The [mistresses of the] classes are your principal affair; the
establishment is your Institute, that is the king's intention; that is
the object of your office. Never weary of preaching to your sisters
the vigilance required in guarding and educating the young ladies.
Do not add rules to rules; you have rules enough, but the mistresses
do not read them enough. Make ceaseless attack upon the furtive
quibbling that the Dames de Saint-Louis keep up about their time.
They go against the will of God, the intention of their instituters
and founders, and against the charity they owe to the young ladies if
they leave them at times when their regulations do not oblige them to
be in church. That hunger for prayer is only self-love wanting to be
pleased with itself for its works, and counting as nought that which
is done under rules. How can they teach young ladies that duty should
be done according to the place of each person if they themselves
neglect the duty of theirs, which is the care of those young ladies?
A true Dame de Saint-Louis ought to contrive to be with her class
at all possible moments, even at the hours when she is not obliged
to be there. And yet they think they are pleasing God by making a
half-hour's orison which was not required of them, and deserting the
employment of the time which He does demand in accordance with their
vows! I should never end on this chapter, my dear daughter. Never
give up on this point, I conjure you. It is for you to see that the
rules are obeyed, and when your functions cease and you become again a
simple mistress, set an example of fidelity to the others.
_To Mme. de Fontaines._
April 20, 1713.
Do not let us complain, my dear sister, and fear the future; let us
rather try to establish the present as best we can. You can contribute
better than any one to this purpose, for you are sufficiently prudent
not to vex the sisters; at the same time you will never allow the
young ladies to speak in a low tone to one another. The sisters must
excuse a great deal of poor talk that they will hear, and not reprove
it when there is no real harm in it.
Mme. d'Auxy [this was Jeannette de Pincré, an adopted daughter of
Mme. de Maintenon] is quite beside herself when she has a new gown.
She consults me about the trimming; I enter into it and give her my
advice, telling her that her joy and liking for adornment belongs
to her age, but that youth must pass, and that I hope she will come
sooner or later to better inclinations. I think that such compliance
does more good than severity, which serves only to rebuff the young
and make them dissimulating.
I am told that one of the little girls was scandalized in the parlour
because her father talked of his _breeches_. That is a word in common
usage. What refinement do they mean by this? Does the arrangement of
the letters form an immodest word? Do they feel distress at the words
"breed" or "breeze" or "breviary"? It is pitiable. Others only whisper
under their breath that a woman is pregnant; do they wish to be more
modest than our Lord who talked of pregnancy and childbirth, etc.? One
of the young ladies stopped short when I asked her how many sacraments
there were, not being willing to name marriage. She began to laugh and
told me they were not allowed to name it in the convent from which she
came.
What! a sacrament instituted by Jesus Christ, which he honoured with
his presence, the obligations of which his Apostles explained, and
which we ought to teach to our daughters, must not be named to them!
These are the things that turn a convent education into ridicule.
There is much more immodesty in such proceedings than there is in
speaking openly of what is innocent and with which all pious books
are filled. When our young ladies have passed through marriage they
will know that it is not a thing to be laughed at. They ought to be
accustomed to speak of it very seriously and even sadly, for I think
it is the state of life in which we suffer most tribulation, even
in the best marriages. They should be taught, when occasion offers,
the difference between immodest words, which must never be uttered,
and coarse words,--the first being sinful, the second simply against
good-breeding.
Adieu, my daughter, I never can finish when it is a question of our
girls and the good of the establishment.
_To Mme. de la Rouzière_ [a class mistress].
Monday, May 6, 1714.
I think, my dear daughter, that being too much attached to one's body
means fearing too much inconveniences and want of ease, being too
particular about one's person, being easily disgusted with that of
others, dressing with too much care, apprehending cold, heat, smoke,
dust--in a word, all the little flesh mortifications--too much;
it is desiring to satisfy our senses, seeking pleasure, being too
much attached to our health, taking too much care of it, troubling
ourselves about remedies, occupying ourselves with our own relief,
being too nice about what we like and too fidgety about what we fear;
it is examining ourselves on such points with too much care. Being
too much attached to one's mind means to think we have one, to plume
one's self upon it, to wish to increase it, to show it, to turn the
conversation according to our own tastes, to seek out persons who have
mind and despise others whom we think have none, to speak affectedly,
and write the same.--But I am obliged to finish, my dear daughter.
_To Mme. de Vandam_ [then head mistress of the Blues].
January 12, 1715.
In the year 1700 or 1701 I busied myself much with the classes, and we
began to establish what is now practised with such great success. We
should, however, renew our vigilance unceasingly, my dear daughter,
and forbid the young ladies absolutely to say a single word in a low
voice to their companions. This fault, which seems very slight to
persons without experience, is really very considerable; and there is
none as to which you must be less indulgent. Punish it very severely,
and let people say what they like. If the young ladies would reason
about it for a moment themselves they would admit that they are
whispering in order to say things that they know are not right; it is
therefore very proper to forbid it.
We cannot feel sure of youth without this precaution; but after taking
it, do not reprove them too severely for what you hear them say;
strive to teach them to distinguish the good, the bad, the indiscreet,
the imprudent, the immodest, the coarse; but always little by little,
letting pass a number of things.
I see our mistresses shocked and alarmed when our girls desire finery
and think themselves happy when they get a pink gown; a crime ought
not to be made of that weakness of their age and sex; they should be
told gently that such tastes will pass away, but not that they are
sins. By such little concessions you will win their confidence the
more. But I repeat: they must not whisper, and the mistresses, the
blacks, and the flame-coloured ribbons must keep their eyes always
upon them.
I pray God to make you know the value and sincerity of this vigilance,
so that you may give yourself wholly to it; keep at a distance
whatever can embarrass you, and watch continually, but quietly.
[On the 30th of August, 1715, two days before the king's death, Mme.
de Maintenon went to Saint-Cyr, which was bound by its Constitution to
provide for her and her establishment; she never left its precincts
again.]