190 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- 
