"I will never forget the impression that the sea made on me, I could not help looking at it constantly; its majesty, the roar of its waves, everything spoke to my soul of the Greatness and Power of the Good God"
Ms A 21v
Thérèse went to Trouville for the first time at the age of 5, on August 8, 1878, to pick up her sister Marie, who had spent a few days on vacation with the Guérins at the Maison Leroux located in the Grand-Rue (today today rue Georges Clémenceau).
She returned four times to the Côte Fleurie in villas rented by the Guérins:
- May 3-10, 1885: Deauville, Chalet des Roses (also called Chalet Colombe, named after its owner Alphonse Colombe, or Chalet Bellevue), 17 quai de la Touques. Thérèse draws the chalet in her sketchbook.
- September 21-30, 1885: Trouville, Villa Rose, rue Charlemagne (today 25 rue Victor Hugo)
- 1-3 or 4 July 1886: Trouville, Chalet des Lilas (today La Pluie de Roses), 29 rue de la Cavée
- June 20-26, 1887: Trouville, Chalet des Lilas
It is in Trouville that Thérèse remembers the story of the golden furrow while watching a sunset with her sister Pauline:
"In the evening, at a time when the sun seems to be bathing in the immensity of the waves leaving a luminous furrow in front of it, I went to sit alone on a rock with Pauline... Then I remembered the touching story "A golden furrow!..." For a long time I contemplated this luminous furrow, the image of grace illuminating the path that the little vessel with its graceful white sail must travel... Near Pauline, I took the resolution never to take my soul away from the gaze of Jesus, so that it may sail in peace towards the Fatherland of Heaven!...”
Ms A 22 r°
