The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1889-12-28
ogRMAN PEASANT LIFE.

There In something picturesque and no
mantle about the life of n German peas
ant. A. least every one but the peasant
himself scsss it in this light. You look nj
. pretty picture In n gallery and see the
country ps,ople gracefully grouped at u
rustic wedding. You hurry by i'm . train
and catch sight of them i'm their pruvin-
cial and quaint costumes, digging peat or
making hay. You stroll into the country
and watch them eat their midday meal
i'm the shade Of some tree. IL Ia all pic
turesque certainly, hut i'm every case you
sec only one side.
The peasants never live in isolated
houses about their foams. They rome tar
gether and form u little settlement, some
times not more than ~ dozen buildings i'm
all. So IL is not i~nfrequent tn see n small
valley thickly dotted with these doris, or
villages, which, IL put together, would
make n small town only. One OF these
villages il seen to the hest advantage at
from the days work i'm the fields, and the
place IL now as full at life as il was de-
serted at noon. For then only the grand
sight in dimmcd ar their joints rheumatic.
stay Mt home, and tell their descendants
the wonderful stories, of witches and hob
circumstances from theis grandfather
and grandmothcrs years and years ago.
.be;r " s"n,, sm: The men lie abaxs nnd
their knitting needles fly while there j.
Aikthss httu t"1 hAuh IhSy - a.
game that their parents played before
them, where they JOIN hands i'm a wide
courtship of the soldier and a peasant
girl.
As one walks over the rough coblc-
houses, whose tall, peaked roofs are di-
vided into a pigeon,cotc, as dirty, and
much more .cr va Int, IT Y Y"d : ar" eo ,hc
smells Of Cologne aud Bagiad will greet
owned ny different people, and even the
rooms may be bought or sold like n pillow
or cart. Two families usually occupy
three rooms, using the middle apartment
as N general kitchen and sitting-room.
The poorer people often have only one
their entire existence. On the bottom
floor of the self-same house where they
dwell are stalled the cows and oxen.
and out i'm the fields. Not only does the
man shoulder a hoe or a scythe, Int the
woman falls in and work. az well. En-
go out. Children u few months old, who
have no decrcpit relatives i'm the dorf tai
carried out by the mothers and left under
the shade of N n~eighboring tree.
Boys and girls are Obliged to attend
school until they arr. IL, and IL they do not
the parents are fined. In the busiest parts
of the summer-the season for gathering
"a vacation is given that the children
may help i'm the fields. But, during any
of these seasons, IL IL should set in and
rain, with no prospect of abatinH soon,
school IL called again and continued dur
ing the wet weather; then the teacher lays
The laiorcrs carry out their food for the
day with them. Every one has u jug OF
cider or beer, which he drinks i'm place of
water. The peasants live almost entirely
on grain food and cheese. Milk and but
ter they exchange for other more ncccs-
sary and less lIxnrious ARTICLES.
and especially the German peasants, is
the service in the great standing army.
Every man who is sound i'm body and not
deformcd must serve three years. Money
Or influence will not exempt IL man from
his iron law. la case he attends the uni
versity he shortcuts his time to one year.
Ii is seldom, however, hat the peasant
goes further than the school,. SD that three
years are taken from the most active pc
During the winter the peasants are not
so busy as wien planting and gathering
the field the men thrash out the grain
and the women spin and weave the flax,
which they grow themselves. eDut OF the
long rolls OF this heavy gray linnen they
make clothes and articles necessary for
domestic use. A great part Of il. too,
they store away for their children, who,
i'm their turn, preserve for theirs, so that
quantities are handed down from mother
To daughter. like the usual heirlooms of
pewter tankards and spinning-wheels.
Every village has, of course, its social
strata. There il the aristocracy, which
aud a biz more of farming land than the
generality of the poor class. who are
Obliged To hire themselves out AS day la
borers. Ii happens occasionally that n
peasant anasses wealth.. and then he lives
on exactly AS before, orkin Industrious
~ in the fields and adding To his pile of
gold pieces. These social distinctions are
carefully observed, and il il of rare occur
renee that n person marries above or De-
low his own caste.
The peasants live in the present and do
not waste time in tinentali about
old ruins and historic spots near them. Ii
sometimes happens ~ tourist comes across
an old cloister that fiourishcd N thousand
years ago, now. perhaps, turned into N
"How old is this place."
don't know" is the solid answer.
WAS IL not "a monastery, formerly 2"
~ shouldn't wonder but i don't know"
"That il N fine old chapel continues
the traveller enthusiastically.
"Oh. yes," returns the native. waking
up. '.It's the best place for many u mile.
about Ia keep the milk cool and the eggs
fresh"
Most OF these peasants lead u hard.
hand-to-mouth existence. hey earn IL
pittance i'm the uInmer which barely
enables them To cke out an existence
through the winter. Their life seems al
most u~nendurable, hut it appears so Ia
the stranger only. They are hardy. sun.
burned men and wOrnen. and their close
intimacy with nature and dependence on
her give them "a healthier aud happier