Year: 1874

i III tell you all ABOUT IT,


1t all came from going to the Jardin
dAcclimation. You know the Jardin
d'Acclimation, don't you? Everybody
that comes to Paris goes there. 1t
is a great garden out i'm the Bois de
Boulogne; and there are animals there
no lions OF tigers, but nice tame beasts
and flowers and music too in the
afternoons in summer, and altogether it
is just the pleasantest place in the world
for boy to spend half holiday in.
But first l must tell you how / come
to be staying with my godmamma and
my guardian. l have the prettiest god
mamma and the most chick in Paris,
the Marquise de Langeac-nOthing less
than that, at your service-and mon
sieur lie marquis is my guardian.


When papa was ordered on service to
Algiers he begged Madame De Langeac
and her husband to take charge of me
while he was away, for he was going
to leave me at boarding-schoOl in
Paris; and it was decided that l should
spend all my Sundays and holidays
with them. | am very proud of my
godmamma, let me tell you and when
she used to come to the school to see
me her visits always made q sensation,
and the boys would stop playing ball,
and put on their coats in hurry, and
stand in line to see her pass. And
if she looked at one of them he would
blush up to the very eyes; and then she
would smile so pretty, for she had the
sweetest smile and the loveliest little
mouth in the world. There used to be
regular quarrels samong the boys as to who
should get into the paror while she was
there talking to me. And what beautiful
dresses she wore such soft delicate
colors, and silk that would stand alone
and bonnets all over roses, and parasols
of lace and coral And what sweet
scents she used When she kissed me
it was just like putting ones face into
a boquet ofhyacinths. We had wonder
fully good times together on holidays
and Sundays, for l used to tell her all
about school and the scrapes l got into,
and she would laugh so merrily, and
then stop to give me some good advice;
and then we would start off laughing
together again, for she was as gay as a
bird, and as full of fun as any boy 1
ever saw.


But one day-it is good while ago
now-all her gayety disappeared. She
scarcely every came to school to see
me, and when she did, she was very
grave and quiet: not full of plans for
pleasure-parties, and treats of all man.
ner of frolics, but always very kind and
good to me, always. And when went
to spend Sunday with her, she would
talk to me sometimes about my mother,
who died when was little, boy, and
who was her great friend; but often she
would shut herself up in a room after
church, and what she did there / don't
know; but / think she used to cry
great deal, for her eyes always looked
red when she came down to dinner The
first Sunday that ] noticed this change
in her the marquis went out Just after
breakfast, and we never saw him again
all day. The next Sunday he was not
at home all day, and it was on that day
that first saw my godmamma had been
crying. asked her what was the mat
ter, but she did not answer so i asked
her the second time, and she said there
were some things that little boys could
not understand, and she gave ma beau
tiful book of fairy tales with pictures,
and sent me into the library to read it.


Itwas Thursday after that Sunday that
all our school was taken to the Jardin
d'Acclimatation to see the dog show.
There were some splendid dogs there,
hunting dogs and Newfoundlands and
st. Bernards; but there were some very
odd ones, and particularly in the pavii-
ion reserved for lap-dogs. There was
horrid little wretch there, shivering in q
basket lined with red satin, and beside
the basket were placed cakes and sugar
plums'and an elegant Severes cup full of
water. Above it we read the name of
the dog, Bijou," and that of the owner
n little lower down, "Madame Rose To-
paz, Avenue Montespan, Champs Ely
Sees" 1t was the queerest colored dog
we ever saw, a sort of greenish-gray
so Victor Lecomte, who is the cleverest
boy in our school, said at once that it was
dyed.


"Let's try if it will come off" said
Charles de Melcy.


Agreed" said I, nothing loath.


So we took up the cup of water and
poured it all over the little beast, which
began to yelp as If we had pulled its tail
of nasty little thing, to squeal that way
about a little clean water! It was 80
comical that we all shrieked with laugh
ter, and while we were laughing woman
flew at us, woman all over yellow, a
yellow dress, yellow hair, yellow parasol,
and yellow gloves, and two pounds of
black grapes on her head for bonnet
a woman neither young nor pretty, but
dyed and painted and fixed up, some
thing after the same style as her dog.


+" Miserable little brutes!" she cried,
pushing us to this side and TO that, "get
out of my way! My adored Bijou, what
have these dirty little reptiles been doing
to your"


Whereupon she caught up the dog
and began to kiss it, rs il was. 1t was
the funniest sight in the world. The
dogs dye came off on the woman, and
the woman's paint off on the dog, till
she was perfect spectacle to behold.
Then we cried, "Thrcc cheers for the
yellow woman three cheers for the
green dog" The dog showed his teeth