Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-08-18
LIFE IN EUROPE.
WOMEN FOLLOWING voCATIONS FIT
ONLY FOR THE STRONGEST MEN.

Work I'm the Mines Of France-Heavy
Physical Labor in Austria stout
"Daughter- of the PIow Factory
System Of Germany.
Whether il be the existence of enormous
standing armies, the havoc of centuries OF
war, the absence of practical educational ia
cilities, or the lOwnesS Of laboreFs' wages. that
compels 80 many women on the continent of
Europe to seek 10 gain living in occupations
which we deem fit only for the strongest and
rudest Of men, certain it is that one of the
commonest and. TO American eyts, the
stTaHgest sights there is the number Of women
engaged in agricultural and other severe
manual labor. In France women are still oc-
cupled in the mines, dragging or pushing the
heavy trucks Of GOALS through the narrow
tunnels that run from the seams 20 the shaft
of course, in such work they adopt the orli-
nary costume of working miners, and at the
tirst glance are not To be 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 boatbuilders and
945 ~wheelwrightS, farriers and Siidlers," 5
sawyers, ~ carpenters and juineTs, masons
and / plumber. Ii is, however, in Austria
that We find the gre Test proportion Of women
engaged in 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 on the scafrnlding of buildings in the
course of erection. These women do not
seeIu 10 complain OF their lot; they have been
bred up TO harl work from their infancy, and
are USED TO nothing better; their language
and manners are coarse aS those Of the
male laborers, whom in figure they resemble
high CheSted, broad shouldered, no trace Of
A waist, and poSSessed Of great strength. To
such stout daughters of the plow" it is an
easy task to wheel a street sprinkler or pull
about hand cart laden with milk, as may
he seen any day in Antwerp, where the milk
woman, with her neat white cap and kerrhief
and her assistant dog, is a striking picture.
WORKERS IN THE MINES
In Prussia about 600 women are workers
in mines, quarrieS, and foundries, and abouL
2,0OO are classified as drivers, Positions, and
railway laborerS," and about loo as ships
crews sailors, boatmen and ferrymen"; in
this last category will come women employed
iii towing canal boats. II has been asked,
why do not women adopt callings more
adapted to feminine handsi The rea son seems
To be the industrial condition OF a great part
of the European continent, which affords 10
them no better means of earning a living,
and the fact that these occupations which
are so utterly unfeminine, are just those in
which unSkilled labor can be employed. A
change, however, is slowly coming about by
the growth of important industries in every
country. The factory system has been found
in Germany to have a strong tendency TO
improve the condition not only of the women
Immediately employed in them, but Of those
working in the country around.
A large employer at Freiburg, after thirty
years experience, said: The condition of he
agricultural laborers is not a satisfactory ore.
there is much misery among them especially
moral misery. When mothers apply to us
for work for strong, healthy girls, we tell |
them such girls are more fit for labor in the |
fields, but too frequently receive an account |
of the hard and immoral life associated with |
such service. The scene changes when a well |
managed factory comes into the village. The |
poor girls must then either receive better |
treatment and better wages or they go into |
the factory. The moral benefit of a well |
ordered factory is still greater; it affects the |
whole yillage.n-Harper's BaZar.