The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-01-12 00:00:00

RAG FAIR IN PARIS:

The Globe of Tuesday gives an extremely interesting and
descriptive sketch of "Rag Fair in Paris" (written by their
Paris Correspondent), from which we make the following
extracts :

There are many places well worthy of notice in
Paris, but neglected by the tourist for some reason or
another. One, an :l not the least important #mong
them, is the Temple, or old clothes mart, which may
be found in the Rue du Temple. . . . The descendants
of the children of Israel appear to have a specialite for
"old do' " in every country, and the Temple is, as
far as the shopkeepers are concerned, similar in aspect
to "Rag Fah.," well known to most people in London.
There is a prevalent belief that a man may be
judged by the kind of clothes he wears, and
the different departments of the market are
divided into distinct quarters, each represent-
ing a varied physiognomy. The stock-in-trade of
each merchant within the mart has been purchased
from the original owners by the men who wander
about the streets offering to buy left-off wearing ap-
parel. Most of these perambulating old clothesmen
are in business on their own account, and have either
a stall of their own in the Temple, where Madame sits
enthroned during their absence, or have regular houses
to which they in turn offer the bargains they have
managed to pick up during the day. Others among
these nomadic traders are merely employes sent out by
large stall-keepers, who have seven or eight men going
about the city offering temptations to the improvident
and needy, and seldom or ever refusing a deal.

The clothes brought in are carefully examined and
sorted. Some, requiring repair and renovating, are
handed over to the stoppeurs, or fine-drawers, who
can conceal the damage done by the tailor's friend—
the moth. Others are passed over to the reviver,
who by some peculiar process manages to make old
clothes look like new, raising the nap of the stuff and
taking out the grease. The cast-off apparel of the
better kind passes into the possession of the more
aristocratic among the stall-keepers, who have
christened the pavilion in which they have located
themselves the Palois Royal. In this section the
spoils of the rich which have passed through the
hands of the valet or femme de chambre and escaped
the clutches of the marehand a la toilette or ward-
robe dealer are offered to the admiring gaze of the
middle :gasses, who are not above coming to buy at
the Temple, knowing that they cannot afford to pay
the expensive charges of the tailor or dressmaker. A
second pavilion, reserved almost exclusively for
articles of domestic economy, such as bedding, cur-
tains, cotton dresses, underclothing, layettes. &c., has
been called the " Pavillon de Flore ;" a third rejoices
in the very appropriate but scarcely delicate name of
"Le pou volant," where old clothes of the worst de-
scription, rags, ironwork, and pots and pans are bar-
gained for by the wives of working men; the fourth
has been christened "La Ferret Noire," and has
been ;monopolised by those who deal in old

hats, boots, shoes, and tools. The two last-
named divisions secure the patronage of the work-
ing classes, who can buy very cheaply, and
thus avoid any transactions with the great enemy
of the proletary—the tallyman. The "Palais Royal
is a good imitation of Holy well-street, as far as the
cle)thes are concerned. Outside the stalls or shops
you May see the richly laced coat of the general or
prefect, which, if long unsold, will be shipped off to
some island and will grace the back of some savage
who hesitatee between wearing a garment and beauty
unadorned. There are court suits which belonged to
the functionaries of the Empire' and which have made
more than one appearance at the balls that u,ed to be
given at the Tuileries. They will become the property
of the manager of some strolling troupe of actors who
will transform them into " properties, ' and lend them
to his colleagues when they play one of Moliere's old
comedies, . • ,

. . . You can get anything you want in the Temple,
which, to a certain extent, has preserved its Alsatian
traditions. The dealers speak a kind of "argot," or
slang, you have an intimate conviction that they are
cheating you, but at the same time you fey' compelled
to believe their glowing descriptions of their wares.
The interior of the shops resembles the hives of busy
bees. Women and young girls are hard at work
turning and transforming the dresses aLd costumes
they have taken off the hands of the wardrobe dealers.
The light satin robc de bal which may have been
worn by the lady of rank at some fashionable
ball will have its train shortened, the stains
and grease taken out, and will form the Sun-
day dress of the milliner's apprentice when she
goes out in summer to the wood of Meudon or
the park of Saint Cloud. The coat made by
Dusautoy or Alfred will be purchased by the employe,
whose large family and small income close the door of
the tailor or even that of the "Belle Jardinibre"
against him. For twenty francs he may have a frock-
coat renovated so as to look like a new one, until the
nap has again worn down and the ink has faded from
the whitened seams. The waiter and the working man
elbow each other in front of the stall, bidding against
each other for the black trousers fresh from the shop
of the stoppeur, while the fast shopman given to buy-
ing " misfits " absents himself from his comrades, and
unobserved makes his way to the Temple, where he
can fit himself out at a trifling expense.
Every one is so bent on business, that it is difficult
to escape from the hands of the dealers without
having made a purchase or received a volley of
sarcastic banter—for, to use a French expression, the
stall-keepers do not carry their tongues in their
pockets. Offers are made you for the very clothes
you have on your back, and the estimate made would
be anything but flattering to your tailor's system of
charging. An idea prevails that you must want either
to buy or sell. You can dispose of a good suit or
procure a worse one, receiving the difference in cash;
or you may improve your outward appearance, quit-
ting your dilapidated garments for something better
in exchange for a consideration. . . .