A small wooden desk in the corner of the room is piled high with paperwork. In the other corner is a pile of old receipts from sold commodities, old bills of exchange, receipts of sales, and so forth. Beside the desk, a window, looking out to the street, reveals a number of the workers who have contributed their unwritten labour to the repair or reconstruction of the town. As a general result it is not pretty that this work should be as evenly divided between town and country as between town and continent. But it is more in evidence when the two capitals are compared with one another.