omfort upon.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 80: The governmental pawnbroking establishments. All the
pawnbroking is carried on by the Government.]

LXXVII.

They have put them into the prison of Saint-Lazare. Whom? The nuns of
the convent of Picpus. They have put them there because they have been
arrested. But why were they arrested? That is what Monsieur Rigault
himself could not clearly explain. Some of the nuns are old. They have
been living long in seclusion, and have only changed cells; having been
the captives of Heaven, they have become the prisoners of Citizen
Mouton. In such an abject place too, poor harmless souls! Victor Hugo
has said, speaking of that wretched prison, "Saint-Lazare! we must crush
that edifice." Yes, later, when we have the time; we must now pull down
the Column Vendome and the Chapelle Expiatoire. In the meantime these
poor ladies are very sad. One of my friends went to see them; they have
neither their prayer-books nor their crucifix; they have had even the
amulets they wore round their necks taken from them. This seems nothing
to you, citizens of the Commune. You are men of advanced opinions. You
care as much about a crucifix as a fish for an apple; and perhaps you
are right. You have studied the question, and you say in the evening,
looking up at the stars, "There is no God." But you must understand that
with these poor nuns it is quite a different matter. They have not read
philosophical treatises; they still believe that the Almighty created
the world in six days, and that the Son died on the cross for the sake
of the world. When they were free, or rather when they were in a prison
of their own choosing, they prayed in the morning, they prayed at noon,
they prayed at night, and only interrupted this most pernicious
occupation for the purpose of teaching poor little girls that it is good
to be virtuous, honest, and grateful, and that Heaven rewards those who
do rightly. That was their occupation, poor simple souls, and you have
sent them to Saint Lazare for that. You should have chosen another
prison, for their presence must be disagreeable to the usual female
denizens of the place. But there, or elsewhere, they do not complain;
they only ask for a prayer-book and a wooden crucifix. Come, Citizen
Delegate of the ex-Prefecture, one little concession, and unless the
future of the Republic is likely to be compromised by so doing, give
them a cross. A cross is only two pieces of wood pla