The Wit and Humor of America, Volume VI | Page 3

of male teachers only. I
visited it, but for some cause I did not make a hit in my address to the
pupils until I began to speak in their own national tongue. Then the
closest attention was paid to what I said, and the keenest delight was
manifest on every radiant face. The president, who spoke some English,
shook hands with me as we parted, and I asked him how the students
took my remarks. He said: "They shall all the time keep the
thinkness--what you shall call the recollect--of monsieur's speech in
preserves, so that they shall forget it not continualle. We shall all the
time say we have not witness something like it since the time we come
here, and have not so much enjoy ourselves since the grand
assassination by the guillotine. Come next winter and be with us for
one week. Some of us will remain in the hall each time."
At San Cloo I hired of a quiet young fellow about thirty-five years of
age, who kept a very neat livery stable there, a sort of victoria and a big
Percheron horse, with fetlock whiskers that reminded me of the
Sutherland sisters. As I was in no hurry I sat on the iron settee in the
cool court of the livery stable, and with my arm resting on the shoulder
of the proprietor I spoke of the crops and asked if generally people

about there regarded the farmer movement as in any way threatening to
the other two great parties. He did not seem to know, and so I watched
the coachman who was to drive me, as he changed his clothes in order
to give me my money's worth in grandeur.
One thing I liked about France was that the people were willing, at a
slight advance on the regular price, to treat a very ordinary man with
unusual respect and esteem. This surprised and delighted me beyond
measure, and I often told people there that I did not begrudge the
additional expense. The coachman was also hostler, and when the
carriage was ready he altered his attire by removing a coarse, gray shirt
or tunic and putting on a long, olive green coachman's coat, with erect
linen collar and cuffs sewed into the collar and sleeves. He wore a high
hat that was much better than mine, as is frequently the case with
coachmen and their employers. My coachman now gives me his silk
hat when he gets through with it in the spring and fall, so I am better
dressed than I used to be.
But we were going to say a word regarding the porcelain works at
Sèvres. It is a modern building and is under government control. The
museum is filled with the most beautiful china dishes and funny
business that one could well imagine. Besides, the pottery ever since its
construction has retained its models, and they, of course, are worthy of
a day's study. The "Sèvres blue" is said to be a little bit bluer than
anything else in the known world except the man who starts a nonpareil
paper in a pica town.
I was careful not to break any of these vases and things, and thus
endeared myself to the foreman of the place. All employes are
uniformed and extremely deferential to recognized ability. Practically,
for half a day, I owned the place.
A cattle friend of mine who was looking for a dynasty, whose tail he
could twist while in Europe, and who used often to say over our glass
of vin ordinaire (which I have since learned is not the best brand at all),
that nothing would tickle him more than "to have a little deal with a
crowned head and get him in the door," accidentally broke a blue crock
out there at Sèvres which wouldn't hold over a gallon, and it took the

best part of a carload of cows to pay for it, he told me.
The process of making the Sèvres ware is not yet published in book
form, especially the method of coloring and enameling. It is a secret
possessed by duly authorized artists. The name of the town is
pronounced Save.
Mme. Pompadour is said to have been the natural daughter of a butcher,
which I regard as being more to her own credit than though she had
been an artificial one. Her name was Jeanne Antoinette Poisson Le
Normand d'Etioles, Marchioness de Pompadour, and her name is yet
used by the authorities of Versailles as a fire escape, so I am told.
She was the mistress of Louis XV, who never allowed her to put her
hands in dishwater during the entire time she visited at his house.
D'Etioles was her first husband, but she left him for