sacrificed our interests to those of the masses, as every good Alderman ought to do. [Thunders of applause.] _A Voice._ I hear much said of the poor people; but, under the pretext of giving them labor, you begin by taking away from them that which is worth more than labor itself--wood, butter, and soup. _Pierre, Paul and Jean._ Vote, vote. Away with your theorists and generalizers! Let us vote. [The three motions are carried.] THIRD TABLEAU. _Twenty Years After._ _Son._ Father, decide; we must leave Paris. Work is slack, and everything is dear. _Father._ My son, you do not know how hard it is to leave the place where we were born. _Son._ The worst of all things is to die there of misery. _Father._ Go, my son, and seek a more hospitable country. For myself, I will not leave the grave where your mother, sisters and brothers lie. I am eager to find, at last, near them, the rest which is denied me in this city of desolation. _Son._ Courage, dear father, we will find work elsewhere--in Poitou, Normandy or Brittany. They say that the industry of Paris is gradually transferring itself to those distant countries. _Father._ It is very natural. Unable to sell us wood and food, they stopped producing more than they needed for themselves, and they devoted their spare time and capital to making those things which we formerly furnished them. _Son._ Just as at Paris, they quit making handsome furniture and fine clothes, in order to plant trees, and raise hogs and cows. Though quite young, I have seen vast storehouses, sumptuous buildings, and quays thronged with life on those banks of the Seine which are now given up to meadows and forests. _Father._ While the provinces are filling up with cities, Paris becomes country. What a frightful revolution! Three mistaken Aldermen, aided by public ignorance, have brought down on us this terrible calamity. _Son._ Tell me this story, my father. _Father._ It is very simple. Under the pretext of establishing three new trades at Paris, and of thus supplying labor to the workmen, these men secured the prohibition of wood, butter, and meats. They assumed the right of supplying their fellow-citizens with them. These articles rose immediately to an exorbitant price. Nobody made enough to buy them, and the few who could procure them by using up all they made were unable to buy anything else; consequently all branches of industry stopped at once--all the more so because the provinces no longer offered a market. Misery, death, and emigration began to depopulate Paris. _Son._ When will this stop? _Father._ When Paris has become a meadow and a forest. _Son._ The three Aldermen must have made a great fortune. _Father._ At first they made immense profits, but at length they were involved in the common misery. _Son._ How was that possible?