28o OCCASIONAL HAPPY THOUGHTS. 



ing children on the rocks off Sorel Point in their own 

 picturesque island. 



At Dinan, however, there has been for a long time an 

 English Colony and an English Club, but these " Insu- 

 laires" (as the guide books call them) have not caused any- 

 perceptible alteration in the habits and customs of the in- 

 habitants. 



But to the point of this little tour. How comes it that, 

 in such French towns as find their equivalents in Chi- 

 chester, Winchester, and in most of our Cathedral and 

 market towns, I can have my bed-room (so furnished 

 as to serve for a sitting-room) on the first-floor, and 

 a better — far better — breakfast, luncheon, and dinner, 

 with "ordinary wine," and coffee afterwards, for seven 

 shillings a day, at the most, and I can't get off in Eng- 

 land under, at least, twice that sum, per diem^ paid 

 for a gross monotony of roast beef, boiled beef, strong 

 gravy soup, fried soles, chops, and Worcester Sauce, 

 boiled eggs, ham and eggs, thick coffee, and adulterated 

 tea? 



And then, in country towns, where could I take my 

 Grandmother to dine? At a farmers' ordinary? Can I 

 take her to any haphazard coffee-room, with its dingy, fly- 

 stained paper, its heavy-looking tables, its sepulchral smell, 

 and its chance rough-and-ready customers ? No, a private 

 room is forced upon me. I can't help it, I must have it, 

 and must pay for it. 



How many delicious, inexpensive, tasty courses did we 

 not get at the Hotel de France at Dol-de-Bretagne ? How 



