“So in February 1778, the new commissioner [John Adams] and his son
[11-year-old John Quincy Adams] boarded the frigate Boston and headed into a stormy ocean. Despite
a harrowing crossing, they arrived safely in Bordeaux on April 1. Seven days
later they reached Paris, where Benjamin Franklin, already in residence, invited
them to stay at his home in Passy, a suburb near the Bois de Boulogne. Johnny
entered a private boarding school at Passy run by Monsieur Le Coeur, where he
studied French, Latin, and mathematics, along with fencing, dancing, and
drawing. Several other American boys attended the school, including William
Templeton Franklin and Benjamin Franklin Bache, the grandsons of Benjamin
Franklin. Classes began at 6 in the morning and continued for two hours, after
which they were given a sixty-minute respite for breakfast and play. Then there
were classes from 9 to noon, 2 to 4:30P.M., and 5 to 7:30. In between times the
students were allowed recreation and meals. They retired at 9P.M.”
Robert V. Remini, John Quincy
Adams
New York: Times Books, 2002, p. 6
[ten hours of class a
day.. WOW!]
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