The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-09-21

Swiss scythes with their straight anaths that
bend the figure 20 cruelty, cut broad even
swaths with the regularity of veterans.
They do not keep pace with each other
across the fields-one seldom sees in the
European peasant. man or woman, any
pronounced signs Of emulation-they do not
Work with any appearance or conscious out
nov of energy. but in slow, ploddinR, I'M
firing fashion they work hour after hour.
beginning by $50 In the morning and turn
ing homeward only when daylight falls.
To zee the storing Of hay in the Alpine
prowess Of women. The crops Of the up
Per slope are packed In back loads to the
little red brown log structures that dot tho
mountains 40 high - the cattle can ind
pasturage, and the weight that woman
will lift on the wooden frame that 10 adj
justed to her shoulders and With which che ~,
descend to the nearest chalet, dropping her
burden through hole in the roof, from
which the shingles and the heavy stones
that hold them in place have been removed,
is a source of perpetual wonder. When the
harvest has been gathered there are back
for winter crops, and even the little girls
not yet in their teens climb like oats carry
ing their own little back baskets we'll
loaded.
On the Lake Of Lucerne the boatwomen
are characteristic figures. The long, low,
black freight barges are pulled from port to
port by mixed crews of men and women.
from ten to twenty to boat, who work the
heavy sweeps standing. I have counted
three women keeping stroke with dozen
men. and again the proportions reversed al
most exactly. In the heat Of the day the
men strip to their waists, and the women
unlace their bodices and work with bare
N~~- So kI~ ~,hsk
Occasionally one sees women porters who
pack portmanteaus and luggage OF all sorts
up and 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 as the vine
fields are full of them. In an afternoons
ride the proportion of women getting In the
harvest often seems az three to two men.
In these fertile lands there is social come
panionable side to the work which ono
might 20 far TO lind paralleled. In the
villages one sees whole families busy. At
one end of the corn strip under tree or
clump of bushes stands baby wagon. It's
occupant has learned to take life philo-
sophically 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 centre, and the young subject
Of the Kaiser is passed with black bread
from hand to hand.
The loading Of the great German hay
wagon is always interesting. You will see q
brown woman, her head tied up in q scarlet
kerchief, on top of the load distributing tho
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 the
work between man and woman a. to the
stronger and weaker animal. The physical
to all appearance, with good reason.
And is it degradation? II is little hard
to understand why this view is always
taken by the American. Why shouldn't
women work in the folds? The peasants
who do it have not been weakened physi-
dollhouse use civilization. They are The de-
scendants-strong and robust from their
cradle to their Rrave-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 invad-
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
and behind counters, and you will find
the outdoor workers far and away the
healthier and happier. Not that one
would advocate the return to 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 counted sixteen men in line
passing bricks from hand to hand, where
an American builder would have managed
with half dozen hod carriers or q single
hosting machine. Brains must do the work
of fingers. but there is more of medieval
clumsiness in the employment of two big
dogs, one woman and two boys to pull a
milk cart-a mixed team often seen in
Zurich-than there is of degradation.
The liberties enjoyed by German women
are not very wide, and thst there is over
much chivalry no woman who has been
jolted on German street would contend;
but that the ruddy checked old cronies who
gather grapes would be better off shut out
of the sunshine is wholly different propo-
sition. As between the ironing table and
the hav field, would personally choose the
hay field every time. Beauty to a more
than moderate degree, is rare among the
peasants, but they are 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 HEAroN.
Copyripht.