For， to school discipline is added religious discipline， no less compulsory， just as rigid and more constant - daily pious exercises， ordinary devotions and extraordinary ceremonies， spiritual guidance， influence of the confessional and the example and behavior of a staff kept together around the same work by the same faith. The closer the atmosphere， the more powerful the action； the chances are that the latter will prove decisive on the child sequestered， sheltered and brought up in a retort， and that its intellect， faith and ideas， carefully cultivated， pruned and always under direction， will exactly reproduce the model aimed at. - For this reason， in 1876， 33，000 out of 46，000 pupils belonging to the 309 ecclesiastical establishments of secondary instruction， are internes，[57] and the Catholic authorities admit that， in the 86 small seminaries， no day-scholars， no future lay persons， are necessary.
This conclusion is perhaps reasonable in relation to the 23，000 pupils of the small seminaries， and for the 10，000 pupils in the great seminaries； it is perhaps reasonable also for the future military officers formed by the State at La Flèche， Saint-Cyr， Saumur， and on the Borda.[58] Whether future soldiers or future priests， their education fits them for the life they are to lead； what they are to become as adults， they already are as youths and children； the internat， under a convent discipline or that of the barracks， qualifies them beforehand for their profession. Since they must possess the spirit of it they must contract its habits. Having accepted the form of their pursuit they more easily accept its constraints and all the more that the constraints of the regiment will be less for the young officer who recently was at Saint-Cyr， and for the young ministrant in the rural parish who recently was in the great seminary. - It is quite the reverse for the 75，000 other internes of public or private establishments， ecclesiastic or secular， for the future engineers， doctors， architects， notaries， attorneys， advocates and other men of the law， functionaries， land-owners， chiefs and assistants in industry， agriculture and commerce. For them the internat affords precisely the opposite education required for a secular and civil career. These carry away from the prolonged internat a sufficient supply of Latin or of mathematics； but they are lacking in two acquisitions of capital import： they have been deprived of two indispensable experiences. On entering society the young man is ignorant of its two principal personages， man and woman， as they are and as he is about to meet them in society. He has no idea of them， or rather he has only a preconceived， arbitrary and false conception of them. - He has not dined， commonly， with a lady， head of the house， along with her daughters and often with other ladies； their tone of voice， their deportment at table， their toilette， their greater reserve， the attentions they receive， the air of politeness all around， have not impressed on his imagination the faintest lines of an exact notion； hence， there is something wanting in him in relation to how he should demean himself； he does not know how to address them， feels uncomfortable in their presence； they are strange beings to him， new， of an unknown species. - In a like situation， at table in the evening， he has never heard men conversing together： he has not gathered in the thousand bits of information which a young growing mind derives from general conversation：
* about careers in life， competition， business， money， the domestic fireside and expenses；* about the cost of living which should always depend on income；* about the gain which nearly always indicates the current rates of labor and of the social subjection one undergoes；* about the pressing， powerful， personal interests which are soon to seize him by the collar and perhaps by the throat；* about the constant effort required the incessant calculation， the daily struggle which， in modern society， makes up the life of an ordinary man.