The Osceola times., 1884-11-15
ABOUT SWITZERLAND.
The People and Their Habits A View
from Mont Blanc.

ehc Npuih Hhc w Stdy pNtI niSit III ohc.
/ had seen one, but she would not be-
liove what | said about them, so, as our
train arrived at Geneva late at night, We
concluded to stay in a sweet Swiss vii
lage, and get our first peep al Mont Blanc
from the morning train. We stayed in a
picturesque hotel, in lovely Swiss vii
lage. We will never forget it, The floors
were bare and bad not seen water fer
seventy-two years. The tables in the
dining room were of dirty pine, without
table cloths. About II o'clock we felt
something biting us. My wife said, "it
is fleas.'
"No," | said, "they are bugs"
"Fleas, Pm sure" said my wife.
After discussing the question for ten
minutes, got mp and lit tallow candle
and, for the first time in our lives, we
found we agreed perfectly. We were
both right 1t is needless to say that we
sat up the rest of the night. and went
into Geneva the next morning all jaded
out. Since then my wife has not respect
ed Claude Melnotte's poetic description
of his Alpine home The Swiss cottage,
on close examination, invariably turns
out to be great barn, full of cattle. hogs
and men, and is always erected behind
gigantic pile of manure. The only ex-
ception to this is when the owner, living
near or in town, has his business in
his house. The wagon maker, iron-cast-
er and tanner always lives in one corner
of his shop, foundry or tannery. The
biick maker even lives in one part OF his
kiln.
In many cases plowing is done with
cows hitched up like oxen. A horse and
COW hitched together is not an uncom-
mon sight and in several instances | have
seen both Swiss and Bavarans driving
their wives and daughters III front of the
plow. In Switzerland and Bavaria wo.
men work harder than men; they always
do half the work in the fields. 1t is not
uncommon TO see women pitching hay
TO their husbands on high stacks and
carrying mortar up high ladders on their
backs. The women always work bare
footed with handkerchiefpinned tight
ly over their heads. Men, the lords OF
the creation, wear wooden shoes, but
their wives never
Women on farms in Switzerland and
Bavaria have no social duties; they never
read; the newspaper is unknown. They
have no toilets to make. Their life is of
brutal work. No slave in the South ever
lived SO far down in the scale of ciyiliza-
ton.
AS Bavaria joins Switzerland give
the essence ola little talk which had
with Bavarian farmer and his wife, be-
tween Gen"va and Munich. They were
both in the field reaping wheat with
sickle. barefooted woman was picking
up straws IN the next field.
"What do you get a month for such
work." asked
"We get, both of us together, thirty
two Marks (SS), said the man.
"And your board, too?"
"Yes, our food too"
What do you eat every day?" | asked.
I'VE have flour soup for breakfast; po-
tatoes bread and noodles for dinner; and
soup and noodles for supper. Twice
week we have salt pork" Noodles are
made of black flour, scalded and dried)
"Do you have coffee and sugar?'
"None !" they both said, shaking their
heads
The bread they eat is make of rye. In
villages the same bread Is fed TO horses.
Ii is . common thing to see a man and a
horse eating from the same loaf Girls,
working as servants in the cities, get
about five dollars a month, and so it is
with all the laborlng people on farms in
Switzerland, France, Germany and Rms
sa How | should like to have these
poor over-worked women see an Ameri-
can farmers vile in her sweet home.
BEAUTIFULLY carpeted, surrounded with
books and papers, and eating meat and
cake and pies three times day The
mark ket-gardener near Munich and Dres-
den uses barofooted women to draw his
vegetables TO market in wagons over the
stones. Women become beasts of burd-
en-; still, they do not grumble; they do
not smile either--they simply eXls' The
only liberty they have is sleep. The ex-
istence ola COW or sheep is perpetual
heaven, while theirs rs perpetual hell
Poor European women
OF course you have heard through
newspaper paragraphs that went up ts
Mont Blanc. ! shall net write much
about it because it has been done TO
death" bv other writer's. 1 propose to
write of otner things which other writers
do not see. Mont Blanc, 1870 feet high,
is the highest peak in Europe. II is
higher than Pixies Peak, Mount Rainier,
or Mount st. Elias. in Oregon, but il is
not more beautiful than Mount Hood or
Mount Adams as seen from the Columbia
River steamers. In goingup Mont Blanc
we first ride from Geneva fifteen miles
up the Chamounix Valley to the village
OF Chamouuix. This Is the foot of the
mountain. Only two or three people go
up the mountain annually, but it is not
a verp hard trip. All that is wanted is
good cons.iiul1n, go foo1,' and warm
clothes. Tie dltiicudes of ascen ling the
mountain have been dreadfully exagger-
ated.
We rode on mules two miles above
ChamouniX, and did the rest on foot.
After an hours walking We now use lad
ders for as-ing the deep gorges. -Four
thousand feet above cbanounix We pas
the timber line; heie all vegetation