212. AGRICULTURE, Devastated.—
A
very considerable portion of this country
[France] has been desolated by a hail [storm]
* * * Great contributions, public and
private, are making for the sufferers. But
they will be like the drop of water from the
finger of Lazarus. There is no remedy for
the present evil, but to bring the people to
such a state of ease, as not to be ruined
by the loss of a single crop. This hail May
be considered as the coup de grace to an expiring
victim.—
To M. de Crevecoeur. Washington ed. ii, 458.
(P.
Aug. 1788)
