. Missionary Visitor, The (1904). boys and girls in France differmuch from boys and girls in speak French and not English;their food is different; their homes, theirway of living, their manner of dress,their religion, all are different. Boysgo to school wearing black aprons andwooden shoes and making much noiseon the stone floors of the class rooms. The teacher is severe and much dread-ed. He holds a switch in his hand andflogs sometimes. Little girls also wearwooden shoes. They are shy, pensive,sad looking. We have been speaking of country April, 1904] THE MISSIONARY VISITOR 119
. Missionary Visitor, The (1904). boys and girls in France differmuch from boys and girls in speak French and not English;their food is different; their homes, theirway of living, their manner of dress,their religion, all are different. Boysgo to school wearing black aprons andwooden shoes and making much noiseon the stone floors of the class rooms. The teacher is severe and much dread-ed. He holds a switch in his hand andflogs sometimes. Little girls also wearwooden shoes. They are shy, pensive,sad looking. We have been speaking of country April, 1904] THE MISSIONARY VISITOR 119 boys and girls as we see them every dayin this village. Dear children, youdont know what a village here inFrance is. We can describe it in a few-words: One long, narrow, crookedstreet, with ugly stone houses on bothsides and much dirt in front of barns and stables face the street,and through them you must pass toenter the house which lies on the house! What is it? One or twolarge, black, smoked rooms with dirty. A Peasant Girl. France. wooden floors, swept occasionally, butnever washed and never scrubbed. Inthe room is a huge, rickety stove, a largetable whose top is black with greaseand the long years of use, benches in-stead of chairs, an immense bed. barrenwalls on which sometimes hangs a cru-cifix or pictures torn from magazines—no order, no taste, no cleanliness, noth-ing cheerful, cozy or inviting. Such isthe home of the little French countryboy or girl. If we pity these children for suchhomes, to which they are no doubt ac- customed, we pity them more for theirreligion. They are Roman to their twelfth year they went tochurch, learned the catechism, wereconfirmed by the bishop, and after thatthe priest cared no more for their of them come to our Sundayschool. We deplore their ignorance, asthey know nothing of the Bible, of theSavior and the beautiful stories youknow of him, of the prophets, the apos-tles, and the godly men and w
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