IQ4 SCIENCE SKETCHES. 



stern winnowers," as the poet calls them, are the 

 making of great men. And this crisis made a 

 great man of the mayor of Issoire, or rather it 

 made a background against which his greatness 

 could be seen. I have forgotten the mayor's name, 

 and I am very sorry for it. It was a French name 

 and wholly unpronounceable to me, something like 

 De Roncevalle or De Rousselieu ; but if ever the 

 name of a mayor were 



" On Fame's eternal beadroll worthy to be filed," 



it is his, and it is my constant regret that I cannot 

 file it there. 



And the mayor said: "All our prosperity is due 

 to the action of the octroi on a single article of 

 necessity, namely, boots. This is prosperity along 

 a single line only, a one-sided development of our 

 industries, and from this comes our present embar- 

 rassment. Put the octroi on everything, and you 

 have prosperity along the whole line. Some of 

 these things we can produce at home, some we can- 

 not. Those that we cannot produce the people 

 will have somehow, and from these you can raise 

 the money to pay for the boots which Issoire recog- 

 nizes as the just due of the toiling workingman." 

 Here the mayor wiped a tear from his eye, and 

 raised his voice a little, in the hope that perchance 

 some toiling workingman might be listening out- 

 side, or taking his needful midday rest at the Golden 

 Lion, next door. 



" On the tea, coffee, pepper, brass, tin, dia- 

 monds " (here the Common Council heaved a 

 sigh), " and other articles which Issoire cannot 



