Today was Danielle's first birthday, I made her a small cake and Claude and I had a little party in her honor. She was incredibly excited. I told her to make a wish but not to tell anyone or it wouldn't come true. I wonder what she wished for.
Today was so much more than just a birthday. Thousands of people stormed the Bastille in order to rescue seven political prisoners held within. Claude decided to stay home (thank heavens) for Danielle's birthday. As soon as it was all over, the house was flooded with his friends. Discussing the events of the day and the events past. The Tennis Court Oath by the National Assembly (the men of the Third Estate) was brought up more than once in the evening. The men swore to fight until a new constitution was passed. They are still arguing as we speak, Danielle is now asleep but when they first arrived, she was ecstatic. She treats them all as uncles as they spend quite a bit of time in the house. She sat on Claude's lap as he vehemently argued against the Estates General. Claude has already begun organizing articles for this weeks issue of the pamphlet. Included is a page from the last issue.
These pamphlets have begun to conflict with Claude's ability to print the sanctioned Catholic doctrine that we survive upon. I continue to tell him that bread is harder and harder to find now in Paris and we need the money that the texts bring in to eat. He has not been very focused on the texts that are handed to us from the Administration (which by the way is getting more and more slack as the days go on) and we are making just enough money to get by. I've tried to convince Claude to let go of the pamphlet, things are difficult without that added stress but he insists upon it. He really is very stubborn.
There have also been rumors that Maissemy, the director of the Book Trade in France, may resign. I'm not certain of this but the Book Trade has been losing many of its important figures and is quickly losing a grasp on publishing in France. In the past couple of months, several small print shops have opened in downtown Paris. It seems that everyone wants to get their ideas out without dealing with the middle man.