which these officers belonged was suspected by the president of being
democratic in its sympathies.

The reading-rooms of Paris are one of its best institutions. They are
scattered all over the city, but the best is Galignani's, which contains
over twenty thousand volumes in all languages. The subscription price
for a month is eight francs, for a fortnight five francs, and for a day
ten sous.

There are reading-rooms furnished only with newspapers, where for a
small sum of money one can read the papers. These places are few in
comparison with their numbers in the days of the republic, however.
Under the despotic rule of Louis Napoleon, the newspaper business has
drooped.

An anonymous writer in one of Chambers' publications, tells a good
story, and it is a true one, of Pere Fabrice, who amassed a fortune in
Paris. The story is told as follows:

"He had always a turn for speculation, and being a private soldier he
made money by selling small articles to his fellow soldiers. When his
term of service had expired, he entered the employ of a rag-merchant,
and in a little while proposed a partnership with his master, who
laughed at his impudence. He then set up an opposition shop, and lost
all he had saved in a month. He then became a porter at the _halles_
where turkeys were sold. He noticed that those which remained unsold, in
a day or two lost half their value. He asked the old women how the
customers knew the turkeys were not fresh. They replied that the legs
changed from a bright black to a dingy brown. Fabrice went home, was
absent the next day from the _halles_, and on the third day returned