The Minister of Finance recently spoke of the good French people obliged to "do penance" because of the changes in the new way of life, which have reduced the resources of small rentiers and intellectuals. Obviously, many of these good people with limited resources, with diminished pensions, can no longer afford the comforts and amenities of ten years ago. Before the war, this end of July was the time when people went to the seaside or to the countryside. They would go as a family to spend a quiet month in some "cheap little hole." Today, the little holes still exist, but they are prohibitively expensive, and the hotel managers or landlords of these resorts, once welcoming, have adopted the manners and especially the rates of the big centers, and one of them taught philosophy and resignation to his passing guests; He was responding to a good little pensioner who, out of habit, had strayed there, as in the past, and was complaining about the high bill:
Sir, when you don't have much money, you don't go to the spa. You stay at home.
Those who still make the rather heavy sacrifice to fresh air for their children must, of course, give up the distractions of yesteryear: the casino is forbidden to them, and as for pleasant excursions, they are out of the question. After that, you might say, one can live very well without going to the sea or the mountains. Obviously, but still, these were hygienic habits that must be abandoned.
These deprivations have given rise to a curious system of mutual assistance, if you will. Ten, twenty, thirty people, or more, meet and, every week, for a year, each contribute a sum that varies according to the contributors' resources. We put this money aside and, at vacation time, we draw lots to see who will receive the entire sum thus collected. Is this a lottery? We mustn't spread the word, because lotteries are prohibited, and the taxman would be quite likely to get involved and claim his share, his large share.

JEAN-BERNARD