The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-09-01

must be bottom STRATUM of society next
the ground; and it has to be thick and
tough so as to bear friction AT least,
German philosophy and craftsmanship
have not yet advanced an inch beyond
good old Mrs. Seay they have not man
aged to make the, shoe without the sole
leather; and very rough and tough sole
leather it. is; very dirty and very much
trodden. on. And this leads to my second
conclusion: Universal primary schools
have as yet done nothing to educate"
the lower class of German laborers. They
have no books in their houses. They take
no newspapers-and in this day of Jour
nalism, people who do not read newspa-
pes, still more certainly read nothing
else. Their. countenances. are as stolid as
those of the cows they drive to their
wagons. When | said co,0S, did not
blunder. One sees here the very same
evidences of poverty and oppressive gov.
eminent which have become so common
among the wretched freedmen of South
side Virginia; old traps of wagons drawn
by little milch cows; old ploughs drawn
by single, little, scrub steer. One re
hnement of German misery, only, our ne
groes have not reached, making up a team
by hitching a woman on one side the pole
and dog on the other. Pray, recon-
mend this to the Nations wards" for
then their numerous dogs will have some
thing else to do besides steal our sheep.
Peasant Women. 3 r
The peasant women, the mothers who are
to form the minds of the next generation,
are apparently more degraded than the
men. They 60 everywhere in the field,
In town, on TIE highway, in rain and sun,
with no covering for the head; and often
none for the feet; knowing the use of
bonnet no more than the most unkempt
negress on the poorest quarter-planta-
ton of fifty years ago. Their universal
accompaniment, all over Germany, is the
everlasting hamper on their backs not
basket, true hamper, which holds two
and half bushels. And it is usually
full of something, from green weeds for
the pig, the baby, or frewood, to manure
for the battle-ground. The only extep-
ton to the universal-hamper is a hoped
vessel, shaped like an inverted churn,
about a yard high, and holding about
half -four barrel. Near Eisenach the other
evening, my attention was caught by a
mans shouting to stalwart laborer, who
was walking twenty yards in front of me
Heirum' The man was attempting to
aid young woman to shoulder her ham
per. 1t was beyond his strength and
hers. He needed the aid of this other
man. The two men together managed
to get the enormous load on the young
WON ms back; and they then came out
of the field, all three together the woman
smiling her thanks very good humoredly:
one OF the men carrying the rakes, the
other his pipe; the woman carried the
hoe also. All three seemed to think the
distribution perfectly proper The food
of these poor people is the coarsest and
scantiest that will sustain nature. Sour
rye bread, buttered with lard, potatoee,
buttermilk, some soup on dessert days, a
morsel of meat on Sundays
The Protestant Religion.
From what can see, the Protestant
religion has almost no hold on this bot
tom stratum; not near so much as the
Popish superstition has on the same class
in the Catholic districts. When little
children, they were forced to the primary
school, where, along with reading and
writing, they profess to learn the Luthe-
ran Catechism Since then, mo man
careth for their souls" This class, as a
rule, is not seen in the churches of the
D6rfer or farmers villages. The Pfarrer
Estate pastor) is known to them far more
as police official than as a spiritual
guide. He knows, by the parish register
how old they are, and keeps list for the
conscript-ofhcers, and reports them when
they reach military age. No man can
look these poor people in the face and
fail to see their utter stolidity. One sign
of the absence of real educating power in
the whole system is, that Popery holds
its own all over Germany, against Lu-
theranism. There is no lifting of the
cloud of superstition, no advance on DO
perry, as in the United States. no superi-
ority of the one peasantry over the other:
except that the Popish is, in the sense the
Apostle charged on the Athenians, much
the most religious; while the Protestant
peasantry is not religious in any sense.
Small Land-Holders.
Now, to appreciate these statements
Justly you must know Of what class am
speaking. You are aware, that in both
France and Germany, there are verv
small land-holders. whose estates CbeId