"[63] These queues form at three o'clock in the
morning, one o'clock and at midnight, increasing from hour to hour.
Picture to yourself, reader, the file of wretched men and women
sleeping on the pavement when the weather is fine[64] and when not
fine, standing up on stiff tottering legs; above all)in winter, "the
rain pouring on their backs," and their feet in the snow, for so many
weary hours in dark, foul, dimly lighted streets strewed with garbage;
for, for want of oil, one half of the street lamps are extinguished,
and for lack of money, there is no repaving, no more sweeping, the
offal being piled up against the walls.[65] The crowd draggles along
through it, likewise, nasty, tattered and torn, people with shoes full
of holes, because the shoemakers do no more work for their customers,
and in dirty shirts, because no more soap can be had to wash with,
while, morally as well as physically, all these forlorn beings
elbowing each other render themselves still fouler. -
Promiscuousness, contact, weariness, waiting and darkness afford free
play to the grosser instincts; especially in summer, natural
bestiality and Parisian mischievousness have full play.
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