as if it would catch a peep of the
commencement of the famous procession. The Arc de Triomphe was shining
in a keen frosty sunshine, and looking as clean and rosy as if it had
just made its toilette. The canvas or pasteboard image of Napoleon, of
which only the gilded legs had been erected the night previous, was now
visible, body, head, crown, sceptre and all, and made an imposing show.
Long gilt banners were flaunting about, with the imperial cipher and
eagle, and the names of the battles and victories glittering in gold.
The long avenues of the Champs Elysees had been covered with sand for
the convenience of the great procession that was to tramp across it that
day. Hundreds of people were marching to and fro, laughing, chattering,
singing, gesticulating as happy Frenchmen do. There is no pleasanter
sight than a French crowd on the alert for a festival, and nothing more
catching than their good-humor. As for the notion which has been put
forward by some of the opposition newspapers that the populace were on
this occasion unusually solemn or sentimental, it would be paying a bad
compliment to the natural gayety of the nation, to say that it was,
on the morning at least of the 15th of December, affected in any
such absurd way. Itinerant merchants were shouting out lustily their
commodities of segars and brandy, and the weather was so bitter cold,
that they could not fail to find plenty of customers. Carpenters and
workmen were still making a huge banging and clattering among the sheds
which were built for the accommodation of the visitors. Some of
these sheds were hung with black, such as one sees before churches in
funerals; some were robed in violet, in compliment to the Emperor whose
mourning they put on. Most of them had fine tricolor hangings with
appropriate inscriptions to the glory of the French arms.

All along the Champs Elysees were urns of plaster-of-Paris destined to
contain funeral incense and flames; columns decorated with huge flags of
blue, red, and white, embroidered with shining crowns, eagles, and N's
in gilt paper, and statues of plaster representing Nymphs, Triumphs,
Victories, or other female personages, painted in oil so as to represent
marble. Real marble could have had no better effect, and the appearance
of the whole was lively and picturesque in the extreme. On each pillar
was a buckler, of the color of bronze, bearing the name and date of a
battle in gilt letters: you had to walk through a