sert the old; and then coffee and gouttes, or small quantities of kirsch, and other liquors. They remain at table three or four hours; but in general such a feast is given only once a year, although sometimes repeated at carnival. About three-fourths of the people make one of these feasts in a year. Not many unannounced visits are made here. Four or five times a year friends will be invited to come and see them. If a neighbor comes upon an errand he is always offered something to drink; one of the farmer's hands was in lately, and liquor was produced.

Mrs. L. tells me that when a young man here wishes to become acquainted with a young woman, he addresses himself to an acquaintance of the family, who applies to the parents for leave to introduce him. If he has been introduced, and the parents conclude that he is not suitable, they tell him not to come any more. Even after there is question of marriage, the young people are never left together without one of the parents being present. If a young man comes to ask for a young lady in marriage, Mrs. L. says that the parents inform themselves concerning his family, whether it is respectable, and whether the young man is sage, or well-behaved. At length the parents of the two parties will meet to settle affairs concerning the marriage. The parents of the young man come to the residence of the young woman, and after having had a good dinner, and drunk well, and having talked on various other matters, the rest of the family, knowing very well what is going on, will leave the parents alone, and the father of the young man will speak in this manner: "We have not come here for nothing; we have come to speak of the marriage of our children;" adding (if he is a well-to-do proprietor), " I give

twenty-five thousand francs to my son; how much can you give your daughter?" Her parents offer about the same; and if they do not, the marriage is not settled, and the parties separate; but sometimes, perhaps once in ten times, it is found that there is too much attachment between the young people to continue the prohibition, and they are allowed to marry. And sometimes it happens, when the young people are of age, if the parents entirely refuse to consent, that the young pair send them the respectful summons (of which I shall speak hereafter), and they are then allowed by law to marry. This happens once in three or four years in this commune. Often the money given to children in marriage is paid in instalments, so much a year. The husband of Mrs. L.'s daughter received from his parents a piece of land worth about four thousand dollars, and Mrs. L. gave her daughter, on her own part and that of her deceased husband, a vineyard worth about three thousand six hundred, and the young woman is to receive more from her mother or from her estate. She says

that the young people are well settled, well matched, and that both are industrious. He is, too, a merchant of sabots: he buys from those who make them, and, having much wood, also has them made for himself, and twice a week he goes to Romilies to sell them. The sum given by parents in money or in land does not include the wedding outfit. The young man's mother gave him (for in this matter it is the mothers who are interested) a furnished bed, a dozen sheets, a dozen table-cloths, a dozen towels, and a dozen napkins; also three dozen shirts of hemp and linen. Mrs. L. gave to her daughter two dozen sheets, two dozen tablecloths, the same of napkins, and two and a half dozen towels; also a furnished bed, a wardrobe, and a nighttable. The parents of the young man gave him a large

bureau, and the rest of the furniture he bought. They live with the parents of the young man, in rooms independent of theirs, and, if they should prefer, can keep house in their own two rooms,-a kitchen and sleepingHere I feel inclined to parody the poet, and to say, "From homes like these the Gallic glory springs."

room.

The marriage at the mayor's office costs nothing, but there was also the mass, where the curé married them, putting the ring upon the first joint of the bride's finger, the husband finishing this ceremony. For this marriage the curé receives twelve francs. Mrs. L. tells me, "There were about eighty persons invited to the marriage of my daughter, and all who were invited went to the mass, and afterwards came here to dine at noon. We had perhaps twenty courses. We had ham and boiled beef,-we took forty pounds of beef. There was calf's head à la peau, stewed chickens, duck with turnips, roast leg of mutton, fowls with rice. We had eight ducks, eight turkeys, and four geese, and there was a dish of little birds. Pierre and one of his companions, who was at the wedding, went hunting the day before, and got sparrows, larks, and figpeckers. I think that we must have plucked altogether one hundred birds; and we had three vols au vent, or pies made from the livers of the poultry and little birds. The confectioner at Boissières brought us a complete dessert, and we made pies, and the baker made twenty pounds of brioche. They make splendid meals here at weddings. Besides giving to the relations, we had enough food left for a week. We had a cook, and I heated the oven to roast the things while the others were at the mass." "You did not see the marriage?" "No; all the boys went, and somebody had to stay to take care of things; that troubled me much."

I might have said to Mrs. L., "You did not see the marriage in church?" for it will be remembered that the legal one is that at the mayor's office.

She added that one of the guests carved the meats, and there were three women in the kitchen and three to wait upon the table. A whole cask of wine was drunk, and there were also Bordeaux and champagne, but not much was taken of them; and there were liquors. It is not so remarkable that so much was drunk when we hear how long the wedding lasted. Not only did the guests also remain to supper, but, after dancing a great part of the night, they found rest where they could, and remained to breakfast the next day. No one went to bed but the serving-women and the little children. Mrs L. herself got about two hours' sleep. About three o'clock in the morning the guests sat down and rested, and some went to the barn to repose, and were ready to begin again at seven in the morning. After breakfast all left, at about ten o'clock. The two musicians were paid by the young men invited. Mrs. L. added that there are people who do not make weddings on account of the expense,—perhaps only one-fourth make such weddings.

Knowing the great preparations that are made for funerals among the "Dutch" where I live, I ask Mrs. L. how such occasions are observed here. She says that the bearers always partake of a meal, and the relatives from a distance, -about fifteen or twenty people altogether, but no great preparations are made. The bourgeois, she adds, those who live upon their rentes,-pay the bearers. She says that the nobility are not more esteemed than the bourgeois, but I think that she speaks of a certain person who has made money as a parvenu. She says that it is on riches and reputation that popular esteem is founded; adding, "We

don't think much of people who are rich and who have not much reputation."

I ask Pierre to repeat to me an anecdote about what a certain gentleman had said when the marriage contract was being made; but he corrects me: I should have said the parlement when the parents are talking about the marriage. Pierre says, "There must be no discussions when they go to the notary's to make the marriage" (or contract). "It was at the parlement of marriage that a gentleman said he gave fifty thousand francs to his son and the title of count, and the other answered that he gave three hundred thousand francs to his daughter; and as for the title of count he held it nothing, therefore would not make the marriage."

On Sunday, when the men go to the restaurants, they play cards for money. After mass is over on Sunday the countrywomen go to do their errands at the grocer's or elsewhere, and the men go to the restaurant to drink a bottle with their friends; then they go home to dinner, and about half return in the afternoon. "And when they play for money at restaurants," I inquire, "do they not quarrel?" "No," answers Mrs. L., "not more than once in two or three years. They may dispute, and then they go away and break up the game. Comrades never strike each other."

The restaurant-keepers take newspapers, but farmers generally do not. Some land-owners do, but few who rent land; the bourgeois in the villages do. It is hard to translate bourgeois; I think that sometimes it means rich. But no matter how much Mrs. L.'s family own, as long as the sons till land themselves they are paysans. Should they rent the small part which they now cultivate and move into the village, they would become bourgeois.

In French cities, all persons between mechanics and nobles are called bourgeois.