The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-08-11
A PECULIAR PEOPLE.
Remnants of n sIavish Race in the
Heart of Germany.
From the Pittsburg Dispatch.

From the Pittsburg Dispatch.
Nearly in the center of Germany. in the
province of Brandenburg, a few miles
culiar people, which although for 1900
years settled amongst the Prussian popu-
lation, have preserved their characteristic
features, their own language, costumes
and habits. The stranger who first enters
the villages will observe Immediately that
they are Slavs; the type is unmistakable,
and If he enters into conversation with an
intelligent native of the neighboring city
of Cottbus he will learn their history and
will get so interested in it that he will
probably spend a few weeks among them
and study them thoroughly. That was at
least what I have done. when on my last
tramp through Europe 1 ran across
them.
The "Wends," as they are called, appear
ed on the borders of Thuringia In the
fourth century. A powerful tribe of Slavish
warriors, they withstood the pressure of
the Germans successfully for long time
and settled finally in the sixth century be-
tween the rivers Spree and Saale.
To-day they number about $1,000 and
live in that peculiar district which is
called the "Spreewald" (spree forest. Here
the river flows through a very low coun-
try and forms a network Of hundreds
of narrow channels, about six yards wide
and very shallow. This is the home of the
Wends, and on the islands formed by
the channel stands their history. straw
covered houses. All traffic in these pecu-
liar villages is done IN long, narrow, fiat
bottomed boats, which the Wend, standing
upright, pushes forward with long stick,
and il is an interesting sight to see a
caravan of these boats, burdened with a
light load of hay and managed by strong
Wendish girls, glide noiselessly along.
In winter everybody uses skates with re-
markable skill, and with the help Of a
stout stick ending in a sharp iron spike
they travel far distances in short time
Their low and poor houses have gener.
ally two rooms on the ground floor, one
of them being used as a kitchen. The
other larger room contains the immense
beds, few wooden chairs and in the
center large stove, surrounded by bench
es, adorned with cheap prints.
The dress OF the Wendish girl is very
picturesque, and the fashion has not
changed since centuries. They wear a
short skirt of common wooden stuff,
reaching to the knees, black stockings,
and low slippers with silver buckles. A
black velvet corsage encloses the bust.
adorned with silk ribbons. The coarse
white shirt covers the shoulders and
leaves the strong, sunburnt arms bare. If
ii is not modest to the American eye, at
least it is very practical for the girls, who
have to work hard on the farms. The
men wear white linen pants and dark
coats, with metal buttons. They speak
their own language, and some of them new
er learn a single word of German. They
are all strict Protestants, and every Sun
day morning the boats crowd around the
island on which the plain wooden church
stands. The service is in the Wendish
language, and even the prayer books are
printed in this Slavsh dialect. The names
of the villages, as Strobitz, Doeben,
Bihlegure, betray their origin, and so do
the names of the farmers, as Domkow,
Maretz Kow, etc.
The originality, however, is fast disap-
pearing, the girls learning city manners
and donning city dress when they go out
as servants, and the boys getting thor
oughly Germanized in the army. How
long, and these peculiar people, which
have kept their characteristics OF their
race through centuries, in their secluded
Spree-Venice, how long and they will dis
appear, and with them the poetic charm,
which this part OF the country now has
for the observer Of land and people.
w. K.