The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-05-17
in A CORNER OF MISERY
A FOREST OF BOHEMIA WHERE THE
PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS HUNGRY.
Families of weavers Who Have Never
Had Enough to Eat In Their
Lives-Amazing Tale.
of the indianapolis Journal.

Of eating his Ill; five thousand men and
women and children. and not one that Is
not kept awake by hunger o. nights; 1--WE
thousand children and women and men
and not one that did not begrudge my
horses the oats ! had brought from
Prague. Such Is the Bohemian forest,
grander landscape and more miserable in
habitants you cannot look upon In this
wide. wide world They call 1t 'Elends-
winker-Corner OF Misery. 1t begins at
Reicheneu and ends at Multenberg, en-
bracins nineteen villages. where weavery
and hunger have fiourished for time i'm
memorial
You say you never had a square meal,
my poor man7 Surely there are feast days
and holidays In every persons life; you
must have been very happy on the first day
you went to the Lords supper, or your we'd
ding day, when your first child was born"
Happy, yes. but hungry also. Else there
would be heaven on earth, and that would
not do for mere weavers."
I asked the question hundred times
during my trip and as often 1 met with
the same or a similar reply. Theirs is
the apathy born of the chemically empty
stomach They protest not and aspire to
nothing better-the story of the turning
worm does not apply to these people.
mo wonder" said the pastor of one of the
misery villages; ''ou- people are born and
bred hungry; their fathers and grandfathers
were hungry. A weaver processing that he
got enough to eat at any given time could
make a living for the rest OF his life by ex-
hibifing himself to his fellows and telling
OF his good luck"
90. &~Nr T. -fEf. Holf
children whom knew to belong to Asang.
eight miles away. They had their school
books, and asked what they were doing.
I'VE got I'D three hours before time to
visit the farmhouses when men and beast
have breakfast said the boys and girls.
in this way we get a mouthful once in a
while. Now we are going back home to
school" One Of the brighter children came
up and said: "You must have heard OF
F1anzI. who Is with the farmer in Reiter-
schlag. His mother was so poor she gave
the children a hot bath every night instead
OF supper. 50 they might go to sleep from
sheer exhaustion. forgetting that they were
hungry. or even alive. Well. Franzl could
not stand IL any longer. A bath for supper.
a crust of bread and hot wa ter for break
fast. and no dinner; he called on the
farmhouses before going to school as We
are doing. and. as luck would have it, ran
across a farmers wife who was a.veritable
Madonna. When he asked for a crust Of
bread she gave him bacon. soup and
bread"
Bacon. soup and bread. all at oncer'
repeated the chorus Of children, with bulg-
ing eyes.
Little Mary continued: "F'rsnzl was so
overcome ami delighted. he conld find no
words to express his gratitude. 7 did not
know there was a heaven on esth,' he
said over and over again. And when he
learned that the farmer, his children and
hts servants had the same every day in
the year and Sundays more. he threw him
self on his knees and cried Good woman,
be my mother. For Gods sake be my
motherr And the farmers wife really took
him In. for Franzl has fine blue eyes and
blonde hair and does not cough like the
rest Of tire children. And now only his
mother and sisters and brothers hunger
while he grows fat, eating like the Kaiser
IN Vienna.
WAGE AND WORKING HOURS.
The average weavers' wage is hard to
specify In United States money. A newly
married couple In the prime of life can
earn two norins-about 90 cents per week
provided the neighbor's children help out
with spooling. But the quantity Of work
to be delivered demands eighteen hours
application per day for two. That means
nine average working days for as cents
or 10 cents per day and head, not count
ing the children.
IT. the village OF Hueraffie several
cabins were pointed out to me where the
average wage is I'd to i've forms week
$780, Investigated. There were four grown
persons at work in each OF these lucky
households, most often father, mother
and q son and his young wife, assisted by
a horde OF small children, six or seven in
several cases. ten, eleven. twelve In others
what are your average hours?" asked
q weaver-Croesus.
THE looms never rest, day or night Thee
Of Us are always working while one rests"
They look IT. A more miserable type of
humanity THAI these weavers In a grand,
picturesque nature 1t has never been my
misfortune to meet In any country or cline.
Hollow cheeks, rounded backs, the walk
tottering. complexion sallow. Men and
women look almost alike, and all wear a
leather belt around their waist "to pull
tighter" when the stomach's demand be-
comes tho pressing. The huts have but
one room and the number OF children is
rarely below six. while most families are
blessed with ten or twelve. The cottages
are low and dark, the small windows not
being made to Open What air there is
enters through the door or cracks I'm the
roof and walls. Light must be burned day
and night, for somebody is working all the
time. weaving. spooling. sorting. Kerosene
has not yet supplanted the old-time oil
lamp I'm the Bohemian forest; a medicine
bottle with q piece OF rag or string for a
wick. But even such a lamp, primitive as
Il Is. counts Ter luxury. and only $2.90-per-
week households can afford IL. The rest
get along on pine torches. Both these
modes Of lighting help still more to vitiate
the atmosphere. poisoned by from six 10
twelve tuberculous and semi-tuberculous
lungs. Add TO this q cat. dog, goat, a
couple Of chickens and rabbits and there Is
. combination strong enough 10 knock
down healthy man or woman.
They carried me fainting from a weavers
hut I'm Multenberg. and the village priest
told me why I had been worse affected
there than in other places. The tenants
of that particular cabin had won forms
In a lottery. and with the money bought a
sucking pig. bringing II up on the bottle In
q soap box near the stove. On that ac-
count they were rated the iuckfasf rao,t.