The Savannah morning news., 1903-06-28

, their scanty earnings, and very often
a family as we'll"
south American "Merchant Prince
Some of the women workers of the
tropics are enterprising, and branch
out into new lines of business, I'M
dreamed of by men.
A well-knoWn American traveller
in South America tells of "good-na-
tured old woman of capacious embon-
point whom he met as a fellow-pas-
senger on a steamship plying between
Valparaiso and Panama.
This woman carries on business as
deck trader" and spends practi-
cally the whole of her life af1oat be-
tween those two ports. Her stock-in-
trade includes dress goods, ribbons,
hats, canned goods, fresh fruits, veg
etables, and a thousand other articles.
She does small retail trade with the
steerage passengers, but that is not her
principal business.
She is as well known among the
people in the little towns along the
coast of Peru and Chilli" says the
traveller, 'as the leaders among the
mercantile community of the Missis-
sippi Valley, and she carries on a
large trade while the ship is loading
and unloading cargo, besides distrib-
uting news from the other towns. She
supplies the desert towns with pine
| apples, oranges, and other fresh fruits
and vegetables from the fertile regions
of the north, and at almost every port
adds some local product to her stock
in trade, either by barter or purchase.
when the ship approaches a port
she spreads out her wares in a most
attractive manner and sits in the
midst of them in big rocking chair,
sWaying q palm-leaf fan and carrying
on her bargains and gossip at the
same time. At night time and be-
tween ports she puts her goods away
in chests, boxes, bags, and barrels,
unfolds wire-woven cot, unrolls
mattress, spreads a pair of clean
sheets and a soft pillow with edging
on the slip, and in the midst of her
merchandise lies down to pleasant
dreams"
This old woman started the deck
trading business eleven years ago. and
has carried it on regularly ever since.
Other women pursue the same curious
trade on the steamships which ply be-
tween the West Indian Islands, and
also on various South American coast
ing lines.
There is a black woman in Grenada
who carries on a prosperous business
as butcher. On market days she
slaughters sheep and pigs with her
own hand, cuts them up in public, and
sells the joints in the market place an
hour or two afterwards. Nobody re-
CARDS her occupation as unusual, for
women blacksmiths, women shepherds,
and women carpenters are common in
Grenada. as they are in many other
parts of the tropics.
The Women Ought to Govern.
IF had my way" said the Cover
nor of one of England's tropical colo
MES recently, Il would let the natives
govern this country, and countries like
it, but 1 would gives the votes to the
women instead of to the men. They
are by far the better half. They do the
work and they ought to rule the roost
There would be no fear of going back
ward into savagery If they had the
control of affairs. They appreciate the
blessings of education and civilization
much better than the men do. Many
of these poor, ignorant black women
toll and slave and save all their lives
long to give their children a good edu-
cation and fit them for a better posi-
ton in life than that which they them
selves hold"
Mems work causes these women Of
the tropics to adopt mems habits in
large measure. In Eucuador, Brazil
venezuela, and other Latin-American
countries, it is common to see the
wives of the poems smoking long,
fat, black cigars. The milder cigarette
does not satisfy them, thought it is
between the lips of their husbands
from early morn to dewy eve. On the
country roads in Jamaica, Trinidad
and other West Indian islands, ne.
gro woman may often be seen enjoy
ing a black clay pipe as she trudges
TO market She never smokes cigars
or cigarettes; it is the pipe or nothing
with her
In many parts of the tropics, where
polygamy prevails, unaccompan.ed by
the higher type Of Mahcmmedan civil
lEation, mans wealth is mainly esti-
mated by the humber of wives work
ing for him. They are a better invest
ment than camels, mules, or acknowl-
edged slaves. They work harder and
submit quietly to more brutal treat
ment
Hats off to the tropic woman, II
the tropic man were half as enterprls-
ing and energetic as she Is. the tropics
would be the most prosperous zone OF
the globe. She never talks about 'wo'
mems rights" but everybody cheerful.
~ comedies her the right 10 work n
any TASK under the sun until she drops
And what OF the children2 Does tho
man mind themG Not hel II thei
mother cannot spare time TO look aftei
mem they have TO root around foi
themselves. often they work BY hei
SIDE 20 help support poor father.
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