Perhaps the finest poem in the volume is entitled The Angel and Child.

Reboul had lost his wife and child; he sorrowed greatly at their death, and this poem was the result.
The idea is simple and beautiful.

An angel, noticing a lovely child in its cradle, and deeming it too pure for earth, bears its spirit away to Heaven.

The poem has been admirably translated by Longfellow.
Dumas, in 'Pictures of Travel in the South of France,' relates an interview with the baker-poet of Nimes.
"What made you a poet ?" asked Dumas.
"It was sorrow," replied Reboul--"the loss of a beloved wife and child.
I was in great grief; I sought solitude, and, finding no one who could understand me, poured forth my grief to the Almighty." "Yes," said Dumas, "I now comprehend your feelings.

It is thus that true poets become illustrious.