The greater part of these fine deeds were not known
till after his death; the whole of them we shall never know.

He was a socialist of the right sort! for there are two kinds of them.
Those who aspire to appropriate to themselves a part of the goods of
others, are numerous and commonplace. To belong to their order it
suffices to have a big appetite. Those who are hungering to divide their
own goods with men who have none, are rare and precious, for to enter
this choice company there is need of a brave and noble heart, free from
selfishness, and sensitive to both the happiness and unhappiness of its
fellows. Fortunately the race of these socialists is not extinct, and I
feel an unalloyed satisfaction in offering them a tribute they never
claim.

I must be pardoned for dwelling upon this. It does one good to offset
the bitterness of so many infamies, so many calumnies, so much
charlatanism, by resting the eyes upon something more beautiful,
breathing the perfume of these stray corners where simple goodness
flowers.

A lady, a foreigner, doubtless little used to Parisian life, just now
told me with what horror the things she sees here inspire her:--these
vile posters, these "yellow" journals, these women with bleached hair,
this crowd rushing to the races, to dance-halls, to roulette tables, to
corruption--the whole flood of superficial and mundane life. She did not
speak the word Babylon, but doubtless it was out of pity for one of the
inhabitants of this city of perdition.

"Alas, yes, madam, these things are sad, but you have not seen all."

"Heaven preserve me from that!"

"On the contrary, I wish you could see everything; for if the dark side
is very ugly, there is so much to atone for it. And believe me, madam,
you have simply to change your quarter, or observe at another hour. For
instance, take the Paris of early morning. It will offer much to correct
your impressions of the Paris of the night. Go see, among so many other
working people, the street-sweepers, who come out at the hour when the
revellers and malefactors go in. Observe beneath these rags those
caryatid bodies, those austere faces! How serious they are at their work
of sweeping away the refuse of the night's revelry. One might liken
them to the prophets at Ahasuerus's gates. There are women among them,
many old people. When the air is cold they stop to blow their fingers,
and then go at it again. So it is every day. And they, too, are
inhabitan