June 7th, Four O’clock A.M.
Madeleine and Frances ! ye poor old maids whose courage , resignation , and generous hearts are your only wealth , pray for the wretched who give themselves up to despair ; for the unhappy who hate and envy ; and for the unfeeling into whose enjoyments no pity enters . BOOK 2 . June 7th , Four O'clock A.M. I am not surprised at hearing , when I awake , the birds singing so joyfully outside my window ; it is only by living , as they and I do , in a top story , that one comes to know how cheerful the mornings really are up among the roofs . It is there that the sun sends his first rays , and the breeze comes with the fragrance of the gardens and woods ; there that a wandering butterfly sometimes ventures among the flowers of the attic , and that the songs of the industrious work-woman welcome the dawn of day . The lower stories are still deep in sleep , silence , and shadow , while here labor , light , and song already reign . What life is around me !