E-text prepared by the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from digital material generously made available by Internet Archive/American Libraries (http://www.archive.org/details/americana) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 28695-h.htm or 28695-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/28695/pg28695-images.html) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/28695/28695-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive/American Libraries. See http://www.archive.org/details/ourchildrenscene00fran OUR CHILDREN by ANATOLE FRANCE Illustrations by Boutet de Monvel [Illustration] OUR CHILDREN Scenes from the Country and the Town by ANATOLE FRANCE Illustrated in color and in pen and ink by Boutet de Monvel. [Illustration] New York Duffield & Company 1923 Copyright, 1917, by Duffield & Company Printed in U. S. A. CONTENTS FANNY 1 THE FANCY DRESS PARTY 10 THE SCHOOL 12 MARY 14 PAN-PIPES 16 ROGER'S STABLE 18 COURAGE 20 CATHERINE'S DAY 22 THE LITTLE SEA DOGS 24 OUR CHILDREN FANNY I [Illustration] Fanny started off early one morning, like little Red Riding Hood, to visit her grandmother, who lives quite at the other end of the village. But Fanny did not stop like Red Riding Hood to pick hazel nuts. She went straight on her way, and did not see any wolf. Even when quite a long way off, she could see her grandmother seated on her stone doorstep, the dear grandmother who smiled with her toothless mouth and opened her old arms thin as grape vines to welcome her little granddaughter. Fanny's heart was filled with delight at the prospect of spending a whole day at her grandmother's. And her grandmother, having no longer any cares or tasks, but living like a cricket near the fire, is happy too to see the little daughter of her son, a sweet reminder of her youth. They have many things to say to each other, for one of them is at the end of life's voyage and the other is just setting out upon it. "You grow bigger every day, Fanny," says her grandmother, "and I am getting littler. Just look! I need hardly stoop to press my lips to your forehead. What difference does it make how old I am when I still have youth's roses in your cheeks, Little Fanny." [Illustration]