VII
GRACE AND ETIQUETTE
Grace of manner, grace of mind,
If for these we strive we'll find
Grace of every other kind.
So runs the old nursery rhyme. Like most of these doggerels of our youth, there is a very real lesson underneath the jingle. Grace of manner and grace of mind must be the forerunners of all kinds of grace, and most certainly must lie back of the grace of dancing. Skill in stepping intricate measures and a wide knowledge of many dances do not make either a man or a woman graceful on the floor: there must be besides knowledge of the dance, knowledge of etiquette, of life's little courtesies and life's gentle thoughts. The vulgarity of a dance lies always as much in the mind of the dancer as in the steps, and a suggestive dance is inevitably the outcome of an evil thought, or a lack of knowledge of the finer and better way to dance.
Etiquette means not merely conventional rules,
but rules of courtesy as well, and these should be
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