I have now frequented the society of _banquistes_ for many years, and am on confidential terms with them; I cannot assert [p242] too often the very great esteem I feel for them. Their art is wholly traditional, and it preserves habits of respect and obedience in their families which, perhaps, can scarcely be found elsewhere. Of course there are some black sheep in the band, some slave-drivers, like the bully whom Nils Forsberg formerly painted in a picture—_Avant la ’Loi Talon_—which caused a great sensation in Paris, but the subject of it appeared so cruel that the committee dared not admit it to the Salon. But this is an exceptional case, which is much less common than is usually believed. The “families” whom you see pirouette in the arena, vault over fixed bars, and scale the trapezes, keep, as a rule, to the old patriarchal customs. Rehearsal fills every hour of the day which can be spared from the theatre, and this muscular work produces a healthy physical fatigue, which is the best school of morality. The first business of a family of acrobats that wishes to succeed in its tour round the world, is to perfect each member of it in some special exercise which suits his natural aptitudes. Some men are born _carpet_ acrobats, others are attracted by the _fixed bar_, others seem born for _vaulting_. No mistake must be made at the _début_ of a professional education, for an artist who wishes to acquire fame and fortune must become a specialist from his first teeth. Whatever branch may be decided upon, the carpet acrobats, the bar experts, and the trapezeist have always commenced by training themselves in a certain number of universal exercises which form the basis of gymnastics, as the scale is the basis of all music. They consist in learning the innumerable number of somersaults. [p243] [Illustration] The first attempted with the _feet firm_, that is to say without springboard or _batoude_, is the _somersault backward_. This is much easier to learn than the _somersault forward_. The neophyte wears a strong tight belt provided with a ring above each hip. Cords are passed through these rings, and are held by two companions in work, enabling them to uphold the gymnast. The latter strives to turn round upon the axis formed by the two cords, gradually decreasing his reliance upon them. At last he can dispense with them entirely. Before the acrobat attempts the _somersault forward_, he must go through the whole series of _exercises in posturing_. [p244] First _bending forward_ or “posturing,” the hands laid flat upon the ground so as to support the body, which is raised with the legs opened, the first time in the form of a Y, the second time in an elongation of I. Then comes _bending backward_, in which the body is arched in an inverse sense, the hands on the ground near the heels.