ARRIVAL I*T PARIS. 172 



risit them profitably. It is always best to know some- 

 thing about the nature and character of any contrivance 

 before you go to examine it. If we understand the general 

 plan of a machine, for example, and the principles on which 

 it operates, before we see it, we can then examine it intelli- 

 gently. Things have a significance to our minds in that 

 case which would be otherwise wholly unmeaning. But if 

 we go to look, for example, at the arrangements and con- 

 trivances at a first-class light-house, without knowing any 

 thing about the principles which govern the operation, we 

 can only stare at them in bewilderment and wonder, and 

 go away nearly as ignorant as we came." 



John was convinced that this was true, and he deter- 

 mined that on his arrival in Paris he would first write a 

 pretty full abstract of what Lawrence had taught him in 

 his lecture, and then he would procure a book about light- 

 houses, and learn all that he could in regard to the differ- 

 ent systems adopted, and the manner in which the arrange- 

 ments are carried out, especially those relating to light- 

 houses along the coast of the English Channel. 



" And then," said Lawrence, " when we set out on our 

 return from Paris, if you propose that we should go down 

 from Boulogne on the French side, visiting the principal 

 light-houses on the way, and, when we get to Havre, cross 

 over and come up to Folkestone on the English side, I 

 shall think it an excellent plan." 



On the arrival of the train at Paris, John was greatly ex- 

 cited at the spectacle presented to his mind in the life and 

 movement of the great city, for this journey was before the 

 desolation and ruin brought upon it by the great Prussian 

 war. They took a cab, and went directly to the Grand 

 Hotel. From the windows of the cab John observed, with 

 great interest and much excitement, the wonderful sights 

 presented to his view. 



