Childhood

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Surrounded by fields and woods, the isolated farm des Eaux Bues (also known as the farm Saint Hubert) will be Elise's birthplace. She will live there for the first ten years of her life.

She realized there, very young, the synthesis between her naive faith and nature. The wind, the birds, the flowers, the insects: each of these beings evokes in the soul of little Élise a perfection to be imitated and a call to love.

Where did this instinct for holiness come from? the joy of believing? In her first poems, Élise gives us an optimism and a feeling of being loved which will never leave her texts.

In the wood, with each twig,
A drop of water still trembles;
The tree shines, the grass sparkles:
Pearls of fire and pearls of gold!

A clear and warm sun is playing
On the path where the water flows,
And the wind is wet and soft,
The fresher and more beautiful foam.

Here is the edge of the wood.
A tree that brushes my sleeve
Kindly rain down on me
The water that pearls at the end of the branch.

Here is the stony path
Already drying under the sun ...
After the rain, this bright weather
It’s a spectacle like no other!

Poetry Walk after the rain; Élise is 13 years old.

This happiness sustains Élise in her respiratory illness that she has dragged on since childhood.

When I was little, I spent 2 days with little girls of my age at “The Sick Children”: most of them were wise, courageous and gentle (children are often much more courageous and resigned than adults).

Élise was fortunate to have a very beneficial environment for her development: parents full of love and attention for her as well as a smiling and encouraging nature.

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