Part 13 (1/2)

But the inspector thought otherwise.

”I know boys,” he said. ”I know what I am doing.”

”But he is not ready yet,” said the princ.i.p.al. ”To do as you advise would be to change all the rules set down for promotion.”

”Well, what if it does?” replied the inspector.

”But why should you favor this boy and his family? They are Corsicans.”

”I do not care anything about his family,” the inspector declared. ”If I put aside the rules in this case, it is not to do the Bonaparte family a favor. I do not know them. But I have studied this boy. It is because of him that I propose this action. I see a spark in him that cannot be too early cultivated. It shall not be extinguished if I can help it. This young Bonaparte will make his mark if he has a chance, and I shall give him that chance.”

So before he left Brienne the inspector wrote this strong recommendation of the boy whom he desired to befriend and put forward:--

”Monsieur de Bonaparte (Napoleon), born August 15, 1769. Height, four feet, ten inches. Of good const.i.tution, excellent health, mild disposition. Has finished the fourth form: is straightforward and obliging. His conduct has been most satisfactory. He has been distinguished for his application to mathematics; is fairly acquainted with history and geography; is weak in all accomplishments,--drawing, dancing, music, and the like. This boy would make an excellent sailor.

He deserves promotion to the school in Paris.”

Napoleon had gained a powerful friend. His favor would put the boy well forward in his career. He felt quite elated. But, unfortunately for the plans proposed, the Inspector de Keralio died suddenly, before his recommendation could be acted upon; and with so many other applications that were backed up by influence, for boys with better opportunities, Napoleon's desired a.s.signment to the naval service did not receive action by the government, and he was pa.s.sed by in favor of less able but better befriended boys.

So, when the examination--days came, the new Inspector, who came in place of the lad's friend Chevalier de Keralio, decided that young Napoleon Bonaparte was fitted for the artillery service; and at the age of fifteen the boy left the school at Brienne, and was ordered to enter upon a higher course of study at the military school at Paris. Nothing more was said about preparing him for the naval service, for which Inspector de Keralio had recommended him. And in the certificate which he carried from Brienne to Paris, Napoleon was described as a ”masterful, impetuous and headstrong boy.” Evidently the opinion of Napoleon's teachers was adopted, rather than the prophetic report of his dead friend, Inspector de Keralio.

In after-years Napoleon forgot all the worries and troubles of his school-days at Brienne, and remembered only the pleasant times there.

Once, when he was a man, he heard some bells chiming musically. He stopped, listened, and said to his old schoolmate, whom he had made his secretary,--

”Ah, Bourrienne! that reminds me of my first years at Brienne; we were happy there, were we not?”

To the chaplain who had prepared him for that most important occasion in the lives of all French children, his first communion, and who had taken a fatherly interest in him, Napoleon, when powerful and great, wrote: ”I can never forget that to your virtuous example and wise lessons I am indebted for the great fortune that has come to me. Without religion, no happiness, no future, is possible. My dear friend, remember me in your prayers.”

Even his old adversary, Bouquet, whose mean ways had brought Napoleon into so many sc.r.a.pes, was not forgotten. Bouquet was a bad fellow. Years after, he was caught doing some great mischief; and Napoleon, as his superior officer, would have been obliged to punish him. But when he heard that Bouquet had escaped from prison, he really felt relieved.

”Bouquet was my old schoolfellow at Brienne,” he said. ”I am glad I did not have to punish him.”

Whenever he had the chance, after he had risen to honor and power, he would do his old schoolmates and teachers at Brienne school a service.

Bourrienne and Lauriston were both advanced and honored. To one teacher he gave the post of palace librarian; another was appointed the head of the School of Fine Arts; Father Patrault, who had been his friend and had taught him mathematics, was made one of his secretaries; other teachers he helped with pensions or positions; and even the porter of the school was made porter of one of the palaces when Napoleon became an emperor.

At last, as I have told you, when the opportunity came, Napoleon said good-by to Brienne school. He left before his time was up, in order to give his younger brother, Lucien, the chance for a scholars.h.i.+p in the school; he put aside with regret, but without complaining, the wished-for a.s.signment to the naval service. He decided to become an artillery officer; and on October 17, in the year 1784, he started for Paris to enter upon his ”king's scholars.h.i.+p” in the military school. He had been a schoolboy at Brienne five years and a half. He was now a boy of fifteen.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

NAPOLEON GOES TO PARIS.

Some boys at fifteen are older than other boys at fifteen. Napoleon, as I have told you, was always an ”old boy.” So when, on that October day in 1784, he arrived at the capital to enter upon the king's scholars.h.i.+p which he had received, he was no longer a child, even though under-sized and somewhat ”spindling.”

Here, however, as at Autun and Brienne, his appearance was against him, and created an unfavorable impression.

As he got out of the Brienne coach, he ran almost into the arms of one of the boys he had known at Corsica--young Demetrius Compeno.

”What, Demetrius! you here?” he cried, a smile of pleasure at sight of a familiar face lighting up his sallow features.

”And why not, young Bonaparte,” Demetrius laughed back in reply. ”You did not suppose I was going to let you fall right into the lion's mouth, undefended. Why, you are so fresh and green looking, the beast would take you for Corsican gra.s.s, and eat you at once.”