Shawl-Straps | Page 8

be tossed up among the lindens before the cow was
conquered. The few men who were lounging about stood with their
hands in their pockets, watching the struggle without offering to help,
till the cow scooped the lady up on her horns, ready for a toss. Livy
shrieked, but Madame just held on, kicking so vigorously that the cow
was glad to set her down, when, instead of fainting, she coolly
informed the men, who, seeing her danger, had approached, that she
'could arrange her cow for herself, and did not want any help,' which
she proved by tying a big blue handkerchief over the animal's eyes,
producing instant docility, and then she was led away by her flushed
but triumphant mistress, who calmly settled her cap, and took a pinch
of snuff to refresh herself, after a scuffle which would have annihilated
most women.
When Madame C.'s wood was put in, the new-comers were interested
in watching the job, for it was done in a truly Bretonesque manner. It
arrived in several odd carts, each drawn by four great horses, with two
men to each team; and as the carts were clumsy, the horses wild, and
the men stupid, the square presented a lively spectacle. At one time
there were three carts, twelve horses, and six men, all in a snarl, while a
dozen women stood at their doors and gave advice. One was washing a
lettuce, another dressing her baby, a third twirling her distaff, and a
fourth with her little bowl of soup, which she ate in public while
gesticulating so frantically that her sabots clattered on the stones.
The horses had a free fight, and the men swore and shouted in vain, till
the lady with the baby suddenly went to the rescue. Planting the naked
cherub on the door-step, this energetic matron charged in among the
rampant animals, and by some magic touch untangled the teams,

quieted the most fractious, a big grey brute, prancing like a mad
elephant; then returned to her baby, who was placidly eating dirt, and
with a polite 'Voilà, messieurs!' she whipped little Jean into his shirt,
while the men sat down to smoke.
It took two deliberate men nearly a week to split the gnarled logs, and
one brisk woman carried them into the cellar and piled them neatly.
The men stopped about once an hour to smoke, drink cider, or rest. The
woman worked steadily from morning till night, only pausing at noon
for a bit of bread and the soup good Coste sent out to her. The men got
two francs a day, the woman half a franc; and as nothing was taken out
of it for wine or tobacco, her ten cents probably went further than their
forty.
This same capable lady used to come to market with a baby on one arm,
a basket of fruit on the other, leading a pig, driving a donkey, and
surrounded by sheep, while her head bore a pannier of vegetables, and
her hands spun busily with a distaff. How she ever got on with these
trifling incumbrances was a mystery; but there she was, busy, placid,
and smiling, in the midst of the crowd, and at night went home with her
shopping well content.
The washerwomen were among the happiest of these happy souls, and
nowhere were seen prettier pictures than they made, clustered round the
fountains or tanks by the way, scrubbing, slapping, singing, and
gossiping, as they washed or spread their linen on the green hedges and
daisied grass in the bright spring weather. One envied the cheery faces
under the queer caps, the stout arms that scrubbed all day, and were not
too tired to carry home some chubby Jean or little Marie when night
came; and, most of all, the contented hearts in the broad bosoms under
the white kerchiefs, for no complaint did one hear from these
hard-working, happy women. The same brave spirit seems to possess
them now as that which carried them heroically to their fate in the
Revolution, when hundreds of mothers and children were shot at
Nantes and died without a murmur.
But of all the friends the strangers made among them they liked old
Mère Oudon best--a shrivelled leaf of a woman, who at ninety-two still

supported her old husband of ninety-eight. He was nearly helpless, and
lay in bed most of the time, smoking, while she peeled willows at a sou
a day, trudged up and down with herbs, cresses, or any little thing she
could find to sell. Very proud was she of her 'master,' his great age, his
senses still quite perfect, and most of all his strength, for now and then
the old tyrant left his bed to beat her, which token of conjugal regard
she