But philosophy--ah,
there was a field where a man could always use knowledge got from books
or sorted out of his own experiences!
It happened, therefore, that Jean Jacques, who not too vaguely realized
that there was reputation to be got from being thought a philosopher,
always carried about with him his little compendium from the quay at
Quebec, which he had brought ashore inside his redflannel shirt, with the
antique silver watch, when the Antoine went down.
Thus also it was that when a lawyer in court at Vilray, four miles from
St. Saviour's, asked him one day, when he stepped into the witness-box,
what he was, meaning what was his occupation, his reply was, "Moi-je suis
M'sieu' Jean Jacques, philosophe--(Me--I am M'sieu' Jean Jacques,
philosopher)."
A little later outside the court-house, the Judge who had tried the
case--M. Carcasson--said to the Clerk of the Court:
"A curious, interesting little man, that Monsieur Jean Jacques. What's
his history?"
"A character, a character, monsieur le juge," was the reply of M. Amand
Fille. "His family has been here since Frontenac's time. He is a figure
in the district, with a hand in everything. He does enough foolish things
to ruin any man, yet swims along--swims along. He has many kinds of
business--mills, stores, farms, lime-kilns, and all that, and keeps them
all going; and as if he hadn't enough to do, and wasn't risking enough,
he's now organizing a cheese-factory on the co-operative principle, as in
Upper Canada among the English.
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