Photographie : Beaupré, [vers 1900]. Photographe : Livernois
Source : Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, P560, s1, p110
Specializing in collecting old fabric, the ragman held a special place in the public's imagination. In his tale, La petite patrie, Claude Jasmin described, for example, the ragman as a frightening and enigmatic person, teased by children calling out: “guenillou plein d’poux, les oreilles plein’d’poil!” (“ragman covered with fleas, ears filled with hair”). The ragman traveled by foot, carrying a pouch or pushing a cart. Some ragmen used horse-drawn carts, which enabled them to carry even more objects. The ragman was poorly dressed and made his tours during the good weather. People in Quebec who wanted to get rid of their used fabric would call out “guenille, hou-hou”, which turned into the French word for ragman: “guenillou”. Fabrics in good condition would be sold for a few cents; others were generally given to the ragman for free.
Cotton and linen rags, as well as old nets and old ropes were very much in demand since they were long used to make paper. The ragman earned his income from selling his rags to papermakers. Before being used to make paper, the old fabric would be sorted by type, color and quality. Seams and buttonholes would be undone. Then the rags would be shredded, and set to ferment. The fibers would be beaten and bleached, then placed in a vat to make people pulp. In the 19th century, as a result of a shortage of textile fibers, papermakers looked for new raw materials. They opted for wood fibers.
| Paper The process for making paper that involved beating vegetable fibers with water to make a pulp was developed in China. It was introduced to Europe in the 12th century. Before they had paper to use, the Europeans generally wrote on parchment or vellum (animal skins). Close this window |
| Long live progress A machine called a “Hollander” was invented in the Netherlands, accelerating this process. This machine was made of a cylinder equipped with blades that shredded the rags quickly without any need to prepare them. Close this window |
In addition to used fabrics, the ragman also collected objects made of brass, tinplate, copper, carpets and occasionally, fat, bones and candle remnants. The metal would be sold to manufacturers and the bones would be transformed into fertilizer. Wool would be offered to mills which used it to make new fabrics. Fat would be used to make feed and soap.
Sometimes, the settlers would boil table scraps in order to remove the fat. When this fat was added to lye, resin, water and salt, it became soap. Lye was obtained from ashes and has a potash, base; potash is an essential substance for making glass, paper and fabric.
| Soap time In the spring when the table scraps that had been accumulated over the winter started to smell bad, it was time to make soap. Soap could also be made in the fall during butchering time. Close this window |
| Lye Made by boiling ashes and collecting the liquid, lye was also use to soak clothing and wash floors. To determine if it was just strong enough, it had to be gentle to the touch. Lye was too strong when a small amount burned your tongue. Close this window |
| Making soap When heating the various ingredients used to make soap, the mixture had to be stirred constantly. Then it had to be cooled for a day. The soap was yellow. It would be cut into blocks and stored in containers to keep rodents from eating it. Making soap often resulted in a brown residue that some people called potash. This could be used to clean household linens. Close this window |
| Potash Potash is a solid extracted from wood ashes. It was produced by boiling lye until a solid residue was obtained. This residue looked like glass powder and was easy to store and transport. In a solution, potash is caustic or, in other words, corrosive. Close this window |
Until the start of the 20th century, ashes were very much in demand and the person responsible for collecting ashes would travel from house to house during the winter. Those who lived in the cities and villages would keep their ashes in a container stored in the cellar or outside, far from their homes. Ashes were exchanged for a little money or occasionally traded for perishables such as molasses. Since demand was high, many of those who were clearing the land burned the trees directly on their site so they could sell the ashes.
In 1671, Jean Talon had a special building built to produce potash. Hundreds of potash and “pearl ash” factories were then founded. Some colonists made their own potash to sell to merchants. Or they sold it to the potash buyer who traveled from village to village collecting this material.
| Ashes outside… The settlers kept their ashes away from their homes because they feared the barrel would be set on fire by any hot coals that remained. Close this window |
| Pearl ash Potash could be dried in an oven to make a purer product, intended for export, called pearl ash. Close this window |
The traveling tradesmen who collected certain materials provided valuable services for the public. Other traveling tradesmen also provided services. To learn more about the chimney sweep, the laundress, the bootblack, the snow clearer and the sawyer, we invite you to return on December 23, 2008.
Sources
DESAUTELS, Yvon. Les coutumes de nos ancêtres. Montreal, Éditions paulines, 1984, 55 pages.
JASMIN, Claude. La petite patrie: récit. Montreal, La Presse, 1972, 141 pages.
POMERLEAU, Jeanne. Métiers ambulants d’autrefois. Montreal, Guérin littérature, 1990, 467 pages.
SIMARD, Cyril. Les papiers Saint-Gilles: héritage de Félix-Antoine Savard. Québec, Presses de l'Université Laval, 1988, 157 pages.
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