t to their cost. Every
afternoon, at three, he arrived at the office to read the paper in proof
from the first line to the last. Not the slightest inaccuracy was
allowed to pass. Kind as he was, his reporters' lives became a burden.
One of the latter told me a story which, though it illustrates the
ridiculousness of M. Blanc's scruples when carried too far, is none the
less valuable. A dog had been run over on the Boulevards, and the
reporter, with a hankering after the realistic method, had endeavored to
reproduce onomatopoeically the sounds uttered by the animal in pain.

"Are you quite sure, monsieur, about your sounds?" asked Blanc.

"Of course, I am as sure as a non-scientific man can be," was the
answer.

"Then strike them out; one ought to be scientifically sure. By-the-by, I
see you have made use of the word 'howl' (_hurler_). Unless I am
mistaken, a dog when in pain yelps (_glapit_). Please alter it."

On another occasion, on going through the advertisements, he found a new
one relating to a cough mixture, setting forth its virtues in the most
glowing terms. Immediately the advertisement canvasser was sent for, M.
Blanc having refused to farm out that department to an agency, as is
frequently done in Paris, in order to retain the absolute control over
it.

"Monsieur, I see that you have a new advertisement, and it seems to me a
profitable one; still, before inserting it, I should like to be certain
that the medicine does all it professes to do. Can you personally vouch
for its efficiency?"

"Mon Dieu, monsieur, I believe it does all it professes to do, but you
can scarcely expect me to run the risk of bronchitis in order to test it
upon myself!"

"Heaven forbid that I should be so exacting and indifferent to other
people's health, but until you can bring me some one who has been cured,
we will not insert it."

Let me come back for a moment to that sentence of Louis Blanc, about the
practice of duelling, in connection with one of the most tragic affairs
of that kind within my recollection. I am alluding to the
Dujarrier-Beauvallon duel. I have been in the habit for years, whenever
an important meeting took place in France, to read every shade of
English opinion on the subject; and while recognizing the elevated
sentiments of the writers, I have no hesitation in saying that not a
single one knew what he was writing about. They could not grasp the fact
that for a man of social standing to refuse a challe