. Ninety-three . d entire nights await-ing their turn to get into the l)akt>rs shops. Tht> Revolution resortedto expedients which were successful; she alleviated this widespread dis-tress by two perilous means—the assignat and the maximum. Theassignat was tlie lever, the maxinmm was the fulcrum. This empiri- NINETY-THREE. 127 cisiii saved France. The enemy, whether of Cohleutz or London,gambled in assignats. Girls came and went, offering lavender-water,garters, false hair, and selling stocks. There were jobl)ers on the Ier-ron of tht^ Rne Vivieune, with muddy shoes, greasy hair, and fur
. Ninety-three . d entire nights await-ing their turn to get into the l)akt>rs shops. Tht> Revolution resortedto expedients which were successful; she alleviated this widespread dis-tress by two perilous means—the assignat and the maximum. Theassignat was tlie lever, the maxinmm was the fulcrum. This empiri- NINETY-THREE. 127 cisiii saved France. The enemy, whether of Cohleutz or London,gambled in assignats. Girls came and went, offering lavender-water,garters, false hair, and selling stocks. There were jobl)ers on the Ier-ron of tht^ Rne Vivieune, with muddy shoes, greasy hair, and fur capsdecorated Avith fox-tails ; and there were swells from the Kue Valois,with varnished boots, toothj^icks in their mouths, and loug-napped hatson their heads, to whom the girls said thee and thou. Later, thepeople gave chase to them as they did to the thieves, whom the royal-ists styled active citizens. For the time, theft was rare. Therereigned a terrible destitution and a stoical probity. The barefooted and. the starving passed with loAvered eyelids before the jewelers shops ofthe Palais Égalité. During a domiciliary visit that the Section Antoinemade to the house of Beaumarchais, a woman picked a flower in thegarden; the crowd boxed her ears. Wood cost four hundred francs incoin per cord; peojjle could 1)0 seen in the streets sawing uj> tli(ir bed-steads. In the winter the fountains were frozen; two pails of watercost twenty sous: every man made himself a Avatei-carrier. A goldlouis was worth three thousand nine hundred and fifty francs. Acourse in a hackney-coach cost six hundred francs. After a days useof a carriage, this sort of dialogue might be heard : Coachman, hownuicli do I owe you f 8ix th(iusand francs. A greengrocer womansokl twenty thousand fi-aiu-s worth of vegetal:)les a day. A beggarsaid, Help me, in the name of charity ! I lack two hundred andthirty francs to finish paying foi- my shoes. ^Vt the ends of the bridgesmight be seen colossal figures sculp
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1889
