The reader must not take exception to the all but invariable praise of their author nor to that spirit of enthusiasm which he will perhaps detect behind the pages of this volume. This is not to say that everything in the life and work of our hero is equally perfect and worthy of admiration. Whether knowledge or virtue be in question human activity must always fall short somewhere, must always in some degree be defective. Omnis consummationis vidi finem, said the Psalmist. But apart from the fact that it is not yet time, perhaps, to form a final judgment, the reader, I trust, will remember that this book comes to him with an echo of the jubilee celebrations of Sérignan, and the homage, still touched with enthusiasm, of a son of Aveyron and the Vezins countryside to the most illustrious of his fellow-countrymen. La Griffoulette, near Vezins, August 28, 1910. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I THE SÉRIGNAN JUBILEE 1 II THE URCHIN OF MALAVAL 10 III THE SCHOOLBOY: SAINT-LÉONS 24 IV THE SCHOOLBOY: SAINT-LÉONS (continued) 39 V AT THE COLLEGE OF RODEZ 65 VI THE PUPIL TEACHER: AVIGNON (1841–43) 74 VII THE SCHOOLMASTER: CARPENTRAS 87 VIII THE SCHOOLMASTER: CARPENTRAS (continued) 99 IX THE PROFESSOR: AJACCO 118 X THE PROFESSOR: AVIGNON (1852–1870) 128 XI THE PROFESSOR: AVIGNON (continued) 143 XII THE PROFESSOR: AVIGNON (continued) 166 XIII RETIREMENT: ORANGE 199 XIV THE HERMIT OF SÉRIGNAN (1879–1910) 209 XV THE HERMIT OF SÉRIGNAN (continued) 223 XVI THE HERMIT OF SÉRIGNAN (continued) 232 XVII THE COLLABORATORS 253 XVIII THE COLLABORATORS (continued) 274 XIX FABRE’S WRITINGS 293 XX FABRE’S WRITINGS (continued) 324 XXI A GREAT PREPARATION 358 XXII THE LAST HEIGHTS (1910–1915) 366 THE LIFE OF JEAN HENRI FABRE CHAPTER I THE SÉRIGNAN JUBILEE In a few days’ time [2] naturalists, poets, and philosophers will repair in company to Sérignan, in the neighbourhood of Orange. What is calling them from every point of the intellectual horizon, from the most distant cities and capitals, to a little Provençal village? Moussu Fabré, they would tell you yonder, in a tone of respectful sympathy.