The Doll - Bolesaw Prus [231]
And he imagined how it would have been if he’d been born in Paris instead of Warsaw. In the first place, he would have been enabled to learn more as a child because of the many schools and colleges. Then, even if he had gone into trade, he would have experienced less unpleasantness and more help in his studies. Further, he wouldn’t have worked on a perpetual motion machine, for he’d have known that many similar machines which never worked were to be found in the museums here. Had he tried to construct guided balloons, he would have found models, a whole crowd of dreamers like himself, and even help if his ideas were practical.
And, had he finally made a fortune for himself and fallen in love with an aristocratic young lady, he would not have encountered so many obstacles in approaching her. He might have made her acquaintance and either recovered or won her hand. Under no circumstances would he have been treated like a Negro in America. Besides, was it possible in Paris to fall in love as he had done—to the point of insanity? Here lovers did not despair, but danced, sang and lived a gay life. If they could not have an official marriage, they created a free union: if they could not keep their children, they put them out to nurse. Here love would surely never lead a sensible man into madness.
‘The last two years of my existence,’ thought Wokulski, ‘have been passed in the pursuit of a woman I might even have rejected if I’d known her better. All my energies, studies, talents and huge fortune are absorbed into a single emotion because I am in trade and she an aristocrat. Perhaps society, by harming me harms itself?’
Here Wokulski reached the apex of his self-criticism: he saw how preposterous his situation was, and resolved to extricate himself: ‘What am I to do, though? What am I to do?’ he thought. ‘Why, the same as everyone else, to be sure!’ And what did they do?…Above all they worked extraordinarily hard, up to sixteen hours a day, regardless of Sundays and holidays, thanks to a selection process here in which only the strongest had the right to survive. A sickly man would perish before the year was out, an incompetent one within a matter of years, and only the strongest and cleverest were left.
These, thanks to the work of whole generations of strivers like themselves, found here the satisfaction of all their needs. Huge sewers protected them from disease, wide streets facilitated the flow of air; the Halles Centrales provided food, a thousand factories—clothing and furniture. When a Parisian wanted to see nature, he travelled beyond the city or to the Bois; if he wanted art to gladden his eyes, he went to the Louvre; and when he desired knowledge, he had museums and scientific collections.
To strive for happiness in all domains—this was the substance of Parisian life. Here, a thousand carriages were introduced to counter tiredness; to counter boredom, hundreds of theatres and shows; to counter ignorance, hundreds of museums, libraries, and lectures. Here, not only man met with concern, but even the horse, for whom a smooth road was provided. Here, care was lavished even on the trees, which were transported in special carts to their new places of abode, protected with iron baskets from all who might harm them, ensured moist conditions, nurtured in the event of disease.
Thanks to a solicitude towards all things, objects finding themselves in Paris possessed a variety of advantages. Houses, furniture and utensils were not only useful, but beautiful; they pleased not only the sinews, but also the mind. And vice versa—works of art were not only beautiful, but useful. At the side of triumphant arches and church steeples were steps, facilitating one’s ascent to look at the town from a height. Statues and paintings were accessible not only to their devotees, but to artists and sculptors who were permitted to make copies in the galleries.
A Frenchman, when he created something, first took care that the work should meet its aim, and only