In The Centre Is The Magnificent Column, Made In Imitation Of The Column Of Trajan, And Surmounted By A Bronze Statue Of Napoleon In His Military Dress.

At first he was placed there in his imperial robes; but when he fell, so did his statue, and it was melted up to help make an equestrian statue of Henry IV.

In 1833, the present statue was erected; and the people are very proud of the Little Corporal, as they call him, as he stands up there, looking over their glorious city, as if born to lead men to conquest, and to govern the world. Inside the column is a spiral staircase by which you ascend to the top of the column. You are well paid for the fatigue of mounting these one hundred and seventy-six steps, when you get your breath and look down upon Paris glittering in the sunlight. What pleases me most, however, is the scene immediately below. All the people are in the streets. Sunday in Paris is a holiday. Whole families leave work, care, - all their troubles, - and come into the public places to enjoy themselves. There is no swearing, no drunkenness, no rudeness, no noise; the old folks seats themselves in chairs, and the children run about. Some have been to mass, and some have not, but all are in the spirit of enjoyment. Nothing can be more enlivening than the aspect of the French people. You cannot resist their cheerful looks. The appearance of the Place Vendome is truly enchanting.

Now let us go down, and take a nearer look at what is going on below. At the foot of the column you will see a group of children collected round a man with a large basket of little tin carriages which are constructed in such a way that they will go with the wind on a smooth place. For some distance round the column is laid the asphaltum pavement. These little tin carriages run well across this wide platform; and you might imagine that the tin horses carried them. It is a pleasant thing to see the delight of the children, and a lesson in good nature and good manners, to see how carefully all the passers by turn aside, so as not to interrupt the progress of these pretty toys.

Look up at the beautiful bas reliefs in bronze, on this noble column, giving the history of so many fierce battles and so much bloodshed, and at the military hero on the top, and then at these laughing, merry children at the foot, running after the tin carriages that go with the wind. Is it not a strange and moving contrast? Does it not tell a story that all of us hope may be one day true; when war shall belong only to history, and when peace shall possess the earth?

Around the base of this beautiful column many of those who served under Bonaparte, or who remember him with affection, hang wreaths and garlands as expressions of their tender remembrance.

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