The giver of excellent counsel in delicate matters or in great misfortunes, many persons who never went to church to obtain consolation went to the parsonage to get advice.

One little anecdote will suffice to complete his portrait.

Sometimes the peasants,--rarely, it is true, but occasionally,--unprincipled men, would tell him they were sued for debt, or would get themselves threatened fictitiously to stimulate the abbe's benevolence.

They would even deceive their wives, who, believing their chattels were threatened with an execution and their cows seized, deceived in their turn the poor priest with their innocent tears.

He would then manage with great difficulty to provide the seven or eight hundred francs demanded of him--with which the peasant bought himself a morsel of land.