The Life of Jean Henri Fabre 



14 L'homme est un apprenti, la douleur est son 



maitre." 

 (Man's an apprentice, and his master, sorrow.) 



Like so many others, Fabre learned this 

 by cruel yet fortunate experience. He had 

 to surfer poverty, lack of success, and per- 

 secution, yet these were to him so many step- 

 ping-stones by which he rose to the serene 

 and solitary height where his genius could 

 at last unfurl its wings in freedom and soar 

 at will. 



While Fabre had no ambition in respect of 

 the Academie, he was ambitious where the 

 University was concerned. Absolutely care- 

 less of titles and dignities, he was particu- 

 larly eager to learn and to teach others as 

 widely and as completely as possible. It was 

 not enough for him to possess the knowledge 

 requisite for a professor in a lycee, as it had 

 not been enough to qualify for a primary 

 schoolmaster. He wanted to attain that rare 

 degree of knowledge which the higher edu- 

 cation demands; he dreamed of occupying a 

 chair of natural history in a faculty. Then 

 he could free himself from the material 

 tasks that constituted the danger as well as 

 the merit of the secondary schoolmaster; he 

 could devote himself at leisure to those won- 

 derful natural sciences in which he glimpsed, 



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