Even at the present day
his descendants retain much of this facility. At the
opposite end of the house was a bedroom. Upstairs was
the attic, so low that one could scarcely stand upright
in any part of it, but running the full length and breadth
of the house. Here the children, often a round dozen of
them, were stowed at night. A shallow iron bowl of tallow
with a wick protruding gave its dingy light. Candles were
not unknown, but they were a luxury. Every one went to
bed when darkness came on, for there was nothing else to
do. Windows were few, and to keep out the cold they were
tightly battened down. The air within must have been
stifling; but, as one writer has suggested, the habitant
and his family got along without fresh air in his dwelling
just as his descendant of to-day manages to get along
without baths.
For the most part the people of Old Canada were comfortably
clothed and well fed. Warm cloth of drugget--etoffe du
pays, as it was called--came from the hand-looms of every
parish. It was all wool and stood unending wear. It was
cheap, and the women of the household fashioned it into
clothes. Men, women, and children alike wore it in everyday
use; but on occasions of festivity they liked to appear
in their brighter plumage of garments brought from France.
In the summer the children went nearly unclothed and
bare-footed always. A single garment without sleeves and
reaching to the knees was all that covered their nakedness.
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