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."[1]
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."[2]
