ENGLISH BOYS ON FRENCH COMPOSITION.--"GO AHEAD" IS NOT IN FRENCH
"ALLEZ UNE TETE."--HOW BOYS SET ABOUT FRENCH COMPOSITION.--A WRITTEN
PROOF OF THEIR GUILT.--HOW LARGE ADVERTISEMENTS CAN HELP THEM.--A
STUMBLING-BLOCK CLEARED AWAY.
You have achieved a great success when you have succeeded in getting
into young boys' heads that French is not English replaced by
equivalent words to be found in a dictionary.
This is the way boys generally set about writing a piece of English
into French.
They take the first English word, open their dictionary, and put down
the French word they have found for it (the wrong one, as a rule, if
more than one is given). Then they take the second English word, to
which they apply the same process, until they come to a stop, which
they carefully reproduce in the French (many don't). This done, they
take their blotting-paper, apply it on the copy, rub it hard for a
minute or two, and knock off to enjoy a well-deserved rest.
The amount of blotting-paper used by boys is prodigious. A word is no
sooner written down than it is fixed on the paper by a good hearty
rubbing down. They are afraid it will evaporate if not properly secured
on the paper at once.
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