Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1902-07-10


morning and evening with heavy
pitchers of water on their heads; they
sweep the houses and courW ards,
clean the dishes and pots, watch at the
door, or are in attendance on their
masters.
\ boy feeds on what he can, or when
his master remembers him; thus,
from the pangs Of hunger, he soon
learns how to be a thief, and often an
outcast. He is generally employed>i in
herding goats, calves, etc, or to do
mental work at home. Ii he has the
good fortune to win the favor O, his
master, he may become his personal
attendant carrying his blanket, his
food on a journey, or even his gun,
which is a greater honor to the little
man. A. home. in common with the
little girls. he pounds the corn for the
meal; but If, perChanCe, he flags in
those various duties, or gives the
master the slightest oftense, he is
throttled. and not infreQusntly Swoons
away to wake no more. Before their
masters children never smile, although
everybody else may laugh. Any grown
person they meet they salute, as is
becoming, kneeling down and clapping
hands; but if you salute them they
seldom reply They think it is a mis-
take, poor little slaves. In that dark,
busy childhood, where is there room
TO play,
Fortunately some are the personal
attendants of the children of their
masters, and to play with them, and
even to come to school, is part of theiI
duty
Let us follow them. Their games,
as you will see, are not much varied;
to us they are rather dull, and any.
thing but intellectual. Very few are
those which are played by boys and
girls together.
See them yonder singing. dancing,
! holding each other by the hands; they
form a circle out of which a prisoner
tries to escape. Perhaps this is not
quite unknown to you. Farther on
there is another circle, sQuatting down
this time. Having sent off one of their
number they name some object and
call him back to guess it. Tell. what
do you eat? Is it a head?" and the
diviner touches the head. NO" rs
it the hand?' He touches the hand,
shakes his heat mo" And so on.
Meantime some one plays an instru-
ment of music, and, when the guess
is right alters one of his notes. or
moves very slightly his big toe If
| the diviner perceiyes these signs the
guess is easy and he makes room for
some one else This is the malipa
! game,
| The boys have more time to play,
and consequently have more games.
In herding the cattle, they have many
opportunities for swimming, spearing
| fish, boating, etc. They ride calves and
pigs, and as many times as they are
thrown they get up again, and on and
off goes the calf or the grunting pig
They are very fond of wrestling, fond
of war, too. Boys with pot clay will
roughly make each a lot of soldiers,
and by turn each throws arrows at
the army of his opponent until the
last man on one side has fallen and
thus lost the day. They have some
thing like a football but they use
sticks instead of the foot. Interesting
| it is to see foOt-TaCes, bOat-races, but
most amusing to witness their obstacle
races Do you see those boys all
| squatted down with their left leg over
their neck? Well they must drag
| themselves as best they can to the
winning point.
Like children in all lands, they imi-
tate what grown.up people do Boys
and girls play husbands and wives,
chiefs and slaves, and all the scenes
they witness at home or on the
! lekhotia-the forum
The little girls will have their dolls,
which they carry tied with a skin on
their backs, and lull as if crying.
| These dolls are made of a piece of
wood a foot long, no arms, no legs,
with a roughly chopped head, with
marks burnt in, by a red-hot iron, for
| eyes, mouth, nose, etc. There is,
however, something better than that
| 1t is a bottle. Oh, what a beautiful
doll it is! Girls have cheerfulIy
worked two days to get bottle.
Knowing how fond they are of
modelling, l had an exhibition for the
school. On the appointed day | was
surprised to see not only the number
of competitors, but at the variety of
their works. They had really done
their best. The girls had made pots
and dishes of all shapes. The boys
brought all kinds of animals-oxen
running or grazing, lions, elephants,
crocodiles, hippopotami, horses. etc.
They had also boats and boatmen,
herd-boys, policemen, and also carl
catures of white people 1t betrayed
great deal of observation and skill
The whole was divided into four
groups. to each Of which, with the as
sistance Of the prime minister-a
Christian-we gave three prizes.
GIRL IMMIGRANTS "BESPOkE.o