We must never forget that, if these country folks are
laborious, and perhaps sordid, in their thriftiness, they are proud, and
refuse to be paid for what costs them nothing. The same characteristic
is very generally found in France.
Fishing is the principal amusement here, and shared by both sexes. What
the Marne and the Morin contain in the way of booty, we hardly know; but
it is certain that more cunning fish, whether perch, tench, or bream,
never existed, and are not, "by hook or by crook," to be caught.
Wherever we go, we find anglers sitting patiently by these lovely green
banks, and certainly the mere prospect they have before them--clear water
reflecting water-mill and lofty poplar trees and shelving banks now a
tangle of wild flowers--is enough to make such indolence agreeable. But,
after days and days of fruitless waiting for the prey that always eludes
them, we do wonder at such persistence. Is nothing then ever caught in
these pleasant streams, will ask the inquiring reader? Well, yes, I have
seen served at table perch the size of very small herrings, which it is
the French fashion to take between the fingers daintily, and, holding by
head and tail, nibble as children bite an apple.
Pages:
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56