A HOUSE IN THE CEVENNES

A random recall of the house in the Cevennes and of childhood summers there, this catches also much of the charm- and character of French provincial life, the omniscience and the nosiness, the private affairs and public issues which animate a small village. These sequences- which have no direct continuity- cover the purchase of an old house and the inflexibility they met in their attempt to install a watercloset; the relations between the Chateau and the village and the resentment of centuries of vassalage; the civil war over the question of some plane trees; the death and funeral of Balsanette, and the suicide of her husband; the leading local figures- the doctor- the Mayor- the curate; hunting, and on a lesser scale, for truffles and snails; etc. In a minor key, but always a pleasant one.