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It must be noted that these madmen are "at bottom the kindest people
in the world." After the boarding of the ship, one of the most
ferocious, by profession a barber, seeing the long beards of these
poor priests, instantly cools down, draws forth his tools, and good-
naturedly sets to work, spending several hours in shaving them. In
ordinary times ecclesiastics received nothing but salutations; three
years previously they were "respected as fathers and guides." But at
the present moment the rustic, the man of the lower class, is out of
his bearings. Forcibly and against nature, he has been made a
theologian, a politician, a police captain, a local independent
sovereign; and in such a position his head is turned. Among these
people who seem to have lost their senses, only one, an officer of
the National Guard, remains cool; he is, besides, very polite, well-
behaved, and an agreeable talker; he comes in the evening to comfort
the prisoners and to take tea with them in prison; in fact, he is
accustomed to tragedies and, thanks to his profession, his nerves
are in repose - this person is the executioner.
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