The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-12-18
(New York Evening Post

1NOlnanCS-Sh0 rs q AEaFcIl1nR SCnOOi-
mistress With Some Original Ideas.
(New York Evening Post.)
| Paris, Nov. 24-On the corner of the
Rue Saint Martin and the Rue DIES
Vieilles Etuves, about the year 1880, q
certain number Of Partisan bourgeois
used to meet, at the house of Valentin
Conrart, secretary to the king, to discuss
Familiarity, as in an ordinary visit, the
affairs Of the day, the latest news, and
| literature. They all had good minds and
distinguished taste. Most Of their mum
Der, which never exceeded twelve, were
men of letters, and they are said to have
derived great pleasure and incredible
profit from these reunions. They had
been meeting in this way once or twice 8
week for five years, when Richelieu, find
| ing them out, proposed that they should
ton of public authority, increase Their
numbers from twelve to twenty eight,
define their occupations, and draw III
| their laws, and when they had fulfilled
his wishes, Richelieu gave them his
sanction and patronage on the god of Feb
| ruary. 1885, and since that day the Acad.
emie Franchise has played part SO i'm.
portant in the lives of Frenchmen and in
the history of their literature, that with.
out it the scholar would be robbed of his
dream, the critic of his subject, the scep-
tic of his cause, glory Of her handmade,
M III -
One duty of the Institute, as Of the
Academy, became the distribution of
prizes. The modest sum of 300 francs,
which had been given in 1871 to Made
moiselle Scudery for her romances, was
increased and redoubled, as was the num-
Der of prizes. which has now reached to
$50, while the money expended on them
yearly exceeds 700, 900 francs. One hun
dred thousand francs remains in the
treasury to be claimed by the scientist
who shall discover cure for Asiatic
cholera, and in the meantime every
branch of research in every quarter of the
globe holds out to the Frenohman hope
of reward. For the distribution of these
prizes there. have been two seances at the
Academy during the past week. The list
of them is impressive, for they are given
for works on excavations in the island of
Amorgos, on the Unadigana Sutra of
Nemoohandra, on the vocabulary of the
Angelology, on the history of Mar Jaba-
laha III, and on the memoirs of Soma
Tsien. 1t brings with it the dust of by
gone ages, the damp must of unearthed
treasures, and q picture of the devotees
to research, whose young shoulders grow
round and eyes dim, whose youth glides
UNDECIDED into the annals of the past,
while these are made. to Give, again, in
glory to the Institute.
Two of the rewards given this year are,
however, comprehensible-7pn the. Colbert
prize OF ,20e0 francs, to Alfred Duquet
Tor his admirable volumes on the Siege of
Pnris, and the other the Montyon prize
of 1850 francs, the ''Prix de Vertu,' to
Mademoiselle Bonnefois for her life of
charity and lf-sacrifice. Mademoiselle
Bonnefois is travelling schoolmistress
Her mother and father belonged to the
wandering tribe who carry their wares
about with them through France, travell-
ing in sort of OK ON wheels, which be-
comes now a booth in country fair, now
an inn by the roadside, now o means of
transportation, according to the needs of
its owners, whom it serves as home and
q means of existence.
Sometimes at the gingerbread fair in
Paris sometimes at the Fete de Neuilly,
and again at some provincial celebration,
Mile. Bonnefois grew up in the same
company OF gypsies and vagabonds, of
gingerbread and living skeletons, of
merry go-rounds and snake-charmers. AT
eighteen she taught herself to read and
write, and then began giving lessons to
the children about her. She taught
them first the catechism and prepared
| them for confirmation; then the alpha bet
and all that she knew herself. The con.
ditions of her life became more difficul,
and more trying. Her parents died. and
the direction of the mechanical show they
conducted was left to Mile. Bonnefois
who, nevertheless. continued her admira.
BILE work, hoping and dreaming that She
might found q veritable school for these
waits. AT last, in 1898, she obtained tho
patronage of several good people, and es.
tablished her gypsy school. The hundred
and fifty children are enrolled on the lists
part of whom are always on the road
but those whose parents are exhibiting at
some Partisan show go regularly to the
barn.like buildings on the outskirts OF
the fairgrounds. Free of all charges,
Mile. Bonnefois gives thom instruction,
books pencils, and paper, and even man.
ages with her limited resources to add an
occasional gift of clothing or food. The
cost Of moving, too, makes an item In the
years expenses, for the school is now at
Neuilly, now at Montmartre, now at
Montroug9, now ut Vaugirard, or one of
dozen other places, depending upon
what quarter of Paris has been chosen
for the fair, which sometimes lasts no
longer than a month. During July she
has class at the Fete do Nuilly for
babies, whom she wishes especially to
protect from the dangers of the crowded
Avenue de NeuilIv The EXPENSES of the