His companions were poor boys like himself.

They had never known any other condition.
Just as the noontide bells began to ring, Jasmin set out with a hunch of bread in his hand--perhaps taken from his grandfather's wallet--to enjoy the afternoon with his comrades.

Without cap or shoes he sped' away.

The sun was often genial, and he never bethought him of cold.

On the company went, some twenty or thirty in number, to gather willow faggots by the banks of the Garonne.
"Oh, how my soul leapt!" he exclaimed in his Souvenirs, "when we all set out together at mid-day, singing.