The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1875-04-02
LIFE IN GERMANY.
The Foreigner Abroad.

AAAC y GOEGASACE <1O1Odus
A residence of three years in Stuttgart
enables me to speak definitely of the ex
pense of living abroad Most American
families residing here for the purpose of
educating their children occupy flats.
The account-book of such family, con-
| sisting of parents, four daughters, two of
whom are mere infants, and two servant
girls, shows the expenses for one years
provisions to be 1000 forms; clothing,
1,750 horins; tuition, $50 lorins gas
| and fuel, 1926 dorins; washing, 175
forms; city charities, $50 horins; furni-
| trre, kitchen utensils and sundries,
1,15O fiorins; total, 9,750 forins, or about
| 81, 200.
Each flat contains, of course, all the
necessary rooms for housekeeping. In
addition, every family has the use of
two cellars, one for wine and vegetables.
| the other for fuel. The floor of the
main entrance is of colored stone, in
/ handsome patterns. The principal OBJ
| lection to this sort of residence is the use
of common hall by the various inmates,
| since 1t gives entrance and exit to every
| thing animate and inanimate that per
| tains to living. Visitors, children,
| butcher, baker, milkman, coal, wood,
slops and garbage pass through this
passageway, which, as consequence,
cannot be kept in the nice order that
| characterizes this part of the household
/ in America. The pavement is swept
everp morning, and requires sprinklng
twice day. This work is divided be-
tween the different fats. A general
laundry room is In the cellar, and is
common property. There are water
works in the kitchen, but not in the
rooms. The noise of uncarpeted floors
is at first unbearable to Americans.
| OF course, some of the very wealthy use
carpets, but several reasons prevent
their prevalent adoption. The doors fit
so closely that they would require to be
planed off at the bottom to admit car
! pet beneath; but perhaps the most i'm
! portant consideration is the utter absence
| of furniture-rollers. In such simple
matters as these, Americans miss many
/ little contrivances for household comfort
that are accessible to the humblest at
home.
The floors are of different colors of
oak wood, accurately fitted together in
small blocks to initiate mosaic. The
waxing is renewed every few weeks, and
| the sweeping of such floors is followed
/ by frequent wiping with buckskin. Large
rugs in handsome patterns are laid in the
most exposed places. White floors are
easily Gsfgured by every drop of water,
and require fortnightly scrubbings. This
/ involves a whole days discomfort, to say
nothing of the herculean task of moving
the rollerless furniture and the annoy
ance of having detachable pieces wrenched
off by clumsy cleaners. Then we miss
the warm, dry climate that so speedily
effaces all traces of the scrubbing brush.
| A days cleaning is followed by cold
night, through which the dampness is
| perceptibly felt. The windows here,
even in the humblest houses, are draped
with white. The wealthy add handsome
| lambrequins of damask and other similar
materials. Inside shutters are found
| only in the new houses erected by for
eigners, or at their suggestion. All win
! dows have the Venetian slat-blnd, hung
on the outside. Nottingham lace cur
talns are much used, and require laun-
l.. drying once in six months. The double
winter windows are usedin cold weather,
and add to the warmth of the rooms at
the expense of imperfect ventilation.
Our fuel is beech wood and coke; peat
Is much used and inexpensive, but its
disagreeable odor prevents its universal
adoption.
Girls receive 100 forms year and a
present Christmas and at the time of the
two annual fairs This salary seems
small !; yet when one takes into consid-
Grafton their demand for beer and wine,
their destructiveness, and their habit of
levying 10 per cent ON the market money,
their wages do not fall short of the girls
at home. Ladies seldom attend market,
gentlemen never as consequence,
there Is ample opportunity for this habit
of levying which seems to be in general
use among the Stuttgart servants. These
girls read and write well in the matter
of work they accomplish far less than the
Irish and German girls, upon whom our
| domestic comfort depended across the
Atlantic.
Preserved vegetables are known only
| to the wealthy. A vegetarian diet would
not be pleasant to one compelled to rely
upon our markets. The principal winter
stock consists of cabbage, carrots and
quent dinner dish.
Chestnuts boiled in water and sugar,
to which little butter has been added,
make delightfully."- sweet dish, and are a
pleasant accompaniment to various
stewed fruits. They are also used for
garnishing the rose cabbage. Each
little cabbage is the size of walnut, and
grows around stalk foot or more in
height. It is q pretty plant, with deli
cate flavor. In early spring hop sprouts
are brought into market. They are pre-
pared like asparagus, and served with
white sauce.
here, and meat is beyond the reach
of the laboring classes. Ham, like
our sugar-cured, is not known in
Stuttgart. That which we have bought
here Is already boiled, and sold at the
charcutiers or sausage-houses in any
quantity desired, and of inferior quality.
Yet North German hams and sausages
are widely known, and command high
pmces, as also the various dried and
picked fish of the seas
A careful observation convinces me
that the Americans excel in thorough
ness of housewifery and matronly duties
They devote too much time to unneces-
sary work, and do not reserve their
strength for emergencies, as is the Gus
tom with the Germans. The greater
freshness Of the latter is attributable
neither to better health nor superior
mental capacity, but to the fact that they
are not given to paying usurious rates of
interest on borrowed trouble. How
many mothers here permit their children