Dans son etable,
Que Jesus est charmant!
Qu'il est aimable
Dans son abaissement
He began in quiet tones that he might not drown the other slender voice; but soon emotion carried him away and he sang with all his might, his gaze dreamy and remote. Telesphore drew near and looked at him with worshipping eyes. To these children brought up in a lonely house, with only their parents for companions, Samuel Chapdelaine embodied all there was in the world of wisdom and might. As he was ever gentle and patient, always ready to take the children on his knee and sing them hymns, or those endless old songs he taught them one by one, they loved him with a rare affection.
... Tous les palais des rois
N'ont rien de comparable
Aux beautes que je vois
Dans cette etable.
"Once more? Very well."
This time the mother and Tit'Bé joined in. Maria could not resist staying her prayers for a few moments that she might look and hearken; but the words of the hymn renewed her ardour, and she soon took up the task again with a livelier faith ... "Hail Mary, full of grace ..."
Trois gros navires sont arrives,
Charges d'avoine, charges de ble.
Nous irons sur l'eau nous y prom-promener,
Nous irons jouer dans l'ile...
"And now? Another song: which?" Without waiting for a reply he struck in ... "No? not that one ... Claire Fontaine? Ah! That's a beautiful one, that is! We shall all sing it together."
He glanced at Maria, but seeing the beads ever slipping through her fingers he would not intrude.
A la claire fontaine
M'en allant promener,
J'ai trouve l'eau si belle
Que je m'y suis baigne ...
Il y a longtemps que je t'aime,
Jamais je ne t'oublierai...
Words and tune alike haunting; the unaffected sadness of the refrain lingering in the ear, a song that well may find its way to any heart.