Louis’s Love of Light

A little more than two-hundred years ago, in a tiny village in France, there lived a boy named Louis. Back then, which was not so very long ago, there were no cars or even electric light bulbs.

Young Louis was a curious fellow. The things he liked doing were quite different from the things other children his age liked to do. While they enjoyed frolicking in the forest, climbing trees and playing outdoor games, Louis preferred to stare at the flame of a kerosene lamp, his eyes wide with astonishment at the shadows it created on the wall — which looked like dancing animals.

In the winter, while his friends were ice-skating on the frozen river, Louis was writing and drawing with feather quill pens dipped in ink.

One day, a nomadic theatre troupe visited the city and Louis attended the performance. The painted scenery attracted Louis much more than the actors or the play itself.

After the show finished, he rushed home, took some old pieces of cloth from a trunk in the shed, and painted some imagery on them, similar to what he’d seen in the theatre. Every evening thereafter he would rehearse his puppet shows, using his designs as the scenery. But these shows were held in a corner where no one could see him. He was a rather modest boy.

When Louis grew up, he didn’t think twice about what he wanted to do for a living. He said goodbye to his parents and headed directly to Paris to train as a scenic artist, painting backdrops and stage sets for the theatre.

It wasn’t long before the teacher noticed how talented Louis was. As soon as the young man had learned the basics of the craft, he began to accompany the master, serving as…