The Life of Jean Henri Fabre 



of the Viaur, on turning sharply to the right 

 one sees before one the austere Malavallis, 

 dominated on the one hand by the height 

 of Lavaysse with its ancient church, and en- 

 livened a little on the other side by the tiny 

 hamlet of Malaval, which consists, to-day, 

 of two farm-houses; one whiter, more cheer- 

 ful-looking, and on lower ground; the other 

 standing higher, greyer in hue, and more dif- 

 ficult to discover in the shade of the oak- 

 trees and thickets of broom and blackthorn 

 which form a dense mantle of green about 

 it. It was there, amid these trees, in this 

 house, three thousand feet above the sea, 

 in sight of the sturdy belfry of Lavaysse, 

 that Jean-Henri Fabre was "born into the 

 true life," the life of the mind. Here, on 

 this hillside, which directly faces the east, 

 he made his earliest discoveries; here, one 

 fine morning, as he will presently tell us, he 

 discovered the sun; here, he saw not only 

 the dawn of day, but also " that inward 

 dawn, so far swept clear of the clouds of un- 

 consciousness as to leave him a lasting mem- 



ory ' 



Nothing could take the place of the pic- 

 turesqueness and sincerity of the narrative 

 in which he has related these earliest im- 

 pressions of his childhood: 



12 



