afes little tables are placed on the pavement, with
chairs around them. These places are delightful in the summer evenings,
and are always crowded. A promenade through some of the best streets of
a summer night is a brilliant spectacle, and more like a promenade
through a drawing-room than through an American street. The proprietors
of those places do not intend to keep restaurants, but quite a variety
of food, hot or cold, is always on hand, and wines of all kinds are
sold.

I well remember my first visit to a French _cafe_. It was when Louis
Napoleon was president, not emperor of France, and when there was more
liberty in Paris than there is now. I dropped into one near the
Boulevards, which, while it contained everything which could add to
one's comfort, still was not one of the first class. Several officers
were dining in it, and in some way I came in contact with one of them in
such a manner that he discovered I was an American. At once his conduct
toward me was of the most cordial kind, and his fellows rose and bade me
welcome to France. The simple fact that I was a republican from America
aroused the enthusiasm of all. I found, afterward, that the regiment to
which these officers belonged was suspected by the president of being
democratic in its sympathies.

The reading-rooms of Paris are one of its best institutions. They are
scattered all over the city, but the best is Galignani's, which contains
over twenty thousand volumes in all languages. The subscription price
for a month is eight francs, for a fortnight five francs, and for a day
ten sous.

There are reading-rooms furnished only with newspapers, where for a
small sum of money one can read the papers. These places are few in
comparison with their numbers in the days of the republic, however.
Under the despotic rule of Louis Napoleon, the newspaper business has
drooped.

An anonymous writer in one of Chambers' publications, tells a good
story, and it is a true one, of Pere Fabrice, who amassed a fortune in
Paris. The story is told as follows:

"He had always a turn for speculation, and being a private soldier he
made money by selling small articles to his fellow soldiers. When his
term of service had expired, he entered the employ of a rag-merchant,
and in a little while proposed a partnership with his master, who
laughed at his impudence. He then set up an opposition shop, and lost
all he had saved in a month. He then became a porter at the _halles_