From the chapel I was conducted into the cleanest and most airy dining-room that can possibly be conceived. On each side of this hall, the floor of which was flagged very neatly in squares placed diagonally, were a series of lofty windows, most of them wide open, and in the middle three long tables of conglomerated red and yellow marble, beneath which, on a narrow wooden shelf, were arranged the napkin and silver mug of each boy: besides which, I observed, lying close to one of the common benches which surrounded these three tables, a very large basket brim-full of silver spoons and silver four-pronged forks, marked with the letters "S. and M." -a just satire, I whispered to myself, on the inconsistency of feeding with plate deaf and dumb boys, whose certificate for admission into the establishment must be "utter destitution!" At each end of the hall are arranged crossways three tables in a row for the masters and professors-all deaf and dumb.

I was now conducted into the open air to a sanded promenade or terrace for the boys, broad enough and handsome enough for a palace, overlooking a large walled well-stocked kitchen-garden, full of fruit, at which they are permitted only to look. From the end of this terrace was a flight of steps descending into a large space shaded by trees, the playground and gymnasium in which I had found the boys.

From the dining-room I secretly prophesied that I should be-and I was-conducted into the kitchen, which, in keeping with the rest of the establishment, was light and airy. In it, as is usual in all the public establishments of Paris, I found the application of heat so scientifically arranged, that within one hot plate, only eight feet in length by five in breadth, the smoke of which was carried down below, the whole diurnal cookery for governor, professors, boys, girls, and servants was easily performed.

In this well-arranged charity, the deaf and dumb inmates of both sexes are instructed by means of two different languages, namely, by alphabet, and by what is significantly termed "signes mimiques." In their various studies, where accuracy of expression is required, the former only is permitted for the purposes of rapid conversation the latter is not only taught, but is generally used. The one slowly but surely reaches its point, while the other dashes towards it with a genius and impetuosity which are highly interesting to witness.

* Mimic signs.

For instance, as I was descending a winding staircase, conversing with my guide, I observed a fine healthy merry boy rapidly but inquisitively, as he passed us, touch with the fore-finger of his right hand his eyes and mouth. It was to

ask if the chief superintendent (he who sees all and talks all) was coming. Another boy, in running fast by us, interrogatively made with his right hand two slight undulating motions. I asked my guide what that meant.

"He asked me," he replied, "whether you were not a foreigner (d'outre-mer'),* which he represented by figuring with his hand the waves of the sea. You might have perceived as I was talking to you I repeated his signe mimique,' by which I informed him that you were' d'outre-mer.'"

6

In taking leave of this interesting establishment, I stood for a few moments in the entrance square to look at an object of great curiosity, an enormous elm (orme), 246 years of age and 90 feet in height. which had been planted by Sully, minister of Henry IV. For about fifty feet its tall straight stem has, in accordance with the fashion of the day, been lopped, but the remaining forty feet of branches, the bark, and fabric, show no signs of age; indeed, it is considered to be the finest tree in the neighbourhood of Paris.

On re-entering the Rue de St. Jacques, I met a procession of children, from three to five years of age, preceding a crooked, withered woman, who from old age was apparently able to hobble on just about as fast as they had learned to walk. One little fellow, without a hat, and with black shaggy hair, had on the bosom of his frock a snip of scarlet riband, from which dangled an eight-pointed cross of some sort, the ancient order of sugar-plums, I suppose. As I was looking at them, we were overtaken by a line of schoolboys, dressed, as is usual in Paris, in tight blue coats edged with red, with a jiggamaree ornament embroidered on their collars. All this is well enough; but when I reflected that a boy's stomach is the engine that is to propel him to advancement in the army, navy, law, church, in fact, in every profession of life,-I could not but lament the foolish French practice of allowing the rising generation to pinch in their waists with black patent leather belts, which must surely not only impede the circulation of their young blood, but seriously interfere with the healthy

* From beyond the sea,

digestion of their food; and, as all the schoolboys in Paris are thus waspified, the distinction, after all, is nil!

ROULAGE.

I HAD rumbled along for a considerable time in an omnibus, when the conductor-dressed as usual in a blue coat, embroidered silver collar, blue trowsers, with black leather imitation boots, silver plaquet, and a variety of little silver chains dangling across his breast-pulling his string to stop the carriage, made a signal to me to get out, and, as soon as I had obeyed him, pointing to a small office, the carriage drove off.

On entering it I found no one but its superintendent, who in exchange for my ticket gave me another, and he had hardly done so when several people, one after another, came in to wait for the same 'bus I was waiting for. On its arrival it was raining hard, and, although I was pressed for time, I felt that, as those who were in the room were principally ladies, it was hopeless for me to expect to get away, especially as the carriage, excepting one place, was full, and therefore, while most of the expectants walked towards it, I remained in the office. All of a sudden, however, I heard the superintendent call out" Numéro 1," and, as that was my number, I emerged from my den, ascended the step, and had scarcely filled the vacant place when the vehicle drove on, leaving all the ladies in the street, and the carriage being now full, the conductor affixed to it, over his head, a board on which was inscribed the word "complet," a signal to lusty ladies and gentlemen not, as in England, uselessly to run after it.

On sitting down, without looking at anybody, but, on the contrary, fixing my eyes on that part of the woodwork of the roof immediately before my eyes, I, with the forefinger of my right hand, slightly touched the brim of my hat. The effect it produced was that which I had repeatedly observed. The people of Paris, though they are too polite to appear even to notice it, are constantly offended by the devil-may

care way in which an Englishman, pulling his hat over his eyes, takes his place in a public conveyance; whereas, if he will perform but the slight homage to their presence I have described, he will perceive by a variety of little movements that his desire has not only been understood, but appreciated. By performing this small magic ceremony, I observed that the 'busful of people were anxious to befriend me in any way, and although it is not the custom in France to talk in an omnibus, yet even that rule was broken in my favour; indeed, I had scarcely seated myself when a young Frenchman opposite to me spoke to me in English; and, as I wished in return to please him, I told him, in reply to his query, that I understood him perfectly, and, to reward him still more, I repeated it in French, that everybody in the 'bus-they were all listening-might hear it. With satisfaction that could scarcely conceal his humility, he told me could read English quite as well as French: "Boat," said he, pronouncing every syllable very slowly, “eye arm vairi opaque een spaking de Aingleesh." I told him that, on the contrary, he expressed himself very transparently.

In a Paris 'bus it is, very properly, deemed unpolite to encumber fellow-passengers, especially ladies, with help; and as the carriage has been made broad enough for its purpose, and as to the roof are affixed two brass hand-rails, people enter and exeunt without touching or being touched by any one.

One of the most pleasing of the domestic habits of the French 'bus is, that it is left to everyhody's honour to pay his fare. As people keep thronging in, they sit down, and, almost on purpose, look as if they were thinking of anything but money; the conducteur also looks anywhere but towards them; however, in due time, they are observed to fumble in their pockets or in their reticules, and at last out comes the six sous, which, handed from one to another-from a priest to a peasant, and from an officer to a Sister of Charity-at last reaches him whose duty it is to pay to his employers the number of fares denoted by the finger of the tell-tale clock, which, as I have before stated, is required to toll "ONE" on the entrance of every passenger whose age exceeds four years. Statesmen, warriors, and divines who have not attained that period of life enjoy the privilege of travelling free.

There are in Paris thirty-five establishments, "messageries," for the transport by "roulage" of heavy goods. The largest in the Rue de Chabronne, I had intended to visit; but as, after leaving my 'bus, I was walking through the Rue de Quatre Fils, happening to see on my left, through a great porte-cochère, one of these establishments, on the spur of the moment I reeled into it.

Under a large shed, covered with packages of all sorts, I found only one crane in a space in which, in London, there would have been seen half a dozen, lifting and dry-nursing all descriptions of goods. The consequence was, that a vast amount of unnecessary labour, set to music by a deal of unnecessary talking, was being expended in hauling at, and arguing with, heavy packages, hanging in the air, that might have been made to fly in silence to the carts that were waiting to receive them.

There was, however, one feat which in Paris I constantly admired, and which might be introduced into England with great advantage-namely, the mode of packing an enormous amount of weight and bulk on a vehicle of two high wheels, which not only pass easier, but only once, over every obstacle in the road which the low wheels of waggons have twice to encounter and surmount.

Behind and beneath the warehouse, in rear of the platform, I found a number of stables, very fairly ventilated, for the horses of the establishment.

As I was returning home through the Rue de Grenelle St. Germain, I observed, a few feet from the outside of the second story of the line of houses on the south side, fourteen wires of the electric telegraph, along which intelligence of every possible description was flying at the rate of 280,000 miles per second. "What a contrast," said I to myself, "to the one-horse carts I have just been admiring!"