A GLIMPSE OF FRANCE, 



193 



came near passing some of the most, noted during my 

 first walk without observing them. The main walls- 

 were all standing, and the fronts were as imposing as-, 

 ever. No litter or rubbish, no charred timbers or 

 blackened walls, only vacant windows and wrecked in- 

 teriors, which do not very much mar the general out- 

 side effect. 



My first genuine surprise was the morning after my 

 arrival, which, according to my reckoning, was Sunday 

 and when I heard the usual week-day sounds, and, 

 sallying forth, saw the usual week-day occupations go- 

 ing on, — painters painting, glaziers glazing, masons on> 

 their scaffolds, etc., and heavy drays and market-wag- 

 ons going through the streets, and many shops and' 

 bazaars open, — I must have presented to a scrutiniz- 

 ing beholder the air and manner of a man in a dream,,, 

 so absorbed was I in running over the events of the- 

 week to find where the mistake had occurred, where X 

 had failed to turn a leaf, or else had turned over two> 

 leaves for one. But each day had a distinct record,, 

 and every count resulted the same. It must be Sun- 

 day. Then it all dawned upon me that this was Paris ? , 

 and that the Parisians did not have the reputation o£ 

 being very strict Sabbatarians. 



The French give a touch of art to whatever they do. 

 Even the drivers of drays, and carts, and trucks, about 

 the streets, are not content with a plain, matter-of-fact 

 whip, as an English or American laborer would be, but 

 it must be a finely-modeled stalk, with a long, taper- 



13 



