d, these
being given in special cases. But exhausting hours were left for the
lower forms of needle-work. The food provided was abundant and good, and
sharp overseer as madame might prove, she demanded some relaxation for
herself and allowed it to her employes. The different conditions of life
made over-work in Paris a far different thing from over-work in London.
For both milliners and _modistes_ was the keen ambition to develop a
talent, and the workroom, as has already been stated, felt personal
pride in any member of the force who showed special lightness of touch
or skill in combination.

"Work, madame!" exclaimed little Madame M., as she described a day's
work under the system which had trained her. "But yes, I could not so
work now, but then I saw always before me an end. I had the sentiment.
It was always that the colors arranged themselves, and so with my
sister, who is _modiste_ and whose compositions are a marvel. My back
has ached, my eyes have burned, I have seen sparks before them and have
felt that I could no more, when the days are long and the heat perhaps
is great, or even in winter crowded together and the air so heavy. But
we laughed and sang; we thought of a future; we watched for talent, and
if there was envy or jealousy, it was well smothered. I remember one
talented Italian who would learn and who hated one other who had great
gifts; hated her so, she has stabbed her suddenly with sharp scissors in
the arm. But such things are not often. We French care always for
genius, even if it be but to make a shoe most perfect, and we do not
hate--no, we love well, whoever shows it. But to-day all is different,
and once more I say, madame, that too much is made, and that thus talent
will die and gifts be no more needed."

There is something more in this feeling than the mere sense of rivalry
or money loss from the new system represented by the Bon Marche and
other great establishments of the same nature. But this is a question
in one sense apart from actual conditions, save as the concentration of
labor has had its effect on the general rate of wages. Five francs a day
is considered riches, and the ordinary worker or assistant in either
dressmaking or millinery department receives from two and a half to
three and a half francs, on which sum she must subsist as she can. With
a home where earnings go into a common fund, or if the worker has no one
dependent upon her, French thrift makes existence on this sum