Observe the beauty of the sky and water. Observe the palaces, the columns and temples, built by the Romans; note those magnificent statues, of which but few fragments remain. See that circus, in which they used to hold bull fights, to train the young men to be strong.--(_To his wife._) I'm satisfied that you've been gallivanting with Grugeon.--See, in the distance, the famous Partiates fighting with their fists like Englishmen, and playing the game of Siam with a large roulette table.--(_To his wife._) He asked you to take a glass of beer in a private room.--That handsome young man you see at the right is Alcibiades, with Socrates, his teacher, who is teaching him things he don't know. While I listened I saw the curtain move more violently, and I heard the girl say in an undertone: "Oh! how stupid! Ah! how stupid! I tell you I won't!" Père Trousquin motioned to his wife to pull the cord, and resumed his harangue. "This, messieurs and mesdames, is taken from mythology; it is the magnificent Judgment of Solomon, called the Wise, who is preparing to carve a little child, exactly as if it was a pie. Observe the consternation of the little one as he awaits his fate, with his legs in the air; observe the fiendish glee of that shrewish stepmother, who looks on, dry-eyed, as if someone was going to give her a slice of rabbit; but observe the grief of the real mother, who seeks to turn aside the cleaver which already threatens the innocent child's navel." THE YOUNG WOMAN (_under the curtain_). Ah! the villain! ah! the villain! he keeps right on. What a stupid! MONSIEUR TROUSQUIN. Don't be alarmed, there won't be any cutting done; nature is about to speak.--(_To his wife._) Give me my soup; I'm hungry.--The mighty Solomon, looking at the two mothers with Argus eyes, says to himself--(_To his wife._) In God's name, why don't you get through with the onions?--"This child cannot have two mothers; if it was two fathers, that might be, such things have been seen."--(_To his wife._) You know something about that.--"Now, there's a snake in the grass here; the real mother's affection manifests itself by a deluge of tears; but this other vixen of a mother, who's as placid as Baptiste,"--(_To his wife._) It smells as if it was burned.--"has no maternal entrails; so the case is decided!"--Pull the cord.--"This, messieurs and mesdames, represents King David doing battle with the giant Goliath, the terror of the Philistines."--(_To his wife._) Why don't you look and see if it's right?--See with what force David hurls the stone that lays the giant in the dust. MADAME TROUSQUIN. (_looking over the lantern_). This ain't the one; you're showing 'em the Battle of Marengo now. MONSIEUR TROUSQUIN.MONSIEUR TROUSQUIN. As I was saying, messieurs and mesdames, you see the famous Battle of Marengo, won by the French troops.--(_To his wife._) You always put in too many carrots. MADAME TROUSQUIN.