PIERRE. Perhaps it was like that once; but nowadays as soon as the children can get along by themselves, off they go!
CHEV. Even so they will send you help if you need it.
JACQUES. They couldn’t help him, even if they wanted to.
COL. Why not?
JACQUES. Because as there were eight he couldn’t do anything for them, so they’ll only be struggling, hand-to-mouth creatures; not earning enough to keep themselves, much less help him.
PIERRE. And he’s been able to bring up his well. He’s only one girl: he gave her a fortune and she made a fine marriage. He’s only one boy: he was able to send him to Grignon and he’ll earn big money like his father. No: it’s no use your talking. They’re right when they say ’Well, Poiret,’—h’m—not before the ladies.
He goes to the table, pours himself out a glass of cognac and drinks it.
COL. I regret to say we have become too far-seeing a nation. Everyone thinks of his own future: no one thinks of the good of the community.
BRIGNAC. In former times people troubled less about the future. They had faith, and remembered the words of the Scriptures, ‘Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.’