ses (many of which were stone-horses) we had occasion to make
use of along this road were very gentle, and so were the cattle which
were feeding on the grass growing on the borders of the cornfields,
(without any inclosure) which they were prevented from entering by a
string tied to their horns, one end of which was sometimes held by a
child of five or six years old. The people here are very merciful and
kind to their beasts. I have seen droves of oxen walking leisurely
through the green markets in the cities, smelling at the vegetables, and
driven to the slaughter-house by children. There are no instances here
of mad oxen, mad dogs, or run-away horses.

In every one of the towns between Calais and Paris a full-grown tree
(generally a poplar) has been planted in the market-place, with many of
its boughs and leaves; these last being withered, it makes but a dismal
appearance; on the top of this tree or pole is a red woollen or cotton
night-cap, which is called the _Cap of Liberty_, with streamers about
the pole, of red, blue and white ribbands.

I saw several statues of saints, both within and without the churches
(and in Paris likewise) with similar caps, and several crucifixes with
the national cockade of ribbands tied to the left arm of the image on
the cross, but not one with the cockade in its proper place; the reason
of which I know not.

I was both surprised and sorry to see the wooden images, many of them as
large as the life, on crosses, painted with the natural colours, to the
amount of perhaps twenty between _Calais_ and _Paris_, still suffered to
remain nuisances on the side of the road. The _perpendicular_ of each
cross being seasoned, by having been exposed many years to the open air,
might make a couple of excellent pike staves;[3] but the remainder
would, as far as I know, be of no other use than for fuel.

[Note 3: This was written after I had become familiarized to pikes.]

Another absurdity which has not been attended to as yet is, that most of
the almanacks, even that which is prefixed to Mr. _Rabaut's_ Account of
the Revolution, contains against every day in the year, the name of some
saint or other, male or female; some of them martyrs, and others not,
others archangels, angels, arch-bishops, bishops, popes, and virgins, to
the number of twenty-four, and of these, four were martyrs into the
bargain; and this at a time when churches are selling by auction and
pulling down, when the convents are t