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Matilda Betham-Edwards - East of Paris
"Now," said my hostess, as she dished up and began to carve a fat partridge cooked to a turn - "this bird
that came so apropos, is a present from a great-nephew of Danton. He is the juge de paix here
and a good neighbour of mine. We will pay him a visit this afternoon."
Of this gentleman, of Danton's home and family, I shall say something later on. We made a round of
visits that day, but the juge de paix, who seemed to share the tastes of his great ancestor, was in
the country in search of more partridges. Other friends and acquaintances we found at home; among
these was a retired confectioner, who had once kept a shop in Regent Street, and had told Mademoiselle
Jenny that she would be delighted to talk English with me.
Warmly welcomed I was by the portly, prosperous looking pastry-cook, who was reading a newspaper
and smoking a cigarette in a well-furnished, comfortable parlour. But alas! thirty years had elapsed since
his departure from England, and during the interval he had never once interchanged a word with any of
my country-people. To his intense mortification, he had completely lost hold of the English tongue!
Another acquaintance, an elderly woman, who seemed to be living on small independent means, had a
curious house pet. This, once a pretty little frisking lamb, had now reached the proportions of a big fat
sheep. So docile and affectionate, however, was the animal, and so attached had the good soul become to
it, that a pet it seemed likely to remain to the end of its days; the creature followed its mistress about like
a dog.
The little town of Arcis-sur-Aube, like many another, is now deserted by all who can get to livelier and
more bustling centres. Tanneries, vest, stocking and glove weaving and stitching, are the only resources
of the place.
During my stay, I made the acquaintance of a charming family engaged in the latter trade. Stopping one
day in front of a weaver's open door to watch him at work, I was cordially invited to enter. The head of
the house, one of those quiet, intelligent, dignified artisans so typical of his class in France, was weaving
vest sleeves at a hand loom, just as I had seen, at St. Etienne, ribbon weavers pursuing their avocations at
home. As we chatted about his handicraft and its modest emoluments, his little son came in from school,
a bright lad who, to his father's delight, had lately gained prizes. It is curious that only one part of a vest,
stocking or glove is done by a single hand; some goods I found came to this house to be finished and
others were sent away to be made ready for sale elsewhere. By-and-by, a pretty, refined girl, the daughter
of the house, came in and asked me if I would like to see what she was doing.
Forthwith she took me to a neat, cheerful little room upstairs overlooking a garden.
On a table by the open window was a hand-sewing machine, and her occupation was the ornamental
stitching of silk and cotton gloves by machinery. The pay seemed excessively low I thought, I believe
something like twopence per dozen pair, but the young machinist seemed perfectly contented and happy.
"It is pleasant," she said, "to be able to earn something at home and to live with papa and mamma and my
little brother."
Before leaving, with the prettiest grace in the world, she begged my acceptance of a dainty pair of
lavender silk gloves knitted by her own hands.
Some day I hope to revisit Arcis-sur-Aube, and meantime I hold occasional intercourse by post with my
friends in Danton's town.
CHAPTER XIV. ARCIS-SUR-AUBE - ( continued).
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