CHAPTER X 



THE PROFESSOR: AVIGNON (1852-1870) 



TN 1852 the Professor of Physics and 

 *- Chemistry in the lycee of Ajaccio was 

 transferred to the lycee of Avignon. 



Fabre was not yet twenty-seven. His 

 youth, his enthusiasm, his good humour, the 

 simplicity of his manners, and the vivacity of 

 his mind naturally endeared him to young 

 people eager for knowledge and the ideal. 

 A few lines from the Souvenirs give us some 

 idea of the relations between master and pu- 

 pils: "There were five or six of us: I was 

 the oldest, their master, but still more their 

 companion and their friend; they were young 

 fellows with warm hearts and cheerful imagi- 

 nations, overflowing with that springtide sap 

 of life which makes us so expansive, so de- 

 sirous of knowledge." 



One guesses that he is speaking of one of 

 those country walks on which, with a guide 

 such as Fabre, everything became a source 

 of instruction and an object of wonder and 

 admiration. 



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