Page:The Girl Who Earns Her Own Living (1909).djvu/271

 The same is true of elocution and dancing. Some girls go to a dancing-class year after year and never acquire knowledge of the principles on which the art is founded. They may be graceful dancers but utterly unable to give instruction. Another girl with less natural ability but more genuine desire to succeed will be teaching children's classes while the others are still working. A girl who must teach elocution within a given time will walk straight past the girl whose father has the funds to give her an indefinite course of study and who likes to go back to the school, season after season.

In a small city, dancing-lessons can sometimes be organized more easily than those in physical culture. The latter classes are often less attractive to young people, but the teacher must never give up her aim, i.e., to introduce physical culture into her community and create a demand for it in the public schools.

The young woman starting her first dancing-class should select a hall with discretion, always giving her class a certain social standing. A large private parlor, with waxed floor or canvased carpet is preferable to a cheap hall in a questionable neighborhood. The girl without great influence will do well to secure social leaders as her patronesses and give a series of dances during the season which will have a little