A Peasant of Savoy

We recall a true story of a peasant of Savoy, who, as he was setting forth to the fields for the autumn plowing heard of the death of the second of his sons, killed in the Vosges. The oxen were yoked in front of the house. The postman handed him the letter, bearing the heading of the Prefecture. He went into the house to fetch his spectacles, read in the presence, of his wife, who, anxious, had followed him, and in that of the neighbors, who already knew the news, and then, handing the paper to the companion of his life of labor, said simply:
“God found them ready.”
He added slowly
“My poor wife!....”
And he went off to his ploughing.