ectly white and clean; the iron
bedstead was supplied with a good mattress and warm coverings; a gas
burner and a warm-air pipe were also introduced into the rooms, to
furnish light and heat as required; the walls were hung with pretty
fancy papering, and had curtains to match; a chest of drawers, a walnut
table, a few chairs, a small library, comprised Agricola's furniture.
Finally, in the large and light closet, was a place for his clothes, a
dressing table, and large zinc basin, with an ample supply of water.
If we compare this agreeable, salubrious, comfortable lodging, with the
dark, icy, dilapidated garret, for which the worthy fellow paid ninety
francs at his mother's, and to get to which he had more than a league
and a half to go every evening, we shall understand the sacrifice he
made to his affection for that excellent woman.

Agricola, after casting a last glance of tolerable satisfaction at his
looking-glass, while he combed his moustache and imperial, quitted his
chamber, to go and join Angela in the women's workroom. The corridor,
along which he had to pass, was broad, well-lighted from above, floored
with pine, and extremely clean. Notwithstanding some seeds of discord
which had been lately sown by M. Hardy's enemies amongst his workmen,
until now so fraternally united, joyous songs were heard in almost
all the apartments which skirted the corridor, and, as Agricola passed
before several open doors, he exchanged a cordial good-morrow with many
of his comrades. The smith hastily descended the stairs, crossed
the court yard, in which was a grass-plot planted with trees, with a
fountain in the centre, and gained the other wing of the building. There
was the workroom, in which a portion of the wives and daughters of the
associated artisans, who happened not to be employed in the factory,
occupied themselves in making up the linen. This labor, joined to the
enormous saving effected by the purchase of the materials wholesale,
reduced to an incredible extent the price of each article. After
passing through this workroom, a vast apartment looking on the garden,
well-aired in summer,(29) and well-warmed in winter, Agricola knocked at
the door of the rooms occupied by Angela's mother.

If we say a few words with regard to this lodging, situated on the first
story, with an eastern aspect, and also looking on the garden, it is
that we may tape it as a specimen of the habitation of a family in this
association, suppl