The things we do!

" In
short, provisions are so scarce that there is a difficulty in
feeding the soldiers; the minister dispatches two letters one after
another to order the cutting down of 250,000 bushels of rye before
the harvest[6]. Paris thus, in a perfect state of tranquility,
appears like a famished city put on rations at the end of a long
siege, and the dearth will not be greater nor the food worse in
December 1870, than in July 1789.
"The nearer the 14th of July approached," says an eyewitness,[7]
"the more did the dearth increase." Every baker's shop was
surrounded by a crowd, to which bread was distributed with the most
grudging economy. This bread was generally blackish, earthy, and
bitter, producing inflammation of the throat and pain in the bowels.
I have seen flour of detestable quality at the military school and
at other depots. I have seen portions of it yellow in color, with
an offensive smell; some forming blocks so hard that they had to be
broken into fragments by repeated blows of a hatchet.


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