occasional meal by helping to unload bananas, or to carry away the refuse from the fish stores.  The negro, in every phase of development, civilization and ignorance, could, and always can, be found within the confines of the market.  The amount of folk-lore stored up in the brains covered by masses of unkempt wool astounded the novelist, who distributed dollars, in return for information received, so lavishly, that he began to be looked upon after a while as a capitalist whose wealth had driven him insane.  Then, again, he met disappointed emigrants from nearly all the European countries, men, and even women, who had crossed the Atlantic full of great expectations, but who had found a good many thorns among the looked-for roses.

The Indian is not often seen now around the French Market, although he used to be quite a feature of it.  Some of the most exceptionally idle loungers, however, show evidence of Indian blood in their veins, in the shape of exceptionally high cheek-bones, and abnormally straight and ungovernable hair.

Almost every known language is spoken here.  There is the purest French and the most atrocious patois.  There is polished English, which seems to indicate high education, and there is the most picturesque dialect variation that could be desired by the most ardent devotee of the everlasting dialect story.  Spanish is of course spoken by several of the market traders and workers, while Italian is quite common.  At times in the day, when trade is very busy, the visitor may hear choice expletives in three or four languages at one time.  He may not be able to interpret the peculiar noises and stern rebukes administered to idle help and truant boys, but he can generally guess pretty accurately the scope and object of the little speeches which are scattered around so freely.

If it be asked what special function the market fulfills, the answer is that it is a kind of inquire-within for everything.  Many of the poorer people do all their trading here.  Fruit is a great staple, and on another page a picture is given of one of the fruit stands of the old market.  The picture is reproduced from a photograph taken on the spot by an artist of the National Company of St. Louis, publishers of “Our Own Country,” and it shows well the peculiar construction of the market.  The fruit sections are probably the most attractive and the least objectionable of the entire market, because here cleanliness is indispensable.  In the vegetable section, which is also very large, there is not always quite so much care displayed or so much cleanliness enforced, refuse being sometimes allowed to accumulate liberally.  Fish can be obtained in this market for an almost nominal consideration, being sometimes almost given away.  Macaroni and other similar articles of diet form the staple feature of the Italian store of trade, which is carried on on the second floor of the market.  The legitimate work called for alone provides excuse for the presence of many