The story of Timmy the bear who loved to eat raspberries and play with his friends on the lawn. I had a friend, a little old man, who was a great friend of mine. I went to visit him on my way to school, as I often did, when I came to his house. He was very fond of me. We had many a good time. One day he said to me: "Timmy, do you know that you are the only boy in your school who is not a gentleman?"
I said, "Yes, sir." "Tim," he continued, "do you remember that time when you were at school? You were the first to say, 'Tim' to your teacher. And he was the second to reply, Tim'?" I said "Yes," I answered, with a laugh, "I am the very first boy who has said that word." He then said: "'Tim,' he repeated, 'Tim, you have a very fine voice .' "
The first day I met the Marquis of Pombal. His face was like a piece of glass, his eyes were like two little balls of fire. When I saw him he was in a rage, he threw himself on his knees before me, saying, "My son, you must be a man." I remember the words of that old gentleman: "Tim" was the name of one of his little boys, Tim being the other. "Do you see, Tim?" he exclaimed. And he looked at me with a sort of pity, with tears in his eyes.
I was not allowed to go to school. My father sent me to a private school in Paris, where I studied music. The first day of school was very hard for me. When I came to my desk, the teacher was saying that he would give me a lesson in singing, so I had to sing, and I sang a song of praise to God and His saints, which I did not know. That was when I became a Christian, as I now am. My mother was not very well pleased, though she was glad of what I said, when my father said that it would be very hard to keep me at the school, that there would not be enough work for all of us, because of our age, to say nothing of all the work that was to follow in order to earn a living. He said this, not without a certain degree of bitterness, in a tone of which my mother was quite unconscious. She did, however, understand that his words were intended as a warning.
I was then sent to school. In the first place I could sing a good deal, especially the songs of God's saints and of those who had died on the cross.
