644 



The National Geographic Magazine 



A CORNER IN THE LIVING ROOM. THE CURTAINS ENCLOSE THE BED 



to son. Economy in dress is but one 

 instance out of many which might be 

 given explaining how a peasant support- 

 ing a large family can live, and some- 

 times even prosper, on an income that 

 would not supply the want of an Ameri- 

 can under similar conditions. An Ameri- 

 can laborer spends more in five years 

 for dress than the average laborer in the 

 Black Forest does in a lifetime. 



The average home of the peasant ex- 

 hibits economy in its painful extremity. 

 The furnishings of the rooms are reduced 

 to an uninviting limit. A stove, a table, 

 a few plain wooden chairs, and a long 

 bench constitute the chief articles of fur- 

 niture in the living room, which some- 

 times also contains a bed. The walls 

 are hung with a few pictures, and a large 

 wooden clock, serving as a useful orna- 

 ment in every home, sometimes relieves 



the gloomy appearance; but the bare 

 floors and the low ceilings form an op- 

 pressive contrast to the beautiful out-of- 

 door landscape, with its green meadows 

 and blue-vaulted sky resting on the 

 forest-crowned hills. 



The interior of a home is seldom at- 

 tractive, and as farm houses here never 

 have a modern system of plumbing or 

 ventilation, the odors from the stables, 

 which sometimes permeate every room, 

 cause you to sigh for the out-of-doors. 

 Nor is the unattractive interior due to 

 lack of cleanliness, but rather to the plan 

 of construction of the house. Many of 

 these houses are centuries old, and the 

 present occupants must make the most 

 of their inheritance. 



The same roof which protects the fam- 

 ily shelters the live-stock, hay, grain, and 

 the simple farm implements. The base- 



