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366 M. MAITBE AND HIS WORKSHOPS.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
" If You Stop At Dijon, Be Sure And See ...
atelier siriits at seven . Madame Leclerc assured one tliat _tlie work never proved too niuch for the apprentices ; and that sickly young
people , accustomed to close , small rooms at home , often got healthy and blooming after a few weeks of regular work in these large
airy salles . The workmen , of whoin there are 200 , earn when out of their
apprenticeship three francs a day . The workwomen , of whom there are 10 0 , earn only half that sum . I asked the cause of the great
difference , on which Monsieur Maitre said the labour of the men was really harderbut Madame Leclerc laughedand said she thought it
was custom more , than any other cause which , universally depressed the wages of women .
I asked if most of the women were married ; she said yes , and that in the majority of instances the husbands were also in . the
atelier . If a man married he usually asked work for his wife , and if ; any of the young women took a husband even from one of the
_neighboring villages , it usually ended in his following her _^ le and entering the atelier of Monsieur Maitre . No
workman examp or workwoman leading an immoral life is allowed to enter , and any culprit is immediately dismissed . Madame Leclerc spoke
with the utmost decision on this point , and said that the moral condition of an atelier entireldepended on the conduct and
firmness of the master . No apprentice y , boy or girl , is received until after they have made their premiere _commtmion _, and received
a certificate that they can both read and write . The workpeople are thus of a respectable class .
I asked about the effect , upon the home , of the employment of the married women . Madame Leclerc answered that the young
children were either sent out to nurse in the country , according to the very common custom of Franceor else the married pair formed
one household with the grandparents , . She spoke of the latter arrangement as being of very general occurrence . Toutefois it was
so managed that there was neither disorder nor discomfort at home . To which I could only reply that they must be extraordinarily .
indebted to the genius of management possessed by the French people ; to whom what we call " hugger mugger" is apparently almost
unknown . Madame Leclerc herself , though the mother of four children , regularly works with her father . Her husband was seated at a
desk , which we passed in the course of our investigations , and her eldest litfcle boyof eight years oldleant against his mother ' s knee
while she was talking , to me . They , live with Monsieur and Madame Maitrethe latter being now entirely out of the businessand devoted
to the , care of the household . The family of the , Patron thus exemplifies the arrangement carried out by a majority of his
workpeople . I think my readers will be interested in the printed rules of
apprenticeship , which I translate as follows : —
" Article I . —Young people are admitted on the presentation of
366 M. Maitbe And His Workshops.
366 M . MAITBE AND HIS WORKSHOPS .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Aug. 1, 1861, page 366, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01081861/page/6/
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