do so
between the lines, and thus write down the proof of their iniquity:

_vous_
"_je_ ^ _donne_."

* * * * *

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 _etre_, 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_.

French books are loaded with facts, but few with explanations.

All the French grammars I know publish the list of the neuter verbs
that are conjugated with the auxiliary _etre_, but none give boys the
reason _why_ these verbs are conjugated with _etre_ and not with
_avoir_. Boys learn this list of verbs and forget it, and you know
little of boys' nature if you imagine that they will consult their
grammar at every turn. Some do, to be sure, but how many?

I do not know of one French grammar that tells students that neuter
verbs, which express a state as well as an action, or rather that
neuter verbs which express that a _state_ is enjoyed as soon as the
_action_ is over, are conjugated with _etre_.

A boy will understand you, and remember what you say, if you tell him:

"As soon as you _have_ died, you _are_ dead. This is why the verb
_mourir_, expressing the _state of being_ dead, as soon as the _action_
of dying is over, has to be conjugated with _etre_."

"As soon as you _have_ arrived, you _are_ arrived."

"As soon as you _have been_ born, you _are_ born."

"Therefore all these