Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 April 1887 — Incidents of the Siege of Paris. [ARTICLE]

Incidents of the Siege of Paris.

“Paris, Sunday afternoon, Nov. 20, 1870. Sixty-third day of the siege. One of the features of the siege is the thousand rumors and reports that are constantly flying about. The most nb-sm-d and ridiculous canards Rro circulated every hour in the day. These French people are in a position to believe anything, even that the moon is made of green cheese. Some of the editors are the most deliberate and inventive liars of modern times. One of the papers said the other day that it had received a number of the London Standard of November 11, and went on to give various extracts and - news taken from it. Everybody wondered how so late a paper could get into Paris, and when the matter was investigated it was shown thnt no such paper had ever been received, and that the whole thing was a deliberate and willful fabrication. The news that has come by * pigeon telegraph ’ in regard to the French success at - Orleans has had a great effect. Small favors thankfully received aud larger ones in proportion. “For three days it has been war, war, but now, when these long, dreary days are running out, nothing is accomplished except every few days a letter or a high-sounding proclamation of Trochu. It has been a dead calm since the 3lst of October, not excitement enough to stir the blood of a .cat. These people, gay, light, frivolous as they are, would endure wonders could you convince them that anything was to be gained. They are getting down to what we called in the Galena leadmines ‘hard pan.’ Fresh meat cannot last much longer, including horse and mule. The vegetables really seem to be holding out very well, but the prices are so high that the poor can buy but very little. Butter is selling for $4 a pound; turkeys, sl6 apiece; chickens, apiece; rabbits, $4 each; eggs, sl.fo a dozen, and so on. The price of bread, however, fixed by the city, is about as cheap as usupl. Wine is also very cheap. Bread and wine will soon be about all the poorer classes will have to eat and drink. What misery! what suffering! what desolation! — Ex-Min-ister E. B. Wasliburne, in Scribn r's Magazine.