ladies are extremely kind:
_voila tout!_'

'You have all these in France.'

'_Oui, Mossu!_ but when I return there I shall be a farmer again; and
it's a frightful fact that you may plow your heart out without turning
up but a very small quantity of these articles there!'

French soldiers still protect Rome--and 'these articles there.'

THE BEARDS OF ART.

'Can you tell me,' said Uncle Bill Browne to Rocjean, with the air of a
man about to ask a hard conundrum, 'why beards, long hair, and art,
always go together?'

'Of course, art draws out beards along with talent; paints and bristles
must go together; but high-art drives the hair of the head in, and
clinches it. Among artists first and last there have been men with giant
minds, and they have known it was their duty to show their mental power:
the beard is the index.'

'But the beard points downward,' suggested Caper, 'and not upward.'

'That depends----'

'On _pomade Hongroise_--or beeswax,' interrupted Caper.

'Exactly; but let me answer Uncle Bill. To begin, we may safely assert
that an artist's life--here in Rome, for instance--is about as
independent a one as society will tolerate; its laws, as to shaving
especially, he ignores, and caring very little for the Rules of the
Toilette, as duly published by the--_bon ton_ journals, uses his razor
for mending lead-pencils, and permits his beard to enjoy long vacation
rambles. Again: those who first set the example of long beards, Leonardo
da Vinci, for example, who painted his own portrait with a full beard a
foot long, were men who moved from principle, and I have the belief that
were Leonardo alive to-day, he would say:

"My son, and well-beloved Rocjean, _zitto!_ and let ME talk. Know, then,
that I did permit my beard luxuriant length--for a reason. Thou dost not
know, but I do, that among the ancient Egyptians they worshiped in their
deity the male and female principle combined; so the exponents of this
belief, the Egyptian priests, endeavored in their attire to show a
mingling of the male and female sex; they wore long garments like women,
_vergogna!_ they wore long hair, _guai!_ and they SHAVED THEIR FACES! It
pains me to say, that their indecent example is followed even to this
day, by the priests of what should be a purer and better religion.

"_Silenzio!_ I have not yet said my say. Among Eastern nations, their
proverbs, and what is better, their customs, show a powerful protest
against this im