The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1921-09-08
WOMAN HAS TOIIGH
time in SERBIA
HE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES
is THE BEAST OF BURDEN
IN SERBIA
GRANDDAD is BOSS OF RANCH
MISS OLIVE SEWELL WRITES
ANOTHER WONDERFULLY
INTERESTING LETTER

oS"oli, the Sauk centre
girl who is serving as a nurse with
the Serbian Welfare Board, and who
In recent letter, told of the present
lie IN Serbia, has again contributed
a valuable letter of inform. >tion Tn
relatives in the city. Through the
courtesy of Mr.. Whitefield. the Her.
ana is again enabled to publish the
following interesting story from the
pen of Miss Sewell:
L am addressing this especially IN
. - in thirteen DAYS be
Will have birthday and am in a
place where it would be difficult tn
seno on a birthday gift more subj
stantlal., So in this I am sending INV
wlsnes Tor a very happy and HEALTHY
anniversary q Now if Uncle was
SERBIAN peasant we would call If bis
oiaVa' pronounce both as as Won
90 IN salad-he would invite in oil
MS relatives and friends; roast a MO
On d spit, break bread ard drinI
rakla. One thing he would have to
remember and that is to never 81
uown all day, for hospitality demands
VIZ ona1 ne Keep moving and waiting un-
on his friends. up
went to the Slava of the grand
lather next door to us and went f.,
oil the agony of eating and dr;nL;no.
many things that I couldn't annraa;
aee put 1t was great day in the
house and had to be polite. Tn Ser.
pia' the Oldest member of the house-
,ruio IS always the chief of the clan
Inc young man marries q wife snJ
taxes her home to his mother rha1
may nave family, but the grand,
1ather' or Bahia, is the one resnonsi-
oie Tor the rearing of the children
AS long as the grandparents live. tha
young people ere obedient to thorn
The children kiss their hands mon
coming into the house and are obedi-
ent to their every wish. Strange as
IL may seem, in spite of this sort of
domestic legislation, divorce is yerv
rare thing in Serbia. And in sneak
ing of divorce, it is we'll to remember
that the church is not responsible for
TITS absence as this is not a Roman
Catholic country, but an Orthodox
Greek church country.
The people are a fundamentally
moral lot and whatever immortality
has crept against them is a n1isfor-
tune of war. The people are agri-
culturists living always on the land,
marrying young are rearing large
families.
I'm this immediate locality there is
no social intercourse among the wo-
men. There are no clubs or COM
munlty gatherings for the female of
the species, but the male members of
the village have a community house
and the ever present Cafano in which
to meet and exchange views on poll
tics and Pevo, the later being as near
as can get to the Serbian word for
beer. You know, the Serbian alpha-
bet is not the same as ours. They
use slav letters while we use latin.
81 am writing this in the dispen-
sary while my little Serbian nroba-
toner makes pneumonia jackets and
The Russian doctor makes medicine.
We have as many as forty-fve pat
innts dav. which when one considers
that this is harvest time in a rural
community. is really verv good.
Each dav I give nv little assistant
a lesson in NURSING and several times
a week Miss Walsh who does the
horne VISITING has class here for the
mothers and Young girls.
The women know nothing of the
laws of sanitation and health in fact
most IF their orav waiter is in their
Iuehand's name. Tt is not UNCOMMON
~ have rrovvn women co,,,a TO 11r for
iraa +r,ent who do not 1yrow their
husbands family name, how old they
are or where they live. Their BUSH
ness in life is to work in the fields
and have children whom they bring
I'D in tho same manner that their
rrandmothers for the last 200 wears
have brought up their children.
Wrapped in swaddlino clothes ard
led into tight bundle with home
spun co'ored cords. thew lie all day
m small horne woven hammocks be-
tween two trees while their mothers
work in the fields. Their wet and
aoiled rays are never changed and
their bodies are covered with errup-
tions originating from filth.
>"At home they continue to swing