Wichita eagle., 1889-12-12
GERMAN PEASANT LIFE.
HOW THE PEOPLE IN EATHERlAND
PASS AWAY THE TIME.

HOW THE PEOPLE IN FATHERLAND
PASS AWAY THE TIME.
Little settlements That Seem Like One
Family-An industrious and Modest Peo-
Hand-to-Mouth Existence-In tho
Merry Spripgtime.
There is something picturesque and roman
tic about the life OF O German peasant AT
least every one but the peasant himself sees
it in this light You look at pretty picture
In a gallery and see the country people grace
fully grouped at rustic wedding. You
hurry by in train and catch sight of them
in their provincial and quaint costumes, dig
cling peat or making hay. You stroll into
the country and watch them eat their mid
day meal III the shade Of some tree. It is all
picturesque certainly. but in every case you
see only one SIDE.
The peasants never live in isolated houses
about their farms. They come together and
form a little settlement, sometimes not more
than dozen buildings in all. Sc it is not in
frequent to see a small valley thickly dotted
with these doris, or villages, which, if put
together, would make a small town only
One of these villages is seen to the best ad-
vantage at twilight in summer. Everybody
is back from the days work in the fields, and
the place is now as full Of life as it was de-
serted at noon For then only the grand
mothers and grandfathers, whose eyeaght Ia
dinlmed or their joints rheumatic, stay at
home, and tell their young descendants the
wonderful stories Of witches and hobgoblins
which they heard under similar circumstances
from their grandfathers and grandmothers
years and years ago.
OUT IN THE FIELDS.
By dusk the peasants have already eaten
their supper The men lie about and smoke
their long pipes, the women make their knit
ting needles fly while there is light. and the
children play the identical game that their
parents played before them, where they join
hands in wide circle, sing, and act the pan
tomime Of the courtship of a soldier and a
peasant girl.
By sunrise the entire population is up and
out in the fields. Not only does the man
shoulder hoe OF a scythe, but the woman
falls in and works as well. Entire families,
except only the very aged, go out. Children
a few months old, who have no decrepit rela-
tives in the dorf to keep an eve upon them
until evening" are carried out by the mothers
and left under the shade of neighboring
tree.
Boys and girls are obliged to attend school
until they are II, and il they do not the par
ents are fined. In the busiest parts of the
SUMMERTIME season for gathering hops, max
ing hay and other stated times-a vacation is
given that the children may help in the fields
But during any OF these seasons, if it should
set in and rain, WITH no prospect Of abating
soon, school is Gale again and continued
during the wet we1taer Then the teacher
laws aside his ferru!e unit the crops are in
The laborers carry out their food for the day
with them. The peasants live almost entirely
or grain food and cheese. Milk and butter
they exchange for other more necessary and
less luxurious articles.
A great epoch in every Germans life, and
especially the German PEASANTS, is the serv-
ice in the great standing army. Every man
who is sound in body and not deformed must
serve three years. Money OF influence will
not exempt a man from this iron law. In
case he attends the university he shortens his
time to one year. 1t is seldom, however, that
the peasant lad goes further than the school,
SO that three years are taken from the most
active period of his life
During the winter the peasants are not SO
busy as when planting and gathering their
crops When the snow lies thick ON the fields
the men thrash ont the grain and the women
spin and weave The fax, which they grow
themselves. Out of the long rolls of this
heavy gray linen they make clothes and ar
ticles necessary for domestic Use. A great
part of it, too, they store away for their
,bi1I hN in fbnir. ri7rra
theirs, so that quantities aV handed down
from mother to daughter, Il y he usual heir
looms of pewter tankards aud spinning
wheels.
TIE WEDDING.
One of the customs among the peasantry
which does not confine itself to any special
season. although in accordance with the time
worn law is more prevalent III spring, Is q
wedding And the preliminary arrange
ments are somewhat complicated Every girl
is expected to have her dowry, consisting in
any case of an eatlre household equipment,
| from enormous feather beds to knives and
forks The young woman who comes with
out this supply generally feels pretty much
| ashamed Of herself, and the husband does not
receive her with such JOY as if she came laden
ed with complete housekeeping outfit When
| q couple nave USCluSU 70 tTaNei Oh LII OUSu
life togeth ar the respective parents, in solemn
! family conciave, arrange the details of the
young lady's portion.
The peasants live in the present and do not
| waste time in sentiment TALKING about old
! ruins and historic spots near them. 1t some
| times happens a tourist comes across an old
| cloister that tourished thousand years ago,
| now, perhaps, turned into wayside inn. BE
! asks one of the peasants, How old Is this
! placer
Il don't know" is the stolid answer.
WAS it not monastery formerlyT
Il shouldn't wonder. but don't know"
That is fine old chapel" continues the
| traveller enthusiastically
"Oh, yes" returns the native, waking up.
Its the best place for many mile about to
keep the milk cool and the eggs fresh"
Most of these peasants lead hard hand-to-
mouth existence. They earn a pittance in
the summer which barely enables them to exc
out an existence through the winter Thei,
| life seems almost uncomfortable, bat it appears
SO to the stranger only. Tley are hardy,
1 sunburned men and women, and their close
intimacy with nature and dependence on her
| give them healthier and happier moral and
physical tone than corresponding class who
| live in cities--New York Mail and Express.
| Wife tof Is, | met Nj Smith
l