Morning journal and courier., 1884-04-05
In 4 German Market.

The DIrty-Handsd Peasant Women who
Sell tho Necessa ris1 OF Life.
Soap and water are evidently strangers to
the Amazon market women here, writes
Lsipsic correspondent. and in all probability
have been so SO long that the dirt is so strong
ly erimed in that nothing would have any
effect upon it. And they are all of them un-
ksmpt as to hair and slatternly Is to dress
On their heads they wear either dirty
child's shawl, worn liks hood, with the ends
tied under their chins, or regular out-and-
out hood. Not one rejoices in the possession
of bonnet, hat or cap. And, indeed, it
would look rather peculiar to ses one of these
women, with her scanty wisp of hair, covered
with anything approaching to feminine
bonnet. The shawl orDhood is an appropriate
for her head covering as a red bandanns is
for an old negro aunty. Anything else in
either case would bs out Of place.
For body clothing, these Saxon peasant
women are clad only in two garments-if the
inexperienced eye of a foreigner ls not de-
ceived-and these two garments consist of q
cloak and q dress, both streaksd with grease,
dusty and rusty. The cloak, sometimes
lined on the sdgss and bottom with cheap far,
reaches little below the waist to which il ID
confined by belt 1t Is generally made Of
like silk, and bears the unmistakRble signs of
having been worn in all Weathers and under
almost all circumstances. The dress il gen.
orally gray in color, heavy in material, and
reaches hardly to the ankles; and beneath it
appears a good, solid pair of feet, of which
even Sir John Sucking would not have said:
Her feet beneath her petticoat, like little
mice, stole in and out, as II they feared the
light" No, they are large feet-yery large
feet-and the coarse woolen stockings in
which they are incassd do not add one whit
to their beauty.
Neither do the great numbering shoes, with
wooden shoes II inches thick, and like q
Turkish bath slipper, with only that part of
the upper" covering the toes to hold them
on their fest But though one sees only the
above enumerated articles of clothing on
these women, there Is q suspicious amplitude
of form, q certain dowdiness and awkward
ness of movement, which lead one to suppose
that beneath these dirty and ILL fitting outer
garments there are numerous others equally
as dirty Each woman has the general
Characteristics given above. But there are
certain others which are possessed pre-eni-
nently by those engaged in selling certain
kinds of goods. so that m expert might
readily determine the business of sach
woman simply by her personal appearance.
Thus, the potato women are all large, raw
boned, with projecting cheek bones, nuseu-
lar forms and peculiar swing to their bodies
when they move. Just such characteristics,
in short, as one would expect to find in one
who digs, plants and hoes potatoes. The
flower wemen are always Withered, pale.
sickly and seem. which is probably the fact,
as if they had been compelled to come down
to selling flowers simply because they are un-
able TO perform harder and more exactlng
labor. The salt fish women, who sit all day
beside their barrels of pickled herring, and
reach now and then into the depths to lift
out handful of fish from the dirty and
bloody looking brine, are, with hardly an ex-
ception, coarse featured, sleepy looking and
soul-try ing expression of sternness, just as if
they wouldn't smile if they could and couldn't
il they would.