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Show The younger women, the children of an age to labor, and a few young men not in the army were generally absent in the field. Only very aged persons and small children were consequently left for my studies. Although the horrible Kaudeuchen which they spoke and perhaps my own too carefully spoken German somewhat obscured our conversation, the language of Pfennig (the smallest coin in use) was fully understood, and under its spell the little towheads became familiar and the old people friendly and communicative. The babies and their feathered and bristled comrades of dung heap and puddle appeared to have a language of their own and to be on the best of terms. The old women tottered back and forth with fagots or huge bundles of grass, which, viewed from behind, left only their bare brown legs visible. The little boys climbed the poplar trees which bordered the clearance and stripped off the leaves, which are stored up for sheep fodder in winter. They find a use for everything. One Sunday afternoon - it was soon after my arrival - I went to the village and found on the green a Carrousel in operation. I had seen a similar contrivance at German festivals in America. It corresponds, I think to the "merry-go-round" of the English. This one was a cumbrous affair, consisting of four clumsy wooden effigies of a horse attached to a circular ring, which was made to turn by a crank in the hands of a grimy showman. For a pfennig one was permitted to mount one of these foaming chargers, and revolve for five minutes to strains evolved by a disreputable woman from the inner consciousness of the fiendish organ. The people seemed to enjoy this exciting recreation in a stolid sort of way. They were out en masse, and in their poor Sunday best. The attire of the men could hardly be called a "costume," but that of the women was picturesque, especially on the few young and comely girls I saw. The main features of this costume were the curiously arranged head-kerchiefs, one of white lawn, the other of black silk. The former is first bound about the head, covering the hair entirely, the two stiffly starched corners standing out like wings behind the ears. Over this the black kerchief is tightly wound, and tied in a large bow, like the Alsatian, on the top of the head. Another mentionable feature is a superabundance of very full-gathered skirts. To attain the number of fourteen, all worn at once, the longest beneath, that the edges of all may be seen and counted, is the desire which lies near every well regulated peasant girl's heart. The people looked miserable and degraded, from all I could learn. Nothing like morality is expected of them. We hear much in America of the sober, honest beer drinking peasant of Germany. In the section where I spent these months of which I write, intemperance raged fearfully. They manufacture and consume great quantities of fiery liquor distilled from potatoes. This with a scarce bread and Quark, a sour milk cheese, forms their sustenance. Men, women and children reek with the fumes of this dreadful liquor. Meat they seldom taste, and though they have many ducks, geese, etc., these are only kept for their feathers and eggs. I once asked B___ why no one endeavored to instruct and elevate them, or to introduce a better way of living. "Oh, my dear," was the reply, "they have always lived so. New ideas would disturb them, and render them unhappy. They are contented so. Let them remain in the condition where God has placed them." - November Atlantic. |