the shelf where the image of Mary stands, and put up fresh One little fellow has to stand by the stove, with his face turned towards it, because he has bitten some one.

ones.

Another must stand beside the teacher, who says that he is intelligent, but turbulent. Almost all this time we are seated at some distance, facing this agitated mass of French infantry upon their low seats. One little bow-legged fellow toddles in with his brother; he looks about two years old, for there is no limit in age downwards. The supplyteacher brings a whistle, and when she whistles there is silence, and she marches the boys out into the yard. After the boys have come marching in, the girls go out. At about a quarter before eleven the principal comes: she says that she had to attend to things for the school. We enter the class-room. The ceilings of these rooms are high and the furniture is neat. Near the centre of the outer room, where we have been sitting, is a large circular lavatory, containing seven white basins with stopcocks to supply each with water. In this inner or class-room, which we now enter, there is painted on every little desk a square, divided into ten spaces each way. The children come trooping into the class-room to the beating of the clapper, and begin to sing quite prettily. arithmetical tables. On the same side of the room as the crucifix and the statue of Mary there are four cards. Two of them say, "Do unto others all that you wish others to do unto you, for such is the law" (the text not being marked). The other two say, "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another as I have loved you." The children repeat the Lord's Prayer and the "Hail, Mary!" with another little prayer, and sign themselves with the cross. The teacher gives them a little address on the gifts of the good God and a lesson on liquids.

They chant one of the

She asks, "To whom is Wednesday consecrated ?" Children. "To St. Joseph." "When St. Joseph was little," she continues," he did not play in his class; he always paid good attention. Children who talk a great deal do not learn. St. Joseph grew up in wisdom; he became an excellent workman, that every one wanted to employ, and the good God chose him to be the nursing father of the infant Jesus and the support of the Virgin Mary. And what was his trade?" Children.-" He was a carpenter." "And," she concludes, "we must try to act like him, who was close to God, so that one day we may have our recompense in heaven."

In questioning the scholars I observe that the principal addresses her questions principally or entirely to the boys. I tell her that I am a woman's-rights woman; but she says that the girls are younger or only lately come in; or gives some other excuse. Besides the ten times ten squares marked upon each little desk, there is painted on every division of five desks the French meter (about one yard and three inches). I speak of it, and the principal says that it is the manner of Froebel, or what we call kindergarten. Other furniture is an arithmeticon, a blackboard, and a little cupboard with glass doors containing measures to illustrate their metrical compend. The principal continues to address herself too much to the boys. Before they close they have this prayer: "My God, from whom we have all, bless, if you please, the food that we are going to take, and grant us grace to be very good and very obedient." Their baskets are marked with their names, for France is exact. I ask the principal whether the children mostly bring reddened water. She answers, "Yes; the children are happy (well off) in this quarter; these are mostly the children of domestics, and feed in their em

ployers' houses." (Her hands look as if she does her own work, and it is quite probable that she does,—at least, a great part of it.)

When I get back and speak to Victor of what I have seen, he is indignant that the exercises did not begin at the time fixed, and wishes to report the matter; but this I cannot allow. I tell him that what is wanted is that the public should visit the public schools.

For my single self, I think that I should feel liberal in granting playtime to poor little Parisians shut up, as it were, in cages; but suppose that they should make a noise and disturb the rich people in this quarter?

I inquire of Victor for whom he votes, and I find that he does not vote often. All men vote in France, but not for many officers. Victor votes for members of the municipal council and for members of the house of deputies. The mayors in the wards of Paris are appointed by the prefect of the Seine.

I have just said that all men vote. I have before mentioned that a criminal loses his vote, and a bankrupt. To these, if I remember right, Victor adds those who have been several times convicted of drunkenness.

But to return to the first point, it will be observed that Victor votes for two classes of officers only. In order to institute a comparison, I inquire for whom one of my Pennsylvania friends votes. He tells me the following township officers: justice of peace, judge of elections, school directors, overseer of the poor, superintendent of roads, and constable. He also names the following county officers president judge and two associates, sheriff, treasurer, prothonotary, recorder of deeds, register of wills, district

attorney, clerks of the courts of common pleas, quarter sessions, and orphans; county commissioners and auditors.* He votes for the following State officers: governor, lieutenant-governor, supreme judges, auditor-general, treasurer, secretary of internal affairs, and superintendent of public schools, and, though last not least, members of the State Legislature in both houses. As regards the general or United States government, he votes for electors for the Presidency and for members of the lower house of Congress.

Let us complete the comparison. Victor votes for two classes of officers; the Pennsylvanian for about thirty. France is a republic; but truly there are republics and republics.†

From a physician whom I have met in Paris, who appeared interested in the laboring-classes, I have hoped for information, and to-day I call upon him. Dr. -————— receives me in gray drawers and long gray woollen dressinggown, apologizing for not being dressed. His office and reception-room are upon the ground-floor, and he takes me up-stairs to see his salon, the partitions of which are painted white and carved and gilded. He has quite a nice little garden; he lives in what was formerly a suburb. In the reception-room is a picture of the tomb of Marat. The doctor tells me that he knew Marat's sister, and that she would not give up her brother's works, although a large reward was offered for them in order to destroy them. I

The new constitution of Pennsylvania requires only two judges, instead of three, in large counties, or, more properly, in judicial districts.

In the rural districts Frenchmen vote for two classes of conseillers, besides members of the house of deputies.

also hear from Victor that the doctor knew Louis Napoleon before his accession to power, having acted as his physician in his days of obscurity; and his knowledge of him at that time was not highly flattering. Nevertheless, when I speak with the doctor about the late emperor (who built St. Augustine's church), the doctor thinks he believed in the doctrines of the Church. To return to the doctor's house when we go into the office we find a poor-looking man, whom the doctor introduces as a philosopher who has made discoveries in colors. I am conscious of not receiving him in a very genial manner; I am thinking more of my own researches than of his. Afterwards, when the doctor calls at Leblanc's, we enter into conversation, and he anticipates the time when men shall be sufficiently enlightened to meet and discuss their religious opinions in order to discover the truth or to come to some conclusion; but Europe, he says, is not yet prepared for this, and of course not the rest of the world, thus casting us into the shade, which surprises me. He seems to think the many sects or divisions of Protestants a proof that we are not in the right way. He himself holds to the first clause of the Creed: "I believe in one God." He tells us the following anecdote: There was once a king of France who desired that the advocates of different religious faiths should come before him to explain or discuss their sentiments; and when they were convened, a Jew rose to speak. But before he began, a churchman said to him, "Do you believe in the Holy Virgin?" "We look for a Messiah yet to come," replied the Jew; "how, then, can I believe in the Holy Virgin?" Then an archer or man-at-arms stepped forth and killed the Jew of his own will; but the king thought he had done right. This little story of the doctor's first gives me an idea of the importance that Jews have here.