CHAPTER IX--THE OLD SOUL OF GAUL

  There was something of that boy in Poquelin, the son of the fish-market;Beaumarchais had something of it. Gaminerie is a shade of the Gallicspirit. Mingled with good sense, it sometimes adds force to the latter,as alcohol does to wine. Sometimes it is a defect. Homer repeats himselfeternally, granted; one may say that Voltaire plays the gamin. CamilleDesmoulins was a native of the faubourgs. Championnet, who treatedmiracles brutally, rose from the pavements of Paris; he had, when asmall lad, inundated the porticos of Saint-Jean de Beauvais, and ofSaint-Étienne du Mont; he had addressed the shrine of Sainte-Genevièvefamiliarly to give orders to the phial of Saint Januarius.

  The gamin of Paris is respectful, ironical, and insolent. He hasvillainous teeth, because he is badly fed and his stomach suffers, andhandsome eyes because he has wit. If Jehovah himself were present, hewould go hopping up the steps of paradise on one foot. He is strong onboxing. All beliefs are possible to him. He plays in the gutter, andstraightens himself up with a revolt; his effrontery persists even inthe presence of grape-shot; he was a scapegrace, he is a hero; like thelittle Theban, he shakes the skin from the lion; Barra the drummer-boywas a gamin of Paris; he Shouts: "Forward!" as the horse of Scripturesays "Vah!" and in a moment he has passed from the small brat to thegiant.

  This child of the puddle is also the child of the ideal. Measure thatspread of wings which reaches from Molière to Barra.

  To sum up the whole, and in one word, the gamin is a being who amuseshimself, because he is unhappy.