The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-07-01
Small Folk Must Also Assist
There in Gaining the
FamiIy's Livelihood.
MOST OF WORK PLEASANT.
CHILDREN TEND GOAT HERDS,
WORK IN STORES. PICK UP
WOOD AND EVEN BEG-NO
CHILD LABOR LAWS IN FORCE.

problem Of child labor. especial inter. |
est attaches to the many unique ways |
in which boys and often girls. as well. |
are made 10 assist in earning their |
daily bread in countries other than
our own.
Nor are all of these undeightful.
Down in the Herzegovina. for ex-
ample, the boys have a summers task
which would perhaps appeal to many
an American lad.
The Herzegovina consists of noun
tains bleak and bare. with only here
and there. as in Iceland, a scattered
bit of pasturage. The great article of
food and provender in this region is
the goat Its meat is taken as a sub
sttute for almost all other flesh. its
milk is turned to butter and to cheese.
its skin gives the family water bag,
and innumerable like articles, it's hair
is woven into almost every form of
cloth or garment. So that the goat is
| the essential TO life Early in the
take the family's goats and drive them
| high up into the mountain canyons
where a vegetation still exists. There
the goats Craze. while the boys learn
! to throw rocks at distant targets or
TO weave. or else cut little trinkets TO
sell on the grand bazaar.
1t seems an idle form of work. and
yet it is necessary. At night they
sleep in caves in the mountain sides.
| building for themselves sometimes a
little fire. but more often wrapping
the ill-smelling goat skins about them
and then slumbering away.
Once a week mother or sister will
trudge the weary miles into these up
lands, bringing the boy clean linen or
else some fresh goats cheese and
| bread.
In the forests of the Carpathians. in
| Pennsylvania twas east Hungary. you
remember) boys have another sort of
work to do that is equally interesting.
| There the forests. which are very
precious. are the property of the viii
lage. Each year, according to the num-
Der in a family. the mayor tells how
many cords of wood each householder
may draw. Then the boys go out and
hew the trees and gather carefully the
fagots to keep the winter fires.
In fact. it is very hard in the south
of Europe to tell just when a boy
ceases his childhood and turns to a
man.
AS soon as the little Turkish boy re-
turns from the school behind the
mosque he takes his seat cross-legged
on his fathers bazaar. He smokes
the nargileh or the cigarette almost at
the age of three. and he INDUCES in
coffee just as often as he can get It,.
If his father has stepped across the
way to gossip with a friend, little Alb
dullah waits on you, and this with all
gravity. They are little men from
birth, / beleve-these Orientals, and
they do not at all amuse by their man.
nishness.
Boys must work hard, however. in
all the Danubian countries. A friend
of ours and | were riding through the
broad fiat Wallachian plains stretch
ing eastward from the Danube. Be
hind us toddIed an army of GYPSY
children. They swarmed out of the
underground homes in which these
people live. just burrows in the earth,
whitewashed about, inside. And, like
the Dutch children along the canal TO
Monnickendam, who cry, Give me-
something and I'll have something,
these children begged. but for sugar"
meaning the money with which to buy
that luxury We pitied them, they
were so thin. so poor. Even in the
settled villages poverty is so great
that travellers must take their lunch
along. for there is none to spare even
to sell them. and while you eat, not
only the children, but the older peo-
pie crowd the door and gaze wistfully
at your luncheon.
Child life is exactly like manhood
and womanhood in the European
lands. modified only by the difference
in physical strength.
There are no farms. as we think OF
them. but everybody lives in villages
, and at sunup. whether that be
: o'clock or &. men. women and child
rem start out TO work in the adjoining
: fields. Maybe the oldest people re-
. main behind TO guard the place, and
, potter around. and perhaps the moth
ers also who stay TO prepare the lunch
to take ont at noon. Then every
one works. and all equally hard until
shutdown. There is no money for
= books and papers, and in comparative
, " few lands do the peasants care 10
read even where they may know how
So at evening they sup and turn into
bed. Sundays fare like any other
days. even in most ultra Catholic
lands. except that there may be an
early mass to he attended,
And vet these hard-working children
are the kindest. most obedient oi
youngsters.
Notably along the east coast Of the
Adriatic are they taught that children
should not be seen, as well as not
heard. When you visit a clan in this
region you catch a muffled whisper
and a glimpse Of little eyes peerine
. through a GRANNY at you. and then
p children are off TO work.
They work until the time comes foI
them to go into the army, for in all