At length the happy moment arrived when we were to quit the
warehouse of the manufacturer. Let what would happen, this was a
source of joy, inasmuch as we all knew that we could only vegetate
while we continued where we then were, and that too without
experiencing the delights of our former position, with good roots in the
earth, a genial sun shedding its warmth upon our bosom, and balmy airs
fanning our cheeks. We loved change, too, like other people, and had
probably seen enough of vegetation, whether figurative or real, to satisfy
us. Our departure from Picardie took place in June, 1830, and we
reached Paris on the first day of the succeeding month. We went
through the formalities of the custom-houses, or barrieres, the same
day, and the next morning we were all transferred to a celebrated shop
that dealt in articles of our genus. Most of the goods were sent on drays
to the magazin, but our reputation having preceded us, we were
honored with a fiacre, making the journey between the Douane and the
shop on the knee of a confidential commissionaire.

{Picardie = province of France, north of Evreux; barrieres = gates at
the edge of Paris, where local customs duties were collected; magazin =
shop; fiacre = a kind of carriage; Douane = customs house; confidential
commissionaire = special messenger}

Great was the satisfaction of our little party as we first drove down
through the streets of this capital of Europe--the centre of fashion and
the abode of elegance. Our natures had adapted themselves to
circumstances, and we no longer pined for the luxuries of the linum
usitatissimum, but were ready to enter into all the pleasures of our new
existence; which we well understood was to be one of pure parade, for
no handkerchief of our quality was ever employed on any of the more
menial offices of the profession. We might occasionally brush a lady's