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Show OLD FEUDAL CUSTOMS. Bomo That Still Burvlva In Portions Por-tions of Canada. SricmlorlM Hear Qaeliet Still Ran on lh l'rlaclplra Laid Down In rrl Four Ontnrtel Asoiiri!tr!erilnc 1 Afo the French Revolution. I Parkman and others hate told us all about tha mild feudal Rystcm which prevailed In French Canada down to 1854. Tho seignior received a grant of wild land from tho king on condition that he should putscUlers upon It. He had to preserve tho oaktlmbor for shipbuilding, ship-building, aud tho red pine for the manufacture man-ufacture of tar, and to notify tho king's agents If ho found minerals on tho seigniory, lfo had to go through tlio form ot paying homage and fealty to. tho. king's representative nt Quebec whon ho ontorcd ou possession, soma-ttnica soma-ttnica oftoner, and to pay a fifth of tho purclmvo money If he sold tho cstnto to th royal collars, though ho was allowed al-lowed a rebate of two-thirds for cash down. Tho ccnsltalro or habitant, who held tho land under tho sulgnior, had to pay. the annual cons ct rentes, often a sol (cent), or half a soli with half a pint of wheat or a few live capons nr eggs for uach arpcut. Tho land vf tho censatalro passed to his heirs, but, in caxo he sold during his lifetime', tbu lods ot'Vontes came-Into play, and ouo-twelfth ouo-twelfth of tho purchase money wont to tho seignior, liy tho droit do ro-trait ro-trait tho holgnlor could compel a 1 purchaser pur-chaser within forty days of the sale to transfer tho property to him at the price paid If ho thought It had not fotched onough. Tho censllalro had to get his wheat ground at the seignior's mill, and on soino selgnlorlos to havo his bread baked at tho seignior's ovon, mying a toll in each caso; to give a tltho of the (lull ha caught to the holgnlor, to do corvco or road work, and to got out stone and timber for public purposes, tielgulors who could afford to support a local magistrate wcro empowered to administer superior, mean and inferior justlco on thclr.estates, but as a elass they were very poor aud this right fell into detuetudo. In 16S4. says tho New York Post, the parliament of Canada bon(rht out tho solgniors. Thero were 100 of them, In possession ot MQrlcfs, embracing ft,000,-000 ft,000,-000 acres of cultivated land. The censllalro was given his choice of two things tho ecus at rentes were capitalized, capi-talized, and he could either pay the capital sum to tho seignior, in which case, of course, ho got n clear tltlo to his holding, or continue on as a tenant at a rental equal to 0 per cent, of the capitalization. Tho tenaut I came across,, or his father bnfore him, had, llko many more, chosen tlm latter course The other seigniorial rights were settled by tho government at a cost of about $5,000,000. The system would havo been 'abolished before 1854 only tho Roman Catholic church was afraid that in the debacle, as timid souls callod It, tho tithes and fabrlquo taxes which alio collected by authority of law-might bo abolished ii Tlio landlord of whom 'I hare spoken was good euough to let mo look at a balcli of old papers and books in which tha doings of Ills predecessors in the aeJgnlory and of their censltalrea aro recorded for ISO years. Thcoe papers enabled one to form a tolerably good Jdea of the sort of life tho people led. First us to prices: In 100T, as other documents show, .wheat sold in the uocuiuenis hiiow, wueat suiu iu intj markets of Quebec at 80 cents per bushel. bush-el. A creditor was bound to accept it at that price. Ilcef sold for 8 cent and pork for 0 cents per pound, tho four-pound four-pound loaf for 10 cents. Prices had dropped a little by 173S. Wheat was then worth 0'i cents. In 174) It foil to 40 cents. Thero had been a good crop In tbo region oast of Quebec on the south ahoro of the St. Lawrence, which was regarded as tho granary of Now Franco. Capons sold for 10 cents each In 1740, but whon paid ascens ct rentes their conventional price was SO cents. Most of tho doeds called for "good fat capons of tho brood ot the month ot May." In 1740 carpenters and blacksmiths got from 00 to 60 cents a day, unskilled laborers 40 cents. Cloth of all kinds except homespun was dear. The foreign for-eign trade of tho colony was confined to Franca and French possessions, but there was a good deal ot smuggling by land and water from New England and New York. Twenty yards of "flno woolen cloth" cost 02K cents a yard In 1740. Tho censltalrea and tho common peoplo generally clothed themelr?N In homespun, l'etoffo du pays, made boots out of urcen beef hides, got their sugar from tho maple, oud had, as n rulo, plenty of game and flsh. Most ot them had a vegetablo patch. They exchanged ex-changed timber or furs for store goods a they required, Tho well-to-do seigniors seig-niors imported wlno, brandy, velvet, lnco, jewelry, etc. An all-velvet suit with a drcss-sword, rufllcs, buckles aud a gilt muit box thrown In, cost 853 in 1770. Tho poorer (.clgnlors lived much as their censltalrea lived. Their wives and daughters wero towed to work In the fields to savp tho cost of hired la- liAr. ivhleli wns snrCi). Jimt liufnrfittm hor, which was scarce. Just lieforotuo British conquest the colony was flooded with depreciated paper money, and the crops falling nt tbo unu timo tho price of wheat ran up to 81.00. There wero no books savo among (ho clergy and seigniors) printing was not introduced until nearly a contury and a half after tho Urst prlutlng press had been set up in New England. There wcro no schools lb the rural parUhes and no semblance ot municipal munic-ipal govcrnru6nt clthor In town or country. Public moetlngs wero not llowo" WoJdlucl and FuIiomU Iu China. StrangcrBln China have tho greatest dluloully whon moctig a funeral or a wedding procession on tlio street to dlbtlngulbh ouo from tlio other. Tho sumu red sloth roollos, parrying rousted roust-ed plir uml other dalutlcN, nppenr iu tbo procession, tin sumn tmullcr coolies cnrrylni; cln'ap paper m-muiienta, and tho aniiio iwlsy turnout. And all this whon rniuu old poi'.tou ii being curled to liln ut roiling plneo, ns whon thu y(,nni..T. nnd wont beautiful releiilial mat ton Is hcihir t-auicd to tho now home prepnrud by her litis hiitid, Tho I'niwd at u funeral is us nnl'iynsat u wedding und tho guuLts eat just h much. The only difference, indeed, between thu two is that in Ilia center Hono tlio bride l.tcuirUt In an inclosed r.cilai plinlr, bnrno oil the tOiouldcrs 07 mwii men, and followed by her brldctninhls, lu thut of the other tha cblllii Is curried and tho mournci't) follow, Indeed, an Eugliali writer says that no event lu the life ot , a Cliluamau Is half so Important as hla funeral. |