RECOLLECTIONS, 1827. 109 



not very well afford to drink wine, but I had to do it 

 and board myself, it was a question of hygiene and I 

 could not afford to be sick ... 



Let us come to the psychologic incident. I had a 

 comrade 8 or 10 years my senior, not exactly a Parisian 

 but born in the jurisdiction of Paris, he was a sort of 

 philosopher ! as you will see. It was on what you call 

 in English " Good Friday." We went to our boarding 

 house, where there were perhaps 30 or more people, 

 all mechanics of different trades. "We were the only 

 two exceptions, in trade, and in principles ; almost uni- 

 formly every one had beef soup, and after soup (soup 

 and a Frenchman are almost synonymous), boiled beef 

 and vegetables at your option. One word before we 

 go further. After we were all sat down and waiting 

 for the waiters I gave a glance all over the company 

 (I already began to study human kind) to see how all 

 those philosophers were going to "feed" excuse me 

 this word, it> answers my purpose. I found that the 

 majority ordered beef soup. I might say the whole. 

 After soup the waiter asked us what we wanted. I 

 don't know what he asked others. I had seen the soup 

 served up. That was all I wanted for my edification, 

 but I was mistaken. I had only seen one-half of the 

 performance, the waiter came to me and asked me in a 



whisper what do you want? I told him beef and 

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