reading and writing as a matter of course, and then a complete
education in cooking and domestic economy, so that she might be a
useful and efficient wife and mother when the proper time for such
duties came. Astronomy he felt they could both do without, and most
of the "physical sciences." Religion he considered an absolute
necessity, and this was the very thing that was totally omitted from
the national course of education. He was well aware that there are
countless numbers of unhappy people nowadays who despise religion
and mock at the very idea of a God. Every day he saw certain works
exposed for sale on the out-of-door bookstalls which in their very
titles proclaimed the hideous tone of blasphemy which in France is
gradually becoming universal,--but this did not affect his own sense
of what was right and just. He was a very plain common man, but he
held holy things in reverence, and instinctively felt that, if the
world were in truth a bad place, it was likely to become much worse
if all faith in God were taken out of it. And when he reached his
plot of ground that morning, and set to work as usual, he was, for a
non-reflective man, very much absorbed in thought. His heavy
tramping feet over the soil startled some little brown birds from
their hidden nests, and sent them flying to and fro through the
clear air uttering sharp chirrups of terror,--and, leaning on his
spade, he paused and looked at them meditatively.

"Everything is afraid," he said,--"Birds, beasts, and men,--all are
afraid of something and cannot tell what it is that frightens them.
It seems hard sometimes that there should be so much trouble and
struggle just to live--however, the good God knows best,--and if we
could not think and hope and believe He knew best, we might just as
well light up a charcoal fire, shut all the doors and windows, and
say 'Bon jour! Bon jour, Monsieur le bon Dieu!--for if YOU do not