rosary at his waist, sending a telegram
at the telegraph office. Imagine the surroundings. Mr. MARKS might call
it an Anachronism.

* * *

When abroad, I make notes of the names of any new dishes. The following
one was new to me as a name, not as a dish, which was simple enough,
"_Culottes de boeuf a la fermiere_". What next? "_Calecons de veau a
la baigneuse?_" "_Gilets de mouton a la bergere?_" "_Culottes de veau a
la Brian O'Lynn?_" "_Chapeau de volaille a la coq?_"

* * *

_Music._--This morning, the fifteenth of my sojourn here, the band is
playing something new. This is refreshing, as I am becoming a little
tired of the overtures to _Zampa_, _Guillaume Tell_, _Italiano in
Algeria_, selections from the _Huguenots_ (highly popular as a good
finish to any concert) and the dance music, waltzes and mazurkas, which
have been popular for the last two years.

* * *

The clocks of Royat are still in an undecided state. The uninitiated
person who takes his time--(_Note, en passant for all baigneurs
here_--Never be in a hurry, and always "take your time," no matter from
where you take it)--from the Hotel, and starts at 7.30 in order to reach
his bath by 8,--a walk of five minutes,--will find, on arriving at the
_Etablissement_, that it is just 8.5, so that he has taken a quarter of
an hour to do the distance. If he starts from the _Etablissement_ at
8.30, to meet a friend at the station, on arriving there he will
discover that it is 8.15 by the Railway Clock, so that he is at the end
of his journey a quarter of an hour before he set out, having done the
distance in considerably less than no time,--a record worth preserving.
The Post Office Authorities, in despair, have put up a notice informing
everybody that their clock has no connection with that of the
_Etablissement_, which may just do what it likes and be wound to it, and
ignoring all church-clock authority and all municipal authority too,
they (the Post Office Authorities aforesaid) announce that they intend
to take their time from the Railway station, but even then will give
themselves a margin of five minutes one way or the other, so that the
public wishing to send letters must ascertain what the post times
_ought_ to be, and then give themselves another margin of at least ten
minutes on the safe side. The calculation is not very complicated when
you are accustomed to it, and its uncertainty lends a gentle stimulus to
the ordinary routin