The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1888-04-17
WOMEN In EUROPE.
LIFE OF THE FEMALE ToILERs IN
THE OLD WORLD.
Whore They are Frequently Regarded as
Mere Boasts of Burdsn--contrasts Be-
tween the Duties OF the Softer Sex In
America and over the Seas.
- McrIvc,her 10 tho couriorJournal.


dozen different places, according to the
classifiers taste or imagination. ! have
made the condition OF women the subject
of considerable research, and personal in
vestigation in many lands leads me TO the
conclusion that whatever her sphere
should be, IL actually Is about the same as
mans, viz in the very front OF the hard
battle OF life.
That small class Of daintily dressed idlers
10 whom men love TO pay homage only
furnishes the exception that proves the
truth OF the rule. In the southern States
Of America the aristocratic southerncr
would feel disgraced were his sister or
daughtcrto engage for pay in manual
or even mental labor. In continental
Europe the upper classes, men as well az
women, consider Il in manner disgrace.
iul to work. The Turkish gentleman
keeps wives AZ Inc keeps dogs or horses, or
any other pets. lie does not let his wife
work any more than he lets his favorite
racer drag cart. But all these idle
non producers are q mere cypher In COM
parison with the workers OF the world, and
cannot be included in the statisiician s cal
culaiions. In those same southern States
OF America, In continental Europe and In
Turkey, where travellers tell US women arc
held in such high esteem, II Is considered
asacriege to look at them-in those very
lands the labor investigator viii find the
vnst majority OF women working side by
side will men. More than that, II he will
look closely, he will see womcn-gentle
woman, whose sphere IN al home with her
babies doing severe aud degrading work
while her lord and master does some softer
service, OF, better still. does nothing ut
all
| can never forget the feeling OF aston
ishmont mingled with shame with which
lirs, looked upon a woman harncssed
side by side with an OIL
II was on a lonely read in Switzerland
near the Italian frontier. Night had nj.
ready set in, and the bonilres lighted by
woodsmen on the steep mountain slider,
hundreds OF feet above my head, gave
scarcely light enough 70 pick way over
the rocky road hurried ON 10 reach the
next village. and in my hurry almost ran
into huge MASS OF moving hay. A wom-
% was pulling that hay, and an OK, not
her husband, WIS helping her. On the
same road overlook n number OF women
who looked like vcriiable walking hay
stacks. Strapped ON their backs were iun-
nel-like contrnunrcs into which hay was
sacked io hight Of five or six feet. The
men, who kindly iill the tunnels that their
wives carry. iill the hay up ~ high that
the poor women fairly staggcr under the
load Tor this severe labor the peasant
women Of Switzerland and Germany earn
from 30 10 - cents day. They take their
babies, their brad and their beer 10 the
fields, weld the scytho all day long, then
creep back To- their novels under their hue
loads and go to bed to get mp at 4 O'Clock
ncn morning and w through another
twelve ~ fourteen hours Of similar drudg.
cry. hap sen women In Bulgaria
tlir'shing grain with sticks-a very slow
and ah0riuna prUc,rs, and none the mon
pleasant fr the burning sun that beats
down on ihatsrmi tropical country. While
they were engaged in this work. their
hrolhcis and husbands sal on the shady
eide Ut their matched huts and dozcd OF
minded the children aa the humor struck
them. Evidently, In the Bulgarian peas.
ants opinion, woman's sphere u where the
hardest work is 10 be- done.
In Heidelberg ! made the acquaintance
VI an honest, rel cl.~-Std woman, who
calnsG her living by selling milk. She
~ had a small cart that held two nix gallon
cana 10 thin cart she hitched herself and
dog, and made her rounds from house "a
housc. s'lling milk at6 ccnis'a quart This
queer team stopped before the door OF mas
lodging. punclually every morning nj /
o'clock, aud while ] claitcd a moment
with the German frau the dog would II,
down Ia his harncss 20 rest. The iniu AM
her husband were trying 10 save enough Il
bring them a. America. The husband wa
n shoemaker, but somehow never manage
90 rave anything. There was not muc
profit In milk, siill she would be very car
iul and hoped TO have enough some day.
once In america hhe felt SURF that VI
AMI Hans could yet along. II u douhti
whether the poor woman, with all N
economy and toll, will ever reach her goa
Many months af,ofvarl, when la lIcidr
berg, she WIS still there. hiichod with IN
dog In the cart, selling milk nj cents
quart.
Those who think woman's sphere h
her own home, will be- panied 20 learn th
tie sphere Of the average Italian woman
iIilingthc fields OF weaving and spinnii
IN some dark, damp ccllar for the piiif
sum 81 lim, or at most liri aud Ia
so ccnis-a day. In Italian cities. whc
the streets are ~ narrow in Genoa ~
Venice some busy thoroughiarcs do ~
cxcccd SIX icct In wilth-fcnis are gauv,
On exactly the opposite plan In vogue
America, where the higher the floor d
cheaper the rnL With Italians the 4
loof, with light and sunshine, comman
more rent than ground nooH aud be-
menta, lily lighted and damp and 4
wholesome. II IL, therefore. In tl.cse |
Ter placcs that Italian women al twcl
and fourteen hour n ,av working the o
fashioned hand.loom, earning 3 cents
yard for the cloth they weave. An ind
ifious worker does not average cxcccdin
ten ards-3O cents aday. have wuicl
these women hours at a time, throw
their swift shuttle, and found interest
the mere occupation Of looking ON q
wondering what Joy they could lind
their hard lot. Let ils zee what the life
an Italian woman really Ia
On Monday, at O'Clock IN the morn
abe eats a meagcr breakfast Of bread a
oil, or possibly macaToni and Is At
room az o o'clock. Click, click, goes
shuttle with no rest, no pause, until
makes ones back ache merely 10 look
her. AZ noon she stops 10 eat dinner
bread and macaroni and bad wine, Il
back 10 work again with no more rest
tlsupner nj q o'clock. After supper,
probabilities are she will 20 10 her ~
Tor a couple Of hours more. I raj
passed one Of thcsc places nj \ or o o. 81
81 night that | did not hear Inc shu
Gathering from side 10 side M noisily a