The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-01-13

WHERE WOMEN MUST WORK.
Hard.hips and prud.ery That -th,

HardshIps and Drudsery That "the
Weaker Sex Underg0es in Europe.
When one gets into Switzerland the ap-
pellation OF weaker sex as applied to wom-
en- seems to be a nisnomer. In point Of
endurance and often even Of muscular
strength, the peasant women Of the re-
moter valley appear quite the equals Of
the men One sees them moving on those
green. beautiful slopes over which the
snow peaks tower, and g party of girls
swinging the antique Swiss scythes with
their straight snaths, that bend the figure
50 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 emula-
ton. They do not work with any appear
ance of haste or conscious outflow Of en-
ergy, but in slow, plodding, untiring
fashion they work hour after hour. begin
ming by $50 in the morning and turning
homeward when daylight fails.
To see the storing Of hay in the Alpine
ehalets is TO get new idea of the muscu-
lar prowess OF women. The crops of the
upper slope are packed in back loads 70 the
LITTLE red brown log structures that dot the
mountains as high as the cattle can find
pasturage, and the weight that woman
viii lift on the wooden frame that is adjust
ed TO her shoulders and with which she
will climb, or which often IS harder. will
descend to the nearest chalet, dropping
her burden through a 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 baskets of manure 70 carry 20 fit
the ground for winter crops. and even the
little girls not yet in their teens climb like
cats carrying their own little back baskets
well loaded.
On the Lake of Lucerre the boat women
are characteristic figures. The long low,
black freight barges are pulled from port
20 port by mixed crews of men and women,
from ten to twenty TO boat, who work the
heavy sweeps standing. | have counted
three women keeping stroke with dozen
men, and again the proportions reversed
almost exactly. In the heat OF the day the
men strip to their waists and the women
unlRce their bodices and work with bare
arms. Occasionally one sees women por-
tiers, 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 woman.
Along the fiat valley OF the middle Rhine
the vineyards, the grain patches and the
tobacco fields are full Of them. In an after
Moons ride the proportion of women get
ting in the harvest often seems "a three 10
two men. In these fertile lands there is a
social, companionable side TO the work
which one might go far TO find parslleled.
In the fields which stretch between The
huddled villages one sees whole families
busy.
At one end of the corn strip, under tree
or clump of bushes, stands a baby wagon.
Its occupant has learned to take life philo-
sophicalIy, and croons at the blue sky or
the green leaves. At the noon hour tho
midday meal is eaten picnic fashion, with
the BABY wagon for a 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 distri-
buting the forkfuls as they are passed up
to her. II one woman loads for one man
her work is easier though requiring 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 ard woman as 20 the strong
er and weaker animal. The physical capa-
city of the woman is counted on, and 70
all appearance with good reason.-Cor.
Pittsburg Leader.