Parisians in the Country
PARISIANS IN THE COUNTRY BY HONORE DE BALZAC INTRODUCTION I have sometimes wondered whether it was accident or intention which made Balzac so frequently combine early and late work in the same volume. The question is certainly insoluble, and perhaps not worth solving, but it presents itself once more in the present instance. /L'Illustre Gaudissart/ is a story of 1832, the very heyday of Balzac's creative period, when even his pen could hardly keep up with the abundance of his fancy and the gathered stores of his minute observation. /La Muse du Departement/ dates ten years and more later, when, though there was plenty of both left, both sacks had been deeply dipped into.
"He may be the best printer in the country, mind you, but I'll
lay a little bet that he can't run a hundred yards without
sustenance."
"Without what?"
"Sustenance--something to eat."
"Well, we've got plenty for him to eat," said the mystified
foreman.
"You don't understand. However, time will tell."
"But we ain't got no time. We've made this race 'pay or play,' a
week from Saturday, and the bets are down. We was afraid the
Centipede would welsh when they seen who we had, so we framed it
that-away. What's to be done?"
Again Fresno displayed an artistic restraint that was admirable.
"It's none of my business," said he, with a careless shrug.
"I--I guess I'll tell Willie and the boys," vouchsafed Bill
apprehensively.
"No! no! Don't breathe a word I've said to you. He may be a
PARISIANS IN THE COUNTRY BY HONORE DE BALZAC INTRODUCTION I have sometimes wondered whether it was accident or intention which made Balzac so frequently combine early and late work in the same volume. The question is certainly insoluble, and perhaps not worth solving, but it presents itself once more in the present instance. /L'Illustre Gaudissart/ is a story of 1832, the very heyday of Balzac's creative period, when even his pen could hardly keep up with the abundance of his fancy and the gathered stores of his minute observation. /La Muse du Departement/ dates ten years and more later, when, though there was plenty of both left, both sacks had been deeply dipped into.