CHARMING HER PUPILS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 595, 25 August 1909, Page 3

CHARMING HER PUPILS.

■ A comparison between Trench and' Ameri-' •an methods .'of teaching—much to tlio advantage .of, the. former—is drawn-by. Miss £'.'■ ' vi?? 11 - 0 ?? Portor -in ■ at i interesting, article, Aly-French Schooldays," in i thoj.;ciifrent number of;tho."Atlantic -rMontlily^ l -, Per-haps:-she,; was ' exceptionally '..fortunate—wo ? r f v"!?!! 1 W. ,'tliink ;, ; she "falling into #e..handß;of such a,;teacher; as "Madempiselle Mallet," :' possessed:,.ofv-iunusual-sympathy with '..children, ■ and, of. even mo~re than.her fair, share of dramatic power that few.pf her countrywomen lack. OTrom her the little American girl learnt, not only to know,..but to love and reverence the great JSttre|;;of .the'p'ast, who became no less real and' women among whom, she Jived.. How could it be otherwiso with a teacher ;who described Joan of Arc as she would have described a dear and personal and.'talked 'of the battles won arid the weary marches she had ; made_ as, if ; B he (Mile. Mallet) had marched and fought by her'side?.''Many-others,, too, there were, spoken of'with lio less devotion aad. enthusiasm' by the teach'er,, and ■ remembered no'less' faithfully-by 'the pupil' 'Didl.notknowi Marie Antoinette?" she ■writes, "I knew her to the whitened hair, «kerchief she .wore opened at: the neck,the blue'veins in her..thin hands ~as she stood .asking 'a-blessing on her"- prison food, and her : . goaler: with' Tiis seamed face' : and stockinet cap, : peering •curiously at her frombehind .the screen." ..In literature, again, though the lessons were; given by a' different teacher,.the same method was followed, and from .tho "French schooldays," which, after •all;'.lasted, but.tw6;.years, the,child brought back to her own' country, *as -she records, the .two,;priceless "gifts f .of enthusiasm and reverence. . ;-,-. ; ':■■<■■.-.■:■ .