lageolets aux Jus.
Biscuits de Reims glaces.
Charlotte aux Pommes."

In spite of the hope that Paris would escape being shelled, minute
instructions how to act, in the event of such a calamity, had been
posted on the walls. In fact, if speechifying and the promulgation of
decrees could have saved the city, Trochu first, and the rest
afterwards, would have so saved it. But I have solemnly promised myself
at the outset of these notes not to be betrayed into any criticism of
the military operations, and I will endeavour to keep my promise to
myself.

The first and foremost result of those directions on the part of the
Government was a display of water-butts, filled to the brim, in the
passage, and of sand-heaps in the yard of every building. As the months
went by, and there was no sign of a bombardment, the contents of the
casks became so much solid ice, and the sand-heaps disappeared beneath
the accumulated snow, to be converted into slush and mire at the first
thaw, which gave us, at the same time, a kind of miniature deluge,
because, as a matter of course, the barrels had sprung leaks which were
not attended to at the time.

And when, early on the 5th of January, the first projectiles crashed
down upon some houses in the south of Paris, the people were simply
astonished, but still deluded themselves into the belief that it was a
mistake, that the "trajectory" had been miscalculated, and the shells
had carried farther than was intended. To a certain extent they had good
grounds for their supposition. They had heard the big cannon boom and
roar at frequent intervals ever since the morning of the 27th of
December, and been given to understand that it was merely a big
artillery duel for the possession of the plateau d'Avron, between the
positions of Noisy-le-Grand and Gournay on the enemy's side, and the
forts of Nogent, Rosny, and Noisy on that of the French. They were,
furthermore, under the impression that the shelling of the city would be
preceded by a final summons to surrender: they had got that notion
mostly from their military dramas and popular histories. But there were
men, better informed than the majority of the masses, who made sure
that, if not the Parisians themselves, the foreign consuls and the
aliens under their charge would receive a sufficiently timely notice, in
order to leave the city if they felt so minded.

The 5th of January was a bitterly cold day; it had been freezing hard
during the who