THE READING FINGERS

Jean Roblin

Chapter II: SIMON, THE HARNESS-MAKER

THE REGION of gentle hills where Coupvray lies, clinging to a slope, is a country typical of Ile de France. From the magnificent castle overlooking the valley a vast panorama unfolds; to the east, Meaux, kneeling at the foot of its tall cathedral; to the north, the flat lands of Dammartin-en-Goële; to the west, the Marne, stretching out capriciously between the wooded hills and flowing broadly toward Lagny.

Coupvray has kept the picturesqueness of a small village of olden times, and there is little difficulty in going back a century and a half to discover the places young Louis Braille knew. Here in the upper village above the farmhouse built on the grounds of the old abbey of the Trinitarians, is the little square and its old watering-trough, the church and its princely epitaphs; here along St. Denis, the main street, are ancestral homes with gray walls full of crevices and mossy roofs from which emerge rustic dormer windows; here is the Touarte, a steep, stony street descending toward lower Coupvray; here at the foot of the hill we find a tiny brook, the old wooden wash-house, some farmhouses and the other slope of the territory of Coupvray, well exposed to the south where grapevines once grew.

With its four annual fairs and weekly market-days the busy trade of Coupvray under the old régime attracted the inhabitants of numerous neighboring villages. At that time its population was six hundred and ten souls, living in one hundred and seventy homes. A magistrate dispensed justice and since 1628 a notary had kept official documents. Several doctors and a midwife practiced there and a school founded by the Trinitarians taught the children without charge.

In 1809 Coupvray had not yet lost its old traditions. If the magistrate and the Trinitarian school had disappeared along with royalty, if taxes were no longer paid to the Seigneur de Rohan but to Monsieur Pierre Baudier, the tax-collector, the young people as before practiced every Sunday the "noble sport of archery." The town records reveal to us the numerous trades which prospered at that period. Boury was the tailor, Seguin the locksmith, Louis Bailly, the rope-maker. One of the weavers lived on Rue aux Chevaux and Simon René Braille, the harness-maker, on Chemin des Buttes in the lower village.

On this little street (named Braille Street in 1831 and today Louis Braille Street) the Braille family owned a house, a workshop and several farm buildings. The house is still standing. It is a decrepit dwelling with gray walls where in places the stones can be seen through the broken plaster. There is a courtyard and a small landing. A few steps lead us to a low oak door. Let us go in! We find ourselves in a large room with a recess for accommodating a bed. The daylight which makes its way in through a window near the door feebly lights an interior of long ago, where nothing in the construction has been changed in two centuries. One can still see the oven where the Braille family baked bread, the hearth surmounted by its long canopy where the heavy cast-iron pot hung from the chimney-hook, and the worn sink with its stone drainpipe running along the wall. The walls were white-washed at some long-forgotten period and the years have covered them with a reddish-brown patina. On the right, a door leads to the garret.

It was toward 1750 that Simon Braille, grandfather of Louis, came to settle in Coupvray to engage there in the trade of harness-making. When he died in 1782, his son, Simon René, succeeded him. The latter, a skillful workman, soon gained throughout the region a reputation as an honest craftsman, and became a master harness-maker before 1791. This was a much sought-after title in those times when small industries flourished and organized in guilds. They were the core of the French craft system. To obtain the distinction of this title, one had to execute a master-piece. Then, if successful, one could engage journeymen and have apprentices. It was a point of honor with the master to deliver only work well done, to strive for perfection in the whole and in detail.

Business went well and Simon René Braille was able to take care of his little family without too much difficulty. He had gradually increased his property. Besides his houses on the Chemin des Buttes he owned seven and a half acres of land and vineyards in the town. He had a cow and poultry and he gathered in hay for the winter. His vineyards furnished enough wine for the year and the kitchen-garden provided the vegetables. It was the simple and healthy life of the country.

The meager description on a passport application found in the files of the town of Coupvray has left us a physical portrait, unfortunately quite incomplete, of the parents of Louis Braille. Monique measured only five feet; she had brown hair, a low forehead, a pointed chin and blue eyes. Simon René was five feet, six inches tall; his hair and eyebrows were brown, his nose was large, his mouth average, his chin round. He was forty-four in 1809 and had remained faithful to the old régime, loyal to its traditions. Pignier, director of the Institution for Blind Youth from 1821 to 1840, tells us, "His integrity and habits bring to mind the old days." We had hoped to see his personality in a new light by searching through the town records for traces of some real civic action on his part; but Simon René Braille undoubtedly did not enjoy mixing in public life, for his name is not to be found in any association. If, on February 8, 1804 he agreed to be tax assessor for 1804, if sometimes he was present at the annual discussion of the budget, it certainly was not because these roles appealed to him. Rather he did not know how to turn down his good friends, Simon Occident and René Coquelet, both of whom were very devoted to the interests of the town.

He must have been if not hostile to progress at least distrustful of the benefits of new inventions. In 1816, when an epidemic of smallpox began to wreak havoc in the town, he refused to allow either himself or his family to be vaccinated. It is true that a good many people in Coupvray had no wish to be acquainted with Doctor Jannin and his inoculations. In spite of everything the harness-maker's little family weathered the storm safely. But let's not get ahead of the story!