, 1885-07-07
WOMEN WHO WORK
IN THE MARKET GARDENS OF THIS
SUBURBS.
Chicago Gardeners Furnish Employment
TO 1000 Poie-. Bohemians. md Ger
mans-Physieai and Mental Charae-
teristic. Hope of the Future.


seed time until frost comes and all the
green things droop their heads aud die,
fully 1000 women 20 out to work In the
market gardens In the immediate vicinity
Of Chicago. some of these women are
aged. some in middle life, and n few are
still girls. The ma ority. however. are
wives who nave husbands unqualified to
support lheir families. OF, as is the Case
SO often among he ranks of ignorant
people. too dissolute or lazy to do SO.
They are without exception foreigner
some Bohemians, some Poles, aud others
Germans They have been reared In the
land Of their birth to farm labor, and
know scarcely anything else. Their
knowledge Of housekeeping is limited, for
the houses they have lived in from in
fancy have been but shelters little better
than those given TO cattle. and their means
for home-making of the rudest kind.
They can MAKE a greasy soup Of pork
and a bit Of mutton or veal, prepare milk
porridge, or boil a pot Of strong, coarse
coffee, but there their skill in cookery
ends They canno so much as bake a
loaf OF black bread. They know, as a
RUE. no more Of the ordinary simple de
tails Of housekeeping and home making
than does the squaw whose home is a tee
pee. or the gypsy who roamse eight months
of the year o the country In a covered
wagon Many Of them do not know how
to cleanse their garments When they
indulge IN the process called washing.
II is a more wetting that bears no rcsem
blance to the genuine removal OF dirt. In
the winter time many Of these women.
especially the Poles. would be glad dur
ing the long. cold months to do any kind
Of rough housework, but know not how
II is done "Can you not scrub the
hoorfr asked the writer of q Polish
woman In midwinter, who stood in the
small, low. tireless room, and wrung
her hands in misery at the starvation
which had overtaken her and her two
little girls. Scrub the floor. " answered
she in her strong native gutterals, stretch
ing out her sinewy brown hands with a
gesture Of despair. Il can do nothing but
dig in the earth and feed the pigs.
This Is the story of seven tenths OF all
the women who work in the market gar
dens. The Bohemians, and especially The
Germans. are on the average more intelli
| gent in their ideas of thrift than the Poles.
Those who nave no avocation in the win
ter manage 10 lay a tri1e by over and
above the payment of the debts contracted
In the winter and the summers expense,
with which. by dint Of much pinching
and such assistance as they obtain from
the county, they maintain an existence
through the year. A few can sew. and
have learned the rudiments Of tailor
work These make pants during the
winter. All of them can knit. and the
stout. coarse. wooden hose reaching about
two thirds of the way to the knee. which
they wear when they cover feet or ankles
with anything. are their own handiwork.
The young unmarried foreigners who
come to this country usually obtain do
nestle work and soon learn enough to
make their condition far better than ii
ever could be In the old world. But the
woman who comes here with husband
and children. who has had opportunity to
learn only what the fields could teach. has
scarcely a brighter outlook in life than
she had at home. She goes early 10 her
work and remains till 6 o clock. All day
long she is in the field. it matters not
whether the rain falls or the hot suns
rays beat down upon her head.
! Sometimes three or four women
will make their way across the field
and back. again and again. on their knees.
rulling up small weeds They work thus
for hours without once lifting their
bodies from their cramped position. They
will scarcely exchange n word mean
while. for they are not loquacious. Long
years of exposure. hard labor, and want
havc made them for the most part stupid.
taciiurn, and stolid Sometimes they use
the hoe. sometimes they sow seeds or put
small plants. that have been started under
glass. in the ground A portion Of the
women clean and bunch the vegetables
ready for market
None Of them are beautiful or have the
slightest claim TO grace OF what is known
as good looks. " Without exception they
are square and Ill shaped. and move with
heavy. numbering motion. Their faces are
| hropgaA and Caama1 with MANY lfuaa
Their eyes seldom wear any expression.
not even that of sorrow. nor yet of expect
ancy. or themselves they live almost in
the immediate present and neither hope
nor dread. OF so little feeling do they
seem possessed that one Is moved to won
der why they should have sought a life in
the new world no better apparently than
the one in the old. Should the question
be put TO q dozen Of these hard. featured.
su~llen-looking women, as they bend over
their work. II they were not quite as well
of at home as they are here. they will al
most with one accord, after they have
stared at tho questioner steadily for a mo.
ment reply. We may not be better oil.
but bye and-bye our children will. The
answer seldom varies.
The market gardens stretch 10 the
south. west and north of the city. Cab
bage is grown extensively to the south
and southwestward, and its cultivation
gives employment to a large number Of
women. Lettuce. radishes. onions. Gu
cumbers, spinach. andive and celery com.
prise the greater part Of the garden crop
grown close to the city. The larger veg
etables are raised farther in the country.
Several crops OF each Of the smaller veg.
etables are grown successfully while sum
mel lasts, The first crop Of spinach, let
tuce and radishes are grown under glass,
spinach being put in in the autumn. Thus
some OF the garden women here work the
entire year, These workers have beer
thoroughly trained. and their services are
more valuable than those Of an ordinary
field laborer.