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FAMILY LIFE IN GERMANY.

One wonders, on first arriving in Germany, says a correspondent of the Indianapolis Journal, at the readiness of German servants to do errands, for at home we do not with impunity invade the sanctity of washing and baking and cleaning days. A German ‘ magd ’ is ready at any moment to do an errand—even if she be in the act of turning an omelette. It is the old story of the fascination of gilt buttons and epaulets. You see them lingering at the fountain, where the pitchers are filled, for a chat with .some soldier, and soldiers are übiquitous here.

If suddenly a house should be unroofed, without the knowledge of i*s occupants, and one could see its inmost life revealed! These flats of five and six stories—so reticent as we gaze upon them in passing by—a whole city full of them, so that one estimates it perpendicularly, instead of horizontally—who has their secrets ? The maid servants! All have their rooms in the mansard attic—‘under the roof,' as they say here, and at night, with twelve or more maids in conclave, one knows there must be much gossip. The postman comes five times daily—it is known who has received letters and what the possible contents are; who has a new ball dress, who has redraped an old one. These revelations under the eaves, how varied in theme ; how lively in recital, how provocative of inferences ! The romances of the young people, the daily menu, the probable bank account, all this passes in nightly review. Matrons complain but find no remedy. When the older members discuss affairs not meant for the ears of the servants or little ones they speak in French, and the children demurely say, • I shall be glad when my French lessons begin, then, I, too, can hear the family secrets.’ This life within the flats is all novel and invested with th?t air of romance which a foreign atmosphere always gives. There are no open fireplaces, tall, white porcelain stoves reaching nearly to the ceiling. The floors are waxed and immaculately neat. At the windows there are lace curtains, behind these white shades which are drawn into cloud-like puffs. They are technically known as ‘ clouds, and one sees them everywhere, particularly at all the palace windows. Next the glass there hangs plain undraped lace, the so-called ‘ envy-eurtains,’ whose function is to prevent a sight cif the interior. The window sills are broad, the windows open within, in the shape of a double door with hiDges. Outside there are permanent

Venetian blinds, either green or gray, convertible into a slanting awning at a single touch. Thus German windows, the eyes of the house, as it were, are intricate in their furnishing. For comfort in looking out there are broad, luxurious window cushions, patiently embroidered in tent stitch. This embroidery repeats itself everywhere, on every occasion, and enters largely into the life of every fraulein. It is a matter of sentiment that gifts should represent the skill of the giver, and it is always somebody’s birthday or anniversary : of some event. Even the strange visitor's birthday is not permitted to pass unnoticed. Look with me at the hand-embroidery in this room. Table-cover, bell-pull, chair-cover, footstool, sofa-cushion, paper-rack, writing-mat, coalbox cover, the rug before the writing-desk, the slippers of the host, the Roman apron of the hostess, all represent weeks of labor. No German lady sits with idle hands, even while entertaining company. A German breakfast consists of rolls and butter, with coffee or chocolate, and is frequently served in one’s room At 10 the servants have a lunch of bread and cold meat, with a pint of wine or beer, and everywhere workingmen have a few minutes’ intermission in which to take a lunch of black bread and beer or cider. At dinner soup is invariably served for the first course, followed by meat, vegetables and dessert. At the close of the meal there is the courteous greeting, ‘ May your meal be blessed !’ At 4 coffee is served, with light cakes or biscuits, and again the laboring world ceases for lunch. For the evening meal tea is served with cold meat, salad and fruit. For this meal servants prefer beer. Several beautiful gardens are maintained by private subscriptions here. There is delightful orchestral music, and tea is served in the open air, or, in the event of inclement weather, in a large hall. Here you see beer served at every table ; it is not an exclusively plebian drink, for it is ordered by the haughtiest families. The babe in arms takes it with evident relish. It is sipped slowly while chatting with friends and listening to the music. Meantime children have their games with nurses to oversee them, and the young people promenade in the beautiful avenues.

But even in Germany the temperance movement is asserting itself slowly, and several coffee houses are established in which no spirituous liquors are sold. The German household moves easily ; no bread is baked at home and the washing is sent out.

Fvery member of the family goes out for a daily walk, and if you ask the distance to a neighboring village, nobody knows the number in miles. ‘lt is a two-hours’ walk, or three hours,’you are told. There is nowhere the noise, the rush, the stir that one finds in American cities ; things move quietly. There are no flaming advertisements, no flaming placards, no signs reaching across the pavement, no goods obstructing the sidewalk. I have yet to see a barrel or basket or broom to indicate a grocery store. The evidence is all internal, and only reveals itself to the stranger by a modest window. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. The harvest homes are beginning again, and show no sign of decreasing in popular favor. Archdeacon Denison presided last week for the thirtieth time at the far-famed one at East Brent, in which secluded village some two thousand people were assembled. There was the usual procession before dinner of men and women carrying huge joints of meat, plum puddings, a loaf weighing 961 b, and a bona fide Cheddar cheese weighing 801 b, besides abundance of beer and cider; and the proceedings ended, as usual, with a dance on the vicarage lawn. The Archdeacon quite frightened the Hon. A. Han-bury-Tracy, who did not know his ways, by the vigorous onslaught he made on the ladies for wearing back buttons on their coats. He had always thought women cared greatly for the gracefulness of -their appearance, but having watched them lately in London he began to donbt it, and he felt so strongly about their back buttons that if he was a little younger he should an anti-button society. He amused his audience by explaining that gentlemen originally wore buttons on the back of their coats when they travelled much on horseback in order to fasten up their coat-tails, but he did not suppose the women of the period proposed to fasten up the tails of their skirts.

A DIVORCED COUPLE REMARRIED.

Fourteen years ago the marriage bells rang in a Boston church for handsome John Winter and pretty Alice Lee, and a handsomer couple, so comment said, never vowed to be faithful to each other'.

Four years later, after two years of neverending dissension and strife, they separated by mutual consent, and according to agreement, the wife sued for divorce on the ground of desertion, and in due time received the Court’s decree. In that they were not at all unlike the countless con pies whose follies make life a misery to themselves, while swelling the fortunes of divorce lawyers and witnesses.

But mark the sequel. Less than a year ago they met each other again; after both had had time to discover their folly, and when each began to realise that the other was not all to blame. There was apparently nothing emotional in their meeting, which closed but to be followed by another and still another. Before the ex-husband knew what he was about he wa3 dead in love, so the chroniclers say, with the woman from whom he had so gladly separated nine years before, and what was equally strange the woman was quite as much in love with him. They met again, and talked it over, and one day a minister was called in to annul the decree of divorce.

A little daughter, born shortly after the separation, was among the few witnesses who saw the quiet ceremony, and among the very few people who live to witness the marriage of their parents at any time or place.—Philadelphia Times. ENGLISH SALVATIONISTS. It having been brought under the notice of the staff council of the Salvation Army that lieutenants expected headquarters to consent to their courting and'engagements, and that, instead of trying to qualify themselves for captains, their thoughts and at-

tentions were directed their to sweethearts, 1 they have just issued the following stringent order :— ‘ That in future no sanction will be given to courting or any engagement of any male lieutenant. He must get promoted to the rank of captain before anything of the kind can be recognised. No captain 13 to expect headquarters’ consent to his marriage, either after two years’ service or more, unless he has proved himself an efficient and successful officer, and is backed by his divisional officer, who, in consenting to his marriage, must agree to give him three stations. In future no marriage will be agreed to by headquarters unless we have consented to the engagement at least twelve months before. The old rules remain in force that there must be at least twelve months’service in the field as a commissioned officer before any engagement can be sanctioned. Communications with regard to engagements must be made to the divisional officers, who will refer the matter to headquarters. A WESTERN SENSATION.

New London, Ohio, Sept. 3. —There is great excitement here over the fact that one of the public wells <of water has turned into a well of vinegar. Mr Carney, a gentleman in the employ of a boot and shoe firm, went to the well as usual on Wednesday morning to get water for sprinkling the floor of the store, and in pumping saw that the water had a peculiar red color, but thought nothing about it until he drew some to drink. He took a good swallow of it, and found that he was nearly strangled. Others tasted of it and the news soon spread to all parts of the city, and in a shorjfc time the people were flocking to the well arid carrying home what seemed to be a good (quality of Yinegar. One enterprising grocery firm here has already filled oDe hundred barrels with it, and proposes to’ put it on sale. Farmers are coming in from all parts of the country, and taking home with them thousands of gallons. What seems more surprising is the fact that the flow of vinegar is greater than was the flow of water. The earth wave last Tuesday night was felt very perceptibly here, and all attribute the phenomenon to the convulsion of nature.— Special to Cleveland, Ohio Leader. COLONIAL AND INDIAN EXHIBITION. The Prince of Wales has decided that the present exhibition shall close; on the evening of Wednesday, November 10. The Cypriote family, which during the past three months and a half have been weaving silk in the Cyprus court of the Indian and Colonial Exhibition, left London recently to return to Cyprus. Before their departure, Sir Philip Cunliffe-Owen informed them that he had been charged by His Royal Highness the President of the Commission to express to them the pleasure which their presence at the exhibition had afforded him, and his especial satisfaction at their exemplary conduct. He then said he had been instructed by Her Majesty to present to each of them a copy of the photograph which had been taken of them at Windsor Castle, as a remembrance of the visit which they had paid to Her Majesty there. From the Royal Commission Sir Philip Cunliffe Owen presented each of them with a large portrait of Her Majesty, and an album of views of Windsor. Lastly, Sir Philip Cunliffe-Owen said he had been commanded by Her Majesty’to give Katinou Sophocles, one of the weavers, a small box which contained a gift from Her Majesty in acknowledgment of the pretty piece of embroidery which she had worked for Her Majesty in her leisure hours. The box contained a beautiful gold brooch with a large amethyst in its centre. Katinou Sophocles, before leaving, went to the Executive Commissioner for Cyprus and handed him a piece of her own embroidery, which she requested him to send to Princess Louise on her behalf. The Commissioner asked her if she knew her Royal Highness. Her answer in Greek shows how easily these simple-hearted women are touched with any kind attention. ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘I know her’; she came and spoke to me and shook with me.’ CUPS AND SAUCERS-HOW THEY ARE MADE. In the so-called ‘ greenhouses ’ a large quantity of ware is drying preparatory to being‘fired.’ This process is the crucial test of pottery. All the preceding operations have been carefully conducted with a distinct view to this one. All the combinations of clay, flints, stone or bone have been made with forethought of the kiln in which the ware will be partially vitrified. Earthenware and porcelain are only, as is well known, less perfect forms of glass, or rather of glass in another stage of development. When the earthenware slip cups and saucers, mugs and jugs, are sufficiently dried, they are ready for the * biscuit ’ kilns, as they are oddly called, for the ware is not twice baked in them nor is it good to eat. Some kinds of ware are submitted to the intense heat of the kiln three times, all twice —once in biscuit and once in glaze. When painting is introduced over the glaze, as in the old Sfevres p&te tendre, and the various kinds of fine porcelain, there is a third firing. Before being placed in the kilns all the articles thrown, turned or moulded are arranged in the * saggers,’ receptacles of coarse clay, very thick and strong, like deep pie dishes. Into these the various articles are packed with considerable skill, little triangles being placed between each to prevent their touching each other, and the saggers are next packed together in the kiln or oven, each sagger being lined at the bottom with a layer of rock sand. Piled one on the other the saggers make a fairly compact column, aud when the oven, some nineteen feet in altitude, is filled, the fire is applied. It will be understood that the fire by no meant touches either the ware or the saggers in which it is enclosed. They are simply in an oven about to be raised to a tremendous heat. The firing is done by means of flues so arranged as to diffuse intense heat throughout the whole interior of the ovens. This firing is a ticklish operation, requiring the supervision of a skilled workman capable of existing without sleep for some thirty-six or forty hours. At first the heat is applied gently for fear of cracking the ware, and the fireman has an anxious time of it. Little opening* in the brickwork enable him to judge of the progress of

his work. The heat of a biscuit oven during the last twenty-four hours is intense, between twenty and thirty thousand degrees of Fahrenheit. As the ware has taken from forty to fifty hours in firing, so does it require_an equal time to become cool. English Illustrated Magazine. •ORIENTAL PORCELAIN. Old Oriental chinaware of good quality will always command the admiration of persons of taste. No Western nation has approached the workmen of Nankin and Japan in the delicate Bense of what a jar or dish will bear in the way of ornamentation. By the side of sueh dishes as‘powder-blue’and such jars as the beautiful ‘ hawthorn-pat-tern * one which was sold last week or as the vases which were sold yesterday, ;hpw vulgar seems the finest Sevres, ho,w utterly mistaken the ornament of Dresdea.pr Chelsea.—London Times, August-10. HOW TO KEEP COOL. Don’t work as hard as usual during the middle of the day if it san be escaped. Don’t eat as much as usual. It isn’t necessary, and a little fasting in hot weather alway pays. Don’t drink extremely cold ice-water. It is always better to eat the ice or let it melt in the mouth. Don’t have any fires going in the house unless absolutely necessary. Use cold foods and do without hot drinks. Don’t wear your clothes tight. It impedes the already depressed circulation and is a great.source of discomfort. Don’t pat any meat or butter if you can do without them. They are heating, and any one is better without them this weather. Don’t fail at meals to give preference to fruits at)4 acids, which are more agreeable now lip the stomach than anything else that can bp offered. _ Dpii’t neglect any chance to get out of the city- to the country or seaside, even for half a day. Sueh an excursion will often bridge a person over an entire heated term. Don’t walk any faster than is necessary. Strain a point and ride as much as possible, as every street-car fare such weather as this is evgreat saving of physical wear and tear. Don’t'drink any strong stimulants, as the simplest and plainest beverages, such as lemonade, milk or iced coffee, do more for the tired energies at such a time than the best brandy.

Don’t worry and. fret. Try and put off the unpleasant things with which you have to deal until cooler weather, and make up your mindnot to get mad at any thing. Don’t neglect your feet. Bathe them Dight and morning, pay more attention than usual to corns and. wdar the oldest and roomiest shoes you have. No one can keep cool with tight shoes on their feet. Don’t miss any opportunity that is offered to bathe or go in the water. If nothing else can be done dip the hands in a basin of water and rub them all over the person on arising and before retiring. Don’t wear a stiff hat. Compromise on something light or soft—straw, if possible—and ventilated above to let out the hot air. Frequent shampooing and wetting the top of the head is one effective means of keeping cool.

Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZMAIL18861126.2.6

Bibliographic details

New Zealand Mail, Issue 769, 26 November 1886, Page 4

Word Count
3,091

FAMILY LIFE IN GERMANY. New Zealand Mail, Issue 769, 26 November 1886, Page 4

FAMILY LIFE IN GERMANY. New Zealand Mail, Issue 769, 26 November 1886, Page 4

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