Judge — September 24, 1921 — page 16: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Just Legs By RALPH BERGENGREN Nearly everyone has which to get about. Some of them are very thin; some of them are stout; Some of them are like the legs the grand pianos wear; Some resemble clothes-pins march- ing in a pair; Some of them are beautiful but these are very rare. V JHEN legs on two events occur almost simultaneously, it is natural to wonder “E whether the first has in- fluenced the second. Philosophers, and others, have noticed and com- mented on the generous display of feminine legs in public places. But the degree to which men, in the semi- publicity of the country club and the summer home, are following an ex- ample which at first astonished, alarmed, and in some cases secretly delighted them, has attracted less attention. It is a comparatively timid and conservative exhibition, but it moves in the same direction and suggests the possibility of what « psychologist might call “sex imi- tation.” For about a century men have modestly hidden their legs under the impenetrable cover of their long trousers, as did women under their skirts and petticoats. Sometimes the wind lifted a skirt. Sometimes a gentleman, anxious lest his nether garments should bag at the knees, lifted his trousers as he sat convers- ing in a drawing room. A leg be- ble in both instances, but ental observer, if of delicate sensibilities, looked the other way. Conventionally, chairs and tables had Drawn Drawn by E. W. R KeMBe 8 IT EVER SO HUMBLE, THERE’ by P.-L. Crossy. legs, but not men and women, and, although each individual knew that he or she had them, it was assumed that nobody else knew it. On the bathing beach, to be sure, men had legs, and women had “ankles,” but this fact was tacity forgotten after the bathing hour. Generally speak- ing, the leg, one might say, was re- garded as a poor relation. Yet there has never been any good reason why the everage man should be ashamed of his legs. What is im- portant, is how well they work. None of us would hesitate a moment in choosing between an ordinary-look- ing pair of legs that worked well and a handsome pair that wouldn’t go! There have been periods when practically all men wore tights, and those, who followed fashion to its extremity, clad their legs in different colors, each leg as bright as new paint. Magna Charta was put in operation by earnest gentlemen dressed very much like chorus girls; and the Declaration of Independence was signed by patriots in knee breeches. There is no connection be- tween what men do and what they hby--WHAT MAKES GRANPA GROAN SO AFTER HE EATS? Bessie—He's GOT WHAT THAT BOOK says. A SENTIMENTAL TUMMY. 16 NO PLACE LIKE HOME,” wear. The President of Harvard, for example, would conduct that institution as successfully in tights as in trousers. Personality is more than pants, and success in life is happily independent cf the beauty of a gentle- man’s legs. Even when that and respectable member was, by common consent, panted on all public oc- asions, there were strong advocates of the leg, who tried to persuade the trousered ma- jority that short breeches are an es- sential part of the most sensible and becoming costume for men. This is nonsense of course, for a bath- robe is more sensible and becoming for most of us. It has color; it has, when disassociated with the bath, dignity; and it can easily be held knee high when we wish, for any purpose, to speed up. But the advo- cates of the leg made no progress. Here and there a jealous individual- ist wore knickerbockers in the coun- try, even before golf brought its dev- otees, but a silent revolution has really worked change. It has been slow and innocuous and the leg has come back! It is as if the men, ob- serving the women, had said: “We, too, have legs, henceforth we will show them.” The revolution is not yet fully accomplished. In business and the formal affairs of society, men still remain conventionally legless. Enough, however, has been done to show the equality of the sexes in this anatomical detail and should the “show down” (or up) become an every-day actuality, many of the women, bless ’em! will have to look to their laurels, or legs, else decree short skirts unfashionable and let out their hems. Words By J. W. WoLFE WONDER why each President Some phrase or word has to in- vent? Do you recall how once we viewed useful . “Innocuous desuetude”? With Teddy “What?” Then came the recent “May I not?” Now “normalcy” I prophesy. I wonder why, I wonder why? all “Bully!” was Forgotten See-Saw, Margery Daw, Maggie has got a new feller; She wears his pin, if you please, It’s on her chem— I just heard the laundryman tell ‘er! —Washington Sun Dodger. comicbooks.com