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The National Geographic Magazine 



ment is used for live-stock and imple- 

 ments ; the first story, entered from an 

 outside stairway, is the family abode, 

 while the loft, from front to rear, con- 

 tains the hay and grain. 



The peasant thus dwelling in mutual 

 concord with his cow and his ox is not 

 prepared for guests. In fact, no private 

 dwelling is constructed with a view to 

 receiving friends. The inns are for this 

 purpose ; they form the social centers or 

 meeting places of the neighborly groups 

 of the community. 



But in nothing is poverty and econ- 

 omy shown more than in the frugal 

 meals, served five times a day. Coffee, 

 black bread, butter, milk, potato soup, 

 with an occasional omelet and salad, 

 would be considered a wide latitude in a 

 daily bill of fare, while a single article of 

 diet, such as potato soup, will often con- 

 stitute the. entire meal. In many homes 

 meat is served only on special holidays, 

 and in practically no home do we find it 

 in satisfying quantities. A home-made 

 brew or fermented beverage, however, 

 is never wanting and is always offered — 

 perhaps with a callous hand, but with a 

 warm heart and cordial hospitality — to 

 the friends or chance strangers who enter 

 the home. 



The limited means in the household 

 economy bear most heavily upon the 

 wife, for the husband must devote his 

 entire time to work in the factory or for- 

 est in order to meet the necessary ex- 

 penses involved in the support of a large 

 family. The woman, therefore, enlists 

 our sympathy. The care of a large fam- 

 ily, one would think, would alone be suf- 

 ficient to occupy her attention. But the 

 burdens of motherhood are by no means 

 the ereatest, for children here are never 

 spoiled by attention ; like "Topsy," in 

 Uncle Tom's Cabin, they "just grow" and 

 take care of themselves and seem to be 

 none the worse for it. All the drudgery 

 about the little farm falls to her care, 

 and if at times, as during the haying 

 season, she is assisted by the men, she 

 never shrinks from performing her part 

 of the most arduous tasks. 



And neither youth nor age exempts 



the weaker sex from man's labor on the 

 farm. I have seen the young girl of 

 fifteen years, in company with her 

 stooped and decrepit grandmother of sev- 

 enty, swing the scythe to the rhythmic 

 measure of the lords of the household. 

 As the limited means and views of 

 woman prevent her from realizing her 

 true condition, she patiently submits, 

 and even seems to enjoy her routine 

 labor. In fact, she would be ill at ease 

 if she were treated with that considera- 

 tion which American women enjoy. An 

 incident may serve to illustrate her own 

 estimate of her duty and position. 



I had left a piece of luggage for sev- 

 eral days at a remote little farm house, 

 and when I returned for it I observed 

 that the "Hausfrau" was preparing to 

 carry my load to the station. Deter- 

 mined, however, for once, to inaugurate 

 an American custom, I proceeded to take 

 m y m gg a § e ? when she exclaimed in mor- 

 tified astonishment, 



"What ! you carry your own luggage ; 

 what would the people of the dorf think 

 of me if I allowed it?" 



"Tell your people I am an American," 

 I replied. 



She looked puzzled ; she could not 

 understand it. "What ! don't the women 

 in America do such things for the men?" 



"No," said I, "and they shall not do it 

 for me here." 



And then it dawned upon her : "What 

 a paradise America must be !" And the 

 tears came to her eyes and she seemed 

 to realize, perhaps for the first time in 

 her life, the hard lot of woman. 



Children, too, are early taught to work, 

 and when not in the Volksschule, which 

 compels their attendance until they are 

 fourteen years of age, they are employed 

 in light work in the forest or field. 



Barefooted little girls at seven years 

 of age may be seen knitting, and at the 

 age of ten, with motherly solicitude, tak- 

 ing care of the babies. Nor does the 

 seeming lack of parental attention have a 

 deteriorating effect upon them; at least 

 they are free from the brazen imperti- 

 nence so common among American chil- 

 dren, and, unless chilled into silence by 



