Evening journal., 1919-07-15
IT'S THE SIMPLELIf
IN montenegro
Blu, War Brings R e J
Poverty for the the
First Time
SMALL WILL "A les
HAVE STRUGGLES
BY WILLIAM WAKEFIELD.

n. E. A. Special to The Evening Journa
CETTINJE. Montenegro, July i5.-
Don't think that the Montenegro
spends much time at home. He doesn't
but his wife and children do. The wife
does most Of the work. the children
set most Of the food. and father Is
usually somewhere in the hills with his
villagers fehting one or another OF
the hereditary enemies OF their race.
A Moniengrin house is built OF stone,
roughly laid in coarse mortar. the
roof Is steep. OF Lille, or among the
very poor, OF thatch. only the very
well have anything but a dirt floor.
one or two rooms suffice for a family.
There Is no chimney. the fire being
built in a corner OF the room. whence
the smoke seeps out through the roof
as best It can. A chain from a beam
above supports a pot over the ilre'
which like the other cooking utensils.
Is made OF copper. unless the Austrians
have carried OF all the copper for their
munition plants, in which case 1t Is
probably an ex-Standard oil tin, or
Hoover bacon can. There is little furni-
ture-a crude bedstead for the parents
The children sleep on the floor-a few
stools and a couple OF chests. A rack
against the wall holds some tiny glasses
and coffee sups, for all the Balkan peo-
pies drink a great deal OF homemade
brandy. and Turkish coffee. For bed
ding there are coarse blankets woven
from the wool OF the village flock.
In the small villages that straggle
without orientaton on the hillsides,
there is neither poverty nor riches,
under ordinary circumstances. Every
man has an equal share in the COM
munity land, and with fair crops there
IS sufflclent for all. But the country
has been al war almost continuously
FOR seven years. and has been occupied
by the Austrians for three. Every
where the last years crops have been
used up. and quite often there Is a
scarcity OF seed grains and labor for
the coming season. The war and Aus
trian prison camps have taken toll OF
the men. without whom the heavy !
work OF plowing Is dlfilcult The |
women are weakened or incapacitatcd |
by hunger. cold and sickness. The !
oxen, once the mainstay Of every peas
ant have gone TO feed the Austrian
armies. Fortunately there are large |
numbers Of sheep In the country, ana |
they have come into the menu.
Clothing Is very scarce in the VII
lagos. IN spite OF the large number OF
sheep. In the past practically all the |
clothing was made by the women, both |
wool and linen. But today with all the !
mems work TO do. as well as their own,
With sickness and hunger IN every fam
ily there Is no time for spinning and |
weaving
The picturesque old national dress |
has almost disappeared, though Il used |
70 be quite the rule everywhere. Even |
among the more well-to-do, the men as
= rule wear Unmatched uniforms, often |
on Austrian origin. and the women mere
remnants Of their old wardrohes.
In the old days there were few, n
any, poor in The littlo cities that are
scattered between the barren noun
aims. The very small classes OF OH
'ials and tradespeople there. is no no {
,ility in Montenegro more (
eady money than the peasants and T
I've in one-story houses OF more or {
sss European character. The furniture e
; chiefly Austrian. Bentwood. plush n
and iron bedsieads are
n
On the floor and walls arc bright n
olored rugs made in the villages. but I n
ow rarely found there The poor have e
o more furniture than the peasants q
eep on the floor, and cook over a FIRE a
the corner OF the room. q