M. Hamel on that day spoke in a gentle tone. “My children ! This is the last lesson I shall give you .... This is your last French lesson. I want you to be very attentive”. These words were a great thunderclap to Franz. He hardly knew how to write. Though he was sorry for not learning his lesson. He hardly knew how to write French. Though he was sorry for not barring his lesson as a new very little about the language french. Suddenly he developed a strange fascination his language. His books which seemed a nuisance only a while ago, were his “old friends now.”

After 40 years of faithful service M. Hamel was going away. Franz felt all this must have broken his heart. He would never see him again. This idea was quite painful to Franz. He forgot all about his ruler and how cranky the teacher was.

The order from Berlin caused the following changes in the school that day:

(i) The school and all other things were quiet like Sunday Morning.

(ii) The whole school seemed very strange and solemn.

(iii) M. Hamel had put on his finest dress which he wore only on inspection and prize days of school.

(iv) The Village people came and sat silently on the back benches in school room to thank the teacher for his services that way.

(v) It upset all the students and their teacher. All the schools of Alsace and Lorraine would teach German and the new master would come the next day. For the students, this would be theirt last lesson.

Little Franz was expected by his teacher M.Hamel to come prepared on The topic of “Participles” for school that day. But he did not know even the first word about them. So he was under the great dread of being scolded by his teacher.

Franz noticed many unusual things at the school that day:

It was all so still, calm and quiet like Sunday morning while on other days there used to be a great hustle and bustle. The same could be heard out in the street. The opening and closing of the desks, lessons repeated in unison very loud and the teacher’s great ruler rapping on the table made a great noise. But on that the whole school looked so strange and solemn. It was quite unusual and surprising.

A bulletin board had been put up at the Town Hall for every news and the announcement. It had been a place of great importance for the last two years due to German occupations. All their bad news had come from there. The details of lost battles, the draft and the orders of the commanding officer, all were put up on the bulletin board. A huge crowd used to gather there to get any kind of new information.