FRAeULEIN'S GYMNASTICS.
"Fraeulein, can you have prayers for the young ladies in the small
reception-room on Christmas morning?" Miss Ashton asked with much
hesitation the day before leaving.
"Ja! Ja!" answered the Fraeulein, all smiles and nods.
"Very well, then, I will give the notice to-night. As Christmas is a
religious festival, I shall be glad to have a religious as well as a
festival observation of it. As for the matter of going to church, the
young-ladies can do as they please; there need be nothing compulsory
about it."
"I mistand," and the Fraeulein congratulated herself on her correct
English. "All wrong; nein! nein, all."
"Right," said Miss Ashton, laughing.
"Oui, Ja! Der Dank! Tanks. I learn Anglais soon. Patientia, Fraeulein
Ashton. I learn soon, by un by."
In compliance with this request, after a hasty Christmas breakfast,
the girls assembled in the reception-room, and waited with more
curiosity than devotion the coming of the Fraeulein.
She had not been down to breakfast, and when she made her appearance
now, it was as if an odd-shaped swan was waddling into the room. From
head to foot she was dressed in a fluffy white stuff, that stood out
all over her like snow-feathers.
A stifled laugh greeted her, but of this she took no notice; walking
slowly to the table that had been prepared for her, she turned a
solemn face toward the girls, opened a German prayer-book, and began
to read the service for Christmas morning, stopping when she came to
the places for the chant, and, motioning to her audience to rise and
join her, she sang in sweet tones music familiar to the girls, in
which, with the English words they were accustomed to, they all
joined.
Then down she fell upon her knees, the others following her example,
and with her eyes half shut, and her little hands folded reverently
upon her prayer-book, she rattled off prayer after prayer with
astonishing rapidity.
Now, though the young ladies had come in anything but a solemn frame
of mind, which the Fraeulein's droll appearance was not calculated to
change, there was something so devotional, almost solemn, in her
rapidly changing expression of face, that they became at once and
unconsciously devout. Dropping on their knees, and covering their
faces, they joined her "Amens" with hushed voices, and into their
susceptible hearts the hallowing influence of the religious festival
found ready entrance.
They were hardly prepared to see the Fraeulein spring lightly upon her
feet, to hear a merry laugh ring out, and "Good-morgen! good-morgen!"
spoken with the accompaniment of a cloud of white batting, that flew
off from her arms and shoulders as she laughed.
Queer little Fraeulein! but good and kind as she was queer!
All day long she worked indefatigably alone in the big parlor. Not one
of the girls was allowed even so much as a peep within the doors.
The day was a rarely fine one for a New England Christmas. The sun
shone out of a cloudless sky; a warm south wind blew gently over the
deep snow-drifts; little sparrows hopped delightedly upon the branches
of the Norway spruces that grew close to the house, lifted their
pretty wings as if to coax the wind and sun, while they chirped their
cheerful Christmas carols, stole the late berries from the trees, and
twisted their round heads so they could send loving glances up to the
bevy of pretty girls that watched and smiled down upon them, as they
fed them from their windows.
At seven o'clock the gong was sounded, and the young ladies in gala
dresses filed into the bright parlor.
In the centre of the room was a large tree. Near it stood the
Fraeulein, smiling and courtesying to each one as she entered. A quaint
little figure she was; yet, with all her quaintness, there was enough
of dignity to suppress any merriment her appearance might have
caused.
The number and variety of these gifts was a marvel to them. When they
were fairly distributed, the Fraeulein lifted the cover of an unopened
box, and took from it a gift for every teacher.
Good, happy Fraeulein! Not a thoughtful word or a kind act from these
to you strangers in a strange land, but you have treasured in your
homesick heart, and from the Vater Land you bring to them all to-day
your grateful recognition of it all!
Perhaps the happiest of them was the lame Nellie, who, yet weak and
pale from her sickness, had with the Fraeulein's consent brought to the
Christmas-tree little pictures which she had painted in her
convalescence, as gifts to them all. She held tight to Marion's hand.
In some way, she could not have told you how, she seemed to herself to
have owed to this dear friend the ability to have painted them. It was
a little cross she gave Marion, but she had hung on it a wreath of
lovely rosebuds, meaning, through them, to convey to Marion how her
love had made the cross of her suffering beautiful.
As the vacation had commenced on the twenty-third of December, and
school did not begin again until the fifth of January, there was quite
a time remaining after the excitement of Christmas had passed.
The more scholarly and industrious of the girls remaining at the
academy at once applied themselves to making up whatever deficiencies
had occurred in their studies.
Marion found plenty to do, not only for herself, but also for Nellie,
whose lessons had necessarily run behind during her illness.
The Fraeulein found them together over their books much oftener than
she thought was for their good. Having been thoroughly educated in the
German methods of teaching, she was a firm believer in vacation
benefits, also in muscular training, which she considered quite as
essential for girls as for boys. In her imperfect English, and also by
personal illustration, she had tried, ever since her connection with
this school, to awaken the teachers, Miss Ashton in particular, to a
greater sense of its importance. To be sure, there was a gymnasium in
the building, and a regular teacher, who faithfully put her pupils
through the exercises commonly allowed to girls. But these seemed to
the Fraeulein to be only a beginning of what might be done; so, now,
finding herself for a time in sole authority in the school, she at
once, as soon as Christmas was over, began to put her girls through
what she considered so essential to their health.
She made her first attempt upon Marion and Nellie. Finding them both
bent nearly double over their books, Nellie very pale, with dark rings
under her eyes, and Marion with flushed cheeks and too bright eyes,
she at once routed them from their books, made them stand up before
her, and said,--
"Now, do"--and her English word failing her, she drew a long breath
from the bottom of her chest, and motioned to them to imitate her.
Marion, never having attempted anything of the kind before, did so
partially, and Nellie could only produce something that sounded like a
gurgle in her small throat.
The Fraeulein shook her head impatiently, and repeated the process over
and over again, Marion gaining a little every time, but Nellie soon
discouraged and tired.
"Bard! bard! nicht right--aushauchen tief--so, thus:" (deep breaths
from the Fraeulein). Then, seeming suddenly to remember that the girls
did not know why she made the request, she tried in an anglicized
German, which no one could by any possibility have understood, to
explain it to them. She tapped her own head, took up a book, appeared
to read it, while she moved the leaves in time with her long
inhalations and exhalations.
"Bon scholars! long--so!" Then suddenly she said, "Patientia!" and
vanished from the room. In a few minutes the corridor was full of
noisy girls, who came direct to Marion's room, and in obedience to the
Fraeulein's directions arranged themselves in a circle.
They had only the vaguest idea what they had been called for, but they
knew the Fraeulein always gave them "a jolly good time," and came
willingly. Merry enough they were for the next hour, and much to the
Fraeulein's surprise, for they were quicker than German girls, they
made so much progress that, after the second lesson, a plan that was
to tell much in future for the well-being of the academy was fully
developed.
The Fraeulein drew up a paper in German, in which she detailed not only
the benefits physically resulting from her system of deep breathing,
but also the help it would be in resting the excited nerves with which
so many of the young girls came into the recitation-room. Then, before
presenting it to Miss Ashton, she roused the enthusiasm of her class
by telling them how much she needed their help, as examples of the
great good to be derived from her gymnastics. And the result was that
they had not only the amusement of the exercises to help them pass the
vacation, but also the benefit resulting from it, and the hope that
through them it would become a part of the school-life.
When Miss Ashton returned, she was not a little surprised at the gain
she so quickly recognized, nor was she slow in availing herself of its
aid.
She had always felt that nothing was more necessary for a good working
head than a perfect physical balance, and for that reason she allowed
and encouraged a greater amount of amusement, which was relaxation
from study, than was common in what is called a finishing school. It
was almost the only boast in which she indulged, that, during the
twenty years of her care of the academy as principal, she had never
had a case of fatal sickness, or, indeed, of any severe enough to
excite alarm.
During the fall she obliged the girls, as long as the weather would
allow, to spend hours every day in the open air, giving them their
choice of exercise,--walking, riding, boating, botanizing,
geologizing, any and every thing that would bring to them rest and
change. In winter there was dancing in the large hall, there were
compulsory gymnastics, there were skating on the pond, coasting on the
hills back of the academy, or, not so seldom as it might have been
supposed would be the case among girls, snowballing in the most
approved boy-fashion.
Indeed, once upon a time it was reported that, having come out, as she
generally made a point of doing whenever any amusement was going on,
to witness the sport, a girl more audacious than any of the others
ventured to throw a snow-ball in the direction of her august person,
and it was received with such a merry laugh, that another followed,
and another, and another, until she was as ermine-covered as if she
were dressed for a court reception; and not a girl among the laughing
crowd but loved her better and respected her more.
"My best recitations," she was often heard to say, "come after the
best frolics. Give me pupils with steady nerves, bright eyes, and
sweet, clear voices, and I will show you a school where they study
well, and the deportment is of the best.
"I am never so anxious about my girls as when the weather shuts them
in-doors, and the cold makes them want to hug the radiators."
It was on account of the good common-sense by which this method of
regulation was carried on, that the school was sought far and near; to
this, in a great measure, it owed its success.
The gymnastic teacher already employed was a good one for the old
methods; but there was something so inspiring in the Fraeulein's
enthusiasm on the theory of long breaths, that Miss Ashton made it at
once a part of daily practice, and put her in as teacher for those
classes.
Watching the result of the experiment, it took Miss Ashton but a short
time to satisfy herself as to its immediate benefits; and as for the
girls themselves, they were so amused and strengthened by the lessons
that, after a little practice, it became a favorite diversion, and you
would find them often in merry groups, inhaling and exhaling, perhaps
not in exact accordance with the Fraeulein's rules, but gaining at
least in proportion to their enjoyment. As for the Fraeulein, a very
happy and proud teacher she boastfully declared herself.