tle engraving has made me comprehend better the
merits of Father Chaufour, and I therefore esteem him all the more.

He has just now left my attic. There no longer passes a single day
without his coming to work by my fire, or my going to sit and talk by
his board.

The old artilleryman has seen much, and likes to tell of it. For twenty
years he was an armed traveller throughout Europe, and he fought without
hatred, for he was possessed by a single thought--the honor of the
national flag! It might have been his superstition, if you will; but it
was, at the same time, his safeguard.

The word FRANCE, which was then resounding so gloriously through the
world, served as a talisman to him against all sorts of temptation. To
have to support a great name may seem a burden to vulgar minds, but it
is an encouragement to vigorous ones.

"I, too, have had many moments," said he to me the other day, "when I
have been tempted to make friends with the devil. War is not precisely
the school for rural virtues. By dint of burning, destroying, and
killing, you grow a little tough as regards your feelings; 'and, when
the bayonet has made you king, the notions of an autocrat come into
your head a little strongly. But at these moments I called to mind that
country which the lieutenant spoke of to me, and I whispered to myself
the well-known phrase, 'Toujours Francais! It has been laughed at since.
People who would make a joke of the death of their mother have turned it
into ridicule, as if the name of our country was not also a noble and a
binding thing. For my part, I shall never forget from how many follies
the title of Frenchman has kept me. When, overcome with fatigue, I
have found myself in the rear of the colors, and when the musketry
was rattling in the front ranks, many a time I heard a voice, which
whispered in my ear, 'Leave the others to fight, and for today take care
of your own hide!' But then, that word Francais! murmured within me, and
I pressed forward to help my comrades. At other times, when, irritated
by hunger, cold, and wounds, I have arrived at the hovel of some
Meinherr, I have been seized by an itching to break the master's back,
and to burn his hut; but I whispered to myself, Francais! and this name
would not rhyme with either incendiary or murderer. I have, in this
way, passed through kingdoms from east to west, and from north to south,
always determined not to bring disgrace upon my country's flag. The
lieuten