Although the boys use their eyes to look at things, there are few who use them to see.
Young S. was an exception.
Having to put into French, "No sovereign ever was more worthy," he brought me:
"Jamais souverain ne fut plus digne."
I congratulated him on his achievement, and as I was suspicious he had been helped at home I asked him how he came to write this. He then said to me that on his way home he had seen in the station a large advertisement of a tooth-paste maker. The advertisement consisted of a huge woman's head, showing two rows of beautiful teeth, with this inscription:
"[Avec ] de belles dents jamais femme ne fut laide."
He had come to the conclusion that this French phrase could help him, and he took it down at the station.
This young Briton has a great future before him.
A boy having to translate "I have gone out," begins by writing "j'ai." That is understood. When afterwards he finds that the verb sortir is conjugated with the auxiliary être, he changes j'ai into je suis. Nine times out of ten he trusts his memory, or rather he leaves it to chance, and he keeps j'ai.