The Man Farthest Down: A Record of Observation and Study in EuropeWashington, Booker T.
History
The Man Farthest Down: A Record of Observation and Study in Europe
Washington, Booker T.
Poor -- Europe; Working class -- Europe
There is a region in northeastern Hungary where in the course of a
day's ride one may pass through, one after another, villages inhabited
by as many as five different races--Ruthenians, Jews, Roumanians,
Hungarians, and Germans. A racial map of the Dual Empire shows
districts in which one race predominates, but these same districts
will very likely be dotted with villages in which the fragments of
other races still survive, some of them, like the Turks, so few in
number that they are not separately counted as part of the population.
Under these circumstances travel in this part of the world is made
interesting but not easy.
Fortunately, I had letters of introduction to Dr. Albert W. Clarke,
head of the Austrian branch of the American Board of Missions at
Prague, and he introduced me to some of his native assistants who
spoke English, and kindly assisted me in finding what I most desired
to see of the city and the people. Through him I had an opportunity
to get inside of some of the tenements in which European people live,
and to see some of the working people in their homes. I did not have
an opportunity to explore the parts of the city in which the very poor
people live; in fact, I was told that there was nothing in Prague that
corresponded to the slums of our English and American cities. There is
much poverty, but it is poverty of a self-respecting sort--not of those
who have been defeated and gone under, but of those who have never got up.
I found the average Bohemian workman living in two rooms and working
for wages considerably less than the same kind of labour would have
brought in England, and very much less than the same kind of labour
would have brought in America. There is, however, very little use in
comparing the wages that men earn unless you are able to compare all
the surrounding conditions.
During my stay in Prague I had an opportunity to see something close at
hand of the life of the farming population. Under the guidance of one
of Doctor Clarke's assistants I drove out one day to a little village
where there were a number of people who had come under the influence of
the American Mission in Prague, and where I was assured I should find a
welcome.
It was not, perhaps, the best place to get an idea of what is most
characteristic in Bohemian country life. I had hoped to see something
of the local customs of the country people, but, though it was a
holiday when I made my visit, I did not see a single peasant costume.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account