Aumarais Lane was called Maugout Lane；the Rue Droit-Mur was called the Rue des Eglantiers，for God opened flowers before man cut stones.
BOOK SIXTH.——LE PETIT-PICPUS
Ⅸ A CENTURY UNDER A GUIMPE
Since we are engaged in giving details as to what the convent of the Petit-Picpus was in former times，and since we have ventured to open a window on that discreet retreat，the reader will permit us one other little digression，utterly foreign to this book，but characteristic and useful，since it shows that the cloister even has its original figures.
In the Little Convent there was a centenarian who came from the Abbey of Fontevrault.
She had even been in society before the Revolution.She talked a great deal of M.de Miromesnil，Keeper of the Seals under Louis XVI.
and of a Presidentess Duplat，with whom she had been very intimate.
It was her pleasure and her vanity to drag in these names on every pretext.
She told wonders of the Abbey of Fontevrault，——that it was like a city，and that there were streets in the monastery.
She talked with a Picard accent which amused the pupils.
Every year，she solemnly renewed her vows，and at the moment of taking the oath，she said to the priest，'Monseigneur Saint-Francois gave it to Monseigneur Saint-Julien，Monseigneur Saint-Julien gave it to Monseigneur Saint-Eusebius，Monseigneur Saint-Eusebius gave it to Monseigneur Saint-Procopius，etc.，etc.；and thus I give it to you，father.'
And the school-girls would begin to laugh，not in their sleeves，but under their veils；charming little stifled laughs which made the vocal mothers frown.
On another occasion，the centenarian was telling stories.
She said that in her youth the Bernardine monks were every whit as good as the mousquetaires.
It was a century which spoke through her，but it was the eighteenth century.
She told about the custom of the four wines，which existed before the Revolution in Champagne and Bourgogne.When a great personage，a marshal of France，a prince，a duke，and a peer，traversed a town in Burgundy or Champagne，the city fathers came out to harangue him and presented him with four silver gondolas into which they had poured four different sorts of wine.On the first goblet this inscription could be read，monkey wine；on the second，lion wine；on the third，sheep wine；on the fourth，hog wine.
These four legends express the four stages descended by the drunkard；the first，intoxication，which enlivens；the second，that which irritates；the third，that which dulls；and the fourth，that which brutalizes.
In a cupboard，under lock and key，she kept a mysterious object of which she thought a great deal.
The rule of Fontevrault did not forbid this.
She would not show this object to anyone.She shut herself up，which her rule allowed her to do，and hid herself，every time that she desired to contemplate it.If she heard a footstep in the corridor，she closed the cupboard again as hastily as it was possible with her aged hands.
As soon as it was mentioned to her，she became silent，she who was so fond of talking.
The most curious were baffled by her silence and the most tenacious by her obstinacy.
Thus it furnished a subject of comment for all those who were unoccupied or bored in the convent.What could that treasure of the centenarian be，which was so precious and so secret？
Some holy book，no doubt？
Some unique chaplet？Some authentic relic？
They lost themselves in conjectures.When the poor old woman died，they rushed to her cupboard more hastily than was fitting，perhaps，and opened it.
They found the object beneath a triple linen cloth，like some consecrated paten.It was a Faenza platter representing little Loves flitting away pursued by apothecary lads armed with enormous syringes.The chase abounds in grimaces and in comical postures.
One of the charming little Loves is already fairly spitted.
He is resisting，fluttering his tiny wings，and still ****** an effort to fly，but the dancer is laughing with a satanical air.
Moral：
Love conquered by the colic.
This platter，which is very curious，and which had，possibly，the honor of furnishing Moliere with an idea，was still in existence in September，1845；it was for sale by a bric-a-brac merchant in the Boulevard Beaumarchais.
This good old woman would not receive any visits from outside because，said she，the parlor is too gloomy.
BOOK SIXTH.——LE PETIT-PICPUS
Ⅹ ORIGIN OF THE PERPETUAL ADORATION
However，this almost sepulchral parlor，of which we have sought to convey an idea，is a purely local trait which is not reproduced with the same severity in other convents.
At the convent of the Rue du Temple，in particular，which belonged，in truth，to another order，the black shutters were replaced by brown curtains，and the parlor itself was a salon with a polished wood floor，whose windows were draped in white muslin curtains and whose walls admitted all sorts of frames，a portrait of a Benedictine nun with unveiled face，painted bouquets，and even the head of a Turk.
It is in that garden of the Temple convent，that stood that famous chestnut-tree which was renowned as the finest and the largest in France，and which bore the reputation among the good people of the eighteenth century of being the father of all the chestnut trees of the realm.
As we have said，this convent of the Temple was occupied by Benedictines of the Perpetual Adoration，Benedictines quite different from those who depended on Citeaux.
This order of the Perpetual Adoration is not very ancient and does not go back more than two hundred years.In 1649 the holy sacrament was profaned on two occasions a few days apart，in two churches in Paris，at Saint-Sulpice and at Saint-Jean en Greve，a rare and frightful sacrilege which set the whole town in an uproar.
M.the Prior and Vicar-General of Saint-Germain des Pres ordered a solemn procession of all his clergy，in which the Pope's Nuncio officiated.
