to
find out during my second visit to America.

I had been lecturing last Saturday evening in the pretty little town of
Whitewater, in Wisconsin, and received an invitation from a minister to
address a meeting that was to be held yesterday, Sunday, in the largest
church of the place to discuss the question, "How Sunday should be
spent." I at first declined, on the ground that it might not be exactly
in good taste for a foreigner to advise his hosts how to spend Sunday.
However, when it was suggested that I might simply go and tell them how
Sunday was spent in France, I accepted the task.

The proceedings opened with prayer and an anthem; and a hymn in praise
of the Jewish Sabbath having been chosen by the moderator, I thought the
case looked bad for us French people, and that I was going to cut a poor
figure.

The first speaker unwittingly came to my rescue by making an onslaught
upon the French mode of spending the seventh day. "With all due respect
to the native country of our visitor," said he, "I am bound to say that
on the one Sunday which I spent in Paris, I saw a great deal of low
immorality, and I could not help coming to the conclusion that this was
due to the fact of the French not being a Sabbath-keeping people." He
wound up with a strong appeal to his townsmen to beware of any
temptation to relax in their observance of the fourth commandment as
given by Moses.

I was called upon to speak next. I rose in my pew, but was requested to
go into the rostrum.

With alacrity I stepped forward, a little staggered, perhaps, at finding
myself for the first time in a pulpit, but quite ready for the fray.

"I am sorry," said I, "to hear the remarks made by the speaker who has
just sat down. I cannot, however, help thinking that if our friend had
spent that Sunday in Paris in respectable places, he would have been
spared the sight of any low immorality. No doubt Paris, like every large
city in the world, has its black spots, and you can easily discover
them, if you make proper inquiries as to where they are, and if you are
properly directed. Now, let me ask, where did he go? I should very much
like to know. Being an old Parisian, I have still in my mind's eye the
numerous museums that are open free to the people on Sundays. One of the
most edifying sights in the city is that of our peasants and workmen in
their clean Sunday blouses enjoying themselves with their families, and
elevating their tastes among our art t