El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-11-20
french WOMEN
SUPPLY nation
WITH BIC CROPS
Do All Heavy Farm Work
and Fill the Graineries
With Abundance.
ARE AIDED BY THE
MANY LITTLE TOTS

~LERMONT-F ERRAND. Central
France. Nov. 2O.-The women OF
~ France have gathered the crops
this wear. while their sons and brothers
are fighting at the front, and they are
big crops The harvest IS Just closing
the barns in this vast farming region
are fairly bursting with wheat. oats,
hay and a multitude of farm products.
and the fields are stacked with the /
straw-covered yield of potatoes, car
rots. beets and vegetables Of all kinds /
all these crops a tribute to these |
Snartan peasant women Of France VINO =
in a wav are fighting the country I
battle just as much as the men IN the |
trenches.
For three days a correspondent OF 4
the Associated press has passed !
tbroueb 500 miles Of this farming re 4
gion. under escort Of army officers as
signed BY the ministry of war. pri-
r2arily for the purpose or seeing lne /
3 thousands of German prisoners gain /
cred in from Champagne and else
where. but incidentally giving the Op-
portunity of seeing these French peas
ant women cultivating the fields orlE-
/ ing the oxen for the fall blowing,
J picking. sorting and shipping frult- ana
gathering in the stores or vegetables
4 and tobacco
3 Wc1ren Everywhere in the Fields
I Women were to be seen every mere
! bending over the burrows or with pan
I niers on their backs carrying the heaFy
/ loads Of carrots and turnips' on TOP
( of straw riclls pitching the gram INTO
Z place or loading it on wagons IN the
3 freight yards near the stations DrlnS-
Z ing in the farm products and storing
them on flat cars. and in long irregular
7 companies along the roads al nlshl
going home from work with their dogs.
wheelbarrows, babies and armsful OF
faEots-
4 sturdy matrCns We're AZ work and one
| Young woman. with an OLD gray
: bearded peasant, evidently the l-lher'
/ in a chair under a shelterlng tree "lLL
l the baby beside him He was too oid
/ for the fighting line or for this cIner
/ warfare Of the women in the Ile-ds-
/ Further along a great sweep OF Ltelus
/ was dotted with knots OF women gain
/ eriner potatoes into bags and then
/ throwing the filled bags over their
shoulders to carry to the waiting carts
] Each group Of women mad yoke o.
Z oxen and cart They were hestNy ser,
4 SQUARE built women, like those painted
/ BY AIillet. with coarse aprons and black
| dresses. grit up 10 their knees, usually
| bare-headed but at times with the big
white head-gear, typical OF this Au-
vergne farm country
I on one large farm A party Of women
were putting on the fall fertilizers be
fore the winter set in Some were on
5 the carts hauling in the manure, and
scores of others were scattered over
the black earth leveling and distrtbut-
ing the fertilizer In another field one
! woman alone was doing the fertlllzinE.
I and a sweep Of about 10 acres showed
: what she had accomplished The next
, farm had already yielded its crop OF
corn. and now the women were gain
I erfne the pumpkins from between the
close-cut corn stocks
Two Armies COntrasted-
Several times along the route there
was a picture OF the army Of fighting
men on one hand. and the army OF
working women on the other, when a
u detachment of artillery or cavalry
d passed forward on their way TO the
front One artillery detachment had
ri. heavy field guns. and stretched along
, the road for a quarter Of a mile an
N other had the light French miltraleuse
a or rapid fire gun At one point Wnol'
le division Of cavalry was encamped OF
- a level sweep Of farm country, and
= 3 columns of troopers were eNerclsins
- on the field Of maneuvers- Wnel
N these dctachments passed along tn
ID roads. all the women in the fields woul'
= stop work and stand with arms aSimo'
N gazing intently at this spectacle o
= their men going forwOrd for the fight
q ing for in almost every case the WON
-e en- in the fields were the wives moth
IS ers and sisters Of the men recrulIe,
an in this vicinity and now on the mar cI
e nearer the fighting line
as Women Do All Heavy Work.
~ The wcmen's work in the farm re
tn eions is not confined to the fields. bu
OF covers the whole image Of work Incl
an dent to agriculture one stretch o
IN / country was particularly abundant j
straight young saplings. and here IN
women were at work hewing the sap
lings. piling them like cord wood alon
the road ready for the carts 20 take
tire station. Further on at the station
women were on othe fiat cars receivin
-. sapIings from other women on cart
% and thus this product for telegrap
poles. railway ties, etc. goes steadil
er- on while the men are away In IN
wn country inns. too, women are DONG e'
go z erything, not only the cooking bJ
n running the establishment. and eve
~, / taking the places Of the garcOns In II
n village cafes
lct Occasionally a few men are seen
ON the fields. but they seem out Of pla'
sprinkled among the ranks of the II
i've bust women They are either old me
-ea usually bent and crippled who go
We their work unsteadily. or very your
- men and boys, not yet in the class
II year old recruits But these ms
:. are mere supernumaries now ada5
much as the women were before Il
war. when they gave a helping hai
when the harvest pressure WI
greatest.
Babies Are Scarce.
3 The new babies. too, are very re
9 in the farm regions In the three IA
through the farm region only two far
women were seen carrying young ba
les With the men all away at L
Ter / war the birth rate must necessar n
in | fall off as these women are turnil
81 I from, the cares Of maternity to the car
~ [ Of the soil But the little children a
ne ] everywhere present, and are helpu
m their mothers in gathering the crol
he | In one field two little girls were gui
ks ing the OK carts. and in another
group Of little tots were polishing
&c | the leaves OF cabbages so as TO ma
lsh each one look fat and profitable
I'm Curious detail; Even the IA "a.
den Of the war here in the farm
led gions while most Of their male bret
ren-the oxen-have been moblllzed
ms the front for the supply wagons Il
~ ] beasts labOred along the road. dra
rs ing a heavy cart of farm produce
80. s-#rg~ Il #1 HaaT