BRITTANY : THE LAND OF THE SARDINE 



545 



elsewhere have turned their attention to 

 possible industries for the coastwise Bre- 

 tons that will not be dependent on the un- 

 certain hazard of the sea, and among" 

 other things they have suggested is the 

 revival of lace-making to give employ- 

 ment for the women, who in past years 

 used to make lace that for beauty was 

 not surpassed in France; but this indus- 

 try has fallen into decay. 



The differences in the dress o± adults 

 dependent on place of residence and occu- 

 pation are seen likewise in the clothes of 

 the children. Some of the quaintest, 

 drollest bits of humanity imaginable are 

 met with among these people. 



The Bretons have large families, 

 which, as you are well aware, is not the 

 case in other districts of France at the 

 present time. The children are neces- 

 sarily much neglected by their parents, 

 who are thoroughly occupied with their 

 labors during the day. As the children 

 play in the dirty roads and streets and on 

 the dirt and mud floors of their homes, 

 they manage to acquire and retain more 

 misplaced matter than any other young- 

 sters I ever saw. It is said that in the 

 coast towns, where the struggle for exist- 

 ence is so keen and every available mo- 

 ment must be occupied while the fishing 

 is in progress, the children have their 

 face and hands washed only once a week 

 and their clothes changed even less fre- 

 quently. I am sure that your observa- 

 tions would concur with mine and con- 

 firm this report. But it must not be sup- 

 posed that in town and country one does 

 not see many attractive, well-kept 

 youngsters. 



Nearly every one wears huge clumsy 

 wooden shoes, which are made by hand 

 in the country districts. As the streets 

 and roads are hard and as the shoes are 

 loose, the people make a great clatter 

 when they walk. The characteristic 

 sound of the villages and towns is the 

 rumble of wooden shoes. 



The Bretons are a highly moral people. 

 Practically their only vice is drink, but 

 that is in reality a scourge. ''The sober- 

 est have their days in which they usually 

 get dead drunk." Drunkenness is par- 



ticularly prevalent among the fishermen, 

 whose hard life, together with the uncer- 

 tainties of fishing and the ease with 

 which comparatively large sums are 

 sometimes acquired by a lucky strike, 

 seems to induce an extraordinary amount 

 of dissipation that is made possible and 

 encouraged by numerous cheap public 

 drinking houses in all the coastwise vil- 

 lages and towns. 



CHEERLESS HOUSKS 



The abundance of stone everywhere 

 and the scarcity of timber in many places 

 have determined the building material for 

 most of the houses, churches, and other 

 structures in Brittany. When for any 

 reason building stone is scarce or other- 

 wise lacking, the people have often had 

 recourse to the prehistoric monuments 

 for their homes and churches. 



The churches afford most fascinating 

 material for the study of the architect 

 and the antiquarian. Beginning with the 

 eleventh century, they present a most in- 

 teresting record of the evolution and 

 progress of ecclesiastical architecture. 

 Large castles are rare, and in practically 

 every community it is the church that is 

 the most imposing structure. 



The houses of peasants and fishermen 

 are for the most part small, one-storied, 

 with steep, thatched roof. In a few 

 places I noticed the walls formed entirely 

 of upright granite blocks 7 or 8 feet high. 

 Windows (often without glass) are 

 small, few in number, and not infre- 

 quently altogether lacking in the poorest 

 houses. 



The floors are of dirt, which is often 

 converted into mud and remains so, and 

 the interiors are usually chilly and cheer- 

 less. In many families there is a com- 

 mon bedroom in each house, with a bed 

 in each corner, and it is no unusual thing 

 to find the same room shared by a litter 

 of pigs and perhaps several goats. 



Among the better class of farmers we 

 find more pretentious homes, surrounded 

 by substantial stone walls and supple- 

 mented by barns and storehouses in keep- 

 ing with the residence ; but even in such 

 a house we may find striking evidence of 



