BRETON TROUT STREAMS 49 



than falsehood, so what can we say, we 

 who know and love the Bretons ? Poverty 

 must always lead to dirt. Let those who 

 live on thirty sous a day disprove it. As 

 for the charge of immorality, the whole 

 question is preposterous. The Breton has 

 his moral code, and we have ours. Perhaps 

 neither are impeccable. Nolite judlcare, 

 sine amove. . . . But let us render it in 

 English as best we can. " Do not criticise 

 without love, without discrimination, with- 

 out knowledge. None the less, I hold that 

 a dog should always be regarded as a dog, 

 and a pig as a pig." Surely these animals 

 are not indigenous in Brittany alone. 



The Breton, like all idealists, is so much 

 less happy than his dreams, yet is he 

 fortunate because he still can dream. We 

 must not, however, consider him merely 

 as a visionary. He knows which side his 

 bread is buttered, and even should there 

 be no butter he keeps his singular sense of 

 humour. For such a people, perhaps their 

 negative merits can most honestly repre- 

 sent them. They stand in contrast with 

 all that is Teutonic, all that is materialistic. 

 They are not practical and are never tire- 



