And then he said he was
going to tell them a little about that beautiful language, and he
explained the rule of participles.
And do you know, it was just as simple as ABC! Little Franz understood
every word. It was just the same with the rest of the grammar lesson. I
don't know whether little Franz listened harder, or whether the master
explained better; but it was all quite clear, and simple.
But as they went on with it, and little Franz listened and looked, it
seemed to him that the master was trying to put the whole French language
into their heads in that one hour. It seemed as if he wanted to teach them
all he knew, before he went,--to give them all he had,--in this last
lesson.
From the grammar he went on to the writing lesson. And for this, quite new
copies had been prepared. They were written on clean, new slips of paper,
and they were:--
France: Alsace.
France: Alsace.
All up and down the aisles they hung out from the desks like little
banners, waving:--
France: Alsace.
France: Alsace.
And everybody worked with all his might,--not a sound could you hear but
the scratching of pens on the "France: Alsace."
Even the little ones bent over their up and down strokes with their
tongues stuck out to help them work.
After the writing came the reading lesson, and the little ones sang their
_ba_, _be_, _bi_, _bo_, _bu_.
Pages:
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227