The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-09-12
LIFE In EUROPE.
WOMEN FOLLOWING VocATIoNs FIT
ONLY FOR THEsTRoNGEsT MEN.

WORK in the Mines OF EraacC--iIcavy
Physical Labor In Aussri. stout
Daughters of the PIow - Factory
System of Germany.
Whether it be the existence OF enormous
standing armies, the havoc Of centuries OF
war, the absence of practical educational IA
cilities or the lowneSs of laborcrs' wages, that
compels so many women on tho continent of
Europe to sack to gain living in occupations
which we deem fit only for the strongest and
rudest of men, certain il is that one of tho
colnmonest and, to American eyes, the
strangest sights there is the number of women
engaged in agricultural and other severe
manual labor. In France women arc still oc-
cupied in the mines dragging or pushing the
heavy trucks of Goals through the narrow
tunnels that run from the seams t. the shaft.
OF course, i'll such work they adopt tho orii-
nary costume of working miners, and at the
first glance are not TO he distinguished from
the men, by whose side they are working.
Some of the entries In the French census as
to the laboring population are strange enough
In Paris there are female boatbui!dcrs and
2i5 ''whcclwriIyhts, farriers and Stddlcrs,n 8
sawyers, 50 carpenters and joiners, > masons
and l plumber 1t is, however in Austria
that we find the greatest proportion of women
engaged i'll heavy physical labor, not merely
in agriculture or the mines, but in paving or
cleaning the streets, or in carrying huge trays
of mortar or hods of bricks up TO the work
men the scaiTolding of buildings in the
course of erection. These women do not
seem to complain of their lot; they have been
bred up TO hard work from their infancy, and
are used To nothing better; their language
and manners are rs coarse as those of the
male laborcTs, whom in figure they resemble
high chos,tcd, broad shouldcrcd, no trace of
IA waist, and possessed of great strength. To
such stout daughters of the plow" it Is an
easy task To wheel Il street sprinkler or pun
about hand cart laden with milk, as may
be seen any day in Antwerp, where the milk
woman, with her neat white cap and kcrchicf
md her assistant dog, IS n striking picture.
WORKERS IN THE MINES
IN Prussia about 600 women are workers
in mines, quarrics, and foundrics, and about
1000 are classified as drivers, Positions, and
railway laborcrs," and about 900 as ships
crews, sailors, b0atIucu and fcrrymcu"; in
this last category Will come women employed
in towing canal boats. 1t has been. asked,
why do not women adopt callmgs more
adapted to feminine hands: The reason seems
to be the Industrial condition OF IA great part
of the European continent, which affords TO
them no better means of earning a living.
and the fact that th,S., occupations which
are utterly uufcnliuino, are i;I,t those IN
which uIskilled labor cam b. employed Y
change, however, is slowly coming about ly
the growth 81 important industries in every
country. The factory system has been found
in Germany to have strong tendency to
improve the condition not only OF the women
Immediately employed III them, but Of those
working in the country around.
y large employer ut FrcIhuTE, after thirty
years experience, said. The condition Of the
agricultural IaL,ror- Is mot "a satisfactory one
There. Is much misery among them. C~I-eCIailY
moral misery. When mothers apply To us
for work for strong, healthy girls, We tell
them such girls are more tit for labor in tho
! fields, hut too ru.Iucntly receive an account
of the hard ami immoral life ;isSocint,-I with
such service The Scruc changes when IA we'll
managed factory comes into the village. Tho
poor girls must then either receive better
treatment AMI better wages or they go into
the factory. The moral benefit Of well
ordered factory is still greater, it affects the
| whole village. "-Harpcr's BaZar.