o the young men as any wives in all France.
They indulged in no gallantries or light conduct with other men, and
among the students were reckoned as fine specimens of the class. Four
happy years passed away, when one morning the poor girls awoke to a sad
change. The collegiate course was through, and the young collegians were
going back to their fathers' mansions in the provinces. Of course the
grisettes could not be taken with them, and the ties of years were
suddenly and rudely to be snapped asunder. At first they were frantic in
their grief. When they entered upon their peculiar relations with the
students, they well knew that this must be the final consummation, but
then it looked a great way off. That they really loved the young men, no
one can doubt. It would not be strange for a little shop-girl to even
adore a talented university student, however insignificant he might be
to other people. To her he is everything that is great and noble. These
girls knew well that they were not wives, but mistresses, yet when the
day of separation came, it was like parting husband and wife. But there
was no use in struggling with fate, and they consoled themselves by
transferring their affections to two more students. Again after a term
of years they were forsaken, until the flower of their youth was gone,
and no one desired to support them as mistresses. Then a downward step
was taken. Nothing but promiscuous prostitution was before them--except
starvation. And still they could not forget their old life, and came
nightly to this public promenade to see the old sights, and possibly
with the hope of drawing some unsophisticated youth into their net.
While my friend repeated their story, the couple frequently passed us,
and I could hardly believe that persons whose deportment was so modest
and correct, could be what he had designated them; but as the twilight
deepened, and we were walking away, I noticed that they were no longer
together, and one had the arm of a man, and was walking, like us, away
from the gardens.

I do not know as I could give the reader a better idea of a great class
of women in Paris, than by relating the brief history of these girls,
and certainly I could not sketch a sadder picture. To the stranger the
social system of France may seem very pleasant and gay, but it is in
reality a sorrowful one. While the mistress is young, she has a kind of
happiness, but when she loses her beauty, then her wretchedness begin