The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-03-21
ChfgnOnS.


Chateaubriand in his memoirs, "the French
women have always sold their beautiful
tresses, to decorate heads less favored by
nature than their own, and even now the
women of Brittany sacrifice thai ornament
for the sake of some silk kerchief of many
colors at one of the periodical fairs"
In the environs Of the Chateau de Cam
bouEg, in Brittany, an annual fair is held, on
the 4th of September, in the centre of an ex-
tensive meadow This is the local fete. In
the midst Of conjurors, gypsies, bear-leaders,
indispensable attendants at these fetes, you
will look in vain for tho red Indian silks of
which Chateaubriand speaks But if you go
to the extreme end of the rows of tents and
booths to the very outskirts of the village,
you will there see carts draped with white
canvas, the owners of which offer packets of
brilliant-colored handkerchiefs mostly of
cotton, for SALE For one of these handker-
chiefs, which are about half franc apiece,
the dealer often succeeds in obtaining an
entire crop of hair It has been said that the
girls of Brittany and Auvergne never sell
their hair till compelled by extreme poverty
This, however, is incorrect. The trade in
hair dates from the most remote periods,
and has become an established custom.
The head-dresses worn by the women and
girls of the country conceal the absence of
tresses; and the shorn lambs look none
the worse for the absence of their WOOL
with the consent of their future husbands,
for the sake of buying trinket or some arti-
Gle of furniture to begin housekeeping. The
Breton hair is much priced for its unrivalled
softness and lustre and the traders in Brit
tany are not content with the produce of fairs
and village fetes, but travel about the whole
year, tempting the possessors OF beautiful
blonde or dark tresses to exchange them for
some bright rag often not worth half a franc.
In the Breton towns, hair -dressers will give
twenty francs for a pound of long hair, that
being the fixed price throughout the province;
but the young girls of the towns are not SO
easily persuaded as their country sisters to
part with this great natural ornament.
The value of good head of hair is generally
about ten francs, the most abundant crop
seldom weighing more than half pound.
In Auvergne the hair trade is carried on in
much more open manner. The trader
comes in his gig to all the fairs of Ambre,
Saint Antheme, Arlant Aurillac, and Riom.
He pitches his tent-on the summit of which
floats the tri-colored fag-in the midst of
grand display If butter, eggs, vegetables and
fruit. He hides not here in a remote cor
ner as he does in Brittany; but, standing on
the platform of his booth, his shirt sleeves
rolled up to his shoulders, invites the women
and girls in a loud voice to come up and
show their tresses Around his booth
assemble crowds of men and women in
wearing colored caps or straw hats with
broad brims, the men dressed in green cloth
jackets and enormous hats. One after an
other the young girls mount upon the
platform, uncover their heads, undo their
plaits, and exhibit their treasures in the pre-
sence of the crowd. The buyer examines
them carefully, and makes his offer. AS soon
as bargain is struck, each girl disappears
into the interior of the tent. Five minutes
afterwards she reappears amidst hooting and
shouts of laughter and takes to her heels
These demonstrations deter no one, and
almost every girl follows in the steps of the
first. Nevertheless, it does sometimes happen
that the young mon unite, and after eyine
the dealer askance, rush at his cart, and
would soon make an end of him, if he die
not pack up and drive off with his booty as
fast as possible. Thanks to the swiftness OF
his horse, he may escape from the danger
of being pillaged; but he generally disap
pears among clouds of dirt, stones, bad eggs
and in fact whatever may be within reach o
the gallant fellows.
After the travelling dealer has completed
his tour through the provinces, he takes hi
goods to Paris, or some other large town
where he receives for every pound of hair
sum VARYING from twenty francs to a hun
dred, according to the quality. After pass
ing through various processes, including
much cleansing, it is finally made into CHG
nons
To form one large chignon the produce OF
thirty heads is often required, and it is to b,
noted that hair of dead personsis never used
as it is supposed to be wanting in the supple
ness requisite for curling and plating Man
prefer to the hair of the Bretonnes that O
the German girls, which is often very beauti
full, though rarely met with in full perfection
Chignons of the tint known as "angeli
blonde" which is chiefly found in Germany
are sold at an exorbitant price. But ever
kind of hair is of use for chignons, even tn
long hairs combed out of the head, which, i
Paris, are picked out of the dust-heaps by tn
clit0nnie'S, and sold by them to the hal
dressers for the tetes pOSntes-a species c
frisette made of hair of different qualities an
uneven lengths. In fact, nothing is los
hair of an unpopular color is generally dye
black, and even parings of hair are used u
for wigs and chignons for dolls.
Fifteen hundred francs is an exception
price for chignon. But such sum is sa
to have been actually paid for one of a golde
shade three feet and half in length. At IL
present time very superior chignon can
had for two hundred and fifty francs, and o
dinary chignons are sold at prices varyiI
from twelve to fifty francs