The son of the charcoal-man had been a pupil of that schoolmistress Delcati who had come to see my brother when he was ill,and who had made us laugh by telling us how,two years ago,the mother of this boy had brought to her house a big apronful of charcoal,out of gratitude for her having given the medal to her son;and the poor woman had persisted,and had not been willing to carry the coal home again,and had wept when she was obliged to go away with her apron quite full.And she told us,also,of another good woman,who had brought her a very heavy bunch of flowers,inside of which there was a little hoard of soldi.We had been greatly diverted in listening to her,and so my brother had swallowed his medicine,which he had not been willing to do before.How much patience is necessary with those boys of the lower first,all toothless,like old men,who cannot pronounce their r's and s's;and one coughs,and another has the nosebleed,and another loses his shoes under the bench,and another bellows because he has pricked himself with his pen,and another one cries because he has bought copy-book No.2 instead of No.1.
Fifty in a class,who know nothing,with those flabby little hands,and all of them must be taught to write;they carry in their pockets bits of licorice,buttons,phial corks,pounded brick,—all sorts of little things,and the teacher has to search them;but they conceal these objects even in their shoes.And they are not attentive:a fly enters through the window,and throws them all into confusion;and in summer they bring grass into school,and horn-bugs,which fly round in circles or fall into the inkstand,and then streak the copy-books all over with ink.The schoolmistress has to play mother to all of them,to help them dress themselves,bandage up their pricked fingers,pick up their caps when they drop them,watch to see that they do not exchange coats,and that they do not indulge in cat-calls and shrieks.Poor schoolmistresses!And then the mothers come to complain:“How comes it,signorina,that my boy has lost his pen?How does it happen that mine learns nothing?Why is not my boy mentioned honorably,when he knows so much?Why don't you have that nail which tore my Piero's trousers,taken out of the bench?”
Sometimes my brother's teacher gets into a rage with the boys;and when she can resist no longer,she bites her finger,to keep herself from dealing a blow;she loses patience,and then she repents,and caresses the child whom she has scolded;she sends a little rogue out of school,and then swallows her tears,and flies into a rage with parents who make the little ones fast by way of punishment.Schoolmistress Delcati is young and tall,well-dressed,brown of complexion,and restless;she does everything vivaciously,as though on springs,is affected by a mere trifle,and at such times speaks with great tenderness.
“But the children become attached to you,surely,”my mother said to her.
“Many do,”she replied;“but at the end of the year the majority of them pay no further heed to us.When they are with the masters,they are almost ashamed of having been with us—with a woman teacher.After two years of cares,after having loved a child so much,it makes us feel sad to part from him;but we say to ourselves,‘Oh,I am sure of that one;he is fond of me.’But the vacation over,he comes back to school.I run to meet him;‘Oh,my child,my child!’And he turns his head away.”Here the teacher interrupted herself.“But you will not do so,little one?”she said,raising her humid eyes,and kissing my brother.“You will not turn aside your head,will you?You will not deny your poor friend?”
弟弟的女先生 十日
我的弟弟病了，他的女教师代尔卡谛先生来探望。原来，卖炭者的儿子，从前也是这位先生教过的。先生讲出可笑的故事来，引得我们都笑。两年前，那卖炭家小孩的母亲，因为她儿子得了奖牌，用很大的围裙包了炭，拿到先生那里，当作谢礼，先生无论怎样推辞，她终不答应，等拿了回家去的时候，居然哭了。先生又说，还有一个女人，曾把金钱装入花束中送给她。先生的话，使我们听了有趣发笑。弟弟在平日无论怎样不肯吃的药，这时也好好地吃了。
教导一年级的小孩，多少费力啊！有的牙齿未全，像个老人，发音发不好；有的要咳嗽；有的淌鼻血；有的因为靴子在椅子下面，哭着说“没有了”；有的因钢笔尖触痛了手叫着；有的把习字帖的第一册和第二册掉错了，吵个不休。要教会五十个有着软软的手的小孩写字，真是一件不容易的事。他们的袋里，藏着什么甘草、纽扣、瓶塞、碎瓦片等等的东西，先生要去搜查他们的时候，他们连鞋子里也会藏。先生的话他们是一点儿也不听的。有时从窗口飞进一只苍蝇来，他们就大吵。夏天呢，把草拿进来，有的提了甲虫在里面放；甲虫在室内东西飞旋，有时落入墨水瓶中，弄得习字帖里都溅污了墨水。先生代替了小孩们的母亲，替他们整理衣服；他们的手指受了伤，替他们裹绷带；帽子落了，替他们拾起；替他们留心别拿错了外套；用尽了心叫他们不要吵闹。女先生真辛苦啊！可是，学生的母亲们还要来提意见：什么“先生，我儿子的钢笔尖为什么不见了？”什么“我的儿子一点都不进步，究竟为什么？”什么“我的儿子成绩那样的好，为什么得不到奖牌？”什么“我们配罗的裤子，被钉刺破了，你为什么不把那钉去了呢？”
据说：这先生有时受不住小孩的气闹，不觉举起手来，终于用牙齿咬住了自己的手指，把气忍住了。她发了怒以后，非常后悔，就去抚慰方才被骂过的小孩。也曾把顽皮的小孩赶出教室，赶出以后，自己却咽着泪。有时，学生的父母要责罚他们自己的小孩，不给食物吃，先生听见了，总是很不高兴，要去阻止他们这样做。
先生年纪真轻，身材高长，衣装整齐，很是活泼。无论做什么事都像弹簧样地敏捷。是个多感而柔慈、易流眼泪的人。
“孩子们都非常和你亲热呢。”母亲说。
“是这样的，可是一到学年完结，就大都不顾着我了。他们到了要受男先生教育的时候，就以受女先生的教育为耻哩。两年间，那样地爱护了他们，一旦离开，真有点难过。那个孩子是一向亲热我的，大概不会忘记我吧。心里虽这样自忖，可是一到放了假以后，你看！他回到学校里来的时候，我虽‘我的孩子，我的孩子’地叫着走近他去，他却把头向着别处，睬也不睬你了哩。”
先生这样说了，暂时住了口。又举起她的湿润的眼睛，吻着弟弟说：
“你不是这样的吧？你是不会把头向着别处的吧？你是不会忘记我的吧？”