-houses. But
one cannot get any fair idea of French agriculture so near Paris. A
great deal of the land is used in cultivating vegetables for the Paris
markets, and this land is scarcely a specimen of the farms of France, it
is more like gardens. I found a few buildings which were occupied by
these gardeners, and one or two genuine farmers, and while there was
evidently scientific culture bestowed upon the land, the tools were
generally clumsy, and altogether too heavy for convenience and dispatch.
It struck me as very singular. Paris excels in the manufacturing of
light and graceful articles of almost every kind. Certainly, in jewelry,
cutlery, and all manner of ornamental articles, it is the first city in
the world. How comes it, then, that so near Paris, agricultural
implements are so far behind the age? I would by no means have the
reader infer that the best of agricultural tools are not manufactured in
France. Such is not the fact, as the Paris Exhibition proved, but _who
buys them_? Now is it not a significant fact, that within a bow-shot of
Paris I found tools in use, which would be laughed at in the free states
of America? The true reason for this, is to be found in the condition of
the French agricultural laborer. He is ignorant and unambitious. Where
the laborer is intelligent, he will have light and excellent tools to
work with. This is a universal fact. The slaves of the southern states
are in a state of brutal ignorance, and their agricultural implements
are heavy and large. Such is the fact with all those men and women who
are in a condition somewhat similar. After looking upon the plowman I
have before alluded to, I could easily believe what reliable Frenchmen
told me--that in the famous (shall I call it _in_famous?) election, very
many of the farmers of the interior supposed they were voting for
Napoleon the Great, instead of Louis Napoleon!

I passed, in returning to my hotel, one of the finest buildings in
Paris--the _Palace d' Orsay_. It was begun in the time of Napoleon, and
is a public building.

[Illustration: Palais de Quai D'Orsay.]

[Illustration: CHURCH OF NOTRE DAME.]

CHAPTER IV.

CHURCHES--NOTRE DAME--L'AUXERROIS--SAINT CHAPELLE--ST.
FERDINAND--EXPIATOIRE--MADELEINE, ETC.

NOTRE DAME.

The churches of Paris are full of gorgeous splendor--how much vital
religion they contain, it is not, perhaps, my province to decide. But in
beauty of architecture, in the solemnity and grande