LABORATORIES AND PROBLEMS 



Breteuil from so central a position as the tomb of 

 Napoleon. The Boulevard Pasteur itself is a not long 

 but very spacious thoroughfare, which will some day 

 be very beautiful, when the character of its environing 

 buildings has somewhat changed and its quadruple 

 rows of trees have had time for development. At 

 present its chief distinction, in the eyes of most ob- 

 servers, would probably be found in the fact that it is 

 the location of the famous fete forain at one of the an- 

 nually recurring stages of the endless itinerary of that 

 noted function. During the period of this distinc- 

 tion, which falls in the month of May, the boulevard 

 becomes transformed into a veritable Coney Island 

 of merry-go-rounds, shooting-galleries, ginger-bread 

 booths, and clap-trap side-shows, to the endless de- 

 light of throngs of pleasure-seekers. There is no sight 

 in all Paris worthier inspection for the foreigner than 

 the Boulevard Pasteur offers at this season, for one 

 gains a deep insight into the psychology of a people 

 through observation of the infantile delight with 

 which the adult population here throws itself into the 

 spirit of amusements which with other nations are for 

 the most part reserved for school-children. Only a 

 race either in childhood or senescence, it would seem, 

 could thus give itself over with undisguised delight to 

 the enchantments of wooden horses, cattle, cats, and 

 pigs ; to the catching of wooden fish with hooks ; to the 

 shooting at targets that one could almost touch with 

 the gun-muzzle, and to the grave observation of side- 

 show performances that would excite the risibilities of 

 the most unsophisticated audience that could be found 

 in the Mississippi Valley. 



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