Madame Guizot

“ THE EFFECTS OF A MISFORTUNE.
"How delighted I am that Robert is gone!" exclaimed Caroline de Manzay, as she entered her mother's room; "I never knew anybody so disagreeable!"
"What!" said Madame de Manzay, "not even Denis?"
"Oh! that is quite different; Denis is teazing and troublesome, meddles with everything, and is angry when prevented; he jeers and laughs at one, and becomes passionate and insulting when contradicted; but then he is a mere child, and one overlooks it." ”

“ Nadir, in his turn, was visited by misfortune. Calumny pursued him: injustice extended high enough to reach him. He was banished from the wife of his bosom, from the son whose eyes were just opened to the light, and his life was dried up like the summer, when, although full of fire and vigour, it has lost its colours.
The people, whom he had taught to be industrious and happy, were given up to avaricious men, who converted their labour into an oppressive burden; and the memories which once refreshed the soul of Nadir now became to him a bitter and empoisoned spring. ”

“ Francisco increased the man's anger, by the rage into which he put himself; the poor Angevin employed prayers and tears, to soften the innkeeper; while José, ashamed, and in despair, maintained a gloomy silence, abandoning himself to the most melancholy reflections, when his name, pronounced by a severe and well-known voice, made him utter a cry, and hide his face in his hands.
The voice was that of the good and vigilant Gabri, who had been induced by his active friendship for José to follow him to the fête, and to watch over the inexperience which he very justly attributed to him. ”

“ Francisco, however, could only teach him the elements and mechanical details of art, things which José's genius rendered almost useless to him. Drawing even was not enough; he burned with a desire to paint, and found a secret pleasure in touching palettes and colours. Examining with attention the occupations of the various painters on whom he waited with parcels, his imagination became excited, and when alone in his garret, he grieved at being only able to work with black and white. He took good care, however, to keep from Madame Barbe the knowledge of his favourite amusement. ”

“ I fear to trust my own affection; I fear to speak of you more favourably than the event may justify. Nevertheless, dear Louis, I trust he will be pleased with us. One thing alone disturbs me," she continued, "I am not satisfied with the tone of your last letter when speaking of your aunt. My dear child, I must warn you that your father, who is much weakened by long-continued exertion and severe suffering, is unable to bear the slightest agitation; it is necessary for him that the whole house should be as tranquil as the apartment of an invalid. ”

“ When the Curé had concluded his story, he raised his head, took off his spectacles, and looking round at the children, said, "Well, now, which would you rather be,—Madame Ballier or Louis?"
"Oh! there is no great difficulty in deciding that question," replied Amadeus.
"You know, Monsieur le Curé," said Paul, "that everybody would like better to be an amiable person than one who is not so."
"I think," remarked Juliana, with her disdainful tone, "it was hardly worth while to ask such a question." ”

“ The next day Nadir returned to seek the sage, and thus addressed him:—"Father, man is not like the flower, fixed upon a stem, he can of himself advance towards his destiny; ought he then, like the Rose, to wait until the traveller demands his perfume? Tell me, oh! father, what is the destiny which God has assigned to man; what is the happiness to which it is the will of Heaven that he should aspire?"
"My son," replied the sage, "the virtue as well as the happiness of the plant consists in patience. ”

“ Are you still so happy as to possess a father and a mother, to whom you may afford inexpressible joy by your affection and your good conduct? Ah! if any one of you has hitherto neglected to procure them this felicity, I will take upon me the office of a conscience which cannot fail some day to awaken, and I tell him that a time will come when nothing can afford him consolation if he has to say to himself, "They loved me above all things, yet I have seen them expire without having given them the happiness of being able to say, My child is virtuous." ”

“ At this moment, Caroline entered the room.
"Your apartment is quite ready, Robert," she said; "shall Stephen conduct you to it, or would you rather take supper immediately?"
"Just as you please, I am quite at your disposal," replied Robert, in a ceremonious manner, corresponding, perfectly, with the extreme politeness of Caroline.
They were both of them ill at ease, infinitely more so than they would have been with total strangers, when a little constraint would have been natural. In fact, when all is real, there can be no embarrassment. ”

“ I sow amongst them the good seed of virtue, and they return to me the tares of vice."
"Brave Zuléiman," replied Nadir, "men become perverse through hatred of a rule opposed to their inclinations. Think not to conduct them to good by laws at variance with the powers which God has bestowed upon them for its attainment. The will of a tyrant is like a thunderbolt hurled against a rock: the rock turns it off, and it strikes a temple."
One day a slave was labouring with his axe on the gnarled trunk of an oak which he wished to fell. ”

“ I wished merely to show you how very disagreeable it is for young persons when their relations happen to be bad-tempered, and at the same time to point out to you that when such is the case it is the duty of the young to make every sacrifice rather than displease their relations."
"It was not very difficult for Louis to do what his mother wished," said Juliana, in a tone which betrayed a little vexation; "she always spoke to him so gently."
"Well! that is good!" cried Amadeus. ”

“ Nadir also glanced upon the slight stratum of ashes which the flame had left upon the rock, and said, "While the flame devoured these brambles, it warmed my limbs and my heart. When God drew man from the treasures of his power, he said to him, 'Thou hast the choice of being either the flame which devours the trunk of the oak, or the heat which emanates from it, and rejoices the heart of man.' The wicked replied, 'I will be the devouring flame;' and he thinks only of devouring; but God has forced him to produce the heat. ”

“ Suppose now that you had received a letter from the school, saying that your brother was ill, would you not have thought it allowable to show your grief on such an occasion before the princess?"
"Yes, indeed, mamma," replied Adela quickly.
"You see then that when we suffer real evils we may complain of them before strangers, it is only when things are too trifling to deserve notice, that it is ridiculous to make complaints in their presence, and since they do not deserve notice, it is just as ridiculous to complain of them when strangers are not present." ”

“ He knew what is still more difficult: how to select the narrow path of duty in the intricate ways of life, and to trace out its precise direction; the only rule capable of sustaining the mind of man, and of guiding his will amidst the uncertainties of desire. The three youths addressed him at once: "Father," said they, "enlighten our doubts, unfold to us the destiny of this Rose."
As the sage was about to reply, warlike sounds were heard. Zuléiman sprang forward, seized his arms, and hurried to range himself beneath the standard of the Sophi. ”

“ Madame Leroi made no reply, but a moment after she said to her daughter, "Marietta, I am thinking next week of beginning to teach you to draw with your elbow."
"What, mamma!" exclaimed Marietta, with a burst of laughter, "To draw with my elbow! And how shall I hold my pencil?"
"With the point of your elbow; nothing is easier."
"Why, mamma, what are you talking about?" continued Marietta, laughing still more vehemently. ”

“ Nevertheless, as Cecilia possessed a generous disposition, an elevated mind, a lively imagination, and a due share of pride, she had a passionate admiration for high and noble actions, and even a great desire to imitate them, sometimes saying that she would give everything in the world for an opportunity of becoming a heroine. "Provided," her mother would add with a smile, "that your acts of heroism never exposed you to the chance of being scratched by a thorn, or to the necessity of walking a few steps in uneasy shoes." ”

“ One day he had to make his choice between two paths. "The first," it was said, "will conduct you to the abodes of a happy people, rich in the joys of life, and skilful in using them: your talents and beauty will there secure to you pleasure, glory, and fortune. By following the other, you will find a tribe of savage men, wild as their native woods, hard as the rocks they scale." The young blood of Nadir rushed towards the spot where difficulty and labour awaited him. He recollected the words of the sage, and found them grateful to his heart. ”

“ They several times fell in with a troop of young men, pupils of a different master, and their rivals in glory and talent. These two studios were jealous and inimical, as well from party spirit as from a sentiment of attachment to their masters; and this animosity had been manifested in more than one encounter of class against class, for there existed between them no individual aversion. On this occasion, they looked at each other with an expression of irony.
"Oh, oh!" cried José's companions, "here are the Princes of Babocheux and Flou-flou." ”

“ Poor little Stephen was left all day long to himself; Monsieur de Manzay wandered about in the park; his daughter shut herself up in her room; and no one attempted to assist anyone else in supporting the weight of grief, by which each was oppressed. Caroline, as usual, was weeping in her own apartment, when an old servant, who had been in the family from the birth of her father, and who had just seen his master, seated, alone, in his wife's room, thinking he would like to see his daughter, went to her, and said, "Pray go, Miss Caroline, to my master. Poor gentleman! he has no one now but you." ”

“ It was with difficulty that they kept their shawls around them; the snow assailed them on all sides, melting upon them, and penetrating their clothes; and they were benumbed by a damp coldness, from which their inability to move left them no means of escape. Cecilia did not think of complaining, for no one could have assisted her; besides, she could not doubt that her mother suffered as much as herself, and complaints are seldom made except to excite the pity of those who seem better off than we are, and who, therefore, are able to think of us rather than of themselves. ”

“ The character even is improved in these studious reunions—images in miniature of the great world into which they will have, at a later period, to be thrown; it is no longer the rod and the rule of college, but it is still the salutary influence of companionship; it is emulation, and a something of the honours of renown, without that alloy which so often spoils it for man. But woe to the sullen and morose! woe to those who cherish absurd or bad propensities! for justice is speedily rendered either by bitter sarcasm or by force. ”

“ Alone in the apartment adjoining that of the invalid, he had roused himself from a long and painful stupor: he listened, and heard only the voice of his aged tutor, who had been his father's preceptor also, and who, now seeing the approach of the shadows of death, gave him his blessing in these words: "Go calmly to thy sleep, virtuous soul! May all thy good actions, all thy promises fulfilled, all thy pious thoughts, be gathered around thee at the close of life, as the beautiful clouds of evening gather round the sun when sinking in the west! ”

“ After all, my children, added M. de Flaumont, do not think that virtue is always so difficult. Our true duties are usually placed within our reach, so that they may be performed without much effort; still, as cases may arise in which effort is necessary, we ought to be prepared with means of supporting those efforts. We ought to accustom ourselves to consider duty as being quite as indispensable when it is difficult as when it is easy; and we ought, also, to have our minds so prepared, that we shall not magnify difficulties to such a degree as to render them insurmountable. ”