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its pronunciation, its peculiarities being principally a distinct-
ness given to the sounding of every syllable, and the Marseilles dialect is such a
recognised one throughout France that a good deal of fun is
made of it in Paris. "La Perle de la Cannebière" was the title of a
little comedy or farce played at the theatre of the Palais Royal
which I had heard the winter before, and when I heard the same lan-
guage spoken by all the tradespeople of the street itself I realized
how true the burlesque was.

The next morning I started by sail for Nismes where I arrived
at midday. I immediately engaged a guide to pilot me around
and went first to the amphitheatre which is a relict of the Roman
occupation. Its existence there and its good state of preservation
gives the old city much reputation, and “la maison carrée” a little
building with corinthian columns, dating from the same period, and
celebrated as being a beautiful specimen of that style of architecture
adds interest to a visit to Nismes. I continued my walk with the
guide, after seeing these, to some distance along a public promenade
where there was a stream of water which was carried as far
as an elevated space containing stone seats, where doubtless the
beau-monde assembled on certain days to hear a military band.
There were many evidences as I walked about that this city was an
important one provincially. Its distance from the capital before the
days of railroads had enabled it to become a social centre of
some consequence, and the work of adornment along the promenade
which was considerable and costly seemed to prove this. There
was too a modern monument of some kind, handsomely enclosed with
a wall waist high, near the railway station, which showed that
Nismes attached importance to the present also.

After returning to the hotel where I had stopped, and while waiting
for the dinner bell, a familiar face entered the room which proved
to be that of Harry Hammond, the eldest son of ex-Governor and
Senator James Hammond of So Ca. We were glad to meet, al-
though our doing so was a surprise to both of us and we were
together for the rest of the evening. Hammond has become in
riper years an able and well informed man, but for some reason
which I am ignorant of his life has not been a success. He
has not followed any profession, being independent of that neces-
sity, and has lived quietly on the family plantation not far from
Augusta on the Carolina side of the Savannah river, appearing
occasionally before the public in an address, as he did once before
our Agricultural Society, or as the principal compiler of the vol-
ume exhibiting the resources of So Ca published by the Agricul-
tural Department at Columbia. He had been in Europe over
six months, having spent most of the winter in Paris, and du-
ring that time had gone to Switzerland to examine an artificial
fish hatchery that was in operation there, with the idea of introdu-
cing the industry at home. After that, when the spring weather
had commenced, he started a tour through the wine producing
portions of France and had visited already the most celebrated
vineyards of the Bordeaux region. When we met he was on his

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