THE COMPANIONAGE.
225
men meeting on
the highroad, and armed as usual with their long canes.
As soon as they are
within a few yards of each other they halt, take up a firm and defiant attitude, and the
following colloqnj' ensues
:
"
"
Tope,
!
"
Tope !"
"
Eh !
"
le
"
!
pays
Compagnon
?
"
And you ?
What vocation
Companion
"
And you ? "
Carpenter, le pays.
Yes
;
le
pays.
"
"
"
"
also.
Cordwainer
!
?
clear the road, stinking beast
You're another
"
{puant toi'inemc
!
"
!
(jiasse
au
large, sale
puant
!).
!).
Tliey then fall to with hearty good will, and continue the combat till one or the other
powerless to impede the triumphal progress of his rival, who carries off his cane as a trophy
of victory.
When we consider with what formidable weapons they are armed, it is not
that these encounters often terminated fatally.
These fights sometimes assume
surprising
is
the proportions of pitched battles, inasmuch as large numbers are
occasionally ranged on each
side
by mutual agreement.
If the challenge should result in the
would then rush
two
same or of
travellers declaring themselves of the
had never premet, as if they were brothers long separated, giving reciprocally the guilhrctte^ and
viously
otherwise expressing unbounded joy at the meeting.
One would then turn back and
friendly crafts, they
accompany the other
and much liquor also.
into each other's arms, although they
to the nearest tavern,
Some
and several hours would probably be consumed,
The
of the various causes of feud have already been noticed.
shoemakers especially were at enmity with
possibly on account of the lingering
bakers also were not considered worthy of bearing
all crafts,
of their apostasy in 1645.
The
the square and compasses.
The stonemasons of the two devoirs were sworn foes
memory
—
if they, by
worked at the same bridge, it was necessary to confine them to opposite sides of the
accident,
river, which did not prevent their fighting as soon as they could join hands, unless one corps was
withdrawn before the bridge was completed. In Paris, however, they contrive to agree tolerThe carpenters who seceded from Soubise, and now claim to belong to Solomon,
ably well.
work in Paris solely on the left bank of the Seine, and their former brothers on the right.
The weavers date only from 1775.
Unable to obtain a charge, they ultimately found a joiner
who had quarrelled with his society, and who, under the influence of good wine, sold them
his devoir.
Therefore, weavers and joiners are
at
The
open enmity.
silk
weavers formed
themselves into a Companionage in 1832, but without a properly conferred charge from any
established society.
They claim to belong to the sons of Maitre Jacques, but, of course,
unsuccessfully,
minority.
It
and
their great personal discomfort
to
whenever they happen
to
be
in a
Several other crafts also live in a complete state of isolation.
was the
evil of the
Comj)anionage that Perdiguier tried
to
combat in his remarkable
and by substituting for the revolting and
book, by showing
A previous effort in
bloodthirsty songs then in vogue, others of a higher and purer tendency.
In 1823, at Bordeaux,
tlie same direction, but on different lines, had
already been attempted.
tlie
folly of these eternal feuds,
'
A
peculiar embrace, 'vhieh will be explained further on.
2 F