. The bird. Birds. 22 HOW THE AUTHOR WAS LED TO. to a Protestant family, and after passing througli SiM many hands before it fell into ours, still retained the graves of its ancient owners—simple hillocks of turf, where the proscribed had enshrined their dead under a thick gi-ove of oaks. I need hardly say, that these trees and these tombs, consecrated by their very oblivion, were religiously respected by my father. Each grave was marked out by rose-bushes, which his own hands had planted. These sweet odours, these bright blossoms, concealed the gloom of death, while suffering, neverthe- less,
. The bird. Birds. 22 HOW THE AUTHOR WAS LED TO. to a Protestant family, and after passing througli SiM many hands before it fell into ours, still retained the graves of its ancient owners—simple hillocks of turf, where the proscribed had enshrined their dead under a thick gi-ove of oaks. I need hardly say, that these trees and these tombs, consecrated by their very oblivion, were religiously respected by my father. Each grave was marked out by rose-bushes, which his own hands had planted. These sweet odours, these bright blossoms, concealed the gloom of death, while suffering, neverthe- less, something of its melancholy to remain. Thither, then, we were drawn, and as it were in spite of our- selves, at evening time. Overcome by emotion, we often mourned over the departed ; and, at each falHng star, exclaimed, ' It is a soul which passes !' * " In this living country-side, among alternate joys and pains, I lived for ten years—from four to fourteen. I had no comrades. My sister, five years older than myself, was the companion of my mother when I was still but a little girl. My brothers, numerous enough to play among themselves without my help, often left me all alone in the hours of recreation. If they ran off to the fields, I could only follow them with my eyes. fm I passed, then, many solitary hours in wandering near the house, and in the long garden alleys. There I acquired, in spite of a natural vivacity, habits of con- * Alluding to a popular superstition, wiiich Beranger has made the subject of a fine lyric :— " AVhat means the fall of yonder star, Which falls, falls, and fades away? My son, whene'er a mortal dies, Earthward liis star drops ; — Translator. w. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Michelet, Jules, 1798-1874; Giacomelli, Hector, 1822-
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Keywords: ., bookauthormich, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbirds
