LE LONG DU SENTIER 



instructed in the ways of the country, 

 you will know that the girls expect a 

 kiss; etiquette demands, however, that 

 Madame and the baby should enjoy the 

 first of your salutes. To overlook a 

 friend at the New Year is to fail in cour- 

 tesy ; for three days pleasant visits are 

 interchanged, and every acquaintance, 

 for many a league, has received and 

 given his good wishes. Christmas is the 

 feast of the church ; this is the feast of 

 the home, and nothing that can be over- 

 come is allowed to keep the members of 

 a family apart. Once, in brutal ignor- 

 ance, I held my men in the woods over 

 the first of January, yet I was not made 

 aware in any way of their disappoint- 

 ment, or of my own grave mistake. To 

 find excuse for this, and conceal its con- 

 sequences has always seemed to me a 

 crowning courtesy. 



You will travel far to find a people 

 who bear greater goodwill to their fel- 

 low men, or are readier to show it in 



263 



