CHAPTER III
HER FIRST REVOLUTION
1848
(From a Schoolgirl’s Point of View)
“Les hommes de 1848 étaient des apôtres, des saints.”—Mme. Adam, Souvenirs.
Mme. Adam has lived through four Revolutions. The first, that of 1848, occurred when she was eleven. In the previous year, when she paid her usual summer visit to Chivres, she found her aunts perturbed by the political situation. They were eagerly devouring the columns of the National. They were talking of politics from morn till night. Much to their mother’s disapproval, they brought their eleven-year-old niece into their discussions. “You are tiring the poor little thing to death!” remonstrated Juliette’s great-grandmother.
“No,” rejoined her daughters, “the child is quite old enough to listen and to understand.”
“Besides,” continued Aunt Constance, who was the ironist of the three, “it will not be unprofitable to you, mademoiselle, to learn, if not with your ears, at least with your mouth as you yawn, the views on public affairs held by such highly intelligent persons as your aunts.”
“But,” writes Juliette, “I did not yawn, for my mind was interested in all matters political and literary.”[8]