THE FATE OF 1C I O DO RUM. 189 



The market had supplied boots for all, but the 

 people perversely refused to take them. The 

 shop-windows were full of boots, temptingly dis- 

 played in rows of assorted sizes ; nevertheless, 

 every person in Issoire, except those engaged in 

 boot-making, seemed bent on wearing his last 

 year's boots rather than to pay twenty francs for a 

 new pair. The high price of leather and hides 

 since the exclusion of the mountain cattle began 

 to reduce the profits in boot-making, and so some 

 of the factories threw a poorer article on the mar- 

 ket, without, however, any corresponding reduction 

 in price. And people found that it was cheaper 

 to go to Clermont again for boots, notwithstanding 

 the payment of the octroi. Accordingly, the old 

 wagons were sent out once in a while, by people 

 who had more cupidity than patriotism. And a 

 little coterie of aristocrats who sneered at the 

 mayor as a demagogue, and at the octroi as a 

 " relic of the middle ages," used to wear Clermont- 

 made boots and to ape Clermont fashions. But 

 all good citizens discouraged this, and the main- 

 tenance of the " Tssoire idea" became one of their 

 articles of faith, next to those in the catechism. 



But Clermont-made boots often came in on the 

 sly no one knew how to the dismay of the 

 local dealers. The Common Council saw that this 

 would not do, and that the single old soldier who 

 guarded each of the city gates could not meet all 

 the requirements of the octroi. So at each gate 

 were placed a dozen gendarmes, in red woollen 

 uniforms, with black caps fastened on by a leather 

 band which went around the lower lip. And the 



