Grange remembered how on August 2, 1914, his whole town had gathered on the quay with their dinners on their laps, for a gigantic picnic. Everyone brought chairs outdoors—to be within reach of signs. Some one saw a flag in the moon, someone else mentioned a tidal wave that was moving up the river: it was some experiment with a mysterious explosive: Turpin powder. The memory was one of the delights of his childhood. They had forgotten to send him to bed that night; the world was in its second childhood.

Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, loc. 377