All in a garden fair; the simple story of three boys ... - University Library

ALL LV A GARDEN FAIR. 189
])iiy a copy. Yet T think that somebody must
liave read tliein, I do not know wlio. For,
mark this strange thing : it was in DecemlxT of
the year 1847 tliat these poems were pubhshed,
and in February, 1848, tlie Eevolution began.
Yes, the Eevolution. Now when it began, a
coincidence happened. The people acted ex-
actly as I in my verses had exhorted them to
act. Y''es ; in those verses which nobody
bought.'
* ! Oh ' said Allen.
'Yes, there was the spontaneous rising;
tliere were tlie barricades ; there was the street-
fighting. I felt, as I stood among the ouvriers
on the Boulevard des Italiens, that every man
in the crowd nmst have read my verses. My
children, that wiis a proud moment. I was the
Poet of Freedom !
' And the books? * asked Allen.
' Behold another coincidence. The shop
was pillaged ;
the people wanted materials for a
barricade. They took the handiest, the books
out of that [)ublisher's shop. Books, if you get