A GLIMPSE OF FRANCE. 197 



nearly as much openness, the reverse or diuretic side 

 of the fact. (How our self-consciousness would writhe ! 

 We should all turn to stone!) Indeed, the ceaseless 

 deglutition of mankind in this part of the world is 

 only equaled by the answering and enormous activity 

 of the human male kidneys. This latter was too as- 

 tonishing, and too public a fact to go unmentioned. 

 At Dieppe, by the reeking tubs standing about, I sus- 

 pected some local distemper, but when I got to Paris, 

 and saw how fully and openly the wants of the male 

 citizen in this respect were recognized by the sanitary 

 and municipal regulations, and that the urinals were 

 thicker than the lamp-posts, I concluded it must be a 

 national trait, and at once abandoned the theory that 

 had begun to take possession of my mind, viz., that 

 diabetes was no doubt the cause of the decadence of 

 France. Yet I suspect it is no more a peculiarity of 

 French manners than of European manners generally, 

 and in its light I relished immensely the history of 

 a well-known statue which stands in a public square 

 in one of the German cities. The statue commemo- 

 rates the unblushing audacity of a peasant going to 

 market with a goose under each arm, who ignored 

 even the presence of the king, and it is at certain 

 times dressed up and made the centre of holiday fes- 

 tivities. It is a public fountain, and its living streams 

 of water make it one of the most appropriate and sug- 

 gestive monuments in Europe. I would only suggest, 

 that they canonize the Little Man, and that the Paris- 



