Civil, officieux, je suis né pour la ville.
"Dans le plus rude hiver j'ai le dos toujours nu:
Et, quoique fort commode, à peine m'a-t-on vu,
Qu'ausitôt négligé, je deviens inutile."
[Often, although light, I weary the person who carries me. A word in my manner is worth a whole discourse. I began under Louis the Great to be in vogue,—slight, long, flat, narrow, of a very slight material.
The most unskilled fingers cut me in their way; under a thousand different forms I appear every day; I am a great aid to the astonished valets. The Louvre does not see my face at its door.
A coarse hand most of the time receives me from the hand of the nicest people. Civil, officious, I am born for the city.
In the coldest weather, my back is always bare; and, although quite convenient, scarcely have they seen me, when I am neglected and useless.—Visiting card.]
A more interesting one and one that caused no little amusement is the following: