Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-03-30

Lady NernCy, who short times since
gave in the contemporary RcricW the
results of her observations ON peasant
proprictOrship i'll some If the Southern
districts OF France, inthc December mum.
ber of the same publication relates her
experiences with the peasant proprietors
of Auvcrgne in the neighborhood of Cler-
mont, where she found the mOrcCUcment
greater than even at AiX-les- Bains. "a
bit fifty yards by thirty Lady Vcrney
says "loollod quite large. If / asked the
value of the land they laughed at the no.
tion OF hectare C2t acrcsl; they bought
it they said, by the toise six feet square
or 100 toiscs, Il quartonay; little bit
here, little bit there, very often at an
hours distance from each other. A !; rye
piece together did not exist. | asked
why they did not buy up or exchange so
as to have their property under their
hands II was quite impossible there
is the greatest jealousy of each other, no
one can bear his ncighbor to be better
off than himself. | heard of running mp
the price ut ali auction from sheer spite
to 20f the toisc The expenses of the
transfer of land are ruinous TO small pro-
prietors. in sale of real property un-
der 10OOf half the value is absorbed un-
der 500f. the confiscation is complete. In
the village Of Beausejour, a pleasant
looking woman, who had been for twenty
years chambermaid at one OF the hotels,
showed us her house. part of one which
had once been goc' , the old days before
subdivision she ,as preparing hemp
which the tisserand would weave into a
coarse cloth. She said that the snow lay
thick on the ground from November till
March, and they did not leave their
houses much then. They never bought
fuel they burnt the vine shoots, and
picked mp any bits they could find. But
you must suffer from cold 2 oh, no,
because we 90 into the stables with the
COWS, she said with great gusto. III y a
Ia une ri dotcc ch0iem'-it is SO pleas
ant that one can not help nodding with
sleep. The roof is boarded, and there is
a little window, and when one comes out
into the open air, there is such steam
and it is like an oven she ended with
pride and enthusiasm. IN another house
there was no window whatever, only two
panes, which did not open, over the door
way-and no light OF air unless the door
was left NJ ar. No shelf, press or cup
board was to be seen, and ON the floor
lay onions, dirty cloths, bread, sticks and
the indescribable remnants of never STIR
was dirty as the ground, because out of
doors the pure rain fell and cleared away
he filth. whereas within no water was
ever used by human hands, or, indeed,
could be, unless the whole house had
been turned out Of doors. Where do you
Sleep said |. oh, up there There
was no star or opening OF any kind. But
how do you get to it?' BY the street.
She led the way up steep path to the
road above, by which We reached the
higher level, where the bedroom opened
True they must pass to bed through the
cold and wet, but then they spared them
selves the expense Of stair. The pleas
urc of spending the evenings with heI
COW was insisted upon by this mistress
also. In another stable-dwelling, fol
these appeared to be no separate building
or room for the people themselves, there
were seven cows ranged against the wall
A glazed hole did duty for a window that
did not open, and light and mir came il
by tine distant door. The heat, even OF
this chill day, was great, but poor ole
woman in one of the beds, very i'll, wa,
shivering all over, and complaining Of
the cold :; she wore only n knitted shift
and her clothes were heapcd over her il
was very pathetic to see her helpless lool
amidst the dark filth, the bed shut in OF
three sides, which never could be shaker
up OF cleaned from biting beast, withou
fireplace, and III the checrless, airles
confusion. She is my mother; it all be
longs to her-mdif cngu c'osf a nous A
followed the woman through doorwa,
into the perfect darkness, five or six larg
geese rushed ont past her legs and near
ly overset me. Here there was not til
slightest opening Of any kind, but she un
did the upper half of the door, and sa,
there horse, sick calf, and the plac
for the fowls-here were two more beds
for the men, i c. her husband and
farm boy. The smell and dirt were S
intolerable that hardly dared step int
the place. Everywhere was the bar
earth, or rather mud. This was by ia
the largest and richest homestead that W
saw, and Cperhaps because there wa
more of it,, it looked more wretchedl
dirty than the rest. Nowhere else di
we see seven COWS, or a horse, or Sc
want. 'And you sleep here summer an
winter, said l. 'Bien sur, it is so war;
and nice The horrible discomfort WI
was not the effect Of poverty /; it was I'll
deliberate choice of wretched squalor, til
utter want OF any feeling of decency {
comfort or any object in life but to sav
fuel, that made the place so painful. Th
Archangel Gabriel himself could not hay
cleaned the stables without miracle.
none OF them are paved, water could onl
have made the earth dirtier, and as fl
sweeping, the mass of beams of WOO,
STICKS, Old boxes, etc, mixed with maj
ure, which filled up the corners, whel
the dirt and creeping things accumulate