Ecole Communale for both boys and girls has just closed for the
holidays, so last Sunday--the season in July--the prizes were given away
with much ceremony. A tent was decorated with tricolour flags,
evergreens, and garlands, the village band escorted thither the Mayor
and Corporation, marching them in with a spirited air, the entire
community having turned out to see. I had already witnessed a
prize-distribution in the heart of Anjou, but how different from this!
Here at Couilly it was difficult to believe that the fashionable
Parisian toilettes around us belonged to the wives of small farmers, who
all the week were busy in their dairies, whilst the young ladies of all
ages, from five to fifteen, their daughters, might have appeared at the
Lady Mayoress's ball at Guildhall, so smart were they in their white
muslin frocks and blue and pink sashes and hair-knots. A few mob-caps
among the old women and blue blouses among the men were seen, but the
assemblage, as a whole, might be called a fashionable one--whilst at
Anjou, exactly the same class presented the homeliest appearance, all
the female part of it wearing white _coiffes_ and plain stuff gowns, the
men blue blouses and sabots. Nor was the difference less striking in
other respects. These sons and daughters of rich tenant-farmers, peasant
proprietors, or even day-labourers, are far ahead of the young people in
Anjou, and each would be considered a wonder in benighted Brittany. They
are, in fact, quite accomplished, not only learning singing, drawing and
other accomplishments, but are able to take part in dramatic
entertainments. Two performances were given by the boys, two by the
girls, a little play being followed by a recitation; and I must say I
never heard anything of the kind in a village-school in England.

These children acquitted themselves of their parts remarkably well,
especially the girls, and their accuracy, pure accent, and delivery
generally, spoke volumes for the training they had received; of