Maria Chapdelaine

ney down to the last and littlest item, and given not only the news of St. Prime

ck; Telesphore was listening too, as he mended his dog's harness with bits of string. Madame Chapdelaine stirred the fire in the big cast-iron stove, came and went, brought from the cupboard plates and dishes, the loaf of bread and pitcher of

eaches school ... Eight years since I was at St. Prime, just to think of it! A fine parish indeed, that would have suited me nicely; good level land as far as you can see, no rock cropping up and no bush, everywhere square-cornered fields with handsome straight fences an

barn built of ill-joined planks that showed marks of fire, and the land beyond still covered with stumps and encompa

etting." The dog laid his long head with the sad eyes upon her k

se. "Every morning he used to look at your bed to see if you were not b

es at each pat. Maria looked about her to see if some change, un

wooden cupboard; close by, the table; a bench against the wall; on the other side of the door the sink and the pump. A partition beginning at the opposite wall seemed designed to divide the house in two, but it stopped before reaching the stove and did not begin again bey

teep stairway ascended from a corner to the loft where the boys slept in the summer-time; with the comi

arms-a rosy-faced Jesus with great blue eyes, holding out his chubby hands; a representation of some unidentified saint looking rapturously

girl while I was

has been a perfect torment to me. It is not so much that he does what is wrong

e him a proper conviction of besetting sin his mother had fashioned for herself a most involved kind of polytheism, had peopled the world with evil spirits and good who influenced him alternately

e empty preserve jar:-"It was the

lanation:-"The Demon of disobedience lured me into that. Beyond doubt it was he." With the same br

! He must not be allowed to come back, this bad spir

his mother. "But when you feel the temptation c

urer and the more amusing way, and he was accustomed to picture to himself a tremendous duel, a lingering s

he cross; the noise of chairs and bench drawn in; spoons clattering on plates. To Maria it was as though since her absence she was giving attention for the first time in her life to these sounds and movem

footstep sounded without; Chien pri

r Chapdelaine, "Eutrope Gagn

d two miles away, with his brother; the brother had gone to the shanties for the winter, and he was l

p. "A fine night, and there is still a crust on the snow-, as the walking was

se that he directed his remarks, partly through shyness, partly out of defe

wet it will be by very little. One can feel

dding more to the same effect. And naturally the theme was the Canadian's never-ending plaint; his protest, falling short of actual revolt, against the heavy burden of the long winter.

before they can be t

peaking of the fowls; it takes something to feed the

to build a rail-fence. These two years he had taken turn beside his father with ax and scythe, driven the big wood-sleigh over the hard snow, sown and reaped on his own responsibility; and thus it was that no one disputed his right freely to express an opinion and to smoke incessantly the strong leaf-tobacco. His face was still smooth as a child's, with immature features and guileless eyes, and one not knowing him would probably

es provision for man and beast. Up here man himself, by dint of work, must care for his animals and

ch in these parts,"

ive at all you must watch every copper, labour from morning to night,

revisiting the older parishes where the land has long been cleared a

work, they two, Tit'Bé, and I, and presently we shall have our land cleared. With four good men ax in hand and not afraid of work things will go quickly, even in t

bour that transforms the incult woods, barren of sustenance, to smiling fields, ploughed

comfortable farm; and five times he had sold out to begin it all again farther north, suddenly losing interest; energy and ambition vanishing once the first rough work was done, when neighbours appeared and the countryside began to be opened

ubt, who hast condemned man to earn his bread in the sweat of his face, canst Thou for a moment smooth the awful frown

he burden lifted; the heavy burden of labour and of care. It means leave to rest, the which, even if it be unused, is a new mercy every moment. To the old it means so much of the pride of life as no one would den

ted their own incapacity for enjoying the conquest, and toil on till death; it is the others, the ill-endowed or the unlucky, who

man who knows himself strong and believes himself wise; the mother with a gentle resignation; the others, the younger ones, i

requent visits, nor felt displeasure when every Sunday evening added to the family circle this brown face that was continually so patient and good-humoured; but the short abs

then Eutrope looked at his big silver watch and said that it was time to be going. His la

, a spring rain with great drops that fell heavily, under which the snow was already softening and melting. "The

he door, hearkening to the sweet patter of the rain, watching the indistinct movement of cloud in

far ... Spring

nce the earth began was there a spr