She wears mourning for
her mother, who died in 1891.
"My mother," she said, "was a remarkable woman; she ought to be as well
known as my father is. I would rather my father were not known at all,"
she continued, "than to be known as he is in your country, that is, as a
professor of gymnastics."
She said she had heard of the American "Delsarte gymnastics" while in
Paris (Americans passing through the city had often come to her and
asked questions), but she had no idea, until she came here, that they
were pushed so far. She was quite amused at having dumb-bells given her
at one of her lectures in a town in Pennsylvania. "In a gymnasium, as
usual," she said, smiling. Anybody who had ever been through the
Delsarte gymnastics and afterward followed the course of lessons that
Mme. Geraldy gave to a class while in New York, would have been struck
by the beauty and simplicity of her father's method, and her clear and
direct exposition of it. Here was no affectation. "I abhor all that is
affected," she said. There were no intricate convolutions, no
flourishes, and, above all, no "decomposing exercises."
An interesting fact to note is that Mme. Geraldy began by teaching her
pupils the expressions of the eyes, and when she gave them attitudes or
gestures, she always called for the facial expression to accompany them.
A woman, well-known in her profession throughout the country, is said to
have made the remark that Mme.
Pages:
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476