VI INTRODUCTION

Ma lante Giron (1886) is a story of provincial lîfe oi somewhat the same type as PAbbé Constantin. It was foUowed in 1888 by Une Tache d^ encre vthïoh. marks a decided advance in literary workmanship, though in tone it resembles Ma Tante Giron, Les Noëllet followed in 1889. Hère, Bazin goes deeper. The opening chapters give a very exact reproduction of the life of a tenant f armer. Noëllet, the father, loves only the soil and intends that his sons shall pursue his occupation. But one of them becomes dissatisfied and déclares that his intention is to obtain an éducation in order to enter the service of the church. The members of the family acknowledge his right to follow his vocation and they make great sacrifices in order to aid him during his theological course. Then he returns and confesses that he has decdved them, that he has sought an éducation simply that he may become a fine gentleman.

The story is very well worked out, each character is in its place and every détail shows the author's .power of exact and patient observation and his intimate knowledge of things and of people. Bazin is hère, as Doumic says, equally far removed f rom the idyll and from caricature; he is in the fuU tide of realism, in the best sensé of the word ; he reproduces the exact, undistorted image of the thing pictured.

De toute Son Ame (1897) is a study of class feeling in a large manufacturing town. M. Lemarié, a rich manufacturer, has in his employ an honest laborer of the better class, Uncle £loi, who has