Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-21
MARKETING IN OLD QUEBEC.
PRODUCTS OF Home Art as Displayed in
Champlain Market.

From the New York Evening Pest
In Champlaln market the unitarian Ia
provided for as well as the ss hetic r. era
one can supply both the outer and the inner
man. There are hanks of homespun wool
/ in Its natural tints or dyed to suit tho
hearts desire. toweling made on cottage
looms from homespun and homegrown fix
rag carpedng so closely woven and of stch
fine strands that one can make portieres
thereof. and socks knit by farmers wires
In odd moments OF comparative leisure. n
autumn there will be "tuaues" conicll
worsted caps which can be pulled comfur:-
ably down over the wearer's ears Ard at
all seasons the habitant sells coarse but
very pretty table covers and bedsprc IDS
woven of heavy linen strands. delft blue
and white.
Few OF the saleswomen are specialists
MOST OF the stands display what tie little
farm at this time affords One woman Tor
instance, has two fowls a hank of ho,,e-
spun wool many bars of homemade soap
seductlvely spread forth, some things VIII ch
look like brickbats but are explained TO be
Diood buildings, and a Sleeps heart with
attachments which only an anatomist could
identity She has also a shallow BASKET
run or stamped pots of the delicious "tab-
| itante butter wrapped in cool lettu
IeaVeS. pail OF hams and sheaf Of
brooms made by tying green withes to a
staff.
The trfg little saleswoman knfts while she
waits for customers. While her fingers
work deftly with her homespun wool her
eyes rove over the, shifting. gesticulating
crowd. For market day is fatiguing! Yes;
but 1t Is amusing, also Here she meets
acquaintances whom otherwise she sees but
seldom, relatives from distant villages and
daughters Of her own village. whose young
husbands longed amid the peace of their
fields, for the stir of the streets. and so
have gone to work In the shoe factories Of
Quebec.
The saleswoman wears the unadorned
black sailor" hat. SO popular among the
habitantes that stranger might suppose
1t to be part of the national costume. The
famboyant millinery SO dear to her soul
Is for a saints day a wedding She will
greet you with a smile and a bon jour" as
you approach her. and however small your
purchase she will find another smile and
another bon jour- for you as you depart.
Though her stock Is small it's range IL so
wide that If you cannot make trade with
her you are indeed hard to please.
AT the outermost stalls sit the poorest
peoples who have so little to sell that one
wonders how their profits can cover the
cost of coming. gray-haired woman
st. Elizabeth sits knitting on an inverted
wooden box. and spread before her a
second box lies her entire stock In trade
two dozen bars Of homemade soap. But
she is better equipped for business than the
old man who has brought all his merchan
disc in a pail. 1t is a collection of small
blood puddings. wrapped In newspapers.
There are few specialists among the mar
ket people Noteworthy among these are
the sellers of medicinal herbs. The use of
simples," once part of the education of a
chatelaine, is still taught, It seems. In cot
tages of French Canada. The herb seller
has many fagots of sticks. punches of herbs
and bundles of slender rootlets. She has
also spruce gum ''au naturei,' In Jumps
which look like fragments of quartz. and
spruce gum in sticks. bearing outward
resemblance to homemade molasses candy.
She calls her wares by strange names I'M
known to botany; knows the virtues OF
each, and could prescribe for you.