What was Franz expected to be prepared with for school that day ?

About the author

 Alphonse Daudet ( 1840-1897 ) was a French novelist and short - story writer . The Last Lesson is set in the days of the Franco - Prussian War ( 1870-1871 ) in which France was defeated by Prussia led by Bismarck . Prussia then consisted of what now are the nations of Germany , Poland and parts of Austria . In this story the French districts of Alsace and Lorraine have passed . into Prussian hands . Read the story to find out what effect this had on life at school .

 I started for school very late that morning and was in great dread of a scolding , especially because M. Hamel had said that he would question us on participles , and I did not know the first word about them . For a moment I thought of running away and spending the day out of doors . It was so warm , so bright ! The birds were chirping at the edge of the woods ; and in the open field back of the sawmill the Prussian soldiers were drilling . It was all much more tempting than the rule for participles , but I had the strength to resist , and hurried off to school .

 When I passed the town hall there was a crowd in front of the bulletin - board . For the last two years all our bad news had come from there the lost battles , the draft , and I thought to the orders of the commanding officer myself , without stopping , " What can be the matter now ? "

 Then , as I hurried by as fast as I could go , the blacksmith , Wachter , who was there , with his apprentice , reading the bulletin , called after me , " Don't go so fast , bub ; you'll get to your school in plenty of time ! "

 I thought he was making fun of me , and reached M. Hamel's little garden all out of breath .

 Usually , when school began , there was a great bustle , which could be heard out in the street , the opening and closing of desks , lessons repeated in unison , very loud , with our hands over our ears to understand better , and the teacher's great ruler rapping on the table . But now it was all so still ! I had counted on the commotion to get to my desk without being seen ; but , of course , that day everything had to be as quiet as Sunday morning . Through the window I saw my classmates , already in their places , and M. Hamel walking up and down with his terrible iron ruler under his arm . I had to open the door and go in before everybody . You can imagine how I blushed and how frightened I was .

 But nothing happened . M. Hamel saw me and said very kindly , " Go to your place quickly , little Franz . We were beginning without you . " I jumped over the bench and sat down at my desk . Not till then , when I had got a little over my fright , did I see that our teacher had on his beautiful green coat , his frilled shirt , and the little black silk cap , all embroidered , that he wore except inspection and prize days . Besides , the whole school seemed SO strange and solemn . But the thing that surprised me most was to see , on the back benches that were always empty , the village people sitting quietly like ourselves ; old Hauser , with his three - cornered hat , the former mayor , the former postmaster , and several others besides . Everybody looked sad ; and Hauser had brought an old primer , thumbed at the edges , and he held it open on his knees with his great spectacles lying across the pages .

 While I was wondering about it all , M. Hamel mounted his chair , and , in the same grave and gentle tone which he had used to me , said , " My children , this is the last lesson I shall give you . The order has come from Berlin to teach only German in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine . The new master comes tomorrow . This is your last French - lesson . I want you to be very attentive . " What a thunderclap these words were to me !

 Oh , the wretches ; that was what they had put up at the town - hall !

 My last French lesson ! Why , I hardly knew how to write ! I should never learn any more ! I must stop there , then ! Oh , how sorry I was for not learning my lessons , for seeking birds ' eggs , or going sliding on the Saar ! My books , that had seemed such a nuisance a while ago , so heavy to carry , my grammar , and my history of the saints , were old friends now that I couldn't give up . And M. Hamel , too ; the idea that he was going away , that I should never see him again , made me - forget all about his ruler and how cranky he was .

 Poor man ! It was in honour of this last lesson that he had put on his fine Sunday clothes , and now I understood why the old men of the village were sitting there in the back of the room . It was because they were sorry , too , that they had not gone to school more . It was their way of thanking our master for his forty years of faithful service and of showing their respect for the country that was theirs no more .

 While I was thinking of all this , I heard my name called . It was my turn to recite . What would I not have given to be able to say that dreadful rule for the participle all through . very loud and clear , and without one mistake ? But I got mixed up on the first words and stood there , holding on to my desk , my heart beating , and not daring to look up .

 I heard M. Hamel say to me , " I won't scold you , little Franz ; you must feel bad enough . See how it is ! Every day we have said to ourselves , ' Bah ! I've plenty of time . I'll learn it tomorrow . And now you see where we've come out . Ah , that's the great trouble with Alsace ; she puts off learning till tomorrow . Now those fellows out there will have the right to say to you , ' How is it ; you pretend to be Frenchmen , and yet you can neither speak nor write your own language ? ' But you are not the worst , poor little Franz . We've all a great deal to reproach ourselves with . "

 " Your parents were not anxious enough to have you learn . They preferred to put you to work on a farm or at the mills , so as to have a little more money . And I ? I've been to blame also . Have I not often sent you to water my flowers instead of learning your lessons ? And when I wanted to go fishing . did I not just give you a holiday ? "

 Then , from one thing to another , M. Ham went on to talk of the French language , saying that it was the most beautiful language in the world - the clearest , the most logical ; that we must guard it among us and never forget it , because when a people are enslaved , as long as they hold fast to their language it is as if they had the key to their prison . Then he opened a grammar and read us our lesson . I was amazed to see how well I understood it . All he said seemed so easy , so easy ! I think , too , that I had never listened so carefully , and that he had never explained everything with so much patience . It seemed almost as if the poor man wanted to give us all he knew before going away , and to put it all into our heads at one stroke .

1. What was Franz expected to be prepared with for school that day ?

 2. What did Franz notice that was unusual about the school that day ?

 3. What had been put up on the bulletin - board ?

 After the grammar , we had a lesson in writing . That day M. Hamel had new copies for us , written in a beautiful round hand France , Alsace , France , Alsace . They looked like little flags floating everywhere in the school - room , hung from the rod at the top of our desks . You ought to have seen how every one set to work , and how quiet it was ! The only sound was the scratching of the pens over the paper . Once some beetles flew in ; but nobody paid any attention to them , not even the littlest ones , who worked right on tracing their fish - hooks , as if that was French , too . On the roof the pigeons cooed very low , and I thought to myself , " Will they make them sing in German , even the pigeons ? "

 Whenever I looked up from my writing I saw M. Hamel sitting motionless in his chair and gazing first at one thing , then at another , as if he wanted to fix in his mind just how everything looked in that little school - room . Fancy ! For forty years he had been there in the same place , with his garden outside the window and his class in front of him , just like that . Only the desks and benches had been worn smooth ; the walnut - trees in the garden were taller , and the hopvine that he had planted himself twined about the windows to the roof . How it must have broken his heart to leave it all , poor man ; to hear his sister moving about in the room above , packing their trunks ! For they must leave the country next day .

 But he had the courage to hear every lesson to the very last . After the writing , we had a lesson in history , and then the babies chanted their ba , be bi , bo , bu . Down there at the back of the room old Hauser had put on his spectacles and , holding his primer in both hands , spelled the letters with them . You could see that he , too , was crying : his voice trembled with emotion , and it was so funny to hear him that we all wanted to laugh and cry . Ah , how well I remember it , that last lesson !

 All at once the church - clock struck twelve . Then the Angelus . At the same moment the trumpets of the Prussians , returning from drill , sounded under our windows . M. Hamel stood up , very pale , in his chair . I never saw him look so tall .

 " My friends , " said he , " I - I- " But something choked him . He could not go on .

 Then he turned to the blackboard , took a piece of chalk , and , bearing on with all his might , he wrote as large as he could - "

 Vive La France ! " Then he stopped and leaned his head against the wall , and , without a word , he made a gest re to with his hand - " School is dismissed you may go . "

 1. What changes did the order from Berlin cause in school that day ?

 2. How did Franz's feelings about M. Hamel and school change ?