O son more loved than any ever born!
I thought it better to be lonely than let the stock go from bad to worse. I believe it is a crime to bring a child into the world if one cannot give it health and bring it up well. We saw one hundred conscripts this morning, colonel, and we passed sixty. Would it not have been better if there had only been eighty and we could have passed them all?
COL. Perhaps you are right. I said what I said because I’ve heard it so constantly repeated.
SOUS-IN. When there are healthy houses and food and clothing for everyone it will be time to think of adding to the number.
LUCIE. That is very true.
CHEV. You evidently don’t share M. Brignac’s ideas, madame.
BRIGNAC. Oh, indeed she does. Madame Brignac and I have three children, and we don’t mean to stop there: so my wife may qualify for that decoration some day.
LUCIE [to Chevillot] As far as I can see, M. le maire, when children are born now society does not always make them welcome.
BRIGNAC. I think, my dear, that you had better leave the discussion of this important question to the gentlemen.