A GOOD BISHOP AND A HARD BISHOPRIC.
The Bishop, though he had converted his coach into alms, did not the
less make his visitations. The diocese of D---- is fatiguing; there
are few plains and many mountains, and hardly any roads, as we saw
just now: twenty-two curacies, forty-one vicarages, and two hundred
and eighty-five chapels of ease. It was a task to visit all these, but
the Bishop managed it. He went on foot when the place was near, in a
carriage when it was in the plain, and on a mule when it was in the
mountains. The two old females generally accompanied him, but when the
journey was too wearying for them he went alone.
One day he arrived at Senez, which is an old Episcopal town, mounted on
a donkey; his purse, which was very light at the time, had not allowed
him any other equipage. The Mayor of the city came to receive him at
the door of the Bishop's Palace, and saw him dismount with scandalized
eyes. A few cits were laughing round him. "M. Mayor and gentlemen," the
Bishop said, "I see what it is that scandalizes you. You consider it
great pride for a poor priest to ride an animal which our Saviour once
upon a time bestrode. I did so through necessity, I assure you, and not
through vanity."
On his tours the Bishop was indulgent and gentle, and preached less
than he conversed. His reasonings and models were never far-fetched,
and to the inhabitants of one country he quoted the example of an
adjacent country. In those cantons where people were harsh to the needy
he would say, "Look at the people of Briançon. They have given the
indigent, the widows, and the orphans, the right of mowing their fields
three days before all the rest. They rebuild their houses gratuitously
when they are in ruins. Hence it is a country blessed of GOD. For one
hundred years not a single murder has been committed there." To those
eager for grain and good crops, he said, "Look at the people of Embrun.
If a father of a family at harvest-time has his sons in the army, his
daughters serving in the town, or if he be ill or prevented from toil,
the Curé recommends him in his sermon; and on Sunday after Mass all
the villagers, men, women, and children, go into his field, and cut
and carry home his crop." To families divided by questions of money or
inheritance he said, "Look at the Highlanders of Devolny, a country
so wild that the nightingale is not heard once in fifty years. Well,
when the father of a family dies there the boys go off to seek their
fortune, and leave the property to the girls, so that they may obtain
husbands." In those parts where the farmers are fond of lawsuits, and
ruin themselves in writs, he would say, "Look at those good peasants of
the valley of Queyras. There are three thousand souls there. Why, it
is like a little republic. Neither judge nor bailiff is known there,
and the Mayor does everything. He divides the imposts, taxes everybody
conscientiously, settles quarrels gratis, allots patrimonies without
fees, gives sentences without costs, and is obeyed because he is a just
man among simple men." In villages where there was no schoolmaster he
again quoted the people of Queyras. "Do you know what they do? As a
small place, containing only twelve or fifteen hearths, cannot always
support a master, they have schoolmasters paid by the whole valley,
who go from village to village, spending a week in one, ten days in
another, and teaching. These masters go the fairs, where I have seen
them. They can be recognized by the pens they carry in their hat-band.
Those who only teach reading have but one pen: those who teach reading
and arithmetic have two: those who teach reading, arithmetic, and
Latin, have three. But what a disgrace it is to be ignorant! Do like
the people of Queyras."
He spoke thus, gravely and paternally. When examples failed him he
invented parables, going straight to the point, with few phrases and a
good deal of imagery. His was the eloquence of the Apostles, convincing
and persuading.