Jules Ferry, who took the Ministry of Public
Instruction, a very clever man, was practically a freethinker, and the
Parliament was decidedly more advanced. The last elections had given a
strong Republican majority to the Senate. He consulted with his brother,
Richard Waddington, then a deputy, afterward a senator, president of the
Chamber of Commerce of Rouen, and some of his friends, and finally
decided to accept the very honourable, but very onerous position, and
remained at the Foreign Affairs with Grevy, as prime minister.
If I had seen little of him before, I saw nothing of him now, as his
work was exactly doubled. We did breakfast together, but it was a most
irregular meal--sometimes at twelve o'clock, sometimes at one-thirty,
and very rarely alone. We always dined out or had people dining with us,
so that family life became a dream of the past. We very rarely went
together when we dined out. W. was always late--his coupe waited hours
in the court. I had my carriage and went alone. After eight or ten days
of irregular meals at impossible hours (we often dined at nine-thirty) I
said to Count de P.
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