Out from this window the little feet could trot upon
the guarded roof of a piazza. A little chair, a broken doll, and
limbless horse here were familiar objects to the eyes of the mothers in
our party, and when two children seized upon one block with a
determination which threatened a breach of the peace, we were convinced
that even baby nature was the same the world over. Supper time came, and
the children were gathered together in a small room, before the drollest
little table imaginable--a kind of elongated doughnut, raised a foot
from the floor, with a circular seat around it. All the little outer
shells of blue check were slipped on, all the little fat bodies lifted
over and set into their places, to roll off, or about, at will. A grace
was said, to us, I think, since all the little eyes turned towards us,
and a plate of oatmeal porridge put before each one. Some ate with a
relish, and a painful search over the face with a spoon for the open,
waiting mouth; some leaned back to stare at the company; and others
persisted in dipping into the dish of their next neighbor. One little
thing, hardly more than a year old, drew down the corners of her mouth
in a portentous manner, when the motherly one beside her, of the
advanced age of three years, perhaps, rapped on the table with her
spoon, and patted the doleful little face, smiling all the while, until
she actually drew out smiles in return. The dear little mother! An
attendant with a homely face, creased into all manner of good-natured
lines, resolved herself into the old woman who lived in a shoe, holding
two babies and the porridge dish in her lap, balancing one upon the end
of the low bench beside her, while two or three more stood at her knee,
clinging to her apron. It was like a nest of open-mouthed birdlings.
Blessings on the babies, and those, whether of our faith or not, who
teach and care for them, we thought, as we came away. "Inasmuch as ye
have done it unto one of the least of these, ye did it unto me," said
the Master.

Although I said nothing of our church-going in London, I cannot pass
over our American chapel in Paris, with its carved, umbrella-like
canopy, shading the good Dr. R., who did so much socially, as well as
spiritually, for Americans there. Here came many whose names are well
known; among them our minister to France, an elderly gentleman of
unpretending dress and manner, with a kindly, care-worn face. And here
gathered also a company of beaut