Breathing On Windows

The Brothers Goncourt were originally artists who turned to writing and are today remembered for the Prix Goncourt, France's most influential literary award.  Their journals are a lively, irreverent record of 45 years of their lives and opinions, beginning on the day of Napoleon III's coup de'etat in 1851 and ending with Edmond's (Goncourt) death in 1896.  Their journals capture the manners of France in particular and Europe in general.

May 5, 1863

Aubryet told us the other day that a little girl in the street had offered him her sister, a child of fourteen.  Her job was to breathe on the windows of the carriage so that the police could not see inside.