ot of the strike--The mines in
the Pas-de-Calais--Visits to workmen's houses--Fine appearance
and carriage of the miners--Their politics--Women and children--Good
ventilation and sanitation of the mines--'No man can be
a miner not bred to it as a boy'--Excellent housekeeping of the
women--Miners of Southern and Northern France--Influence of
high altitudes on character--The elective principle in the mines--Morals
and conduct of the mining people--Churches and
schools--A children's school at St. Waast--A digression into the
Artois--What the Tiers-Etat of Northern France wanted in 1789--The
_cahiers_ of the Tiers-Etat--Respect for vested interests--A
visit to St.-Amand--The conspiracy of Dumouriez--Ruin of a
magnificent abbey--A beautiful belfry--Interesting pictures by
Watteau--Co-operation at Anzin--What its advantages are to the
workmen--Eight per cent. dividends to the members in 1866, and
an average during 23 years to 1889 of 11-80/100 per cent.--How the
workmen and their families live--Table of articles purchased--Attendance
upon the schools--Influence of women and families--Increase
of juvenile crime under irreligious education in France
and the United States--Louis Napoleon's National Retiring Fund
for Old Age--Regulations of the Anzin Council affecting this
fund--Average expenditure of the Anzin company for the benefit of
workmen 'fifty centimes for every ton of coal extracted'--The
Decazeville strikes in 1888--They begin with the murder of one
of the best engineers and end with a workman's banquet to the
engineer-in-chief 259-331

CHAPTER XII

IN THE NORD--(_continued_)

Lille--The _Flamand flamingant_--Pertinacity of the Flemish tongue--A
historic city without monuments--Old customs and traditions--The
Musee Wicar--The unique wax bust--A 'pious foundation'
of art, and M. Carolus Duran--Excellent educational institutions
of Le Nord--A land flowing with beer--Increase of the factory
populations--Decrease of drunkenness in the cities--Increase in
the rural districts--Special cabarets for women--Should women
smoke?--Flemish cock-fighting and the example of England--A
model Republican prefect--Juvenile prostitution--The souls of
the people and their votes--Danton's system of uneducated judges--Dislike
of good people to politics--A pessimist rebuked--The
Monarchist majorities in Lille--Inac