The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1880-01-30
Nine. de Malntenon as School Mistress.

The only character in which Nine. de
Maintenon becomes really lovable is as
school mistress. Her first foundation
at Rueil was chiefly for poor children,
and to do her justice, she loved and
tended them as carefully as ever she did
the young ladies of st. Cyr; but in the
end the greater and more aristocratic es-
tablishment swallowed up the less. Her
children are to be well fed; to have as
much bread as they can eat. This she
insists on several times. They are to be
warmly clad, in uniform, if possible, for
Nine. de Maintenon loves order in all
things; but if the expense would be great
she will be content with partial one as
that all the girls should wear the same
headdress and aprons, or handkerchiefs
of the same cut and color. She wishes
them to bo gayly dressed, and indeed
this element of brightness and cheerful
ness is a leading feature in her scheme of
education. ST think the black aprons
very lugubrious," she writes to Nine. de
Brinon; ''let's give them green or blue
sergs." st. Cyr was brilliant with light
hearty contempt for s'the meannesses
and httlenesses of converts" She wishes
her dear children to grow up to be 'srea-
sonable persons" They are to live in
the world, and accordingly even their
school frocks are to be cut in the fashion
and their "coiffuir" to be that of the day
When the so-called reform" took place
at st. Cyr she thought it very hard that
s'the tailors" were henceforth excluded
We find muslins and ribbons and even "a
thinning Of Lace as part of the uniform.
Nay, pealls and girdles were not un-
known. The education was as uncon-
ventual as the dress. ga solid piety, far
removed from the trivialities of the con-
vents, perfect freedom in conversation,
an agreeable spirit of raillery in society,
elevation in our religious feelings and a
great contempt for the ways of other
schools" The young ladies read Moliere
and Scudery; the religious world held up
his hands in holy horror. There was a
reaction for time, but the blow had
been struck; new ideal rose before the
world, and the sable throne of Ignorance
and Routine received a shock from which
it will never recover. Madame is always
writing little notes to Nine de Brinon.
Now it is to beg a holiday, now to an
nounce sudden visit and to ask s'for
some little treat for our Sisters of Char
ity. Let me see them dine properly"
When the children were i'll she sends M.
Fagon, the first physician in Europe, to
prescribe for them and whole list of
curious remedies for their disorder.
When they are well she dispatches by
bearer zone pot of butter and eight pots
of jam," but the careful soul begs to
have her jam-pots returned, and the
sdemoiselles'' are to get twice as much
jam as the little peasants, for is not noble
blood to be respected in all things? No
wonder the children were free with her,
as she boasts with pardonable pride. She
has special fondness for the naughty
girls. 81 don't too much dislike she
says, sswhat are called naughty children
I mean self-satisfed, boastful, quick
tempered children, little wilful and
obstinate, for these faults may be cor
rected by reason of piety.' However,
they won't get these rosaries they are so
anxious for, if they are not 'tbetter than
they were Monday at work time" They
must have been better behaved when
Madame wrote to the school mistress,
Haven't you some pastry y-cook at Noisy
or Bailly whom you can help to a job
when your children are to have colla-
tion?" The woman who habitually wrote
and thought in this strain cannot have
been altogether bad and heartless, as her
enemies would have us believe. It is in
trifies like these, where there can be no
hope of publicity and no desire to de-
ceive, that we can best discern the natu-
raj working of Nine. de Maintenon's
heart. ''These things which seem moth
ing and which are nothing really mark
character too much to be overlooked" !"
This pregnant sentence from her arch
foe must be our apology, and with it we
close our article on one of the most inter-
esting characters in modern history