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Holidays in Carennac and Le Merle
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- Secondary school and the baccalauréat
Holidays in Carennac and Le MerleIt seems that Auguste wanted his son to know well his region of origin, his "pays", so it was important that he stay in touch with his grandparents and other relatives. He also regularly wrote to his former father-in-law, whom he continued to call "Papa" until they died in 1944-45, in fact consulting with them about Guy's future. His son Charles also visited Carennac and Le Merle now and then, and kept an eye on Guy on behalf of their father: in 1927 or 1928, he reported12: "Dans ma tournée Briane- Le Merle, j'ai fait une halte à Carennac et une à Granou. A Carennac, Mr Bouyssonie, ravi de son voyage est persuadé de la qualité supérieure de son vin nouveau m'a très bien reçu et je me suis fait poliment payé à diner chez Lacroix. Il m’a rappelé qu’il avait de l’argent à Plagnes et chez vous . Je l’ai assez facilement rassuré, d'autant plus facilement qu'il venait de s'adjuger deux rhums, le sien et le mien. A Granou, Guy va très bien, il va à l’école et sa dernière note est très bien. On est très content de lui au physique comme au point de vue intellectuel et il m’a gentiment chargé de vous envoyer des grosses bises à tous les deux. » In 1931, he was invited to stay at Le Merle, and Auguste is undecided whether he will leave him there only for the duration of their "cure" in Vichy, or make arrangements for him to stay longer13. When I read those letters, I am reminded of all the trouble my parents when to send me on holiday to keep company with Auntie Hélène, right from the early 1960's, with lots of traveling by car involved because of the isolation of the village. Thanks to Auntie Hélène's photographs (she seemed to be the only modern familiy to have embraced photography), we have an idea of what were those first holidays in Carennac. There are still a number of children's books in the house, that has been purchased to amuse the grandson. I remember them being lent to me when I was the child in the house. Most prominent were 'l'Odyssée d'un petit Cévenol by H. Gauthier-Villars, a prize book awarded to Hélène in 1903, so I was already the third generation to read it. There were a few Comtesse de Ségur, unfortunately difficult to separate from those bought by later generations, and one with a memorable title for a child: "Un cancre" by Lucie Delarue-Mardrus, a special edition for youngsters. Neither was Guy the only city-dweller sent to country relatives to enjoy the fresh air and family ties. The village was already visited by many tourists, some of which came back every year and stayed at the hotels, secondary residences being unknown. It is from those days that the friendship with Maud14 dates. Her parents (Colonel et Mme Hilleret), well-known to Baptiste, used to come to Carennac for their holidays in the pre-war days, since the early 30's, before taking refuge there during the war. They stayed in a dependency of the hotel Boudie, the current house owned by Mr and Mrs Gassman (Colette Laveyssière), at that time in the hands of the Martin family. It was Colette’s grandmother who rented the house out. The father would spend days fishing, while the mother liked her walks on the Causse, called ‘footing’. At that time, the village was still quite primitive, with cow-dung in the streets, and the houses quite dilapidated, with crumbling walls and roofs, but it already attracted many tourists, who admired the beauty of the spot, and enjoyed the pleasures of the river. The three hotels (Boudie, Touristes, Malaval) made a thriving business. At one time, the castle itself was a hotel, before it was used as a private residence by the Roussilhe (Eva was a good friend of Hélène) then Mr Frauziol. This last owner bequeathed it to the town of Saint-Céré, for some reasons never satisfactorily explained. Along with Maud and with Georges Fraysse, Guy could count on their trio to fill the long quiet afternoons. Their favourite activity was to swim in the Dordogne near the bridge, which had been newly rebuilt. Guy built a diving board there, there is a photograph of it. Maud was also friends with a number of young women of the village, like the Chambaud daughters: Yvette who was an English teacher and Jeannine, the pharmacist, and the three Laveyssière daughters: Dédée who married Chaleix and Colette who married Max Gassmann and Claude. Their mother died after this last birth. The Hilleret would take a bus connection in Brive, which stopped in Carennac on its way to Gramat, operated by a company called Quercy-Corrèze.
"Ce que je cherche dans le bourg où, pour les vacances, je reviens? Une flaque de passé. Le temps ne s'y imprime que sur les figures, encore changent-elles mois qu'à la ville; mais tout le reste est si peu touché que je crois me réveiller en pleine enfance. Ma Province m'attire comme l'immuable.15" Secondary school and the baccalauréatIn November 1935, Guy wrote to this great-uncle François, the missionary in Bangalore, India, a letter which was acknowledged with pleasure by the priest the next month. The letter throws a little light on little Guy, and the climate in which he was brought up. François expresses satisfaction that Guy is schooled in a religious institution: “tu y recevras de bons principes auxquels tu te feras un bonheur de rester fidèle toute ta vie. Quand on s’appelle Montin, on devrait être un enfant intelligent. La chère maman non plus n’était pas sotte. Elle avait un style remarquable et écrivait une lettre d’une manière superbe. Malheureusement elle avait lu un peu de tout ce que je te recommande de ne pas faire. Lis beaucoup mais jamais un mauvais livre ni un mauvais journal. Arrive vite à la tête de ta classe de façon que ton cher papa et ta bonne tante soient fiers de toi. Tu as, paraît-il, un frère qui a magnifiquement réussi et qui est très sérieux. Imite le." The brother in question is Charles, who had just started work as a chemist, who was admired by all the relatives and friends. A lot can be read between the lines but there are some nice comments: too few of Yvonne's letters have been kept for us to verify the assertion that her style was good, but it is worth noting. The recommendations on reading "good' books" did not have the same meaning as it would today, and should be understood as books approved by the Church. The missionary who had already spent more than 40 years in India may have been a little out of touch with the changes occurred to the Church in France. We should try to imagine what it could mean to a little boy living in Orthez to hear about life in such a distant and exotic land, what prestige the missionary must have had.
For Christmas 1937, Charles was visiting his father in Orthez, with his wife and first child Rose-France, who was born on 1 January 1937. In Orthez, Guy has two great friends: Roger Sennes and 'le députassouno' (from memory and other references, this was the son of the deputy Moutet). He had had a good first term, wanted to succeed, and was promised a beautiful trip if he did. In June 1938, Guy sat his Baccalauréat exam, and did not pass. In those days, getting your bac was no mean feat, and only a fraction of the candidates were admitted. It was in two parts. He was successful at the October session. It seems from various letters that Guy finished his secondary schooling in Orthez, rather than Nay. He particularly concentrated on philosophy, and got good results at the examination. Contrary to what happened in June, everybody had mobilised to get Guy passed that landmark. There is a blow-by-blow account of the October session, from two letters, the first by Guy17, where he describes his frame of mind: Je ne suis pas trop fixé sur les résultats de mon aventure d'hier et avant-hier 4 et 3 octobre. J'ai cependant la vague impression d'avoir des chances d'obtenir quelques points de plus qu'en juin. Le Français était épatant: "Victor Hugo écrit dans la Préfaces des Odes et Ballades: "la poésie n'est pas dans la forme des idées mais dans les idées elles-mêmes" Explication et discussion. Exemples dans la poésie française. Le sujet n'a pas été très pris les autres étant question de cours. Le Latin a trois et quatre fois hélas été trop facile, ce qui m'a obligé à quitter la salle 1h ¼ avant la fin. J'ai rencontré un prof du lycée en retraite qui m'a félicité sur la vue de ma fausse copie. Les Maths me donneront peut-être un point de plus qu'en juin. Le Grec lui aussi trop facile. Somme toute, un petit peu plus content qu'en juillet quoique enrageant contre les profs qui nous collent des versions où un bon élève ne peut pas donner sa mesure. The second is from Auguste18, who was bound to report on the help given by the family friend Delage, professor of Greek at the University of Bordeaux, who happened to be Guy's examiner. Auguste's report is precious in how he views the means of being successful at exams: he believes the examination result to be more determined by chance, influence of friends and finally the capacity of pulling wool over the eyes of the examiner, rather than on previous preparation and reflection. A mentality that Guy himself never totally discarded, and perhaps it is still partly true (except for the influence of patrons). After Guy's success, there was a big celebration involving all the family at Toussaint, in Orthez, to which Baptiste and Hélène must come, as well as Charles and his family. This takes some careful planning. Auguste, an experienced automobile driver, gives advice on tackling the 325km from Brive to Orthez. The date has to be selected carefully, hopefully using a "pont" (extra holiday) to be granted by the minister of education Jean Zay. It is nice to know that this French institution already existed before the war. At that time it took some 8 hours to cover the distance, including the 2-hour stop for lunch in a restaurant in Marmande, which is not much more than nowadays, with so much more traffic.
My father often used to reflect on the idea, not quite common nowadays, that young people did not grasp that their time on earth was not infinite. As he was widely read, including in the classical authors not in vogue, in which he had had formal instruction in the 60's at University, he may have been struck by an essay written by William Hazlitt20: "on the feeling of immortality in youth: "No young man believes he shall ever die. It was a saying of my brother's, and a fine one. There is a feeling of Eternity in youth which makes us amends for everything. To be young is to be as one of the Immortals." It is quite possible that Guy was feeling nostalgic for such a carefree time he had had.
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