anced very slowly, and would, perhaps, have died a fourth-class
clerk without the aid of a kindly Providence, which sometimes watches
over our destiny. He is today fifty-two years old, and it is only at
this age that he is beginning to explore, as a tourist, all that part of
France which lies between the fortifications and the provinces.

The story of his advance might be useful to many employees, just as the
tale of his excursions may be of value to many Parisians who will
take them as a model for their own outings, and will thus, through his
example, avoid certain mishaps which occurred to him.

In 1854 he only enjoyed a salary of 1,800 francs. Through a peculiar
trait of his character he was unpopular with all his superiors, who
let him languish in the eternal and hopeless expectation of the clerk's
ideal, an increase of salary. Nevertheless he worked; but he did not
know how to make himself appreciated. He had too much self-respect, he
claimed. His self-respect consisted in never bowing to his superiors
in a low and servile manner, as did, according to him, certain of his
colleagues, whom he would not mention. He added that his frankness
embarrassed many people, for, like all the rest, he protested against
injustice and the favoritism shown to persons entirely foreign to the
bureaucracy. But his indignant voice never passed beyond the little cage
where he worked.

First as a government clerk, then as a Frenchman and finally as a
man who believed in order he would adhere to whatever government was
established, having an unbounded reverence for authority, except for
that of his chiefs.

Each time that he got the chance he would place himself where he could
see the emperor pass, in order to have the honor of taking his hat off
to him; and he would go away puffed up with pride at having bowed to the
head of the state.

From his habit of observing the sovereign he did as many others do; he
imitated the way he trimmed his beard or arranged his hair, the cut
of his clothes, his walk, his mannerisms. Indeed, how many men in each
country seemed to be the living images of the head of the government!
Perhaps he vaguely resembled Napoleon III., but his hair was black;
therefore he dyed it, and then the likeness was complete; and when
he met another gentleman in the street also imitating the imperial
countenance he was jealous and looked at him disdainfully. This need
of imitation soon became his hobby, and, having heard an