s hardly won by
the toil of his household.

"Still, he made a living. His courage, patience, and sterling worth
interested many people in him, and he began to be known. He was
indefatigable. He would hurry over to Grenoble in the morning, and sell
his bricks and tiles there; then he would return home about the middle
of the day, and go back again to the town at night. He seemed to be in
several places at once. Towards the end of the first year he took two
little lads to help him. Seeing how things were, I lent him some
money, and since then from year to year the fortunes of the family have
steadily improved. After the second year was over the two old mothers no
longer moulded bricks nor pounded stones; they looked after the little
gardens, made the soup, mended the clothes, they did spinning in the
evenings, and gathered firewood in the daytime; while the young wife,
who can read and write, kept the accounts. Vigneau had a small horse,
and rode on his business errands about the neighborhood; next he
thoroughly studied the art of brick and tile making, discovering how to
make excellent square white paving-tiles, and sold them for less than
the usual prices. In the third year he had a cart and a pair of horses,
and at the same time his wife's appearance became almost elegant.
Everything about his household improved with the improvement in his
business, and everywhere there was the same neatness, method, and thrift
that had been the making of his little fortune.

"At last he had work enough for six men, to whom he pays good wages; he
employs a wagoner, and everything about him wears an air of prosperity.
Little by little, in short, by dint of taking pains and extending his
business, his income has increased. He bought the tile-works last year,
and next year he will rebuild his house. To-day all the worthy folk
there are well clothed and in good health. His wife, who used to be so
thin and pale when the burden of her husband's cares and anxieties used
to press so hardly upon her, has recovered her good looks, and has grown
quite young and pretty again. The two old mothers are thoroughly happy,
and take the deepest interest in every detail of the housekeeping or of
the business. Work has brought money, and the money that brought freedom
from care brought health and plenty and happiness. The story of this
household is a living history in miniature of the Commune since I have
known it, and of all young industrial states. The