Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1890-01-18

OFF
is set and paid down in hand, for they will
not trust you with the sum until morning lest
your appearance belle your ability to pay, but
the lugubrious transaction once settled and a
few aous scattered among the children, which
are Immediately enatched away and hid In
the farmers strong box, the atmosphere sud
denly changes. You are the guest now. All
the inn-keeping politeness, ,suavity and etten.
ton OF Paris are yours, and until you leave
every soul in the cottage puts every other
duty aside to minister unto your wants and
comfort
A Breton peasant farmers home is one of
the strangest compounds of filth and cleanli-
ness to be found in the whole world. There
is not a cabin in all Ireland 80 embedded in
dirt as is every Breton farm. cottage. The
pig roots before the door, hunts and haunts
at will within doors, and sleeps within the
same peaceful atmosphere as the household
at night. Goats and fowls are on precisely
the same footing as all other members of the
family, as to occupancy of the home, and the
COW, donkey or horse looks calmly in upon
all the household proceedings from its
from its open manger above your box bed.
In winter and summer the walls of the cot
tage form convenient stalls for other ami
mails, If the farmer possesses them, or steam
with the fumes of piles of decaying manure.
To the farmer these bring his wealth, and it
ia more priciously cared for than his wife or
children. Numberless farm homes I have
visited were scarcely accessible through
narrow isle at the door, the only windows
being boarded up and covered over with the
vile stuff that it might be better guarded
and none go to waste. Upon this is piled all
garbage and refuse from the scanty living,
until the place has the appearance Of west-
ern 'tdug out,.' with its entrance through a
hole in the hillside, and the smoke from the
| fre-placs ascending through hole cut high
or up along the hill. The floor within is the
| bare earth, worn by feet and baked by fire to
| the consistency of asphalt. Il is kept swept
clean and smooth by tremendous osier
brooms, which perform like service in the
| adjoining pig-pen and cow-house. There is
| but one Fireplace; and all the cooking for
man and beest-for the wise Breton farmer
takes as much pains with the food of his ami
mails as he demands for his family-is done
within it, and upon huge brass and iron
utensils that would be difficult for you or me
| to lift. Above each fireplace will be found
curiously carved cruci6xes, many I have
seen being marvels in hand carving, and
bright, colorful pictures of the saints, or the
| fstatiens' of the sacred Passion There is
but one room. A table of some hard wood
is built on four huge posts driven into the
ground, and in this table will be found per-
| manent cavities, carved out of the top,
| which answer as receptacles for food. Into
| these the smoking contents of the casserole
are poured, and the family fingers fish for
the morsels, end the family mouths suck up
the broth, of the daily etuve or stew.
l pIonH 1rao1 mn what ho drr1pb
and this, varied by occasional draughts Of
whey, with still less frequent mugs of black
coffee, form the Breton peasant's constant
diet. Vegetables are sparingly used.
These are boiled for the cow and the pig; for
every earthly possibility in food beyond that
which will sustain hnman life must go into
something which can be sold and increase
| the family hoard.
Along the siees of the walls Will be found
| a most curious collection of bureaus and
| strong boxes, or chests. 1t is not unusual
to find in the lowliest of Breton homes, and,
standing in state upon the bare earth, bu-
| reaus and dressers of the richest woods and
in most wonderful carvings of the 18th and
17th centuries One old piece which
found in PEASANTS home near Carnac was
made in the 10Th century, and its makers
name and the date were cut in the wood as q
part of the splendid horiture carved in the
two outer posts. The bureau must have
weighed 400 to 500 pounds, and would have
been worth as many dollars at a collectors
in Boston or New York. The locks on all
| these pieces of furniture are immense in
size, made by hand, and the huge dropshan"
dies are Of hand-wrought brass. know of
no country whose peasantry are SO singular
ly rich in ancient furniture. It is priced as
heir-looms, but the owners of many of these
venerable objects claim that the most of
these rare pieces originally came from the
IOsI Sy, ynir, oy,1 do
cay. At one end, or the side, of the average
Breton home are half dozen of the univer-
sal box bedsteads. Hanging from the roof,
r, to DO lowered OF night tad raised by day,
are two or three box or osier-plaited cradles,
called "bransels," ;" in which the infants are
slowed away at night, the only care they
ever seem to receive. Near the beds are va
These contain provisions, the farmers hoard
of money, and they also serve as seats.
Near the table already described is another
table Of huge timbers, but lesser sizs. On
this stands an osier cover as large as, and
looks precisely like, the ancient willow
bee hive of our own ancestors. A cord runs
from this to ring in the rafter, and thence
to peg in the wall, within reach of the
housewives hand. The first time I saw this
affair swung creaking into tho air was
startled. Its Office is to cover the Breton
"family loaf" But what loaf it is! From
two to three feet across 1t and from eight to
ten inches thick. "Hunks" are hacked off as
hunger wills, and 30 ravenous are these
peasants appetite that a loaf of this size
lasts the average family no more than two
days. But out of these surroundings and
conditions come to the fetes, "pardons" an6
: fairs the cleanest and brightest peasant folk
your eyes ever beheld. Though every drop
of water is brought from the roadside toun.
tain, or village WELL in brown ewers upor
1 ~5- I-,l s-I vlk g.
souse the youngsters often and we'll; and mar
or woman of the Breton farn family knows
,, no sense of shame in bathing before the fire
place aud your own wondering eyes, if tn,
set time for body scrubbing happens t.
arrive while You are bileted with the family
, The huge brasses upon the rare old furniture
in every Breton home is constantly polished
: person is part of the Breton's religion
:, Every cooking utensil is scrubbed ani
! scrubbed alarmingly. The pains taken will
milk, butter, and cheese would astonish ever
J Mohawk Valley housewife. While the
, outer work a day clothing may shine will
grease or gain added weight and substance
from layers of filth, the undergarments ar,
2 scrupulously clean and sweet. Aud yor
cannot find bed in all Brittany whose lin
en- is not as fresh as bed of violets ani
white as bank of newly fallen snow. A
home the Breton peasant is a sul1en, solder
drudge. The only exception is in the mas
ter of the house, who gravely stands abou
r and while putting his long, slender pipe, i
: ever quiet but effective driver of his famil
. of willing slaves. The wife and children
and especially the wife and daughters, cease
), lessly drudge with the almost inconceivabl
! bitterness Of manual labor about the hom
= : and in the fields. They are beasts of 5urdel
endlessly. No respect or consideration
! ever shown the woman of Brittany. "Onc
married, ever beast" is pathetic proven
: . among them; and there are no beautiful wo
: : men among these peasant slaves. Some G
= = the men have good forms, and they are tai
shapely, grave and fine. Some even posses
classic faces, intensified by their long, coars
: hair, and wide, black, low-crowned hats
But Breton peasant woman is as a shape
less block of wood, wrinkled and bent b
, stormy wind and weather, her spotless whit
a cap, her shapeless bodice and her huge WOOD
. = en- shoes giving her limp and lifeless forI
y grotesqueness, but never pioturesqueness an
= interest. You have seen the beaten, hal
fed donkey as IL caught q moment for rel