But on Sundays the factories do not work, and the district then falls
into death-like silence. In summer time there is but bright sunshine
heating the pavement, in winter some icy snow-laden wind rushing down the
lonely streets. The population of Grenelle is said to be the worst of
Paris, both the most vicious and the most wretched. The neighborhood of
the Ecole Militaire attracts thither a swarm of worthless women, who
bring in their train all the scum of the populace. In contrast to all
this the gay bourgeois district of Passy rises up across the Seine; while
the rich aristocratic quarters of the Invalides and the Faubourg St.
Germain spread out close by. Thus the Beauchene works on the quay, as
their owner laughingly said, turned their back upon misery and looked
towards all the prosperity and gayety of this world.
Mathieu was very partial to the avenues, planted with fine trees, which
radiate from the Champ de Mars and the Esplanade des Invalides, supplying
great gaps for air and sunlight. But he was particularly fond of that
long diversified Quai d'Orsay, which starts from the Rue du Bac in the
very centre of the city, passes before the Palais Bourbon, crosses first
the Esplanade des Invalides, and then the Champ de Mars, to end at the
Boulevard de Grenelle, in the black factory region.
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