The Project Gutenberg eBook, Our Children, by Anatole France, Illustrated
by Boutet de Monvel
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Title: Our Children
Scenes from the Country and the Town
Author: Anatole France
Release Date: May 5, 2009 [eBook #28695]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
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OUR CHILDREN
by
ANATOLE FRANCE
Illustrations by Boutet de Monvel
[Illustration]
OUR CHILDREN
Scenes from the Country and the Town
by
ANATOLE FRANCE
Illustrated in color and in pen and ink by Boutet de Monvel.
[Illustration]
New York
Duffield & Company
1923
Copyright, 1917, by
Duffield & Company
Printed in U. S. A.
CONTENTS
FANNY 1
THE FANCY DRESS PARTY 10
THE SCHOOL 12
MARY 14
PAN-PIPES 16
ROGER'S STABLE 18
COURAGE 20
CATHERINE'S DAY 22
THE LITTLE SEA DOGS 24
OUR CHILDREN
FANNY
I
[Illustration]
Fanny started off early one morning, like little Red Riding Hood, to
visit her grandmother, who lives quite at the other end of the village.
But Fanny did not stop like Red Riding Hood to pick hazel nuts. She went
straight on her way, and did not see any wolf.
Even when quite a long way off, she could see her grandmother seated on
her stone doorstep, the dear grandmother who smiled with her toothless
mouth and opened her old arms thin as grape vines to welcome her little
granddaughter. Fanny's heart was filled with delight at the prospect of
spending a whole day at her grandmother's. And her grandmother, having
no longer any cares or tasks, but living like a cricket near the fire,
is happy too to see the little daughter of her son, a sweet reminder of
her youth.
They have many things to say to each other, for one of them is at the
end of life's voyage and the other is just setting out upon it.
"You grow bigger every day, Fanny," says her grandmother, "and I am
getting littler. Just look! I need hardly stoop to press my lips to your
forehead. What difference does it make how old I am when I still have
youth's roses in your cheeks, Little Fanny."
[Illustration]
But Fanny is exploring for the hundredth time, with new joy, all the
curious things in the little house--the paper flowers blooming beneath
the glass globe, the old paintings of French generals in fine uniforms
overthrowing their enemies, the gold cups, some with handles and some
without, and grandfather's old gun which hangs on the chimney breast on
a nail from which grandfather himself fastened it--for the last time,
thirty years ago.
[Illustration: TREES AND GRASS AND FLOWERS AND LITTLE BIRDS THERE WERE
IN GRANDMOTHER'S YARD. FANNY DID NOT BELIEVE THERE WAS A PRETTIER YARD
THAN THIS IN ALL THE WORLD. SHE TAKES HER KNIFE FROM HER POCKET
PROMPTLY, AND CUTS HER BREAD AS THE VILLAGE PEOPLE DO.
_Printed in France_]
But the hours pass and the first thing one knows it's time to get
ready for the noonday dinner. Grandmother stirs up the wood fire that
has been slumbering quietly, and then she breaks some eggs in the black
tiled hearth, while Fanny watches with great interest the omelette and
bacon that turns gold and sings in the flame. Grandmother knows better
than any one how to make ham omelettes and tell stories. Fanny, seated
on the little stove, her cheek no higher than the table, eats the
steaming omelette and drinks sparkling cider. Grandmother, however, as
her habit is, eats standing near the corner of the hearth. She holds her
knife in her right hand, and in the other her snack spread on a crust of
bread. When they have finished, both of them, Fanny says:
"Grandmother, tell me the story of the blue bird."
And grandmother tells her story of the blue bird, how a wicked fairy
changed a beautiful young prince into a bird the color of the deep sky,
and of the great sorrow the princess felt when she saw the change and
beheld her lover flying all ruddy and dripping toward the window of the
tower in which she was shut up.
Fanny is very thoughtful when she hears this story.
"Was it a long, long time ago, Grandmother, that the blue bird flew
toward the tower where the princess was shut up?"
Grandmother replies that it was all a good while ago, those things, in
the days when animals could talk.
"Were you young then?" asks Fanny. "I wasn't born yet," says
Grandmother. And Fanny says to her: "I suppose a great many things
happened before you were born, didn't they, Grandmother?"
When they are through with their little talk Grandmother gives Fanny an
apple and some bread.
"Now run away, pet, and eat this in the yard."
And Fanny goes out into the yard, where there are trees and grass and
flowers and little birds.
II
[Illustration]
Trees and grass and flowers and little birds there were in
grandmother's yard. Fanny did not believe there was a prettier yard than
this in all the world. Already she takes her knife from her pocket to
cut her bread as the village people do. She crunches into the apple
first thing of all and then begins to munch her bread. Just then a
little bird comes fluttering near her, then another, and then a third,
then ten, twenty, thirty of them, all circling about her, some of them
gray, some red, some brown and green and blue, all of them so pretty,
and all singing. Fanny could not guess at first what they all wanted.
But soon she perceives that they are after bread, like little beggars.
They are indeed beggars, but they are also songsters. Fanny was too
kindhearted to refuse them bread when they paid for it with songs. She
was only a little farmer's girl and she did not know that once upon a
time, in a country where white rocks bathe in the blue sea, a blind old
man earned his bread singing songs to the shepherds, songs that learned
men admire even to this day. But her heart heard the little birds, and
she threw them crumbs that scarcely touched the earth before they caught
them in the air.
[Illustration: SOON SHE PERCEIVED THAT THEY WERE AFTER BREAD, LIKE
LITTLE BEGGARS. THEY WERE INDEED BEGGARS, BUT THEY WERE ALSO SONGSTERS.
FANNY WAS TOO KINDHEARTED TO REFUSE THEM BREAD WHEN THEY PAID FOR IT
WITH SONGS.
_Printed in France_]
Fanny saw that the birds were not all of the same nature. Some of them,
ranged in a circle at her feet, waited till the crumbs fell near their
little beaks. They were philosophers. There were others who circled
neatly around her in the air, and one even who came and actually pecked
at the slice of bread in her hand.
[Illustration]
She crumbled the bread and threw the crumbs to them all. But they didn't
all eat it, because as Fanny could see, the boldest and cleverest left
nothing for the others.
"It isn't right," she said to them; "each one must take his turn."
They hardly heard her. One is not always heard when one speaks of
justice. She tried in every way to favor the weaker ones, and encourage
the timid, but she did not succeed with them. No matter how she tried
she fed the fat at the expense of the thin. It made her very sorry:
simple child that she was, she did not know it was the way of the world.
Crumb by crumb the slice of bread all went to the little singers, and
Fanny went into her grandmother's house again quite pleased.
III
At evening the grandmother took the basket in which Fanny had brought
the cake to her, and filling it with plums and raisins put the handle
over her arm, and said:
"Now, Fanny, run straight home, and don't stop to amuse yourself and
play with any of the village scamps. Be a good girl always. Good-bye."
[Illustration]
She kissed her, but Fanny stood a while very thoughtful at the
threshold.
"Grandmother," said she.
"Yes, Fanny dear."
"I should like so much to know," said Fanny, "if there were any fine
princes among the birds that ate my bread."
"No," said grandmother; "nowadays there are no more fairies, and the
birds are all creatures."
"Good-bye, Grandmother."
"Good-bye, Fanny."
[Illustration: AS SHE WENT ON HER WAY WITH EVEN STEPS AND LOOKING VERY
WISE AND GOOD SHE HEARD A PRETTY SOUND OF BIRDS CRYING BEHIND HER, AND
TURNING HER HEAD SHE RECOGNIZED THE LITTLE BEGGARS THAT SHE HAD FED WHEN
THEY WERE HUNGRY. THEY HAD BEEN FOLLOWING HER. "GOOD NIGHT, LITTLE
FRIENDS," SHE CALLED TO THEM. "GOOD NIGHT. IT'S TIME TO GO TO BED NOW.
GOOD NIGHT."
_Printed in France_]
And Fanny went away across the fields toward home. She could see the
chimney of her house smoking in the distance against the red sunset sky.
On the way she met Antony, the gardener's little boy, who said to her:
"Are you coming to play with me?"
"No," replied Fanny, "I'm not coming to play with you because my
grandmother told me not to stop. But I'll give you an apple, because I
like you very much."
Antony took the apple and kissed Fanny nicely.
[Illustration]
They loved each other dearly, these two. He would say: "She's my little
wife." And she would agree: "He's my little man."
As she went on her way with even steps and looking very wise and good
she heard a pretty sound of birds crying behind her, and turning her
head she recognized the little beggars that she had fed when they were
hungry. They had been following her.
"Goodnight, little friends," she called to them. "Good night. It's time
to go to bed now. Good night!"
And the little winged singers replied in cries that meant, in bird
language: "God keep you safe."
Thus Fanny came back home to her mother, followed by bird music in the
air.
IV
[Illustration]
Fanny went to bed before candle time in a little bed that a
cabinet-maker of the village had made a long time ago, with a frame of
walnut and graceful banisters. Long ago the good man had gone to sleep
in the shadow of the church, under a black cross, in a bed with a
coverlet of grass, for Fanny's bed had been her grandfather's when he
was a little baby, and the little girl slept now in the same place as
her ancestor. She slept. A cotton curtain with a pattern of roses
protected her slumbers. She slept and dreamed. She saw the blue bird
flying toward the castle of his love. He looked as beautiful as a star,
but she did not expect for a moment to see him perch on her shoulder.
She knew she was not a princess, and couldn't expect visits from a
prince changed into a bird the color of deep sky. However, she told
herself that all birds are not princes, that the birds in the village
are villagers and among them may well enough have been some country boy
changed into a sparrow by a wicked fairy, and having a love for Fanny in
his heart beneath his gray feathers. Such an one, if she should find
him, she would give not only bread, but cakes and kisses too. She would
like to see him. And now she does see him! He comes and perches on her
shoulder. He's just a little cock sparrow, not fine or rare, but very
alert and lively. To tell the truth his appearance is a little tousled:
one tail feather is missing, lost in a fight, that is unless he has
encountered some bad fairy in the village. Fanny suspects him of having
a bad head; but she is a girl, and it does not worry her that her cock
sparrow has a bad head if his heart is good. She pets him and calls him
pretty names. All of a sudden he grows bigger and longer: his wings
change into two arms. He turns into a boy, and Fanny recognizes Antony
the gardener's little boy, who says to her: "Let's come and play
together."
[Illustration: SHE JUMPS OUT OF BED IN HER NIGHTGOWN, OPENS THE WINDOW,
AND THERE IN THE GARDEN, AMONG THE ROSES AND GERANIUMS AND MORNING
GLORIES, ARE THE LITTLE BIRD BEGGARS, THE LITTLE MUSICIANS OF LAST
NIGHT, SITTING IN A ROW ON THE GARDEN FENCE AND GIVING HER A MORNING
SONG TO PAY FOR THEIR CRUMBS OF BREAD.
_Printed in France_]
She claps her hands with joy and starts to go--then suddenly wakes up.
She rubs her eyes. No sparrow, no Antony! She is alone in the little
room. The dawn, shining through the little flowered curtain, spreads its
innocent light on the bed. She hears the birds singing in the garden.
She jumps out of bed in her nightgown, opens the window, and there in
the garden, among the roses and geraniums and morning glories, are the
little bird beggars, the little musicians of last night, sitting in a
row on the fence rail and giving her a morning song to pay for their
crumbs of bread.
[Illustration]
THE FANCY DRESS PARTY
[Illustration]
Here are little boys like knights of old, and little girls who are
heroines. Here are shepherdesses with dresses looped up in paniers and
garlands of roses, and shepherds in satin suits with knots of ribbons on
their shepherd's crooks. Dear me, what pretty white sheep such shepherds
must have in their flocks! And here are Alexander and Zarius, Pyerhus
and Merope, Mahomet, Harlequin, Scapin, Blaise and Babette. They have
come from everywhere, from Greece and Rome and blue distant countries,
to dance with one another. It's a fine thing, a fancy dress ball, and
very agreeable for an hour or two to be a great king or an illustrious
princess. It has no inconveniences. You have not to sustain your
costumes by actions or even by your words.
It would not be very amusing to wear a hero's dress if you had to show
his courage too. The hearts of heroes are torn in all sorts of ways. For
the most part they are famous through their misfortunes. If any of
them lived happily they are not remembered now. Merope never cared about
dancing. Pyerhus was wickedly killed by Orestes just as he was going to
be married, and the innocent Zarius perished at the hands of the Turk
his friend, a philosophical trick indeed. As to Blaise and Babette the
song says that their pangs of love were never-ending.
[Illustration: AND HERE ARE ALEXANDER AND ZAIRA, PYRRHUS AND MEROPE,
MAHOMET, HARLEQUIN, SCAPIN, AND THE PASTORAL BLAISE AND BABETTE. THEY
HAVE COME FROM EVERYWHERE, FROM GREECE AND ROME AND THE BLUE COUNTRIES,
TO DANCE WITH ONE ANOTHER.
_Printed in France_]
In the same way, if it comes to Pierrot and Scapin, you know as well as
I that they were perfect rascals, and that people more than once tweaked
their ears for them. No, glory comes very high, even the glory of an
Harlequin. On the other hand it's very nice to be a little boy or girl
and masquerade as these old characters. That's why there's no fun like a
fancy ball where the costumes are fine enough. You feel grand just by
wearing them. See how well all the pretty company wears its plumes and
cloaks. What a fine and gallant air they have, how well they look and
how much old time grace they can display.
[Illustration]
On the balcony, in the part that you don't see in the picture, the
musicians tune their violins with a sweet and plaintive sound. The music
of a quadrille in the grand style is open on the leader's desk. They are
going to strike up this piece. At the first notes of it our heroes and
masks will step forth and dance.
THE SCHOOL
I declare I believe Miss Genseigne's school is the best school for girls
anywhere in the world. I maintain that those who believe and say the
contrary are false and misleading. All Miss Genseigne's scholars are
well-behaved and diligent. There is nothing so pleasant as to see them,
with their little stiff bodies and their heads so erect. You would say
they were so many little bottles into which Miss Genseigne was pouring
knowledge.
[Illustration]
Miss Genseigne sits up perfectly straight on her platform; very grave
and sweet. Her braided head band and her black cape inspire respect and
sympathy.
Miss Genseigne, who is very well educated, is giving a lesson in
arithmetic to her little pupils. She says to Rose Benoit: "Rose Benoit,
if I take four from a dozen how many have I left?"
"Four!" replies Rose Benoit. Miss Genseigne is not quite satisfied with
this answer.
"And you, Emmeline Capel, if I take four from a dozen how many have I
left?"
"Eight," replies Emmeline Capel.
[Illustration: ALL MISS GISSING'S SCHOLARS ARE WELL-BEHAVED AND
DILIGENT. THERE IS NOTHING SO PLEASANT AS TO SEE THEM, WITH THEIR LITTLE
STIFF BODIES AND THEIR HEADS SO ERECT.
_Printed in France_]
"You hear, Rose Benoit? I have eight left," adds Miss Genseigne.
Rose Benoit lapses into a deep revery. She hears Miss Genseigne say she
has eight left, but whether it is eight hats or handkerchiefs, or for
that matter eight apples or pens she does not know. The thing worries
her for quite a long while. She understands very little about
arithmetic.
On the other hand she is very well up in sacred history. Miss Genseigne
has not a single scholar who can describe the garden of Eden or Noah's
Ark like Rose Benoit. Rose Benoit knows all the flowers of paradise and
all the animals that were in the ark. She knows as many fables as Miss
Genseigne herself. She knows all the story of the Crow and the Fox, of
the Ass and the Little Dog, of the Cock and the Pullet. It never
surprises her to hear it said that the animals talked in the olden days.
She would be more surprised to hear that they did not talk any more. She
is quite sure that she understands the language of her big dog Tom, and
of little Cheep her canary. And she is right, too. Animals have always
talked, and always will talk, but they talk only to their friends. Rose
Benoit loves them and they love her. That's why she understands them. To
be understood there is nothing like sympathy.
[Illustration]
To-day Rose Benoit has recited her lesson without a fault. She receives
a good mark. Emmeline Capel too receives a good mark for her recitation
in arithmetic.
When the class is out she tells her mother about her good mark, and then
she asks: "What's the use of a good mark, Mamma?"
"A good mark is no use at all," says her mother. "That's just the reason
why you should be proud to have it. You will know one day, child, that
the rewards men think the most of are those that give them honor rather
than profit."
MARY
Little girls have a natural desire to gather flowers and stars. But
stars won't let themselves be picked and so seem to teach little girls
that in this world there are some desires that are destined never to be
satisfied.
Miss Mary went out in the park, where she discovered a basket of
hortensias. She knew that the flowers of hortensias are pretty, and so
she picked one. It was very hard to pick too. She seized the plant in
both hands, at great risk of sitting down hard when the stem broke. She
was very pleased and proud at what she'd done. But her nurse saw her:
and scolded and darted at Miss Mary, seizing her by the arm. To make her
do penance she did not put her in the dark closet this time, but posted
her underneath a great chestnut tree, in the shade of a big Japanese
umbrella.
[Illustration]
There Miss Mary sits, surprised and astonished, and thinks it all over.
Her flower in her hand, with the stripes of the umbrella making rays
around her, she looked like some queer little foreign idol.
[Illustration: THE LITTLE PENITENT, PERFECTLY STILL BENEATH HER SHINING
FRAME, LOOKS AROUND HER AT THE SKY AND THE EARTH. THEY ARE LARGE, THE
EARTH AND SKY, AND CAN AMUSE A LITTLE GIRL FOR A WHILE. BUT THE
HYDRANGEA INTERESTS HER MORE THAN ANYTHING.
_Printed in France_]
Her nurse said: "Mary, I forbid you to carry that flower in your mouth.
If you disobey me your little dog Toto will eat your ears up for
you"--with which warning she departed.
The little penitent, perfectly still beneath her shining frame, looks
around her at the sky and the earth. They are large, the earth and sky,
and can amuse a little girl for a while. But the hortensia flower
interests her more than anything. She reflects: "A flower should smell
good." And she raises nearer to her nose the beautiful rosy, blue
tempered ball. She tries to smell it but can smell nothing. She is not
clever at smelling perfumes. Not so very, very long ago she used to
breathe over the roses instead of sniffing them in. We must not laugh at
her for that: one can't learn everything at once. Besides, she might
have had, like her mother, a very subtle sense of smell that could smell
nothing. The flower of the hortensia has no odor. That is why one grows
tired of it, in spite of its beauty. But Miss Mary thinks: "This flower
is made of sugar, maybe." With that she opens her mouth wide, and starts
to raise the flower to her lips.
[Illustration]
A cry recalls her. Yap!
It is the little dog Toto, who, darting round a border of geraniums,
comes and sets himself, his ears straight up, before Miss Mary and looks
at her warningly with his round bright eyes.
PAN PIPES
Three children of the same village, Peter, James and John, are standing
up looking off at something. Ranged side by side they form together the
outline of a Pan Pipes with three reeds. Peter, at the left, is a big
boy; John, at the right, is small; James, between the two, may consider
himself big or little, according as he regards his neighbor on the left
or right. It is a situation upon which I invite you to meditate, for it
is yours, as it is mine or any one in the world's. Each one of us, just
like James, may consider himself great or small, according as his
neighbor cuts a big or little figure in the world.
[Illustration]
That's why one can truthfully say that James is neither big nor little;
that he is both big and little. It is as God wishes it to be. He is the
last reed of all in our living Pan Pipes.
[Illustration: THREE CHILDREN OF THE SAME VILLAGE, PETER, JAMES AND
JOHN, ARE STANDING UP LOOKING OFF AT SOMETHING. RANGED SIDE BY SIDE THEY
FORM TOGETHER THE OUTLINE OF A PAN PIPES WITH THREE REEDS.
_Printed in France_]
But what are his two comrades doing? They are gazing off
into space, all three of them. At what? At something which has
disappeared below the horizon, something which they can't see any more
but still see in their mind's eye, and which still dazzles them. Little
John has forgotten his eel-skin whip with which just now he incessantly
beat up his wooden shoes in the dusty road. Peter and James, their hands
behind their backs, gaze stolidly.
What they saw, all three, was the wagon of a travelling peddler, a wagon
drawn by his own arms, which had stopped in the village street.
The peddler pulled back the oilcloth that covered his wagon, and in a
minute any quantity of knives, scissors, little guns, puppets, soldiers
of wood and lead, cologne bottles, cakes of soap, pictures, a thousand
dazzling things were exposed to the admiring view of all the men, women
and children in the town. The servants from the farm and the mill were
pale with longing; Peter and James were red with joy. Little John lost
his tongue. Everything in the wagon seemed beautiful and precious to
them. But the most desirable things of all were the unknown articles of
which they could not guess either use or reason: as for example the
bowls polished like mirrors that reflected your face comically deformed;
paintings of Epinol, covered with faces more lively than reality; needle
cases and mysterious boxes that contained unimaginable things.
[Illustration]
The women made purchases of guimpes and lace by the yard, and the
peddler rolled the black oilcloth back again over the riches in his
wagon, and putting himself in the traces once more started on his
further way; and now the wagon and the waggoner have disappeared below
the horizon.
ROGER'S STABLE
It's a great care to keep up a stable. The horse is a delicate animal
and requires a thousand attentions. If you don't believe me ask Roger.
Just now he is grooming his beautiful chestnut, who would be the pearl
of wooden horses, the flower of the Black Forest steeds, if he had not
lost half his tail in battle. It's a matter of some moment with Roger to
know if wooden horses' tails grow in again.
[Illustration]
Again having made believe groom his horses, Roger gives them some
imaginary oats, for it is an understood thing that the little wooden
animals on which small boys ride through the land of dreams are always
fed in this way.
Behold Roger starting out for his ride. He has mounted his horse. Even
though the poor beast has no more ears, and all his mane looks like an
old broken comb, Roger loves him. Why?
[Illustration: JUST NOW HE IS GROOMING HIS BEAUTIFUL CHESTNUT, WHO WOULD
BE THE PEARL OF WOODEN HORSES, THE FLOWER OF THE BLACK FOREST STUD, IF
HE HAD NOT LOST HALF HIS TAIL IN BATTLE.
_Printed in France_]
It would be hard to say. This red horse was a present from a poor man,
and maybe there is some secret grace in the gifts of the poor. Remember
our Lord who blessed the widow's mite.
Roger is gone. He is quite far away. The flowers on the carpet already
seem to him like flowers in tropical, distant countries. A pleasant
journey, little Roger! May your hobby horse conduct you safely through
the world. May you never have a hobby more dangerous. Little or great we
all ride. Who has not his hobby?
[Illustration]
Men's hobbies ride like mad through all the ways of life; one makes a
bid for glory, another for pleasure; many of them jump from high places
and break their rider's necks. I hope when you are grown up, little
Roger, you will bestride two hobby horses that will keep you always in
the right path: one lively, the other quiet; both beautiful--courage and
kindness.
COURAGE
Louisa and Frederick have gone to school along the village street. The
sun is shining and the two children sing. They sing like the nightingale
because their hearts are gay. They sing an old song that their
grandmothers sang when they were little girls and which one day their
children's children will sing, for songs are frail immortals which fly
from lip to lip throughout the ages. The lips that sing them lose their
color and are silent one after the other, but the songs are always on
the wing. There are songs that come down to us from a time when all the
men were shepherds and all the women shepherdesses--which tell us of
nothing but sheep and wolves.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
Louisa and Frederick sing, their mouths round as flowers, and their song
rises shrill and clear on the morning air. But suddenly the sound
catches in Frederick's wind pipe.
What power invisible has strangled the song in this schoolboy throat?
It is fear. Each day inevitably, at the end of the village street, he
meets the dog that belongs to the big butcher, and each day his heart
shrivels and his legs grow weak at the sight. It is not the pig man's
dog ever attacks or menaces him. He just sits peaceably on the
threshold of his master's shop. But he is black, and his eyes are
fixed and bloodshot, and sharp, white teeth show beneath his baboon
jaws. He is terrifying. And then he sits there in the midst of all
sorts of meat cut up for pies and hashes, and seems the more terrible
on that account. Of course no one supposes he has been the cause of
all this carnage, but he presides over it. He's a fierce dog, the pig
man's. And so, as far away as Frederick can see him in the doorway, he
picks up a big stone, following the example of men he has seen arm
themselves in this way against surly dogs, and goes hugging the wall
of the house across the street from the pig butcher's closely.
[Illustration: THEY SING LIKE THE NIGHTINGALE BECAUSE THEIR HEARTS ARE
GAY. THEY SING AN OLD SONG THAT THEIR GRANDMOTHERS SANG WHEN THEY WERE
LITTLE GIRLS AND WHICH ONE DAY THEIR CHILDREN'S CHILDREN WILL SING, FOR
SONGS ARE FRAIL IMMORTALS WHICH FLY FROM LIP TO LIP THROUGHOUT THE AGES.
_Printed in France_]
This time he has followed this practice, but Louisa mocks at him.
She has taken none of these violent precautions, against which people
always arm themselves more violently still. No, she doesn't even speak
to him, but keeps on singing, only changing her tone in such a mocking
way that Frederick grows red to his ears. Then there is great travail in
his little head. He understands that he must fear fear as much as
danger. And he is afraid to be afraid.
[Illustration]
And so, when school is out, and he sees the pig man's dog again, he
stalks by that astonished animal proudly.
History adds that he looked at Louisa out of the corner of his eye to
see if she were looking. It must be admitted that with no ladies or
young maidens in the world men might be less brave.
CATHERINE'S DAY
Five o'clock, and Miss Catherine is receiving her dolls. It is her day
at home. The dolls don't talk: the little genius that gave them smiles
refused them speech. It must have been done for the good of the world,
for if dolls could talk people would listen to no one else. However, the
circle to-day is very animated. Miss Catherine talks for her visitors as
well as for herself. She makes the questions and gives the answers.
[Illustration]
"How are you, madame?--Very well, madame. I broke my arm yesterday
morning going to buy some gloves, but it's cured now.--Oh, that's good.
And how is your little girl?--She has the whooping cough.--Oh, what a
pity! Does she cough much?--No, it's a whooping cough that has no cough.
You know, madame, I had two children last week?--Really? That makes
four.--Four or five, I don't know which. When you have so many you get
confused.--You have a very pretty dress on.--Oh, I have still nicer ones
at home--Do you go to the theatre?--Every evening.--I went yesterday
to the opera, but Punch did not act, because a wolf ate him up.--I, my
dear, go to a dance every day.--That's very amusing.--Yes, I wear a blue
dress and I dance with all the young people, the very nicest, generals,
princes, confectioners.--You are as pretty as heart could wish to-day,
little one.--It's the springtime.--Yes, but too bad it snows.--I like
the snow, because it's so white.--Oh, but this is black snow.--Yes,
isn't it a horrid kind?"
[Illustration: THE LITTLE GENIUS THAT GAVE THEM SMILES REFUSED THEM
SPEECH. IT MUST HAVE BEEN DONE FOR THE GOOD OF THE WORLD. FOR IF DOLLS
COULD TALK PEOPLE WOULD LISTEN TO NO ONE ELSE. HOWEVER, THE CIRCLE
TO-DAY IS VERY ANIMATED. MISS CATHERINE TALKS FOR HER VISITORS AS WELL
AS FOR HER SELF.
_Printed in France_]
This fine conversation Miss Catherine maintains with much skill. I have
only one fault to find with it: she talks always to the same caller, who
is pretty and has a pretty dress. That is wrong. A good hostess is
equally polite to all her guests. She treats them all with
consideration, and if she shows any preference it is for those who are
most modest and least fortunate. One must flatter the unfortunate: it is
the only flattery that is permissible. But Catherine has found this out
herself. She has found the true politeness--which comes from the heart.
She serves tea to her guests, and remembers every one. Indeed, she
insists especially with those dollies that are poor or unhappy or shy
that they take some invisible cakes or sandwiches made of dominos.
[Illustration]
Catherine will one day be a hostess in whose drawing room no doubt
politeness of the real old-fashioned kind will flourish.
THE LITTLE SEA DOGS
[Illustration]
They are little sailors, real little sea dogs, every one. Look how they
pull their caps down low on their necks so that the sea wind, misty and
whistling, shall not split their ears with its terrible groanings. They
wear suits of heavy wool, for protection against the cold and damp.
Their made-over pea jackets and breeches were their elder brothers'
before them. Their garments in turn were made out of their fathers' old
suits. Their hearts too are of the same stuff as their father's--simple,
patient and full of courage. Since they came into the world they have
been simple and big of heart. Who has made them so? After God and their
fathers and mothers it is the ocean. The ocean teaches sailors courage
through danger--a rude benefactor.
[Illustration: THEY LOOK FOR THE BOATS THAT SAILED FOR THE FISHING
GROUNDS, AND THAT MUST NOW SOON APPEAR ON THE HORIZON LOADED TO THE
GUNWALES, AND BRINGING BACK UNCLES AND OLDER BROTHERS AND FATHERS.
_Printed in France_]
That is why the little sailors, in their childish hearts, bear such
brave thoughts. Stooping over the parapet of the stockade they look
off over the sea. They see more than the thin blue line of boundary
between the sky and sea. The ocean does not interest them for its fine
changing colors, nor the sky for the huge grotesque shapes of its
clouds. What they see off there in space is something more real to them
than the tint of waters and the face of the clouds: something that they
love. They look for the boats that sailed for the fishing grounds, and
that must now soon appear on the horizon bringing back besides their
full cargoes of shrimps, uncles and older brothers and fathers. The
little fleet will soon show its white or weather-stained sails down
there, between the ocean and God's good sky. To-day the sky is clear,
the ocean still: the tide brings the fishers gently to the shore. But
the ocean is a changeable old veteran, who takes many forms and sings in
many tones. To-day he smiles: to-morrow he will scold beneath his foamy
beard. He will capsize the ablest ships, ships that have been blest by
the priest with songs and Te Deums: he will drown his sturdiest patrons.
It is his fault that one sees, outside the doors where the chaluts dry
in the baskets, so many women wearing the black caps of widows.
[Illustration]
* * * * * *
Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistencies in names between the body text and illustration
captions--Zarius/Zaira, Pyerhus/Pyrrhus, Gissing's/Genseigne's,
hydrangea/hortensia--have been retained as they appear in the
original publication.
Changes have been made as follows:
Page 2
exploring for the hundreth _changed to_
exploring for the hundredth
Page 6
but Fanny stoood _changed to_
but Fanny stood
Page 12
And you, Emmaline Capel, if I _changed to_
And you, Emmeline Capel, if I
Page 12 insert
Full stop added to the end of the caption,
THEIR HEADS SO ERECT.
Page 13
would be more suprised _changed to_
would be more surprised
Page 15
"A flower should smell good" And _changed to_
"A flower should smell good." And
Page 21
and sees the more terrible _changed to_
and seems the more terrible
Page 24
Full stop added to the end of the caption,
OLDER BROTHERS AND FATHERS.
***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUR CHILDREN***
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