contrary opinion; I speak solely for|tained permission from them to go into myself, after a careful study of the sit- the depot and to bring you out some uation, so far as I could measure it, provisions. Wait at this lamp-post till and after diligent inquiry amongst I come back." Then, after taking a those who were best placed to know few steps towards the depot it occurred the facts.

to Madame de V. that she had nothing in which to carry loaves and meat; so she went back to the woman and whispered to her, "Give me your apron to bring it in." At this proposal the woman shrank back suspiciously, thinking evidently that it was a mere trick to steal her apron; whereon Madame de V. went on, with ready thought, "And as I shall need both my hands to hold the corners of the apron, I will ask you to be so kind as to keep my muff for me while I am gone." This pacified the woman, for she had sense enough to recognize that a sable muff was worth more than a blue apron; so untied the strings, muttering,

The first depot opened was somewhere near the Church of Notre Dame des Victoires; and, as it was the first, the rush to it was great. The column of people was indeed so long that it stretched, six or eight thick, almost a quarter of a mile away, past the Bourse. Several of us went down on the first evening and found men and women standing or sitting on the pavements, a few with wraps, many without. Various classes were represented amongst them; some looked not only respectable, but almost as if they belonged to the lower middle strata; the vast majority, however, were the poor- she est of the poor, and seemed wretch-"Well, I hope it's all right; but don't edly unfit, with their tattered clothes, be long." Ten minutes afterwards to support twelve or fifteen hours of Madame de V. was back again with waiting in the bitter air. It was so as heavy a weight as her arms could dark (there was no gas, for the reason that there was no coal to make it with) that we could not see clearly; but our eyes had grown somewhat accustomed to the gloom, and we were able, on looking closely, to perceive approximately the features of the people, and sometimes the expressions of their faces. As we peered into the thick nesses of the crowd and sought for revelations of the nature of its elements, a lady with us Madame de V. happened to notice a woman leaning wearily against a lamp-post. She spoke to her, and was told one of the usual stories of children starving, a drunken husband, no fire, and no food; and as she looked nearer still, she became aware that the woman was far advanced in pregnancy, seemed miserably weak, and was assuredly in no condition to pass a night on the icy stones. So, after exchanging a few words with Colonel Wortley, Madame de V. said to the woman in a low voice, in order that the others might not hear, "I know the English people who are distributing the food, and as you are so unfit to await your turn, I have ob

carry, and then a new difficulty arose. The woman in her eagerness almost flung the muff at its owner, seized the bundle feverishly, did not stop to thank, and hurried off; but the neighbors in the crowd, observing what had happened, claimed noisily, almost brutally, the same privilege, declaring that it was a shame to do for one what was not done for all, and asserting that the woman had no rights superior to theirs. As they began to grow threatening, and as there were no police, two or three of us stood in between them and Madame de V., while others got her away, pursued by abuse, into the shelter of the depot. The incident was not pleasant, but it gave us the measure of some of the characters we had to deal with, and it supplied new evidence in support of the theory (which is so widely held) that it is folly to be kind.

Inside the depot the sight was curious. It was our first experience, and we all looked on intently. The people came in, singly, through one door, and passed out at another; and, as each man or woman advanced suddenly into

the light, the astonishing variety of the street, physiognomies so appalltheir expressions struck us all. Many ingly depraved, so befouled with looked so brokenly fagged that their degradations and defilements, so denatfaces had lost all other meaning; uralized by hideous appetites, that others, on the contrary, had become gorillas would have seemed angels of uncontrollably excited; some were purity beside them, - physiognomies savage with ill-temper, and some trem- that, without actually staring at them, bling with joy; some were sullen, and no one could have supposed possible in some were eager; the eyes of some man. They could not be described as stared at us scowlingly and defiantly; animal, for no animal is capable of the eyes of others brightened glutton- expressing such pollution or of exhibitously as they caught sight of the piles ing such vice; they had a meaning of biscuits, cheeses, and hams, and the which humanity alone, dragged down packets of coffee and sugar; some (a to its deepest corruption, can convey. very small minority) thanked enthusi- Well, in the crowds awaiting food astically, with tears in their eyes; those faces were rather frequently repothers grasped almost fiercely the ob- resented; I saw them there in the jects handed to them, and rushed out open air for the first time-except. into the darkness, to begin munching. during a revolution. Of course, they On the whole, it was a distressing were not really abundant; but the sight, and I imagine that we all went excessiveness of their horror, so into bed that night with an uncomfort- finitely more out of place in the bright-able sensation in our throats. ness of sunlight than in the darkness On other occasions, in the daytime, I of prison or amidst the violence of a was able to look with more scrutiny riot, seemed to multiply them, until, in and more fruit at the composition of a waking nightmare, I saw them everythe waiting crowd, and my general where. There they were, in liberty impression was that it was more mis- and peace, conditions which, till then, erable, more ill-conditioned, and, espe- I had never associated with them; and cially, more evil-faced, than even the they showed no shame. Their right to dirtiest crowds usually are. A good the "English gifts was as real as that many persons in it were relatively de- of all the others; and yet the others, cent; honesty and goodness-mixed even the most wretched of them, with anxiety and fatigue could be shrank instinctively away from them, perceived in the features of several of and left around them a ring of empty its members; but the general effect space. But the creatures with those produced by it was one of extreme faces did not perceive their solitude, wretchedness; and, worse than all, it they did not even seek to collect tocontained, here and there, some of gether and support each other; each those strangely awful faces the faces one of them stood apart alone; from of habitual criminals - which, when each of them seemed to exude a sepa perceived suddenly, almost choke those rate and distinct atmosphere of abomiwho catch sight of them. In some nation. And as I watched them, a Paris prisons, and in all Paris street- friend whispered to me, "Where do fightings, I had beheld, with be- those gentlemen live when they are at wilderment and horror, an infamy of home? I should like to know, so as expression in many countenances which not to call on them." exceeded all that imagination usually conceives. In the ordinary conditions of life such faces are never to be found in Paris; it is only in jails and during revolutions that they can be seen in any numbers; and it was behind bars or barricades that I had perceived them so far. Yet there they were in

The spectacle of the weary column was so saddening that it did not need the additional impress of the presence of those monsters. Yet there they were, and there was no disputing their title to be there. The food was for anybody who chose to ask for it; they asked. It will be a comparative relief

to my memory to begin talking again | depots was installed in the then unfinabout the depots.

ished shop of the Bon Marché, which Yet the scenes in them were neither had been built just before the war varied nor agreeable; they were, in- broke out. The proprietor of the esdeed, both monotonous and disagree-tablishment M. Aristide Boucicaut, able, and, after the first effect upon us who was an excellent man, as well as had worn off, we looked on at them a prodigious linen-draper- had offered with weariness of spirit. It did not the use of his great ground-floor, with suffice to keep up our attention to tell a special entrance at the angle opposite ourselves that the men were French the end of the Rue de Sèvres, where electors, and therefore politically our there was a large open space. As the equals; that the women were wives neighborhood was poor and populous, a and mothers (or, at all events, daugh- considerable supply of food was accuters), and our fellow-beings; and that mulated there, in anticipation of a all of them deserved our sympathy large crowd, and public notice was because they were hungry; we did given of the moment at which the disnot, when a day or two had passed, tribution would commence. More than find those considerations effective. We twenty-four hours before the hour discovered we were there to discharge named people began to collect at the a duty, not to satisfy a curiosity, and corners, and when the morning came the duty became ugly. Never did I the entire space was filled with a restperceive so clearly the value of curi- less crowd, the greater part of which osity as a stimulant and encourage- had passed the night there. There ment. As it faded away, that mob, must have been ten thousand persons which, at the beginning had seemed to assembled, two-thirds of whom were me so full of the promise of passion- women. About eleven o'clock the ately interesting discoveries, assumed members of the committee reached the more and more its proper aspect of Bon Marché, and were joined by sevdirty misery and uninstructive repul-eral friends. The first news given to siveness; it told me nothing, and it us was that the impatience of the mob smelt very nasty. And I could not dis- was growing dangerous, and, espeguise from myself that it lowered my cially, that the pressure at the corner idea of humanity, and that it became was so violent that, if it could not unpleasant to me to recognize that, be relieved, there would inevitably be after all, I was identical with those accidents. Unfortunately, the preparepellent persons, and was differen- rations for distribution were not comtiated from them solely by the accident plete; another hour was needed before that I had received an education and a sufficient number of portions could they had not. Fortunately I had not be got ready, and the question was how much time to indulge my disagreeable to hold the people steady in the intersensations; but I mention them be- val. Some of us went to the window cause they formed part of the day's on the first floor and looked out. It work, and because they showed that was an ugly and a painful sight. The some training is needed (in many cases, instant we appeared, thousands of at all events) to fit us to endure con- white faces, some furious, some betact with filth and unwholesomeness. seeching, turned up to us, and cries Those processions through the depots arose that we were deceiving them, were distinctly trying, and, with indi- that the hour was past, and that they vidual exceptions, distinctly tiresome. ought to be let in. Screams of terriNow that I have sufficiently described fied, half-stifled women rang through their main features, I can turn away the air, as the mob swayed and surged. from them, and can begin to talk There were half-a-dozen of us at that of the more attractive subject of the window, staring at the sight, but the individual exceptions. only two that I remember were Laurence Oliphant and Mr. Landells, the

One of the most important of these

food, and when, after an hour of rest, she had grown comparatively strong, sent her on her way by another door.

By the time she was gone everything was at last ready, and the door was opened. The first rush rather overpowered us; the pushing was violent; the weaker were thrown down; but, on the whole, the people behaved well, and waited for their turn without too much complaint.

And now I am going to tell the story of the woman we dragged in, for the reason that it supplies an example of a really bad case brought about by the siege alone, and shows exactly what was the nature and the course of the siege distress, when that distress was real. I felt, instinctively, a sort of per

artist of the Illustrated London News; | dered with terror; but by degrees she there were two or three of the embassy became calm, gained a little strength, as well, but I forget which of them. and told us she had passed thirty hours We shouted to the people, entreating standing at that corner, had felt the them to stand still, and promising that pressure gradually increasing, and, sudthe door should be opened the instant denly, had known no more. We gave we were ready; but they could not her cold beef-tea (the only liquid food hear for the noise they were making, we had), with bread soaked in it, and, and we grew more and more certain as soon as she was able to stand, got up that some of them would be crushed if a little subscription for her amongst we could find no means of making ourselves, filled a basket with various them stand back. While we were hesitating what to do, we saw that a woman had fallen beneath the window and was being trampled on. Thereon we all ran anxiously down-stairs; M. Boucicaut managed to force open the upper half of the iron shutter of the ground-floor corner window, and he and I scrambled on to the top of some empty cases, so as to be able to look out above the mob and try to save the woman. Directly we put our heads out, some eight feet from the ground, we beheld just under us, between the people, portions of what looked like a bundle of rags mixed with arms and legs, the others stamping on it from sheer impossibility of resisting the thrust from behind. It was sickening to see the poor creature killed under sonal responsibility about that woman, our eyes in that way, and we roared and had a vague impression that, as I out supplications to the mob to spare had helped somewhat to save her life, her and to hold back, if only for an I ought not to stop there, but was instant, while she was lifted out. In bound to go on and to try to discover some strange way, by a fierce effort of what her needs were, and whether the front ranks, there came two sec- anything practical could be done for onds of recoil; three other women got her. I had asked for her address, prispace enough to stoop and to pick up vately, when nobody was near, and the lamentable bundle, and, stretching next morning, without telling any one out our arms till we nearly fell out of of my intention, I went to her. On the window ourselves, we managed to my way I was oppressed by a peculiar get hold of it and to bring it up to our sensation of awkwardness, almost inlevel, the nearer portions of the crowd deed of shame, such as is experienced, cheering as we got it in. A moment I have been told, by most people when later we were on the floor with our they attempt for the first time to perburden, and laid it on a counter. It form "good works." I certainly had was a youngish woman, white, insen- never done a "good work" in my life, sible, bleeding from small cuts, covered and I well remember how nervously I with dirt, her clothes in pieces. We hoped that nobody would suspect me, bathed her face and hands, and, after and that I should not be found out. I a while, got her round, so far at least can talk about it tranquilly now, but at that she could begin to speak a little. the time I felt like a culprit on the At first she was only dimly conscious, point of being arrested. The woman and very breathless, and seemed bewil-lived in the Rue St. Jacques, on a

fifth floor, in a poor but decent house. | meaning; she supposed it would be When I got up to her door my feeling over in a few weeks, and, as she had of timidity and clumsiness increased. two hundred francs in a corner of a I felt stupidly bashful, reproached my-drawer, felt quite safe about money, self for coming at all, and was duly even if her work remained stopped for tempted to go away. I recollect that I a while. But prices went up so fast found consolation solely in the fact that and so high that the two hundred no one met me on the stairs. I stood francs were gone in a month. Then for a moment at the bell (I can see it she began to sell the railway debenstill; it was a little brass chain, with a tures at a great loss, and this product chamois-foot hanging at the end), and, disappeared also very fast. So by the finally, rang it with a somewhat con- end of the second month she had to vulsive effort. The situation was so turn her clothes and furniture into such new to me that all the details are im- cash as they would fetch, and at last, pressed on my memory. No one came, in December, she found herself enbut I heard a faint cry of "Entrez," tirely destitute, with scarcely anything and I opened the door. In a large but left except her bed and the gown and almost empty room my acquaintance of shawl she wore. Happily, as the paythe day before was lying on a bed. She ment of rent had been suspended by blushed violently, rose hastily, and be- the government at the commencement gan to excuse herself, saying that she of the siege, the landlord could not had supposed it was the concierge. She turn her out for default, and she was was evidently extremely uncomfortable for the moment to remain in her able, but I cannot believe that she was room. Then came the worst part of half so uneasy as I was. I had pre-all-the waiting, for hours a day in pared a speech, but it faded out of my head, and all I could do was to beg her to forgive me for coming, and to pretend that I wanted to know how she was; and then, abruptly-rather roughly, I fear I asked her to tell me the details of her life during the siege. She seemed surprised at my request, and unwilling to comply with it; but by degrees, in a disorderly fashion, she did confess what I wanted to know. Here is the substance of the story I got out of her.

She had been an artificial-flower maker, with abundant occupation. She had indeed developed such a particular capacity for the manufacture of tearoses, that she had obtained for the two preceding years almost the exclusive supply of three of the large shops, employed two girls to help her, and earned the high average profit of ten francs a day. Being a thrifty woman, she laid by money, and had bought four debentures of the Northern Railway, which brought her in au income of more than two guineas a year"a beginning of a fortune," as she observed, with a faint smile. When the war broke out she did not realize its

bitter cold, at the baker's door for her pittance of black tallowy bread that made her ill. A cough began; she grew weak; and when at last the investment was over, she was exhausted in body, in mind, and in purse, and was, furthermore, haunted by the terror that in a short time the protection about rent would come to an end, that her arrears would be due, and that she would be turned into the street. Then she heard that food (not the nastiness of the siege, but real white bread !) was going to be given away for nothing at the Bon Marché, and she was one of the first to take a place at that corner door.

She told me all this very disjointedly, with a great deal of hesitation and of evident dislike to talk about herself to a stranger, but with an air of truth that convinced me. I learnt from her also that she was known to one of the curates of the parish of St. Jacques du Haut Pas, so, on leaving her, I went straight to him and asked him what he could tell me about her. He happened to be a very noble specimen of a priest, full of practical common sense, and of infinite acquaintance with the forms of