Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1913-08-01
|HALF HOLIDAY OLD HOW TO Be GENTLE
Ancient Workmen Never labored
Saturday Afternoons.
Medieval Man, Like Moslem Of East
Took Bath In Order to Be Prepared
for Worship or Sunday-leoal.
ICED In Some States.

The Saturday half holiday Is Gus
tomarily regarded as modern inno-
walton. Ask any old person and he
will tell you that he can remember
when all laborers worked on the sew
enth day OF the week just as on every
other day--from the blowing Of the
whistle at seven o'clock in the morn
ing until six o'clock, or later, in the
evening. The shortening of the reg
ular working day to eight hours. with
freedom on Saturday afternoon. Is A.
tributed to the work OF the trades
unions. While the latter body, In tho
last few decades. certainly has In
fluenced public opinion and legisla'
ton in regard to shorter working
day, 1t did not PROFOUND new idea,
but rather revived the old laws Of the
fifteenth century.
In the early days Of industrial his
tory parliament and the kings, bott In
England and on the continent, took
very active part In regulating the
working hours as we'll as the wages
of their subjects. BY doing this. 1t
was believed the king could protect
his own interests, in addition to those
of the people against INSCRIPTIONS
employers.
An English statute, made by Henry
w. in the early part Of the fifteenth
century. fixed the legal hours Of the
country laborers from five o'clock In
the morning until seven o'clock In the
evening, from March until Septem-
Der: but, from September until the
following March they were only to
work from the springing Of the day
until the night of the same day."
They were always to have half an
hour for breakfast, and an hour and
a half for dinner, with the. privilege
OF a nap, from May until August. and
were to work on Saturdays only until
noon. Trading in the shops on Sun
days and holidays was forbidden.
In medieval times the Saturday
half holiday seems to have been al
host universal. Every one must be
pleased with his work." says kuten-
berg ordinance. consequently no one
must be overworked." Even Ferdi-
nend I. (14ss-9D, one of the most
ferocious kings who ever sat on the
throne Of the holy Roman empire,
accepted this maxim and ruled that
in the imperial mines, the miners
were to work only eight hours a day
The old law also explicitly stated that
work after Saturday at noon was to
be strictly prohibited and that "a pair
OF stocks be In every town" that
employers who worked their people
overtime might be thrust into them.
Because there was Saturday half
holiday, however, 1t must not be
thought that this afternoon was given
for recreation. Indeed MOTT was
bathing. time for the greater part of
the community.
Most barbarians, Judged by modern
standards, were anything but clearly
in their personal habits. In England,
France and Germany bathing was an
almost unknown custom until after
the crusades. The pilgrims from the
east brought home with them ideas of
the bath as help in the treatment of
disease, and bathrooms were grad
ually introduced into the hospitals.
From the hospitals the idea Of bath
ing spread generally. People who
had been treated there saw the value
Of keeping the body clean in order to
resist disease.
BY the fifteenth century there was
scarcely a large city that did not
possess we'll patronized public bath
ing establishments, although it was
not until the seventeenth century that
the Turkish bath was introduced. and
not until the eighteenth century that
sea bathing, SO common among the
American Indians, was tried expert
mentally.
Why Saturday was chosen as bath
ing time is not difficult to imagine.
On Sunday everybody was compelled
to go to church, whether he would or
not. AS the Moslem in the east
bathed before entering the mosque, SO
did the medieval man before entering
his church, only he must take his
bath on Saturday afternoon in order
to be clean the following day. There
was even distribution Of bath money
to the children whose parents were
unable to pay for their baths.
With the introduction of machinery
and the rise of capitalistic class, the
old common laws Of the lands regard
ing labor came to be neglected. The
craft guilds were abolished by law
and their property confiscated. Com
bination Of workmen in any form in
England was prohibited until 1881,
when it became legalized again. In
England industrial conditions during
the latter part Of the eighteenth CEN
fury became deplorable. Even the
little children worked from five in the
morning until nine at night. In these
working days Of IL, Is and 10 hours.
the Saturday half holiday was forgot
ten, only to be revived after many
years had passed. !.
Certain states and cities have legis-
lated in favor Of Saturday half holt
day. This is true in New York, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ten
nessee, Virginia. in the city Of New
Orleans and in New Castle county,
Delaware.
Wife the Chairman