I started for school very late that morning and was in great dread2 of a scolding, especially because M. Hamel had said that he would question us on participles3, 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 drilling4. It was all much more tempting5 than the rule for participles, but I had the strength to resist6, and hurried off to school.
When I passed the town hall there was a crowd in front of the bulletinboard7. For the last two years all our bad news had come from there—the lost battles, the draft8, 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 apprentice9, reading the bulletin, called after me:
“Don t go so fast, bub10; 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 breath11.
Usually, when school began, there was a great bustle12, which could be heard out in the street, the opening and closing of desks, lessons repeated in unison13, 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 on14 the commotion15 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 frilled16 shirt, and the little black silk cap, all embroidered17, that he never wore except on inspection and prize days. Besides, the whole school seemed so strange and solemn18. 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 primer19, thumbed20 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 mounted21 his chair, and, in the same grave22 and gentle tone23 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 Lorraine24. The new master comes tomorrow. This is your last French lesson. I want you to be very attentive.”
What a thunderclap25 these words were to me!
Oh, the wretches26; 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 nuisance27 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 cranky28 he was.
