Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-10-26

to see the policeman draw his sword.they
| have swords here as you probably know,
| instead of clubs-and cut the rash young
Burgerham into Hamburger steaks.
| But strange to relate, the young man
| stood his ground while, instead of doing
any carving, the conservator of the peace,
! swearing huslily in his side whiskers, and
with his awful sword dangling at a defect
ed angle between his bowed legs, ambled
| away crestfallen.
| Afterward l found that the policeman
| had been in the wrong in some matter
| about which the young man had upbraided
him; and, on that account. the policeman,
| realizing that he was in the wrong, had
made public exhibition of his white
| feather.
German policeman, so I am credibly
informed. never arrests any one unless
he has absolute assurance that he has a
legal right to do SO. He may no more over
step the law than the humblest subject.
What's the good of being a policeman in
Germany? And as for using his sword he
| would never dream of doing such thing
| except in seif-deferse, and as very last
| resort. The sword in German officialdom
| Is mere badge-a barbaric one, indeed,
yet badge of Office rather than weapon.
The Women of MaEdeburs.
This splendid city, which has so little
| that is picturesque to recommend it to the
traveller, hieing hither and thither strange
| places for to see,' is more celebrated for
the domesticity and all-around goodness
than for the beauty of its women.
| Whose fault is it that the lines of beau
| ty are wanting in the good women of
| Magdeburg? Do you maintain, with your
right arm and right royal thirst, that the
carrying of hundred weights by means of
wooden yoke or the singing of great
baskets on the backs Of women. is condu-
Give to gracefulness? Does the almost con-
slant straning of muscles while engaged
in 1nh st,nh CHI he an' thar
| that of draft horses necessarily produce
| the softly curved lines, the sweetness of
expression that we call womanly beauty?
What / am trying to get at is this The
absence of comelineSS is only effect.
Hard labor and LONELINESS go hand in
hand. The women of Magdeburg don't all
wear heavy wooden yokes: they don't all
stagger under great high-laden baS-
kets strapped to their backs, or drag, with
| the aid of the dogs, cumbrous hand-wagons.
| No, not even majority of them; but thou
sands of them do these very things, and
pftiable sight it is. 1t may not be fair
| to single out Magdeburg. The same con-
ditions. as l judge from what 1 have seen
| and have been told, exist in nearly every
part of the continent. But as this part of
Prussia, province conquered from the
kingdom Of SaXony, has to a degree be-
| come an isolated country, far inter-
marriage with other districts is concerned.
the influence of extra-laborious occupa-
lions on the part of women is apparent in
an unusually painful degree. In fact, the
effect of excessive labor is seen in the
physique of the general community. The
manual exertion that is undergone by the
common people of this district may pro-
duce Drawn, but it doesn't evolve the lines
Of beauty to any alarming extent. The
men and women have strong faces, fea-
lures full of character. but they look as
If nodded of iron-pig iron.
In Magdeburg the women do work that
in America would provoke strikes among
the commonest laborers, while the men
are yoked horses might be if there were
no societies for the prevention of cruelty
to animals in the United States.
What is the cause of all this?
Listen to the changing of the sabers,
Right about face! March!
The well-to-do women of this city are
lady-like in their demeanor and tastefully
at times almost richly, dressed. If one can
contemplate the harmonies of personal
adornment with pleasurable emotions. the
industry incidental TO their attainment
should perhaps commend itself to ones
admiration. CHARLES LEDERER.