The Schoolboy: Saint-Leons 



serve so learned an appellation, it must possess a 

 genuine importance. 



The same books told me the name of the one 

 that had amused me so much with its smoking 

 chimney. It is called the Puffball in English, but 

 its French name is the Vesse-de-loup. I disliked 

 the expression, which to my mind smacked of bad 

 company. Next to it was a more decent denomi- 

 nation: Lycoperdon; but this was only so in ap- 

 pearance, for Greek roots sooner or later taught 

 me that Lycoperdon means Vesse-de-loupe and noth- 

 ing else. 



How far off are those blessed times when my 

 childish curiosity sought solitary exercise in making 

 itself acquainted with the mushroom! " Eheu! 

 Fugaces labuntur anni! " said Horace. Ah, yes, 

 the years glide fleeting by, especially when they 

 are nearing their end! They were once the merry 

 brook that dallies among the willows on imper- 

 ceptible slopes ; to-day, they are the torrent swirl- 

 ing a thousand straws along as it rushes towards 

 the abyss. 1 



Can one imagine a more picturesque and 

 original fashion of sketching the outline of 

 one's earliest memories? We have collected 

 these memories, which he has scattered so 

 profusely over the pages of his books, with 

 pious care, because they so delightfully re- 



1 Souvenirs, pp. 292-300. The Life of the Fly, chap, 

 xvii., " Recollections of Childhood." 



61 



