And when the habitant worked for his seigneur in this
way the latter had to furnish him with both food and
tools, a requirement which greatly impaired the value of
corvee labour from the seigneur's point of view. So far
as a painstaking study of the records can disclose, the
corvee obligation was never looked upon as an imposition
of any moment. It was apparently no more generally resented
than is the so-termed statute-labour obligation which
exists among the farming communities of some Canadian
provinces at the present day.
As for the other services which the habitant had to render
his seigneur, they were of little importance. When he
caught fish, one fish in every eleven belonged to his
chief. But the seigneur seldom claimed this share, and
received it even less often. The seigneur was entitled
to take stone, sand, and firewood from the land of any
one within his estate; but when he did this it was
customary to give the habitant something of equal value
in return. Few seigneurs of New France ever insisted on
their full pound of flesh in these matters; a generous
spirit of give and take marked most of their dealings
with the men who worked the land.
Then there was the maypole obligation, quaintest among
seigneurial claims. By the terms of their tenure the
habitants of the seigneury were required to appear each
May Day before the main door of the manor-house, and
there to plant a pole in the seigneur's honour.
Le premier jour de mai,
Labourez,
J'm'en fus planter un mai,
Labourez,
A la porte a ma mie.
Pages:
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94