LET US LOVE ONE ANOTHER
April 9th
The fine evenings are e back; the trees begin to put forth theirshoots; hyaths, jonquils, violets, and lilacs perfume the baskets ofthe flirls--all the world have begun their walks again on the quaysand boulevards. After dinner, I, too, desd from my attic to breathethe evening air.
It is the hour when Paris is seen in all its beauty. During the day theplaster fronts of the houses weary the eye by their monotonous whiteness;heavily laden carts make the streets shake uheir huge wheels; theeager crowd, taken up by the one fear of losing a moment from business,cross and jostle one ahe aspect of the city altogether hassomething harsh, restless, and flurried about it. But, as soon as thestars appear, everything is ged; the glare of the white houses isquenched ihering shades; you hear no more any rolling but thatof the carriages on their way to some party of pleasure; you see only thelounger or the light-hearted passing by; work has given place to leisure.
Now eaay breathe after the fierce race through the business ofthe day, and whatever strength remains to him he gives to pleasure! Seethe ballrooms lighted up, the theatres open, the eating-shops along thewalks set out with dainties, and the twinkling lanterns of the neercriers. Decidedly Paris has laid aside the pen, the ruler, and theapron; after the day spent in work, it must have the evening forenjoyment; like the masters of Thebes, it has put off all serious mattertill tomorrow.
I love to take part in this happy hour; not to mix in the general gayety,but to plate it. If the enjoyments of others embitter jealousminds, they strehe humble spirit; they are the beams of sunshine,which opewo beautiful flowers called trust and hope.
Although alone in the midst of the smiling multitude, I do not feelmyself isolated from it, for its gayety is reflected upo is myown kind, my own family, who are enjoying life, and I take a brothersshare in their happiness. We are all fellow-soldiers in this earthlybattle, and what does it matter on whom the honors of the victory fall?
If Fortune passes by without seeing us, and pours her favors on others,let us sole ourselves, like the friend of Parmenio, by saying, "Those,too, are Alexanders."
While making these refles, I was going on as e. Icrossed from one pavement to another, I retraced my steps, I stoppedbefore the shops or to read the handbills. How many things there are tolearn ireets of Paris! What a museum it is! Unknown fruits,fn arms, furniture of old times or other lands, animals of allclimates, statues of great men, es of distant nations! It is theworld seen in samples!
Let us then look at this people, whose knowledge is gained from the shop-windows and the tradesmans display of goods. Nothing has been taughtthem, but they have a rude notion of everything. They have seenpineapples at Chevets, a palm-tree in the Jardin des Plantes, sugar-es selling on the Pont-Neuf. The Redskins, exhibited in the ValentineHall, have taught them to mimic the dance of the bison, and to smoke thecalumet of peace; they have seen Carters liohey know theprincipal national es tained in Babins colle; Goupilsdisplay of prints has placed the tiger-hunts of Afrid the sittingsof the English Parliament before their eyes; they have bee acquaih Queen Victoria, the Emperor of Austria, and Kossuth, at the office-door of the Illustrated News. We certainly instruct them, but notastonish them; for