ene
Girardin.]

"When, 'finally alone,' to fill up their long leisure of waiting, they
play never-ending games of _ecarte_, or, indeed, tell each other's
fortunes by the cards, in the hope that the promises they read in them
may be speedily realized, promises of a better life, outside of the
cursed house, of meeting a monsieur very rich, of country parties,
carriages, a little hotel, who knows? To see, perhaps,--a marriage.

"But a voice, interrupting these dreams, that of the imperious matron,
orders curtly: 'To the salon, ladies!'"

The Parisian winter is an institution of which no good can be said. The
tremendous, arctic cold of the United States is almost unknown, as is
also the beautiful, clear, frosty weather; in their stead come an almost
endless succession of gray, misty, unutterably damp days, with a
searching, raw cold that penetrates even to the dividing asunder of bone
and marrow. The dearness of fuel, and the totally inadequate heating
arrangements in most houses, add to the cruel discomfort of this season,
in which the poor always suffer greatly. The number of unemployed is
always large, and among them are frequently to be found those accustomed
to the comforts and refinements of life. A recent article in a Parisian
journal describing the charitable distribution of hot soups by the
organization of the _Bouchee de pain_ [mouthful of bread] cites the
instance of a lady among these applicants, so well dressed that the
attendant thought it right to say to her: "Have you come through simple
curiosity, madame? In that case, you should not diminish the portion of
those who are hungry." The lady answered simply: "_I_ am hungry." It
appeared that she was an artist, had exhibited twice in the Salon, and
yet was reduced to this necessity. This charitable organization is
distinguished from most others by the fact that it asks no questions and
imposes no conditions on those who come to it for aid. Consequently, its
various points of distribution are crowded with long lines of the
shivering and famished, and the smallest offering from the charitable is
thankfully received.

On the suppression of the recent general strike among the workmen of
Paris, in the month of October, 1898, there appeared, in a number of the
_Matin_, a serious article giving some important details concerning the
wages and the manner of spending them, and presented from the point of
view of a friend of the laboring classes. The writer, M. Manini