HOME LIFE AND EARLY TRAINING 13 



with feverish energy. Grave, quiet, and retiring, he 

 cared little for the usual sports and diversions of 

 student life, and he looked forward to holidays 

 chiefly as affording an opportunity to read in the 

 library. His friend Chappuis would sometimes 

 coax him for a walk when Pasteur would talk of 

 tartaric acid, racemic acid, crystals, and other 

 topics which had fascinated him and on which his 

 mind continually brooded. He loved to expound 

 subjects in which he was interested, and he found 

 time to give some lessons in the school of M. Bar- 

 bet in recognition of the kindness which the latter 

 had shown him during his early struggles in Paris. 

 "I am glad," his father wrote, "to see that you are 

 giving lessons at M. Barbet's. He has done us so 

 many favors that I am pleased to see you do some- 

 thing to prove your gratitude. Be therefore always 

 obliging to him. Not only do you owe this to your- 

 self, but you owe it also for the sake of others. It 

 may make him act as he has to you toward other 

 young men who perhaps without it would be 

 handicapped in their future career." 



Jean Joseph Pasteur was highly pleased with the 

 progress of his son, but he was apprehensive that 

 the work of the school would prove too taxing. 

 "You know how much we are concerned about 



