The Schoolboy: Saint-Leons 



legs; they poked their cold, pink snouts into our 

 hands in search of a scrap of crust; they questioned 

 us with their sharp little eyes to learn if we hap- 

 pened to have a dry chestnut for them in our 

 pockets. When they had gone the round, some 

 this way and some that, they went back to the 

 farmyard, driven away by a friendly flick of the 

 master's handkerchief. Next came the Visit of the 

 hen, bringing her velvet-coated chicks to see us. 

 All of us eagerly crumbled a little bread for our 

 pretty visitors. We vied with one another in call- 

 ing them to us and tickling with our fingers their 

 soft and downy backs. No, there was certainly no 

 lack of distraction. 1 



Now we know the school, with all its 

 amenities, and our curiosity, aroused to the 

 highest pitch, inquires, not without some 

 alarm, what was taught in such a place and 

 in such company. After the description of 

 the class-room, we have the programme of 

 studies : 



Let us first speak of the young ones, of whom 

 I was one. Each of us had, or rather was sup- 

 posed to have, in his hands a little penny book, 

 the alphabet, printed on grey paper. It began, on 

 the cover, with a pigeon or something like it. 

 Next came a cross, followed by the letters in their 



1 Souvenirs, vi., pp. 46-68 ; The Life of the Fly, chap, 

 vi., " My Schooling." 



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