Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-07-19

The celebration Of the centenary OF
Saint-Cyr occurred July .. instant. in the
afternoon. The village of
Saint-Cyr's Saint-Cyr. situated on the
Centenary. Orleans railroad. five kilo-
meters from Versailles.
was formerly a village which Louis XIV
and Nine. de Maintenon selected in or
der to establish there an institution Of
learning for young girls. This institution
was transformed in 1890 and suppressed
in 1893, served some time as a hospital.
and in 1900 became an institution for the
education of children Of officers killed
in battle. In 1908 it was transferred to
La Fleche and the special military
school at Fontainebleau was removed to
Saint-Cyr.
1t was at Saint-Cyr. gayly bedecked
with flags. that on the I'd of July the
minister of war passed in review the
saint-Cyrians, THE 1st Battalion of
After the imposing review the invited
| guests passed into what Is known as
| La Cour Wagram." where a commem-
orative tablet of the celebration of the
| centenary of Saint-Cyr was to be es-
| tablished.
Gen Dubail. commandant of the school,
made the following address:
Mr. Minister: The patrimony of honor
OF the school Of which we celebrate to-
day the centenary is composed of the
| numerous acts of her scholars and of
the blood which they have shed for the
country. 1t is thus that their souvenir
naturally brings us before the monument
| raised to our dead.
These stones, il is true cover with
their shade the remains of our young COM
rades who fell early, before they were
permitted to show the measure of their
devotion to the country, but the souvenir
AMI covers all Saint-Cyrians who have
fallen gloriously under the folds Of the
French flag wherever it has foated.
In the name of the centenary COM
mittee. in the name of the students and
| former students, / lay on the monument
this crown and palm in bronze in honor
of our dead.
Dear comrades. great soldier souls, it
was your destiny to return to us thus to
| inspire by your example the ardent and
studious youth of this school,
sleep well. These walls. which have
| witnessed the blossom of your twentieth
year and its generous hopes. will reflect
eternally young, your souvenir and your
glory!'
Jules Claretie, in his spiritual chronic
in LIE Temps, draws a touching picture
of a Saint-Cyrian, whom
CIaret1es he saw, dressed in his
rr;hu+. school uniform, lying dead
on the battlefield of Sc
dan. Neither the zouaves with red beard,
nor the chasseurs, bronzed by the sun
of Africa. and Of Mexico, caused him so
much pain as the poor little Saint-Cyrian
stretched out amid those dead bodies, and
he says with pathos: I'm this hero of
twenty years l saw all the poetry and
all the faith, all the hopes of youth.
How he may have embraced his mother
with light heart in leaving and in
| promising her the victory! If I bring You
back the cross. dear mammal And a
bail laid him there at his first encounter
! with the enemy! Student of Saint-Cyr,
he passed from the dormitory to the
tomb. to the ditch dug in haste in the
| invaded soil"
And NJ. Claretie continues: 1.-THE 18th of
| July. Never have l seen pass at Long
champs, under the braves of the tribune,
| the battalion of Saint-Cyr, solid and SER
ried. superb. acclaimed as living hope,
without recalling. without seeing. the
| fixed and proud viSage, the waxened
v.sage of the little Saint-Cyrian lying
| there dead for the country
What glory and what sacrifices; what
| souvenirs and what admirable pages are
| written in the history of the military
schools of West Point and Saint-Cyr,
whose centenaries have been recently
| celebrated.
like its sister school, West Point. and 1t
| announces that bronze tablet has been
placed at the commencement of the ave-
nue. Maintenon, with these words:
THE special Military Schools of Saint
| Cyr has taught 3d. j2 scholars and has
given to the armies of France 2S,315
officers from the Sd of July, 1908, to the
I'd July, 1908.
saint-Cyr. like West Point, has its
argot or language that is peculiar The
| 'plebe'' at West Point Is the "Cornichon,"
or cucumber at Saint-Cyr-the ''bizut' at
the Polytechnique.
| x
There was another celebration of the
centenary of La Fleche, or Prytanee, a
military school which may
La Fleche be termed the cadet sister
| p.-4. of Saint-Cyr. This cele-
| bration took place at La
Fleche, on the I'd instant.
| Gen. Prax, formerly commanded the
Prytanee, and he has written it's history
| in the last number of the Revue Heb
domadaire, while another article by two
other writer's in the Monde Illustre mani
fest the special Importance attached to
| the subject
| All revolutions have regarded with
| some jealousy the school which originally
was patronized by the nobility and the
| rich bourgeoisie.
In 1915 the college was the object of an
attack by Count Saint Germain who de-
| sired its suppression. but Louis XVI op-
! posed The revolution however, sup
pressed the school, but March "a, 1905
. Napoleon promulgated the decree by
which it became military college under
| the name of Prytanee.
The object of the Prytanee is clearly
defined in the subsequent decree of 1853:
| To recompense the service of officers of
the army and navy by giving to their
sons not only a military but literary and
scientific education sufficient to permit
them to enter either the Polytechnique or
Saint-Cyr.
The students adopted the designation of
| Brutlons,' and proudly point to such
| distinguished members as Guebrant Du-
| Petit-Thouars, La Tour d'Auvergne. Mar
sinai Pelissier. Gems. Bourbaki. d'Aurelles
de Palladines. Davoust Due d'Auerstadt
Gallieni, Drude. d'Amade. and among