"Lewd
women"[66] pursue their calling standing in the row; it is an
interlude for them; "their provoking expressions, their immoderate
laughter," is heard some distance off and they find it a convenient
place: two steps aside, on the flank of the row, are "half open doors
and dark alleys" which invite t?te-?-t?te; many of these women who
have brought their mattresses "sleep there and commit untold
abominations." What an example for the wives and daughters of steady
workmen, for honest servants who hear and see! "Men stop at each row
and choose their dulcinea, while others, less shameless, pounce on the
women like bulls and kiss them one after the other." Are not these the
fraternal kisses of patriotic Jacobins? Do not Mayor Pache's wife and
daughter go to the clubs and kiss drunken sans-culottes? And what says
the guard? - It has enough to do to restrain another blind and deaf
animal instinct, aroused as it is by suffering, anticipation and
deception.
On approaching each butcher's stall before it opens "the porters,
bending under the weight of a side of beef, quicken their steps so as
not to be assailed by the crowd which presses against them, seeming to
devour the raw meat with their eyes.
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