Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-01-23
WOMEN In GERMANY.
AN AMERICAN TRAVELLERS Or
SERVATI0NS.

SERt A1LONS.
A Condition from Which the
Change to America is
Boon Most Welcome
The workingwoman Of Germany, says a
correspondent of the Chicago Journal, can
not be congratulated on her lot in life
Hers is an unlucky star, glimmering upon
a poor home, poor food and poor pay hard
work, poor clothes and hopeless future of
toll. Ii had ought TO be brighter, for she is
willing, pleasant, economical and industri-
Gus, parts which in her case go unreward-
ed. Her days work is compassed by six
teen to eighteen hours, and the reward of
her industry is an average of q cents for
every dreary hour of weary toll. Some
earn as much as four cents, but the severest
part of existence falls to woman, and the
price of their lots is the portion of pit
tance. She is the burden-bearer, and hers
is the servants state. Chivalry is extinct
or dormant, for her sex gives her no noble
recognition, and the position of wife or
mother is no shield from hardship, no
lever to lift the onus of utility. She is repre-
sented IN most Of the manual-labor occupa-
tions, and more literally in mining or
foundry work than any other branch of
professional or clerical life She is making
living in mine or quarry, or as q tanner,
glassblower, cooper carpenter or mason III
many instances. Her pursuits are not al
ways gentle or of a character of refinement
Especially it is
HER LOT TO DO FARM LABOR.
OF this service she performs the greater
parts-hoeing and reaping, toting manure
in basket on her back, harvesting and
thrashing, plowing with a pair of COWS
hard work, and plenty of it. She is not
comely. The fresh and merry girls are
few. The STOPPING form, the spiritless
movements, the worn and weary, bronzed
and wrinkled faces are Characteristic but
all are hardy and vigorous and none are
| nervous, and few possess any sterling
domestic qualities. Housekeeping is al
most a primitive sort but, though the
needle works bunglingly and the cooking
is wretched, and the family affection is un-
displayed, there is very strong home feel
ing, which is always brought forth by the
hard-working, much-enduring woman.
The traveller has frequently occasion to
remark this physical endurance which
characterizes the vitality of the German
| race. This has special illustration N the
| case OF some of the Saxon country women,
who are not only descendants of those ma
irons who bore the soldiers who fought
under Arninius and DESTROYED the proud,
imperial egions Of Rome, but who are
| themselves the mothers of those other
soldiers who, at Grayelotte Metz and Sedan
baffled the splendid opposing forces of u
modern imperial power. Unconscious of
the indignant
SURPRISE OF OUR AMERICAN LADIES
When seeing them at work, and in their
turn surprised when they hear the critical
execratiOns upon a system which rsaUires
such things, these women do most Of the
farm work in the Saxon fields. Watch
them for an hour, and one instinctively
tires his own nerve aud muscles in doing
so. They universally stoop, and are not
only humpback, but the face of the wo-
man OF 20 has the appearance of having
seen 90 years. Do you ask why it is so?
Note the hoe that they use-a primitive
sort OF an implement, with handle thirty
inches long, the use of which compels
work all day III STOPPING posture The
deformity thus engendered is completed by
carrying heavy weights in panier baskets
reclining on their shoulders. Frequently.
If not invariably, the detormity twists
laterally around to the right side. This is
not only because of the bi-manual exercise,
bat Is due to the pulling of heavy weights
from the right shoulder. For Saxon wo-
men do draught work, and theirs is an i'm
portant factor in the labor of their country.
Hundreds of barrow carts can be seen on
the road leading to Dresden, with
WOMAN AND DOG HITcHED TOGETHER
And trudging along, dragging heavy loads.
no matter what the season or the weather
may be. 1t is said that the railroads and
other vehicles added do not do more haul
ing than these women and dog teams.
There is nothing like it in any other Euro
pean country. But do not call it degrada-
ton, for of these women ii is the boast that
none attain the age of ten who cannot
read or write.
The employer of field help will hire a
woman as quick as he will a man. Indeed,
some prefer women help, for they will toll
early and late as well and as quickly as a
man. All, Frailty, thy name is not Ger
man woman And the babe that lies in
the grass while its mother works hard by
is babe that comes to no frail estate. Ii
seems strange to me, but mothers who are
compelled to toll the livelong year on short
rations and for long hours, bear superior
race OF sons, who grace the army with the
finest physical perfection or who do grand
mental tasks until the outcome is all of the
way and
THE METHOD OF CULTURE
The physicians assure me that there is
actually no impairment of the health or
general condition of females or their off
spring by reason of their arduous pursuits.
The wages of sin is death, but the wages of
hard work is not at least not in German
Another surprising thing is that the wonl-
en- can do SO much work on the food they
take. In Alsace-Lorraine breakfast con-
sists Of coffee and bread, with perhaps an
onion dinner is of vegetables. meats rare
ly, bread and beer, soup sometimes; sup
per is of soup, salads, cheese, bread and
coffee. In Crefeld the miners live on bread
and vegetables only. II Dantzic the labor
ers live chiefly on potatoes, rye bread,
Cruel, fish and coffee Dresden laborers
live on rye bread, Cruel, cheese. beer and
sausage. In Dusseldorf there is bread and
coffee for breakfast, the same for supper.
and meat, vegetables and beer for dinner.
In Konigsberg the living in potatoes, cof-
fee and fish. In Saxonv, black bread, fat.
potatoes. coffee and beer In Mayence. rye
bread, meat, potatoes, milk. coffee, saur-
kraut, millet pap, eggs and wine. If you
please, this is frugality. Yet women live
on it, and men, too. And hygiene is also
nil. Ventilation, sanitary measures, drain
age-of such is not the will of the working
woman, who is content with cleanliness
and comfort, and who finds pure air enough
70 Offset all else thati is lacking, as she holds
the plow, or drags the cart, or otherwise
puts her hand to manual labor cutoff
doors.
DEVOTION TO FATHERLANp.
/ sometimes have asked women why they
work afield, and the answer is "For Ger
manys sake" In other words, it is because
the sons must enter the army, and their
places upon the farmland often in the
shop-must be filled by their mothers.
sisters and wives. The women will dig and
delve all day long, and only will she stop
to rest when it is to praise our army"
The town girls go into the factory or
store. There are large number of sales
women who work nine hours on week davs
and usually from to P NJ on Sundays
They are allowed more liberties than in the
United States. For instance, two hours
incoming, and when not engaged with Gus
toners are privileged to sit down and sew,