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The Country Doctor-Part12_Honore de Balzac(1799-1850)_Translated Works(翻译文学)-第2页

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away. Benassis and Genestas saw all the details of this scene as they

stood beyond the low wall; they fastened their horses to one of the



row of poplar trees that grew along it, and entered the yard just as

the widow came out of the byre. A woman carrying a jug of milk was



with her, and spoke.

"Try to bear up bravely, my poor Pelletier," she said.



"Ah! my dear, after twenty-five years of life together, it is very

hard to lose your man," and her eyes brimmed over with tears. "Will



you pay the two sous?" she added, after a moment, as she held out her

hand to her neighbor.



"There, now! I had forgotten about it," said the other woman, giving

her the coin. "Come, neighbor, don't take on so. Ah! there is M.



Benassis!"

"Well, poor mother, how are you going on? A little better?" asked the



doctor.

"DAME!" she said, as the tears fell fast, "we must go on, all the



same, that is certain. I tell myself that my man is out of pain now.

He suffered so terribly! But come inside, sir. Jacques, set some



chairs for these gentlemen. Come, stir yourself a bit. Lord bless you!

if you were to stop there for a century, it would not bring your poor



father back again. And now, you will have to do the work of two."

"No, no good woman, leave your son alone, we will not sit down. You



have a boy there who will take care of you, and who is quite fit to

take his father's place."



"Go and change your clothes, Jacques," cried the widow; "you will be

wanted directly."



"Well, good-bye, mother," said Benassis.

"Your servant, gentlemen."



"Here, you see, death is looked upon as an event for which every one

is prepared," said the doctor; "it brings no interruption to the



course of family life, and they will not even wear mourning of any

kind. No one cares to be at the expense of it; they are all either too



poor or too parsimonious in the villages hereabouts, so that mourning

is unknown in country districts. Yet the custom of wearing mourning is



something better than a law or a usage, it is an institution somewhat

akin to all moral obligations. But in spite of our endeavors neither



M. Janvier nor I have succeeded in making our peasants understand the

great importance of public demonstrations of feeling for the



maintenance of social order. These good folk, who have only just begun

to think and act for themselves, are slow as yet to grasp the changed



conditions which should attach them to these theories. They have only

reached those ideas which conduce to economy and to physical welfare;



in the future, if some one else carries on this work of mine, they

will come to understand the principles that serve to uphold and



preserve public order and justice. As a matter of fact, it is not

sufficient to be an honest man, you must appear to be honest in the



eyes of others. Society does not live by moral ideas alone; its

existence depends upon actions in harmony with those ideas.



"In most country communes, out of a hundred families deprived by death

of their head, there are only a few individuals capable of feeling



more keenly than the others, who will remember the deaths for very

long; in a year's time the rest will have forgotten all about it. Is



not this forgetfulness a sore evil? A religion is the very heart of a

nation; it expresses their feelings and their thoughts, and exalts



them by giving them an object; but unless outward and visible honor is

paid to a God, religion cannot exist; and, as a consequence, human



ordinances lose all their force. If the conscience belongs to God and

to Him only, the body is amenable to social law. Is it not therefore,



a first step towards atheism to efface every sign of pious sorrow in

this way, to neglect to impress on children who are not yet old enough



to reflect, and on all other people who stand in need of example, the

necessity of obedience to human law, by openly manifested resignation



to the will of Providence, who chastens and consoles, who bestows and

takes away worldlywealth? I confess that, after passing through a



period of sneering incredulity, I have come during my life here to

recognize the value of the rites of religion and of religious



observances in the family, and to discern the importance of household




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