The things we do!

It is they who, at Montlh?ry, rip open the sacks
of grain with their scissors. On learning each week, on market day
that the price of a loaf of bread advances three, four, or seven
sous, they break out into shrieks of rage: at this rate for bread,
with the small salaries of the men, and when work fails,[16] how can
a family be fed? Crowds gather around the sacks of flour and the
doors of the bakers. Amidst outcries and reproaches some one in the
crowd makes a push; the proprietor or dealer is hustled and knocked
down. The shop is invaded, the commodity is in the hands of the
buyers and of the famished, each one grabbing for himself, pay or no
pay, and running away with the booty. -- Sometimes a party is made
up beforehand[17] At Bray-sur-Seine, on the 1st of May, the
villagers for four leagues around, armed with stones, knives, and
cudgels, to the number of four thousand, compel the metayers and
farmers, who have brought grain with them, to sell it at 3 livres,
instead of 4 livres 10 sous the bushel.


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