438 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



for boots, notwithstanding tlie payment of the octroi. Accord- 

 ingly, the old wagons were sent out once in a while, by people 

 who had more cupidity than patriotism. And a little coterie of 

 aristocrats who sneered at the mayor as a demagogue, and at the 

 octroi as a " relic of the middle ages," used to wear Clermont-made 

 boots, and to ape Clermont fashions. But all good citizens dis- 

 couraged this, and the maintenance of the " Issoire idea " became 

 one of their articles of faith, next to those in the catechism. 



But Clermont-made boots often came in on the sly — no one 

 knew how — to the dismay of the local dealers. The Common Coun- 

 cil saw that this would not do, and that the single old soldier who 

 guarded each of the city gates could not meet all the requirements 

 of the octroi. So at each gate were placed a dozen gendarmes, in 

 red woolen uniforms, with black caps fastened on by a leather 

 band which went around the lower lip. And the gendarmes 

 searched every cart and every ash-barrel that went in or out. 

 They watched every rat-hole in the wall to see if haply, by day or 

 by night, boots should come into Issoire without the chalk-mark 

 of the octroi. Occasionally some poor wretch was taken in the 

 act of throwing boots over the wall, and made to pay the penalty 

 of his crime. But sometimes even the gendarmes themselves, the 

 guardians of the prosperity of the community, were seen walking 

 about in Clermont-made boots, which they had obtained by a pro- 

 cess known as " addition, division, and silence." The mayor no- 

 ticed this one day, but the gendarmes had just presented him with 

 a gold-headed cane. They were very much devoted to the Issoire 

 idea — it was just before election — and on the whole he thought it 

 best to say nothing about it. 



The problem now before the mayor and the Common Council 

 was this : How shall we put life into the boot-trade ? The stock 

 was large, its quality was excellent, and yet for days at a time the 

 boot-shops would not see a customer. Something must be done. 

 At last, an ordinance was passed that every citizen of Issoire must 

 have at least one new pair of Issoire-made boots, which must be 

 worn on Sunday afternoons when the band played in the park — 

 at which time the gendarmes would go about on a tour of inspec- 

 tion. When Sunday came, half the workingmen stayed at home 

 all day, because they had not the money to meet the requirements 

 of the law. 



But a few of the bolder ones went to the mayor and said open- 

 ly : " If you want us to wear Issoire-made boots, you must furnish 

 them for us. You ought to do it anyhow. This city owes us a 

 living, and we came over here from Clermont to get it. We were 

 told that the workingman in Issoire would have the octroi on his 

 side, and would not have to work like a slave to keep soul and 

 body together, as we had to do at Clermont. But it is the same 



