about when she wrote to him would
be the great events of the hunting season. His cousin, it appears, had
written him an account of a hunt in the neighborhood, but she had not
written enough about it to satisfy his desire. Why did she not give
details? he asked. He reproachfully added that if he had been writing
to her of a new-fashioned cap, he would have taken compass in hand and
described it with mathematical accuracy. This she should have done
concerning the great hunt if she had really wished to give him
pleasure!

This fortunate boy could select any career he liked; courtier, lawyer,
politician, writer, soldier--whatever he chose. Never came opportunity
more richly laden to the doorway of any youth.

He chose to be a soldier. The double-barred doors of iron, the lofty,
protected windows, the military pictures on the walls of his home--all
spoke to the Chaviniac child of warfare and conflict. There was the
portrait of his father in cuirass and helmet. There were far-away
ancestors in glistening armor and laced jackets. There was also the
military portrait of that Gilbert Motier de Lafayette who was marshal
in the time of Charles VII, and whose motto "Cur non" (Why not?) was
chosen by Lafayette for his own when he started on his first voyage.
The instinct for warfare, for the organization of armies, for struggle
and conquest, were strong in him, and were fostered and nourished by
every impression of his boyhood's home.

CHAPTER II

COLLEGE AND COURT

In the year 1768 the boy Lafayette, then eleven years old, left his
mountain home and went to Paris, where he was placed by his mother in
the College du Plessis, a school for boys of the nobility.

The arrangements for the student in a French college at that time were
simple. A room scarcely wider than a cell was assigned to each boy. It
was locked at night; but holes were cut in the door so that the fresh
air might come in. This, at least, was the theory. Practically,
however, the little cell must have been very stuffy, for the windows
in the halls were shut tight in order that the health of the pupils
might not be injured by currents of damp air from outside.

Special attention was given to diet, care being taken that the boys
should not eat any uncooked fruit lest it should injure them. Parents
might come to visit their children, but they were not allowed to pass
beyond the threshold--a familiar chat on home matters might interfere
with the studious m