revisit Versailles,
when the opportunity presents itself. Your early studies in history will
enable you, in later life, after seeing this beautiful architectural
pile, to long for a more extended history. The fountains are only in
full play on the Sabbath day, and throngs of people of all walks in
life, are seen in these grounds and crowd the corridors of historical
paintings. La Madeline, one of the popular churches, resembles a Pagan
temple. Begun by Louis XV (1777) as a church, and finished under Louis
Philippe in 1832, it resembles the Parthenon of the Greeks. You will
hear fine music at the Church of "La Trinita," but the Parthenon is full
of interest. The first church on or near this site was built by Clovis,
and dedicated to St. Genevieve; it was burnt by the Normans and after
numerous changing of owners, it was finally, by the order of Louis XV,
torn down and rebuilt, as a votive offering to St. Genevieve, who he
believed to be his patron saint during his extreme illness. The first
stone of the new church was laid by this king in 1764, and was completed
by the architect, Rondelet, the pupil of the first architect Soufflot
(deceased), in 1780. It is the burial place of illustrious citizens.
Its possession was in a transition state for years; first a church of
God, then a resting place for the immortal dead. At length, in 1885, it
was taken from the worship of God and given Victor Hugo, whose tomb to
the right as you enter is usually the first to be shown. The tombs of
Voltaire and Rousseau are empty, having been pillaged during the
revolution. Pere La Chaise and Montmartre are cemeteries where familiar
names are recorded on tombstones and mausoleums. In the former lie
Abelard and Heloise, the tragedienne Rachel, and the open sarcophagus
ready for the remains of Sarah Bernhardt, when she, too, shall lay off
this mortal coil. There are in Pere La Chaise, and in Montmartre, many
musical celebrities. While I was there, in April or May (1896), Ambrose
Thomas' funeral cortege solemnly wended its way from La Trinita to this
field of tombs. The funeral dress of the Frenchman is what we term full
evening dress. The bier or catafalque is clothed in black broadcloth,
embroidered in silver. The floral offerings are piled upon it; colossal
wreaths of violets and immortelles, strung on wire, are emblematic in
their designs. No music on that lonely march on foot but the quiet tread
beats a requiem for the dead.

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