one o'clock in the morning
A maniac would be thoroughly at home in a French theatre ! The play had neither head , tail nor body , but it was sufficient for the excitable , revolutionary Frenchman to see that the Jews were being robbed , banished and slaughtered in the interest of Christianity and the late Jesus , who is reported as having taught the lessons of `` love , '' `` charity '' and `` mercy ! '' The `` Son of God , '' it seems , had been crucified more than fifteen hundred years before the audience had been created ; and although `` Old Neb '' of Babylon had destroyed a million of Hebrews several hundred years previous to the birth of the Bethlehem `` Savior of Mankind , '' the `` frog '' and `` snail '' eaters of France were still breaking their lungs and throats in cheering for the destruction of anybody ! It was one o'clock in the morning when we got back to the hotel ; and with the Bacchanalian racket made by the `` students '' and fantastic `` grisettes '' it must have been nearly daylight before William and myself fell into the arms of sleep . Sliding into the realm of dreams I heard the `` mammoth man '' murmur : _ `` Sleep , that knits up the raveled sleeve of care , The death of each day 's life , sore labor 's bath , Balm of hurt minds , great nature 's second course , Chief nourisher in life 's feast ! '' _ Jodelle , Lariney , Corneille , Moliere , Racine , La Fontaine , Rousseau , Voltaire , Balzac , or even Hugo , never uttered such masterly philosophy . After partaking of a French breakfast , smothered with herbs and mystery , we hired a fancy phaeton and voluble driver to whirr us around the principal streets , parks and buildings of the rushing , brilliant city , everything moving as if the devil were out with a search warrant for some of the stray citizens of his imperial dominions .