Let us say what there is to be said for it.

There is no country in the world as good for priests and monks as Penguinia.

In what other country would you find our virgin wax, our virile incense, our rosaries, our scapulars, our holy water, and our St.Orberosian liqueur sold in such great quantities?
What other people would, like the Penguins, give a hundred golden crowns for a wave of our hands, a sound from our mouths, a movement of our lips?
For my part, I gain a thousand times more, in this pleasant, faithful, and docile Penguinia, by extracting the essence from a bundle of thyme, than I could make by tiring my lungs with preaching the remission of sins in the most populous states of Europe and America.

Honestly, would Penguinia be better off if a police officer came to take me away from here and put me on a steamboat bound for the Islands of Night ?" Having thus spoken, the monk of Conils got up and led his guest into a huge shed where hundreds of orphans clothed in blue were packing bottles, nailing up cases, and gumming tickets.

The ear was deafened by the noise of hammers mingled with the dull rumbling of bales being placed upon the rails.
"It is from here that consignments are forwarded," said Cornemuse.
"I have obtained from the government a railway through the Wood and a station at my door.