A month later I received orders to appear before the _Conseil de revision_, held in the town-hall of my district. About two hundred fellows, belonging to every class of society, were waiting in the yard--most of them, indeed, being roughs from la Villette (the Whitechapel of Paris). We were called up by batches of twenty-five, and shown by gendarmes into a room, around which stood long benches with pegs above them. A red-hot stove was burning in a corner of this room, and as there was no ventilation of any kind, and more than one hundred unwashed ruffians had already undressed and dressed there, the smell was abominable. A gendarme then ordered us to strip off all our clothing, barring our socks, and when we had done so--what a sight we were!--he called each one of us in turn and placed us under a measuring gauge. He first took our height with our socks on, and then without them--except in the case of those who possessed no such garment, and who formed the majority. The gendarme who measured us was a Sergeant, and he dictated to a private the result of his measurements. When my turn came he placed me under the apparatus and then asked for my name. "Decle," I said. "And your Christian name?" "Lionel." "Lionel," he replied: "that's not a Christian name." I assured him that it was my Christian name, and, what was more, the only one I possessed. "Well, it's a queer Christian name, and I don't know where your people fished it out," he remarked. After a glance at the scale he dictated "1·78 metre in his socks," to his subordinate. He then ordered me to remove my socks, and, measuring me once more, pronounced the verdict "1·79 metre without socks." "But, Sergeant," I asked, "how can I be taller without my socks than with them on?" "You will perhaps teach me my business!" he angrily replied, and seeing that the private was hesitating to write down the figures, "D---- you," he shouted, "are you going to take that down or not?" The private silently obeyed, doubtless accustomed for years to passive obedience. I was then told to stand aside, and another fellow was called up. We were then sent, each in turn, into another room, where sat the _Conseil de revision_, presided over by a General in full uniform, assisted by officials also in uniform, and a few respectable-looking old gentlemen. I confess that I felt rather shy at having to appear without clothes before so ornamental a company, whose uniforms strangely contrasted with the state of nature I was in. A clerk, having inquired my name, fished out my papers from a huge bundle, and asked me a long list of questions about my family history. The President then inquired whether I could show any cause why I should not serve, and upon my negative reply, a military surgeon proceeded to examine me. A paper was handed over to him by the clerk. "What's this?" he said. "You're one metre seventy-eight in your socks, and a centimetre more without them?"