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About The Wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-???? | View Entire Issue (Sept. 4, 1909)
WHERE VEIEIl RULE Fine Sight for Suffragists at Cansa!3 in France. Feminine Police Keep Order and Fem inine Labor Carries on the Oyster Industry That Makes the Place Famous. Cancale, France. In these days of discussion of suffragist movements, women's rights and feminine business acumen, anyone in search of an exam ple of an unusual sort might drop in upon this French channel port of some 15.000 souls when they are all at home and see a truly woman run town. There is no woman mayor, no wom an in the town council. The offices - :( ( -j mwrt for four years after she has heard that the boat her husband sailed away upon has not been reported acd then she puts on her mourning. It is this uncertainty as to the fate of the men, thrown helpless and homeless upon the fear that at any time they may be their own resources, that makes the women of Cancale self-reliant and that leads them early to seek some means of their own for an honest live lihood. For the men that remain in the town the women do not seem to en tertain the greatest respect. Most of them have become incapacitated for work or are shiftless and idle. So the women run matters themselves. The thrift that the conditions men tioned inspire is something of a pas sion among the women. It seems that there is a constant struggle with each one of them to make more money than the man who goes to sea. They frequently accomplish this, too, for the returning fisherman finds fre quently that his yearly gain of J 150 or $200 got after a hard battle from the sea is more than equalled by the pa tient and careful housewife that he left at home. DOG BURIED WITH FAMILY Oyster Girls of Cancale. are left as a mere matter of form tn the men, who are seldom there to fill them, but the women are a law unto themselves; they make up the whole town, transact all the business, police the place, maintain order and strict sanitary conditions. manage the schools,, and at the same time carry on the most famous oyster industry of France, doing the entire cultivating and selling and transporting the prod uct of the ocean beds, even loading and unloading the seagoing ships that come and gq at the port. And what is still more interesting to their sisters in other parts of the world, the girls of Cancale are the first to be married of all tne girls of north and central France. Ask a French sailor where of all ports ex cepting of course out of chivalry his own native town the most beautiful of French fisher girls are to be found and he will tell you at Cancale. Tou will believe him, too, when you walk along the quays and the narrow streets and see the pretty, faces and neat trim figures set off to the best ad vantage in the Breton dress and clean white caps, or watch the little groups in the shade of the street in the after noon or within the deep set stone doorways mending nets and gossip ping as fast as their French tongues can wag. The conditions that make this a woman run town come about in the most natural way in the world. All the men are fishers and they spend the greater part of the year at sea. They are good sailors and they man the craft that venture across the At lantic to the French fishing grounds along the Newfoundland coast It was their rights that used to come up fre quently for adjustment by fishery commissions, and it is the loss of their vessels that almost every year brings sorrow to Cancale and the neighbor ly coast. hen the men do return they find ihat the town has been managed so well in their absence and the thrift of the women has been so well exercised that they are content not to meddle and to let things go on as they have been going. There are proportionate ly more widows, and young widows. too, in Cancale than in any other town cf France. A fisherman's bride waits Faithful Dumb Friend of Vermont Lies Beside His Dead Mistress. Ryegate, Vt. In a wayside ceme tery between Maclndoes and Ryegate, in one of the most beautiful.lots, side by side with other members of th family, lies a faithful dog. The anb mal was placed there at the request of his mistress, who before her death asked her brother, R. S. Kelly, to have him buried close to her. Every sum mer day flowers are laid upon the grave. R. S. Kelly is considered some thing of a philosopher. He can not understand why anybody should con sider it eccentric to bury a dog in the family lot. "I never had a more faithful friend than Jack," he said, "and why should he not be placed with the other mem bers of the family? He was lacking in none of the five senses which I pos- THE Farmers Grocery Company 226-236 North Tenth street R. S. Kelly. I Bess, and he stood by me as long as he lived. He was dumb, to be sure, but he knew how to love, how to be faith ful, and when he died I lost one of the best friends I ever had or ever could have. "I have to patience with those per sons who would make a heaven with no living creature in it but human beings. God created other creatures besides human beings, and he called his creation all good. What right have we to declare it all bad with tho exception of humanity? I belive I shall meet my dog in heaven just as much as I believe that I shall meet my sister there. "l have a horse, too, which has a place reserved for her in the family lot. She wiU lie side by side with the dog when she dies, for I shall bury her there it I outlive her, and shall leave orders to that effect if I die firsC The Largest Distributors of Groceries in the West. Goods shipped everywhere Write for price list. We will guarantee to save you from 10 to 25 per cent on your grocery bill. 1 C. G. EASTMAN TBAQSFEB AND BAGGAGE WE MOVE EVERYTHING Roping Trunks Ten Cents 1616 North Thirtieth St. Auto Phone 3502 Bell A3262 Good men and good wagons. All East Lincoln trunks to and from depots 25 cents. Up and down stairs 10 cents extra.