INTRODUCTION

Among contemporary French writers of fiction, there are few whose descriptive powers and pathos can be compared with Theuriet's.

Although comparatively unknown elsewhere, in his own country he is held in high esteem« no less because of the pure moral tone of his writings, than because of their high intellectual character.

André Theuriet was born at Marly-le-Roi near Versailles in 1833. His early years, however, were spent at Bar-le- Duc in the old Province of Argonne. This country, so picturesque with its pine forests and black hills, left in his mind a permanent impression ; it is, indeed, when he calls back thèse early impressions and pictures of bygone people, places, and events, that he is at his best.

Theuriet began writing while a mère boy, publishing in the Journal de la Meuse, while in the class of Rhetoric, a short poem, that brought down upon him the ire of his professors.

In 1852 he composed a poem entitled, "L'Eloge de r Acropole," the subject'bf which had been proposed by the French Academy. To his utter disgust and discouragement he failed to obtain a prize, and this induced him to