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Tfie Vintage in Finance. 



The Vintage in France. 



Translated for the National Intelligencer, 

 from GaillardeCs Letters from Paris, in 

 the Courier des Etats Unis. 



Paris, October Gth, 1845. 



The vintage has commenced throughout 

 France. It is a time of frolic and feverish 

 activity in certain provinces, such as Bur- 

 gundy, Champagne, Bordelais, Roussillon, 

 &c. At this time of year these provinces 

 afford a picture of manners, a few traits of 

 which I will sketch for you, for they are en- 

 tirely unknown in the New World. Ame- 

 rica is the favoured land of Ceres, but, hith- 

 erto, Bacchus and his green vines have ac- 

 quired there no right of naturalization. 



In Burgundy, as elsewhere, the day for 

 the opening of the vintage is fixed by a mu- 

 nicipal proclamation, which is published in 

 hand-bills and distributed through the vil- 

 lages by the sound of the drum. No one is 

 permitted to begin his vintage before this 

 period ; the general interest, in this case, 

 gives the law to private interest. The eve 

 of the day fixed upon, the little town of Ton- 

 nerre witnessed the arrival of an innume- 

 rable crowd of men and women of all ages, 

 coming from the neighbouring towns as well 

 as from the more distant, — they sometimes 

 come ten or fifteen leagues — to exercise 

 their trade of vintagers and basket-carriers 

 The only tools of the former consist of a flat 

 basket with curved rims, which they carry 

 under the arm or hold by the handle, and a 

 small pruning-hook or knife, with a wooden 

 haft and crooked blade, to cut the bunches 

 of grapes. The basket-carriers, or scuttlers, 

 as they are commonly called, are sturdy 

 young men, with a scuttle, or basket, in the 

 form of a cone, slung upon tlie back with 

 leather straps; the vintagers empty their 

 baskets of grapes into those of the scuttlers, 

 who, in their turn, empty theirs into a vat 

 or large hogshead, with a single bottom fast- 

 ened upon wheels. Girls almost monopolize 

 the trade of vintagers. They are preferred 

 to young men, because they are more atten- 

 tive and receive less wages. Their costume 

 generally consists of a coloured handker- 

 chief, or marmotte, which they wear after 

 the manner of the West India mulattresses, 

 wooden shoes, woollen stockings, and a very 

 short fustian petticoat; if the latter were 

 longer, it would draggle on the wet ground 

 when they stooped to cut the grapes. To 

 these two species of the class of vintagers 

 must be added the carters, who hire them- 

 selves, their vat, their wheels, and their 

 horses, to transport the produce of the vine- 

 yard to the press in town. 



A real colony had arrived at Tonnerre, a 

 colony so numerous that all the taverns in 

 the little town would not have sufficed to 

 lodge them. But it is not in taverns that this 

 cohort of natives seek an asylum ; at least 

 it is not in the chambers of the tavern, but 

 in their stables and barns, where, for two 

 sous a night, they are furnished with straw 

 ad libitum. With this straw they make a 

 bed for themselves, or rather a litter, upon 

 which they all bundle together; the men on 

 one side, the women on the other. The 

 mischievous wags of the town rarely suffer 

 the vintagers to pass their short nights in 

 repose. No trick can be imagined which 

 they do not play them. . Sometimes they 

 are roused by the cry of fire, sometimes cold 

 water is squirted over them by means of 

 enormous syringes, sometimes a cat or a 

 live rat is thrown among them. The latter 

 always produces a tremendous uproar. But 

 uhen the clock strikes three, the whole of 

 this ant-hill suddenly spring to their feet, 

 and, sliaking themselves like a flock of ducks 

 coming out of the water, their simple toilet 

 is done. Every one repairs to the great 

 square, which soon resounds with a dismal 

 concert of songs and cries of all sorts. 

 The inhabitants of the neighbourhood, who 

 have no vineyards to call their attention, 

 draw the bedclothes around their heads and 

 avoid the noise, while those who have grapes 

 to gather, dress themselves in haste and go 

 dovvn to the square, with their cotton night- 

 caps on their heads and lanterns in their 

 hands, to make their bargain with such of 

 the vintagers, basketers, and carters, as they 

 may u'ant. The common prices of the day's 

 work varies from ten to twenty sous for the 

 first, and from one and a half to two francs 

 for the second. It is to gain this wretched 

 sum, that parents suffer their young daught- 

 ers to travel on foot for several leagues, 

 braving cold, privations of every sort, and 

 many perils besides. But it is not on that 

 account the less a fete for all the lads and 

 lasses of the villages; it is a labour in com- 

 mon, mingled with many incidents that 

 serve to enliven and render it attractive, 

 and the country people never absent them- 

 selves from this annual harvest of the vine. 



As soon as they are engaged by a proprie- 

 tor, the vintagers of both sexes repair to his 

 house, and there, in the kitcljen, they have 

 a breakfast composed of a mutton or veal 

 stew, buns, potatoes, or peas; the whole 

 washed down with that light thin wine from 

 which the English derive the name of Cla- 

 ret, (clairet,) given by them to the red wine 

 of France. While the vintagers are at 

 breakfast, the sportsmen, if there happen to 

 be any in the house, put on their hunting- 



