2.M.1.7. THE GAMIN SHOULD HAVE HIS PLACE IN THE CLASSIFICATIONS
OF INDIA
THE body of street Arabs in Paris almost constitutes a
caste. One might almost say: Not every one who wishes to
belong to it can do so.
This word gamin was printed for the first time,
and reached
popular speech through the literary tongue, in 1834. It is in
a little work entitled Claude Gueux that this word made
its
appearance. The horror was lively. The word passed into
circulation.
The elements which constitute the consideration of the
gamins for each other are very various. We have known and
associated with one who was greatly respected and vastly
admired because he had seen a man fall from the top of the
tower of Notre-Dame; another, because he had succeeded in
making his way into the rear courtyard where the statues of
the dome of the Invalides had been temporarily deposited, and
had "prigged" some lead from them; a third, because he
had seen a diligence tip over; still another, because he
"knew" a soldier who came near putting out the eye of a
citizen.
This explains that famous exclamation of a Parisian gamin,
a profound epiphonema, which the vulgar herd laughs at without
comprehending, — Dieu de Dieu! What ill-luck I do have!
to think that I have never yet seen anybody tumble from a
fifth-story window! (
I have pronounced
I'ave and
fifth
pronounced
fift'.)
Surely, this saying of a peasant is a fine one: "Father
So-and-So, your wife has died of her malady; why did you not
send for the doctor?" "What would you have, sir, we poor
folks die of ourselves." But if the peasant's whole
passivity
lies in this saying, the whole of the free-thinking anarchy of
the brat of the faubourgs is, assuredly, contained in this other
saying. A man condemned to death is listening to his confessor
in the tumbrel. The child of Paris exclaims: "He is
talking to his black cap! Oh, the sneak!"
A certain audacity on matters of religion sets off the
gamin.
To be strong-minded is an important item.
To be present at executions constitutes a duty. He shows
himself at the guillotine, and he laughs. He calls it by all
sorts of pet names: The End of the Soup, The Growler, The
Mother in the Blue (the sky), The Last Mouthful, etc., etc.
In order not to lose anything of the affair, he scales the walls,
he hoists himself to balconies, he ascends trees, he suspends
himself to gratings, he clings fast to chimneys. The gamin is
born a tiler as he is born a mariner. A roof inspires him with
no more fear than a mast. There is no festival which comes
up to an execution on the Place de Greve. Samson and the
Abbe Montes are the truly popular names. They hoot at the
victim in order to encourage him. They sometimes admire
him. Lacenaire, when a gamin, on seeing the hideous Dautin
die bravely, uttered these words which contain a future: "I
was jealous of him." In the brotherhood of gamins Voltaire
is not known, but Papavoine is. "Politicians" are confused
with assassins in the same legend. They have a tradition as
to everybody's last garment. It is known that Tolleron had
a fireman's cap, Avril an otter cap, Losvel a round hat, that
old Delaporte was bald and bare-headed, that Castaing was
all ruddy and very handsome, that Bories had a romantic
small beard, that Jean Martin kept on his suspenders, that
Lecouffe and his mother quarrelled. "Don't reproach each
other for your basket," shouted a gamin to them. Another, in
order to get a look at Debacker as he passed, and being too
small in the crowd, caught sight of the lantern on the quay
and climbed it. A gendarme stationed opposite frowned.
"Let me climb up, m'sieu le gendarme," said the gamin. And,
to soften the heart of the authorities he added: "I will
not fall." "I don't care if you do," retorted the gendarme.
In
the brotherhood of gamins, a memorable accident counts
for a great deal. One reaches the height of consideration if
one chances to cut one's self very deeply, "to the very
bone."
The fist is no mediocre element of respect. One of the
things that the gamin is fondest of saying is: "I am fine and
strong, come now!" To be left-handed renders you very
enviable. A squint is highly esteemed.