2o6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



in this country. There are in the extensive premises of the school no 

 fewer than sixteen ateliers, each let out to an aj^proved master or j^a- 

 tron, who is usually also the proprietor of a separate business in the 

 city. To him are apprenticed for a term of three, or in some .cases 

 four, years some ten or twelve boys, all of whom at the end of that 

 time will be able to take good positions as intelligent workmen. The 

 trades thus taught are those of carpenter, wood-carver, turner in wood, 

 optical turner, compositor, printer, wood-engraver, map-engraver (on 

 stone), marble-mason, brass-worker, bookbinder, carver and gilder, 

 clock-maker, portmanteau-maker, philosophical-instrument maker, and 

 maker of wind instruments. The master of each separate atelier pro- 

 vides the materials, devises the work of the apprentices, superintends 

 its execution either personally or by an authorized contre-maitre, and 

 to him belong the products of the workshop. Nothing is made in the 

 shops that will not sell ; the apprentices learn the value not only of 

 materials but of time ; and, though the works that successfully pass 

 under their hands are graduated to their capacity and experience, they 

 are precisely of the same character as those which apprentices in any 

 ordinary workshop would have to undertake. The masters and fore- 

 men of the various ateliers aj^pear to take great interest in their pupils, 

 and pride themselves on the success of their instruction. " These 

 boys," said the foreman of the portmanteau-makers, "when they leave 

 this room know the whole mystery of their trade from end to end. 

 They can take the brute materials, and from them evolve a finished 

 article." The apprentices of this same shop will earn at once from 

 five to six francs a day, instead of the two, three, or four francs usually 

 earned by young workmen just out of their time. They work as 

 quickly as other workmen, for they know from the exigencies of their 

 particular work that time is money. Several of the^:)a^ro??5 and fore- 

 men of the little w^orkshops are themselves former pupils of the estab- 

 lishment. The apprentices earn nothing during their term of service 

 beyond a little pocket-money when they are satisfactorily advanced. 

 During the whole period of their apprenticeship their parents must con- 

 tribute thirty francs a month for their board and lodging in the school. 

 Great importance is attached by the Frlres to the complete isolation 

 from exterior influences insured by this internment. The magnitude 

 of the work will be understood when it is learned that the income and 

 expenditure of this establishment amounted to about two hundred and 

 thirty thousand dollars in the past year, the services of the fifty 

 worthy Frh'es who conduct the school being given at a purely nominal 

 rate. There is a large gallery in the building for drawing and model- 

 ing, and excellent systems of instruction in model drawing and geo- 

 metrical drawing have been here developed. Spacious refectories, 

 commodious Av^ell-ventilated dormitories, and a large gymnasium form 

 features of the school. The results of the system are significant. The 

 aim of making intelligent workmen is really attained, and though the 



