The Hermit of Serignan 



but he loves the other creatures also and 

 gladly gives them the rights of citizenship 

 in the harmas. He has a peculiar sympathy 

 for those that are misunderstood and scorned 

 by the vulgar. 



In front of the house is a large pond, fed by 

 the aqueduct that supplies the village pumps with 

 water. Here, from half a mile and more around, 

 come the Frogs and Toads in the lovers' season. 

 In May, as soon as it is dark, the pond becomes 

 a deafening orchestra: it is impossible to talk at 

 table, impossible to sleep. 



We have had a glimpse of the natural 

 wealth of the harmas, but we have no idea as 

 yet of some of the artificial improvements 

 which the inventive industry of the naturalist 

 has introduced. 



I have [writes Fabre] wished for a few things 

 in my life, none of them capable of interfering 

 with the common weal. I have longed to possess 

 a pond, screened from the indiscretion of the 

 passers-by, close to my house, with clumps of rushes 

 and patches of duckweed. There, in my leisure 

 hours, in the shade of a willow, I should have 

 meditated upon aquatic life, a primitive life, easier 

 than our own, simpler in its affections and its 

 brutalities. I should have studied the eggs of the 

 Planorbis, a glairy nebula wherein foci of life are 



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