The gamin of Paris is respectful, ironical, and insolent.
He has villainous teeth, because he is badly fed and his stomach suffers, and handsome eyes because he has wit.
If Jehovah himself were present, he would go hopping up the steps of paradise on one foot. He is strong on boxing.
All beliefs are possible to him. He plays in the gutter, and straightens himself up with a revolt; his effrontery persists even in the presence of grape-shot; he was a scapegrace, he is a hero; like the little Theban, he shakes the skin from the lion; Barra the drummer-boy was a gamin of Paris; he Shouts: "Forward!" as the horse of Scripture says "Vah!" and in a moment he has passed from the small brat to the giant.
This child of the puddle is also the child of the ideal. Measure that spread of wings which reaches from Moliere to Barra.
To sum up the whole, and in one word, the gamin is a being who amuses himself, because he is unhappy.
BOOK FIRST.--PARIS STUDIED IN ITS ATOM
CHAPTER X
ECCE PARIS, ECCE HOMO
To sum it all up once more, the Paris gamin of to-day, like the graeculus of Rome in days gone by, is the infant populace with the wrinkle of the old world on his brow.
The gamin is a grace to the nation, and at the same time a disease; a disease which must be cured, how?
By light.
Light renders healthy.