The immense concourse of people which were pouring into the Hippodrome divided themselves at the gates into two portions, and passed up an ascent to enter at side doors. Rollo and Jane, following their guides, went toward the right. They observed that the father of Adrienne and Antoine stopped at a little window near the entrance, to pay the price of admission for himself and wife and his two children and to get the tickets. He paid full price for his two children, and so took four full tickets. Rollo and Jane did not see him pay the money. They only observed that there was a crowd at the little window, and they saw Antoine's father take the tickets. They did not know what this meant, however; but they followed on. When they all came to the doorway which led up to the ranges of seats, the man whose duty it was to take the tickets supposed that the four children all belonged to the same family, and that they had been admitted at half price, and that, accordingly, two of the tickets were for the father and mother, and the other two for the four children. So he let them all pass on together, especially as there was, at that time, such a throng of people crowding in that there was no time to stop and make any inquiries.
Rollo and Jane were carried along by the current up a flight of stairs, which came out among the ranges of seats; and after moving along for some distance till they came to a vacancy they sat down, and began to look around and survey the spacious and splendid interior into which they had entered. They were at once overwhelmed with the magnificence of the spectacle which was presented to view. Instead of a church, they found a vast open area extended before them, surrounded with long ranges of seats, and laid out in the interior in the most graceful and beautiful manner.
"Jennie," said Rollo, after gazing about for some moments, almost bewildered, "if this is any kind of meeting at all, I think it must be a camp meeting."
Jennie was completely bewildered, and had no opinion on the subject whatever; so she said nothing.
"That's the place for the choir, I suppose," said Rollo, pointing to a sort of raised platform with a balustrade in front, which was built among the seats in the middle of one of the sides of the Hippodrome. "But then," he added, after a moment's pause, "I don't see any pulpit, unless that is it."
As he said this, Rollo pointed to a balcony with a rich canopy over it, which was built up among the seats, directly opposite to the musician's gallery, on the other side of the arena. This balcony was for the use of the emperor, and his family and friends, when they chose to come and witness the spectacles in the Hippodrome.
These speculations of Rollo's were suddenly interrupted by the striking up of martial music, by a full band of trumpets, drums, clarinets, hautboys, and horns, from the musician's gallery. Soon afterwards the curtains opened at the farther end of the arena, and a magnificent troop of horse, mounted by male and female riders, all dressed in the gayest and most splendid costumes, came prancing in. As soon as Rollo had recovered from his astonishment at this spectacle, he turned to Jennie, and said,-
"Jennie, it is not any church or meeting at all; and I think we had better go home."
"I think so too," said Jennie.
"I should like to come here some other day," added Rollo; "and I mean to ask my father to let us come. Uncle George will come with us. But now we had better go home."
So the children rose from their seats and began to move toward the door. It was some time before they could get out, so great was the number of people still coming in. They, however, finally succeeded, and were quite relieved when they found themselves once more in the open air.
They turned their steps immediately toward home. Jane, however, soon began to feel very tired; and so Rollo said he would stop the first omnibus that came along. The avenue was full of carriages of every kind; and pretty soon an omnibus, headed down the obelisk, appeared among them. Rollo made a signal for the conductor to stop, and he and Jennie got in.
They had a very pleasant ride back through the Elysian Fields, and around the great square where the obelisk stands. They then entered the street which runs along by the side of the gardens of the Tuileries, and advanced in it toward the heart of the city. Rollo made a sign for the conductor to stop when the omnibus reached that part of the street which was opposite to the entrance into the garden where he and Jennie had gone in. This was, of course, also opposite to the street leading into the Place Vendome. It was but a short walk from this place to the hotel. About six o'clock the children arrived at the hotel, and the table was already set for dinner. Mr. Holiday was reclining on a couch in the room, and Mrs. Holiday had been reading to him. Rollo's uncle George was also in the room. Mrs. Holiday laid down her book when the children came in. Rollo and Jennie sat down upon a sofa, not far from their father's couch. They were glad to rest.
"Well, children," said Mrs. Holiday, "have you had a pleasant walk?"
"Yes," said Rollo, "a very pleasant walk indeed. We have seen a great many very curious things. But I believe we made a mistake."
"What mistake?" asked Mrs. Holiday.
"Why, we followed a great many people that we thought were going to church; but, instead of that, they led us into a great place that I think was some sort of circus."
Here Mr. George looked up very eagerly and began to laugh.
"I declare!" said he. "I shouldn't wonder if you got into the Hippodrome."
"I don't know what it was," said Rollo. "When we first went in we saw that it was not a church; but we did not know but that it might be some sort of camp meeting. But pretty soon they began to bring horses in and ride them around, and so we came out."
Here Mr. George fell into a long and uncontrollable paroxysm of laughter, during the intervals of which he said, in broken language, as he walked about the room endeavoring to get breath and recover his self-control, that it was the best thing he had heard since he landed at Liverpool. The idea of following the crowd of Parisians in the Champs Elysées on Sunday afternoon, with the expectation of being conducted to church, and then finally taking the Hippodrome for a camp meeting! Rollo himself, though somewhat piqued at having his adventure put in so ridiculous a light, could not help laughing too; and even his father and mother smiled.
"Never mind, Rollo," said his mother, at length. "I don't think you were at all to blame; though I am glad that you came out when you found what sort of a place it was."
"O, no," said Mr. George, as he gradually recovered his self-control, "you were not to blame in the least. The rule you followed is a very good one for England and America; but it does not apply to France. Going with the multitude Sunday afternoons, in Paris, will take you any where but to church."
Notwithstanding the concurrence of opinion between Rollo's mother and his uncle that he had done nothing wrong, neither he nor Jennie could help feeling some degree of uneasiness and some little dissatisfaction with themselves in respect to the manner in which they had spent the afternoon. They had both been accustomed to consider the Sabbath as a day solemnly consecrated to the worship of God and to the work of preparation for heaven. It is true that the day sometimes seemed very long to them, as it does to all children; and though they had always been allowed to take quiet walks in the gardens and grounds around the house, still they usually got tired, before night came, of being so quiet and still. Notwithstanding this, however, they had no disposition to break over the rule which, as they supposed, the law of God enjoined upon them. They fully believed that God himself had ordained that there should be one day in seven from which all the usual occupations and amusements of life should be excluded, and which should be consecrated wholly to rest, to religious contemplation, and to prayer; and they were very willing to submit to the ordinance, though it brought with it upon them, as children, burdens and restrictions which it was sometimes quite onerous for them to bear.