The prosperity of landowners, vinegrowers, coopers, and innkeepers rises or falls according to whether the season is good or bad for the grapes.

She dined publicly in state; a procession of the municipal magistrates presented her a sample of the wines of the district; and, as she tasted the luscious offering, the coopers celebrated what they called a feast of Bacchus, waving their hoops as they danced round the room in grotesque figures.

They had gone round the southern part of Belgium like coopers round a cask, hooping it in with tight bands of steel.

[Illustration: Fig. 110.Banner of the Coopers of Bayonne.]

[Illustration: Fig. 111.Banner of the Coopers of La Rochelle.]

Mr. Shoolbred has lost, (according to the statement of the physician,) forty-six negroesthe majority lost being the primest hands he hadbricklayers, carpenters, blacksmiths and Coopers.

Himself and his brother James used to go there when they were boys to cut hazel stems, to make fishing-rods; and one had only to turn over the dead leaves to discover the chips scattered circlewise in the open spaces where the coopers sat in the days gone by making hoops for barrels.

But iron hoops were now used instead of hazel, and the coopers worked there no more.

Yet the mountains abound in the requisite materials, and only a few coopers are requisite to make the commencement.

There were eleven carpenters, eight coopers, four sawyers, three masons and twelve cattlemen, each squad with a foreman; and there were two ratcatchers whose work was highly important, for the rats swarmed in incredible numbers and spoiled the cane if left to work their will.

As a more direct and frequent stimulus a quart of rum was served weekly to each of three drivers, three carpenters, four boilers, two head cattlemen, two head mulemen, the "stoke-hole boatswain," and the black doctor, and to the foremen respectively of the sawyers, coopers, blacksmiths, watchmen, and road wainmen, and a pint weekly to the head home wainman, the potter, the midwife, and the young children's field nurse.

Men are generally carpenters, joiners, wheelwrights, coopers, butchers, tanners, shoemakers, tallow-chandlers, watermen and what not; women, soap-makers, starch-makers, dyers, etc.

The absence of the proprietors every summer in avoidance of malaria, and the consequent expense of overseer's wages, hampered operations on a small scale, as did also the maintenance of special functionaries among the slaves, such as drivers, boatswains, trunk minders, bird minders, millers and coopers.

One, and the largest of these isolated settlements, was in the Whaling Bight, quite near to Blubber Islano, where a village had sprung up, containing the houses and shops of coopers, rope-makers, boat-builders, carpenters, blacksmiths, &c.; men employed in making casks, whaling gear, and boats.

"Coopers Gram., p. 127.

Each had its own permanent population including, besides slaves and common labourers, many mechanics, carpenters, coopers, and artisans of various kinds.

A son of George Mason, Washington's close friend and neighbor, has left us the following description of industry at Gunston Hall: "My father had among his slaves carpenters, coopers, sawyers, blacksmiths, tanners, curriers, shoemakers, spinners, weavers, and knitters, and even a distiller.

His woods furnished timber and plank for the carpenters and coopers, and charcoal for the blacksmith; his cattle killed for his own consumption and for sale, supplied skins for the tanners, curriers, and shoemakers; and his sheep gave wool and his fields produced cotton and flax for the weavers and spinners, and his own orchards fruit for the distillers.

His coopers made the hogsheads the tobacco was prized in, and the tight casks to hold the cider and other liquors.

It was put into barrels manufactured by the plantation coopers and much of it ultimately found its way to the West India market.

At the mill were Miller Ben and three coopers.

When he grew thirsty he would pause for a drink at his favorite gum spring, and as he made his rounds would note the progress of the miller, the coopers, the carpenters, the fishermen, and the hands in the fields, how the corn was coming up or the wheat was ripening, what fences needed to be renewed or gaps in hedges filled, what the increase of his cattle would be, whether the stand of clover or buckwheat was good or not.

This was in consequence of the extensive establishment required on the estatethe large drying sheds that had to be erected, the number of coopers necessary, and the general high price of labour.

The coopers of the estate made the barrels in which it was packed, and Washington's schooner carried it to market.

There are here a gang (for that is the honourable term) of coopers, of blacksmiths, of bricklayers, of carpentersall well acquainted with their peculiar trades.