partner is always obtainable: some are too
exclusive to dance with strangers at all, and
many are savagely monopolised by their
friends and admirers. The great opportunity
of the stranger is when, towards the close of
the evening, the friends of a young lady have
become tired of repeating the five sous which
it is necessary to pay for every dance. Then
it is that the more opulent aspirant may be
seen leading off the beauty in triumph, to the
extreme mortification of a prétendu, and the
satisfaction of her family.

The dances most in vogue at the "Mille
Colonnes" are scarcely remarkable for novelty
or variation. The first dance is invariably a
quadrille— so is the second— so is the third—
so is the fourth— so is the fifth— and so
probably would be the hundred and fifth, if some
energetic persons did not, about three times
in the evening, call out vigorously for a polka
or a waltz. These figures do not, however,
flourish at the Barrière. Many will not
attempt, them: many who do, should not;
and the consequence is, that after an
occasional change, the quadrille resumes its supremacy, more popular than ever. The style of
dancing is nearly always quiet and orderly;
and as for the exaggerated and grotesque
movements for which the French have so wide
a reputation, they are here almost unknown.
The only deviation from the usual order of
things, is when you see a Cavalier seul, in
the midst of Pastorale, performing frantic
gestures while searching in his pockets for
the inevitable five sous (which the Master of
the Ceremonies will not apply for until the
middle of the dance), or another, pursued
through the Chaine des Dames by his remorseless
creditor.

Should those "social wants that sin against
the strength of youth," prevent any youth so
sinned against from dancing, he usually
consoles himself with a cigarette. This annoys
the meanest sergent de ville, who requests
that it may be extinguished. The usual custom
in such a case is to put the cigarette in
your pocket, say something about ignorance
of the customs of the place, and pass on—
commencing again, and repeating the same
ceremony at every interruption by every sergent
de ville. The fact that it is defendu de fumer
being announced conspicuously on every wall,
and even that you are known to be the oldest
of offenders, does not at all interfere with the
success of this plan.

Except on state occasions, the balls conclude
invariably at twelve o'clock, when everybody
goes home, except perhaps some of the choice
spirits among the men, who linger in the later
wine-shops, drinking the popular "p'tit canon"
of ordinaire, and eating interminable hard eggs;
or playing for glasses of liqueur with all sorts
of rolling and revolving contrivances. Meantime
the fathers of families take their elder
children by the hands, and drag themselves,
heartily weary, towards their dwellings; the
mother following behind with the inevitable
baby, who, having of course had too much
wine, has been long since fast asleep.

In half an hour all the lights are
extinguished; the conjurors, fruit and sweet-meat
venders, and vagabonds of every description,
including the philosophic one already alluded
to, have all past away; the last lingering
customer has been stealthily let out from the
latest of the closed wine-shops; and all is
profoundly still,— or would be so, but for
some occasional student (who has probably
fraternised with a hideous-looking ruffian in
a blouse) giving vocal expression of his intention
to mourir for his patrie;— which very
handsome offer seems to be received with the
deepest ingratitude by sundry nightcaps at
the windows, who intimate that his country
would feel it an additional obligation if he
carried out his views before the song rather
than after; or, at any rate, that his exit would
be more effective with the accompaniment of
the softest possible music.

Such is the usual course of an ordinary
ball. The fêtes are principally remarkable
for the presence of a greater number of
persons, and a multiplication of the same
kind of amusements. Many of these extra
festivities are held in honour of particular
classes. Those of the blanchisseuses, which
occur several times in the year, are perhaps
the most extensive. Then it is that for four-
and-twenty hours some twenty thousand
persons are supremely happy, and for a week
afterwards there is scarcely a clean shirt seen
in Paris!

The Barriers at all times are the favourite
resorts of the humbler classes, and especially
of the students, to whom untaxed wine, at
five sous the litre, (cheaper than the cheapest
of London beer), is an irresistible temptation.
Every day the hotels where the balls are held
are thronged with diners and drinkers; and
wedding-parties, especially, muster here in
great force. In every café may be heard the
familiar click of the billiard ball; and
personages, with strange beards and strange
attire, who would make their fortunes at the
Adelphi as cut-throats, may be seen wasting
their sweetness— that is to say, their ferocity
— upon the desert— dominos, from morning
till night. Whether, in fact, it be to dissipate
ennui or display merriment, to find a wife or
to keep a wedding, to celebrate good fortune
or to forget bad, it is to this land of the very
free that the populace of Paris betake
themselves. And, truly, nowhere can they be seen
to greater advantage, because nowhere are
they more at their ease.

Monthly Supplement to "HOUSEHOLD WORDS,"
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THE HOUSEHOLD NARRATIVE
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