278 CARPET MANUFACTURE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



reach. Boys and girls when twelve or thirteen years old are therefore 

 taken on as work-people, but with a small wage, and they work twelve 

 hours per day. What technical instruction they require is easily ac- 

 quired in schools opened on purpose for them, either by the Govern- 

 ment or by private individuals. 



When it is found necessary to take an apprentice, the boy or girl is 

 bound for the space of one year only. This period of time is usually 

 found to be amply sufficient. 



MANNER OF LIVING. 



The manner of living among the carpet hands varies greatly accord- 

 ing to the importance of the town they inhabit. On the whole the Paris 

 workman is less well off than the provincial one. He has acquired more 

 or less expensive tastes from which the other has abstained. Also the 

 price of rent is very high in the capital and moderate in most of the 

 provincial towns. If we add to a father's earnings those of his wife and 

 children, we obtain a figure which enables him and them to live mod- 

 estly. It has long been an acknowledged fact that a man cannot 

 earn enough for the support of his family. At the same time, it should 

 be borne in mind that the workmen employed in the carpet trade are 

 poor, because some of them earn less than those engaged in other 

 branches of industry. Many a French operative, in the provinces, is the 

 owner of the cottage he inhabits, and of the plot of ground around ; 

 but the number of workmen engaged in the carpet industry, who are at 

 the same time their own landlords, is exceedingly limited. To make 

 matters worse, the conscription deprives many a family of a much- 

 needed pair of arms ; and when young men can earn enough to maintain 

 themselves, they often quit the paternal roof. The women are the main- 

 stays of many a home; by doing a great deal of piece-work at home, 

 without neglecting their domestic duties, by their thrift and by their 

 knowledge of turning money to the best advantage, they render services 

 which are too seldom appreciated and acknowledged. 



The carpet hands, like the majority of working people, are paid at 

 shorter intervals than formerly. They pay ready-money for all they 

 buy much more frequently than a few years ago, and this may produce 

 beneficial results. Some years back, the small dealers readily*gave 

 credit, but this encouraged indiscriminate spending. A reaction fol- 

 lowed. The venders, who experienced the greatest difficulty in obtain- 

 ing their money, began to refuse selling on credit- As a consequence, 

 working people are learning to regulate their expenses according to 

 their means, as they can only buy with ready money. 



But no permanent improvement can be expected while the custom 

 still obtains of doing what is popularly called " la Saint- Lnndi ; " that 

 is to say, working on Sunday morning and then idling and drinking on 

 Mondays from morning till a great deal past evening. This is a fear- 



