The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1914-03-27
CONDITION OF THE FOREIGN
ERS IN THE LEAD BELT
Being Paper Read Before the Mon
dag Club at Pennington on Mon
day of This Week.
BY DR. Stophlet

secured from gentleman who speaks
their languages, and who made can
vass of their communities. Included in
the number are Italians, Greeks, Rus
SLAMS, Bulgarians, HunEarians, Lithu-
anians, Creations, Bohcmians, Poles
and Servians,
They go generally under the name
Of IIungarians which is largely Il mis-
nomcr, for there are but few families
of real Hungarians among them 1t is
a msnomer again in the fact that it
often msreprescnts the Hungarians
since the nationalities and provinces
represented are among the best. They
are more disposed to adopt America
as their home, and to take up Ameri-
can customs, and in so doing they Of
ten incur displeasurc of the others.
The married people among these
foreigners usually keep hoarders and
so furnish homes for many Of the sin
gle men. In nearly every foreign COM
munity there is general boarding
house in which many stop that are
unmarried, and being easily satisfied
as to sleeping accommodations small
house often furnishes a home for
large numbers
Both men and women become quick
ly Amcricanizcd as to clothing. The
women, however, continue to wear fan
cy shawls over their heads instead Of
hat. They rob themselves thereby Of
the very great quarterly pleasure Of
selecting the very latest style hat.
Blu: in doing so they eliminate TIE
quarterly millinery bill for which they
are very much more to be commended
than criticised. There is a difference
among them as among Americans as
to cleanliness Some are scr.upulously
clean and others are quite the oppo-
site The most striking peculiarities
of the foreigners are seen in their
marriage andf uneral customs. Both
the marriages and the funerals are
celebrated often with great hilarity.
Their wedding customs are quite clear
ly described by Ralph Connor in the
Foreigner. The most characteristic
feature Of the wedding is the dance,
in that each guest is privileged to
dance with the bride, for which priv
ilCgc and honor he is expected to pay
q fee Of one dollaryand being a guest
he is expected to avail himself of this
privilege. That "tip" provides n good
fund for which to pay for the beer
for the occasion, and to set up the
new couple to housekeeping, The Gus
tom is a very eXhausting and trying
ordeal for the newly made wife. The
program usually results in disagree
ments and wrangling which often
come to blows and blood. At both the
weddings and funerals beer is great
desideratum since neither rite seems
complete without it. The bridal cou-
pie scarcely ever omits the matter Of
securing their photo. Through rain or
storm they make their way to a pho
tographer, the bride being all decked
in white, and with long veil, and in
this way are attended by the wedding
party. At the funerals the band often
accompanies the procession. The stars
and stripes are carried well to the
front, and they are followed by the
colors of their native land. Their
homes to we Americans seem humble
and indicate condition of compara-
tive poverty. But the spare appear
ance is due less to poverty than to
thrift. Many save their money and
send it back tostheir native lands, for
use Of investment. Their ideals as to
homes and home comforts do not call
for so great an expenditure as those
of the Americans. They all have men,
bership in some church. The Italians
in the Roman and the others in the
Greek Catholic churches. A few Of the
Hungarians are protestants, and are
Presbyterians, having been members
of that church in their Nome land.
Some of these have allied themselves
with the local Presbyterian church.
They attend church quite regularly,
and stand throughout the services in
the Greek churches, their buildings
being not provided with seats. As a
result they hsye no sleeping audiences
They appreciate education and send
their children to the public schools.
The agents Of the American Tract
Society visits their homes occasional
ly sells Bibles which are translated
into their own languages. Some Evan
gelist hold occasional services in their
communities. and the Methodist
church is doing good work through
their Deaconesses who hold classes
in English for them, and a sewing
class for the children. The Mothers