[Masterpiece Les Miserables] Paris Sparks

Corona quickly became good friends with them.

By "they" I mean Combeferre's new friends: Grantaire, Jean, and Louison, the maid at the Café Meuchan.Occasionally a few other workers and students showed up, but they came and went, never really joining the small group.

It wasn't often that Corona had time to slip out and chat with them.And she has realized that she looks too thin in her current disguise, and it is not so safe to go out alone at night.But there were a few times a month when she would dress herself carefully, and then go into Moussamp or Collins in a battered men's coat and sit and listen to their conversation.

"I've always found the lack of teaching methods to be really worrying. Before I came to university, I had high hopes for its teaching, so it may be unfair to say it - but the education I see now makes me Disappointment. Two or three centuries of so-called poor views of the classics, the arbitrary dogmas of official scholars, the prejudices and old habits of pedants, will at last turn our schools into artificial ponds for oysters." Combeferre Frowning, he said that in this small group of people, he was always the one who cared the most about education, so whenever this topic was mentioned, he also said the most, "And this is the education situation in universities--as for middle schools The rigidity and inflexibility of the education in schools, primary schools, and monasteries are beyond description. Our scholars have proposed a good basic education plan, and the school has indeed opened courses according to some plans, but because of the lack of competent teachers, I doubt These lessons really work as they should. There are still many teachers who hold the traditional habit and think that teaching living children to become wood carvings is the ultimate goal of education. As for the workers...the education they can get is really pitiful , not to mention, the time and energy they can spend on education is even more limited.”

"Combeferre, have you had any experience with the education of the working man?" asked Corona.

"I don't know much, but I'd love to. Why ask?"

"I know a female worker named Annie. She happened to rescue a lady from a rich family. Out of gratitude, the lady agreed to teach her how to read." She said, "But their literacy class was not going well..."

On the second night after seeing Combeferre, when Corona went to Anne's residence, Anne was already waiting for her downstairs. As soon as Corona came, she jumped forward and pulled her hand, walked upstairs. "Let me tell you first, you will definitely teach me to write? Have you made up your mind? You won't leave me and run away after two classes?"

"Of course not! It's a pity that I took the trouble to rearrange my schedule for you. If you really think so, then I will be too hurt." Corona complained half-truthfully.

"Why, I was just joking." Annie said hastily, "But, um...then...you don't mind teaching a few more students, do you?"

When she spoke the second half of the sentence, she pushed open the door.The door was unlocked: in the empty room, a total of six female workers, young and old, were sitting on the ground, crowded together.They were chatting twitteringly at first, but when they saw the door opened, they turned their eyes to the door together. "Oh, is this the young lady you were talking about?" asked one of the burly brown-haired women. "I thought she'd be dressed like a doll."

"Come on, shut up, Caroline." Annie rolled her eyes at her, then looked at Corona expectantly.Corona read a bit of nervousness and worry hidden under her carelessness from her expression, and she was surprised immediately - when did she know Annie so well that she could even read her words in the dark corridor? Got an idea?

"It's just that I told other people, and then, you have to know, among the hundreds of female workers in our factory, I am not the only one who wants to learn how to read..." Annie argued, "You just need to treat it as if you are teaching me one." , it’s okay for other people to listen to it, right? ——Korona, you will definitely teach me as you promised!” When Korona didn’t speak for a long time, she blamed her a little bit, He asked pleadingly, "You won't reject us cruelly, will you?"

"I... didn't want to reject you, of course I didn't." Corona said, her eyes swept over the uneven ground, the female workers who were huddled together on the ground, sitting in different positions, and the room was only illuminated by a single candle stub. In the dim light—under this light, she couldn't even see the faces of the female workers carrying candles, "But, how can you write here?"

"Why can't you write?" A young female worker with braids asked, "How can we be so particular about it!"

"But there isn't even a place to spread a piece of paper here." Corona said, "Annie, you should have seen your father write...it really doesn't work here."

"I know, I know! But we have to wait for you to agree before we can think about it. Finding a venue is much easier than finding a teacher." Annie shrugged briskly, "Let me think... next to the leather boot factory next door There's a small abandoned warehouse."

"Is it really abandoned?"

"Since I started working, no one has been in there for three or five years."

"It turned out to be a paper mill, you know." The brown-haired woman from earlier interjected, "It went bankrupt and was converted into a leather boot factory. The warehouse was never used, and then it was idle, definitely not People will use it."

"We can pick the lock," suggested a red-haired worker excitedly. "I'm good at it!"

Corona didn't want to ask why she was good at picking locks. "But just because it's unused doesn't mean it doesn't have an owner—legally, it's definitely still owned. If its current owner pursues it, we might get in trouble. Are there other locations?"

"We might be in our own warehouse. As long as Martha is persuaded—"

"But what if it is discovered? We will be in big trouble."

"The monastery on the corner street is empty every night. And there are tables and chairs in their hall. Didn't you say you need tables and chairs for writing, Anne?"

"Forget it, you think they'll agree to lend it to us? Those nuns are very cold."

They chattered and chattered for a while.Corona was not as familiar with the surroundings of the factory as they were, so she couldn't get in the conversation. Annie dragged her a gray sackcloth, so she sat on the folded sackcloth and listened for a while until the female workers came to the conclusion.

"So, we either go to that small abandoned warehouse, or we go to the small school in the next block and negotiate with them to borrow a classroom." Finally, Anne concluded, "Marian and I can go to ask that school tomorrow—Marian's sister There to help them clean and cook. But I don't hold out much hope: I remember her complaining that the headmaster was very mean. Maybe we'd better try lockpicking."

"I can also find someone to help and ask if there is an owner in that warehouse." Corona said.

"What about today?" Annie asked, "Can we really not study here? I know I don't have a desk, but we can spread the paper on the floor..."

Corona looked at the uneven ground and imagined the scene.Then she looked up at the thin lime walls around her. "Maybe..." she mused. "Let me try."

She fumbled in the small bag she had brought.When she was away from home, she usually only brought charcoal pencils and sketchbooks, not oil painting materials, but she still remembered that once she left a small bag of nails in this bag and forgot to take it out.She found the little bag of nails, and tore another sheet from the draft book.She quickly painted a large letter A on it with charcoal pencils, painted it black and dark, and then used nails to hang the paper on the wall.The limewashed walls were thin and brittle, Coronna tapped the hard ridge of the book a few times, and the nail tip was embedded in the wall.

"Maybe we can't teach you how to write today, but maybe we can start with literacy." She said, turning to her group of "students", "if you want."

"So the problem you have encountered is... there is no venue?" Re'an asked.

"But if they are already in class, the problem must have been solved first?" asked Combeferre.

"Yes." Corona said, "That's not the problem..."

They ended up renting classrooms at a nearby private elementary school.It was not a boarding school, and the school building was already vacant at night, so Corona rented the right to use the classroom at night at a very cheap rent.During this period, there were more people. When she first taught in the classroom, the number of people had changed from the original six or seven to ten.

During the second class, two new female workers joined in.The third time two more people came.Corona could guess where they got the news—it must be Annie and the others spreading the news among the female workers.She can't blame them, these women workers have too few opportunities to receive free education.As for the extra expenses for paper and pens, it was just a small amount of money that was not worth mentioning to her.

"But I can only teach the number of people in one class at most—if it is crowded, there will be about thirty people in this classroom." She said to Anne distressedly, not complaining, but just stating the facts, "What will come later What are the female workers to do? Even if they follow along, they have already missed the previous lessons."

"Then have another class," said Anne, who seemed to have thought the matter over before she said, "I can teach them. -- Oh, don't look at me like that! I'm not like you That way I can read and write, and know so many words, but I have learned everything you taught me. I just need to repeat the lessons you have taught to them."

"But now we have a class every three days, that is to say, every three days, you have to spend more than two hours in school." Corona said, frowning worriedly. You need to review when you go back, I know you still have to do sewing to make money after work. Where do you get all this time? What about your sewing?"

"Two hours less sleep won't kill you!" Annie said briskly.

"Not killing people doesn't mean it's correct." Coronna frowned and said, "How much money do you make from sewing every night?"

"I'm warning you, don't try to pay me!" said Annie, taking a half step back menacingly. "We've said—"

"We said long ago that I won't pity you, and I won't raise you as a stray cat." Corona approached half a step, refusing to relax at all, "But I'm not pitying you! I'm hiring you as a teacher, Of course I will pay you—”

Annie laughed. "That's the funniest thing I've ever heard. You're teaching us how to read! Instead of charging me for tuition, you're paying me a salary?"

"It's two different things," Corona said.

"That's not it! It's one thing. And, let me tell you," Annie stepped forward, pointing at Corona's chest with her dirty fingers, "The thing is, you are an overly naive young lady .It is not a good thing to show endless kindness among the poor, you will be sucked dry by countless leeches, you know that?"

Coronna pursed her lips and stared back at her unyieldingly. "If I had to choose between sucking someone's blood dry and being sucked dry, I wouldn't choose the former. And, I know you wouldn't do that, Annie!"

"I can't yet," said Anne, "don't tempt me to."

"I'm not tempting you to do anything," Corona said, "I'm just paying you—Annie, if you really think we're friends, do you think I can stand seeing you sleep only four hours a day? "

"There are countless people in Paris who only sleep for four hours, and I'm no exception." Anne said, "I regard you as a friend, and I'm serious—that's why I can't accept money from you, Corona, whether or not Out of mercy."

"So, that's the problem," Corona said.

"You said that your friend Annie had a problem, Cole?" Grantaire asked. "From what I can see, it seems to be a problem with the lady who taught her to read."

"Because this is not just Annie's experience." Corona explained, "Almost all the female workers who are taking literacy classes have more or less the same problem-their lives are almost occupied by work, and the only The only thing that can be squeezed out is their own sleep time. Now they have had six classes, and more and more female workers began to fall asleep during the class. Anne considered extending the time between classes, but that was not the solution. As long as they still Suffering from financial pressure, they can only continue to squeeze their health and sleep. I know the rich lady who taught them to read and write is willing to subsidize them, but Anne is not willing to accept. Also, I think that is not a very good way .”

"If someone is willing to subsidize them, the problem is still easy to solve, but the method must be very cautious. Otherwise, there may be some people who come to the class just to receive subsidies, which will destroy the learning of those who are really thirsty for knowledge." Gong Baifei pondered He said, "I have an idea, maybe you can tell them."