Fruitfulness

the child a bath," exclaimed Mathieu half

ath ready," replied Marianne, "

d by the dispute, and h

s that in spite of the doctor's advice Marianne had made the journey but fifteen days after giving birth to her little boy. However, a precocious springtide brought with it that March such balmy warmth and sunshine that the only

u have him in your arms from morning till night. And, besides, if you only

delighted to be back at Chantebled, which recalled to them such loving memories. That room, looking towards the far

bed. "The fact is," said she, "Master Gervais is sound asleep.

s they laughed delightedly over the cradle in which the little one slumbered. He was a fine child, pink and white already; but only a father and mother could thu

ow, he

oo. He looked at me:

the c

themselves repeated in the child, mingled as it were together; and detected extraordinary likenesses, which for hours and for days kept them discuss

ashing him with a soft sponge for some three minutes, while Marianne, from her bed, watched over the operation, jesting about the delicacy of touch that he displayed, as if the child were some fragile new-born divinity whom he feared to bruise with his big hands. At the same time they continued marvelling at the delight

ped him to wipe the boy with a fine cloth

m of the weighing scales to such a degree that it was impossible to arrive at his correct weight, in order to ascertain how much this had increased since the previo

d, and give me the little one in his napkin.

t a gallop, like frolicsome escaped colts. Having thrown themselves on papa's neck and rushed upon mamma's bed to say good-morning, the boys stopped short, full of admiration and interest at the sight of Gervais in the scales

d already stretched out their little hands, so t

de," said Mathieu. "Take your hats and remai

ng the week. After losing weight during the first three days, like all new-born children, he was now growing and filling out like a strong, healthy human plant. They could already picture him

But it is all right; the soup is on the fire,

nd she wore a white flannel lace-trimmed dressing-jacket, which allowed but a little of her bare arms to be seen. Propped up by two pillows, she laughingly

t to draw one of the curtains, but Marianne exclaimed: "No, no, leave us the

is no more glorious blossoming, no more sacred symbol of living eternity than an infant at its mother's breast. It is like a prolongation

have warmth and nourishment. And nothing could be more simple or more necessary. Marianne, both for her own

gain with a big bunch of lilac, and announced that Monsieur and Madame Angel

Marianne gayly; "I ca

me fellow, fair and square shouldered, had the gallant mien of a musketeer with his streaming moustache. In addition to their ten thousand francs a year, which enabled them to live as they liked, he earned a little money by painting pretty fans, flowery with

uding?" called Angelin, in his s

s she had kissed Marianne, apolo

ll forgive us, won't you?" Then, never waiting for an answer, she added with the petulant vivacity of a tom-tit whom the open air had intoxicated: "Oh! so there is the new little gentleman-a boy, am I not right? A

mple. "Ah yes, he is really a pretty baby. But I have seen so many frightful ones-thin, puny, bluish l

d by offspring, while they were young. As for what might happen in five or six years' time, that, of course, was another matter. Nevertheless, Madame Angelin could not h

certainly could not feed a child. I should h

ed. "I would never allow you t

d apologized to Marianne, explaining that no mother possessed of m

children, even were there a dozen of them. To begin with, it is so healthful, you know, both for mother and child: and if I di

! I should feel too jealous. I want my children to be entirely my own. And it isn't merely a question of a child's physical health. I speak of his whole being, of the intelligence and heart that will come to him, and which

very mother could hear her, and make it the fashion in France once more to suckle their infants. It would

g clamor of little wildings, freely romping in the fields. And it was all caused by Ambroise throwing a ball, which had lodged itself on a tree. Blaise and Denis were flinging stone

Claire, "what will it b

romp and shout," said Marianne, much amused. "Good-by

h, peacefulness, and love. But while he did not desire the power procured by a high position and the enjoyment offered by a large fortune, he could not help asking himself how he was to provide, were it ever so modestly, for his increasing family. What would he be able to do, should he have other children; how would he procure the necessaries of life each time that a fresh birth might impose fresh requirements upon him? One situated as he was must create resources, draw food from the earth step by step, each time a little mouth opened and cried its hunger aloud. Otherwise he would be guilty of criminal improvidence. And such reflections as these came upon him the more strongly as his penury had increased since the birth of Gervais-to such a point, indeed, that M

in his mind. He would pause for long minutes, now before a field of wheat, now on the verge of a leafy wood, now on the margin of a river whose waters glistened in the sunshine, and now amid the nettles of some stony moorland. All sorts of vague plans then rose within him, uncertain reveries of such vast scope, such singularity, that he had as yet spoken of them to nobody, not even his wife. Others would doubtless have mocked at him, for he had as yet but reached that dim, quivering hour when inventors feel the gust of their discovery sweep over them, before the idea that they are revolving presents itself with full precision to their minds. Y

as far as the bridge over the Yeuse to await Mathieu, who had promised to return early. Indeed, he got there before six o'clock. And

ntic old mill, you know; though if it were mine I should

lies, they found the Lepailleurs, the man tall, dry, and carroty, the woman as carroty and as dry as himself, but

aimed; "yes, certainly, ma

ever, but stood looking at Gervais,

e's plump and pretty enough

splays towards the bourgeois whom he knows to be hard up, he said: "And so that makes

and don't you own fields, to give labor to the arms that woul

mill that would ever enrich him, since it had enriched neither his father nor his grandfather. And as for his fields, well, that was a pretty dowry that his wi

ought to be repaired and its old mechanism replaced,

lied. "What would be the use of it? As it is, people hereabouts have

t is because you cultivate them badly, following the old rou

folks to rack and ruin! Ah! I should just like to see you trying to culti

ived in his hole like an ignorant beast. But, none the less, on leaving his regiment he had lost all taste for work and come to the conclusion that agriculture was doomed, and would never give him aught but dry bread to eat. The land would soon be bankrupt, and the peas

n indeed! No, no! There's Antonin, of course, and for him we may just be able to provide. But I assure you that I won't even make Antonin a peasant against his will! If he takes to schooling and wishes to go to Paris, I shall tell him that he's quite right, for

all labor and wealth, when this peasant, sprung from peasants, cursed and insulted the earth, and hoped that his son would altogether renounce it? Never had anything struck him as mor

old mistress who would revenge herself. In your place I would lay myself out to obtain from her, by increase of care, all that I might w

s fists, retorted: "No, no

ast abandoned estate yonder-that Chantebled-which old Seguin, formerly, dreamt of turning into a princely domain. There are great stretches of waste land, woods whic

ar those stony tracts, wade about in those marshes! Why, one might bury millions there without reaping a single bushel of oats! It's a cursed spot, which my grandfather's father sa

etly concluded. "When one only lov

rage at being unable to amass money by the handful without any great exertion, and in their ambition to make their son a gentleman, since only a gentleman could become wealthy. And thus, as Marianne w

eady, and we are going to put him to school. If he tak

y came back to the verge of the woods and sat down under an oak. Thence the whole expanse spread out before them, from the little pavilion where they dwelt to the distant village of Janville. On their right was the great marshy plateau, from which broad, dry, sterile slopes descended; while lower ground stretched away on their left. Then, behind them, spread the woods with deep thickets parted by clearings, full of herbage which no scythe had ever touched

e children; "we shall stay under this oak

rred to play at gathering wild flowers. The open air fairly intoxicated the youngsters; the herbage rose, here and there, to their very shoulders. But t

, some spring which suddenly bubbled up and was then lost in mire. Nevertheless, she felt that there was no sadness nor feeling of indifference in his heart; for as soon as he returned to her he laughed once more with his soft, loving laugh. It was she who o

rie, his glance wandering afar, studying the great varied

mug, from which it was intended they should drink while taking their snack, she had noticed that the child raised his head and followed the movement of

ancying it!" she exclaimed. "It is certain that he can s

bration of that first clear glance. And the

er, yielding to the same feeling of rapture, "there he is smiling at you now.

are right, he is laughing! Ah! how

t the sight of that infantile smile, vague and fleetin

r the young foliage around them: "Come, Rose! come, Ambroise! come, B

anne, having drawn some slices of bread-and-butter from it, proceeded to distribute them. Perfect silence ensued while all four children began biting with

er the sunlight which steeped her in golden radiance, in full view of the far-spreading countryside, where all likewise was bare-the soil, the trees, the plants, streaming with sap-having seated herself in the

xclaimed. "Don't pinch me s

on came back to him, and he at last gave voice to those plans for the future which haunted him, and of which he had so far spoken to nobody: "Ah, well, it is high t

ur secret if the time has come. Oh! I could guess that you had some g

the eternal mother, eternal life? She only shows herself a bad mother to her bad sons, the malicious, the obstinate, and the dull-witted, who do not know how to love and cultivate her. But if an intelligent son comes and devotes himself to her, and works her with the help of experience and all the new systems

with reeds and rushes. But picture a man of bold mind, a clearer, a conqueror, who should drain those lands and rid them of superfluous water by means of a few canals which might easily be dug! Why, then a huge stretch of land would be reclaimed, handed over to cultivation, and wheat would grow there with extraordinary vigor. But that is not all. There is the expanse before us, those gentle slopes from Janville to Vieux-Bourg, that is another five hundred acres, which are left almost uncultivated on account of their dryness, the stony poverty of their soil.

over all that he evoked from his dream. But she was frightened by the vastn

we shall ever possess so much-that our fortune will spread over the entire re

I have said to you; and, besides, what harm can there be in dreaming of great plans to give oneself faith and courage? Meantime I intend to try cultivating just a few acres, which Seguin will no doubt sell me cheaply enough, together with the little pavilion in which we live. I know that the unproductive

the rise of a spring-a slender rill of milk that is to swell and become a river. Around her the mother heard that source springing up and spreading on all sides. She was not nourishing alone: the sap of April was dilating the land, sending a quiver through the woods, raising the long herbage which embowered her. And beneath her, from the bosom of the earth, which was ever in travail, she felt