I QO SCIENCE SKETCHES. 



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 process known as " addi- 

 tion, division, and silence." The mayor noticed 

 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. Some- 

 thing 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 inspection. 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 openly: " If you want us to wear Issoire- 



