I’m a big Girl now !

A large raindrop has just splashed onto the ground, sweeping away the dust, another one, then another. I jump to my feet, the rain reveals my mischief, my dress is stained with the ochre of the path. Mother is going to scold me, I should not be lying down, I am a big girl, I am six years old and I am going to school. Last night I heard them talking. Father wants to keep me at home so I can keep my mother company. She does not agree, she wants me to be educated, not like her who only knows how to sign her name and count, she wants me to earn my School Certificate. He said yes. Hush! They do not know that I know. The shower is heavy, it washes everything in its path. I lift my head, open my mouth, stick out my tongue. It is warm. The animals have taken shelter. I hear the chirping of the little birds in their nest. I hear the water trickling down the leaves of the trees, its tapping on the roads. I must go home, I run all the way to the house.

Mother is standing at the door, she catches me and wraps me in a large towel and rubs me, rubs me. She undresses me and rubs me again.

“But Mother, it isn’t cold, I am not going to get ill. Look, I am all red.

Do you want to go to school, my daughter?

Oh yes Mother, I want to learn like my brothers and sisters.

You are going to help me with the mending, you need clothes.

Father, Father, thank you!

I want my little girl to do well at school.

Yes, yes Father, I promise you.”

These first days of September have been very beautiful once again. Between chores, meals, hours spent sewing buttons back on, fumbling through the making of a hem, the days pass very quickly.

Today, with her father, the little girl goes to the village to buy a pencil and a notebook. The grocer’s wife has built up a small stock of school supplies on the advice of the teachers. The little girl looks at all these things she had already seen spread out on the table at home. She chooses a notebook with a blue cover, blue like her mother’s eyes. Father takes the opportunity to do a few errands. The school is behind the town hall. We return home, tomorrow is the big day.

I did not need Mother to wake me, I am so excited. I swallow my slice of bread and my bowl of milk, I wash and dress all by myself. Father is already at work, he leaves before the sun rises, he is a day labourer, he goes wherever work calls him. Mother is the one who will take me there. My brothers and sisters have gone ahead, they are too old to be accompanied, but not me. I see my schoolmistress, she is as old as my mother, she has a few white hairs in her bun. I walk forward shyly, she calls us by name. The youngest girls first, then the older ones. My sister is in the same class but her work will be harder than mine. It is only natural, she already knows how to read, write and count. My brothers are with the schoolmaster. Mother leaves. The door closes. The lesson is about to begin.

Her name is Marguerite, Catherine, Henriette or another name. She is one of my direct ancestors or a collateral relative. It does not matter! You have all recognised one of your own in this story.