Wed, 22 Jun 2022 09:13:48 GMT 2022-06-22T09:13:48Z <div>The following account comes from Nicolas Contat, Anecdotes typo-</div> <br><div>graphiques ou I'on voit la description des coutumes, moeurs et usages singu-</div> <br><div>Hers des compagnons imprimeurs, ed. Giles Barber (Oxford, 1980), pp.</div> <br><div>51-53. After a day of exhausting work and disgusting food, the</div> <br><div>two apprentices retire to their bedroom, a damp and draughty lean-</div> <br><div>to in a corner of the courtyard. The episode is recounted in the</div> <br><div>third person, from the viewpoint of Jerome:</div> <br><div>He is so tired and needs rest so desperately that the shack looks</div> <br><div>like a palace to him. At last the persecution and misery he has</div> <br><div>suffered throughout the day have come to an end, and he can relax.</div> <br><div>But no, some bedeviled cats celebrate a witches' sabbath all night</div> <br><div>long, making so much noise that they rob him of the brief period</div> <br><div>of rest allotted to the apprentices before the journeymen arrive for</div> <br><div>work early the next morning and demand admission by constant</div> <br><div>ringing of an infernal bell. Then the boys have to get up and cross</div> <br><div>the courtyard, shivering under their nightshirts, in order to open</div> <br><div>the door. Those journeymen never let up. No matter what you do,</div> <br><div>you always make them lose their time and they always treat you as</div> <br><div>a lazy good-for-nothing. They call for Leveille. Light the fire un-</div> <br><div>der the cauldron! Fetch water for the dunking-troughs! True, those</div> <br><div>jobs are supposed to be done by the beginner apprentices, who live</div> <br><div>at home, but they don't arrive until six or seven. Thus everyone is</div> <br><div>soon at work&mdash;apprentices, journeymen, everyone but the master</div> <br><div>and the mistress: they alone enjoy the sweetness of sleep. That</div> <br><div>makes Jerome and Leveille jealous. They resolve that they will not</div> <br><div>be the only ones to suffer; they want their master and mistress as</div> <br><div>associates. But how to turn the trick?</div> <br><div>Leveille has an extraordinary talent for imitating the voices and</div> <br><div>the smallest gestures of everyone around him. He is a perfect actor;</div> <br><div>that's the real profession that he has picked up in the printing shop.</div> <br><div>He also can produce perfect imitations of the cries of dogs and cats.</div> <br><div>He decides to climb from roof to roof until he reaches a gutter next</div> <br><div>to the bedroom of the bourgeois and the bourgeoise. From there he</div> <br><div>can ambush them with a volley of meows. It's an easy job for him:</div> <br><div>102Workers Revolt</div> <br><div>he is the son of a roofer and can scramble across roofs like a cat.</div> <br><div>Our sniper succeeds so well that the whole neighborhood is</div> <br><div>alarmed. The word spreads that there is witchcraft afoot and that</div> <br><div>the cats must be the agents of someone casting a spell. It is a case</div> <br><div>for the cure, who is an intimate of the household and the confessor</div> <br><div>of Madame. N o one can sleep any more.</div> <br><div>Leveille stages a sabbath the next night and the night after that.</div> <br><div>If you didn't know him, you would be convinced he was a witch.</div> <br><div>Finally, the master and the mistress cannot stand it any longer.</div> <br><div>"We'd better tell the boys to get rid of those malevolent animals,"</div> <br><div>they declare. Madame gives them the order, exhorting them to</div> <br><div>avoid frightening la grise. That is the name of her pet pussy.</div> <br><div>This lady is impassioned for cats. Many master printers are also.</div> <br><div>One of them has twenty-five. He has had their portraits painted</div> <br><div>and feeds them on roast fowl.</div> <br><div>The hunt is soon organized. The apprentices resolve to make a</div> <br><div>clean sweep of it, and they are joined by the journeymen. The</div> <br><div>masters love cats, so consequently they must hate them. This man</div> <br><div>arms himself with the bar of a press, that one with a stick from the</div> <br><div>drying-room, others with broom handles. They hang sacks at the</div> <br><div>windows of the attic and the storerooms to catch the cats who</div> <br><div>attempt to escape by leaping outdoors. The beaters are named, ev-</div> <br><div>erything is organized. Leveille and his comrade Jerome preside</div> <br><div>over the fete, each of them armed with an iron bar from the shop.</div> <br><div>The first thing they go for is la grise, Madame's pussy. Leveille</div> <br><div>stuns it with a quick blow on the kidneys, and Jerome finishes it</div> <br><div>off. Then Leveille stuffs the body in a gutter, for they don't want</div> <br><div>to get caught: it is a matter of consequence, a murder, which must</div> <br><div>be kept hidden. The men produce terror on the rooftops. Seized by</div> <br><div>panic, the cats throw themselves into the sacks. Some are killed on</div> <br><div>the spot. Others are condemned to be hanged for the amusement</div> <br><div>of the entire printing shop.</div> <br><div>Printers know how to laugh; it is their sole occupation.</div> <br><div>The execution is about to begin. They name a hangman, a troop</div> <br><div>of guards, even a confessor. Then they pronounce the sentence.</div> <br><div>In the midst of it all, the mistress arrives. What is her surprise,</div> <br><div>when she sees the bloody execution! She lets out a scream; then her</div> <br><div>voice is cut, because she thinks she sees la grise, and she is certain</div> <br><div>103THE GREAT CAT MASSACRE</div> <br><div>that such a fate has been reserved for her favorite puss. The work-</div> <br><div>ers assure her that no one would be capable of such a crime: they</div> <br><div>have too much respect for the house.</div> <br><div>The bourgeois arrives. "Ah! The scoundrels," he says. "Instead</div> <br><div>of working, they are killing cats." Madame to Monsieur: "These</div> <br><div>wicked men can't kill the masters, so they have killed my pussy.</div> <br><div>She can't be found. I have called la grise everywhere. They must</div> <br><div>have hanged her." It seems to her that all the workers' blood</div> <br><div>would not be sufficient to redeem the insult. The poor grise, a</div> <br><div>pussy without a peer!</div> <br><div>Monsieur and Madame retire, leaving the workers in liberty.</div> <br><div>The printers delight in the disorder; they are beside themselves</div> <br><div>with joy.</div> <br><div>What a splendid subject for their laughter, for a belle copie! They</div> <br><div>will amuse themselves with it for a long time. Leveille will take</div> <br><div>the leading role and will stage the play at least twenty times. He</div> <br><div>will mime the master, the mistress, the whole house, heaping ridi-</div> <br><div>cule on them all. He will spare nothing in his satire. Among print-</div> <br><div>ers, those who excel in this entertainment are called jobeurs: they</div> <br><div>provide joberie.</div> <br><div>Leveille receives many rounds of applause.</div> <br><div>It should be noted that all the workers are in league against the</div> <br><div>masters. It is enough to speak badly of them [the masters] to be</div> <br><div>esteemed by the whole assembly of typographers. Leveille is one of</div> <br><div>those. In recognition of his merit, he will be pardoned for some</div> <br><div>previous satires against the workers.</div> Info