Chapter 15

CHAPTER XV Down the River [Charming Waterside Pictures]

Men and women and cattle were at work in the dewy fields by this time.
The people often stepped aboard the raft, as we glided along the grassy
shores, and gossiped with us and with the crew for a hundred yards or
so, then stepped ashore again, refreshed by the ride.

Only the men did this; the women were too busy. The women do all kinds
of work on the continent. They dig, they hoe, they reap, they sow, they
bear monstrous burdens on their backs, they shove similar ones long
distances on wheelbarrows, they drag the cart when there is no dog or
lean cow to drag it--and when there is, they assist the dog or cow. Age
is no matter--the older the woman the stronger she is, apparently.
On the farm a woman's duties are not defined--she does a little of
everything; but in the towns it is different, there she only does
certain things, the men do the rest. For instance, a hotel chambermaid
has nothing to do but make beds and fires in fifty or sixty rooms, bring
towels and candles, and fetch several tons of water up several flights
of stairs, a hundred pounds at a time, in prodigious metal pitchers. She
does not have to work more than eighteen or twenty hours a day, and
she can always get down on her knees and scrub the floors of halls and
closets when she is tired and needs a rest.

As the morning advanced and the weather grew hot, we took off our
outside clothing and sat in a row along the edge of the raft and enjoyed
the scenery, with our sun-umbrellas over our heads and our legs dangling
in the water. Every now and then we plunged in and had a swim. Every
projecting grassy cape had its joyous group of naked children, the boys
to themselves and the girls to themselves, the latter usually in care of
some motherly dame who sat in the shade of a tree with her knitting.
The little boys swam out to us, sometimes, but the little maids stood
knee-deep in the water and stopped their splashing and frolicking to
inspect the raft with their innocent eyes as it drifted by. Once we
turned a corner suddenly and surprised a slender girl of twelve years or
upward, just stepping into the water. She had not time to run, but she
did what answered just as well; she promptly drew a lithe young willow
bough athwart her white body with one hand, and then contemplated us
with a simple and untroubled interest. Thus she stood while we glided
by. She was a pretty creature, and she and her willow bough made a very
pretty picture, and one which could not offend the modesty of the most
fastidious spectator. Her white skin had a low bank of fresh green
willows for background and effective contrast--for she stood against
them--and above and out of them projected the eager faces and white