The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-11-12
woMAN'S LOT IN GERMANY.
TREATED BY MAN AS AN INFERIOR
BEING.

HA
.ible Pay-shOpgirIs Get So n
Yonth, HOusemaids So.
Munich Letter in New York Sun.
Doubtless no American traveller in Ger
-,.rv has failed to remark, as one of the
-s,r,cferistic features of the land the pc
.,,l,r position, or lack of position, that
o,-..,onic womankind holds. In getting
.-+o me country the first glimpse from a
window makes it easy to understand
INV. the German speaks jokingly of "the
,rsaker sex" Deep in his heart he means
,..,sslf The women wark in the fields,
80, IKE the men, but like the beasts; they
,ba backbone of the nations econo-
Then, in the first city, the thing is
,,hasized An American. after the pri-
- sbock he gets from the aspect of the
us trousers, which are built in Ger
.,v upon the pattern of section of
,..s+-iron stovepipe, is most strongly i'm
sd by the fact that the woman SEEM
~ lo all the work-or all the work that
ms ia enough to be called so. In
- like this, perhaps the most typical
r. German cities of the style, one min~
o,s walk from the hotel shows that the
~ carriers are all women, that the la
1rors on the street car lines are likewise
rron,en. that a large proportion of the con-
,.,ances in the streets are small carts
"a nv women in partnership with dogs.
lSat most of the woodchoppers are wo-
,sn and that everywhere, under most
.,,,,rnstances in which the labor is rough
en5 menial. the woman is doing the bulk
o. The work, while the man, even If pre-
esn.ljup TO help is mainly occupied in
-,tabine her efforts with appreciation.
r. is not only in the lower walks of life
not The proposition is TO be remarked
r.ssant or noble, the destiny of the Ger
nan woman is work. Whether it be man
.,ar labor or merely the vexing details of
,rsctical house keeping, few German wo-
men escape: it. on the one hand the work
is u-adapted to woman's strength and Of
ten INJURIOUS to health, on the other it is
none the less exacting and wearying. But
ir is according to the German code, oblig-
otor, Woman is not supposed to have an
eoual footing with man, and she herself
would be the last to expect or demand it,
Far so is she trained-and has been for
generations. Social usage even declares
that she cannot speak to a man until he
has spoken. She may glance at him in the
street but she may not recognize him I'M
iii he has signified his desire to be recog-
nized That is the first article of the so
cial law, and il is followed by others as
arbitrary or more so. Woman's rights is
a subject that has been heard of mostly
in whispers in Germany; but Germans,
densely, perhaps, have heard it spoken of
as if it were the name of new variety
Of cucumber. The new woman, If she
dared to appear would doubtless be re-
garded by most of them with the same
Indifference as the fruit itself.
Ii an American should go on a Sunday
afternoon TO a concert at one of the big
Munich breweries he would see all about
him evidences of that beautiful German
family life which is traditional. The Ger
man-and particularly the South German
nearly always cakes his family with him
10 share his Sunday pleasures, even to
the dog. When it comes to sharing the
beer and sausage, however, 1t is interest
ing to note what the average German con-
siders a share He orders liter of beer
end plate of sausages. Each of the fam
lily gets one sip of the beer and that ends
it-not the beer, but the share. AS for
the sausages, materfamilias declares that
she has no hunger" and the children
are supposed to be in the same condition
They thereupon watch papa while he bolts
This is not always the procedure, but it
is usually so. What it exemplifies prin-
cpally is the German idea. The German
man may be generous enough, but the
German woman is the most self-denying
creature in the world, and really believes
that her needs and her rights are entirely
different from and subservient TO those of
the man. 1t might go hard with her #
She ventured to think otherwise; but there
is rarely danger Of that.
The brewery scene is entirely typical
or the average German-or more particu-
lafly perhaps, South German-family life.
\ &c man girl finds a husband by virtue
Of her dpWry, or savings. The exceptions
10 the rule are hardly appreciable Mar
red, she enters upon a humdrum exist
enee, a single year of which would seem
calculated to unbalance the reason of any
person less unimaginative and domestic in
me oaldest sense of the term. There are
probably no happier women in any land.
which shows how little the German fem
hne nature, or training, exacts. But
Whatever she expects in matrimony, she
gets one thing surely and that is work.
LVen then her position is infinitely prefer
doIe to that of ner unmarried sister. The
German spinster is an object almost, if
h'' always, piteous. Receiving considera-
9" LloIn neltner man, woman nor enid,
BEARDED usually as burden and an an
"lnaly by her relatives, it is hardly to be
wondered at that she is a spinster rarely
~! oAolce. 1t is usually a question purely
vi lowry. It is not necessary that the
amount be large, but il must be some
.lhg. With $4,000 a girl may have al
most her pick Of eligible suitors; with $40
W. she may win a lieutenant in the army
Vne amount is fixed by imperial law;
nom that amount down TO $40-the small
e't doWry that enters into consideration
~ 'ne German matrimonial marSet-her
Cn"nces are proportioned strictly in ac-
'o.lahce with the amount.
Notwithstanding the immense iinpor-
'aAee OF dowries, a majority of German
iH'ldens are dowerless. 1t remains with
'1eihselves, then, to make good the def
1eucy; and il is just there that the most
nant features of the German womans
Iot become apparent. There are no re-
~ ~ Lucrative situations open TO women in
i'INany. Bookkeepers, stenographers,
i"i!ilners and dressmakers receive wages
M'heh are only degree less pathetic than
nose earned by shop girls. AS a general
.IlIi 3 1t may be said that no woman
"Hployed in ordinary vocations receives