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A STROLL THROUGH BOULOGNE. 341
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Even Of The Before Immense The Foot Diff...
All eyes round and the smart shop littl sit e young cap deceive * girls working one into away a favorable with mi op ght inion and .
main at ladies' shoes and boots , in different stages of progress . Probably there is a man belonging * to the establishment to fasten
on the soles , for one can hardly fancy that such little fingers , though full of energycould manage a tough job like thatbut if he exists
he is at present , invisible . A lady enters to be measured , ; she is not at all young and is therefore addressed as mademoiselle : for
well trained shop-people in France always call undeniably young girls madameas it pleases them to think they look dignified
and elderly females _^ ; and otherwise mademoiselle , as that tends to persuade them that they are juvenile in appearance , and when folks
are in a good humour they are more apt to become purchasers . The process of measuring is far simpler than the English one ; rulea
and inch measures are discarded , but m & demoiselle Is requested to step without her shoe on to a piece of paperand a pencil being
quickly run round her foot , an impression giving , its exact size and shape is left , as well denned as the foot-print that startled Robinson
Crusoe ; the whole proceeding is both more expeditious , and less . undignified than that to which we are subjected
Having "become possessed of a desirable pair * of boots and left directions where they are to be sent , we step forth into the : street ,
again to pursue our adventures : but remembering that we are > ini want of some other little article of attire , we enter a , haberdasher ' s _,
shop , apparently one of the best in the town . Whilst the shopman ; is busy with some other customersour attention is caught by
, a beautifully worked muslin dress hanging up in a , window , and which it strikes us would well become a certain youthful relative
of ours , but on ascertaining its price all desire to become possessed of the article vanishes .
" Who , " we inquire u will be the probable purchaser of so expensive a garment ? Will it become the property of some English
milord , or of a Russian princess ?" " We shall find no lack of customers for it" lies the
shop-, rep keeper , with a quiet smile at our ignorance , " it will probably be bought by a fish-girl for her wedding . "
" A fish-girl ! " we exclaim ; " how could she afford it ?" " She will most likely not pay for it all at oncebut by weekly
, instalments ; I shall , however , trust her , " he continued , " for fishpeople never fail to produce the full value of goods purchased ,
sooner or later . " Being of a communicative disposition , as Frenchmen generally
are , the shopkeeper gave us an account of the history and customs of the fishing population . They are descended from & Norwegian
colony which settled at Boulogne centuries ago , and though their original tongue has long been forgotten , and French only is in
inhabitants use among and them refuse , they to still intermarry continue with to desp them ise , _wliioh surrounding accounts
A Stroll Through Boulogne. 341
A STROLL THROUGH BOULOGNE . 341
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), July 1, 1859, page 341, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01071859/page/53/
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