The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1911-11-30
A Polish Village I'm The Mountains
EXTRACTS FROM BOOKER II, .WASHINGTONS
BOOK DOWN. :,

1t was a Jewish trader who advised
me to visit JedlQvka. He Said that
| would see the peasants living there
now as they had lived for hundreds
of years, in the simplest and most
primitive fashion.
Jedlovka, found, is a little stray
Cling village at the foot hills Of the
eafpathisas, the mountains which di-
vide Galicia from Hungary. ...
High up, where the road, winding
up out Of the valley, leads out, into
high, cletar space, at what seemed
to be the top of the mountain, there
is church and this tavern and the
church together with a few scatter
ed log. huts. is the village of Jed
olVka and the end of our journey.
l had had vague sort Of: notion
that somewhere in this remote region
should meet peasants wearing
sheep skin Jackets, sandals and leg
glngs, bound with thongs, driving
their beds to pasture. I even had a
wild hope that I should come upon
some reustic festival, such as T had
women would dance upon the green
sword, to the music Of shepherds
pipes. AS a matter of fact, it CHANGED
that our visit did fall upon feast day
eut there were no shepherds and no
dances. what I saw was a crowd Of
women pouring out Of the little
church high upon tibet hill, and
crowds of drunken men carousing at
the tavern below
The houses in this part Of the
| country were, for the most part,
smaller, more weather worn and de-
tcrepit, than those had seen in, other
parts of the country. In fact, in
some cases the green matched roofs
were so old, SO oVergrown with veg
citation, and the little whitewashed
| frames Of the buildings that support
ed them had so sunken into the soil
| that some of them looked like gil
gantic toad stools. AS the day we
visited that part Of the country was
| holiday we met along the way
| many of the peasants dressed in the
Quaint and picturesque garb Of the
| country, passing in groups of two or
| three along the road.
Il had before this visited a number
of the peasant houses and was famil-
lar with the plan of arrangement of
them, The interior of these houses
is usually divided into two rooms,
separated in most cases by an en-
trance or hallway. In one of these
rooms the whole family, consisting
Of the parents and perhaps five or
six children, live, eat and sleep. In
this room there is usually q very
large brick or stone oven, which on
the cold winter nights, I learned fire.
quently serves the purpose of a bed.
IL the other room are the COWS. pigs.
| geese, chickens. If the farmer is well
| to do he will have q number of build
1ngs arranged in a hollow square,
having goose pond in the center
%1d, in that case, the servants will
very likely sleep in the straw in the
barns with the cattle.
The house l visited in the noun
tain contained only one room for the
whole family, including the COW, the
lchickens and the rest Of the animals.
1t was very cold on the north side Of
the mountain in winter and the
peasants and cattle frequently live
in the same room, found, to keep
warm.
| In one Of the little huts which ]
volunteered to enter / found two old
l women lying down apparently as1eeT
on a heap Of straw; cow standing
!, linear them was peacefully, chewing
1her' cud, white several chickens were
49,.