a strong opposition, or concurrence on the
road.

Now, among the most cherished birthrights
of a Frenchman, are, the Right to wear a
beard of any size and shape, from a housemaid's
blacking-brush to a full-grown porcupine;
and the Right to be drawn for a soldier,
and to serve in the army seven glorious years,
or thereabouts.

The "thereabouts" arises from the circumstance
that the term is reckoned from the
first of January of the year in which the
drawing takes place; and many things may
happen to hasten the congé or discharge.
Otherwise, the service claims its due with
little respect to persons. Every male (subject
or citizen?) born in France, or of French
parents in a foreign territory, is liable to be
drawn. Among the exemptions, are — the
eldest of an orphan family; the only son, or,
if no son, the only grandson or great grandson,
of a widow, or of one seventy years of
age. Substitutes are sometimes provided by
a sort of Conscription Assurance, on the
payment before the drawing of a thousand francs;
if the man-market is full, eight hundred may
insure the individual, in case he happens to
be drawn. After the conscription has marked
its men, a substitute is much more costly.

The market-place was now full of these
lads; for it is only in their one-and-twentieth
year that they are open to the honours of the
conscription. Many of them, by their look,
would have been taken for mere boys of
sixteen or seventeen. I moved among the
groups unmolested and unnoticed, though I
felt very much out of place there.

As fast as each numero or number was
drawn, and the name to which it fell
ascertained, the person to whom it belonged stuck
in front of his cap a white paper, with the
figures written in ink in large characters.
The exact number is a matter of some interest.
For suppose that from a certain district it is
calculated that fifty serviceable men are
required, numbers will be inscribed and drawn
up to perhaps eighty. If all the first fifty,
on medical inspection, turn out as it should
be, the remaining thirty escape; but if
number one is blind or lame, then number
fifty-one comes into play. So that the early
numbers are sure to serve, the last numbers
almost sure to come off scot-free, while the
intermediate gentlemen are in quite a
precarious state, till the revision is over. In
some municipalities a trifling honorarium — a
five-franc piece, or so — is given to the drawer
of number one; but that is soon melted away.

The poor lad, as soon as he was ticketed,
was seized by two or more companions, and
led off pinioned arm in arm to the nearest
liquor-shop, and kept there until his senses
were stunned.

"La, la, la! — la, la, la! — la, la, la!"

"Ah! poor boys, they sing," said a female
acquaintance who recognised me. "They sing,
and the mothers cry. My poor son, whom
you know, had to set out for Algiers directly
after his drawing. There he was, two years,
till he caught the African fever, and was sent
home for us to nurse. He soon was really
convalescent, but we made the worst of it.
He went to the military hospital, and you
know, sir, in this neighbourhood I have a
good deal of influence, and a good deal of
protection. So they clapped a large blister
over his chest, and inspected him by twilight,
and discharged him as incapable. My
husband and I were glad to have our only
child back again. He did not like the blister
—such a large one— but that was better than
five more years in Algeria.

"La, la, la! — la, la, la! — la, la, la!"

More intoxicators, and more intoxicated,
arm in arm, in strings of half-a-score. As
heathen priests deaden the senses of a doomed
victim, so those who are not drawn make it
a duty to inebriate those who are. Soon it
works: quarrels, abuse, foolish fraternisations,
fighting, face-slapping, falls in the dust,
the interferences of excited women, and a
great deal that is sad. At last they are
dragged home somehow, and all is quiet.

But it is just to record also that not a few
conscripts, on receiving their numero, wore it
like men, carrying themselves as if they knew
they had a duty to perform, and walked home
in honourable guise, neither exhibiting fear,
nor the temporary bravery of stimulants.

Next day, the same scene at the place
indicated. Once was enough to have witnessed
the playing of this game, and I thought I
could better occupy myself in solving the
question whether Frenchmen do, or do not,
eat frogs; and if so, of what particular
species. I therefore turned my back, and
marched towards the country. At the
corner of the street leading out of the market-place
stood a well-dressed good-looking
bourgeoise about forty years of age. She had
no intention of approaching nearer to the
crowd, but as I passed her, she asked me
whether the drawing had begun. Had I
been a Frenchman, I do not think she would
have spoken.

'' Not yet, Madame," I replied, " but they
are going to commence immediately."

She gave me a bow, by way of thanks, and
I proceeded on my road.

The Rights of Frenchwomen may be pretty
well comprised in the privilege of doing
whatever in other countries is done by men,
except going to the field of battle; nor am I
quite sure that I have ever seen a Frenchwoman
at plough. We all know that at Paris
the inns are stocked with female waiters,
female porters, and female Bootses, and that
women conduct all sorts of shops, while their
husbands lounge about with their hands in
their pockets. Moreover, in agricultural
districts, it certainly does look odd, on a warm
spring forenoon, to see a stout, good-looking
girl, twenty or more years of age, pull off her
jacket (camisole) to go to work in her shirt (?)