Apart from the question of felling portions of the
wood for timber, Mathieu was not disposed to retain the remainder for
mere beauty's sake; and accordingly avenues were devised connecting the
broad clearings, and cattle were then turned into this part of the
property. The ark of life, increased by hundreds of animals, expanded,
burst through the great trees. There was a fresh growth of fruitfulness:
more and more cattle-sheds had to be built, sheepcotes had to be created,
and manure came in loads and loads to endow the land with wondrous
fertility. And now yet other children might come, for floods of milk
poured forth, and there were herds and flocks to clothe and nourish them.
Beside the ripening crops the woods waved their greenery, quivering with
the eternal seeds that germinated in their shade, under the dazzling sun.
And only one more stretch of land, the sandy slopes on the east, remained
to be conquered in order that the kingdom might be complete. Assuredly
this compensated one for all former tears, for all the bitter anxiety of
the first years of toil.
Then, while Mathieu completed his conquest, there came to Marianne during
those two years the joy of marrying one of her children even while she
was again _enceinte_, for, like our good mother the earth, she also
remained fruitful.
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