And 'twas ever the great work, the good work, the work of fruitfulness
spreading, thanks to the earth and thanks to woman, both victorious over
destruction, offering fresh means of subsistence each time a fresh child
was born, and loving, willing, battling, toiling, even amid suffering,
and ever tending to increase of life and increase of hope.
* * * * * *
Then two more years rolled on, and during those two years Mathieu and
Marianne had yet another child, another daughter, whom they called
Madeleine. And once again the estate of Chantebled was increased; this
time by all the marshland whose ponds and whose springs remained to be
drained and captured on the west of the plateau. The whole of this part
of the property was now acquired by the Froments--two hundred acres of
land where, hitherto, only water plants had grown, but which now was
given over to cultivation, and yielded abundant crops. And the new
springs, turned into canals on every side, again carried beneficent life
to the sandy slopes, and fertilized them. It was life's resistless
conquest; it was fruitfulness spreading in the sunlight; it was labor
ever incessantly pursuing its work of creation amid obstacles and
suffering, making good all losses, and at each succeeding hour setting
more energy, more health, and more joy in the veins of the world.
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