WHILE they were talking about insects and flowers, time had slipped by until the Sunday arrived when Uncle Paul was to tell about mushrooms. The gathering was larger than the first time. The story of poisonous plants had been repeated in the village. Some people in a rut, content with their stupid ignorance, had said: “What is the use of it?” “The use!” replied the others; “it teaches one to beware of poisonous plants, so as not to die miserably like poor Joseph.” But those in the rut had tossed their heads with a satisfied air. Nothing is so sufficient unto itself as folly. So only willing listeners came to Uncle Paul.

“Of all poisonous plants, my friends,” he began, “mushrooms are the most formidable; and yet some furnish a delightful food capable of tempting the soberest.”

“For my part,” observed Simon, “I acknowledge, nothing is equal to a dish of mushrooms.”

“Nobody will accuse you of gluttony, for, as I have just said, mushrooms can tempt the soberest. I do not wish to discourage their use. I know too well what a resource they are in the country; I simply propose to put you on your guard against the poisonous kinds.”

“You are going to teach us to distinguish the good from the bad?” asked Mathieu.

“No; that is impossible for us.”

“How impossible? Everybody knows that you can eat without fear mushrooms that grow at the foot of such and such a tree.”

“Before answering that remark, I will address myself to you all and ask: Have you confidence in my word? Do you think that passing one’s life in studying such things is more instructive than the hear-say of those who do not concern themselves with these matters?”

“You may speak, Ma?tre Paul: we all have full confidence in your learning,” Simon made answer for the company.

“Well, then, I repeat it in all conviction: it is impossible for us who are not specialists to distinguish an edible mushroom from a poisonous one, for none has a mark to say: This is eatable and this is not. Neither the nature of the ground, nor the trees at the foot of which they grow, nor their form, color, taste, smell, can teach us anything or enable us to distinguish at sight the harmless from the poisonous. I admit that a person who had passed long years studying mushrooms with the minute attention of a scientist would succeed in distinguishing pretty well the poisonous from the harmless, just as one acquires a knowledge of any other plant; but can we undertake such studies? Have we the time? We scarcely know a dozen weeds, and yet we would presume to pass judgment on the properties of mushrooms, so many in kind and resembling one another so closely?

Mushrooms

“I hasten to add that, in every locality, actual use has long since taught the people some kinds that they can eat without danger. It is a good thing to conform to this usage, which makes us profit by other people’s experience—on condition, be it understood, that we acquaint ourselves with the kinds used. But that is not enough to keep us safe from all peril. It is so easy to make a mistake! And then, go to another place and you will come across other mushrooms which, while apparently of the same family as those you have known as eatable, will be dangerous. My rule of conduct is, you see, absolute: you must beware of all mushrooms; excess of prudence is necessary here.”

“I admit with you,” said Simon, “that it is impossible for us to distinguish at sight the eatable from the poisonou............