26 November — Jean Bouleau. 



be taken suddenly away from all affectionate intercourse 

 and shut up in a narrow cage, and carried from fair to 

 fair like poor Gulliver in Brobdignag, but without the 

 tender care of Glumdalclitch ! As for the future fate 

 of this one, its owner admitted with sorrow that the 

 time must ultimately arrive when it would be necessary 

 to have him * bled ; ' but when that day came he hoped 

 he might be at a distance, and not be a witness of the 

 sacrifice. 



The society of people who live with Nature, though 

 it may be wanting in the variety of thought and expe- 

 rience that we find only in great cities, has always some 

 elements of interest ; and this forester, Jean Bouleau, 

 was very observant in his own way, and half a naturalist. 

 I learned afterwards that he had the reputation of being 

 a wonderfully skilful poacher ; and indeed a man in his 

 situation, buried in the depths of a vast forest, with no 

 neighbors but wild animals, would naturally be tempted 

 to lead the life of a trapper. His ostensible trade was 

 woodcutting, and he worked at it sufficiently to give a 

 fair color and pretext to his existence ; but a hardy and 

 adventurous spirit desires other excitements than con- 

 stant physical drudgery, and this man found in poach- 

 ing exactly the excitement that he needed. The reader 

 may ask how a man so well known to be a poacher 

 could go on year after year without exciting hostility 

 enough to drive him out of the country ; but the diffi- 

 culty in this part of France is, that however strong 

 the evidence against poachers, the magistrates will not 

 convict. One conviction certainly did take place some 



