I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 412 Joseph the Carpenter (1)

   Joseph the carpenter was a member of a guild in the city of Orleans. He had been an apprentice for five years and a helper for three years.

It was a seemingly ordinary day, and he returned home - the city of Orleans is huge and strong, and there are splendid churches and magnificent mansions everywhere in the city. Unfortunately, these have nothing to do with him, his wife, and children. They live in Lu Downstream of the Vaal, not far from the slums under the city walls, whenever Joseph walked home weary and low along the banks of the river and the rushing black water, it always felt like an omen, implying that they Always fall into that worst situation.

   But this was three weeks ago, and now his mood is clearly improving, and there is an unconcealed joy in his eyes, as if a light has shot into the darkness, pointing out the door for him to get out of the predicament.

   His home wasn't a complete home either—I mean, a complete suite. Although Louis XIV rebuilt Paris and built Versailles after his personal administration, the brilliance of the Sun King has not yet been projected to Orleans. The place where Joseph and his family temporarily lived was a room rented from a gray and white apartment.

This way of renting has continued hundreds of years later, as one can still see in French cities such as Orleans, where these buildings stand on small, slender lots that look like a flat bar of soap, sometimes Facing the street, sometimes facing the wall of another building, its ground floor is often communal, corridors, offices, living rooms, reception rooms or bedrooms, all depends on how the owner or landlord arranges, of course, if it is the landlord, if If the buildings face the street, he will rent them out as shops. If they face the dark alleys that cannot see the sun, he will divide them into rooms for rent. The only thing in common is that there is always a public kitchen on the ground floor.

  Basements are generally used to store food, utensils, or are also rented out. There are always poor people who need such a place to live.

From the second floor up, to the third, fourth or fifth floor, and the attic, there are rooms that are closely cut. The way of renting at that time was also very interesting, because the rental unit was always a room, and the location of the room was different. It all depends on the landlord's arrangement, so it doesn't matter if you only rent one room. If you rent a lot of rooms, then he may not have enough privacy.

Take Mr. Molière above as an example. He is not a poor man. He rented four rooms in the Queen's Square in Paris. The problem is that the landlord arranged two rooms on the second floor and the other two rooms on the third floor - so even if we say With luxury, Monsieur Molière still had to divide his life into two parts, and generously shared it with a dozen other neighbors...

Fortunately, Joseph did not have such troubles. Although he was unable to become a craftsman, he had been living a pious life. He did not drink too much, and did not seek women. The money he accumulated could not only support his wife and three children, but also You can also rent a room on the second floor in this gray and white mud apartment. Although it faces the dark alley and the wall, as a helper, it is good to have a place where you can sleep comfortably.

   He squinted and walked forward in the dark corridor, and the other half relied on toes to test and grope.

Someone touched it with his hand before and it hit a nail on the wall or something. Anyway, he cut his hand, bleed a lot, and died of fever a few days later, Joseph had heard of this After the story, he was even more careful, even if he didn't have a fever, he couldn't hurt his hands.

There are two helpers with his craftsman, and only one recommendation in hand - Joseph is a good man with talent and patience, the problem is that this has caused the craftsman's fear, he does not need another strong competition In addition to the recommendation of the original craftsman, if it is not for the helper to be promoted to the craftsman, the helper also needs to make a product with high craftsmanship in front of the president. Maybe Joseph doesn't even have to try it.

  If Joseph had injured his hand at this time, the craftsman could justifiably drive him out of his workshop.

It is not easy to find one's own room in the chaos and drowsiness. There used to be windows in the corridor, but to keep out the cold, they were nailed with wooden boards, and the light could only flow in through the gaps. Homes with wooden structures are all too prone to fires.

Joseph sucked his nose. The outer walls of this apartment were painted with plaster for fire prevention. This was after His Majesty the King ordered every apartment to be painted with plaster for fire protection after the Great Fire of London in 1966. Only later, the son of the landlord of this building is said to be working under the Duke of Orleans. Because of such a relationship, this building was also the first to be painted gray and white, and the gray and white mud apartment also replaced the original name.

This flattering behavior has attracted a lot of ridicule and slander - after all, Philip the Duke of Orleans is far less "gentle" than the former Duke of Orleans Gaston, but the landlord goes his own way, and workers like Joseph are more willing to rent such an apartment, even if the floor A thin layer of plaster may not be of much use.

   “Whoops!”

Perhaps out of distraction, Joseph unfortunately kicked his toe on something, and he lowered his head, barely making out that it was a rusty anchor, which looked like a good job done by neighbor Barrow, He was always picking it up from outside, whispering right, stealing things, and piling them up in the hallway, and Joseph, worried that it would make others think he was a raccoon dog, warned Barrow many times, to no avail.

Because Barrow is his apprentice brother, one of the craftsman's two helpers, and the craftsman's nephew, whether Joseph is right or not, or whether Barrow is a thief or not, the craftsman will never stand by Joseph. side.

   So the only good thing Joseph got for that toe was that he finally got home.

Through the thin door panel, he heard a regular crash, which was not pleasant, but Joseph sounded like the wonderful sound of heaven. He smiled and knocked gently on the door. The voice stopped suddenly, and with a vague hustle and bustle, a woman's voice came from behind the door, "Who?"

   "I, Joseph, dear Leda."

   Hearing her husband's voice, Lida immediately pulled the latch and opened the door. Joseph hurried in sideways, and Lida closed the door after him.

The air in the house is really bad. Their youngest daughter is still breastfeeding, and the oldest boy is only six years old. Not to mention the room, even this apartment has no drainage facilities. The urinal is used in the room. The smell of milk mixed with the odor of feces and urine evaporated, it can kill a dog directly.

Joseph and Lida were used to it long ago. In winter, the room is inevitably full of this smell. Although it is the end of summer now, because they need to keep secrets, even if they are facing a dark alley, then The only wooden windows would not open.

"Have you eaten dinner?" Lida asked. Because there is only one public kitchen, and you have to pay for using the kitchen, the poor at this time will not eat it at home. They usually buy some bread, butter and milk to bring back home. Home, regardless of the quality of these things, there is no problem in satisfying the stomach. "I ate some bread." Joseph said, walking around the room, as if to probe the surroundings. , and took a spindle out of his coat pocket.

The length and width of Lida and Joseph's room is about fifteen feet, which is about twenty-five square meters in later generations, which sounds quite large, but it should be noted that there are two adults living here, three A child, all their tools, furniture and possessions are placed in this room, and a corner is set up with slate, so that there is a place to burn a fire in winter.

The most striking thing in this room was a large bed covered with a drapery. Anyone who saw it would make fun of the poor couple for wanting to be master and wife, but Joseph walked over, pulled back the drapery, What's inside is revealed.

That is a spinning wheel, no, it is difficult to say that this is the spinning wheel that people recognize. It should be said that it is a machine, about the size of a double bed, with twelve spindles fixed on it, and white cotton threads criss-cross. Pull the head to that end, on the right side of the machine, there is a large wheel, the wheel can be shaken to drive the machine, the machine shakes the spindle, and the twelve spindles work together.

  Joseph pulled out one of the spindles and pressed the new one on it. She motioned for Lida to come to work. Lida knew that Joseph wanted to see the operation of the spinning wheel. She immediately went to the corner of the house to fetch a kerosene lamp, lit the candle, and stood in front of the spinning wheel to work.

Joseph paid attention to it for a while, and found that the spinning wheel was running smoothly like a greased paddle, and he relaxed completely. "That's great," he said, "but let's stop here today, You've spun a lot of thread, and you need to rest so you don't hurt your eyes."

"The kerosene lamp is bright, my dear," Lida said cheerfully, "how lovely these little things are, Joseph." She looked greedily at the spinning wheel, utterly fascinated, her mother, grandmother, great-grandmother ...all mothers and daughters have spun thread and used spindles anyway, but who would have thought that there would be a machine that would work like a dozen tireless men who never made a mistake? .

   "We don't have to spin thread to make money now." Joseph said contentedly, and then he suddenly showed a wary look: "No one asked where the cotton thread in your hand came from?"

"No," Lida said. "I went a few places to sell bobbins." She recalled carefully for a while: "No, Joseph, like you reminded me, I never tell anyone you did. What." She touched the spinning wheel lovingly again: "But your craftsman, and Barrow, they all complained that you were doing your own work in the workshop."

   "Just to make a few spindles for you." The other parts were all assembled by Joseph secretly renting a semi-abandoned mill and quietly moving back to the room in the middle of the night.

   "How long do we have to wait?" Lida said, "I don't even want to give it to the king. Do you know how much thread I spin these days?"

   "Don't be silly, Leda," said Joseph, "if we give it to the king, you can start a textile workshop of your own."

   "How is this possible?" Lida was amused by him, "The guild leader would not allow a woman to open a workshop."

   Joseph's lips moved, but he did not continue.

He and Lida opened the bedding rolls, because the spinning wheel occupied the place where the bed used to be, and they could only be wronged for a few days in the gap between the furniture and the sundries. Lida carried the pot, and the four of them took turns using the punch above the urinal. The wet towel wiped his hands and face, the baby needless to say, their second child is a girl, with a gentle temperament, she knows how to help her mother when she walks away, but the boy was so naughty that he got the water on the floor. Da didn't say anything, but the whole family was sleeping on the floor today and for several days, so he slapped him angrily.

  The boy cried loudly.

This kind of harsh soundtrack is not uncommon in the gray and white mud apartment. The boy is tired from crying and his stomach is growling, but his parents and sister are asleep, and there is no food in the room. He angrily mentions the abandoned spindle, Throwing it on the ground, in exchange for a hazy scolding.

   After a while, the boy also fell asleep curled up in the cotton pile.

  ——

When the boy woke up in the morning, he found his father kneeling and praying in front of the portrait of St. Joseph. Although some later generations have verified that **** and his adoptive father Joseph were both masons, the priests agreed that **** and St. Joseph were carpenters, so Although St. Joseph is not the patron saint of carpenters, carpenters usually worship his icon.

   "How long do we have to wait." Lida sighed as she bid farewell to her husband.

   "It won't be long," Joseph kissed his wife, "the king will be on tour to Orleans soon."

Joseph came to the workshop, he didn't come too late, the craftsman still scolded him viciously, and gave him a lot of complicated odd jobs-like polishing, oiling and waxing, etc. Usually it's an apprenticeship, but since customers prefer Joseph to make their custom furniture rather than a craftsman, the craftsman has stopped letting him show his talent and talent to outsiders.

  Barrow never showed up, but this was the norm. Joseph knew that Barrow had a lot of friends. They often drink together, find women, or do some despicable business.

Joseph can be said to have meekly finished the work assigned by the craftsman. When he looked up, he realized that the day was in the middle of the day. He got up and went to the bakery on the other side of the small square to buy bread. An old man was also buying bread. He is also a carpenter, but he is not only a craftsman, but also one of the few elders in the woodworking guild. He is highly respected. He glanced at Joseph, and Joseph followed him. The two came to a tavern. Out of a big egg, in exchange for a plate of steaming pork sausage.

   (end of this chapter)