e. For me
the whole of that science, Senor de Rey, is condensed in what I call the
Bible of the Field, in the 'Georgics' of the immortal Roman. It is all
admirable, from that grand sentence, _Nec vero terroe ferre omnes omnia
possunt_--that is to say, that not every soil is suited to every tree,
Senor Don Jose--to the exhaustive treatise on bees, in which the poet
describes the habits of those wise little animals, defining the drone in
these words:

"'Ille horridus alter
Desidia, latamque trahens inglorius alvum.'

"'Of a horrible and slothful figure, dragging along the ignoble weight of
the belly,' Senor Don Jose."

"You do well to translate it for me," said Pepe, "for I know very little
Latin."

"Oh, why should the men of the present day spend their time in studying
things that are out of date?" said the canon ironically. "Besides,
only poor creatures like Virgil and Cicero and Livy wrote in Latin. I,
however, am of a different way of thinking; as witness my nephew, to
whom I have taught that sublime language. The rascal knows it better
than I do. The worst of it is, that with his modern reading he is
forgetting it; and some fine day, without ever having suspected it, he
will find out that he is an ignoramus. For, Senor Don Jose, my nephew
has taken to studying the newest books and the most extravagant
theories, and it is Flammarion here and Flammarion there, and nothing
will do him but that the stars are full of people. Come, I fancy that
you two are going to be very good friends. Jacinto, beg this gentleman
to teach you the higher mathematics, to instruct you concerning the
German philosophers, and then you will be a man."

The worthy ecclesiastic laughed at his own wit, while Jacinto, delighted
to see the conversation turn on a theme so greatly to his taste, after
excusing himself to Pepe Rey, suddenly hurled this question at him:

"Tell me, Senor Don Jose, what do you think of Darwinism?"

Our hero smiled at this inopportune pedantry, and he felt almost tempted
to encourage the young man to continue in this path of childish vanity;
but, judging it more prudent to avoid intimacy, either with the nephew
or the uncle, he answered simply:

"I can think nothing at all about the doctrines of Darwin, for I know
scarcely any thing about him. My professional labors have not permitted
me to devote much of my time to those studies."

"Well," said the canon, laughing, "it all reduces itself to this, that