Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1883-11-27
S9RAL GERMANY.
LabOiious Life Of the Peasaant-Un
eouth Men and Women
Muscular Females.
AGerrnan YiIinre.

NNANNN 49, -AI4 W eAaSA
49, Muscular Females.
A German village.
/ HId MrfTRr ,DNlH|
Hsidslbsrg Letter in San Francisco chrOniCls.
Tho railroad from Strasburg TO
Heidelberg runs along the eastern
side Of Vie broad and thiokly popula,
tSa VALLEY Tie Rhine. giving the OBJ
servant traveller many heeting view
OF peasant life in Southern Germany.
And from these visvs the traveller
gets the idea bat the peasants lot,
even in this the most fertile aud pro-
ductiye part Of Germany, is not a very
enViahle one. The broad valley, shut
in On both idesby high hills clothed
with dark fOlisgsd pines aud frs,
slopes gently down from both sides
toward the river. Its nearly per.
iectly level surface, broken by no
hills, no rolling ground aud no trees,
save here aud there a struggling clump
Of scraggy willows along the banks Of
some small water course, is thickly
dotted with scores of small villages OF
a dozen or two houses, crowded and
jambled around the steepled villsge
church, seemingly without any order
or arrqpgement except such as would
lbekue gested BY the sweetwill Of the
fbullders and the available unoccupied
space. Streets, strictly speaking, there
are none in these villages One rather
broad, and, compared to the others,
tolerably straight alley leads from one
end OF the village TO the, other, and
Branching Of from this main thor
OughtaTe and making all manner Of
crooks and turns in the FEW yards OF
their lengthsare the hide alleys giving
access TO those houses which do
mot happen to face on the principal
streets TIE aat,whitewashed walls,
1.-The straw, thaohed roofs reaching
almost to the ground, and the general
dirtintss and air OF 'shiftlessness"
about such q village give one the
! idea that the country must be a very
poor one and unable to more than sup
porEits teeming population Yet the
valley OF ithe Rhine is noted for its
\ exceptional fertility Its grapes and
1 the winemad from them are celebra.
\ ted al sthe, world over and on its
broad bottom lands all kinds Of cereals
and fruits grow better than anywhere
else in the Germsn empire.
| On 1.-THE GERMAN PEASANT.
Still the peasant does not rise 10 the
WORLD but remains always generation
alter generation, tied down to life Of
the most 'irkHome toll, and ais sur
roundings remain unchanged. Pros
porous, in the German sense of the
word, is everybody in this fertile
valley. Yet the prosperity is such 8
J ono IS the American, and espeeially
the California farmer, would not be
At all contented with Tho German
peasini's prosperity consists in getting
enough, blythe hardest kind OF work,
to live on, and having enough left
over to pay taXe8,to give bis marriage
bsble daughter5 dowfy enough TO make
them sought after by the neighbors
sons and to lay up a few dollars a year
Tor possible future contingencies. III
he succeeds in doing these things he
Is looked upon as a man Of means and
sfiiuence in the community. If he
docs not succeed he is eontented, gen
orally; II not eontenled he emisrates
TO America. Beyond acquiring the
diminutive stipend which to bis mind
is a magnificent fortune, he has nc
aspirations. Aud why should he
have snyl His forsfatheEs for hun.
dreds oil years lived aud died just az
he Is living aud will die, and be know
,, nothing Of any world except the sur
! rounding few miles of country
, Berlin he has heard Of because
the EmTeror lives there. Paril
be has heard mentioned Al
being the capital Of his morta
E emmy, France. Aud America b,
e knows Of as an unknown land, away
9 off somewhere, where he doesn't ex'
! actly know, which has swallowed VI
D some Of his friends and relatives, anC
I absolutely refuses TO disgorge them
1 Ryen the railroad. though it is no new
thing, has no significance to him be-
J. yond the fact that tits an iron wal
0 whose two ends lie long way off, jus
how far be has only the dimme>t snC
most chaotic idea, Yet he is not 81
ignorant as one would suppose. HI
has been to school and learned some
. thing from that most learned Of oil
! meH-always excepting the local min
+ isteF or priest-the village pedagogue
, He can read aud write little, and il
= his own peculiar way, can cipher AM
! keep some sort Of accounts. But 70
anything outside Of what pertains I
! his daily existence and immediat
surroundings he has no sort Of inter
3 est : Nations may survive or perish
es dynasties may rise or fall, but as Ion
., IS be ia not disturbed and is left 4
1t work his farm and drink. his beer, hi
e entire attention and that Of his vii,
v his sons aud his daughters, down
e the smallest fodder who can pu
,. weeds dpick up stones, is taken u
p blythe few acres hecuitivatcs.
III u ALLOWING TEAM. Z p