The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-05-31
mTHE SUN. SUNDAY, MAY 81, 1898


now 20 one peasant thar 20 ten 81 us and he In
vests II as pleases him." In 1907 WimphellnG
observed of the Alsatian peasantry: The pros
perlty Of the peasants here and In most parts Of
Germany has made them proud and luxurious
know peasants who spend AZ much at the mar.
riage OF their sons and daughters, or the hap
tism Of their infants, as would buy a small
house and farm or vineyard. They are extrava.
CANT in their dress and living, and drink costly
wines" The Austrian chronlcler, Unrest, re-
marked In the year 1873 OF the peasants Of Car
inthia. mo one earns more money than they.
II Is generally acknowledged that they wear
better clothes and drink better wine than the
MOBILES" II was. consequently. not without rea-
son that In 1897 ordinances were passed In
Landau and other places forbiddinR "the COM
mon peasants to wear cloths costing more than
half a form the yard, silk. velvet, pearls, gold.
or slashed garments"
Day laborers and servants wore batter of. COM
paratIyely. even than the PEASANTS at the close
of the middle ages. II ia a matter OF yerlacation
Inv ~statistics that waves ware never beforo 40
hiqh. and tho large nuhber of people who had
to live by hard labor were neyer before or since
40 we'll sItuated "A during tho period from the
end OF tho aftsenth century through the FIRST
decade of the sixteenth. In order to rightly es-
innate the nav of the day laborer and servants.
at that Time. III Ia nAA0iul to COnRi1NF the Coal Oh
the necessarie, OF life. For northern Germany.
.Jansaen examine, the reno-t. u,,hered in sax-
ony. From the wears l455 to 1850. the average
price OF a pair Of common shoes was from two
to three grosohen: for a domestic fowl. half
q groschen; for q pike, one groschen; for
q sheep, four Rroschen; for twenty-five
stockfish, four grosohen; for n cord of
wood, delivered, Ave groschen; for q
yard Of best native cloth, Ave groschen: for q
bushel of rye. six grosohen. At the Same date
= day laborer earned weekly from six to eight
groschen. or. we might say, the price Of a sheep
and a pair Of shoes; with the earning OF twenty
four days he could purchase at least one bushel
of rye, twenty-five stocknsh, q cord of hrewood,
and two to three yards of cloth. Clothing was
particularly cheap. A chorister in Leipsic would
pa yseven groschen for the making OF a coat,
trousers. jacket. and q hat. The Duke of Saxony
wore a hat which cost three groschen and a
half. They were good times for the Saxon
laborer when wages were high and the prices
of necessaries low. One can understand the
OF the workmen in the middle of the
sixteenth century when we consider that, while
their wages were increased only six pennies. the
prlce of rye rose from six to twenty-four gros-
chen per bushel. the price of q sheep from four.
to eighteen groschen. and so on with the other
necessaries.
DuTluR u uIL6enLn century AZ huR9DuTR,
in an average year one could purchase from
six to seven pounds of the best meat by ono
days work; in poor years one pound of meat or
seven eggs. q quart of peas. a measure of
wine and what bread he needed. and still retain
tho half of his wages to nav for clothing. lode-
ing. and other necessaries. In Cleves. on thu
buy q quarter OF a bushel Of rye. ten pounds Of
pork or twelve OF veal. six large jugs Of milk, |
bundles of wood, and have a weekly |
surplus that in from four to 1--WE weeks. would
enable him to purchase q blouse, six yards |
Of cloth. and a pair of shoes. 1t is known
that in AiI-la-C hapelle. at the close Of the
century. the wages of six days
labor would buy a lamb. seven sheep. and
sight pigs. while one days earnings would
purchase two geese. We note. finally. that,
14e4, in the principally Of Bayreuth, the |
aborers received eighteen pence per day, while
hey could buy tho best beef for two pence
per mound and sausape for n nanny Tho da-