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Convention; through the dispersion and persecution of nuns and monks;

they were deprived of a body of able male and female volunteer

servants who; instituted for centuries; gave their labor without

stint。 Under the Convention; all their possessions; the real…estate

and the debts due them; had been confiscated;'52' and; in the

restitution to them of the remainder at the end of three years; a

portion of their real…estate is found to have been sold; while their

claims; settled by assignats or converted into state securities; had

died out or dwindled to such an extent that; in 1800; after the final

bankruptcy of the assignats and of the state debt; the ancient

patrimony of the poor is two…thirds or one…half reduced。'53'  It is

for this reason that the eight hundred charitable institutions which;

in 1789; had one hundred thousand or one hundred and ten thousand

occupants; could not support more than one…third or one…half of them;

on the other hand; it may be estimated that the number of applicants

tripled; from which it follows that; in 1800; there is less than one

bed in the hospitals and asylums for six children; either sick or

infirm。



V。 Old and New。



Complaints of the Poor; of Parents; and of Believers。 … Contrast

between old and new educational facilities。 … Clandestine instruction。

… Jacobin teachers。



Under this wail of the wretched who vainly appeal for help; for

nursing and for beds; another moan is heard; not so loud; but more

extensive; that of parents unable to educate their children; boys or

girls; and give them any species of instruction either primary or

secondary。



Previous to the Revolution 〃small schools〃 were innumerable: in

Normandy; Picardy; Artois; French Flanders; Lorraine and Alsace; in

the Ile…de…France; in Burgundy and Franche…Comté; in  the Dombes;

Dauphiny and Lyonnais; in the Comtat; in the Cévennes and in

Béarn;'54' almost as many schools could be counted as there were

parishes; in all probably twenty or twenty…five thousand for the

thirty…seven thousand parishes in France; and all frequented and

serviceable; for; in 1789; forty…seven men out of a hundred; and

twenty…six girls or women out of a hundred; could read and write or;

at least; sign their names。'55' … And these schools cost the treasury

nothing; next to nothing to the tax…payer; and very little to parents。

In many places; the congregations; supported by their own property;

furnished male or female teachers; … Frères de la Doctrine Chrétienne;

Frères de Saint…Antoine; Ursulines; Visitandines; Filles de la

Charité; S?urs de Saint…Charles; S?urs de la Providence; S?urs de la

Sagesse; S?urs de Notre…Dame de la Croix; Vatelottes; Miramiones;

Manettes du Tiers Ordre; and many others。 Elsewhere; the curate of the

parish was obliged through a parish regulation to teach himself; or to

see that his vicar taught。 A very large number of factories or of

communes had received legacies for maintaining a school; the

instructor often enjoyed; through an endowment; a métayer farm or a

piece of ground; he was generally provided with a lodging; if he was a

layman he was exempt; besides; from the most onerous taxes; as sexton;

beadle; chorister or bell…ringer; he had small perquisites; finally;

he was paid for each child four or five sous'56' a month; sometimes;

especially in poor districts; he taught only from All Saints' day down

to the spring; and followed another occupation during the summer。 In

short; his salary and his comfort were about those of a rural vicar or

of a suitably paid curate。



Higher education (éducation secondaire) was provided for in the same

manner; and still better by local and private enterprise。 More than

one hundred and eight establishments furnished it completely; and more

than four hundred and fifty…four partially。'57' Like the others; and

not less liberally than the smaller schools; these were supported by

endowments; some of which were very ample and even magnificent; a

certain upper school in the provinces; Rodez;'58' possessed twenty…

seven thousand livres income; and one in Paris; Louis…le…Grand; an

income of four hundred and fifty thousand livres; each of these; large

or small; having its own distinct endowment; in real property; lands

and houses; and in revenues on privileges derived from the hotel…de…

ville; the octroi and from transportation lines。 … And; in each of

them; the scholarships; or half…scholarships; were numerous…six

hundred alone in Louis…le…Grand。 In total; out of the seventy…two

thousand scholars in the kingdom; there were forty thousand for whom a

high…school education was gratuitous or half…gratuitous; nowadays; it

is less than five thousand out of seventy…nine thousand。'59' The

reason why is that; before 1789; the revenues were not only large; but

the expenses were small。 The salary of a head…master; teacher; or

assistant…teacher was not large; say four hundred and fifty; six

hundred; nine hundred; or twelve hundred livres per annum at most;

just enough for a single man to live on; in effect; most of the

teachers were priests or monks; Benedictines; regular canons;

Oratorians; the latter alone officiating in thirty colleges。 Not

subject to the expenses and necessities which a family imposes; they

were abstemious through piety; or at least through discipline; habit;

and respect for persons; frequently; the statutes of the school

obliged them to live in common;'60' which was much cheaper than living

apart。 … The same economical accord is found with all the wheels; in

the arrangement and working of the entire system。 A family; even a

rural one; never lived far away from a high…school; for there were

high…schools in nearly all the small towns; seven or eight in each

department; fifteen in Ain; seventeen in Aisne。'61' The child or

youth; from eight to eighteen; had not to endure the solitude and

promiscuity of a civil barracks; he remained within reach of his

parents。 If they were too poor to pay the three hundred francs board

required by the school; they placed their son in a respectable family;

in that of some artisan or acquaintance in the town; there; with three

or four others; he was lodged; had his washing done; was cared for and

watched; had a seat at the family table and by the fireside; and was

provided with light; every week; he received from the country his

supply of bread and other provisions; the mistress of the house cooked

for him and mended his clothes; the whole for two or three livres a

month。'62' … Thus do institutions flourish that arise spontaneously on

the spot; they adapt themselves to circumstances; conform to

necessities; utilize resources and afford the maximum of returns for

the minimum of expense。



This great organization disappears entirely; bodily and with all its

possessions; like a ship that sinks beneath the waves。 The teachers

are dismissed; exiled; transported; and proscribed; its property is

confiscated; sold and destroyed; and the remainder in the hands of the

State is not restored and again applied to its former service。 Public

education; worse treated than public charity; does not recover a shred

of its former endowment。 Consequently; in the last years of the

Directory; and even early in the Consulate;'63' there is scarcely any

instruction given in France; in fact; for the past eight or nine years

it has ceased;'64' or become private and clandestine。 Here and there;

a few returned priests; in spite of the intolerant law and with the

connivance of the local authorities; also a few scattered nuns; teach

in a contraband fashion a few small groups of Catholic children ; five

or six little girls around a disguised Ursuline nun spell out the

alphabet in a back room;'65' a priest without tonsure or cassock

secretly receives in the evening two or three youths whom he makes

translate the De Viris。 … During the intervals; indeed; of the Reign

of Terror; before the 13th of Vendémiaire and the 18th of Fructidor;

sundry schools spring up again like tufts of grass in a mowed pasture…

ground; but only in certain spots and meagerly; moreover; as soon as

the Jacobin returns to power he stubbornly stamps them out;'66' he

wants to have teaching all to himself。 … Now the institution by which

the State pretends to replace the old and free establishments makes a

figure only on paper。 One école centrale in each department is

installed or decreed; making eighty eight on the territory of ancient

France; this hardly supplies the place of the eight or nine hundred

high…schools (collèges); especially as these new schools are hardly

viable; being in ruin at the very start;'67' poorly maintained; badly

furnished; with no preparatory schools nor adjacent boarding…

houses;'68' the programme of studies being badly arranged and parents

suspicious of the spirit of the studies。'69' Thus; there is little or

no attendance at most of the courses of lectures; only those on

mathematics are followe

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