10 SO RELATIONS. velvet, woolen trousers, and a felt hat,—in a word, all that he had promised me. Velvet for me, who had never worn anything but coarse linen! shoes and a hat, when my sole head-covering had been my hair Cer- tainly he was the best man in the world, the richest and the most generous. It is true that the velvet was rusty and the cloth threadbare; it is equally true that it would have been diffi- cult to tell the original color of the hat, so much rain and dust had it gone through. But, dazzled by so much splendor, I was insensible to the imperfections which their magnificence concealed. I was in a hurry to put on these fine clothes; but before giving them to me Vitalis sub- jected them to a transformation which aston- ished me grievously. On returning to our inn, he took a pair of scissors out of his bag and cut off the legs of the trousers at the knees. As I looked at him with wondering eyes, "The only reason why I do this," he said, "is that you may look different from anybody else. We are in France, so I dress you as an Italian If we go to Italy, as we probably shall, I will dress you as a Frenchman." As this explanation in no way lessened my as- tonishment, he went on: " What are we? Artists, are we not? Come- dians,—whose aspect alone ought to excite curiosity. Do vou believe that if we were to go out on the public square dressed like mere townsfolk or peasants we should attract people . to look at us and to gather about us? No, eh? Know, then, that in life appearances are some- times indispensable. It is a nuisance, but we cannot help it." So from the Frenchman I was in the morning I was turned into an Italian before night. My trousers ended at the knee. Vitalis fast- ened my stockings with red strings wound all round my legs. He twisted more ribbons in my hat, and decorated it with a bunch of artifi- cial flowers. I do not know what other people may have thought of me. but in all sincerity I must de- clare that I thought myself superb; and no wonder, for my friend Capi, after staring at me for a long time, held out his paw to me with a satisfied air. Capi's admiration of my transformation was all the more agreeable to me because, while I was putting on my new clothes, Joli Cœur had placed himself before me and was mimicking all my movements and burlesquing them. My toilet concluded, he put his arms akimbo, and, throwing back his head, began to laugh, utter- ing a series of little mocking cries. I have heard it said that the question as to whether monkeys laughed is an interesting sci- entific problem. I think that those who have questioned the matter are mere chamber savants, who have never taken the trouble to study monkeys. For my part, having lived a long time in Joli Cœur's company, I can state that he used to laugh, and moreover frequently, in a manner verv mortifying to me. Without doubt, his laugh was not exactly that of a human being. However, when anything excited his mirth, the corners of his mouth were drawn back, his eyelids wrinkled, his jaws moved rapidly, and his black eyes seemed to give forth flames like live coals when they are blown upon. For that matter, it was not long until I had an opportu- nity of observing these characteristic signs of laughter in him under conditions very hurtful to my self-love. "Now that you are equipped," said Vitalis, when I had put on my hat, "we must go to work, in order to give to-morrow, which is the market-day, a performance in which you will make your first appearance." 1 asked what a first appearance meant, and Vitalis explained to me that it meant appear- ing for the first time before the public as an actor. "We will give our first performance to-mor- row," he said, " and you shall figure in it. Now I must make you repeat the part I intend you to • Play:" My wondering eyes told him that I did not understand. " I mean by part the share you will have to take in the performance. If I have brought you away with me, it was not merely to afford you the pleasure of walking. I am ndt rich enough for that. It is in order that you may work; and your work will consist m playing comedies with my dogs and Joli Cœur." "But I do not know how to play a comedy !" j And this ^^^^ZTrfZUl ""ThaHs precisely the reason why I must 'was over,'" do yoi.think.you will grow accus- teach it to you. You do not imagine that it s tomed to playing comedies? natural to Capi to walk so gracefully on his " I don't know. , . , »___ ____--------. +u«v» r»,»l/»o clrrntr for nfir hind legs, any more than Dolrfe skips for her own amusement? Capi learned to stand up- right and Dolce was also taught to skip. They 'Does that tire you?" 'No; it amuses rne." 'Then all will go well; you are intelligent, ;r»™V7= ïu' s. >«?«. *.. ".jf^TroS^'art'^Sss ™,,j ., ,M, ,„ooh but primitive idea, of forger» ju.t a» fut; moreover, he never takes 'seZttl Tike great*dolt is not the one you in that respect Do you understand that? Jftjffla gSS^SSS "^hlattentiv°e, then, my boy be docile, he ver? welp eased This is Capi. But : Whatever you have to do, let it be lie best you Capulgetting offi, and Monsieur Joli Cœur can do. In life, all depends upon that. wants a new servant. Capi takes upon himself to procure one. But he does not choose a dog for his successor. It is a young boy,—a peas- ant called Remi." "Like me?" "Not like you, but you yourself. You ar- rive from your village to enter the service ot Joli Cœur." „ ' ' Monkeys don't have servants. "In comedies they have. So you arrive, and Monsieur Joli Cœur finds that you are nothing better than a fool." " There is nothing amusing in that. " What is that to you, since it is to be laughed at' Now, picture yourself in reality coming home as a servant to a gentleman's house, and that you are told, for example, to lay the cloth: there is the one that is to be used in our per- As we were chatting thus, I was bold enough to tell him what had astonished me most during this rehearsal,—which was the unyielding pa- tience he had shown, not only with Joli Cœur, and the dogs, but with myself. With a gentle smile he replied, " It is easy to see that you have lived hitherto with peasants who treat animals harshly and who believe that they ought to be driven, with the stick ever ready. It is a woeful error; you get very little by brutality, while you gain a great deal, not to say everything, by kindness. For myself, I have made my animals what they are simply by never getting angry with them. If I had beaten them they would be timid; and timidity paralyzes the intellect. Moreover, by allowing myself to lose my temper with them, I should 1 not be what I am, nor should I have learned Tier- ! nor. uo nirt» a «"». -«.----. , , ---- c formance. Come forward and arrange the j tais *£$*£»%* *£* ^otaerl isl There was the table and on it were plates, a lesson for yourself too My dogs have given with my mouth open, not knowing where_ to to laugh. Willi UJJ uriwLtr.it vitrei, "«» —----—o ¦ — begin, my master clapped his hands, shouting with laughter. Bravo!" said he, "bravo! it is perfect; the -'You find it very ridiculous, do you not, that a dog should give lessons to a man? and yet there is nothing more true. Think a little: ine ytri iii«tu io uvit.1,1115 »»»"»»- o.~~. ...— --------------- expresTiônV7ou7featur~es is excellent. The , do you allow that a dog submits to the influence bov I had before you used to put on a sly look of his master.' '. J - . », ., J. ¦. ~£ ___:..~ lVn„ ».,ill car. * < Oil PPHfl.in that had all the air of saying, ' You will see how well I shall play the blockhead.' Yours says nothing at all; there you are; your sim- plicity is admirable." " I don't know what I am to do." "And it is just therein that your excellence lies. By to-morrow, in a few days hence, you 'Oh, certainly." " Then you will understand thatfthe master is obliged to watch over himself when he is en- gaged on the training of a dog. Suppose, there- fore, for a moment, that while teaching Capi I allowed myself to be carried away by anger and passion, what would Capi have done? he would lies By to-morrow, in a tew days hence, you passiou, wnar, »»ru»«o, .... », ^^. — .------ wili know periectly what you have to do. Then j have contracted the habit of ill temper and pas 77 „.?.. *X7,V Ml .™L...m.nt vm, f«l sion: that is to say, he would become corruptee Will liUtrrv yctiLLuij „ i»«-o j ~ — —— ¦------------ T i you must recall the embarrassment you teel now, and feign to be what you are no longer. If you can reproduce the same expression of feature and the same attitude, I prophesy a complete success for you. Consider what the character is in the play,—a young peasant who liaVU UULiLieVwOtru on»- i.i*"»o v» .»» »««--f—------ Xi sion; that is to say, he would become corrupted by my example. A. dog is almost always the reflection of his master; see one and you see the other. Show me your dog and I will tell you what you are. The brigand's dog is a scamp; the thief has a thief. The unintelligent clown fas leen notait S kno^ nSt^ng he a, I has a rude b/ute of a. dog; the, courteous and uds si^u uwu & _______ p----- o*Fq10p mnn lms n.n fl.mia,hlft doff. IJlIO Otj^-H UWil""5 ««*». »~*_ ¦¦ - --------------—i-jr rives at a monkey's house and finds himself to be more ignorant and awkward than the mon- key; hence the second name of the play, 'The greatest dolt is not the one*you think.' More stupid than Joli Cœur,—that is your part. To play it to perfection you will only have to re- main as you were at that moment; but, as that is impossible, you must only remember what you have been, and try to become by art what you no longer naturally are." " Monsieur Joli Cœur's Servant" was not a long piece, only requiring about twenty minutes for its performance; but our rehearsal lasted nearly three hours. Vitalis made us—the dogs as well as myself—begin again twice, four times, ten times over, the same thing. They indeed had forgotten some parts of their roles, and needed to be taught them over again. Then it was that I witnessed with wonder the patience and gentleness of our master. It was not so that animals were treated in my village, where oaths and blows were the only means 'employed in their education. As for him, no matter how long the rehearsal was prolonged, he never once got angry, never once swore. Now begin again," he used to say, sternly, affable man has an amiable dog." My comrades, the dogs and the monkey, had this great advantage over me, that they were used to appearing in public, so that they saw the morrow arrive without fear. All that they had to do was to repeat what they had already done a hundred times, perhaps a thousand times. But 1 was far from having their easy assurance. What would Vitalis say if I played mt part badly? what would the audience say? This uneasy thought prevented me sleeping, and when I did sleep I saw in my dreams peo- ple who were holding their sides with laughter at me, turning me into ridicule. Thus I felt very nervous when leaving our inn to repair to the mtirket-place, where our performance was to take place. Vitalis led the van, his head erect, his chest expanded, and he kept time with his feet and arms as he played a waltz on a metal fife. After him came Capi, on whose back Monsieur Joli Cœur was displayed at his ease, attired in the costume of an English general, red coat and trousers braided with gold, and a crush hat with a large plume. Then, at a respectful distance, Zerbino and Dolce followed, walking abreast. I, last of all. " Now begin again," he used to say, sternly, Dolce tolloweo, wanting unw». -, «»"?«"> when wTiathè wanted had not been successfully brought up the rear of the procession , done "That is bad, Capi; vou are not paying thanks to the order of march directed by or attention! Joli Cœur, you shall be scolded." ' master, took up a considerable portion of the