Just fancy what a tutor might say to him on such an occasion.
Consider the two dinners and decide for yourself which gave you
most pleasure, which seemed the merriest, at which did you eat
and drink most heartily, which was the least tedious and required
least change of courses? Yet note the difference--this black bread
you so enjoy is made from the peasant's own harvest; his wine is
dark in colour and of a common kind, but wholesome and refreshing;
it was made in his own vineyard; the cloth is made of his own
hemp, spun and woven in the winter by his wife and daughters and
the maid; no hands but theirs have touched the food. His world is
bounded by the nearest mill and the next market. How far did you
enjoy all that the produce of distant lands and the service of
many people had prepared for you at the other dinner? If you did
not get a better meal, what good did this wealth do you? how much
of it was made for you? Had you been the master of the house, the
tutor might say, it would have been of still less use to you; for
the anxiety of displaying your enjoyment before the eyes of others
would have robbed you of it; the pains would be yours, the pleasure
theirs.
This may be a very fine speech, but it would be thrown away upon
Emile, as he cannot understand it, and he does not accept second-hand
opinions. Speak more simply to him. After these two experiences,
say to him some day, "Where shall we have our dinner to-day? Where
that mountain of silver covered three quarters of the table and
those beds of artificial flowers on looking glass were served with
the dessert, where those smart ladies treated you as a toy and
pretended you said what you did not mean; or in that village two
leagues away, with those good people who were so pleased to see
us and gave us such delicious cream?" Emile will not hesitate; he
is not vain and he is no chatterbox; he cannot endure constraint,
and he does not care for fine dishes; but he is always ready for a
run in the country and is very fond of good fruit and vegetables,
sweet cream and kindly people. [Footnote: This taste, which I assume
my pupil to have acquired, is a natural result of his education.
Moreover, he has nothing foppish or affected about him, so that the
ladies take little notice of him and he is less petted than other
children; therefore he does not care for them, and is less spoilt
by their company; he is not yet of an age to feel its charm. I
have taken care not to teach him to kiss their hands, to pay them
compliments, or even to be more polite to them than to men. It is
my constant rule to ask nothing from him but what he can understand,
and there is no good reason why a child should treat one sex
differently from the other.] On our way, the thought will occur
to him, "All those people who laboured to prepare that grand feast
were either wasting their time or they have no idea how to enjoy
themselves."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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