398 COFFEE. 



of thirty minutes for " breakfast," and three or four others of 

 from five to ten minntes each, our average rate of speed could not 

 have been far from fifty miles an hour. This is perhaps one of 

 the most beautiful sections of this beautiful country. As we pass 

 out of Bordeaux, for many miles the road is lined with vineyards. 

 Further on we get into a magnificent grain-growing country, 

 which continues all the way to Paris. Throughout this country 

 there is but little timber, making fuel scarce ; every tree is care- 

 fully trimmed, and the little branches bound together to make 

 faggots, which are used with a degree of frugality quite at vari- 

 ance with the lavish use of wood in the United States. All 

 through this section one sees the magnificent Norman horses* 

 working in the fields, sometimes five or six of them harnessed 

 tandem and drawing clumsy plows through the stiff soil. This is 

 one of the items which impress the traveller as being very dif- 

 ferent from what is to be seen in Italy and Spain, where the same 

 work is done, in Italy by oxen, and in Spain by insignificant look- 

 ing mules. 



Paris is a world in itself. The largest city in the world with 

 but one exception ; the most beautiful without any exception. 

 Though situated in the interior, a great commercial city, manufac- 

 turing an endless variety of articles which, owing to their high 

 value, are in a measure independent of cheap transportation, upon 

 which the prosperity of other commercial cities depends. The 

 following are some of its novel features: Long boulevards or 

 avenues, with tall, mansard-roofed houses built to a uniform line, 

 the upper stories of which are occupied as dwellings, while the 

 ground-floors are fitted up with gorgeous shops ; whole streets of 

 dressmakers and tailors, with here and there a jeweler's or fancy 

 goods store sandwiched among them. In the principal streets 

 one sees more foreigners than natives ; most of the shop doors 

 and windows display the sign, "English spoken," and a queer 

 American eagle, looking like a phoenix rising from its ashes, 

 and dotted all over with stripes and stars, is also frequently de- 

 picted in the most brilliant colors to attract Americans, of whom 

 there is always a liberal sprinkling to be found here. The clean- 

 est streets with the smoothest of pavements ; delightful parks in 

 the suburbs for excursions; every amusement that thought or 



