RECOLLECTIONS OF CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 3 



level of her modest life. Both of them watched with 

 ^ 



ceaseless solitude over their little Louis, of whom, 

 with mingled pride and tenderness, they used to say, 

 ' We will make of him an educated man.' 



In 1825 the Pasteur family quitted Dole and esta- 

 blished themselves at Arbois, where, on the borders 

 of the Cuisance, the father of our hero had bought a 

 small tanyard. At this town, and in this yard, Louis 

 Pasteur spent his childhood. As soon as he was old 

 enough to be received as a half-pay scholar he was 

 sent to the communal college. He, the smallest of 

 all the pupils, was so proud of passing under the great 

 arched doorway of this ancient establishment, that 

 he arrived laden with enormous dictionaries, of which 

 there was no need. 



In the midst of his laborious occupations the 

 father of Pasteur took upon himself the task of super- 

 intending his son's lessons every evening. This was ^ 

 at first no sinecure. Louis Pasteur did not always 

 take the shortest road either to reach his class or to 

 return to his work at home. Some old friends still 

 living remember having made with the little Pasteur 

 fishing parties, which proved so pleasant that they 

 have been continued to the present day. The boy, 

 moreover, instead of applying himself to his lessons, 

 often escaped and amused himself by making large 

 portraits of his neighbours, male and female. A 

 dozen of these portraits are still to be seen in the 



