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diff --git a/old/1220-h/1220-h.htm b/old/1220-h/1220-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8140cd0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1220-h/1220-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1237 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + The Atheist's Mass, by Honore de Balzac + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Atheist's Mass, by Honore de Balzac + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Atheist's Mass + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Translator: Clara Bell + +Release Date: February 21, 2010 [EBook #1220] +Last Updated: April 3, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ATHEIST'S MASS *** + + + + +Produced by Dagny, and David Widger + + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + THE ATHEIST'S MASS + </h1> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Honore De Balzac + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h3> + Translated by Clara Bell + </h3> + <p> + <br /><br /> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + This is dedicated to Auguste Borget by his friend De Balzac + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> THE ATHEIST'S MASS </a><br /><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0002"> ADDENDUM </a> + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + THE ATHEIST'S MASS + </h1> + <p> + Bianchon, a physician to whom science owes a fine system of theoretical + physiology, and who, while still young, made himself a celebrity in the + medical school of Paris, that central luminary to which European doctors + do homage, practised surgery for a long time before he took up medicine. + His earliest studies were guided by one of the greatest of French + surgeons, the illustrious Desplein, who flashed across science like a + meteor. By the consensus even of his enemies, he took with him to the tomb + an incommunicable method. Like all men of genius, he had no heirs; he + carried everything in him, and carried it away with him. The glory of a + surgeon is like that of an actor: they live only so long as they are + alive, and their talent leaves no trace when they are gone. Actors and + surgeons, like great singers too, like the executants who by their + performance increase the power of music tenfold, are all the heroes of a + moment. + </p> + <p> + Desplein is a case in proof of this resemblance in the destinies of such + transient genius. His name, yesterday so famous, to-day almost forgotten, + will survive in his special department without crossing its limits. For + must there not be some extraordinary circumstances to exalt the name of a + professor from the history of Science to the general history of the human + race? Had Desplein that universal command of knowledge which makes a man + the living word, the great figure of his age? Desplein had a godlike eye; + he saw into the sufferer and his malady by an intuition, natural or + acquired, which enabled him to grasp the diagnostics peculiar to the + individual, to determine the very time, the hour, the minute when an + operation should be performed, making due allowance for atmospheric + conditions and peculiarities of individual temperament. To proceed thus, + hand in hand with nature, had he then studied the constant assimilation by + living beings, of the elements contained in the atmosphere, or yielded by + the earth to man who absorbs them, deriving from them a particular + expression of life? Did he work it all out by the power of deduction and + analogy, to which we owe the genius of Cuvier? Be this as it may, this man + was in all the secrets of the human frame; he knew it in the past and in + the future, emphasizing the present. + </p> + <p> + But did he epitomize all science in his own person as Hippocrates did and + Galen and Aristotle? Did he guide a whole school towards new worlds? No. + Though it is impossible to deny that this persistent observer of human + chemistry possessed that antique science of the Mages, that is to say, + knowledge of the elements in fusion, the causes of life, life antecedent + to life, and what it must be in its incubation or ever it <i>is</i>, it + must be confessed that, unfortunately, everything in him was purely + personal. Isolated during his life by his egoism, that egoism is now + suicidal of his glory. On his tomb there is no proclaiming statue to + repeat to posterity the mysteries which genius seeks out at its own cost. + </p> + <p> + But perhaps Desplein's genius was answerable for his beliefs, and for that + reason mortal. To him the terrestrial atmosphere was a generative + envelope; he saw the earth as an egg within its shell; and not being able + to determine whether the egg or the hen first was, he would not recognize + either the cock or the egg. He believed neither in the antecedent animal + nor the surviving spirit of man. Desplein had no doubts; he was positive. + His bold and unqualified atheism was like that of many scientific men, the + best men in the world, but invincible atheists—atheists such as + religious people declare to be impossible. This opinion could scarcely + exist otherwise in a man who was accustomed from his youth to dissect the + creature above all others—before, during, and after life; to hunt + through all his organs without ever finding the individual soul, which is + indispensable to religious theory. When he detected a cerebral centre, a + nervous centre, and a centre for aerating the blood—the first two so + perfectly complementary that in the latter years of his life he came to a + conviction that the sense of hearing is not absolutely necessary for + hearing, nor the sense of sight for seeing, and that the solar plexus + could supply their place without any possibility of doubt—Desplein, + thus finding two souls in man, confirmed his atheism by this fact, though + it is no evidence against God. This man died, it is said, in final + impenitence, as do, unfortunately, many noble geniuses, whom God may + forgive. + </p> + <p> + The life of this man, great as he was, was marred by many meannesses, to + use the expression employed by his enemies, who were anxious to diminish + his glory, but which it would be more proper to call apparent + contradictions. Envious people and fools, having no knowledge of the + determinations by which superior spirits are moved, seize at once on + superficial inconsistencies, to formulate an accusation and so to pass + sentence on them. If, subsequently, the proceedings thus attacked are + crowned with success, showing the correlations of the preliminaries and + the results, a few of the vanguard of calumnies always survive. In our + day, for instance, Napoleon was condemned by our contemporaries when he + spread his eagle's wings to alight in England: only 1822 could explain + 1804 and the flatboats at Boulogne. + </p> + <p> + As, in Desplein, his glory and science were invulnerable, his enemies + attacked his odd moods and his temper, whereas, in fact, he was simply + characterized by what the English call eccentricity. Sometimes very + handsomely dressed, like Crebillon the tragical, he would suddenly affect + extreme indifference as to what he wore; he was sometimes seen in a + carriage, and sometimes on foot. By turns rough and kind, harsh and + covetous on the surface, but capable of offering his whole fortune to his + exiled masters—who did him the honor of accepting it for a few days—no + man ever gave rise to such contradictory judgements. Although to obtain a + black ribbon, which physicians ought not to intrigue for, he was capable + of dropping a prayer-book out of his pocket at Court, in his heart he + mocked at everything; he had a deep contempt for men, after studying them + from above and below, after detecting their genuine expression when + performing the most solemn and the meanest acts of their lives. + </p> + <p> + The qualities of a great man are often federative. If among these colossal + spirits one has more talent than wit, his wit is still superior to that of + a man of whom it is simply stated that "he is witty." Genius always + presupposes moral insight. This insight may be applied to a special + subject; but he who can see a flower must be able to see the sun. The man + who on hearing a diplomate he has saved ask, "How is the Emperor?" could + say, "The courtier is alive; the man will follow!"—that man is not + merely a surgeon or a physician, he is prodigiously witty also. Hence a + patient and diligent student of human nature will admit Desplein's + exorbitant pretensions, and believe—as he himself believed—that + he might have been no less great as a minister than he was as a surgeon. + </p> + <p> + Among the riddles which Desplein's life presents to many of his + contemporaries, we have chosen one of the most interesting, because the + answer is to be found at the end of the narrative, and will avenge him for + some foolish charges. + </p> + <p> + Of all the students in Desplein's hospital, Horace Bianchon was one of + those to whom he most warmly attached himself. Before being a house + surgeon at the Hotel-Dieu, Horace Bianchon had been a medical student + lodging in a squalid boarding house in the <i>Quartier Latin</i>, known as + the Maison Vauquer. This poor young man had felt there the gnawing of that + burning poverty which is a sort of crucible from which great talents are + to emerge as pure and incorruptible as diamonds, which may be subjected to + any shock without being crushed. In the fierce fire of their unbridled + passions they acquire the most impeccable honesty, and get into the habit + of fighting the battles which await genius with the constant work by which + they coerce their cheated appetites. + </p> + <p> + Horace was an upright young fellow, incapable of tergiversation on a + matter of honor, going to the point without waste of words, and as ready + to pledge his cloak for a friend as to give him his time and his night + hours. Horace, in short, was one of those friends who are never anxious as + to what they may get in return for what they give, feeling sure that they + will in their turn get more than they give. Most of his friends felt for + him that deeply-seated respect which is inspired by unostentatious virtue, + and many of them dreaded his censure. But Horace made no pedantic display + of his qualities. He was neither a puritan nor a preacher; he could swear + with a grace as he gave his advice, and was always ready for a + jollification when occasion offered. A jolly companion, not more prudish + than a trooper, as frank and outspoken—not as a sailor, for nowadays + sailors are wily diplomates—but as an honest man who has nothing in + his life to hide, he walked with his head erect, and a mind content. In + short, to put the facts into a word, Horace was the Pylades of more than + one Orestes—creditors being regarded as the nearest modern + equivalent to the Furies of the ancients. + </p> + <p> + He carried his poverty with the cheerfulness which is perhaps one of the + chief elements of courage, and, like all people who have nothing, he made + very few debts. As sober as a camel and active as a stag, he was steadfast + in his ideas and his conduct. + </p> + <p> + The happy phase of Bianchon's life began on the day when the famous + surgeon had proof of the qualities and the defects which, these no less + than those, make Doctor Horace Bianchon doubly dear to his friends. When a + leading clinical practitioner takes a young man to his bosom, that young + man has, as they say, his foot in the stirrup. Desplein did not fail to + take Bianchon as his assistant to wealthy houses, where some complimentary + fee almost always found its way into the student's pocket, and where the + mysteries of Paris life were insensibly revealed to the young provincial; + he kept him at his side when a consultation was to be held, and gave him + occupation; sometimes he would send him to a watering-place with a rich + patient; in fact, he was making a practice for him. The consequence was + that in the course of time the Tyrant of surgery had a devoted ally. These + two men—one at the summit of honor and of his science, enjoying an + immense fortune and an immense reputation; the other a humble Omega, + having neither fortune nor fame—became intimate friends. + </p> + <p> + The great Desplein told his house surgeon everything; the disciple knew + whether such or such a woman had sat on a chair near the master, or on the + famous couch in Desplein's surgery, on which he slept. Bianchon knew the + mysteries of that temperament, a compound of the lion and the bull, which + at last expanded and enlarged beyond measure the great man's torso, and + caused his death by degeneration of the heart. He studied the + eccentricities of that busy life, the schemes of that sordid avarice, the + hopes of the politician who lurked behind the man of science; he was able + to foresee the mortifications that awaited the only sentiment that lay hid + in a heart that was steeled, but not of steel. + </p> + <p> + One day Bianchon spoke to Desplein of a poor water-carrier of the + Saint-Jacques district, who had a horrible disease caused by fatigue and + want; this wretched Auvergnat had had nothing but potatoes to eat during + the dreadful winter of 1821. Desplein left all his visits, and at the risk + of killing his horse, he rushed off, followed by Bianchon, to the poor + man's dwelling, and saw, himself, to his being removed to a sick house, + founded by the famous Dubois in the Faubourg Saint-Denis. Then he went to + attend the man, and when he had cured him he gave him the necessary sum to + buy a horse and a water-barrel. This Auvergnat distinguished himself by an + amusing action. One of his friends fell ill, and he took him at once to + Desplein, saying to his benefactor, "I could not have borne to let him go + to any one else!" + </p> + <p> + Rough customer as he was, Desplein grasped the water-carrier's hand, and + said, "Bring them all to me." + </p> + <p> + He got the native of Cantal into the Hotel-Dieu, where he took the + greatest care of him. Bianchon had already observed in his chief a + predilection for Auvergnats, and especially for water carriers; but as + Desplein took a sort of pride in his cures at the Hotel-Dieu, the pupil + saw nothing very strange in that. + </p> + <p> + One day, as he crossed the Place Saint-Sulpice, Bianchon caught sight of + his master going into the church at about nine in the morning. Desplein, + who at that time never went a step without his cab, was on foot, and + slipped in by the door in the Rue du Petit-Lion, as if he were stealing + into some house of ill fame. The house surgeon, naturally possessed by + curiosity, knowing his master's opinions, and being himself a rabid + follower of Cabanis (<i>Cabaniste en dyable</i>, with the <i>y</i>, which + in Rabelais seems to convey an intensity of devilry)—Bianchon stole + into the church, and was not a little astonished to see the great + Desplein, the atheist, who had no mercy on the angels—who give no + work to the lancet, and cannot suffer from fistula or gastritis—in + short, this audacious scoffer kneeling humbly, and where? In the Lady + Chapel, where he remained through the mass, giving alms for the expenses + of the service, alms for the poor, and looking as serious as though he + were superintending an operation. + </p> + <p> + "He has certainly not come here to clear up the question of the Virgin's + delivery," said Bianchon to himself, astonished beyond measure. "If I had + caught him holding one of the ropes of the canopy on Corpus Christi day, + it would be a thing to laugh at; but at this hour, alone, with no one to + see—it is surely a thing to marvel at!" + </p> + <p> + Bianchon did not wish to seem as though he were spying the head surgeon of + the Hotel-Dieu; he went away. As it happened, Desplein asked him to dine + with him that day, not at his own house, but at a restaurant. At dessert + Bianchon skilfully contrived to talk of the mass, speaking of it as + mummery and a farce. + </p> + <p> + "A farce," said Desplein, "which has cost Christendom more blood than all + Napoleon's battles and all Broussais' leeches. The mass is a papal + invention, not older than the sixth century, and based on the <i>Hoc est + corpus</i>. What floods of blood were shed to establish the Fete-Dieu, the + Festival of Corpus Christi—the institution by which Rome established + her triumph in the question of the Real Presence, a schism which rent the + Church during three centuries! The wars of the Count of Toulouse against + the Albigenses were the tail end of that dispute. The Vaudois and the + Albigenses refused to recognize this innovation." + </p> + <p> + In short, Desplein was delighted to disport himself in his most + atheistical vein; a flow of Voltairean satire, or, to be accurate, a vile + imitation of the <i>Citateur</i>. + </p> + <p> + "Hallo! where is my worshiper of this morning?" said Bianchon to himself. + </p> + <p> + He said nothing; he began to doubt whether he had really seen his chief at + Saint-Sulpice. Desplein would not have troubled himself to tell Bianchon a + lie, they knew each other too well; they had already exchanged thoughts on + quite equally serious subjects, and discussed systems de natura rerum, + probing or dissecting them with the knife and scalpel of incredulity. + </p> + <p> + Three months went by. Bianchon did not attempt to follow the matter up, + though it remained stamped on his memory. One day that year, one of the + physicians of the Hotel-Dieu took Desplein by the arm, as if to question + him, in Bianchon's presence. + </p> + <p> + "What were you doing at Saint-Sulpice, my dear master?" said he. + </p> + <p> + "I went to see a priest who has a diseased knee-bone, and to whom the + Duchesse d'Angouleme did me the honor to recommend me," said Desplein. + </p> + <p> + The questioner took this defeat for an answer; not so Bianchon. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, he goes to see damaged knees in church!—He went to mass," said + the young man to himself. + </p> + <p> + Bianchon resolved to watch Desplein. He remembered the day and hour when + he had detected him going into Saint-Sulpice, and resolved to be there + again next year on the same day and at the same hour, to see if he should + find him there again. In that case the periodicity of his devotion would + justify a scientific investigation; for in such a man there ought to be no + direct antagonism of thought and action. + </p> + <p> + Next year, on the said day and hour, Bianchon, who had already ceased to + be Desplein's house surgeon, saw the great man's cab standing at the + corner of the Rue de Tournon and the Rue du Petit-Lion, whence his friend + jesuitically crept along by the wall of Saint-Sulpice, and once more + attended mass in front of the Virgin's altar. It was Desplein, sure + enough! The master-surgeon, the atheist at heart, the worshiper by chance. + The mystery was greater than ever; the regularity of the phenomenon + complicated it. When Desplein had left, Bianchon went to the sacristan, + who took charge of the chapel, and asked him whether the gentleman were a + constant worshiper. + </p> + <p> + "For twenty years that I have been here," replied the man, "M. Desplein + has come four times a year to attend this mass. He founded it." + </p> + <p> + "A mass founded by him!" said Bianchon, as he went away. "This is as great + a mystery as the Immaculate Conception—an article which alone is + enough to make a physician an unbeliever." + </p> + <p> + Some time elapsed before Doctor Bianchon, though so much his friend, found + an opportunity of speaking to Desplein of this incident of his life. + Though they met in consultation, or in society, it was difficult to find + an hour of confidential solitude when, sitting with their feet on the + fire-dogs and their head resting on the back of an armchair, two men tell + each other their secrets. At last, seven years later, after the Revolution + of 1830, when the mob invaded the Archbishop's residence, when Republican + agitators spurred them on to destroy the gilt crosses which flashed like + streaks of lightning in the immensity of the ocean of houses; when + Incredulity flaunted itself in the streets, side by side with Rebellion, + Bianchon once more detected Desplein going into Saint-Sulpice. The doctor + followed him, and knelt down by him without the slightest notice or + demonstration of surprise from his friend. They both attended this mass of + his founding. + </p> + <p> + "Will you tell me, my dear fellow," said Bianchon, as they left the + church, "the reason for your fit of monkishness? I have caught you three + times going to mass—— You! You must account to me for this + mystery, explain such a flagrant disagreement between your opinions and + your conduct. You do not believe in God, and yet you attend mass? My dear + master, you are bound to give me an answer." + </p> + <p> + "I am like a great many devout people, men who on the surface are deeply + religious, but quite as much atheists as you or I can be." + </p> + <p> + And he poured out a torrent of epigrams on certain political personages, + of whom the best known gives us, in this century, a new edition of + Moliere's <i>Tartufe</i>. + </p> + <p> + "All that has nothing to do with my question," retorted Bianchon. "I want + to know the reason for what you have just been doing, and why you founded + this mass." + </p> + <p> + "Faith! my dear boy," said Desplein, "I am on the verge of the tomb; I may + safely tell you about the beginning of my life." + </p> + <p> + At this moment Bianchon and the great man were in the Rue des + Quatre-Vents, one of the worst streets in Paris. Desplein pointed to the + sixth floor of one of the houses looking like obelisks, of which the + narrow door opens into a passage with a winding staircase at the end, with + windows appropriately termed "borrowed lights"—or, in French, <i>jours + de souffrance</i>. It was a greenish structure; the ground floor occupied + by a furniture-dealer, while each floor seemed to shelter a different and + independent form of misery. Throwing up his arm with a vehement gesture, + Desplein exclaimed: + </p> + <p> + "I lived up there for two years." + </p> + <p> + "I know; Arthez lived there; I went up there almost every day during my + first youth; we used to call it then the pickle-jar of great men! What + then?" + </p> + <p> + "The mass I have just attended is connected with some events which took + place at the time when I lived in the garret where you say Arthez lived; + the one with the window where the clothes line is hanging with linen over + a pot of flowers. My early life was so hard, my dear Bianchon, that I may + dispute the palm of Paris suffering with any man living. I have endured + everything: hunger and thirst, want of money, want of clothes, of shoes, + of linen, every cruelty that penury can inflict. I have blown on my frozen + fingers in that <i>pickle-jar of great men</i>, which I should like to see + again, now, with you. I worked through a whole winter, seeing my head + steam, and perceiving the atmosphere of my own moisture as we see that of + horses on a frosty day. I do not know where a man finds the fulcrum that + enables him to hold out against such a life. + </p> + <p> + "I was alone, with no one to help me, no money to buy books or to pay the + expenses of my medical training; I had not a friend; my irascible, touchy, + restless temper was against me. No one understood that this irritability + was the distress and toil of a man who, at the bottom of the social scale, + is struggling to reach the surface. Still, I had, as I may say to you, + before whom I need wear no draperies, I had that ground-bed of good + feeling and keen sensitiveness which must always be the birthright of any + man who is strong enough to climb to any height whatever, after having + long trampled in the bogs of poverty. I could obtain nothing from my + family, nor from my home, beyond my inadequate allowance. In short, at + that time, I breakfasted off a roll which the baker in the Rue du + Petit-Lion sold me cheap because it was left from yesterday or the day + before, and I crumbled it into milk; thus my morning meal cost me but two + sous. I dined only every other day in a boarding-house where the meal cost + me sixteen sous. You know as well as I what care I must have taken of my + clothes and shoes. I hardly know whether in later life we feel grief so + deep when a colleague plays us false as we have known, you and I, on + detecting the mocking smile of a gaping seam in a shoe, or hearing the + armhole of a coat split, I drank nothing but water; I regarded a cafe with + distant respect. Zoppi's seemed to me a promised land where none but the + Lucullus of the <i>pays Latin</i> had a right of entry. 'Shall I ever take + a cup of coffee there with milk in it?' said I to myself, 'or play a game + of dominoes?' + </p> + <p> + "I threw into my work the fury I felt at my misery. I tried to master + positive knowledge so as to acquire the greatest personal value, and merit + the position I should hold as soon as I could escape from nothingness. I + consumed more oil than bread; the light I burned during these endless + nights cost me more than food. It was a long duel, obstinate, with no sort + of consolation. I found no sympathy anywhere. To have friends, must we not + form connections with young men, have a few sous so as to be able to go + tippling with them, and meet them where students congregate? And I had + nothing! And no one in Paris can understand that nothing means <i>nothing</i>. + When I even thought of revealing my beggary, I had that nervous + contraction of the throat which makes a sick man believe that a ball rises + up from the oesophagus into the larynx. + </p> + <p> + "In later life I have met people born to wealth who, never having wanted + for anything, had never even heard this problem in the rule of three: A + young man is to crime as a five-franc piece is to X.—These gilded + idiots say to me, 'Why did you get into debt? Why did you involve yourself + in such onerous obligations?' They remind me of the princess who, on + hearing that the people lacked bread, said, 'Why do not they buy cakes?' I + should like to see one of these rich men, who complain that I charge too + much for an operation,—yes, I should like to see him alone in Paris + without a sou, without a friend, without credit, and forced to work with + his five fingers to live at all! What would he do? Where would he go to + satisfy his hunger? + </p> + <p> + "Bianchon, if you have sometimes seen me hard and bitter, it was because I + was adding my early sufferings on to the insensibility, the selfishness of + which I have seen thousands of instances in the highest circles; or, + perhaps, I was thinking of the obstacles which hatred, envy, jealousy, and + calumny raised up between me and success. In Paris, when certain people + see you ready to set your foot in the stirrup, some pull your coat-tails, + others loosen the buckle of the strap that you may fall and crack your + skull; one wrenches off your horse's shoes, another steals your whip, and + the least treacherous of them all is the man whom you see coming to fire + his pistol at you point blank. + </p> + <p> + "You yourself, my dear boy, are clever enough to make acquaintance before + long with the odious and incessant warfare waged by mediocrity against the + superior man. If you should drop five-and-twenty louis one day, you will + be accused of gambling on the next, and your best friends will report that + you have lost twenty-five thousand. If you have a headache, you will be + considered mad. If you are a little hasty, no one can live with you. If, + to make a stand against this armament of pigmies, you collect your best + powers, your best friends will cry out that you want to have everything, + that you aim at domineering, at tyranny. In short, your good points will + become your faults, your faults will be vices, and your virtues crime. + </p> + <p> + "If you save a man, you will be said to have killed him; if he reappears + on the scene, it will be positive that you have secured the present at the + cost of the future. If he is not dead, he will die. Stumble, and you fall! + Invent anything of any kind and claim your rights, you will be crotchety, + cunning, ill-disposed to rising younger men. + </p> + <p> + "So, you see, my dear fellow, if I do not believe in God, I believe still + less in man. But do not you know in me another Desplein, altogether + different from the Desplein whom every one abuses?—However, we will + not stir that mud-heap. + </p> + <p> + "Well, I was living in that house, I was working hard to pass my first + examination, and I had no money at all. You know. I had come to one of + those moments of extremity when a man says, 'I will enlist.' I had one + hope. I expected from my home a box full of linen, a present from one of + those old aunts who, knowing nothing of Paris, think of your shirts, while + they imagine that their nephew with thirty francs a month is eating + ortolans. The box arrived while I was at the schools; it had cost forty + francs for carriage. The porter, a German shoemaker living in a loft, had + paid the money and kept the box. I walked up and down the Rue des + Fosses-Saint-Germain-des-Pres and the Rue de l'Ecole de Medecine without + hitting on any scheme which would release my trunk without the payment of + the forty francs, which of course I could pay as soon as I should have + sold the linen. My stupidity proved to me that surgery was my only + vocation. My good fellow, refined souls, whose powers move in a lofty + atmosphere, have none of that spirit of intrigue that is fertile in + resource and device; their good genius is chance; they do not invent, + things come to them. + </p> + <p> + "At night I went home, at the very moment when my fellow lodger also came + in—a water-carrier named Bourgeat, a native of Saint-Flour. We knew + each other as two lodgers do who have rooms off the same landing, and who + hear each other sleeping, coughing, dressing, and so at last become used + to one another. My neighbor informed me that the landlord, to whom I owed + three quarters' rent, had turned me out; I must clear out next morning. He + himself was also turned out on account of his occupation. I spent the most + miserable night of my life. Where was I to get a messenger who could carry + my few chattels and my books? How could I pay him and the porter? Where + was I to go? I repeated these unanswerable questions again and again, in + tears, as madmen repeat their tunes. I fell asleep; poverty has for its + friends heavenly slumbers full of beautiful dreams. + </p> + <p> + "Next morning, just as I was swallowing my little bowl of bread soaked in + milk, Bourgeat came in and said to me in his vile Auvergne accent: + </p> + <p> + "'<i>Mouchieur l'Etudiant</i>, I am a poor man, a foundling from the + hospital at Saint-Flour, without either father or mother, and not rich + enough to marry. You are not fertile in relations either, nor well + supplied with the ready? Listen, I have a hand-cart downstairs which I + have hired for two sous an hour; it will hold all our goods; if you like, + we will try to find lodgings together, since we are both turned out of + this. It is not the earthly paradise, when all is said and done.' + </p> + <p> + "'I know that, my good Bourgeat,' said I. 'But I am in a great fix. I have + a trunk downstairs with a hundred francs' worth of linen in it, out of + which I could pay the landlord and all I owe to the porter, and I have not + a hundred sous.' + </p> + <p> + "'Pooh! I have a few dibs,' replied Bourgeat joyfully, and he pulled out a + greasy old leather purse. 'Keep your linen.' + </p> + <p> + "Bourgeat paid up my arrears and his own, and settled with the porter. + Then he put our furniture and my box of linen in his cart, and pulled it + along the street, stopping in front of every house where there was a + notice board. I went up to see whether the rooms to let would suit us. At + midday we were still wandering about the neighborhood without having found + anything. The price was the great difficulty. Bourgeat proposed that we + should eat at a wine shop, leaving the cart at the door. Towards evening I + discovered, in the Cour de Rohan, Passage du Commerce, at the very top of + a house next the roof, two rooms with a staircase between them. Each of us + was to pay sixty francs a year. So there we were housed, my humble friend + and I. We dined together. Bourgeat, who earned about fifty sous a day, had + saved a hundred crowns or so; he would soon be able to gratify his + ambition by buying a barrel and a horse. On learning of my situation—for + he extracted my secrets with a quiet craftiness and good nature, of which + the remembrance touches my heart to this day, he gave up for a time the + ambition of his whole life; for twenty-two years he had been carrying + water in the street, and he now devoted his hundred crowns to my future + prospects." + </p> + <p> + Desplein at these words clutched Bianchon's arm tightly. "He gave me the + money for my examination fees! That man, my friend, understood that I had + a mission, that the needs of my intellect were greater than his. He looked + after me, he called me his boy, he lent me money to buy books, he would + come in softly sometimes to watch me at work, and took a mother's care in + seeing that I had wholesome and abundant food, instead of the bad and + insufficient nourishment I had been condemned to. Bourgeat, a man of about + forty, had a homely, mediaeval type of face, a prominent forehead, a head + that a painter might have chosen as a model for that of Lycurgus. The poor + man's heart was big with affections seeking an object; he had never been + loved but by a poodle that had died some time since, of which he would + talk to me, asking whether I thought the Church would allow masses to be + said for the repose of its soul. His dog, said he, had been a good + Christian, who for twelve years had accompanied him to church, never + barking, listening to the organ without opening his mouth, and crouching + beside him in a way that made it seem as though he were praying too. + </p> + <p> + "This man centered all his affections in me; he looked upon me as a + forlorn and suffering creature, and he became, to me, the most thoughtful + mother, the most considerate benefactor, the ideal of the virtue which + rejoices in its own work. When I met him in the street, he would throw me + a glance of intelligence full of unutterable dignity; he would affect to + walk as though he carried no weight, and seemed happy in seeing me in good + health and well dressed. It was, in fact, the devoted affection of the + lower classes, the love of a girl of the people transferred to a loftier + level. Bourgeat did all my errands, woke me at night at any fixed hour, + trimmed my lamp, cleaned our landing; as good as a servant as he was as a + father, and as clean as an English girl. He did all the housework. Like + Philopoemen, he sawed our wood, and gave to all he did the grace of + simplicity while preserving his dignity, for he seemed to understand that + the end ennobles every act. + </p> + <p> + "When I left this good fellow, to be house surgeon at the Hotel-Dieu, I + felt an indescribable, dull pain, knowing that he could no longer live + with me; but he comforted himself with the prospect of saving up money + enough for me to take my degree, and he made me promise to go to see him + whenever I had a day out: Bourgeat was proud of me. He loved me for my own + sake, and for his own. If you look up my thesis, you will see that I + dedicated it to him. + </p> + <p> + "During the last year of my residence as house surgeon I earned enough to + repay all I owed to this worthy Auvergnat by buying him a barrel and a + horse. He was furious with rage at learning that I had been depriving + myself of spending my money, and yet he was delighted to see his wishes + fulfilled; he laughed and scolded, he looked at his barrel, at his horse, + and wiped away a tear, as he said, 'It is too bad. What a splendid barrel! + You really ought not. Why, that horse is as strong as an Auvergnat!' + </p> + <p> + "I never saw a more touching scene. Bourgeat insisted on buying for me the + case of instruments mounted in silver which you have seen in my room, and + which is to me the most precious thing there. Though enchanted with my + first success, never did the least sign, the least word, escape him which + might imply, 'This man owes all to me!' And yet, but for him, I should + have died of want; he had eaten bread rubbed with garlic that I might have + coffee to enable me to sit up at night. + </p> + <p> + "He fell ill. As you may suppose, I passed my nights by his bedside, and + the first time I pulled him through; but two years after he had a relapse; + in spite of the utmost care, in spite of the greatest exertions of + science, he succumbed. No king was ever nursed as he was. Yes, Bianchon, + to snatch that man from death I tried unheard-of things. I wanted him to + live long enough to show him his work accomplished, to realize all his + hopes, to give expression to the only need for gratitude that ever filled + my heart, to quench a fire that burns in me to this day. + </p> + <p> + "Bourgeat, my second father, died in my arms," Desplein went on, after a + pause, visibly moved. "He left me everything he possessed by a will he had + had made by a public scrivener, dating from the year when we had gone to + live in the Cour de Rohan. + </p> + <p> + "This man's faith was perfect; he loved the Holy Virgin as he might have + loved his wife. He was an ardent Catholic, but never said a word to me + about my want of religion. When he was dying he entreated me to spare no + expense that he might have every possible benefit of clergy. I had a mass + said for him every day. Often, in the night, he would tell me of his fears + as to his future fate; he feared his life had not been saintly enough. + Poor man! he was at work from morning till night. For whom, then, is + Paradise—if there be a Paradise? He received the last sacrament like + the saint that he was, and his death was worthy of his life. + </p> + <p> + "I alone followed him to the grave. When I had laid my only benefactor to + rest, I looked about to see how I could pay my debt to him; I found he had + neither family nor friends, neither wife nor child. But he believed. He + had a religious conviction; had I any right to dispute it? He had spoken + to me timidly of masses said for the repose of the dead; he would not + impress it on me as a duty, thinking that it would be a form of repayment + for his services. As soon as I had money enough I paid to Saint-Sulpice + the requisite sum for four masses every year. As the only thing I can do + for Bourgeat is thus to satisfy his pious wishes, on the days when that + mass is said, at the beginning of each season of the year, I go for his + sake and say the required prayers; and I say with the good faith of a + sceptic—'Great God, if there is a sphere which Thou hast appointed + after death for those who have been perfect, remember good Bourgeat; and + if he should have anything to suffer, let me suffer it for him, that he + may enter all the sooner into what is called Paradise.' + </p> + <p> + "That, my dear fellow, is as much as a man who holds my opinions can allow + himself. But God must be a good fellow; He cannot owe me any grudge. I + swear to you, I would give my whole fortune if faith such as Bourgeat's + could enter my brain." + </p> + <p> + Bianchon, who was with Desplein all through his last illness, dares not + affirm to this day that the great surgeon died an atheist. Will not those + who believe like to fancy that the humble Auvergnat came to open the gate + of Heaven to his friend, as he did that of the earthly temple on whose + pediment we read the words—"A grateful country to its great men." + </p> + <p> + PARIS, January 1836. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + ADDENDUM + </h2> + <h3> + The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy. + </h3> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Bianchon, Horace + Father Goriot + Cesar Birotteau + The Commission in Lunacy + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + A Bachelor's Establishment + The Secrets of a Princess + The Government Clerks + Pierrette + A Study of Woman + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + Honorine + The Seamy Side of History + The Magic Skin + A Second Home + A Prince of Bohemia + Letters of Two Brides + The Muse of the Department + The Imaginary Mistress + The Middle Classes + Cousin Betty + The Country Parson + In addition, M. Bianchon narrated the following: + Another Study of Woman + La Grande Breteche + + Desplein + Cousin Pons + Lost Illusions + The Thirteen + The Government Clerks + Pierrette + A Bachelor's Establishment + The Seamy Side of History + Modeste Mignon + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + Honorine +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Atheist's Mass, by Honore de Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ATHEIST'S MASS *** + +***** This file should be named 1220-h.htm or 1220-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/2/1220/ + +Produced by Dagny, and David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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