Newspapers / The Asheville Democrat (Asheville, … / Nov. 14, 1889, edition 1 / Page 2
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JACQUES BONHOMME. By MAX O'RELL, Author'of "Jonathan and His Continent," "jotn Bull . - andHisliand'John Bull's 1 , ; Daiihters," Etc. I THE FRENCH AT SCHOOL. How 31cl;l PrJUulum Js Forced ; Upou the Yonns (J.iul Hfitli Ve.ry lattle - Amuse- rl menr A Pooi Preparation for Life's Duties. Our dear parents in France are fond of telling their children that there are no clays so happy in life 4s school days. After I had tasted j' what school life really ".ras l can Well remember that I formed a very poor idea of what awaited mc beyond the school gates. My opinion is that wiien t rench parents have made up their m nds to send a boy 10 year3 old to a jy cee till he is 20," they 6 something very ten years' penal have sentenced him near, in severity1, to servitude. ' Hi Winter and summer the French school boy rises at' 5 in the morning; or, rather, he is supposed to ; do so. The first1 bell rings at 5 a. ml, to tell him he is to get up; a second on6 rings at 5:25, to inform him that in five minutes he must be down; and a third bell, at 5:30, enjoins him to leave the dormitory. Of course he rises at 5:25; puts on his clothes with prodigious rapidity, ciyes himself a drv polish, a la Squeers, with a towel, or more often with his knuckles, and is quite , ready at' 5:0 tot go down to the study room. Frbni this you will easily infer that a pint of water goes along way in a dormitiory of sixty French boys. In the j study room, under the supervision of an usher, called pion, and of whom I shall have more to say by and by he prepares his lessons for the professors till 7:50. Breakfast is ready at 8. Considering what the menu of this repast consists of, I have always ' won dered how it could take the cook so long to get it ready. During the free ten minutes that precede breakfast time; a few boys go and have a wash. These go oy tne name or aristos (aristocrats). The three meals pf the' day bear the grand names of j breakfast, dinner and supper. Breakfast consists of a plate of soup and a large piece of bread. Most boys keep chocolate or jam, or buy some of the porter, to eat with their bread. At 8:30 they have to be' in their respec tive class rooms with their masters. The class lasts two hours, after which they return to th4 study room to prepare until 12 for the afternoon class. From ' 12 to 1 they dine -and play. Both these words would convey to an English mind a meaning that it has not in French. I The dinner generally jconsists of stews and vegetables, swimming in mysterious sauces. The bread is ad libitum. When a boy has finished his piece he holds up his hand as a sign lije is ready for an other. A man holding a basket full of ; cut loaves is stationed in such a position .as will allow himjto fjlljall those pairs of empty hands as fast as they are put up. IIo flings, the boVs catch; it is quite a dexterous game, t assure you. If a boy misses the piece! intended for him, his I neighbor not infrequently catches and I pockets it, partly la's a precaution againsi ! possible pangs of hunger before the nexi meal, partly, for the love of disobeying the rules, one of which enacts that no food shall be pocketed. The drink is ! called abondance, and is made ; up of. a gooa tuoiespoonruLor wine in a decanter of water. . I ' ' i ;v; . ; ' As for play, it has tc take, place in a more or less large j yard, surrounded by high walls, very ? much like a prison walk. Not a tree',; not a blade of grass to bo seen; a mere; graveled yard, noth ing more. There the boys walk two by ;two, or in larger j group the big ones talking politics, and stjioking cigarettes inside their coats, wliilo the usher is at a distance; the little- oneis indulging in a I game of top or marbles in one of the corners. At 1 o'clock' they are to be in J their . places' . in; the study room till 2, j when it is time to go to the afternoon j zlasa, which lasts' till; 4 o'clock.! On j leaving the-.masters', t be immediately handed over to thei ushers, they each re ceive at 4 a piece of biread; whieh they are allowed to eat in the yard with what : ever relish, they may possess, or wish to buy of the porter, j ' They play till 5:30, when they return jto tlie study room to do their lessons for the following day. - i. Jl ? . ima, like to all their other meals, they go two by two, after having pretiously all formed into ranks in the yard. The siiDDer con sists of boiled beef.lor a course -or two of Tegetables; sometimes appl4 or a few cherries, accordingjto tlU season, bright en the mot very festive board.! In my time cherries were :he most popular des sert; after j having refreshed tjie inner boy, it provided him with missiles, which were turned to good account on the spot when the usher had his bads turned. , For drink, the mitjure as before. After this frugal repast tlie boys repair, two by two, to their respective dormitories. Those who care to indulge in a little washing may do so. before going to bed, so as to bb clean the following day. I suy "those who care," for never will an usher make a remark to a French boy over 12 (when ho is! no longer under the supervision of a mc -tronl because he is dirty, not even ini jthe refectory. Pro vided hi has a crajvat on, nobody will acold him for having af dirty neck. If cleanliness is next to godliness. the French schoolboy is! mos b Ungodly. On Tliursday4ie gets a holiday that is to say, that no jdlass jis held; but he uas to oe in the study room the whole ruorning and evenirl n the afternoon ho goes for a walkj lishman would n6t Hefe again an Ens- understand, without some explanation, what :is meant bv the French schoolboy's jkvalk! The college is divided into big, middle knd small boys, ifclach division is forjmedjinto ranks, and tbus, two by two, accompanied by ush ers, the boys are marched through the streets.? Silence is 'j compulsory while in town, and tne ranksjare not to be broken until the little batta ion has reached the coiintry. There they can play, walk or sit j on the grass, under the eyes of the ushers, for an hour or two, when the ranks are formed again and they are marched back to what I have no hesita tion in calling their barracks, not to say their prison. On Sundays, the boy who has his parents or guardian in town is allowed to go home for the day if he is not kept in for, one of those thousand and one petty offenses invented at pleas ure by the ushers and their supporters. On leaving school, on : Sunday morn ing, he receives an exeat, on which the hour of his departure is marked, and the parents are to! write on 1 it at what time he has reached home. He has to be back at school at 10 p. m.. punctually, and again his parents have j to .write on the exeat at what time he left their house. He generally returns on Sunday nigh t in a comatose state, and the home fare tells sadly on the wjrk he does on Mondays. He gets fewer holidays than the more fortunate British schoolboy; two months in the summer1, two or three days at the beginning of the year, and a week or ten days at Easter. Such is the happy life that boys leadj in French public schools. Fortunately there is a great deal of gay philosophy; in pie French mind, and the close friendship that springs up between 'the schoolboysj and their esprit de corps help them to endure this secluded life of hardship and privation, j Now let us consider the influence this kind of life has on the French boys character, what work he does at school, and who are the men that look after him.. Shut in by the high walls of his prison, the poor French schoolboy , is only too prone to compare himself to the different classes of society which he considers per secuted that is, the inferior classes; and he shows his sympathy with, them by ideas of an ignorant de by often expressihsr them adopting the mocracy, and in language which would be renusmant to his dignity if he were free. ; Poor little fellows! When they can evade the por ter's vigilance j and run across the road to buy a pennyworths, sheets, they feel like perfeefheroes of romance. On their return, their schoolfellows flock round them to sniff a little of thei fresh and free air that is brought inside the walls. If the young scamps are punished for their escapade, they; bear it like champions of liberty who have fought; for the good cause, and are looked up to by their com rades as martyrs and heroes. Under the circumstances, it is not sur prising that they should now and then show a spirit of rebellion! Suppose, for instance, that! some privilege which the pupils have long enjoyed and looked Upon as their right has been withdrawn rightly or wrongly, no matter which. In such a case as this English schoolboys would hold a meeting, probably presided over by one of their masters, and they would draw up a petition, which they would send to; the head master. But in French schools meetings are prohibited. What will the boys do then? As I have described elsewhere, they will probably retire to a dormitory, there to sulk and protest. They will erect barricades, lock the doors, victual the intrenchments for a few hours and prepare for a struggle. Rebellion has wonderful charms for them; they are insurgents, therefore they are heroes. Don't ask them whether their cause is good or bad.1 This matters little; it will be sanctified by the revolu tion; the main thing is j to play at the "sovereign pepple." These hot headed youths will stand a siege p.a earnestly a3 if they were defending their native soil against the Prussians. - Dictionaries, ink stands, boots, bedroom furniture, such are the missiles that are pressed into service in the glorious battle of liberty. But alas for youthful valjrt It all fades before the pleadings of ! an empty stom ach; the struggle has to be abandoned, the citadel forsaken, the arms laid down. jThe l misguided ones are received back into the fold, to be submitted to stricter discipline than ever; the heroic instigat ors of the little fete are m the end re stored to the tender care of their mam mas, or, in other words,! expelled from the school. j j I . Corporal punishment is! banished from all schools in France. ;If a master were to strike a boy, the odds are ten to one that J the boy would defend himself, and threat en the master with the first object inkpot or book he could lay his hand on. Boys arepunished by means of long and weary impositions, jlf boarders, they aje kept in; on Sundays, and thus prevented from going home. This is a terrible punish ment. When they seem incorrigible they are expelled. And for a boy to be expelled from a French lycee is no light matter; for the doors of all the others are closed to him. and the faculties mav even refuse jto allow him to stand as a candidate fojr the university degrees. His prospect in life may be ruined for ever; for in France a man who is neither B. A. nor B. Sc. cannot study medicine or the law; he cannot enter the military schools, or be a candidate for any of the government posts at home or abroad. Business is the only opening left to him. From the time table that I have given at the beginning, it will be easily in ferred that, if the French schoolboy plays less than the British 6ne, he works much more. But with what results? The classes in French lyoees contain from eighty to a I hundred boys. They are generally composed of some ten pupils of extraordinary capacities or industrv. of about twenty who follow the lectures with some pront, of tyenty more who follow them anyhow, and of thirty, for ty, and even sometimes fifty poor boys, neglected, forgotten, who do and learn nothing, and are mere; wall flowers. They are all promoted by seniority that premium still given in France to stupid ity, as M. Leon Say once remarked in the French senate. I remember school fellows of eighteen and nineteen in the highest form who did not know their de clensions. Boys may be attentive or not, as they pleasethat is their busi ness. Provided they do not disturb the peace, nothing more is required of them in the upper forms. They may even go to sleep, and the master will seldom take the trouble toj wake them up. If the boy is not likely to do honor to his teaching, he doe3 not think it worth his while to concern himself about bim. With such targe classes as I have de- scribed, Ipoys cannot and do not receive individual attention from the masters, who deliver lectures jto them, but cer tainly dej not give them lessons. With the amoiirftof work that clever and in dustrious ' boys go through, each class turns ouj; at l;he end of the year at least ten splendid scholars. As for i the rest, you see twenty good average boys, twen ty poor ones, and from thirty to fifty hopeless ignoramuses. Each class has to go through a course prescribed by tlie minister " of public instruction, and: no "master lias a right to iread a book with his pup not even the passage oi a book, that is not' down on the minis terial programme. A professor . who ear ned his interest in his I puoils the lens-th of introducing a new book in his class would probably have his zeal rewarded with a rr astership in the college of sonie little out of the way town in France, ir perhaps in Algeria. By this govern mental system of fuss .and intrusion, it is not only jthe talent of jthe pupil that Is stifled, but it is also Jthe talent of tlie master that is hampered. j , What is to be admired in French schools is that the boys get on very well with one another. Friendship sprung up at school often lasts a lifetime. The boys stick by each other to such a point that, rather than tell on an of fender, they will all allow themselves Ifo be punished for his offense, even though the punishment should amount to the much dreaded detention on Sunday. 1 i The hero of the French collegien is tlie top boybf the class-fnot the quickest runner of the best athlete. The dunce Is the only comrade he j despises.' A boy who has carried off a prize at the ! great Sorbonne examination is for him the ob ject of an unlimited admiration, and he feels inclined to lift his ,cap when he passes near him. I The head of the college is called pro viseur. He does no teaching. He repre sents high authority-j-that is to say the government. He is a saluting machine. He stands in the middle of the quad' rangle las the boys proceed j to their re spective class rooms. A11 take off their caps as they pass before the mighty po tentate. The proviseur does not know! personally moie than! ten or twenty of the thousand boys trusted to histcare.i The work and discipline of the college are under the supervision of a censor. The masters, most of whom are ex-scholars; of the celebrated Ecole Normale Superi eure, are eminent men, but ! they never mix with the boys out of school hours1.! They, are much respected by their pupils1, in whom admiration fOr talent is innate. The ushers, or pionsj are mere watch dogs. . They see that the boys aro silent in the study rooms, the refectory and the dormitory. They are ignorant, ill bred outcasts, whom the boys despise from the bottom of their hearts. I When a French ooyi leaves school at 19 he is supposed to be prepared for a public part. PIEDMONT AIR LINE. RICHMOND -S MXYILLK R. R: CO. I Passenger Department, Western North Carolina Division. PASSENGER TRAIN SCHEDULE. (In effect Seut. :.. "5th Meridian time used when not otherwise indicated. EASTBOUND NoJ51 j Daily J 1 25pm! 4 20am 9 32am No. 53 Daily Lv Knoxville, (90th mer.) " Ashevilie, Ar. Salisbury, " Danville, 810am! 1 54pm 6 43pm! 10 20pm! 5 15am! Richmond, Raleigh, froldsboro, Wilmington, 3 30pm 1 05pm 310pm 6 00pm 7 30am 12 50pm 50 a Lynchburg1, Washington. Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, 12 20pm 12 25am I j 710pm1 6 53am1 ! 8 50pm 8 25am; 1120pm 10 47am; 1 6 20am! 120pm' WESTBOUND. i No. 50 J No. 52 Daily Daily Lv. New A'ork, Philadelphia, Raltimore, . "Washington, Lynchburg, 1215am 4 30pm; 7 20am 6 57pm; 9 45am 9 30pm! 11 24am 11 00pm 5 40pm' 5 07am Richmond, - j 3 00pm 2 30a in. DanAille, 8 40pm! 8 05am Wilmington, Goldsboro, Raleigh, 9 OOamj I 230pm 500pm! 4 46pm! 100am! 12 45amll 25amj 7 23am! 4 36pm M I 210pm 8 50pm1 1 Salisbury. Ar. Ashevilie, Knoxnlle. (90th mer.) No. 55.! Daily! 8 25am Lv, 9 5amiAr, A. & S. R. R. No. 54. : Daily! Ashevillle, Hendei-sonville, Spartanburg, Arr. Lv. 7 00pm 6 07pm 3 40pm 12 30pm 1 MURPHYRRANCH. j 1 (Daily except' Sunday.) : No. 17 Lv. Ashevilie, ' Ar. 3 55pm Ar. Wayneslle, I " 1 55pm !' Jarretfs. Lv. 7 00am No. 18. 9 10am 11 10am 5 48pm Sleeping Car Service. NOS. 50 Sthd 51 Pullman SI Greensboro and Morristown. ! i ; NOS. 52 and .rvi "Plillmnn! Parlnr foro Kanronn " a . ' m. i . i d evil Salisbury and Knoxville,! and Pullman Sleep- t a o ' r m, . J . Ashevilie, Ni C. - Washington, D. 0.' PIEDMONT AIR LINE. ' RICHMOND AND DANVILLE R. R. CO. Western North Carolina Division. Passenger Department, ' ; j Ashevilie, N. C., Nov. 6, 1889. f (CIRCtTTiAR, NO. PD292.) Washington, D. C, and Hot Springs, N We take pleasure in announcing the inaugu ration of a daily line of elegant Pullman Buf fet, Drawing Room Cars between Hot Springs and Ashevilie and Washington, D. C, Nov. 9th on the following schedule : j j No. 53. ; 1 No. 52. 11 26pml Lv. 1 54pm! " 712pm! " 6 53am! Ar. Hot Springs, Ashevilie, Salisbury, Washington, Ar.; 6 10pm .' " i;4 36pm Il2 25am L v. 11 00pm Close and sure connections made at .Wash ington for all points in fhe North and 'East. The Pullman parlor car now being operated between Salisbury and Knoxville on these trains will be discontinued after commence ment of the sleeping car run. , W. A. WINBURN, D. Pj A. a J. L. TAYLOR, G. P. A. j I Battery Park Hotel ! Ashevilie, North Carolina j Open throughout the year. Elevation 2,600 feet; average winter temperature, 55 ; mag nificent mountain scenery; hydraulic eleva tor ; electric lights and bells ; music hall, ten nis court, ladies billiard parlor and bowling miej . jwautirui anves and nrst-class livers tor descriptive printed matter apply to j JOHN B. STEELE, Manager. ; J. 31; SMITH. THE FARMERS HEAD QUARTERS FOR BRIGHT TOBACCO ! Haying been selected by the Fanners', Alliance of Madison county as the Warehouse at wind to sell all their tobacco, we take this opportunity to thank our inany friends for the patronage they gave us last season. We can with confidence say that we shall be in better shape to serve them the coining season than ever before. Our, warehouse is being enlarged and otherwise refit tec! and our accommodations are first-class in every particular. We are glad to say to our friends and customers that the outlook for tobacco is very flattering,-the grades they produce are in dei mand, the manufacturers need them and are represented on our. market, and they fpay more fori uucni iicic man ciisc iicic. vu.eniig ait; large aim pnues guuu. Ashevilie is the Place to Sell We have, with great expense, made the Farmer's; Warehouse the leading Warehouse in the State, where you attend the sales of your own tobacco, or have it sold in a few days after ship ment. We have with us this TT1CS .HUrtf IA AA. T . X 1 a " i iiK i i t " i """"g,vi,rv". j-xt j.o., auunuucci , tlUlli A.U.amnhell: hoolr-k-epnpr' .1 Arthur Kpao-qti occicfont l-.l'l'cwT-r. ttm-WU.. ( tiai uai ui auiuai saies inaue recently. 1 1 SMITH To ! i We have been having very heavy 'sales durino the nat- twn wppItql and prices were never rusn ; in lact, we have not had more than a called in on our floor during: the whole of this enough that we have disputing the fact that et ias anywhere in the any . mar :et can have. drummers, who are .not responsible for what they say, but put u most' an)- kind of a statement in order to get you to ship your tobac co to the house which they f misrepresent. Thev are not then themselves to see that gether to parties with quainted, and sometimes with men bacco. We notice j in; many inpusana pounds at an average ot $30, but they don't . quo: tljat as any one particular sale. We do quote one sale of as man1 thousand pounds at an average of $21 for everything os th" floor, trash included.! If we would run over our snl th, w! done, and select the high prices to make the thousand pounds at $40 or $4; instead of fin wW,rh tW: ' o CVO , IX1CV11 V n r 1 J. quote as Demg extra good sales. -me quote IT KM r k xi-kii tmn 11 : I 1 1 ' market, which, of course, will Park Lugs $3 .00 to 8 00 It ii 8.00 to 16.00 2.00 to 1 6.00 : i -6 00 to 15.00 4.00 to 10.00 Fillers, common. . . . '!- I i! ' good. .. . . . . " . i ! it. Strips, common . . . . j ; if' u; i ffOOd. . . . . 10.00 to 18.00 If you want to ere t the worth M' HOUSE which alys strivea to CHAMBERS i. I -, ! : l . A$HEIIiLE, X G. Tobacco Raised in Western North & ROLLINS, Props. the Patrcms of the before known to hold! up so well in such ' i" been getting high prices. There can be nd Tobacco sells as high world, and we Your neighborhood your interests are protected, but trust it alto i : whom, in many instances, you are not who are a circular fronl Danville that they, quote 'i vary according Cutters, common... 16.00 to 22.00 fine. . . . ! . . !' ' ! : ,: English... 22.00 to 35.00 20.00 to 25.00 Wrappers (Mahoganv) medium. S15.00 to $22.00 good .... 25.00 to 30.00 plSe S SS'SJhT w. w:, Roi.i.i'Ns WAREHOUSE; Carolina and East Tennessee. I' dozen lots of tobaco season, whirh i? nrnnl on the Ashevilie mark " have every advantage here thai is no doubt full of naif ac not even judges of tc i i average, we could quo: U below the prices on ou d . V 1 m ' it to quality: Wrappers,fancy . . . . 40.00 o 50.1 orange lemon . canary , 30.00 to 4.3. 40.00 to 55i 50.00 to ?0i- u & PERRY, of Banner Warehouse. il. i c E h n t( tj a a A hi w hi G ai tt fr ju th ,er m la op mi Proprietors - i !
The Asheville Democrat (Asheville, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Nov. 14, 1889, edition 1
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