twelve o'clock
Several of these were visited , and many presents were sent back to the hotel for friends at home . At noon the Harrises took a simple lunch at one of the popular Duval restaurants . While the ladies continued their purchases , Colonel Harris and George visited the Bourse , or exchange , a noble building . Business at this stock exchange opens at twelve o'clock and closes at three o'clock . The loud vociferations of brokers , the quick gestures of excited speculators , and the babel of tongues produced a deafening noise , like that heard at the stock exchange in New York . By appointment the ladies called at the exchange , and a coach took the party to the Place de la Republique , where stands a superb statue of the Republic , surrounded with seated figures of Liberty , Fraternity , and Equality . Colonel Harris had often noticed these remarkable words cut into many of the public buildings of Paris , and he remarked that the lesson taught by them was as injurious as that taught in the Declaration of Independence , which declares , that `` all men are created equal . ''