WOMEN WHO WEAR TROUSERS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 59, 18 June 1910, Page 10

WOMEN WHO WEAR TROUSERS

A STRANGE CUSTOM. The Canton of Valais, in Switzerland, presents one feature which would have pleased the heart of John Grumley. There tho peasant women wear trousers. And, what is more, they do the work that in other port* of the world is generally done by men, while their husbands, fa titers, brothers and sons stay at home, mind the tobies, ami smoke. The women put on skirts only when the}* enter the village of Champery, where tourists abount. This is not 'because they desire to escape attention, but .because the village fathers have .passed an ordinance compelling them to do so, as the curiosity of the tourists had become annoying. A writer who spent a recent summer among them says:— "On Sunday mornings it is highly entertaining to watoh these women and young jirls come down the zig-saig footpath-: to the tiny village chapel, where, just uut-ide ite doors, they halt and throw their skirts on over tboir heads in the most unconcerned fashion as thoughtlessly as the fashionable dame gives her hat a furtive touch as she enters the church doors."

"It is difficult to trace the origin of this strange custom of tho Champery dames donning masculine nether garments. When one asks the peasants about it they do their best to look reflective, but always end in declaring that 'it was always so.' 'Our menfolk like best the fires, and we like best the fields,' is about the only intelligible explanation I could get out of them. They are fine, sturdy-looking beings, mostly red-cheek-ed and strong of limb. One can scarcely call their costume a becoming one, though it certainly looks better than one would expect. The most amusing thing about it is that the upper part of the costume remains feminine—tho ordinary rough bodice of the peasant woman, often in bright colors of red or blue, worn with the most nondescript cut of trousers, of the 'home-made' variety. "That such a costume is necessary for women who take upon themselves the work of thejr men-folk in such ft region of the world is quite apparent to airwoman who attempts to follow them at their work for even ten minutes. The constant trumping along rough moiintainwavs and following cows or" 1 - dniv gerorsl'v narrow ledges, the rutting of hay on inclines so acute as to be seeming'lv almost perpendicular, the going in search of lost sheep in thickets ana snowdrifts, are but a few of the thins* which make the tyranny of skirts altogether impossible. One would imagine that on Sundays and fete days these women, particularly the young ones, would yield to the eternal feminine instinct of assuming the finery of their sex, but no 1 they. Rest-time and feast-time always finds them in their usual garments. The;, have better-looking ones for these occasions, I confess., but they have no hankering for the trammels of skirts even during their courting hours. One can scarcely imagine a wedding party with bride and bridegroom dressed in the ,same kind of garments, but I have seen one in the mountains, when the bride wore a white bodice, white trousers, and a bunch of violets in her hair!"'