1822—1843 15 



the influence of the father and mother in the education of his 

 sisters, who had not so great a love of industry as he had. 

 On November 1, 1840 — he was not eighteen yet — pleased to 

 hear that they were making some progress, he wrote the follow- 

 ing, which, though' slightly pedantic, reveals the warmth of 

 his feelings — " My dear parents, my sisters, when I received 

 at the same time the two letters that you sent me I thought 

 that something extraordinary had happened, but such was not 

 the case. The second letter you wrote me gave me much 

 pleasure ; it tells me that — perhaps for the first time — my 

 sisters have willed. To will is a great thing, dear sisters, 

 for Action and Work usually follow Will, and almost always 

 Work is accompanied by success. These three things, Will, 

 Work, Success, fill human existence. Will opens the door to 

 success both brilliant and happy; Work passes these doors, 

 and at the end of the journey Success comes to crown one's 

 efforts. And so, my dear sisters, if your resolution is firm, 

 your task, be it what it may, is already begun ; you have but to 

 walk forward, it will achieve itself. If perchance you should 

 falter during the journey, a hand would be there to support 

 you. If that should be wanting, God, who alone could take 

 that hand from you, would Himself accomplish its work. . . . 

 May my words be felt and understood by you, dearest sisters. 

 I impress them on your hearts. May they be your guide. 

 Farewell. Your brother." 



The letters he wrote, the books he loved, the friends he 

 chose, bear witness to the character of Pasteur in those days 

 of early youth. As he now felt, after the discouraging trial 

 he had gone through in Paris, that the development of the will 

 should hold the first place in education, he applied all his efforts 

 to the bringing out of this leading force. He was already 

 grave and exceptionally matured ; he saw in the perfecting of 

 self the great law of man, and nothing that could assist in 

 that improvement seemed to him without importance. Books 

 read in early life appeared to him to have an almost decisive 

 influence. In his eyes a good book was a good action con- . 

 stantly renewed, a bad one an incessant and irreparable fault. 



There lived at that time in Franche Comte an elderly writer, 

 whom Sainte Beuve considered as the ideal of the upright man 

 and of the man of letters. His name was Joseph Droz, and 

 his moral doctrine was that vanity is the cause of many 

 wrecked and aimless lives, that moderation is a form of 



