Instep

“ It is generally admitted that a step is constituted by the series of movements which are produced between the corresponding phases of the action of one foot and that of the other—for example, between the moment at which the right foot commences its pressure on the ground and that at which the left foot commences its own. ”

“ You may at some time or other have been going down a dark staircase, perhaps in some old tower, and the steps have been so even for a long time that you think you know just how far down to put your foot for the next, when suddenly there comes a short step or an extra long step which gives you quite a shock. ”

“ In walking, the step should neither be too fast nor too slow, too long nor too short, too much on the heel or too much on the toe. A simple, straightforward way of getting there is all that is wanted. ”

“ This was nothing more nor less than a faint creaking, such as had followed my own lifting of the board which hid the domino and mask; a noise that was speedily followed by one yet more distinct and of a nature to convince me beyond a doubt that my own action was being repeated by some unknown hand. Whose? Curiosity, love, honor, every impulse of my being impelled me to find out. I moved like a spirit towards the stairs. ”

“ A STRIDE is an act of progressive animal motion, which, for its completion, requires all of the supporting members of the body, in the exercise of their proper functions, to be consecutively and regularly thrust in the direction of the movement until they hold the same relative positions in respect to each other as they did at the commencement of the notation. In the bipedal walk or run a step is one-half of a stride or full round movement. ”

“ You travel along for many rods over excellent, dry, solid sleighing where the road is perfectly level, not thinking but you are within a foot of the ground, then suddenly descend four or five feet, and find, to your surprise, that you had been traversing the broad back of a drift. ”

“ It was my instinct alone which told me it was Madame Rabenfels, for in nothing could she have been recognised except perhaps by a certain swiftness and lightness of tread, which I had noticed as we walked together a few hours ago.
A step has to me much significance. I can judge of a character by the sound of a step. I can distinguish a race by the manner in which an individual treads. I can estimate the health and temper of a person by observing his walk. ”

“ Stepping, like this, out of time, one gave oneself away, so to speak, one made the night aware of two presences, when there might, if steps sounded in unison, be only one, heavier, more formidable, more secure than either of the separate two. ”

“ While you are taking the first step or two, you will feel a clearer impulse toward the real selected corner, and will find yourself swinging around to it. Do not grow impatient, for you are but learning to receive the impressions. Advance one foot forward, hesitatingly, resting your weight on the ball of the other foot, and you will soon feel yourself being compelled to move in a certain direction, which will end in your moving toward the right corner. ”

“ Imagine to yourself a human being on board, and the awful sensations he must have experienced on her striking the rapid, which appeared for a moment to the beholders to be her last; but, as I observed before, on her masts giving way, she again righted, and was turned sideways, in which course she proceeded to the second rapid, where she struck and stuck about a minute, and it seemed as though the elements made their last and desperate effort to drive her over this rapid. ”

“ In the same way, all the members of this endless universe are linked one to another. The foot and the step, for example, are connected to the ear and the eye; the eye must look ahead before the step is taken. ”

“ The first movement is a movement of her hands. They rise slowly from her side and waver in the air like the hands of a person groping in the dark. Another interval—and the movement spreads to her lips; they part and tremble. ”

“ A wave strikes her as she reaches it, and dashes her once more to the ground. For a second time she is swept like a straw along the deck, and for the second time the ebb arrests her progress, and leaves her in the same position as before. ”

“ In others, the movement consists in balancing themselves slowly, from the right to the left, and from the left to the right, or inclining the body methodically forward and aft. There are other societies in which these motions commence seated, in measured cadences, with a staid countenance, the eyes closed or fixed upon the ground, and are continued on foot. ”

“ Now you must be aware, that you are going as if you were to descend down the face of a steep rock, by means of a rope, and it is that mighty preserver that is to hold the rope; and if you will still trust him, he will guide you safe to the bottom, but if you fail in the confidence, He will let you go, and you will be dashed to pieces. ”

“ True, there are, by the direction of the Lawgiver, certain good and substantial steps, placed even through the very midst of this slough; but at such time as this place doth much spew out its filth, as it doth against change of weather, these steps are hardly seen; or if they be, men, through the dizziness of their heads, step beside, and then they are bemired to purpose, notwithstanding the steps be there; but the ground is good when they are once in at the gate. ”

“ Every turn brought us to these great wrought openings, which, from the ground, appeared like delicate lacework, and which seemed to give one the feeling, as he went round and round, as if he were swinging and swaying in the network between heaven and earth ”

“ If the motion be to strike out certain words and insert other words, said motion is a combination of the other two forms—to strike out, and to insert—and if the motion prevails the words so struck out, or any of them, cannot be again inserted except with other words, or the words so inserted, or any of them, cannot be struck out except with other words. ”

“ Round and round in spiral form we descended for many miles, amid noises loud and new to me, when our farther progress was abruptly stopped by a massive door formed in the solid rock, and which was guarded by monsters of various shapes, called Ignorance. ”

“ So, having turned down the gas, I came to the staircase-head and began to descend. A certain something, not too far from fear, prompted the idea of a hand reaching on to me from behind. I desired to turn and look. My will overcame my desire. I descended slowly, step after step, in an actor's way rather. ”

“ To STEP short, is to diminish or slacken your pace. On the word, step short, the foot advancing will finish its pace, and afterwards each man will step as far as the ball of his toe, and no further, until the word forward be given, when the usual pace of 24 inches is to be taken. This step is useful when a momentary retardment of either a battalion in line, or of a division in column, shall be required. ”

“ In considering the power of traction or impulsion necessary to move a body, whether on a canal or on a road. I must carefully distinguish that force which is requisite to put the body from a state of rest into a state of motion, from that which is requisite to sustain the motion when once imparted to it. ”

“ But when an abrupt turn shows there is a steep to climb, the pathway itself becomes confused, indefinite, treacherous, and the guiding voices have scattered, some going one way and some another, what must one do? ”

“ We must take the first step now. Most of us want to take the hundredth step or the thousandth step now. We want to make some spectacular stride of a thousand steps at one leap. That is why we fall so hard when we miss our step. ”

“ Instinctively action followed recognition so spontaneously that sound, impulse and action were practically simultaneous. And as his prodigious bound carried him backward, there was the rush of a great bulk from above, and a thunderous crash filled the tunnel with deafening vibrations. ”

“ In one of the tricks I seemed to join a piece of string which was cut by the people, and the illusion was so complete that I saw one man going off with it into the corner and pulling at the apparent joining till he sank red furrows round his hands. ”

“ I see the track of a man in the sand. The left track is full, the right track shows only the impression of the toe. I see the one and then the other, and I infer that the man was lame and walked upon his right toe. ”

“ In the reflex action we find all that constitutes in some sort the very groundwork of an intelligent act—that is to say, the same series of stages, in the same order, with the same relations between them. ”

“ Now, every motion necessarily requires a mover, and that mover is either some power diffused in some body, to wit, either in the body of the thing moved or else through some other body without it, or else some other power that is not diffused or dispersed through anything at all. ”

“ Moreover, each attitude—standing, sitting, lying down, turning over—entails a different set of pressures, both of the parts on one another and on the ground; and those partial arrests of motion which result from sitting down the feet alternately when running, send jolts or waves of varying pressure through the body. ”

“ But ere he could put his design into execution his ears were startled by the sound of loud and hurried footsteps which, coming from below, ascended the stairs with a prodigious clatter and bustle of speed. At the landing these footsteps paused for a while, and then approached, more cautious and deliberate, toward the room where the double tragedy had been enacted, and where our hero yet stood silent and inert. ”

“ If I or you touch a man or woman with a finger, or clasp their hand, or embrace them more completely, the tendency is at once set up, and the force seeks to flow, and, according to certain conditions, does flow, from one to another, evermore seeking to find a common level,—always, that is, in the direction of the greater need, or the greater capacity. ”

“ Interlocked branches are every moment broken off and flung to a distance, and even the trunks clash, and as it were, whet themselves against each other, with a shock and uproar that startles the firmest nerves. ”

“ Again we must conclude that the movement is more than the mere seeing of successive positions, as in this case we see the movement, while the isolated positions do not appear as successive but as simultaneous. ”

“ One form of instinctive reaction, the suppression of which has been shown to be necessary under certain conditions, is that of flight, whether by movements of swimming in the water or of running upon the ground. ”

“ And the shape of the sign, and the way in which it is laid, tell what manner of person or animal passed, and how fast. Steps vary in size, and in pressure and in distance apart. A man at a very hurried walk is apt to leave a deeper toe-print, and a loaded horse sinks deeper than a light one. ”

“ In the description of direction of responsive movements, confusion is likely to arise unless the point of view be carefully defined. An up-movement of a leaf or a petal means approach towards the growing point of the axis. This may be variously described as movement of closure or of folding. A down-movement may, on the other hand, be described as a movement of opening or of unfolding. ”

“ The Degree and Direction of every Motion is, by the Laws of Nature, prescrib'd with such Exactness, that a living Creature may as soon arise from the Shock of two Bodies, as Motion in any other Degree or Direction, than what is actually produc'd by it. ”

“ When you perceive your adversary thrusting at you, and you are not very certain of the parade, then break his measure, or make his thrust short of you, by either stepping a foot or half a foot back, with the single stepp, for if you judge your adversary's distance or measure well, half a foot will break his measure as well as ten ells. ”

“ We, with a guide for each person, light candles, and slide and stumble down an incline; we crawl up an incline; we shuffle along a level passage that seems interminable, backs and knees bent double till both are apparently broken, and the torture of the position is almost unbearable ”

“ Unconsciously he feels with his feet; they come to know the exact time to move, whether a long or short stride be desirable, and where to put down, not to rustle or cause a cracking sound, and accommodate themselves to the slope of the ground, touching it and holding it like hands. ”

“ No thoughtful person will believe that what I said about the meaning of footsteps is strictly true of mere jolts and jars. It is an array of the spiritual in certain natural elements, tactual beats, and an acquired knowledge of physical habits and moral traits of highly organized human beings. ”

“ But if we move the point of a pencil to and fro from one point to the other we perceive distinctly the movement in spite of the fact that it is a movement between two end points which could not be discriminated. ”