The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-12-25

| AltGI L ildu bctSteu WIldI SCHOOl
really was l can well remember that l
formed very poor idea of what awaited
me beyond the school gates.
My opinion is that when French parents
have made up their minds to send boy
10 years old to lycee till he is 20, they
have sentenced him to something very
near, in severity, to ten years penal
servitude.
Winter and summer the French school
boy rises at in the morning; or, rather,
he is supposed to do so. The first bell
rings at a. ~, to tell him he is to get
up; second one rings at 5:25, to inform
him that in five minutes he must be
down; and third bell, at $50, enioins
him to leave the dormitory. Of course
he rises at 5:25, puts on his clothes with
prodigious rapidity, gives himself dry
polish, la Squeers, with a towel, or
more often with his knuckles, and is
quite ready at $50 to go down to the
study room. From this you will easily
infer that a pint of water goes a long
way in a dormitory of sixty French
boys. In the 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 s. Considering what the menu of this
dered how it could take the cook so long
to get it ready. During the free ten
minutes that precede breakfast time,
few boys go and have wash. These go
by the name of aristos (aristocrats).
The three meals of the day bear the
grand names of breakfast, dinner and
supper. Breakfast consists of plate of
soup and large piece of bread. Most
boys keep chocolate or jam, or buy some
of the porter, to eat with their bread.
At $50 they have to be in their respec-
tive class rooms with their masters.
The class lasts two hours, after which
they return to the study room to prepare
until - for the afternoon class. From
IL to they dine and play. Both these
words would convey to an English mind
meaning that it has not in French.
The dinner generally consists of stews
and vegetables, swimming in mysterious
sauces. The bread is ad libitum. When
boy has finished his piece he holds up
his hand as sign he is ready for an
other. A man holding basket full of
;ut loaves is stationed in such position
as will allow him to fill all those pairs of
empty hands as fast as they are put up.
He filings, the boys catch; it is quite a
1exterous game, assure you. If boy
misses the piece intended for him, his
neighbor not infrequently catches and
pockets it, partly as precaution against
possible pangs of hunger before the next
meal, partly for the love of disobeying
the rules, one of which enacts that no
food shall be pocketed. The drink is
called abundance, and is made up of a
good tablespoonful of wine in decanter
If water.
AS for play, it has to take place in a
more or less large yard, surrounded by
high walls, very much like a prison
walk. Not tree, not blade of grass
to be seen; a mere graveled yard, moth
ing more. There the boys walk two by
two, or In larger groups-the big ones
talking politics, and smoking cigarettes
inside their coats, while the usher is at
distance; the Little ones INDUCING in
game of top G. marbles in one of the
corners. At o'clock they are to be in
their places in the study room till 2,
when it is time to go to the afternoon
class, which lasts till 4 o'clock. On
leaving the masters, to be Immediately
handed over to the ushers, they each re-
ceive at piece of bread. which they
are allowed to eat in the yard with what
ever relish they may possess, or wish to
buy of the porter. They play till $50,
when they return to the study room to
10 their lessons for the following day.
At 8 o'clock supper is ready. To this,
like to all their other meals, they go two
by two, after having previously all formed
into ranks in the yard. The supper con-
sists of boiled beef, or a course or two of
vegetables; sometimes an apple or a few
cherries, according to the season, bright
en- the not very festive board. In my
time cherries were the most popular des
sert; after having refreshed the inner
boy, it provided him with missiles, which
we're turned to good account on the spot
when the usher had his back turned
For drink, the mixture as before. After
this frugal repast the 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 be clean the following day.
say ''those who care" for never will an
usher make a remark to French boy
over 10 (when he is no longer under the
supervision of matron) because he is
dirty, not even in the refectory. Pro-
vided he has a cravat on, nobody will
scold him for having dirty neck. If
cleanliness is next to godliness, the
French schoolboy is most ungodly.
On Thursday he gets holiday-that
is to say, that no class is held; but he
has to be in the study room the whole
morning and evening. In the afternoon
he goes for walk. Here again an Eng
lishman would not understand, without
some explanation, what is meant by the
French schoolboy's walk. The college is
divided into big, middle and small boys.
Each division is formed into ranks, and
thus, two by two, accompanied by ush-
ers, the boys 20 marched through the
streets. Sill } compulsory while in
town, and the Il n KS are not to be broken
until the little talon has reached the
country. There they can play, walk or
sit 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 / have no hesita-
ton in calling their barracks, not to say