Mrs. Grace Lambert, of Pinewood Avenue, Toledo, Ohio, was able, the other day, to use her voice for the first time since March 4, 1914, when she lost her speech following a long attack of bronchial pneumonia. Mrs. Lambert’s voice suddenly returned when she called “Pete,” the family cat, to breakfast.
When Ballet Skirts Grew Short.
In the earlier days of the ballet the dancers were dressed in the elaborate and fulsome costume of the period—the women in hooped petticoats falling to the ankle, with their powdered hair piled up a foot or more upon their heads, the men in long-skirted coats, set out from their hips with padding.
So long as this costume was worn, the dance was necessarily confined almost entirely to the dignified and gliding movements of the minuet. It permitted none of the airy and intricate steps which are peculiar to the technic of the ballet proper.
Noverre, the eighteenth-century maître de ballet, who is chiefly responsible for giving the ballet its present form, wrote as follows: “I wish to reduce by three-quarters the ridiculous paniers of our danseuses. They are opposed equally to the freedom, the quickness, and the prompt and animated action of the dance.”
Mlle. de Camargo, the famous dancer, started the innovation in dress. She was the first to execute the entre chat, a light and brilliant step, during the performance of which the dancer rapidly crosses the feet while in midair. In her dances, therefore, she took the precaution of wearing the caleçon, from which the tight-fitting fleshing of the ballet dancer was subsequently evolved.
Two National Forest Blazes.
There is the possibility of a dangerous spring and summer fire season in the national forests in the West, as presaged by reports that two forest fires occurred in January. Moreover, the snowfall in much of the Rocky Mountain region and in the foothills has been much below normal.
January fires are almost unheard of in the national forests, and the snow reports are regarded as especially significant, as they indicate that, unless the deficiency is made up, the forests will be dry earlier in the spring than usual, with a consequent increase of the fire menace.
The fires occurred in the Pike forest, in Colorado, and the Black Hills forest, in South Dakota, the latter believed to have been of incendiary origin, according to the district forester at Denver. About seventy-five acres were burned over, all told. They were the only national forest fires reported for January.