Le Petit Chose Part 42

2. Did you not tell me that you would come as soon as you had finished?

3. I a.s.sure you that it is no laughing-matter.

4. The children were so glad that they could not stand still (_use the word 'place'_).

5. You must have dropped the letter without noticing it.

6. Whatever could they be doing down there in such weather?

7. I rushed in the direction of the town, in search of my friend.

8. Considering the rate at which he was walking, he must have covered the ground in less than a quarter of an hour.

9. I was afraid that, in spite of his promise, he had already gone out.

10. Let us drink the stirrup-cup before you go.

11. I hope (_use a conjunction instead of a verb_) that you will arrive in time!

12. It was sad enough (_do not use 'a.s.sez'_) to make one weep.

13. When I approached, they were all dying with laughter.

14. Feeling he was going to hear something extraordinary, he advanced without being seen by anybody.

15. Then it was that I learnt what cowards men can be!

16. The orator's gestures must have been very comical, judging by the transports of the audience.

XVIII (pp. 86-90)

1. I shuddered, and my ears tingled.

2. The little girl's mother had been dead for more than six months.

3. I could stand it no longer, and, without caring whether anyone could see me, I rushed through the garden.

4. Where was he to find the money he wanted? He felt he was done for.

5. I got up, and, with the resolute step of a man who has just come to an irrevocable decision, I went back to the station.

6. When you receive this letter your poor brother will be dead.

7. There is a good deal more I could say to you, but I have no time.

8. Tell them that he fell from the top of a cliff, or else that he was drowned whilst skating.

9. I beg your pardon for all the trouble I am giving you.

10. When you come to the bridge, apply to the first person you meet.

11. The usher walked up and down until everybody was asleep.

12. Some one was stealing slowly along under cover of the walls.

13. A moonbeam was s.h.i.+ning full upon the big iron ring.

14. I have been doing nothing but think of it for hours.

15. Taking the old stool, he got up on it and made a slip knot.

XIX (pp. 91-95)

1. That's a queer idea, to practise on the trapeze at this time of night!

2. Come up to my rooms; there is a fire there, and it is very comfortable.

3. My friend has been dismissed, which, by the way, is a great stroke of luck for him.

4. If you take my advice, you will start at once, without waiting till your week's notice is up.

5. I myself will lend you the money that you wanted to borrow from that scoundrel.

6. Now not one word more! I do not want you to thank me.

7. "How comfortable I am here!" he said, opening his eyes.

8. As soon as I began to thank him, he literally turned me out of doors.

9. The boys were not yet in the playground by the time I was already working hard in my room.

10. The good man was busy counting gold coins, which he carefully put in a row in little heaps.

11. My brother has not to draw lots for six years, and who knows what may happen between now and then?

12. I am much afraid you will be a child all your life.

13. What confidence can you have in him, half mad as he is?

14. Have you not your seat to book? Make haste, or you will be late.

15. The abbe could not help casting a glance round the room, and what he saw made him shudder.

XX (pp. 96-103)

1. I really thought that they were going to seize me by the throat.

2. The two scowling faces cheered up as if by magic.

3. When they had pocketed my money, they launched out into protestations of friends.h.i.+p.

4. Do not allow yourself to be taken in by those compliments.

5. The more affable they showed themselves, the more they disgusted me.

6. What a pity you did not arrive in time to see them!

7. Those who are not satisfied will only have to come and tell me.

8. I looked around me for a long time, as if to carry away in my mind the image of the place I was never to see again.

9. Drawing the keys out from under my coat, I threw them down the well with all my might.

10. I should have liked to enjoy the sight a little longer, but I did not want the coach to start without me.

11. It is still too early for you to receive an answer.

12. For about twenty years he had been spending his time colouring ill.u.s.trated newspapers.

13. Ah! the old fool! You should have seen with what a confident look he used to say that!

14. All these details about his uncle I only learnt afterwards.

15. As soon as I went into the house, I saw that, whatever she might say, my mother was not happy.

16. On hearing that I had a good situation, he opened his eyes wide.

17. The joy of seeing her son again had taken away the poor woman's appet.i.te.

18. It is said that they have barely enough to live upon.

19. If only (_do not use 'seulement'_) I could have spoken to him unreservedly! but we were not left alone one minute.

20. The moment for his departure came without their having been able to say anything to each other.

IV. Pa.s.sAGES FOR TRANSLATION INTO FRENCH

I

When I think over my own expensive education, I can see quite clearly that the years which came between my departure from the school-room at home and the time I got into the top form at school were elaborately wasted.

My time was mainly taken up with grammar, endless Latin proses, and verses that were not poetry; none of which exercises did me the slightest good. I forgot the grammar as soon as I conveniently could; I could never do Latin prose till I had read great chunks of Latin authors, or verses till I had studied the poets; and these accomplishments came to me by imitation and not by rules. Mean-while my imagination was simply starved.

And yet there is so much in English literature to stimulate the imagination of children!-I know that from my pre-school experience; and I believe nearly all children have some imagination to start with, before it is smothered under the verbs in -?. Fortunately I was not a conscientious or hard-working boy, and so I escaped the mental paralysis which overtook some of my worthier companions.-From G. F. BRADLY'S _d.i.c.k_.

II

Daudet is naturally an optimist, and that spontaneous optimism is his distinctive mark among all the novelists of the contemporary school.

There are characters in his works quite as depraved as those in Flaubert and in Zola. But from the way in which he describes them one feels that he despises their ignominy, and that he is indignant at their baseness.

Now the pessimist, in whose eyes baseness and ignominy are the very essence of man, is no longer capable of indignation or contempt.

Nearly always Daudet's books present to us, if only incidentally, some favourite character which does credit to humanity. Out-and-out pessimists accuse him of distorting human nature by attributing to it imaginary graces and virtues: but does not their unbending pessimism distort it in another direction by showing to us, under the pretext of being truthful, only its meannesses and its horrors?-From PELLISSIER, _Le Mouvement litteraire au XIXe siecle_.

III

Doctor Strong's was an excellent school: as different from Mr. Creakle's as good is from evil. It was very gravely and decorously ordered, and on a sound system with an appeal, in everything, to the honour and good faith of the boys, and an avowed intention to rely on their possession of those qualities, unless they proved unworthy of it, which worked wonders. We all felt we had a part in the management of the place, and in sustaining its character and dignity. Hence we soon became warmly attached to it, and learned with a good will, desiring to do it credit.