CHAPTER I--PARVULUS

  Paris has a child, and the forest has a bird; the bird is called thesparrow; the child is called the gamin.

  Couple these two ideas which contain, the one all the furnace, the otherall the dawn; strike these two sparks together, Paris, childhood; thereleaps out from them a little being. _Homuncio_, Plautus would say.

  This little being is joyous. He has not food every day, and he goes tothe play every evening, if he sees good. He has no shirt on his body,no shoes on his feet, no roof over his head; he is like the flies ofheaven, who have none of these things. He is from seven to thirteenyears of age, he lives in bands, roams the streets, lodges in the openair, wears an old pair of trousers of his father's, which descend belowhis heels, an old hat of some other father, which descends below hisears, a single suspender of yellow listing; he runs, lies in wait,rummages about, wastes time, blackens pipes, swears like a convict,haunts the wine-shop, knows thieves, calls gay women _thou_, talksslang, sings obscene songs, and has no evil in his heart. This isbecause he has in his heart a pearl, innocence; and pearls are not to bedissolved in mud. So long as man is in his childhood, God wills that heshall be innocent.

  If one were to ask that enormous city: "What is this?" she would reply:"It is my little one."