text:  In the fields on the further side of the canal a number of men of the working-classes happy in their respite from the toils of the week were singing in parts with all the musical taste and correctness of ear for which the inhabitants of that part of France are noted; while on the broad boulevard that traverses the lower end of the _allee_ a crowd of recruits whom the conscription had recently called under the colours stood gazing in open-mouthed astonishment and infinite delight at some rudely constructed booths and shows outside of which clown and paillasse were rivalling each other in the broad humour of their lazzi