see in my walk an ecclesiastic with his broad-brimmed, turned-up hat, carrying upon his arm his over-robe, which, by the way, seems to be a little moth-eaten.

To-day I call upon a gentleman of my acquaintance, who is a doctor of law. He lives upon the Quai and I afterwards discover that I have been upon one of the islands in the Seine,-the Isle de la Cité, and one of the oldest parts of Paris. My friend is unmarried, but has apartments. The staircase is not so well kept as ours at Leblanc's, but when I get up I find that he has quite a nice parlor, with a large, handsome rug, and books, and plants. I see a picture of Garibaldi, and he tells me that he was a member of Garibaldi's regiment.

I tell him of one of my acquaintances in our country who, having children, left all his property to his wife. This cannot be done here, he says: if a man has one child, he can leave half his property to his wife or to some other; if two, he can will away the third; if more than two, he can only give away the fourth. Upon the law of divorce the gentleman also speaks. Under the Convention divorce was allowed by mutual consent, if the parties appeared before a legal tribunal and received the permission; the Code Napoléon also allowed divorces for various causes; but in 1816 divorce was abolished, and all demands for divorce are changed into demands for separation. The wife, in cases of separation, may be obliged to give something for the husband's support if she be rich and in fault. In speaking of judges, I learn that in France all judges are appointed for life by the minister of justice, with the signature of the president of the republic. All magistrates are appointed for life in the same way.

Before leaving these subjects I desire to add that I meet persons in Paris who are demanding a law for divorce and

a law to prove paternity, an unmarried woman over eighteen years of age who has a child being now unable to recover anything from the father.

I ask my friend the lawyer to explain the Commune, and he says that many who are republicans do not understand it, nor do those who were in it. Was it like one of those sudden outbursts of passion in which a man does and says things quite unpremeditated?

This evening we receive a visit from a very agreeable gentleman, the liberal Protestant lately mentioned. The conversation turning upon two of the great divisions of Christians, Mr. D. says, "There is a saying in France that when there are three Catholics together two of them appoint the third a pope, but when there are three Protestants each goes to work to form a new Church or religion." I understand Mr. D. to say that there are in France thirtyeight millions called Catholics, and about four hundred thousand Protestants. Then the disproportion is greater than I had thought. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which drove so many Protestants out of the kingdom, of course had much to do with this.

Mr. D. explains to us the troubles of the liberal Protestant Church in Paris; some of the terms are difficult to understand. It seems that Coquerel, who preached in this church, was the suffragan of Martin Pachoud, of the Reformed Church of France, and was obliged to renew his suffraganship every five years. In 1863 he appeared for this purpose, and by the action of Guizot, the historian, it was refused to Coquerel. Guizot appeared in the consistory, and, reading passages from Coquerel's sermons, asked him whether he could say that he believed in the divinity

of Jesus Christ. "How!" said Coquerel; "as I believe in my own." But although his church at Paris lost the government support, the other liberal Protestant churches of France receive it; so do the Jews, who are certainly not believers in the doctrine mentioned.

I ask Victor to explain the Commune, and he replies that when the Republic was formed, Sept. 4, 1870, the Empress Eugenie and the other Bonapartists opened the doors of the prisons and allowed the criminals to escape, and that it was these people, joined to those who had nothing to lose and the mechanics who had no work, who established the Commune. I give this on Victor's

authority.

I tell him that I think of going to the house of my American friend, with whom I am intimate, and telling her that I have come to dine on pot-luck. He says that that is not the style in Paris; that a certain person left word that he was coming to dine with him, but that he himself said to the concierge, "Have the goodness to tell that gentleman when he comes that I have gone to England." But my friend receives me with much hospitality.

In 1795, during the Revolution, the metrical or decimal system was introduced into France. It was confirmed by a special law, which came into operation in 1840, under Louis Philippe, and those using the old weights and measures are liable to prosecution. They have not as yet, however, entirely disappeared. In Paris I saw in schools tables and models to illustrate the system, which has now been adopted in other countries, and seems not unlikely to

spread over the civilized world. Since my return from France I have seen the chart in one or more schools in Ohio, and I there heard mentioned that the system can be, or has already been, introduced into school treatises on arithmetic. Some idea of the elegance of French computation may be obtained from the fact that in the centigrade thermometer the zero is the freezing-point of water, and one hundred degrees is the boiling-point.

I am told that all the administrations in France are held by the men who occupied them under the Empire. The emperor or president appoints his ministers, and the ministers appoint to inferior offices. Thus, Mr. Gréard, who is at the head of grammar school instruction in this department, or that of the Seine, in which Paris is situated,-was appointed by the minister of public instruction. He holds his office at the will of the minister, but it is very rare for the office-holders to be put out: it is the fashion to keep them. Of course the eight years and more since the downfall of Napoleon have witnessed some changes by death, but officers like judges were not removed on his downfall. The minister is much more likely to be changed than the subordinates.

Although, however, I have just spoken of having been told that the ministers appoint to inferior offices, I think that they do not, without the consent of the general government. The French republic, it seems to me, may be compared to a coat-of-mail of plate-armor,—cumbrous, rigid, and our Federal republic to a coat of linked or chain-armor, pliable.

CHAPTER X.

66

I

Wednesday, June 5th.-When I meet an unknown little one upon the street who smiles at me, then I conclude that she is a pupil in one of the schools that I have visited. To-day, about 9.20, I arrive at another asyle or infant school, but find that the exercises do not begin until ten; they continue until twelve, when the children breakfast, and then play in the yard. They make good use of those moments," says the teacher in charge. I ask her the difference between the schools under the care of the clergy and those under the laity. She replies, "Mon Dieu ! don't know;" but I afterwards understand that there is no difference in recitations. She says that there are parents who do not wish to send their children to clerical schools, and some who do not wish to send them to laic. She thinks that the poorer class send them to the Sisters on account of the gifts. This teacher is a substitute. She is filling the place of the assistant, who is taking her holiday. There being no regular holidays in the infant schools, the teachers are allowed a month, and their places are filled by substitutes. This one is called a suppléante; she is of a higher grade than the remplaçante. Besides the two teachers, there is a hired woman, who keeps the rooms clean, takes care of the children's breakfasts, and so on, and receives the astonishing salary of seven hundred francs, or near one hundred and forty dollars, and boards herself. These women must always be at their posts; thus she is now moving constantly among the children while they are