heath and marsh; here and there a
stretch of scant coarse grass, a mass of waving reeds, a patch of
golden-brown fern--the Landes.

It was through this desolate country in France that a little peasant
boy whose name was destined to become famous in the annals of his
country led his father's sheep, that they might crop the scanty
pasture. Vincent was a homely little boy, but he had the soul of a
knight-errant, and the grace of God shone from eyes that were never
to lose their merry gleam even in extreme old age.

He was intelligent, too, so intelligent that the neighbors said that
Jean de Paul was a fool to set such a boy to tend sheep when he had
three other sons who would never be good for anything else. There was
a family in the neighborhood, they reminded him, who had had a bright
boy like Vincent, and had put him to school--with what result? Why,
he had taken Orders and got a benefice, and was able to support his
parents now that they were getting old, besides helping his brothers
to get on in the world. It was well worthwhile pinching a little for
such a result as that.

Jean de Paul listened and drank in their arguments. It would be a
fine thing to have a son a priest; perhaps, with luck, even a
Bishop--the family fortunes would be made forever.

With a good deal of difficulty the necessary money was scraped
together, and Vincent was sent to the Franciscans' school at Dax, the
nearest town. There the boy made such good use of his time that four
years later, when he was only sixteen, he was engaged as tutor to the
children of M. de Commet, a lawyer, who had taken a fancy to the
clever, hardworking young scholar. At M. de Commet's suggestion,
Vincent began to study for the priesthood, while continuing the
education of his young charges to the satisfaction of everybody
concerned.

Five years later he took minor Orders and, feeling the need of
further theological studies, set his heart on a university training
and a degree. But life at a university costs money, however thrifty
one may be, and although Jean de Paul sold a yoke of oxen to start
his son on his career at Toulouse, at the end of a year Vincent was
in difficulties. The only chance for a poor student like himself was
a tutorship during the summer vacation, and here Vincent was lucky.
The nobleman who engaged him was so delighted with the results that,
when the vacation was over, he insisted on the young tutor taking his
pupils back with him to Toulou