The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-09-21
THE MORNING NEWS SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 81 s9OTwELvE PA

men. and again ths proportions reversed
almost exactly. In the heat or the day the
mel strip to their waists and the women
unlace their oo1ices aud work with blre
arms and In the white peasant chemises.
Occasionally one sees women poriers, who
pack portmaateaus aud luggage of ali sorts
up aud down the mule paths for the influx
of summer visitors.
In Germany one can nowhere escape the
sight OF the outdoor labor of women. Along
the fiat valley of the Middle Rhine the vine
yards, the grain patches and the tobacco
fields ara full Of them. In an afternoons
ride the proportion Of women getting in the
harvest often seems as three to two men.
In these fertile lands there is a social, COM
panionable side to the work which ono might
20 far to find paralleled. In the fields which
stretch between the huddled villages one
sees whole families busy. At one end of the
corn strip, under a tree or clump Of bushes,
stands a baby wagon Its occupant has
learned to take life philosophically, and
croons at the blue sky or the green leaves.
AT the noon hour the midday meal Is eaten
picnic fashion, with the baby wagon for
center and the young subject of the kaiser
is passed with the black bread from hand to
hand.
The loading of the great German hay
wagons is always interesting. You will see
brown woman, her head tied up in a
scarlet kerchief, on top OF the load, distrib-
uting the forkfuls as toey are passed I'D to
her If one woman loads for one man her
work is the easier. though requiring rather
more skill. But when as one Often sees,
one woman loads for three or four men.
she has by far the hardest position. There
are few evidences, indeed, of any division
of work between man and woman as to the
stronger and weaker animal. The physical
capacity of the womso Is counted on. and.
to all appearance, with good reason.
And is il degradation It is little hard TO
understand why this view is always taken
by the American. Why shouldn't women
work in the fieldsl The peasants who d. it
have not been weakened physically aud
mentally by the pampering of a dollhouse
civilization. They ara the descendants
strong and robust from their cradle to their
grave-of the old Teuton women who
plowed the field and brewed the mead and
buckled on the warriors shield and hurled
big stones at the invading foe, and who
when the necessity arose-would even fight
and slay in defense of their homes, their
honor and their country. Enter into their
lives, talk with them and make them talk
then go to the women who wear themselves
away in factories aud behind counters, and
you will find the outdoor workers far and
away the healthier aud happier. Not that
one would advocate the return to the hoe and
shovel of the whole population Of women.
Altered times demand altered occupations,
and peasant labor all over Europe is fright
fully wasteful of men as we'll as women
Yesterday l counted sixteen mon in line
passing bricks from hand to hand, where an
American builder would have managed
with half a dozen bod carriers or a single
hosting machine. Brains must do the
work of fingers, but there is more of
medlBval clumsiness in the employment of
two big dogs. one woman and two boys to
pull milk cart-a mixed team often seen in
Zurich-than there is of depreciation.
The liberties enjoyed by German women
are not very wide, and that there is over
much chivalrv no woman who has been
jostled on German street would contend,
but that the ruddy checked old c-onos
whogather grapes would be better off shut
out of the sunshine is a wholly different
proposition AS between the ironing table
and the bayfield,, would personally choose
the bayfield, every time Beauty to more
than moderate degree is rare among the
peasants, bat they ara wholesome looking.
They do not lose altogether their delicacy
of hand, for some of them in the long even
ings of winter are famous lace makers.
They bear strong sons, and would they
could give some of their own vigor to other
peoples daughters.
ELIZA PUTNAM HEAToN.