Year: 1879

SOME QUEER INDUSTRIES.


Father Chapellier snatches q Fortune


Out of tho Cutters.


Probably no more determined struggle
for existence was ever shown than in the
case of q well-known Paris character,
Chapellier by name, whose ingenuity
was as amusing as his perseverance was
praiseworthy. Father Chapellier, as he
was called, was in his young days a
soldier, who had fought at Waterloo
under the old Napoleon, and who, tired
of the army, had obtained his discharge
and come to Paris, where he found that
his military life stood him in very little
service in procuring him his daily meal.
So he looked about him for the readiest
trade which a man without money or
friends could take up and begin his new
life in the humble capacity of a mudlark,
which in the days of old Paris was often
not successful profession. The gallant
old soldier did not stick very long to the
ravageur's trade, being ashamed that his
old comrades in arms should encounter
him, and perhaps criticise his humble
calling. He obviated this unpleasant
ness by getting berth in the establish
ment of large wholesale chiffonnier.


For six months or so he worked here,
until the unsavory occupation was too
much for him, and he was obliged to 60
into hospital. This, however, was a
turning point in his life; for in the next
bed to him was patient who had been
in the employ of a large poultry -rearer,
and whose particular duty it was to feed
the young fowls and pigeons, or rather
to fatten them. In moment OF conf
dence he enlightened Chapellier as to
how the thing was done-namely, by
filling his mouth with grain and. peas,
opening.the beak of the young birds and
blowing the food down their Gsophagus; /;
simple thing, but uncommonly monot-
onous and fatiguing when 200 or 300 had
to be fed in an hour.


In Chapellier's time, the employment
of machinery had not yet been thought
of, and he was quite content to use his
own mouth; by which he gained about
forty sous a day. But his inquiring
spirit soon came into play. Being con-
stantly brought into contact not only
with the poultry but also with the poul-
try buyers, he noticed singular feature
in the trade-that in cases where the
latter did not sell the birds straight off,
they were always obliged to reduce the
price quarter or perhaps a third for
every day that they were unsold, though
they might appear perfectly fresh to the
uninitiated. But the cooks and the res
taurant keepers were not to be taken in
by appearances; and Chapellier found
out that an unfailing symptom of fresh
ness, or rather want of it, lay in the ap-
pearance of the feet, which were black
and brilliant at the time of killing, but
acquired gray tinge, more and more
pronounced as time went on. Turkeys
feet showed this peculiarity the most,
and it set. Chapellier. thinking; the re-
suit of bis cogitation being that he in
vented q paste which, when rubbed on
the legs, brought back the original black
gloss, and completely erased the tell-tale
date of death. Having tried it with
success, he went the round of the poul-
terers, who willingly promised him a
small royalty for initiating them also;
and rs he was shrewd enough to keep
his own secret. he soon found that the
profession of painter Of poultry-legs," "
apart from its questionable morale, was
exceedingly lucrative. But Chapellier
was ambitious, and finding the work in
crease beyond his powers OF personally
supervising it, he sold his secret to a
friend for one thousand francs, and with
this little capital set off to find pastures
new.


Chapellier was i'll some doubt what he
should do next, whether he should set
up wine-shop or an eating-house; for
his experience led him to believe that to
cater for the stomach was the best pass
port to money-making, but at last a
bright idea struck him. He noticed that
large proportion of the chiffonniers'
findings consisted of scraps of bread-all
the stale leavings of coOk-shops, schools,
colleges, hospitals and asylums which
were thrown away as valueless and car
ried away amongst other rubbish by the
cliiffonniers. Chapellier knowing well
the tastes and habits Of the Partisan
population, was aware that immense
quantities of rabbits were made into stew
by the working-classes Of the barriers,
and also that this stew was dressed and
eaten with bread-crusts. He knew also
that the rabbits themselves were largely
fed upon bread-crumbs; and he there
fore conceived the idea of collecting,
sorting, cleaning and rebaking these
scraps, feeling sure that he could make a
market out Of them. So off lie went to
the restaurants and the cooks of the pub
lie establishments in his quarter, and
actually offered to buy and pay ready
money for what they had been throwing
away; and this was proposal to which
the cooks, thinking what a fool he was,
lent ready ear. But Chapellier was
not such a fool as they thought, for,
having obtained quantity Of bread
scraps at nominal rate, he set to work
to prepare them, and in few days took
his station in the market, surrounded by
little basketfuls, which he sold for six
sous, apiece. He was soon sold out, pur-
chasers focking to him not only for their
convenience and cheapness, but also for
the attractive and cleanly way in which
he'got hiserusts ready. So fast did his
reputation increase that he extended his
negotiations to other parts of Paris, add
ing to his manufacture that Of grated
bread-crumbs, made ready for cooks to
powder their outlets with.


Within q very short time the business
grew to such size that he had in use
six carts and horses to bring the piles of
scraps to the factory at the barrier OF
St. Jacques, where some fifty men and
women were occupied in sorting and
cleaning. Young girls found employ.
ment in packing up the little baskets Of
prepared crusts and of the crisped bread
squares which were in such favor in the
preparation of the daily pot and ifeu;
while to the children was given the duty
of grinding to powder the scraps which
were too far gone to be of use as an
eatable, and which were carbonized in
the oven, so as to be available for max
ing charcoal tooth-powder. To the day
of his retirement from business, which
he eventually did with a fortune of thirty
thousand francs year, the old soldier
personally superintended, impressing on
all that nothing was to be wasted. He
was a wit rs we'll as a philosopher, and
was never weary of saying "that human
beings sometimes reasoned, but that
they never failed to eat-and very often
too much" Chambers Journal.


An Insane Artists Freak.