The Iola register., 1889-11-22
THE BALKAN STATES.
Something About the Social Conditions OF
Bulgaria and Servia.

Something About the Social Conditions OF
Bulgaria and Servia.
The Bulgarian farms are small. The
whole country is not much more than
twice the size of Massachusetts,, and the
population is over 100000. This popu-
lation is almost entirely agricultural,
and there are only eight towns in the
kingdom, which have over O,000 inhab-
itants. Speaking of Massachusetts,, it
might make some kind of an arrange
ment with Bulgaria to dispose of por-
tion of its manageable unmarried girls.
The men are in the majority. in Bulgaria,
and by the last census l find that there
are about $4,000 more men in the coun-
try than women. l doubt, however,
whether the Massachusetts maidens
would be satisfied with the average Bull
garian cottage. have seen thousands
of them, and they are mere huts thatched
with straw, and in many cases they seem
to be woven of twigs. They are one
story, and generally not more than 10
feet high. Each house is divided in
to three rooms, one of which is the
living-room of the family, an
other the sleeping room, and
the third is sort of a store-house. There
are no beds, and the bedding is piled up
during the day, to be out of the way.
The whole family sleep in the same
room. and there is a sort of little porch
or vestibule in the front of the house,
where the family sit during pleasant
weather. The floors arc the ground,
which is covered with mating and rugs.
The people live very cheaply, and rye
bread and cornmeal mush and beans are
the staple articles of diet. see many
men dressed in sheepskin, with the wool
turned inward: and, all told, the Bul.
garian peasant man is not the cleanest
nor the sweetest animal in the world.
The population of Servia seems to be
much the same as that of Bulgaria,
though the capital, Belgrade, is a much
finer city than Sofia and nearly twice as
large. 1t has many fine buildings, and
its depot will compare favorably with
those of any town of hundred thous-
and in the United States. 1t is on the
Danube, and is beautifully situated.
Servia is advancing fully as fast. If not
faster, than Bulgaria. Its people are OF
much the same character. but there is less
Mahometan blood in their veins. Their
religion is that of the Greek Christian
church, and you see the priests every.
where. They have a compulsory system
of education, and there is Servian uni
versity which has faculties of philosophy
and law, and which employs 33 profes.
sors. The girls are educated as well as
the boys, and an agricultural school has
lately been started. The majority OF
the Servians are farmers and cattle
raisers, but the country is full of min.
erals, and the government is anxious to
have these developed. Mining conces.
sions have been lately granted to capi'
talists in England, Belgium and Ger
many, and am told that the country is
full of iron, silver, copper and zinc, as
well as coal and quicksilver. There is
Servian National Bank, and there are
numbers of savings banks throughout
the different parts of the country. Both
Servia and Bulgaria are we'll. covered
with telegraph wires, and both have
now good postal systems. Railroads
have been projected which will open ur
the interior of both countries to trade
and this Constantinople road makes a
large area of rich territory accessible
+. G. Carpenter, in National Tribune.