The pupils of the lyceums closed their books, and the teachers did
not prevent them; they only appeared in the school-rooms, to say to
the half-grown youths: "Farewell! The country has called us! Let us
march to the field! Those of you who have reached their seventeenth
year, and are willing to fight, follow us!" And, with shouts of
exultation, the older youths rallied round their teachers, while the
younger ones retired with tearful eyes, as if ashamed of their age.
What occurred in the lyceum was repeated in the offices, the courts,
the counting-houses of the bankers and merchants. No one would stay
at home, or refuse the country his arm and his strength. All selfish
calculations, all distinctions of rank had ceased. Princes and
counts were seen in the ranks of the volunteers by the side of the
humblest youths; and poor men, who had sold every thing they had to
buy arms and a uniform, did not think of their future, or what was
to become of them after their return from the war. The fatherland
had called them, and they voluntarily took up arms in its defence.
Death had lost its terrors, life had lost its value. With exulting
hearts, mothers saw their sons preparing for the struggle. The
affianced bride uncomplainingly clasped her departing lover for the
last time in her arms; without fear for the fate of his wife and
children, the husband and father embraced his dear ones, and his
wife did not attempt to dissuade him.
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