Peasant Life in the Black Forest 



6 39 



A MAIN FOREST ROAD AND ROAD MENDER 



more hopeful : "Yes, I have been a 

 woodsman for forty years, and my father 

 was one before me," he explained. "We 

 are all contented, have good health, and 

 are not without pleasure and amusement. 

 I own my home, have seven acres of 

 land, occasionally sell a cow or a pig, 

 and though I average only two marks 

 (fifty cents) a day for perhaps two hun- 

 dred days in a year, we have saved at 

 least, besides our home, ten thousand 

 marks." 



As he delivered himself of this speech 

 he again lighted his Schwarzwald pipe 



and concluded philosophically, "The 

 main thing is health and contentment, and 

 that we have." 



Hotel and inn keepers are often in 

 comfortable circumstances and their 

 families enjoy some of the luxuries of 

 life, while the owners of mills, factories, 

 and other industrial plants are often con- 

 sidered men of wealth. On the other 

 hand, there are those of extreme pov- 

 erty, who seldom have sufficient plain 

 food to satisfy hunger ; but the condi- 

 tion of the great mass of the community 

 may be fairly represented by the road- 



