There is another old Croatian saying that was true 100 years ago and maybe even just a few years ago in some rural parts of Croatia. "a woman holds down three corners of the farm and helps her husband with the forth." I think we are all aware of how hard our mothers and grandmothers worked with out much recognition. Things have changed however. Lets get back to genealogy. I apologize for sending one e-mail in reply to the golfing inquiry. I don't even golf. Bill Kane

The strength of this list to my mind is the family discussion, as Margaret said. Occasional old boy comments about golf are acceptable as long as the golf duffers consider it appropriate for women to make postings about matters like voting rights and union organizing. Women and men died so that we could have the right to vote, to organize, and I don't mean died only on the picket line. Many of those who have fought in America's declared wars would say they fought for the rights guaranteed them by the Constitution and Bill of Rights. If their deaths have no meaning, it comes when free speech is denied their descendants. Were your Croatian ancestors looking for freedom of religion? for the right to own property and pass on an inheritance to their children? Serfdom survived in parts of Europe notably including Austria until the post WW1 years. Public schools were common in the USA by 1900, they were still rather unusual in Europe then. Maybe your grandparents or great - grandparents left Europe to go to New Zealand or Argentina or the USA so that their children's children could learn to read. So that they could someday use the internet. So they'd have access to the resources this mailing list represents. Instead of being locked into a medieval world where neither they nor their children had the right to choose their religious preferences, or the right to an education, or the right to vote for their rulers, inherit the land they worked, or even the right to move on if the life they lead was unsatisfactory to them. So they would have the possibility to eat roast lamb when they wanted to or golf when they chose to instead of lamb once a year and sports and games for little children only. Genealogy is more than dates and facts. Ashley ----- Original Message ----- From: William F Kane To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2005 4:06 PM Subject: [CROATIA-L] Re: Girls and boys There is another old Croatian saying that was true 100 years ago and maybe even just a few years ago in some rural parts of Croatia. "a woman holds down three corners of the farm and helps her husband with the forth." I think we are all aware of how hard our mothers and grandmothers worked with out much recognition. Things have changed however. Lets get back to genealogy. I apologize for sending one e-mail in reply to the golfing inquiry. I don't even golf. Bill Kane