infirm,--all the village is elated; and the old maids fail not to
present him with a fat fowl, or some such substantial expression of
their respect. But if, alas! the good _cure_ should appear walking with
a slow and solemn step, his hands behind his back, his eyes fixed upon
the ground, and an anxious and thoughtful look upon his brow, his flock
gaze at one another, and whisper in an under tone that something is
amiss.

At the epoch of political convulsions and revolutions, when systems and
governments, men and ideas, arise and disappear, as if they went by
steam,--when the authorities in the great towns wish to interfere with
the police regulations and customs that govern the agricultural
classes,--when they attempt to force them to gallop at full speed on the
high road of progress as they call it, and that to attain this desirable
end, handsome young men arrive from Paris in black coats and white
neckcloths, furnished with a marvellous flow of eloquent sophisms,
pretending to prove to the simple and honest peasants that in order to
be more free, happy, and rich, they must, without further ado, kill,
burn, and destroy,--the villagers, quite mystified, listen with open
mouth; but as to understanding what the gentleman in black--the dark
shadow of the government of progress--so glibly states, he might as well
be talking Turkish or Japanese. Every one looks at _Monsieur le Cure_,
they scan his face, and ask him what they are to do; and let him only
feel angry or disgusted with the wordy nonsense, and just make one sign,
or raise one finger, and 1200--aye, 2000 men would in a trice surround
him, and send the orator and all his staff to preach their pestilential
doctrines under the turf, and this without more ceremony and remorse
than if they were so many mad dogs. Poor fools! who think it possible to
change a people in a few weeks, and imagine that a fine discourse from
lips unknown and unloved will have a deeper effect upon men's minds
than the admonitions of a pastor, whose life has been without reproach,
and adorned with every practical virtue.

Yes, the influence exercised in our rural districts by the _cures_ is
great, and this influence is well merited, for it is never abused--and
never used unless for the benefit and happiness of the flock confided to
their care. Without any motive of a personal nature, without ambition in
any sense to which that word can apply, they preach the Catholic
religion in all its simpl