scattered its stones in ruins-stones which have since been used in good bridges and public buildings. Now, in the centre of the place stands a magnificent and stately fluted column of bronze thirteen feet in diameter and one hundred and fifty-four feet high, bearing upon its side the names of brave men who died while fighting for "public liberty" on the 27th, 28th and 29th of July, 1830. The base is white marble, and on top of the column stands an immense gilded figure on a great gilded ball. The figure represents the "Genius of Liberty" running, a bird in one hand and a broken chain in the other. For a small piece of silver I am permitted to ascend the column on the inside. I go around and around a good many times in the darkness before I get to the top. Now we are on top just below the great ball and gilded figure. I will not attempt to describe what I saw-the spires, towers, domes, columns, statues, arches, fountains, distant hills, parks, groves, markets, etc. Soldiers, gentlemen and ladies are here and we almost jostle against each other there in the air, for our platform, or gallery, overhangs the great column. The wind blows strong and the column trembles and shudders, and a young lady also trembles and shudders as she shrinks back from the slender metal railing; but I trembled, too, somewhat, as I noticed the vibrations of the great metal column and gazed on the hard, white paving stones so far below. I would have felt safer had there been fewer people up and the day had not been Sunday. What is that red line in the pavements, running this way and that? That shows where the old Bastile once stood. Now I breathe more freely; I am on the ground once more. See the centre of this wide boulevard! Four rows of trees, flowers and fountains! In the centre are men, women and children selling nearly all kinds of notions and articles, among which are second-hand articles, old clothing, old rusty keys and nameless things too numerous to mention, spread all over the pavement and ground. It is near dinner-time. I get upon the top of a street-car and ride toward the "Madeleine." حب CHAPTER XVIII. PARIS: PLACES MAGNIFICENT AND GLORIOUS. BREAKFAST - ·GUIDED THROUGH PALACES MET THE MADELEINE AMERICANS TRUE ART -A MARBLE SPLENDOR MENT AT YOSEMITE SMILING AMONG CLOUDS NAPOLEON'S TOMB, GUARDED BY MARBLE HEROES, THREE HUNDRED AND FORTY FEET BELOW A GOLDEN HEMISPHERE. Monday morning, August 29th, in Paris. At breakfast, between eight and nine o'clock-the beefsteak is tender and very finely broiled; the potato is sliced in slender pieces the length of your finger, and browned in butter; the bread is in delicate, brown, crescent-shaped rolls, not much larger than the handle of a table-knife; the butter is good and sweet, and is without salt; the coffee is fresh, hot, clear, and not too strong, in a silver pot; mixed with a liberal quantity of good, hot milk, and a tablet of loaf-sugar, it is unsurpassable. This breakfast pleased me so well that I left the thousand and one other things and asked it to be repeated each morning while I remained in the city. Other guests keep dropping into the dining-room, and breakfast will be served all the forenoon. I walk out, the morning is cool, and the atmosphere is clear and fine. Calling at Cook's office, 9 Rue Scribe, the clerk says, "Will you go with one of our four-in-hand excursions? In three days, this way, you will see nearly the whole city, only two dollars a day for each person." I paid the two dollars, or eight shillings, or ten francs, I do not remember which, and stepped up in the carriage drawn by four horses, and driven by a fat Frenchman, in blue broadcloth, gold-colored braid, and high, shining hat. Eighteen or twenty of us excursionists from America and England fill the five seats that run across the carriage. By my side is a young man from London; there is a young lady from Baltimore; there a married lady from Philadelphia; there Mr. S. and his daughter from New York; there a tall, old maid from Wisconsin; there a young man from Cincinnati, and here one from New Jersey, and others too numerous to mention, but not too numerous to be good company and have a good time all day, shown through palaces and parks by our good-natured and witty guide, Henry de Heerdt. Life-long friendships were doubtlessly formed on that and succeeding days. At 10 o'clock we start, our guide having two carriage loads to guide and instruct, and he rode with us. We drove along a grand boulevard by the Grand Opera House, and came to the Madeleine, or church of St. Mary Magdalene. This is a great building, and was many years in being erected. It reminds me much of Girard College, as it stands surrounded by many mighty columns, on a broad plateau of granite lying layer above layer. I counted fourteen columns in front, which I set down as six feet in diameter and sixty feet high. "The entire cost of the Madeleine was two millions six hundred and fifteen thousand and eight hundred dollars. It stands on a raised platform, three hundred and twenty-eight feet long, and one hundred and thirty-eight feet broad, and has at each end an approach consisting of twenty-eight steps the entire length of the façade. The architecture is Grecian. A colonnade of fifty-two Corinthian columns entirely surround the building, giving to it a grandeur of appearance which few structures in Europe attain. Between the columns there are niches, and a row of colossal statues stand in them." The bronze doors are massive and magnificent, being thirty-six feet high and sixteen feet broad. The doors have ten panels, in each of which is a representation of one of the Ten Commandments. These are great and beautiful pictures in bronze. I have not the time nor the ability to describe the interior of this. great and gorgeous temple; but let me assure you that it is resplendent with marbles of fine polish and various colors, gold, silver, altars, baptismal fonts, |