EL]

It would have been quite impossible for me to have gone with them--I was
not even invited; but this very serious and good little Parisienne, who
posed for the figure with quite the same unconsciousness as she would
have handed you your change over the counter of some stuffy little shop,
went to Vincennes with Henriette and her brother, where they had a
beautiful day--scrambling up the paths and listening to the band--all at
the enormous expense of the artist; and this was how this good little
Parisienne managed to save five francs in a single day!

There are old-men models who knock at your studio too, and who are
celebrated for their tangled gray locks, which they immediately
uncover as you open your door. These unkempt-looking Father Times and
Methuselahs prowl about the staircases of the different ateliers daily.
So do little children--mostly Italians and all filthily dirty; swarthy,
black-eyed, gypsy-looking girls and boys of from twelve to fifteen years
of age, and Italian mothers holding small children--itinerant madonnas.
These are the poorer class of models--the riff-raff of the Quarter--who
get anywhere from a few sous to a few francs for a seance.

And there are four-footed models, too, for I know a kindly old horse who
has served in many a studio and who has carried a score of the famous
generals of the world and Jeanne d'Arcs to battle--in many a modern
public square.

Chacun son metier!

CHAPTER VIII

THE LUXEMBOURG GARDENS

In this busy Quarter, where so many people are confined throughout the
day in work-shops and studios, a breathing-space becomes a necessity. The
gardens of the Luxembourg, brilliant in flowers and laid out in the
Renaissance, with shady groves and long avenues of chestnut-trees
stretching up to the Place de l'Observatoire, afford the great
breathing-ground for the Latin Quarter.

If one had but an hour to spend in the Quartier Latin, one could not
find a more interesting and representative sight of student life than
between the hours of four and five on Friday afternoon, when the
military band plays in the Luxembourg Gardens. This is the afternoon
when Bohemia is on parade. Then every one flocks here to see one's
friends--and a sort of weekly reception for the Quarter is held. The
walks about the band-stand are thronged with students and girls,
and hundreds of chairs are filled with an audience of the older
people--shopkeepers and their families, old women in whit