Climbing the hills through fine old forests after fourteen miles of travel southwest of Paris, the coach reached Versailles.  Here that magnificent monarch, Louis XIV. lavished hundreds of millions on palaces, parks, fountains, and statues, and here the Harrises studied the brilliant pictorial history of France.  In the Grand Gallery, which commands beautiful views of garden and water, are effective paintings in the ceiling, which represent the splendid achievements of Louis XIV.  In this same Hall of Glass, beneath Le Brun’s color history of the defeat of the Germans by the French, occurred in 1871 a bit of fine poetic justice, when King William of Prussia, with the consent of the German States, was saluted as Emperor of reunited Germany.  After visiting the Grand Trianon the home of Madame de Maintenon, the coach returned via Sevres, famous for its wonderful porcelain, and reached Paris at sunset.  The day was one long to be remembered.

The Paris mornings were spent either in visits to the Louvre or in driving.  George and Gertrude walked much in Paris.  Monday morning all resolved to enjoy on foot the Boulevards from the Grand Hotel to the Place de la Republique.  It was a field-day for the women, for every shop had its strong temptation, and the world seemed on dress-parade.  Boulevard des Italiens in Paris is the most frequented and fashionable.  Here are located handsome hotels and cafes, and many of the choicest and most expensive shops.  Several of these were visited, and many presents were sent back to the hotel for friends at home.

At noon the Harrises took a simple lunch at one of the popular Duval restaurants.  While the ladies continued their purchases, Colonel Harris and George visited the Bourse, or exchange, a noble building.  Business at this stock exchange opens at twelve o’clock and closes at three o’clock.  The loud vociferations of brokers, the quick gestures of excited speculators, and the babel of tongues produced a deafening noise, like that heard at the stock exchange in New York.

By appointment the ladies called at the exchange, and a coach took the party to the Place de la Republique, where stands a superb statue of the Republic, surrounded with seated figures of Liberty, Fraternity, and Equality.  Colonel Harris had often noticed these remarkable words cut into many of the public buildings of Paris, and he remarked that the lesson taught by them was as injurious as that taught in the Declaration of Independence, which declares, that “all men are created equal.”

Along the broadest parts of some boulevards and in public parks many chairs are placed for hire.  On all the boulevards are numerous pillars, and small glass stalls, called kiosques, where newspapers are sold.  The pillars and kiosques are covered with attractive advertisements.  In these kiosques are sold, usually by women and children, many of the 750 papers and periodicals of Paris.  Fifty of these papers are political.  The Gazette