Marie, Taking Care of Children

If there is one thing that Marie has done for most of her life, it is to take care of children.

This started in the 1930s with her younger brothers, to help her mother raising her large family, while she was still going to school.
Then, in 1937, at the age of 16, she became a full-time helper to her mother and stopped going to school. At this time, in France, it was compulsory for children to be educated, either in a public or private school or by the parents, between the ages of 6 to 14. Since 1959, it is between 6 and 16. In the United States, the ages vary between the states: 5-8 to 15-18.

Of course, young children are not always obedient, even to their big sister. So, Marie had to called her brothers often to remind them of what they need to do.
Several years later, when I was young but old enough to remember it (so, it must have been around 1953-1954), when Marie would try to call me, she would often start with the first name of her brothers:

Hervé!
Gildas!
Armel!

Then, she would switch to the first names of my older brothers:

Philippe!
Bruno!

and finally:

VINCENT!

During the summers, Marie was also a summer camp instructor for children of officers and petty officers of the French Navy. In the summer of 1940, at the age of 19, she was even the director of such a camp.
The children were not sleeping in beds, but in hammocks. Those were the same types of hammocks that were still in use on Navy ships for the sailors.

French Navy hammock
(source)

One the first night, all the children started to swing in their hammocks. The instructors wanted to stop them. But, Marie, the director of the camp, told them that they should let them swing. They would do it probably for an hour the first night, then for 15 minutes the second and in 3 days, they would do it only for a few minutes. But, if they were told every night to stop doing it, they would try every night to swing as long as possible.
So, nobody told the children not to swing in their hammocks, and three nights later, almost no child would swing for more than a minute before sleeping.

In November 1940, after Marie's father Henri was posted to Tunis, the family moved there. First, Henri travelled alone to find a house for his large family. Marie's mother, Annick, was then taking care of her son Pol who was dying of tuberculosis (see Part 9). So, Marie was asked to travel with her sisters and her younger brother.

They took the train to Marseille. (By the way, I have no idea why in English Marseille is often spelled Marseilles, at least in the United States).
As the boat from Marseille to Tunis, was leaving on the next day, Marie was told to go to a friend of her parents who was living in Marseille, Mademoiselle Conseil.
"Conseil" in French means advice or counsel.
When Marie and her siblings arrived in front of the door, Marie reminded her younger brothers that they needed to behave.
Then, she rang the bell. When Mademoiselle Conseil opened the door, instead of asking her for a place to stay for the night, she said:

Mademoiselle, nous venons vous demander conseil.
(Miss, we came to ask for your advice)

Needless to say that the boys were all laughing.

After the family returned to France and until the end of the war, Marie continued to help her mother.
In 1946, her younger brothers being old enough, Marie was 25 years old and it was time for her to marry.

Continue to Part 19

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Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4
Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8
Part 9 - Part 10 - Part 11 - Part 12
Part 13 - Part 14 - Part 15 - Part 16
Part 17
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A Brief History of my Family in France - Part 18 - Marie, Taking Care of Children

Marie, Taking Care of Children