with the necessary meals. These young men are paid
by the Assistance Publique the modest sums of from six hundred to a
thousand francs a year, from the first to their fourth year, out of
which they have to provide for themselves until they are _de
permanence_. They therefore make provisions for dining in common, and
their _salles de garde_ are cheerful and very informal gathering-places,
gay and hospitable, liberally adorned with inscriptions, engravings, and
paintings, permeated with the souvenirs and traditions of the
institution to which they are attached. At the Hotel-Dieu, owing to the
size of the hospital and the number of clinics, the number of _internes_
and _externes_, _benevoles_ and _provisoires_, and their friends, is so
great that the social character of the salle de garde naturally suffers;
each one dines hastily, occupies himself only with his invited guest,
and, after coffee, if his duties do not claim him, goes off in search of
some shady promenade, which the cloisters of the Hotel-Dieu--unlike the
green courts of the Bicetre and Salpetriere--do not offer him.
Consequently, the gastronomical qualities of the repast assume a
considerable importance, and the duties of the _econome_ become
proportionally heavy.

[Illustration: DEPARTURE FROM THE "DEPOT" FOR THE HOUSE OF DETENTION--LA
PETITE-ROQUETTE. After a drawing by E. Vavasseur.]

This very useful official is a comrade endowed with the necessary
domestic and executive qualities, who assumes the onerous task of
directing this refectory. He must be a gourmet, of course, this is
indispensable; he must have imagination and experience in order to
prepare and to suitably vary the _menus_; he must be economical,
orderly, judicial, and discriminating, so as to know which rebellions
and protests are to be heeded and which ignored, and to preserve
suitable relations with his _cantiniere_. The interne on duty alone has
a right to have his repasts served by the Assistance Publique; as these
are constantly changed, the administration furnishes the equivalent of
what it owes in provisions, which are turned into the common stock. It
also furnishes the necessary utensils and cooking apparatus. The
cantiniere must have given proof of her worth either as a cook in the
hospital or as a _cordon bleu_ in the city. She must also be provided
with a husband or some other connection capable of serving at table. At
the end of each repast, the econome marks on a list of his sub