Come back to Clarens; train my children, comfort their noble father,
lead him into the light of Christian faith. Claire, like yourself, is
about to lose the half of her life; let each of you preserve the other
half by a union that in these latter days I have often wished to bring
about.

Adieu, sweet friend, adieu!

* * * * *




BERNARDIN DE ST. PIERRE


Paul and Virginia


Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint Pierre was born at Havre on
January 19, 1737. Like many boys that are natives of seaports,
he was anxious to become a sailor; but a single voyage cured
him of his desire for a seafaring life, although not of his
love for travel. For some years afterwards he was a rolling
stone, sometimes soldier and sometimes engineer, visiting one
European country after another. In 1771 he obtained a
government appointment in Mauritius, a spot which was the
subject of his first book (see TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE, Vol.
XIX), and which was afterwards made the scene of "Paul and
Virginia." In his "Nature Studies," 1783, he showed an