And the Paris which was thus awaking with the first flashes of the gas was already full of the gaiety of enjoyment, already yielding to an unbridled appetite for whatsoever may be purchased.
However, Pierre had a narrow escape from being knocked down.

A flock of newspaper hawkers came out of a side street, and darted through the crowd shouting the titles of the evening journals.

A fresh edition of the "Voix du Peuple" gave rise, in particular, to a deafening clamour, which rose above all the rumbling of wheels.

At regular intervals hoarse voices raised and repeated the cry: "Ask for the 'Voix du Peuple'-- the new scandal of the African Railway Lines, the repulse of the ministry, the thirty-two bribe-takers of the Chamber and the Senate!" And these announcements, set in huge type, could be read on the copies of the paper, which the hawkers flourished like banners.

Accustomed as it was to such filth, saturated with infamy, the crowd continued on its way without paying much attention.