Two words were engraved on the pedestal of his statue,Poetry and Charity!Charity was the object and purpose of his heroic programme.Yet,in his poetry he always exhibited his tender-hearted gaiety.Even when he weeps,you see the ray of sunlight in his tears.Though simple as a child in ordinary life,he displayed in his writings the pathos and satire of the ancient Troubadours,with no small part of the shrewdness and wit attributed to persons of his calling.
Although esteemed and praised by all ranks and classes of people --by king,emperor,princes,and princesses;by cardinals and bishops;by generals,magistrates,literary men,and politicians --though the working people almost worshipped him,and village girls strewed flowers along his pathway--though the artisan quitted his workshop,and the working woman her washing-tub,to listen to his marvellous recitations,yet Jasmin never lost his head or was carried away by the enthusiastic cheers which accompanied his efforts,but remained simple and unaffected to the last.
Another characteristic of him was,that he never forsook his friends,however poor.His happiest moments were those in which he encountered a companion of his early youth.Many still survived who had accompanied him while making up his bundle of fagots on the islands of the Garonne.He was delighted to shake hands with them,and to help,when necessary,these playmates of his boyhood.
He would also meet with pleasure the working women of his acquaintance,those who had related to him the stories of Loup Garou and the traditions of the neighbourhood,and encouraged the boy from his earliest youth.Then,at a later period of his life,nothing could have been more worthy of him than his affection for his old benefactor,M.Baze,and his pleading with Napoleon III.through the Empress,for his return to France "through the great gate of honour!"Had Jasmin a fault?Yes,he had many,for no one exists within the limits of perfection.But he had one in especial,which he himself confessed.He was vain and loved applause,nor did he conceal his love.
When at Toulouse,he said to some of his friends,"I love to be applauded:it is my whim;and I think it would be difficult for a poet to free himself from the excitement of applause."When at Paris,he said,"Applaud!applaud!The cheers you raise will be heard at Agen."Who would not overlook a fault,if fault it be,which is confessed in so naive a manner?
When complimented about reviving the traditions of the Troubadours,Jasmin replied,"The Troubadours,indeed!Why,I am a better poet than any of the Troubadours!Not one of them could have composed a long poem of sustained interest,like my Franconnette."Any fault or weakness which Jasmin exhibited was effaced by the good wishes and prayers of thousands of the poor and afflicted whom he had relieved by his charity and benevolence.The reality of his life almost touches the ideal.Indeed,it was a long apostolate.
Cardinal Donnet,Archbishop of Bordeaux,said of him,that "he was gifted with a rich nature,a loyal and unreserved character,and a genius as fertile as the soil of his native country.The lyre of Jasmin,"he said,"had three chords,which summed up the harmonies of heaven and earth--the true,the useful,and the beautiful."Did not the members of the French Academy--the highest literary institution in the world--strike a gold medal in his honour,with the inscription,"La medaille du poete moral et populaire"?
M.Sainte-Beuve,the most distinguished of French critics,used a much stronger expression.He said,"If France had ten poets like Jasmin--ten poets of the same power and influence--she need no longer have any fear of revolutions."Genius is as nothing in the sight of God;but "whosoever shall give a cup of water to drink in the name of Christ,because they belong to Christ,shall not lose his reward."M.Tron,Deputy and Mayor of Bagnere-du-luchon,enlarged upon this text in his eulogy of Jasmin.
"He was a man,"he said,"as rich in his heart as in his genius.
He carried out that life of 'going about doing good'which Christ rehearsed for our instruction.He fed the hungry,clothed the naked,succoured the distressed,and consoled and sympathised with the afflicted.Few men have accomplished more than he has done.His existence was unique,not only in the history of poets,but of philanthropists."A life so full of good could only end with a Christian death.
He departed with a lively faith and serene piety,crowning by a peaceful death one of the strangest and most diversified careers in the nineteenth century."Poetry and Charity,"inscribed on the pedestal of his statue in Agen,fairly sums up his noble life and character.
Footnotes for Chapter XX.
[1]'Lou Poeto del Puple a Moussu Renan.'
