times in their own country; but the country of the Germans is poor. He calls them real spoil-trades,-gates-métiers,— meaning that they will work for lower wages than the French. (They do not love the Germans since the war.) As to America, Victor did think of coming here, in the service of a business-firm; but they did not agree upon terms, for the firm would not give him a written agreement nor promise to pay his return voyage. I have before said that he is a book-keeper. I understand that he goes round from place to place, and must sometimes write where it is dark, by candle or gaslight. We dine about eight, principally on the remains of the breakfast. After the soup, we have radishes, bread and butter, veal, and oseille (does not that sound better than "sorrel" ?). But the asparagus is a treat. We shall each make our own sauce of salt, a little pepper, vinegar, and oil. Then Victor takes up in his hand, by the hard end, a handful of asparagus, and gives it to me, which manner of serving is, as yet, new to me. Other dishes are offered, and there is Bordeaux again.

CHAPTER IV.

May 7th.-At the Exposition a terra-cotta group of two newsboys in their rags attracts attention, from workingmen as well as others. It seems to me, however, that a marble figure of Louis XVII., of which the face expresses much dejection, loses nearly all its force by the boy's wearing a ruffled shirt and embroidered drawers, which so poorly express the misery and want of the unfortunate child in his imprisonment. Then I remember Joe Jefferson in the rags of Rip Van Winkle,-how he has dared to dress in

accordance with the character. Here too is Dore's picture of the Neophyte, the young monk included in a circle with the old ones. I had seen the engraving at Mr. Frothingham's, in New York, and the subject was then very painful to me; but now the young man in the painting does not seem to have the same look of horror and repugnance at his surroundings. However, the associations here are extremely different; there I was alone, in a room not fully lighted, and here is the animation and life of the Exposition. Further, I notice a very fine picture of Galileo, pointing to an orbit of the earth, which he has drawn upon the pavement, while one churchman argues with him, and one in a cowl stands reading, as I imagine, his accusation. Among the visitors to-day are ecclesiastics again; and a picture of a young woman, which faces that of Galileo, does not seem very suitable for such celibate eyes. A live group to-day is very striking. There are two ladies in our usual fashionable attire, accompanied by a monk of about thirty-five, tall, bare-headed, with a magnificent black beard, and with a countenance, it seems to me, somewhat sad. He wears sandals, but no stockings, a coarse brown woollen robe, with a hood or cowl, a rope around his waist, and a rosary at his side. What a figure in these surroundings! What a subject for a painter!

In our own department, I find one of our chief officers in a state of temperate disgust. I speak to him of one of the English exhibits, in what a state of completeness it is, and I observe how much confusion still prevails in our department. He replies that the English had two years, when we had three months; and I hear that their catalogue was printed six months before Congress granted our appropriation. Nor is our educational department yet ready. Prussia has so long been considered far advanced

in public instruction that I ask our commissioner about the Prussian exhibit. He replies that the Prussians are not here. “Why?” I ask; "do they feel guilty?" It is only in the fine-art department that the Germans exhibit. In the Swiss department of education is a little map of the northern hemisphere to illustrate twilight as connected with the earth's atmosphere. I understand that it was drawn in a penitentiary; and a plain man tells me that the Swiss believe in reform in prisons, and that even those condemned for life receive intellectual training. In the French educational department a woman makes a handsome exhibit of one of their elegant raised charts, which show the different elevations of the country. She is Miss Caroline Kleinhans, and she proposes to teach geography by topography, beginning with the plan of a little school, and passing on gradually to that of France. While I am at Paris our commissioner of education tells me that France alone exhibits here four times as much in the educational department as all nations together did at Philadelphia.

An effort at our language is to be seen upon the grounds, where on a neat building we read "Waters-closets, Dames;" "Waters-closets, Hommes." These are very nicely arranged; but it seems peculiar to see women taking charge of both sides and receiving the five sous from men.

The plain man whom I met in the Swiss department asked me whether I was a Christian. He says that in France they will not notice a book which contains the name of God. When I repeat this to my American friend she thinks the statement incorrect, and says that the Journal

des Débats has excellent book notices; but if I rightly understand Mr. Carpentier, he believes the Swiss statement more correct. At Mr. C.'s I inquire concerning an expression I have read somewhere about taking the little God to a sick man, meaning the mass. A person present replies that there is a saying, "He is such a good man (or serious man) that he can receive the good God without confession."

May 9th.-I should have been almost isolated in Paris but for the American lady just spoken of. She has been several years in Europe, and now, with her son, has a nice suite of rooms here. She has kindly assisted me in that feminine occupation, shopping; and at one of the great stores she says quietly, "Do not speak English," for fear they will charge more.

I have lately dined with her; and even at the risk of being thought to talk too much upon such subjects, I will mention how tender was the fowl, and how delightfully roasted in the tin-kitchen before the charcoal fire. At the pastry cook's she probably obtained the goutets,-little pies or tarts made of mushrooms, and the Charlotte Russe. Her asparagus is served with white sauce or melted butter, and in eating it is customary to lift it with the fingers by the coarse end, dipping the other into the sauce. Having been so long resident here, my friend can explain to me some things that I do not understand. We speak of the public midwives, or sage-femmes, and she tells me that her servant's sister was lately confined at one of the lying-in houses. The woman was a cook in one family, and her husband a servant in another. She adds that such women work almost to the moment of their confinement, and then

go right to one of these surgical boarding-houses, kept by women who, having passed an examination, have received a diploma from a medical school. Here the patient receives board and medical treatment usually for ten days, the customary pay being from five to eight francs a day. The charge in hospitals is less; some indeed are free, and in every one there are free beds. All the babies, Protestant and Catholic, are generally baptized within twenty-four hours, and about the third day are commonly sent away to nurse. My friend adds that her own servant's husband is a valet in another house, and is an excellent man. Adèle, the wife, is expecting to be confined in a few months, and hopes to be able to put her child with her sister in Paris, whose husband is a sergent de ville, or policeman, and consequently a person of importance in the eyes of Adèle. Adèle's wages are fifty francs a month and an allowance of ten francs for wine, and five for her washing. Besides, my friend furnishes her with four good white aprons and four colored ones, which are included in the family wash, -this washing being done by a blanchisseuse, or laundrywoman in one of the shops down-stairs, who sends the heavy part of her washing into the country, but irons in the shop. It must not be inferred because my friend gives her servant an allowance for wine that it is not used upon own table.

Upon the Boulevard Haussman I get a bonnet from Madame G.; and she also consents, she or her assistant, to make me a dress. They are both nice-looking women. Once the assistant sends away a bonnet by a little girl dressed in dark-blue flannel or water-proof. She tells me that the child will make her first communion to-morrow,