New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-12-12
PRISONERS OF POVERTY.
WOMEN wAGE-wORKERs. THEIR TRADES
AND THEIR LIVES.
NY HELEN CAMPBELL
Copyright, 1856
VIII

II was the PrusAan War that seemed to settle
Che question. So far Grossvater Bauer himself
Wa concerned. he would still have toiled con-
tsntedly. To be alive at all on German soil was
Eore than honor or wealth or any good thing that
tho emigrant might report part of his possession
In that America to which all discontinued eyes
looked lonaingly. The reports might all be true.
yet why should one for the sake of better food or
more money be bauished from the vaterland and
have only President, man of the people. In place
of the old Kaiser. whose verv name thrilled the
heart and for whose glory Grossvater Bauer would
have given many sons He had given them Peace
had come and France was paying tribute. and one
by one the few who had escaped French bullets
came home to the little Prussian village and told
their tales of the siege and of the three who had
fallen at Sedan Grossvater Bauer sat silent
He had been as silent when they brought the
news to hin in the beginning. 1t was the fortune
of war; He had served his own time, and having
served 1t. accepted part of his birthri BIT the
same necessity for his sons They had worked side
by SIDE with him on the great farm where he had
been for most Of his life head laborer and almost
master; worked contentedly until Annchen, the
Oldest of ALL had married tailor, dissatisfied like
all tailors and set sail for the strange country
where fortune had always open hands for all the
world. He had prospered, and in Annchens let
ters coming at rare intervals. was always an
doubtfuily at first for the fathers faith strong
IN them that no land could ever hold the same good
rs this land through which the Rhine flowed to
the sea- But IS the time came when they must
enter the army there was rebellion Here and
there. in the air it seemed, tor no one could say
from whence the new feeling had come, were ques-
tions the sound Of which not to be tolerated
by any true Prussian Why should this great
army live the toll of the PEASANT Why should
H.
every possible saving in the wages and be the
largest item save one In the years expenses1 Why
should there be standing army at all
Hans when his time came. had learned TO ask
but he had not learned 10 answer The splendor of
lis uniform appeared to be in some sort reply,
and its tightness also have had its effect IN re-
strictlng his mental operations For three years
the carefully kept accounts of Grossvater Bauer
held the item Maintenance Of son in army,
Sl21 81" Then Hans came home and married
Lieschen, the little dairy maid. and in due time
Lotte's blue eyes opened on the world whose mys-
teries still not quite explcabe TO the heavy
father Wilhelm aud Franz had taken their turn
and in spite of questions settled passively at last
into the farm life. Then came the war: the
war that called for every man with strength to
carry gun. and when il was over Lotto was father
less and there were more sons to bear the name,
OF to trouble Grossvater Bauers mind with further
questions
Very glorious. but what use if there were no
boys left TO whom the story could be tOdf 1.-The had
yielded. if even had crossed the sea, there
would be something still to live for. But Lieschen
had given them boys He thought of 1t day
after day. till the familiar fields grew hateful and
he wished only to escape from the land to which he
had paid tax too heavy for mortal endurance.
There was no one but LIeschen and her little ones,
Lotto first of all and best beloved. and in another
month they had sail and the old life was over.
Work for all, homes for all. plenty for all"
Annchen had written how many times Yet now,
when the Grossvater appeared and the round-eye
Lieschen and her tribe of i've Peter shook his head
He had prospered. it is true From journeyman tai
lor he hal become master a small scale and
hacked himself and his men into shop so tiny that
II was miraculous how elbow-room remained 70
use the goose. But work for the Grossvater was
quite another thing. He mad no trade. and while
his capacity as farmer on scientific methods ought
to give him paying employment Ii the coun-
try the city held nothing for him. WoIk tor
Lieschen and Lotto was easy. week or
two of apprenticeship would teach them all
that need b known TO do the work on cheap coats
or panaOons but even for them 1t was certain that
the country would be better.
1t was here that Grossvater Bauer developed I'M
expected obstinacy. He had little money. lie
was still strong and in good case. Here was this
great city winch must have work OF some nature
and which, so far from eghing upon him as Lotte
had feared seemed to have for him curious lntoxl-
cation He haunted the wharves The smell OF the
sea and the tarred ropes of the ships bewtched him.
and On the wharves he soon found work, and loaded
and unloaded all day contentedly, with feeilng
that this was after all more like living than any
4bpg could have been in the home fields where only
the ghosts of his own remained to have place at his
side.
1t is now only that the story Of Lotto begins,
Iotte who pined for the great farm and the fields
across which the wind swept, and the cows she bad
named and cared for. Her mother forgot, or did
not care She had never loved her work
and liked better TO chatter with the
other women IN the house, or even
IN ruu tho machine hour after hour. than TO
milk or feed the CATTLE or churn Lotto hated the
machine. Her back ached. her eyes burned and
her head throbbed after only hour or two OF it.
"Let me take a place." she begged, but the Gross
x.tar shook his head angrlly. This was free
country There was no need that she should serve
Let her learn to be contented and thankful that
abe could earn so much. For with their simple
habits the wages paid in 1881 seemed weaith
Forty-Gve cents pair, three OF which she coul q
make in day. brought the weeks earnings TO o.
sometimes to SO, and Peter prophesied that IL
,r;chr even be $40 or S12. Lieschen had as much.
Down on the WnarVos tuo Oi0co'"H0A N~-
times SIS week. 1t was fortune. AT nome. IN
The hest of times with sons and daughters ali at
work. his books, which he kept always with the
accuracy of a merchant. showed something under
$1,000 year as receipts. the expenses hardly vary
ing from the 1896 2s which represented the MAIN
tenance of the family during Hanss hist
wear as soldier. Their food ration at
home had been gig cents daily. Wheat bread
had stood for festivals and high days Black bread
cabbage soup beer. cheese and sausage with meat
90 sundays had Deen their only ambition as 70
food, and here, Grossvater Bauer insisted upon 'n0
$50 -eg,meu and frowned as one by one the fash
sN- $50 uro,. IN pafar had been