The Peaceful Caiman

The grand prizewinner of the Peace Competition, Mr. Fernand Maurette, is the general supervisor at the school on the rue d'Ulm. He is an agrégé in history; the position he holds is only given to eminent professors.

But several American newspapers have made Mr. Maurette "a watchman in one of the many normal schools in Paris." Watchman has exactly the meaning of "night watchman." In short, in America, people imagine that a poor devil, half illiterate, has revealed himself as a man of genius. It is a legend that is forming.

Mr. Fernand Maurette smiled when he learned of the reputation he had in America... Night watchman? he said. This title, after all, is well worth the one awarded to me by the students of the École Normale Supérieure. They call me the caiman.