Litchfield enquirer., 1874-02-12
THE FRENCH PEOoLE.
The Industry and Frugaiity of the Agricu!turiSts--Lif Outside Of
 Paris

Mayor Medill writes to the Chicago Tri- epqf aS st9'itntHlssoml4 the level portions the mark one farm iron. oI so1gmrse are no fences, seeing that the thorn grows nearly as we'll in France as in Great Britain, is to me apuzzle. The only live hedge fences one sees are those planted by the railroad companies on eiiber side of their tracks. of which there are thousands of miles. Everywhere one notices old men or wo- men, boys or girls, herling cattle or sheep, on particular pa ches of ground
 As there are 5000, 600 of farms in France, and the owners of each keep horses, cat lie or sheep, It must consume the major part of the time of 5000, ,000 of persons to watch the live stock when grazing All this expenditure of lime and labor could be obviated by planting hedge fences, as IS done Tn Great Britain and Ireland. Per haps one reason Is that the people do not want to waste the space of ground which the hedges would occupy; and another, that they do not live on their lands, but in villages, and the cattle would have to be driven to pasture and back morning and evening. But whatever may be the causes, there are no fences to be seen, and all live stock must be watched by the owners. Sometimes one will see single COW or half a dozen sheep kept in place by gray-haired old woman or a little girl. It must require the exercise of con- siderable patience to do it.
 As remarked before, the people live in villages, containing, on general average, hundred families, and each with its old church in the center, but often no school house. These villages are nearly always located with reference to water and sum- shine. A good spring out of hillside; 8 little valley with brook that does not go dry III summer: a sunny slope of hill, sheltered from the north and east cold winds, and supplied with water,-are the spots that were selected centuries.ago for those cluster of farm houses. Thousands of villages have stood for ten or more cen- turies; and there is little perceptible change Ill the manners. customs, or 1luiOiS of the inhabitants since the days of the Crusaders, or; for that matter, since the conquest of France by Julius Caesar, l. 900 years ago. l have looked at hum dreds of these ancient rural villages, and observe they are all alike.
 l description of one Is description of all. Generally there is only one street, but sometimes a second, crossing it at any angie except a right one. The street Is about 25 to B feet wide; has no side walk; is clean, but crooked as a ram s horn. Each house Is built of brick or stone, and covered with tile, having steep roofs, with gables fronting the street. In the rear of each house are stable for the shelter of cattle; some other farm build ings; 8 stack-yard; place for farm im- plements; little cellars in the ground for vegetables, wine, etc. and pile of wood (or turf, where that is produced), cut short and assorted into twigs for kind Gngs, and split wood for heating. Ivy or other creeping vines grow up the sides of the houses-on the south front, generally grape-vines. Frequently a pretty little garden may be seen between the house on the front and the stabling on the rear of the lot. Everything IS old and quaint. The universal vehicle of the farmer is a cart, or rather the body of @ dray mount ed on high wheels. If more than one horse is used, they are driven tandem. | This mode of conveyance is only varied by the employment of pack-mules and l donkeys, which carry enormous loads for | their size. One will often see fat old
 woman going to market mounted on a little donkey not much larger than 2
 sheep, which hobbies and staggers along under its overload of ancient dame and
 of straddle- baskets filled with poultry
 and vegetables, with all the patience of ar -ass In addition to the farmers, each
 village, or commune, has it's wine-shop,
 it's little variety store, blacksmith, tai
 Tor, and some other primitive artisans, and a curate, but rarely schoolmaster. Some of the villages contain several hun dred houses, and transact little local trade. But I noticed that, no matter
 whether the town was large or small, Q
 portion of it's inhabitants were farmers. 1 This is as true of city of 100, ,000 popu- l lation as of 8 commune of 800 souls
 However, in some parts of France saw
 separate farm houses after the English style. That is, where a man owned considerable tract of land, say 200 or 40I