Seven o'clock
They say that , at the sight of the Apollo , the body erects itself and assumes a more dignified attitude : in the same way , the soul should feel itself raised and ennobled by the recollection of a good man 's life ! A ray of the rising sun lights up the little table on which I write ; the breeze brings me in the scent of the mignonette , and the swallows wheel about my window with joyful twitterings . The image of my Uncle Maurice will be in its proper place amid the songs , the sunshine , and the fragrance . Seven o'clock . -- It is with men 's lives as with days : some dawn radiant with a thousand colors , others dark with gloomy clouds . That of my Uncle Maurice was one of the latter . He was so sickly , when he came into the world , that they thought he must die ; but notwithstanding these anticipations , which might be called hopes , he continued to live , suffering and deformed .