Show West rs Pen Pictures of the Women of Martinique and aM Guadeloupe I I Strange Str Socia Conditions Marriage Almost Unknown Copyright 1800 1200 by Frances Drake That the woman who was Napoleons Napoleons eons eona first empress press the unhappy Jose Jope Josephine Josephine phine waa was born bora in Martinique and lived there till she was 15 35 is remembered perhaps by very few tew who have read reador of or the current disorders the people or of that Fr West Indian I island but by the residents thereof there f Jt It Is never lost sight of for a moment mom em It Itus was us In Martinique that Josephine ac acquired acquired acquired those qualities which later made her so much muth trouble passion indo lence knee and Indulgence The conditions that Jose phines character still exists unchanged and apparently unchangeable If It there has been any change In recent years tho the movement has been buen retrogressive rather than forward Everything toward almost continuous slumber in the French West Indies from the mate to the rum and to speak truth no one seems in the least to strive against the slumberous influence To the outsider sleep seems the chief in of the islands the people eople ap a pear to sleep slew sleep sleep from morn ing until night Of course there are arc times in the day when the sleeping id hi i imor more mor nearly general than at other times just after the midday breakfast for instance and again just after dinner dianer then no one remains awake The attempt to Christianize the harm less and peaceful savages who origin originally orIginally originally ally peopled the islands now French West Indian begun years ears ago re suited In practical extermination ant anc the place of o the was taken by the negroes Little by little since then the influence of the negro blood has in increased increased creased since emancipation in 1848 the white population has decreased the in fluence and interest of the whites have grown less year ear by year ear home and ad so social social social cial life Ufe has grown brown narrower narro vcr dices have grown stronger and more numerous and there thre th re is little likelihood of lasting improvement in any tion 1 f j Strange Social Condition Conditio Speaking generally shame is un known modesty not comprehended In I Martinique and Guadeloupe The ma mu proprieties of life are utterly dis disregarded dIsregarded disregarded regarded Marriage Is almost extinct But there are thousands upon thou thousands thOusands sands ands of bright handsome talented oc who preside over the establish establishments establishments ments meats of the white men under whose protection they live It is all pub lie lic unconcealed I lave ave met any number of nice young men in the islands who are not only reconciled to these facts but pro prod 4 test that even oven with a reasonable chance to court her they marry a white girl birl who puts a cushion on the window sill leans on it and looks out studying the same old pavement the sarre sane people all day and day after day who may not be spoken to after sunset without violating the customs of the people and who cant ask a ayoung a young man to call upon her who never goes out in the daytime even to shop but sends a servant to the store for tor samples whenever she fancies sh I wants something I have havo met a lot of young girls tal talented talented talented clever cleer bright and original who when I could get at them inspired I confidence and encouraged a good old I girl chat In the proper atmosphere they might become good fellows If ii not now new women but every one of 01 them is liK ly to fade on the stem in inthe inthe t the hot of conventionality and I topple le over without ever having known L the joys jOs and sorrows of the struggles t of life The women and men are art agreeable and entertaining Individually ally but put them together and they are like the sensitive plant that covers the sides of the mountains and which it IX you touch it shuts up bp tightly and andre re lets all efforts to resuscitate it The one alL absorbing topic with the women hit and low 10 white bIck and mixed is dress dresa Nor can you wonder at it much for their t costumes are the most picturesque and dainty imaginable imaginable imaginable able The seductive se ee chemise and the graceful clinging lupe the folded turban with its weight of or solid soUd gold ornaments the rings earrings brace lets and strings of or enormous gold beads beada are no longer worn They The exist only as cheriShed souvenirs of a departed reign to be brought out perhaps for a photograph or fete or as witnesses wit esses of pest past prestige It was Josephine J their beloved coun whose memory they all cherish who put the thc did ld style away awa and introduced the new nw For it was In that the empire gown was born and there It still reigns su supreme supreme preme simple exquisite Madras Madran in brilliant harmonious colors pur pe orange blue and violet plaids is isa isa isa a favorite materia the coquettish foulard Coulard without which the poorest Is not dressed dreE ed being thrown over the shoulders Imagine this costume worn to perfection by one ona on to whom the cor corset corset corset set Is i unknown whose graceful lines natural symmetry and erect carriage carria e have not net been effaced or r weakened by compression or false support and you have a mental picture of the Drench West Indian woman wom n I IO Notwithstanding O i h n ng the inexpensive ma am used u ed endless endl work Is expended on the smocking tucking and hirrIng shirring of the tiny yokes If one thing more than another adds to the of ofa ofa a Martinique belle it is her ered and ruffled ruined white petticoat which often represents more than she makes In n a 30 month or fn two o Th Tha washerwoman he women porters and market women uck up the extra length of their under a string or handkerchief is made to do duty as a girdle the women of leisure allow them to rail rall or gracefully carry them therm over heir arms arias when the weather is un Pa The dress Is admirably set rf ff by brilliantly colored slippers of leather or suede heavy with in gold thread or eISe a air of colored hoots boots the of which are embroidered in silk f a contrasting color while the but out butone butone one ore are of still another color The love ove of dress and its indulgence by the French West Indian women omen in involve volve no rio excessive expenditures 01 oi money by the male members of at the na naive nah ive h household for women provide their own clothes indeed thousands of ot o men white as well as black are supported by the women who live under their protection In the hotel lazy are sitting around arund the tables table drinking at the landing l men are asleep or loung ing on benches beaches under the tress trees tres while the women are loading leading a steamer with wih coal At Fort de do France I saw women carrying cr seventy or eighty pounds each eachIn eachIn eachIn In great baskets baket on their heads head up the steep seep gangplank They walked waked with elastic step neither looking to the right nor the left lef At the th top like an a juto uto matte matic machine mahine the woman coal porter gives the basket baket a tip tp and the coal coldis dis disappears appears into int the hold The next net mo moment moment ment meat she has joined the line Une to refill Ive Ive seen a transAtlantic litter liner at SL Thomas Tomas coaled by b twenty five or thirty women aged from front 16 to 50 Q In three hours Preach French Fench West Indian Ida Washerwoman You walk along J ng the street street and ad ob observe serve servo that all a the little shops and n stands are ar presided over by women omen while men lean up against the tures smoking and arguing take to t the t high road along al ng the beautiful J du Fort by the des de Blanch Blanchi SuaI and ad you encounter the te markot women wone descend by y the stone sto steps to the rocky edge of the gurgling bubbling stream and arid you find hundreds of wo women men and girls pounding ar ald ard d rubbing away on the he soiled linen at of f the idle half hal Washerwomen in Martinique are made mad not born b r The strength health and constitution required for their thir calling is not necessary In any other A habit of standing for fo days day In the cold river Is cultivated from childhood It is only by DY being brought up in the I water at t the feet of her mother and moter grandmother that the girl intended for a or washerwoman can changing temperature cn the broiling sun at Sn one moment and ad a drenching rain rin the next And even then they do dOnot not escape the ravages of consumption At 20 or 25 5 all al have a chronic ough cough and none of them live to the te great gt age ag attained it in d o by the wo ji porters and tra But y keep right on with w their th a d laughing Only when one is js g among them t em do they stop sto Th j r voices voice are not so loud or orso so gi g d the mocking and ad teasing give g to sad comments and tender At night night though returning later than usual for Tor they ney work w rk more slowly lo ly when they donot sing they stop cross them selves and say a a little prayer for the departed departe one at some of the little chapels which are are to be found in al most countless countess numbers T i ii I I I I II I Lc 1 ih Ic I Iz ISH z SH 1 FRENCH WEST INDIAN TYPES I Ono One soon gets accustomed a In Mar Ma Unique to seeing the th women doing laI g aU sorts of things thing and I 1 was wa wa only mildly surprised to find that even the tors tots for the tiny tny street cars car were members member of my own ow eeg And conductors they te make as was w shown by ki Q the first one I mae n She bounced a burly burl gentle I man of her own color who gente the wh i I price with wih the utmost neatness es and dIe te patch never nver losing her for a a moment A moment later gha laer cried out to toa an en impatient passenger SE Walt Wait meaning till ti the car stops sops And all aU with wih a show Wat of strength and authority author t that would have hae made a Broadway car conductor in New York look like a school boy boyAn boyA boyAn An A Exiled Eed King We rodo rode part way with wih this black blak Amazon Amon In a most remarkable jour ney to the abo o of an exiled king his majesty of Dahomey The French gov I sent this royal rOjal personage over hero from Dahomey several years ago He lives lve now no in a small smal house hous as about about ag two miles mUes from Fort do da France The house stands by itself Usel crowning crowing the top of a hill hi remote from all al else over shadowed by trees tes and guarded by a gade little chapel at the foot of the hill bill hi His majesty majest lives lve in peace pece because he is hot allowed to fight and in plenty be cause cuse his needs nee are few He does not nt des care ca anything about bejeweled crowns ermine and ad velvet chariots of state or liveried livened courtiers curte He e has a his hi minister whom wham wh he can cat whenever when he wants to wives vives and aud nd four daughters The royal ry l ladles ladies ladie know how to cook cok to his liking and all he requires I saw sw them prepare a meal I which fortunately I was not invited to share sha If I had been I 1 am afraid ard I hould have refused d even at the risk I of or offending a a real rel live lve king for the te mode of preparation was war not very ver ap appetizing pet izing The Te royal roal ladles ladies were airily arl clothed c wearing simply a couple of yards y ards rd of cambric twisted around their bodies odies bdIe b below blow One Ons On of their heir t majesties stirred the royal ryal soup sup that hat t was wa boiling boing in a pot set on their flat fi at stoves while the other othel ground up soma somo s vegetables and seeds seeds The per perspiration r rolled down dow their shiny fore foreheads heads eads heds h in great get drops as a they worked over ver o the banquet dishes I When the te cooking was wa completed complete the I favorite f wife poured the te mesa mes into int a auge huge h uge bowl and ad kneeling served serve it to t her h er lord who squatted on the te floor for His majesty helped himself with Uth his fingers fi e while his wife held the bo bowl l for f or him When It was all al over her ma majesty I jesty esty Jety j received from the hands hd of a alave slave lave s who had been bee be out to purchase It i t a bit bi of soap sap This filled file my soul sul I with wih delight as a I thought she was wa go goIng goIng Ing l ag to use it i but the little black blac girl who wh interpreted said Only his ma majesty jesty erity j ty uses soap s ap As A it seem sem tobe to tobe toe be b e a course cur dinner diner and I was wa assured aured he ne king kins would be in jn better beter humor for tor I after dinner dipner r I hung hung around and ad waited until after afe it was over One of ofis his h is wives lit l his pipe and ad placed it i in inis his h is mouth The Th c other wife always stands stand s like a sentinel with an open I umbrella u over his head something that thata n a doors dO ra or r out of f doors doom and at all aU times hia ile t tl Is majesty m esty demands den and II It Ils Is only ony recently reet recent recant ly l y that he has come coze to realize that he heIs hes Is I I s a prisoner not a RIng king kig that t at he guards are his is keepers Instead of slaves ave The Te unfortunate minister who vho undeceived him was a nearly neary killed kie for his pains pain and sent ent s to the hospital for repairs His tys greatest S comfort is counting over the people he has ha killed He killed his mother just jut before being dethroned in order that that she might con convey Cl convey vey an Important message to his dead dul d father ather f His sop 5 a sensible sen ibre lad of fifteen teen ten t een or r sixteen now a student at the is his greatest greet hope op He firmly believes that some some day dy te he desire and the he t means will wl be his to his claims as the th son of f and an ob obtain obain ain tain tin f his rights as a FRANCES the king of DRAKE Dahomey |