manifold pleasures of Parisian life, had but a short time before been wearing a uniform of gray, and living the roughest kind of a life in camp and on the battle-field. I could not honestly say to myself, however, that I preferred the luxury and splendors of the great French capital to the woods and fields of my dear South; and I have had as blissful sleep, wrapped in my soldier's blanket, out under the stars, as I could get in the most expensive apartments of the Grand Hotel.
Our days and nights in Paris were spent in sight-seeing, theatre-going, and in endeavoring to find all the enjoyment that money could buy. We did enjoy ourselves ; for there is no city in the world that is better worth seeing, or that presents greater attractions to the visitor, than Paris.
Sight-Seeing in Paris.
The Louvre, the Tuileries, the Arc de PEtoile, the ancient Cathedral of Notre Dame, with its grand architecture and its many associations, with a visit to the Jardin de Mabille in the evening, employed our first day. It was all very interesting, but I could have had greater satisfaction in investigating into matters that represented more particularly the industries and resources of the country. As for the famous Mabille, it is nothing more than a beer-garden, while the doings that are permitted there and at the Cloiserie de Lilas, are such that they are not fit places for decent people to visit. I was heartily disgusted with both of these gardens disgusted with what I saw, and more disgusted with people who looked like ladies and gentlemen, gazing with approval and applause at performances that had no attractions except their indecency.
A drive on the Bois de Boulogne, which was on our programme for the next day, I really enjoyed greatly, as I did also a visit to the Lyrique Theatre, where I saw finished acting and elegant stage setting, such as I had never been accustomed to in America. In the course of our stay in Paris we visited nearly all the principal theatres; and although I never was much of a play-goer, everything was done in such finished style that it was a real gratification to attend these performances.
The College de France, where my brother had been educated, and the Medical School in which he had studied, interested him greatly, but I was satisfied with looking at them from the outside. I was not curious, either, to visit the
