AN OCTOBER ABROAD 199 



and that the Parisians recognize a tutelar deity in 

 the goddess Urea, who should have an appropriate 

 monument somewhere in the Place de la Concorde ! 



One of the loveliest features of Paris is the Seine. 

 I was never tired of walking along its course. Its 

 granite embankments ; its numberless superb bridges, 

 throwing their graceful spans across it; its clear, 

 limpid water ; its paved bed ; the women washing ; 

 the lively little boats; and the many noble build 

 ings that look down upon it, make it the most 

 charming citizen-river I ever beheld. Rivers gen 

 erally get badly soiled when they come to the city, 

 like some other rural travelers; but the Seine is as 

 pure as a meadow-brook wherever I saw it, though 

 I dare say it does not escape without some contami 

 nation. I believe it receives the sewerage discharges 

 farther down, and is no doubt turbid and pitchy 

 enough there, like its brother, the Thames, which 

 comes into London with the sky and the clouds in 

 its bosom, and leaves it reeking with filth and 

 slime. 



After I had tired of the city, I took a day to 

 visit St. Cloud, and refresh myself by a glimpse of 

 the imperial park there, and a little of Nature's 

 privacy, if such could be had, which proved to be 

 the case, for a more agreeable day I have rarely 

 passed. The park, toward which I at once made 

 my way, is an immense natural forest, sweeping up 

 over gentle hills from the banks of the Seine, and 

 brought into order and perspective by a system of 

 carriageways and avenues, which radiate from nu- 



