude is a position extended and enlarged. The First Attitude is an extension of the First Position. It has a broader base and a firmer bracing of the lower limbs. The 75° FIG. 24. 75° FIG. 25. FIRST ATTITUDE LEFT angle between the feet is the same and the weight is distributed as in the First Position (see Figs. 24 and 25). There are two divisions, — the First Attitude Right and the First Attitude Left. They are used interchangeably in the expression of courage, defiance, heroism, pride, and arrogance; in grand, bold. lofty, or impassioned oratory. Because it is closely related in expression to both the Mental and the Vital natures we have placed it as pivotal between them. Selections illustrating. NOTE. In the heroic and lofty passages of the following paragraphs the First Attitude is indispensable. Variety may be had by changes now and then from the First Right to the First Left. When my eyes shall be turned to behold, for the last time, the Sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious Union; on states dissevered, discordant, belligerent; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood! Let their last feeble and lingering glance rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the republic, now known and honored throughout the Earth, still full high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their original luster, not a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured; bearing for its motto, no such miserable interrogatory as “What is all this worth?” nor those other words of delusion and folly, “Liberty first, and Union afterwards"; but everywhere, spread all over in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, and in every wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every true American heart,— Liberty and Union, now and for ever, one and inseparable! — Webster. Reunited! One country again and one country forever! Proclaim it from the press and pulpit! Teach it in the schools! Write it across the skies! The world sees and feels it! It cheers every heart, North and South, and brightens the life of every American home. Let nothing ever strain it again. At peace with all the world and with each other, what can stand in the pathway of our progress and prosperity? — McKinley. 4. SECOND ATTITUDE The Second Attitude is based upon the Second Position. The lines and angles are practically the same, though the feet are more widely separated, as seen in the accompanying figures. There are two divisions, the Second Attitude, Forward, and the Second Attitude, Backward. (1) Second Attitude, Forward. In this attitude the body is inclined forward, the knee is slightly bent, the forward foot is placed about twice its length in front of the back foot and receives the greater part of the weight of the body (see Figs. 26 and 27). Both feet are planted firmly upon the floor, and the back foot receives varying proportions of the weight. The angle 90° FIG. 26. between the feet is ap- SECOND ATTITUDE RIght, Forward proximately 90°, varying somewhat with the length of the step and the distribution of the weight. The farther forward the weight is shifted the more the heel of the back foot will be drawn in and the greater will be the angle, as shown in the dotted lines representing the back foot. In the Second Attitude either foot may be advanced: if the right, it is called the Second Attitude Right, Forward; if the left, the Second Attitude Left, Forward. These two parts of the Second Attitude are used interchangeably in speaking and 90° FIG. 27. SECOND ATTITUDE Left, FORWARD are the natural expression of great vitality, defiance, violent denunciation, execration, malevolence, aggression, menace, attack. No better illustration of this attitude may be found than in the aggressive lunges of the fencer in his bouts with the rapier. On account of the character of the sentiments which require this attitude it naturally falls to the Vital division of the Triune Nature. Sentences illustrating the Second Attitude, Forward. NOTE. In the following sentences the unusual vitality and aggressiveness give opportunity for the use of the Second Attitude, Forward. a. How now! a rat? Dead for a ducat! Dead! - Shakespeare. b. Lay on, Macduff! and damned be he that first cries, Hold! enough! Shakespeare. C. O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, That I am meek and gentle with these butchers! That ever lived in the tide of times. Woe to the hard that shed this costly blood! |