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I started for school very late that morning and was in great dread of a
scolding, especially because M. Hamel had said that he would question us on
participles, and I did not know the first word about them. For a moment I
thought of running away and spending the day out of doors. It was so warm, so
bright! The birds were singing at the edge of the woods; and in the open field
back of the sawmill the Prussian soldiers were drilling. It was all much more
tempting than the rule for participles, but I had the strength to resist, and
hurried off to school.
When I passed the town hall there was a crowd in front of the
bulletinboard. For the last two years all our bad news had come from there—the
lost battles, the draft, the orders of the commanding officer—and I thought to
myself, without stopping:
“What can be the matter now?”
Then, as I hurried by as fast as I could go, the blacksmith, Wachter, who
was there, with his apprentice, reading the bulletin, called after me:
“Don't go so fast, bub; you ll get to your school in plenty of time!”
I thought he was making fun of me, and reached M. Hamel s little garden all
out of breath.
Usually, when school began, there was a great bustle, which could be heard
out in the street, the opening and closing of desks, lessons repeated in unison,
very loud, with our hands over our ears to understand better, and the teacher s
great ruler beating on the table. But now it was all so still! I had counted on
the commotion to get to my desk without being seen; but, of course, that day
everything had to be as quiet as Sunday morning. Through the window I saw my
classmates, already in their places, and M. Hamel walking up and down with his
terrible iron ruler under his arm. I had to open the door and go in before
everybody. You can imagine how I blushed and how frightened I was.
But nothing happened. M. Hamel saw me and said very kindly:
“Go to your place quickly, little Franz. We were beginning without
you.”
I jumped over the bench and sat down at my desk. Not till then, when I had
got a little over my fright, did I see that our teacher had on his beautiful
green coat, his frilled shirt, and the little black silk cap, all embroidered,
that he never wore except on inspection and prize days. Besides, the whole
school seemed so strange and solemn. But the thing that surprised me most was to
see, on the back benches that were always empty, the village people sitting
quietly like ourselves; old Hauser, with his three-cornered hat, the former
mayor, the former postmaster, and several others besides. Everybody looked sad;
and Hauser had brought an old primer, thumbed at the edges, and he held it open
on his knees with his great glasses lying across the pages.
While I was wondering about it all, M. Hamel mounted his chair, and, in the
same grave and gentle tone which he had used to me, said:
“My children, this is the last lesson I shall give you. The order has come
from Berlin to teach only German in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine. The new
master comes tomorrow. This is your last French lesson. I want you to be very
attentive.”
What a thunderclap these words were to me!
Oh, the wretches; that was what they had put up at the town hall!
My last French lesson! Why, I hardly knew how to write! I should never
learn any more! I must stop there, then! Oh, how sorry I was for not learning my
lessons, for seeking birds eggs, or going sliding on the Saar! My books, that
had seemed such a nuisance a while ago, so heavy to carry, my grammar, and my
history, were old friends now that I couldn t give up. And M. Hamel, too; the
idea that he was going away, that I should never see him again, made me forget
all about his ruler and how cranky he was. |
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发表于 2016-7-10 11:34:55