The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-11-23
THE SILK wEAvERs OF LYONS.
How They Work, the Wages They Receive,
and How They Live.

and How They Live.
Paris Correspondence New Orleans Picayune.
The three centers of silk weaving in Lyons
are a hill known as the CroiX- Reusse the suburb
of SaintJust and the plain of Brotteaux. Each
one of these quarters is filled with tall stone
houses, of five and six floors, where the silk
weavers live-twc, three, and sometimes even
four families to the floor but each family having
its own apartment opening the common
landing and stairway. Few of the apartments
are often composed of more than two rooms a
kitchen and the chambre de tissaSe or weaving
shop. The family live in the kitchen, husband,
wife, and children eating and sleeping in that
disgusting promiseuity engendered everywhere
by poverty. The larger of the two is always the
one selected for the chambre de tissage. Here
the entire space is filed up by the looms, which
form the most valuable of the family possess
ions. There the machines are all. with
out single exception, the oldfashioned
jacquard loom. Most of them old and
wormeaten and were erected by the grandfather
of the present owner, when he at last consented
reluctantly and with many misslving to adopt
the new-fangled invention of Monsieur jacquard
The canut stands in front of his loom, works
with his left hand the spring which drives for
ward the shuttle, then he pulls string with his
right hand and sets free another spring, which
drives back the shuttle from right to left and as
lie does this he presses with his foot a treadle
which keeps the threads of the warp moving
around the rollers, between which they are
stretched, and automatically regulates the pat
Jefn tbldCiSO 10 lle upper Liz CloCh-AAh0
and monotonous movement of handand foot con
tinueS without a pause until the weaver has to
stop to tie up broken thread or change shut
tie; the ghost of old jacquard himself seems
lowering around experimenting the intricate
movement of his invention; the only sound you
can hear is the lncessant click, clack, click,
clack of the shuttle as it flies backward and
forward twisting the wool in and out and be-
tween the threads of the warp; and all the
time the silken fabric grows coiing itself around
the worm eaten cylinder, displaying the brilliant
patterns which form themselves as though by
magc-a solid mass of lustpous black or
creamy white; brilliant green a tender pink
regal purple, variegated with flowers and
leaves-it is the only beautiful thing which the
eye find to rest on and. in the midst Of so
much that is ugly, mean and sordid, it awakens a
vision of the rich, happy, and beautiful woman
who next season will deck her form with 1t at the
bos, at the races, or in some ballroom of one of
the great capitals of the world. Such is the
scene which, with but little variarion, is pre-
scented by all the homes of the Lyonnaise eanuts
Some have but one room, where they work as
we'll as eat and sleep, and III these there are
never more than two looms--one for the husband
and the other for the wife. Where there are
four looms one is often eonfded to q compagnou,
that is to say, weaver who takes his mess with
the family and receives for his work one half of
the price paid by the manufacturer
AT the present prices Lyons silk-weaver can
earn something like sixty cents a day; he is paid
most of course, for weaving velvets, but these
take longer to weave-one meter of velvet or
four meters of satin is a good DAYS work-the
average earnings of each loom will not exceed
what have mentioned.