Personally, I do not care for such speeding and will not permit it with my car for many reasons aside from the danger, but most of these people have taken as their motto, "A short life and a merry one,"--all of which may have one good result, it will save tremendous funeral expenses, for there will be little left to bury. CHAPTER XXVII DEPARTURE FROM PARIS--THE CEMETERY OF THE PICPUS--RIDE THROUGH THE FOREST OF FONTAINEBLEAU TO SENS--THE CATHEDRAL--TOMB OF THE DAUPHINS--THE GREAT ROUTE TO GENEVA--STONED BY BOYS--TONNERRE To those who love her, Paris shows even yet glimpses of the olden days, and as we flash past the Louvre and along the banks of the Seine, many a stately façade rises above us. This section was Royal Paris for many centuries, and it is to be regretted that the government of the city does not assume control and preserve what is left of the private hotels, at least preserve their exteriors. To build a modern city is at all times possible, but once down, these ancient houses can never be replaced, and their existence brings thousands of strangers and much money to this capital of France and its people. Something of such preservation has been done, but there is much which should be preserved which stands in danger. The Hôtel de Sens, unique and perfect but a year or so ago, is gone, and for what? We leave the Column Bastille well to our left, and speed off down the Rue du Faubourg St. Antoine to the Place du Trône,--now, Place de la République--a vast open space guarded by two stately columns and from which broad avenues stretch away until lost in perspective. Here Louis XIV. erected a throne and received the homage of Paris when he returned from his Spanish marriage. All the gorgeousness and glitter of his capital gathered then with no shadows on their sky of what was to come. Just here where he was enthroned stood, later, a scaffold holding two long high posts with a glittering knife flashing up and down, a hedge of steel surrounded it and a howling mob thronged the place. When the Place de la Revolution became too slippery with blood, the guillotine came here, and here, between June 14 and July 27, 1794, fell thirteen hundred of the most illustrious heads of France. For any reason or for no reason, whole families came together and were glad to be allowed to go "together." It is related that a little child, a girl, at the Luxembourg, then a prison, came racing and shouting from the door to the waiting trumbril with the cry, "O Mama, Mama, my name _is_ on your list and I can go too." Close by in what is now the neighbouring cemetery of the Picpus they found rest.