ith jewels and merchandise; the stonemasons were at work on the
new buildings; the lemonade venders, with their gay reservoirs upon
their backs, were plying a noisy trade; the bill-stickers were papering
boardings and lamp-posts with variegated advertisements; the charlatan,
in his gaudy chariot, was selling pencils and penknives to the
accompaniment of a hand-organ; soldiers were marching to the clangor of
military music; the merchant was in his counting-house, the stock-broker
at the Bourse, and the lounger, whose name is Legion, was sitting in the
open air outside his favorite cafe, drinking chocolate, and yawning over
the _Charivari_.

I thought I must be dreaming. I scarcely believed the evidence of my
eyes. Was this Sunday? Was it possible that in our own little church at
home--in our own little church, where we could hear the birds twittering
outside in every interval of the quiet service--the old familiar faces,
row beyond row, were even now upturned in reverent attention to the
words of the preacher? Prince Bedreddin, transported in his sleep to the
gates of Damascus, could scarcely have opened his eyes upon a foreign
city and a strange people with more incredulous amazement.

I can now scarcely remember how that day of wonders went by. I only know
that I rambled about as in a dream, and am vaguely conscious of having
wandered through the gardens of the Tuilleries; of having found the
Louvre open, and of losing myself among some of the upper galleries; of
lying exhausted upon a bench in the Champs Elysees; of returning by
quays lined with palaces and spanned by noble bridges; of pacing round
and round the enchanted arcades of the Palais Royal; of wondering how
and where I should find my hotel, and of deciding at last that I could
go no farther without dining somehow. Wearied and half stupefied, I
ventured, at length, into one of the large _restaurants_ upon the
Boulevards. Here I found spacious rooms lighted by superb chandeliers
which were again reflected in mirrors that extended from floor to
ceiling. Rows of small tables ran round the rooms, and a double line
down the centre, each laid with its snowy cloth and glittering silver.

It was early when I arrived; so I passed up to the top of the room and
appropriated a small table commanding a view of the great thoroughfare
below. The waiters were slow to serve me; the place filled speedily; and
by the time I had finished my soup, nearly all the tables were occu