The things we do!

Nevertheless, most of the small
consumers are reduced to the hard necessity of using this spoilt
grain." At Villeneuve- le-Roi, writes the mayor, "the rye of the two
lots last sent is so black and poor that it cannot be retailed
without wheat." At Sens the barley "tastes musty" to such an extent
that buyers of it throw the detestable bread, which it makes in the
face of the sub-delegate. At Chevreuse the barley has sprouted and
smells bad; the " poor wretches," says an employee, "must be hard
pressed with hunger to put up with it." At Fontainebleau "the
barley, half eaten away, produces more bran than flour, and to make
bread of it, one is obliged to work it over several times." This
bread, such as it is, is an object of savage greed; "it has come to
this, that it is impossible to distribute it except through
wickets." And those who thus obtain their ration, "are often
attacked on the road and robbed of it by the more vigorous of the
famished people." At Nangis "the magistrates prohibit the same
person from buying more than two bushels in the same market.


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