Harboring Day-Schools in France [pp. 187-196]

HARBORING DA Y-SCHOOLS IN FRANCE.
from these two facts: that his aged mother, in desiring to be re membered to him, would invariably say: "Pr6sentez mes re spects a mon fils "; and he once declined an invitation from the
king in these words: "Sire, je ne puis accepter pour aujourdhui;
c'est le jour de mes enfans." t
During his life-time he had estimated that twenty-eight asihes
would suffice for the wants of the city of Paris; in I857 there
were over forty in operation and there was a demand for many
more; there were three thousand distributed throughout France,
and the number must have gone on greatly increasing since, for
I am informed that even quite small towns are at present well
provided with them. They have been established in Switzer land, in Italy, in Spain, and in Germany, where the institution
is known under the name of Kinder bewahr anstalt.
Let us now get some insight from M. Cochin's book into the
purpose, plan, and management of the salles d'asile, considered by
Cardinal Morlot, Archbishop of Tours, as destined to prove of
the greatest service in our day to families and to society.
Their purpose is to harbor in well-ventilated and suitable
rooms children of both sexes, from two to seven years of age,
and thereby relieve,their parents of the care of them during
the hours which are usually devoted to earning a livelihood; to
attend to their moral and physical development; to teach them,
besides first religious teachings, such beginning of elementary
knowledge as children of that tender age can be made safely
to acquire, and to train them to habits of cleanliness, order,
silence, attention, politeness, and good manners, and return them
to their homes after having taken good care of them all day.
The superintendents are women exclusively, not under the age
of twenty-four, who each have a female servant to do the drudgery, and an assistant if there are more than eighty children to be
taken care of. The children may come in any time from 6 to Io
A.M., during which interval the superintendent satisfies herself
that they are healthy, free from any contagious disease, that
their hands and faces are clean, their hair cut and combed, and
their general appearance as tidy as it can reasonably be expected
to be; also that they have brought proper and sufficient food for
their lunch in a basket for the purpose. Any dereliction in these
regards is made the subject of complaint to parents, who must
see to remedying it and that it does not occur again.
* "Present my respects to my son."
t "Sire, I cannot accept for to-day, because it is devoted to my children,"
VOL. XLIII.-I 3
I 886.]
193.