The Life of Jean Henri Fabre 



"Ah!" 



Not a word more from the scientist. Pasteur, 

 it was easy to see, knew nothing of those highly- 

 flavoured dishes which the common people call la 

 vache enragce. If my cellar, that is the old chair 

 and the hollow-sounding demijohn, had nothing to 

 tell concerning the ferments to be fought by means 

 of heat, it spoke very eloquently of another sub- 

 ject, which my illustrious visitor did not appear to 

 understand. One microbe evaded him, and it was 

 one of the most terrible; the microbe of misfor- 

 tune strangling good will. 1 



It is told of one of our most famous dram- 

 atists who, like Fabre, is a self-made man, 

 having raised himself by persistent effort 

 from the workshop to the Academy, that 

 when he was struggling against the difficul- 

 ties of the first steps upward, he had also 

 to contend against the impassive coldness of 

 eminent colleagues from whom he might have 

 expected some support. " Young man," said 

 one of these — and he was not one of the 

 least illustrious — " young man, la vache en- 

 ragce is excellent; to help you would be to 

 spoil you." 



No doubt the vache enragee, like the 

 method d'ignorance, may have its virtues. 

 The story of Fabre's career, and of Brieux', 



1 Souvenirs, IX., pp. 329-30. 



168 



