Fruitfulness - Fecondite | Page 9

on their father's death; and the
works had been saved only by means of a large pecuniary sacrifice
which had long crippled their prosperity. And people imagined that he
would be as imprudent as his father! Why, if Maurice should have a
brother or a sister, he might hereafter find himself in the same dire
embarrassment, in which the family property might already have been
destroyed. No, no! He would not expose the boy to the necessity of
dividing the inheritance in accordance with badly framed laws. He was
resolved that Maurice should be the sole master of the fortune which he
himself had derived from his father, and which he would transmit to his
heir increased tenfold. For his son he dreamt of supreme wealth, a
colossal fortune, such as nowadays alone ensures power.
Mathieu, refraining from any intervention, listened and remained grave;
for this question of the birth-rate seemed to him a frightful one, the
foremost of all questions, deciding the destiny of mankind and the
world. There has never been any progress but such as has been
determined by increase of births. If nations have accomplished
evolutions, if civilization has advanced, it is because the nations have
multiplied and subsequently spread through all the countries of the
earth. And will not to-morrow's evolution, the advent of truth and
justice, be brought about by the constant onslaught of the greater
number, the revolutionary fruitfulness of the toilers and the poor?
It is quite true that Mathieu did not plainly say all these things to
himself; indeed, he felt slightly ashamed of the four children that he
already had, and was disturbed by the counsels of prudence addressed
to him by the Beauchenes. But within him there struggled his faith in

life, his belief that the greatest possible sum of life must bring about the
greatest sum of happiness.
At last, wishing to change the subject, he bethought himself of
Marianne's commission, and at the first favorable opportunity
exclaimed: "Well, we shall rely on you, Marianne and I, for Sunday
after next, at Janville."
But there was still no answer, for just then a servant came to say that a
woman with an infant in her arms desired to see Madame. And
Beauchene, having recognized the wife of Moineaud, the fitter, bade
her come in. Boutan, who had now risen, was prompted by curiosity to
remain a little longer.
La Moineaude, short and fat like her husband, was a woman of about
forty, worn out before her time, with ashen face, pale eyes, thin faded
hair, and a weak mouth which already lacked many teeth. A large
family had been too much for her; and, moreover, she took no care of
herself.
"Well, my good woman," Constance inquired, "what do you wish with
me?"
But La Moineaude remained quite scared by the sight of all those
people whom she had not expected to find there. She said nothing. She
had hoped to speak to the lady privately.
"Is this your last-born?" Beauchene asked her as he looked at the pale,
puny child on her arm.
"Yes, monsieur, it's my little Alfred; he's ten months old and I've had to
wean him, for I couldn't feed him any longer. I had nine others before
this one, but three are dead. My eldest son, Eugene, is a soldier in
Tonquin. You have my two big girls, Euphrasie and Norine, at the
works. And I have three left at home--Victor, who is now fifteen, then
Cecile and Irma, who are ten and seven. After Irma I thought I had
done with children for good, and I was well pleased. But, you see, this
urchin came! And I, forty too--it's not just! The good Lord must surely
have abandoned us."
Then Dr. Boutan began to question her. He avoided looking at the
Beauchenes, but there was a malicious twinkle in his little eyes, and it
was evident that he took pleasure in recapitulating the employer's
arguments against excessive prolificness. He pretended to get angry
and to reproach the Moineauds for their ten wretched children--the

boys fated to become food for powder, the girls always liable to
misfortune. And he gave the woman to understand that it was her own
fault if she was in distress; for people with a tribe of children about
them could never become rich. And the poor creature sadly answered
that he was quite right, but that no idea of becoming rich could ever
have entered their heads. Moineaud knew well enough that he would
never be a cabinet minister, and so it was all the same to them how
many children they might have on their hands. Indeed, a number
proved a help when the youngsters grew old enough to go out to work.
Beauchene had become silent and slowly