em.

So it was that Jean Jacques kept turning his eyes, as he thought, to the
everlasting meaning of things, to "the laws of Life and the decrees
of Destiny." He was one of those who had found, as he thought, what he
could do, and was sensible enough to do it. Let the poor fellows,
who gave themselves to science, trouble their twisted minds with
trigonometry and the formula of some grotesque chemical combination; let
the dull people rub their noses in the ink of Greek and Latin, which was
no use for everyday consumption; let the heads of historians ache with
the warring facts of the lives of nations; it all made for sleep. But
philosophy--ah, there was a field where a man could always use knowledge
got from books or sorted out of his own experiences!

It happened, therefore, that Jean Jacques, who not too vaguely realized
that there was reputation to be got from being thought a philosopher,
always carried about with him his little compendium from the quay at
Quebec, which he had brought ashore inside his redflannel shirt, with
the antique silver watch, when the Antoine went down.

Thus also it was that when a lawyer in court at Vilray, four miles from
St. Saviour's, asked him one day, when he stepped into the witness-box,
what he was, meaning what was his occupation, his reply was, "Moi-je
suis M'sieu' Jean Jacques, philosophe--(Me--I am M'sieu' Jean Jacques,
philosopher)."

A little later outside the court-house, the Judge who had tried the
case--M. Carcasson--said to the Clerk of the Court:

"A curious, interesting little man, that Monsieur Jean Jacques. What's
his history?"

"A character, a character, monsieur le juge," was the reply of M. Amand
Fille. "His family has been here since Frontenac's time. He is a figure
in the district, with a hand in everything. He does enough foolish
things to ruin any man, yet swims along--swims along. He has many kinds
of business--mills, stores, farms, lime-kilns, and all that, and keeps
them all going; and as if he hadn't enough to do, and wasn't risking
enough, he's now organizing a cheese-factory on the co-operative
principle, as in Upper Canada among the English."

"He has a touch of originality, that's sure," was the reply of the
Judge.

The Clerk of the Court nodded and sighed. "Monseigneur Giron of Laval,
the greatest scholar in Quebec, he said to me once that M'sieu' Jean
Jacques missed being a genius by an inch. But, monsieur le juge, not to
have that inch is wors