Two Labourers with Cart and Horse
On her second visit, January 2nd, 1902, Miss Lamont saw, in the field near the Hameau, two labourers, in brown tunics and bright-coloured short capes, loading a cart with sticks. The capes hardly came below their shoulders and had hoods: one was bright blue and the other red.
In May, 1904, a search was made in the archives with the result that it was clear that carts and horses for the purpose of tidying the grounds were hired by the day in old times, and not kept in the farm for constant use. In January, 1789, two men, instead of the usual one (“plus un homme”), were hired “pour ramasser les loques des chenilles et les brûler.”[[70]]
In 1906 we discovered that the tunic and short cape were worn by the bourgeoisie in the fourteenth century.
In April, 1908, we had proof that the artisans were wearing them in the eighteenth century, and that some of the working men at Trianon in 1776 had “hardes de couleur.”[[71]]
The entry in the wages book showed that up to 1783, from time to time “une voiture à cheval, et un conducteur,” were hired for picking up branches and sticks in the parks: but on October 4th, 1789, a cart with two horses (almost certainly requiring two men) was hired for three days for the purpose.[[72]]
In August, 1908, a former gardener, who had been at Trianon long enough to remember both the Charpentiers, father and son, laughed at the idea of such a dress being worn now at Trianon, as it belonged to the “ancien régime.” He assured us that carts of the present day in France had scarcely altered at all in type, and that the two now in use at Trianon (which we found in a shed at the ferme) were of the old pattern.