ties of
gelatine. Housewives pored over cookery-books to seek for ways of
using what material they had when beef and butter failed. A learned
professor taught them how to grow salads and asparagus on the balconies
in front of windows. The seed-shops were stormed by enthusiasts who
took kindly to this new idea.

Gambetta's ascent in the balloon relieved anxiety for a time, because
every Parisian expected that help would come. But soon gas could not
be spared to inflate balloons and sturdy messengers were in request who
dared brave the Prussian lines. Sheep-dogs were sent out as carriers
after several attempts had been frustrated, but the Prussian sentries
seized the animals, and pigeons were soon the only means of
communication with the provinces.

The Parisians clamoured for the theatres to be opened, though they felt
the pangs of hunger now. They {214} retorted readily when there was
some speech of Nero fiddling while Rome burned. Their city was not yet
on fire, they said, and Napoleon, the Nero of the catastrophe, could
not fiddle because he had no ear for music! The Cirque National was
opened on October 23rd, though fuel was running short and the cold
weather would soon come.

In winter prices rose for food that the fastidious had rejected earlier
in the siege. A rat cost a franc, and eggs were sold at 80 francs the
dozen. Beef and mutton had disappeared entirely from the stalls, and
butter reached the price of fifty francs the demi-kilogramme. The poor
suffered horrible privations, and many children died from the effect of
bread soaked in wine, for milk was a ridiculous price. Nevertheless,
four hundred marriages were celebrated, and Paris did not talk of
surrender to their Prussian foes.

Through October and November poultry shops displayed an occasional
goose or pigeon, but the sight of a turkey caused a crowd to collect,
and everyone envied those who could afford to purchase rabbits even
though they paid no less than 50 francs. Soon dogs and cats were
rarely seen in Paris, and bear's flesh was sold and eaten with avidity.
At Christmas and New Year very few shops displayed the usual gifts, for
German toys were not popular at the festive season and the children of
the siege talked mournfully of their "New Year's Day without the New
Year's gifts."

Shells crashed into houses in January of 1871, an event most startling
to Parisians, who had expected a formal summons to surrender before
such acts t