Young Pierre

Abstract

In reconstruction the years of Duhem’s choldhood and youth, his bibliography by his daughter is particularly indispensable. Yet Details in it concerning that period of Duhem’s life show all too well that in respect to background history its data call for cautious use. A case point is the account of a visit by young Pirerre, not yet ten, to a historical place on a historic day.

On the 25th of March [1871] there were only barricades, guns, and armed crowds in the city [Paris] … Women themselves, so many tipsy incendaries, were shooting at the few pedestrians venturing to the streets; they were escorted by columns of Freemansons spruced up in their gaudy apparels. This was the moment when the column of Place Vendôme fell, setting in commotion the whole city. Peirre had his wish as he was led [by his father] in the evening of this new catastrophe to the débris of Place Vendôme; he brought back a small piece of the column to add to his collection pf projectiles, piled up in the courtyard of his house: precious souvenirs,kept for long with others of more intimate kind.