five
o’clock
Yes , hail to that being , composed of saltpetre and gas , who makes children for France during his laborious nights , and in the day multiplies his personality for the service , glory , and pleasure of his fellow-citizens . This man solves the problem of sufficing at once to his amiable wife , to his hearth , to the _ Constitutionnel _ , to his office , to the National Guard , to the opera , and to God ; but , only in order that the _ Constitutionnel _ , his office , the National Guard , the opera , his wife , and God may be changed into coin . In fine , hail to an irreproachable pluralist . Up every day at five o'clock , he traverses like a bird the space which separates his dwelling from the Rue Montmartre . Let it blow or thunder , rain or snow , he is at the _ Constitutionnel _ , and waits there for the load of newspapers which he has undertaken to distribute . He receives this political bread with eagerness , takes it , bears it away . At nine o'clock he is in the bosom of his family , flings a jest to his wife , snatches a loud kiss from her , gulps down a cup of coffee , or scolds his children .