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Pennsylvania Folklife Magazine Pennsylvania Folklife Society Collection

Spring 1987 Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 36, No. 3 Michael Colby

Donald Graves

Monica Pieper

William T. Parsons Ursinus College

Helen Urda Smith

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Recommended Citation Colby, Michael; Graves, Donald; Pieper, Monica; Parsons, William T.; and Smith, Helen Urda, "Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 36, No. 3" (1987). Pennsylvania Folklife Magazine. 116. https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/pafolklifemag/116

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MI C HAEL COLBY, a teacher in the Bethlehem A rea School District, a nd DO ALD G RAVES, a freela nce wri ter for the Bethlehem Globe­ Times a nd Early American Life magazine, are deeply in volved in 18th century life a nd traditions. T hey have bee n growing a nd ha nd -processing fl ax- spinning, dyeing a nd weaving the fi ber into cloth as was done by the settlers in colonial Pennsylva nia- a nd have been connected with the Jacobsburg Environmental Center a nd Historic Bethlehem, Inc. , since 1983 .

WILLIA M T. PA RSONS, Ph.D., is professor of history, director of the Institute on Pennsylva nia Germa n Studie a nd archi vist a t Ursinus Col­ lege, Collegeville, Pa . A mong his contributions to Pennsylva nia Germa n affa irs a re severa l historical a nd fo lk cultura l books, and litera lly dozens of a rticles in numerous journa ls a nd peri odicals. T he a rticle that a ppears herei n was first presented a t the Confe rence on A mis h a nd Mennonite Life held at Essen, West Germa ny, in 1986.

MO ICA PI EP ER, who has a Ph.D. in theology from the Uni versity of Mainz, is a Germa n church histo ria n whose speciality is dealing with the history of sects whose members have migrated to A merica. She teaches religious education, Germa n la nguage a nd litera ture, a nd Ita li a n a t a high school in Ludwigshafen in the Rhinela nd -Pa latina te.

HELE URDA S MIT H was born in Pa lmerton, Pa ., the da ughter of Slovakia n immigra nts; they ta ught her lovak traditions as a n ethnic heritage. She grew up in a n immigra nt community in a small compa ny town, a nd visited Czechoslovaki a in 1960 a nd 1964. A writer with interests in music, a ntiques a nd history, she has worked in local businesses and in the government of Monroe County; she led the fi ght for passage of legisla­ tion providing rebates of real estate taxes to retired people in Pennsylva nia. EDITORIAL COMMITTEE: Thomas E. Gallagher, Jr. Richard P. Rich ter Evan S. Snyder MA AGI G EDITOR : Nancy K. Gaugler EDITORIAL ADVISORS : Mac E. Barrick Monroe H. Fabian Albert T. Gamon Mrs. Anhur D. Graeff Terry G . Jordan Hilda Adam Kring Al fred Hans Kuby Monica Pieper Antje Sommer Paul R. Wieand Don Yoder SUBSC RIPTI ONS: SPRING 1987, VOL. 36, NO. 3 Nancy K . Gaugler FOLK FESTIVAL DIR ECTO R: Mark R. Eaby, Jr. FOLK FESTIVAL P UBLI C R ELATIO S: Peg Zecher Gail M. Hartmann CONTENTS P EN SYLVAN IA FOLKLlFE, Spring 1987, Vol. 36, No.3, pub­ 98 Die Farbarei: Bethlehem's 18th Century lished four times a year by Penn­ Dye House sylvania Folklife Society, Inc., P.O. MICHAEL COLBY AND DONALD GRAVES Box 92, Collegeville, PA. 19426. $3.00 for single copies, Autumn, 119 Daniel Sudermann, Schwenkfelder Winter & Spring. $2.50 for Sum­ mer. Yearly subscription $8 .00; Hymn Writer Back issues (v. 21-30), $3.00 each; MONICA PIEPER others P.O.R. MSS A D PH OTOG RAP HS: 128 The Pernicious Effects of Witness The Editor wi ll be glad to consider Upon Plain-Worldly Relations MSS and photographs sent with WILLIAM T. PARSONS a view to publication. When unsuit­ able, and if accompanied by return 136 Traditional Slovak Courtship and postage, care will be taken for their Wedding Customs return, although no responsibility HELEN URDA SMITH fo r their safety is ass umed. Editorial correspondence: 142 AIdes un Neies/ Old & New ancy K. Gaugler P .O . Box 92, Collegeville, Pennsylvania 19426 CONTRIBUTORS Subscription, business correspondence: (Inside front cover) P .O . Box 92, Collegeville, Pennsylvania 19426 COVER: Folk Festival correspondence: The remains of Bethlehem's last dye house. 461 Vine Lane "Thousands of yards of fabric and yarn . .. were Ku tztown, Pennsylva nia 19530 Phone 215-683-8 707 dyed here, and until ready-made cloth could be Folk Festival public relations: purchased in the early nineteenth century, this Zecher Associates dye house remained an integral part of the com­ 461 Vine Lane munity. " Kutztown, Pennsylvania 19530 Phone 215-683-5313 The collection of Pennsylvania German ma­ Layout and Special Photography terial, housed in Myrin Library on the Ursinus College campus, is under the WILLIAM K. MUNRO supervision of Dr. Will iam T . Parsons, Archi vist for Pennsylvania German Studies at Ursinus College. Copyright 1987

Fnlcrcd 3\ \(cond cla'\\ mallcr al Collegc:ville. Pa ISSN 0031-4498 DIE FARBAREl· BETHLEHEM'S 18TH CENTURY DYE HOUSE

by Michael Colby and D onald Graves

INTRODUCTION T he textiles for these dyes remained prima rily linen a nd T he Swedes a t Fort Christia na bega n the fi rst successful wool. Philadelphia' sheep were kept in a common fold in colony in the Delaware Va lley in 163 1, but it wasn't until the town liberties. By 1690, Willia m Bradford was a ble to 1650 tha t enough flax, hemp a nd shee p were raised to lessen write Penn in Engla nd tha t "the Woollen ma nufacturies the colony's dependence on imports, often purchased fro m have made a beginning here, a nd we have got a Publick English ships when Swedish upplies were delayed . Al­ fl ock of sheep, a nd a hepherd or two to attend them."4 In­ though Little is known a bout this Swedish textile productio n, deed , one ma nufactory hired carders a nd pinners, as well it is likely the colonists, perha ps with lndia n help, experi­ a three weavers. ( evertheless, the English, in genera l, mented with local pla nts, ba rks, a nd nuts to find out wha t preferred , with the mother country's encouragement, to colors were ava ila ble.1 Most of thei r dyei ng was for coarse import textiles ra ther tha n ma ke their own.5 Engla nd 's woolens called wadma l, si mila r to duffe l. colo ni al policy wa simple: the colonies we re sources of raw By the time of the arriva l of the English settlers under ma terial which were hipped to Engla nd fo r processing, Willia m Penn, ma ny Swedish fa rmers were prospering. then hipped back to be sold as fi ni hed goods, ea rning "Their clothing was plain, domestic linen bei ng worn in the money fo r the Crown in both directi ons.) summer a nd domestic woolens, kerseys and linseys in wi nter, Linen productio n was the provi nce of the Germa n immi­ with some ca licoes a nd cottons of imported stock. T he grants, fo r those tha t a rrived with Da niel Pastorius to settle domestic cloth was good in qua lity but badly dyed . For Germa nt own we re mainly professional linen weavers. fi ner occasions, plush, a nd sometimes satin, were used 2 Within two yea rs of their arriva l, Penn was writing pro udly Penn knew tha t Pennsylva nia's tempera te climate a nd rich of the cloth they were turning out. T he Pala tinate, where soil we re perfect fo r European pla nts, a nd he encouraged much of the Germa n immigra tion originated (i t wa the his colo nists to bring seed with them. He pla nned his Penns­ home of Bethlehem 's first dye r), had been growing flax for bury esta te to be a model of wha t could be grown here. In centuries, but it wa also fa mo us for its woad , a nd in ad­ So me Account of the Province of Pennsylvania in America , diti on to flax seed , the ettlers probably brought dye seed as written mainly to encourage immigra ti on, he mentions the well. 0 , while it's li kely the Germa n colonists raised woad la nd is thought to be ca pable of produci ng woad , madder for their blue dye- pa rticularly since imported indigio was a nd potash- two primary dye pla nts a nd a major mordant. costl y- it use is not mentioned in any period source until Neither woad nor madder is listed in the inve ntory of Penn's Bethlehem 's own dye house inve ntory of 1763 . Again, a garden, but it is possible they we re grouped , along wi th with the earlier Swedes, little is known a bout dyeing from many other pla nts, under the generic term "herbs . "Thomas this period except tha t Philadelphi a had three dyer by 1690 . Budd was a nother ea rl y Qua ker who urged the cultivation But as the German immigra ti on increased , so d id the need of dye pla nts: " I question not but that Ma ther [sic], Woad for professional dye rs, e pecia lly in the vi llage ca lled and other pla nts a nd Roots fo r Dye use might be raised."3 Bethlehem.

98 Bethlehem in 1755: 1) second dye house; 2) grist "That such a diversity of industries should have and fulling mill; 3) farm quadrangle - barns, stable been carried on at so early a time in the history and farmhouse; 4) linseed oil mill; 5) Single Brothers' of the village is indeed worthy of remark . .. . The house; contained brass foundry, silk cocoonery and existence of this array of established trades must linen weaver; 6) waterworks; 7) tawer (mineral salts indeed have seemed phenomenal to those who visited tanner) and bark tannery; 8) horse stable, black­ this inland settlement, then but in its teens; it smith, nailsmith, stocking weaver, pottery, wheel­ was nevertheless a part of the plan . . .pre-arranged wright, hattery; 9) joiners, spinning wheels, carpen­ by the authorities of the Church, and which had for try; 10) Childrens' house; 11) apothecary; 12) Mar­ its aim the establishment at Bethlehem of a centre ried Brethren's house, Married Sisters' house; 13) of gospel work and of a line of diversified remunera­ Gemeinhaus, Bell house, Single Sisters' house; tive industries which should support missionary, 14) springhouse and dairy; 15) store. educational and charitable enterprises of the Church ." (Picture and quotation from the Rau Collection, Moravian Archives, Bethlehem, Pa.)

99 THE DYERS AND DYE HOUSES OF 18th In the same year they were married Matthias and Mar­ CENTURY BETHLEHEM garet were sent to America as part of the Moravian Church's Dyeing was only one of the craft which contributed to "Second Sea Congregation." Skilled craftsmen like Weiss the communal economy of Bethlehem, for the settlement were sent to Bethlehem as part of a plan to set the com­ was planned to be a pilgrim town where Moravian mis­ munity on a sound economic footing; a plan made "feasible sionaries could live and work between the times they were by the importation of colonies of young men and women called to the wilderness to preach to the Indians. Each craft chosen for the purpose and more or less fitted and equipped and industry, then, was part of the general economy, with for engaging in ind ustrial pursuits."7 However, because of any profits retained in the name of the Moravian church. In crowded conditions in Bethlehem, Weiss and his new bride effect , each craftsman was "to work for the economy with­ ended up in the nearby Moravian community of Nazareth, out wages, and be content with what the economy could where they li ved for three years. provide"6 in the way of food , clothing and shelter. The While li ving in azareth, Weiss was involved with plan­ communal nature of the town meant that each person con­ ning and constructing the first Bethlehem dye house and, tributed to the benefit of all, and with the exception of a few because his tas k was to set up dyeing on a profess ional item like glass, salt and gun powder, the community was basis, he would have supplemented whatever dye plants the self-supporting. Bethlehem's re idents grew their own food, Single Sisters were growing with seed brought over himself. built their own homes (there were separate buildings for the In his "spare time" he would have helped with other con­ married couples and for the Single Brother and the Single struction and possibly with weaving as well. In fact, even Sisters), and wove and dyed their own clothing. when he moved to Bethlehem Weiss did more than dye Dyeing in Bethlehem probably began as soon as there cloth. As in Nazareth, he helped with new construction and was linen and wool from the first harvest in 1742. At this with harvesting, and in 1747 he was asked to enclose the time the Single Sisters, already in charge of spinning and town spring with a fence to keep away domestic animals weaving, did the dying as well. It is unlikely that many im­ and fowl. Also, he was consulted about the apparatus ported dyestuffs were purchased before professional dyei ng necessary for distilling peach brandy, and he and Joseph started, for it was difficult to meet survival needs, let alone Powell were appointed to clean the spring "in the light of have anything left over to trade with, so they probably the moon, said to be the best time by men who possessed depended on local dye plant and what they could grow Penn ylvania knowledge."8 from seeds brought with them from Europe. Woad, madder The move to Bethlehem took place in 1746, when the first and dyer's weed would supply blue, red, and yellow and dye house wa ready and Weiss began its operation. Little is their combination, with local nuts, barks and roots supply­ currently known about this building- it was likely one of ing brown. For mordants to set the dyes, tannin, potash the temporary log tructures built along the mill race for its and urine were available. water supply. It lacked the family quarters of the third dye The quality of the Single Sisters' dyeing should not be house, so Weiss and his wife would have lived with the other underrated. Even without the imported woods and exotic married couples. Their three children might have stayed in substances later used, they could easily have made the the Bethlehem nursery to be raised by the Single Sisters and variety of colors and shadings familiar in Europe for either Brothers assigned to that ta k. While there are no inven­ single color yardage, or for checks or stripes. Indeed, even tories from this operation, the equipment and dyestuffs after professional dyeing was available, the Single Si ters Weiss used here would not have differed greatly from those used it only for blue dyeing, still doing other colors them­ he used later on, and they will be described in the section on selves. They did not easily give up the work traditionally the second dye house. Dyeing was a craft passed f~om entrusted to them, and still wove for their own use after master to apprentice, and was little changed from the professional weaving began in the Single Brothers' House. Renaissance through the mid-nineteenth century. Weiss But as the production of flax and wool increased beyond taught his apprentices the same skills his father had taught community needs, the Sisters were inundated by vast him, kills that could have come down through the family amounts of yardage and skeins which needed to be dyed; for generations. this in addition to their regular tasks- spinning, weaving, In Bethlehem, Weiss's first year's dyeing assignment in­ cooking, laundry and field work. Bethlehem was moving cluded three hundred pounds of blue yarn (flax thread) for beyond self-sufficiency to profit-making prod uction and the stocking weavers to weave into checks and stripes. Blue someone was needed to dye full time. dyeing remained Weiss's specialty, but he also dyed one Matthias Weiss, the man who became Bethlehem's first hundred and seventy pounds of wool other color. These professional dyer, was born on February 15, 1709, in large amounts indicate why the basically home dyeing of Michlhausen, Alsace, and was taught the family craft of the Single isters was no longer adequte to meet the de­ wool dyeing by his father. In 1741 Weiss went to the Moravian mand. A Bethlehem's productivity moved into surplus, the settlement of Herrnhaag and joined the Moravian Church. increasingly profitable textile industries neces itated a Two years later he married Margaret Catherine Firnhaber, larger dye house, and that was built (of stone) in 1752. A the daughter of a Frankfurt notary. They were to have three permanent structure had probably been planned from the children: two sons, John and Matthias; and one daughter, first, and the log dye house would then have been u ed for Catherine. other purposes. Red and white leather dyeing was done in

100 /,{. /f

I'J, l' - - - . - I~ f,

Daybook of the Bethlehem dye house showing the amount of dyeing done each day there. (Courtesy of the Moravian Archives, Bethlehem, Pa.)

101 two log buildings along the race in the 1750s, a nd one of the e buildings could have been the 1746 dye house. T his 1752 stone structure wa not a eparate building but an addition to an already ex isting full ing and grist mill complex . T he fulling mill itself was a recent stone replace­ ment fo r the fi rst, temporary one; it had a tile roof a nd Ooor to prevent fires. It is possible that dyeing was done in one room of the full ing mill before the dye sectio n was com­ pleted. When fi nished, the new additio n ex tended beyond the front wa ll of the full ing mill by five feet. Concerning this second dye house, a dia ry entry of February 9, 1752 states: 'The Dyer's kettle was set a nd the hou e to be fini shed today. "9 T his kettle would have been set in a large furnace proba bly much like the one described in 1798 by Ameri can dye r Asa Ellis: "The [kettle] should be et in a brick furnace; because that will heat your copper ooner. T he top of the furnace, which encloses the [kettle] ought to be six inches thick, so that you may pla nk the brick work, a nd na il the lip of the copper to the pla nk a nd plaister [plaster] of the furnace."lo At the time this second dye house was built Weiss does not seem to have had a n a pprentice, fo r it was noted that "more should learn the trades of . .. dye r [a nd] fulling miller, so that these industries will not be sto pped by the death or sickne of the present incumbents. "II T his seems to have bee n carried out a nd a later list of Bethlehem's craft men listed Bernha rd Muller as a second dyer (though it was Weiss's Interior of a German dye house, ca. 1695; Beth­ on John who carried on the business after his father's re­ lehem 's would have looked much the same, for tirement). Weiss and his wife lived nea rby the new dye dyeing was a craft little changed from the Renais­ hou e, with the other fa milies connected with the fulling sance through the mid-nineteenth century. (Courtesy a nd grist mill. This was a great convenience for when a vat of the Sidney M . Edelstein Collection, Hebrew of biue dye was made, it required round-the-clock vigils to University of Jerusalem.) ma ke sure the proper fermentati on was ta king place. After the economy cha nged in 1761, Weiss paid twelve pounds Moravian a nd non-Moravian- of those who had cloth dyed. yearly rent for his li ving qua rters. T he daybooks listed the amounts and types of textiles dyed, In 1756 Mary Catherine Weiss died. Described as "not of and the inventories listed the tools a nd equipment of the the ro bust type," 12 she seems to have been unsuited for the business. T he fo ll owing inventory is from 1758. It is similar to harshness of Bethlehem's early yea rs. Weiss "felt her loss the inventories of much later American dye houses, and very keenl y, " I) a nd soon left for the new Moravian settle­ proba bly simila r to the inve ntorie of Germa n dye houses ment a t Betha ba ra in North Ca rolina; his children re­ of the period as well : mained behind. The dye house continued operating after he left , proba bly with Muller in cha rge. T he Moravia n's North Tools in the Dye House, September 1758. Ca rolina dia ries mention the widower's a rrival: "The dyer I la rge copper kettle Weiss has come from Bethlehem and Yorktown in his I middle copper kettle wagon. "14 Bethlehem histori a n Elizabeth Myers describes I small copper kettle the situati on at Bethaba ra: "His arri val must have been I lead blue kettle ra ther a burden to them, for a conference was held to con­ 1 scale sid er the esta blishment of the business. They found they I cutting knife had no dyestuffs a nd would have to send ... to get them, so I axe Brother Weiss was told to earn his bread by helping with the I mallet weaving tempora rily which he did quite well. "15 evertheless, 2 iron pestles Weiss returned to Bethlehem the next year, said to be dis­ I lantern satisfi ed with conditions in the new settlement. On his re­ 1 old copper kettle turn he rema rried, a nd had two sons by his new wife. 1 iron kettle to cook potash Since deta iled records were kept on all of Bethlehem's I barrel to dye yarn industries a nd sent to the church authorities in Herrnhut, I lye barrel Germa ny, Weiss kept ledgers, daybooks a nd yearl y inve n­ I iron tories for his dye business. The ledgers listed every account- 2 water ba rrels

102 the wool clothiers worked in another room of the fulling 3 pails mill. Of course Weiss had to know in just which stage of the I cutting bench dyeing process each bolt and skein was; no easy task. I winding machine The fulling mill and dye house burned in 1758. Both were I saw rebuilt ("A new fulling mill is to be built and a committee I push cart appointed for the purpose"19) and this time the dye house I barrel with hand colors was in line with the fulling and grist mills; the structure was 16 Total value: Thirty pounds. now a true rectangle. Fire was obviously a major hazard, As already noted, the largest kettle (and also possibly the and when the stables of the village inn were destroyed by a smaller ones) was set in a furnace. The copper kettles were lightning fire on July 20, 1761 , it was thought time to take used for dyeing which required the use of simmering or decisive action. On the following day a group of twenty-two boiling liquids at temperatures that could ruin lead kettles. citizens, including Matthias Weiss, pledged a total of twenty Copper was preferred for hot dyeing because it helped to pounds toward the purchase of a fire engine: "We the sub­ give a bright color to textiles, unlike iron which greyed, or scribers do hereby mutually for each one of us promise and "saddened," them. Although the Ii t includes "I lead blue engage to pay ... the several sums of money unto each of kettle," the use of lead kettles for blue dyeing was unusual. our names written in order to purchase a fire engine or An early nineteenth century American dyer, Elijah Bemiss, engines, buckets and other implements necessary for ex­ criticized the use of lead , saying "it is expensive and liable tinguishing fires. " 20 Though Weiss pledged one of the to melt and burst. "1 7 Blue dyeing was generally done in smallest amounts it does show that he had some disposable large wooden vats that often held hundreds of gallons of income, unlike much of the community. liquid. The wood, like lead, is inert and doesn't affect the delicate chemical processes of reduction and fermentation. Concerning the other items of Weiss's inventory, the scale, the knife and the pestles were used to measure, to cut and to grind the correct amount of dyestuffs for a particular recipe. The lye barrel and iron kettle were used in the production of potash, probably from wood ash. (Potash was an important alkali in the blue dye process). The saw, the axe, the mallet and the push cart were used to obtain wood to keep the furnace going- this was apprentice and helper work. Blue dyeing maintains its fermentation pro­ cess only within a narrow temperature range. If the vat cools off or heats up the dye process is often destroyed. It was also necessary to add lime, madder or potash to sustain fermentation- indicated by bubbles rising to the surface of the liquid- so the lantern would have been used when the vats were checked through the night. eedless to say, a master dyer required years of apprenticeship in order to learn how to make such dye recipes work consistently. Returning to the inventory, Weiss's winding machine was no doubt similar in form and function to a winder described by the aforementioned Asa Ellis: "It is made of a piece of tim ber two inches sq uare and long enough to cross the copper, with a crank at one end, and four slats or posts, that are incerted [sic] in the shaft before mentioned. The reel, thus formed, should be about a yard in circumference. On this, the cloth in the copper i to be turned, while colouring, to preserve it from spotting. "18 And, finally, the "barrel with hand colors" may be the "600 pairs of patterns" mentioned later in the 1772 inventory. Perhaps these were color samples. The textiles dyed by Weiss with this equipment were stored in an attic room above the dye house. In this room would be bolts of cloth and skeins of yarn in every stage of processing: those just brought in; those scoured (if necessary); or mordanted; or dyed and drying; or dried and waiting to Fire engine subscription showing Matthias Weiss's be picked up. When dyed, the linen yardage was ready to be donation. (Courtesy of the Moravian Archives.) cut and sewn, while the woolens had to be fulled and finished;

103 Ledger F of the Diaconat of Bethlehem showing the construction records of Bethlehem 's third and last dye house in 1771. (Courtesy of the Moravian Archives.)

104 Third dye house (extreme left) and grist mill com­ plex from a painting done in the late 1800s. (Courtesy of Historic Bethlehem, Inc.) Wei s, who dyed for the re idents of the upper farms spirit had converted all of the willing local I ndians, so now around azareth as well as for the Moravians in Bethlehem, it was time for everyday living, and Bethlehem had not been was one of only four blue dyer in the entire Lehigh Valley. designed for everyday living. It was time to become simply Through its non-Moravian trade, the dye hou e was a another Germanic village. major ource of community income, and the community's These spiritual and economic factors brought about the economy badly needed profit-making industries; the late gradual dissolution of Bethlehem's general economy. 1750 and early 1760 were a time of major economic up­ Craftsmen were allowed to decide if they would work for heaval for the Moravian Church in general, and for Beth­ them elve or continue to work for the town: "Brother lehem in particular. In Germany, among the Moravian, Richter, the tailor, shall be allowed to choose whether he capitalism as an intellectual idea was replacing what wa will continue his services as formerly, or conduct his own basically a Medieval communalism; it was hoped that private business. " 24 However, land and important buildings people working for themselve would produce more, with and indu tries, including the dyeing bu iness, remained the increased profit going to the church. I n Bethlehem, the under church control for many years. Since Weiss could not local economy was till self-sustaining and wa , in fact, a own the dye house or its equipment, he contracted to model of pro perity: " obody, who owns the be t plan­ operate it for a salary and a share of the profits. tation, could be better off. " 21 The problem was that Beth­ lehem wasn't producing enough cash to help payoff the ***** debt of the international Moravian Church. In hort, Bethlehem wa not providing what church leaders felt it A third dye house was built in Bethlehem in 1771 , as thi was capable of providing. diary extract from June 3 of that year indicate : "A new Yet more than money was at stake in Bethlehem. The dyeing establishment i to be built this summer. " 25 Since evangelical fervor of the early years there had settled into a labor was no longer free, the town had to pay for it con­ satisfied prosperity, and a communal system "can only struction, and a month later, on July 12, it was noted that flourish as long as the enth usiasm prevail . " 22 But that "Brother Denke reports he will have to borrow money to enthusiasm was waning, for the amount of work that barely pay for the completion of the dye house. " 26 The deci ion to sustained a family in Germany made them wealthy in build may have been made becau e the former site wa Bethlehem, and "a soon as a person realize that he is needed for storage or for work space by the fulling mill. getting to be well off, then usually the desire cease, to give Thi 1771 structure was one of Bethlehem's fir t building and to aid, where it is needed . " 23 At a time when prosperou with an English, Georgian-style roof. It lack the teep peak American farmer wore their wealth as solid gold buttons, and dormers of the town's earlier Germanic architecture, Moravians were still living acrifically, and many among but retains the characteri tic Moravian brickwork over the them thought it was no longer neces ary. The evangelical doorways and windows.

105 Wringing out the dyed yarn. (Courtesy of Sidney M. Edelstein Collection, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.)

1711 Plate of a German dye house. (Courtesy of the Sidney M. Edelstein Collection, Hebrew Uni­ versity of Jerusalem.)

The new dye house was situated just a few yards west of stir the pots, an indigo mill (used to grind the indigo lumps its previous site in the grist and fulling mill complex. It was into powder), and a gold scale which may have been a finer actually two adjacent structures, a large, house-style, two measure than his other two scales. Listed too is an old great story stone building and a one story stone, ide building chest, mentioned also in several earlier inventories, which where the actual dyeing took place. This new facility was was probably used to tore dyestuffs. basically the same size as the 1751 dye house, about six The 1772 inventory describes this equipment as being hundred square feet, and keeping the work site in this side "those things, which in the name of athaniel Seidel, are area no doubt made the family living quarters next door entrusted to Matthias Weiss, dyer in Bethlehem and to hi more bearable. But the large stone building provided more usage. " 27 Seidel represented the town a nd acted, in effect, than living quarters, and Weiss and his family would not as Weiss's employer. The inventory ends by including "For have had the entire two story structure (as well as the two retroactive alary and his part in the profits: 51 pound, attic floors) to themselves. The first floor may have been four shillings, one and one-half pence." A note reminds that kept for textile storage, with the family living above and "Weiss will take care of everything for Seidel. " 28 Weiss wa paying rent for the rooms they occupied. In this case there now a private individual contracting his services to the would have been fireplaces attached to the central chimney town which still owned all the dyeing equipment. on both floors. The floor plan was the common four-over­ In the 1770 Weis was again involved with orth four-room style, and both first floor rooms on the west side Carolina. As the Moravian's master dyer, he wa con ulted of the building had connecting doorways to the annex; about red and blue dyeing in the Church's settlement there. the e doorways flanked the west wall chimney and furnace. He sent a supply' of madder plant south, and Salem's The annex's north wall had a smaller chimney and fireplace, Bishop Graff acknowledged receiving the same in 1774. Weiss used for heating the dye house itself. also traveled to Salem to help establish its dye busines on a The first inventory for this newest dye house shows a professional basis. The relationship would prove to have significant increase in equipment, probably from increased beneficial effects for Bethlehem, since Salem was warm profitability. Weiss was now using three large copper pots enough to grow indigo while Bethlehem had to import it, for blue dyeing, probably knowing some way to counteract probably from the We t Indies, through the port of Phila­ the "bad effect" Bemiss said copper had with blue. He also delphia. As Salem increased its indigo production, wagon had a brass pot for blue dyeing, three iron plungers u ed to loads were shipped to it Pennsylvania si ter community.

106 Within two yea rs of his arri va l Weiss had trained Salem lehem in 1748, and who was later described as "a ve ry dye rs to continue the business, and he then returned to corpulent man. "30 What is known is that business conditions Bethlehem. He remained there until his dea th , continuing were not the sa me for John as they had been for his father. to serve the community in a variety of ways; in 1790, he Indeed , even during Matthais's last years economic con­ served on the town counci l. In 179 1 hi second wifedied ,a nd ditions were cha nging. The Industria l Revolution was in the following year, Matthias Weiss retired. His underway in America, with Eli Whitney's cotton gin Germanic dye knowledge had been the basis for the cleaning the raw fiber chea ply grown with slave labor, and industry throughout the Moravian settlements in Samuel Slater's Rhode Island cotton mill spinning a nd America, and he was highly respected and "cele­ weaving it mecha ni ca ll y. By the turn of the nineteenth brated far and wide as a dyer. " 29 Following family ce ntury, factory-made cotton was proba bly ava ila ble locall y tradition, John Weiss succeeded his father in the at lower prices tha n Bethlehem's homespun linen. A survey trade. He assumed the position of master dyer based of Bethlehem's textile prod uction during these yea rs shows on the conditions listed in a contract drawn up with a teady decline in woven ya rdage. As ea rl y as 1768 there the town (as represented by Johannes Schropp) which were onl y two linen weavers left in the community, a nd they still owned the dye house and its equipment. The con­ worked for themselves . A source from that year says "more tract shows the care the town still took for its indus­ linen is asked to be woven than ca n be provided with present tries; care that they should be supplied with business help."31 To supplement the homespun, additional linen had while still maintaining fair, regulated prices. Weiss to be purchased; Bethlehem was no longe r seU·-sufficient. was paid a yearly salary, and the wages for his ap­ With fewer textiles to dye, the dye house became less and prentices and laborers-and his business expenses­ less profi ta ble; by 1806 there were yea rl y deficits. aturally were paid out of business accounts; he was expected this made the craft less attracti ve a a vocation, a nd John to continue the yearly inventories and expense Weiss was the last dyer in his fa mily. He died in 1814 a nd , ledgers begun by his father. The town continued to like his father before him, was buried in God's Acre. show concern, not only for its industries, but for its After John Weiss's dea th the fulling and dye works were individual members as well, and it provided John combined under the management of Matthew Eggert. Born with a stipend to help him care for his retired father. in 1763 , Eggert was assista nt warden of Lititz a nd then of Matthias Weiss died in 1795 at the age of eighty-six, Bethlehem until 1808 , when he was made head of the boys' and was buried in Bethlehem's first cemetery, God's school; in 1814 he took over the fulling a nd dye operati ons. Acre. Christian Eggert, Matthew's brother, had been Bethlehem's Little is known about John Weiss who was born in Beth- fulling miller in the ea rl y 1700s, a lthough he onl y operated the fulling mill in the winter. (Since Christi an wa prima rily a tanner, that may have been the onl y time he had available.) Nonetheless, through hi brother, Matthew Eggert probably knew more a bout fulling than dye ing, a nd when a young German dyer named Lewis Doster vi ited Bethlehem, Egge rt asked him to stay a nd assi t with the dyeing. Doster declined , "the limitati ons and restrictions of Bethlehem not being in accord with hi ambition and enter­ prisi ng spirit. "32 Doster had been born in iederhofen, Wi.irtemberg, on July 26, 1796; like Matthias Wei s, he had been trai ned in the German dye craft. He a rri ved in Philadelphia in 1817 , and in 1820 he worked in a woolen mill in Burlington, New Jersey. When the mill failed after a year Doster lost all his wage, and in 1822 he started a silk dyeing busine s in Philadelphia at 49 N. 7th Street. In Bethlehem, Eggert, in poor health after a twelve yea r "struggle with di heartening result , pecunia ril y con­ sidered,"33 announced that he was bankrupt. It seem likely that Eggert was in touch with Do ter a round thi time (perhaps concerning the blue dyeing proce s which he was trying to continue), for Doster returned to Bethlehem in 1826, "rented the fulling mill and dye house and infu ed new life into these waning enterprise ."34 He al 0 ma rried Egge rt' daughter, Pauline Loui a; Eggert him elf died in 183 1, a nd he too was buried in God' Acre. In 1827 Doster pa id $181.65 for the fulling and dye equipment, and contracted to rent both mill for $170.00 a

The original gravestone, set in 1795, in God's Acre, 107 Bethlehem, Po. Lewis Doster (courtesy oj the Moravian Archives) and his Monocacy Woolen Mills (below, courtesy oj Historic Bethle­ hem, Inc.); the dye house operations were moved here by 1850.

..

year for five years. In 1836 he leased the sawmill and six until his death in 1860, when his sons took over the business, acres of land on Sand Island, located below the town on the now called the Moravian Woolen Mills. It was described as Lehigh River, for $230.00 a year; in 1843 he bought the site. "the largest, mo t complete and best arranged woolen mill He had already moved the fulling and dye equipment into in this part of the state. " 36 The firm acquired government the former sawmill, a move discussed in Bethlehem as early contracts for coats and blankets during the Civil War, buta as 1820. Doster, who had been living on Water Street, fire destroyed the mill in 1862. When a new mill, built moved into the sawmiller's house in 1837 , enlarging and opposite the old site, was destroyed in a nood the firm re­ repainting it. He also built an addition to the mill to house built again, and once more the business was de troyed by a machinery to card, spin and weave cloth on power looms. nood; this one in 1865 . The brothers then sold the machinery, He produced woolen cloth, yarns, blankets, nannels and and a dyeing tradition in Bethlehem- a tradition that brown linsey-woolsey. These products were especially stretched from Matthias and John Weis to Matthew Eggert popular in the mining regions of eastern Pennsylvania to Lewis Doster and to Doster's sons- was over. where "their substantial character and good weaving earned Although the closing of the Moravian Woolen Mills for them an enviable reputation. " 35 marked the end of an era in Bethlehem, some evidences of By 1850 Lewis Doster owned an extensive cloth factory the dye trade still remained: the third dye house was till known as the Monocacy Woolen Mills, located near the standing and was in use as a residence. In fact, Matthias present Lehigh Canal lock on Sand Island . It prospered Weiss's grandson, the silversmith and musician, Jedediah

108 Matthias' grandson ledediah Weill (courtesy of the Moravian Archives) who lived in the third dye house (below, courtesy of Historic Bethlehem, Inc.) after it was converted to a residence.

,,­ -

Weiss, lived there for a ti me, a nd the building continued to rema ins a lmost completely intact, and the front a nd back be used as a residence unti l after 1900. A photogra ph from wa ll s retai n their window a nd door openings. Also, the out­ that time shows two d oor side by sid e. The ma in house had line of the chimney used for the dye furnace is still visible on proba bly been turned into two a pa rtment , with the side the interi or wa ll , as a re the two doorways on either side annex providing a third unit. which led into the d yeroom. Except for the interior wall the La ter, this fo rmer dye ho use was u ed by the mill next dye room itse lf was ta ken down to the foundation. The site door as a storage building. Its inte rior was gutted a nd is currently pa rt of the eighteenth century industria l a rea massive wooden posts we re installed to support a rebuilt ma naged by Historic Bethlehem, Inc. second floor. (These posts can still be seen.) But as the mill became less profi table, th is additiona l storage space was no TEXTILES DYED IN BETHL EHEM longer needed, a nd the build ing may have been vacant a nd Fro m 1846, when master weavers arrived in Bethlehem, in poor condition fo r some time by the 19 30s, when the until the time of Lewis Do ter, a period of more than a western wa lls we re removed fo r their stone during a WPA century, the va ri ety of textiles tha t were d yed in the town project. Fortuna tely tha t project wa completed befo re the rema ined basica lly uncha nged : wool, cotton, linen and silk old dye hou e was completely taken a part. T he ea t wall were the fibers colo red . Hemp wa also produced in Bethle-

109 hem, but it was commonly used for rope, twine or extremely evening. Lo, and behold! He was the man who had been coarse work aprons that didn't require dyeing. The Haidt watering the linen in the morning! Bethlehem's revolu­ collection of paintings (in the Moravian Archives) gives an tionary bishop, John Ettwein. "38 excellent idea of the dye work that would have been done in Although wool and cotton were popular in eighteenth the community. Paintings of ea rl y Moravian settlers show century Bethlehem, the demand for them was nowhere near the men and women wearing coffee-brown woolens dyed as great as the demand for linen, and the community had from black walnuts a nd then fulled, whichgives thefabrica twice as many linen as wool weavers. I n the summer months solid, felted appearance. T he paintings also show the men's it was common for residents to be dressed entirely in linen, white linen shirts, which most of the German settlers, in­ and a ll of their bedding would be made from it. As early as cluding the Moravians, preferred .J7 1747,3,308 yards of linen were produced in Bethlehem in Getting the linen for those shirts white was a time con- one yea r, and there are continuous references to blue linen uming process. In order to bleach linen- fabric or yarn­ ya rn and fabric being dyed at the dye house. (Red and it was necessary to first boil it fo r two hours in a solution of brown linen was also dyed , but on a smaller scale than blue; wood-ash lye strong enough to float a n egg. Then it would it is little wonderthat the master dyer was called a blue dyer.) be laid on the grass (fabric) or hung on a pole (yarn) and The Bethlehem diary gives an example of how much linen watered every day for fo ur to six weeks. During this time was produced during the year of 1757: the linen could be reboiled ordipped in the lye bath again to speed up the process. Finally, to make the linen as white as 4,754 ya rd s of linen possible it was soaked in sour milk a nd set out to dry. The 660 yards of flax finished product had a silvery-white hue. 1,772 yards of tow Linen fabric that was to be dyed would be bleached along 119 yards of tow spun by children with material that was to be used for white shirts and sheets. 76 yards of hemp Checked linen would also have the colored threads bleached 177 yards of cotton first and then dyed. In 1746 a bleach house was erected on 169 yards of worsted Sand Isla nd . Dogs kept other anima ls off the textiles, and 95 yards of worsted spun by children the fabric was cared for by various members of the com­ 185 yards of woof munity. "One of the many travelers coming to Bethlehem, 241 yards of stocking wool up the river road on the stagecoach, observed an eld erly 76 yards of twine spun by elder brothers and sisters man watering the linen spread out upon the grass. The man was going carefully up and down between the rows of Striped linen was popular in the eighteenth century and materials, not missing an inch. The traveler went to the Sun was used to make breeches, waistcoats, petticoats, short Inn, and being an official, the Bishop called on him in the gowns, bed ticks, kerchiefs a nd aprons. The ya m would be

A by-product of the indigo pots at the dye house made in Bethlehem (now in a private collection) was a chalky scum which formed at the top of the has "Bethlehem" and the name of the owner printed pot. It was carefully skimmed off to make ink, in indigo ink which is still deep blue after two hun­ and to use as a base for paint. A linen grain bag dred years.

110 t~(J/;fll (;~rlil i: .f. )J . JY. .!,!J,

/IG • )~' '

)/,'(' .,

.K, x "

(1. .!.:: J'18J.J1" 'l! '/(

t 11 7i

Account book of the Bethlehem dye house showing Bethlehem; it covers the years 1776-78. (Courtesy the amount of dyeing done for "Gnadenthal," a of the Moravian Archives.) Moravian farm located about ten miles north of

111 Earliest known illustration of an American dye house, 1836.

dyed and then taken to the weaver who created the striped Besides being made into a va riety of fabrics such as fine, pattern by weaving it with either bleached or unbleached clear, flaxen and coarse, linen was often mixed with cotton linen thread . Of two striped pieces found in the Lehigh to make fustian, with wool to make linsey-woolsey and Valley, one has a pattern of four brown and two unbleached with hemp to produce hemp linen. In these combinations threads, while the other has two brown and two unbleached linen was almost always used as the warp, and the other threads. Changeable linen, which has a warp of one color fiber a the filler. Linsey-woolsey, or half-linen, was a and a weft of another, was also probably made in Bethlehem coarse fabric that had the warmth of wool and the added as pieces of it, too, have been found in the area. strength and sha pe-retention qualities oflinen. It was either In addition to striped linen, blue, red and brown checked dyed after it was woven so the fabric would have a uniform linens were also woven, and there were combinations of color, or woven with dyed wool. Three hundred yards of dark and light blue checks, and blue and brown checks as linsey-woolsey were dyed in the dye house in Bethlehem in well. Most of the surviving bed linens from the eighteenth 1772. It would usually be made into breeche , petticoats century are in a checked or striped pattern. Blue checked and coats. Surviving examples of linsey-woolsey are very linen, made from dark blue and well-bleached yarn, was rare, but there is one fine piece in the collection of the Le­ highly prized . The Bethlehem dye house had three hundred high County Hi torical Society; it ha a striped pattern of pounds of blue yarn on hand in May of 1772 to be made two red , and four blue, wool threads. The linen in this into "check'd" fabric. In 1764 there is a note that "linen particular piece was al 0 dyed blue in order to make the printing should begin. The forms came fro m Europe many stripes appear more olid . years ago. Weiss could yet this summer make a small be­ Another fiber of great importance in Bethlehem was ginning. "39 The forms referred to were probably wooden wool, which was dyed "in the wool" (un pun), as spun yarn blocks similar to those used to stamp wallpaper; they would and sometime after it was woven as piece dyeing. Matthias give a delicate pattern of flowers or dots.4o Weiss usually dyed wool after it came from the weaver' ,ifit Bethlehem also produced tow linen, a very coarse fiber was to be a solid color. His inventory of 1763 lists 363 yard spun from what was left after the flax was combed. This of wool, 61 yards of another wool, and only 35 pounds of was turned into canvas (which was also made from hemp wool yarn. Matthias started his dyeing trade in 1746 with and was left a natural color) and osnabrig, which was used "300 pounds of blue ya rn [and] 170 pounds of red , brown, for work clothing, and was sometimes dyed brown. Since a nd [bottle] green woolens. "41 The green was prod uced by indigo had to be imported it was saved for finer cloth, but first dyeing the wool blue, and then top dyeing it yellow. A local barks made the brown color, so cheaper cloth could silver color cloth was al 0 made which was very unusual. be dyed without affecting its cost greatly. Another cost After 1749, when master weaver George Frederick, John saving measure associated with the dye house was re-

112 the fibers to be put parallel to each other, and gave a finer, dyeing light blue, blue, and dark blue cotton cloth, it would stronger thread than carding did. Woven into a twill pattern, have been possible to obtain a variety of colors on cotton worsted was considered the finest and most expensive wool with the dyestuffs on hand at the dye house. fabric and the coats made from it were probably reserved As already mentioned, fustian was a fabric made with a for the town's leaders. Incidentally, shalloon, a fine wool linen warp and a cotton weft; it was used to make bed ticks, fabric, was made to line these costly garments- a more jackets and petticoats. The cotton yarn was dyed first and common coat lining was plain linen. then woven. A fustian tick in a private collection has walnut Another durable wool fabric was flannel, specifically red brown, light indigo blue and white cotton stripes twelve flannel , which was heavily fulled for warmth and to make it inches wide. The cotton is very loosely spun and almost more comfortable to wear against the skin. Made from hides the linen warp; it gives the material the appearance of carded wool in either a plain or twill weave (which was being made entirely of cotton. nearly obscured by the heavy nap on both sides of the The fourth of the fibers dyed in Bethlehem, silk, was material), it was used for breeches and petticoats. The twill being produced in the community by the mid-1750s. "The weave gave strength, and if being used for breeches, would silkworm culture has been carried on since 1752 in the attic help them retain their shape. A fabric similar to flannel is of the Bethlehem Brethren's House under the supervision drugget, which was produced in Bethlehem from the earliest of Joseph Huberland."44 Although the same commentator days. Drugget too was all wool and was often woven in a also noted that "two brethren who were of no use in other twill pattern, but it was less closely woven and of a lighter things"45 were occupied in feeding the silkworms, that weight than flannel; it was used for coats, shortgowns, and observation was somewhat misleading. Far from being petticoats. Drugget was a common European fabric and incompetent, the "two brethren" were actually trained many of the Moravian colonists may have come to Bethle­ musicians who were held in such high esteem that they were hem wearing it. Camlet, a water resistant wool cloth used given tasks that would not injure their hands and affect especially for outerwear, was woven (plain or twill) and their ability to make music. dyed to make some of the cape a nd cloaks which were By the end of 1752 silkworm culture was also established popular items of wearing apparel in the community. De­ in the Moravian settlement at Christian Springs (called pending on the eason, capes could be coarsely and hea vily Nofamo Hink, "silkworm land," by the Indians), and, in fulled for warmth, or made to show off a twill made from Bethlehem, the industry was enlarged twice- in 1753 and finely spun wool. Red capes were popularly worn by 1758; and a new cocoonery was started in Nazareth. It was women in the winter. all part of an effort to make the business an important one, A woolen cloth not produced in Bethlehem was broad­ for in 1755 it had been decided (by lot) that "the silkworm cloth. The weavers in England specialized in making this industry is not to be regarded as a secondary matter."46 In fabric, and to protect their market in the colonies petitioned 1754 a visitor commenting on that industry described "silk the king to keep it from being made overseas. (Bishop worms, of various izes, some just hatched, others full Spangenberg, in a memorandum of 1753 , mentions this grown, and near to their spinning. Two Brethren were prohibition and continues to write to Zinzendorf in Eng­ attending to them who . .. feed them on mulberry leaves land as to the "Ia wfulnes s" of textile prod uction in Bethle­ continually. They expect to realize 20 pounds for the year's hem.42) Broadcloth, a common, solid colored, plain weave, product."47 In 1771 Joanna Ettwein, wife of John Ettwein, lightweight fabric intended to be worn most of the year, was was awarded a premium of ten pounds by the Society for in great demand in the colonies. It was, literally, a "broad the Culture of Silk, located in Philadelphia, for the greatest cloth" for it was woven on double-width looms that re­ quantity of cocoons above twenty thousand. Her reeled silk quired two people to manage the shuttle; the size of the was considered to be of exceptional value, and sold by the loom made it possible to turn out great quantities of ma­ pound for twenty to twenty-five shillings. terial in a short period of time. In Bethlehem, a woolen The silk thus produced in Bethlehem was dyed a variety fabric which resembled broadcloth, kersey, was made in its of colors, and records show it was made into ribbons for place. Kersey, made in a twill weave, was of cheaper quality women's hats and into hankerchiefs. Although silk was in than broadcloth, but it kept out the cold and rain and so demand in the colonies- it was used to make expensive was widely used in greatcoats. coats and linings, for waistcoats and for a variety of As the years passed, dyeing cotton yarn became a stan­ women's clothing-the local industry never became profit­ dard part of Matthias Wei s's work in Bethlehem. In 1776 he able , since Bethlehem's silk was higher priced and often of a dyed 65 pounds of dark blue cotton, 3 pound of light blue lower quality than European imports. 0, although the cotton, and, for the Deacone s of the Single Sisters, an cocoonery continued in operation into the 1800s, the in­ additional 125 pounds of dark blue cotton.43 The best d ustry slowly declined until the worms were grown in only a cotton came from St. Thomas and Barbados in the West few private homes. James Whittmore, for example, raised Indies, and it was prepared for spinning by the Single Sisters, them in 1836-37 on his property at 65 orth Church Street; who removed the eeds and carded it. Though they con­ but by the 1840s si lkworm culture di appeared from Bethle­ tinued to dye much of their own fabric, the ingle Sisters hem altogether. A la sting reminder of that era are the had all their blue dyeing done by the professionals at the mulberry trees around town, said to be descended from the dye house. And, although specific reference is made only to trees originally planted to feed the silkworms.

113 ***** ingredients could be found in the woods, a nd with the help of loca l Indians or whatever knowledge of home d yei ng In this discussion of textile production in Bethlehem, it was remembered from Old World experiences, would should be remembered that elf-sufficiency- a lwa ys thf' create si mple dyes to color the ya rn produced a nd often community's goal- had a mora l as well as a practical woven at home. It is this type of dyeing that used goldenrod dimen ion. Although some fabric was purchased from for yellow, Queen Anne's lace for green, and achieved an traveling peddlar , it was stres ed that everyone should use endless variety of in-between colors by using other plants, only what cloth could be produced by the local economy: bark a nd nuts. Home dyeing had major disad vantages: "The members are not to depart from our simple ways by many of the dyestuffs used could only be found at certain buying too expensive dress materials."48 It did take some times of the yea r, 0 the dye work had to be plann.ed around time to achieve the desired goal, however. In 1748 , for their availability; home recipes often gave different shades instance, even though 2,762 yards of linen, 546 yards of of color with each batch of dye produced ; and the colorthat linsey-woolsey and 150 pairs of stockings were made, wool was achieved soon faded out. It was this type of home dye­ production was still low, and the lament was that "we must ing that was done in the Single Sisters' House in Bethlehem. buy much woolen material and at high prices although we The second type of dyeing, professional dyeing, came dress plainly."49 But, by the 1750s, Bethlehem was becoming intact from Europe brought ,by master craftsmen whose more prosperous, and by 1751 was finally able to meet all its complicated recipes insured permanent, even coloring on clothing needs. long bolts of cloth. It was, of course, this type of d yeing that From self-sufficiency it was but a short step to urplus, was done in Bethlehem's dye house from the time of Matthias and in 1753 a store was consecrated to sell textiles toanyone Weiss. As already noted, the ingredients tha t Weiss used outside the colony. The store was built on Ladengasse, or were listed in the ledger book and inventories of the dye Market Street, and by 1758 its inventories listed 30 different house; the following describes the dyestuffs: items for sale. Tho e items included most of the textiles I. Indigo was the most commonly used substance for listed above, as well as stockings, mitts (fingerless gloves for blue dyeing; it d yed linen, wool, cotton and silk equally women) and bearskins. Some items were purchased in New well. It arrived in Bethlehem in dry chunks that could be York and Philadelphia for resale in the Bethlehem store, kept indefinitely. To test its quality, the dyer would drop a which regulated its prices according to selling costs in bit of it on a coal red-hot from the fireplace: "If the indigo i Philadelphia; generally their price were kept somewhat good, it will melt or rather fry out like wax, and a beautiful lower than prices in the city. In 1763 another store was built, crimson will arise from it."51 this one in the azareth Barony near the Rose Inn. It was "built of unhewn logs a few rods south of the inn, and was a convenient trading place for the vicinity and for hunters and Indians who brought furs in exchange for the goods they wa nted. "50 One of the more popular items sold at these Moravian stores was stroud, a heavy wool fabric used to make blan­ kets. Sold dyed red or blue, it was made from thickly spun wool woven in a plain tabby pattern and heavily fulled . Linen shirts were another popular item, especially in demand among the local Indians who would trade three "bucks" (buckskins) for them. For another three buckskins they could buy enough stroud to make a blanket, and to complete their outfit, they would purchase a pair of stock­ ings which would cost them one more "buck." A visitor to Bethlehem wrote of seeing one Indian wearing a white shirt with a red collar, a pair of blue and red stockings (actually used as leggings since they no longer had feet in them), and a coat and a hat with silver lace; his only traditional piece of clothing was a skin breech clout. Incidentally, although the store located near the Rose Inn was moved to Nazareth in 1772, the original building still stands and is now used as a private residence.

BETHLEHEM DYESTUFFS There were two distinct types of dyeing done in the American colonies in the eighteenth century. The first was home dyeing: the family or village would gather whatever Indigo

114 Brazilwood

Woad

Red Madder

2. Woad was used in the indigo vats to help darken the 5. Brazilwood, not surprisingly, was imported from color when the Bethlehem dye house first began its opera­ Brazil; it is actually a general term used for several different tion. In the seventeenth century it was the major European trees which grow in South America that give a red dye. Its blue dye plant- and had been ince the Middle Ages. Its color did not last as long as the color obtained from finished propertie are identical to indigo in chemical madder, but it was used at the dye house because it was composition, and are released in a fermentation vat that cheap and readily available. Madder cost three times as allows it to color fabric. Compared with indigo, woad is much as Brazilwood, mainly because of the expense of extremely difficult to process into a u eable powder; it is gathering and separating good color from the tiny madder also more difficult than indigo to dye with. Weiss purchased roots. On the other hand, all of the heartwood of the woad locally, and probably grew it a well , for he did use it various Brazilwood trees could be used. Two different for a few years; but mention of it soon di appears and it was names are given in the ledger book for types of Brazilwood: dropped altogether a a dyestuff. redwood and red pres el (bois de Bresil); both were pro­ 3. Madder (Crapp) was the red dye plant commonly used cessed in the same manner- by grinding up the wood, by profe sional dyers as it wa easy to grow and proce s, placing it in a sack and immersing it in water until the dye and it gave a consistently uniform color to fabrics. When was released . Mixed with logwood, it produced a violet the plant was five year old, the roots were dug up and their hue; and it was also used to brighten madder scarlets. center, crimson-colored matter scooped out; this gave the 6. Dyers' weed was grown in Bethlehem and was also deepest red color. The remaining part of the root gives an purchased from local farmers (Jonathan Lane and John orange-red hue. The plant was grown in Bethlehem, al­ Duffield were two who often sold dyestuffs to Weiss). It though mo t of the madder u ed came from Philadelphia in dyed linen yellow (yellow linen stockings were much in large wooden tubs. Once the roots were processed they demand) which was something few dyestuff could do. By would last indefinitely. 1800 dyers' weed was slowly being replaced by weld, 4. Logwood (Cam peachy wood) wa imported from another yellow dye plant. Honduras and arrived in large slabs that had to be chipped 7. Fu tic (dyers' mulberry), a dyewood imported from and soaked before they could be u ed . It gives a violet color the West Indies, was ground up or "chipped" at the dye which is not permanent, and a softer hue when mixed with house to insure that a filler had not been added to it. It other colors. A black dye for staining hats was made by colors cotton, wool and si lk, yellow. mixing logwood, galls and vitriol; that mixture also made a 8. Santel (sanders), a tree that grow in Asia ( pecifically good black ink. on the Coromondel Coast in southea t India), was imported

115 --

Dyers' weed Oak galls to Philadelphia and shipped from there to Bethlehem. A mentioned above, the e ingredients were listed in Thirty pounds of it was purchased in 1778 to try as an ex­ Weiss's inventories and ledgers; dyeing recipes, however, perimental dye for red , and for mixing with other colors. were mostly passed down orally, and for information about In addition to dyes, Weiss also had to buy mordants­ them it was necessary to consult other written accounts of substances used to fix the coloring matter. Mordants professional dyeing as it was done in Weiss's time. The purchased were potash, alum, tarter, galls, vitriol, copperas following eighteenth century recipes will make the colors and gum arabic. Since some supplies inevitably had to be that are documented as having been produced at the Beth­ bought, any dye or mordant that could be found or made lehem dye house. The dyestuff and mordants called for in locally was eagerly sought after a a way of keeping ex­ the recipes are ones that were used by the dyers there. penses down. The nuts and bark from black walnut and I. Yellow drab: "take three quarters of a pound of fustick, butternut trees were used extensively in brown dyeing, and two ounces of madder, two ounces of logwood, boil well; toward that end it was directed (in 1752) that the "bark and then add one quarter of a pound of allum, run your cloth roots of walnut trees when cut are to be preserved for the one hour; then sadden with two ounces of copperas, and dyer. "52 Sumac bark helped to darken the brown color handle till your color pleases."53 produced by walnut and butternut dyes, and alder bark 2. Blue: "To set a vat of nine barrels, fill your vat about made a black dye; both came from trees which grew along half full of boiling water, put in two pounds of potash dis­ the Monocacy Creek. Tannin, when mixed with bark and solved [in soft water, with the lye poured off], then add nuts not only darkened their color, but helped to set it as twelve quarts of wheat bran clear from the kernel, sprinkle well. It came from the closest source of all, the tannery, it into the vat with your hand, then take one pound of good where it was used to tan hides. madder, then with the rake mix it with your dye, then add Also close at hand was the most common mordant used two pounds of indigo well ground, wet with urine, cover the in the dye house; a mordant collected from all the towns­ vat closely ... rake well and cover close; let it remain eight people, including the master dyer himself. It was stale urine or nine hours, then plunge and rake well .. . bubble will ("sig") which, when mixed with indigo, gave linen the appear by repeating the plunges, and if a thick blue froth permanent deep blue color which made eighteenth century rises on the surface of the dye ... and the dye appears a dyers so famous. Another mordant, potash, was bought or darkish green, the dye is in a good state, and is fit for made from a recipe purchased for three pence by Brother colouring. Otto in 1757. "When the goods are ready for colouring, the dye mu t

116 be heated , and add three pounds of indigo as before, to­ 5. Black: "To [dye] twenty yards of cloth fill your copper gether with the same proportion of potash, madder and with water, heat, and add three pounds of copperas; heat wheat bran, and six pounds of woad, heat hot, and fill the near boiling, run your cloth one hour, then air and run vat within four inches of the top, cover close and follow the again, boiling the [same] time as before: air and rince [sic], same proce s in plunging and raking as before. If the dye is and shift the liquor from your copper (rince [sic] your in good state there will be ten or twelve quarts of froth or copper clean) and fill with water, and add six pounds of head floating on the surface of the dye, the colour of which logwood chips, boil well, run your cloth thirty or forty will be of a bea utiful dark blue and the dye of a dark green: minutes, let it boil again fifteen or twenty minutes, then run this is the proper state of the dye."54 again as before; then add one quarter of a pound of blue 3. Red: "To dye wool with madder, prepare a fresh liquor vitriol, run your cloth, boiling, three quarters of an hour; (four ounces of allum and one of red tartar to each pound then, if it is not black enough, run again, and handle till of spun wool, and . . . sour water- water and fermented your colour pleases. " 57 bran), and when the water is come to a heat to bear the 6. Silver: "To dye one pound of cloth or yarn it will re- hand, put in half a pound of the finest grape madder for quire the following articles each pound of wool; let it be well raked and mixed in the Half an ounce of copperas copper before the wool goe in , keep the wool in an hour, Half an ounce cream of tartar during which time it must not boil."55 3 ounces of logwood 4. Brown: "To twenty yards of cloth, take three quarters 2 ounces of sumac of a bu hel of butternut bark, and three quarters of a bushel of walnut bark, boil well one hour, but moderately; run Use the same proportions to dye any number of pounds. your cloth one hour, then if the strength is well out of the Prepare a kettle with about four gallons of water, then take bark and dye, take the bark out of the dye, and add one two ounces of the shoots and leaves of sumac that are cured pound of coppera to adden with; run your cloth three and cut up fine, and three ounces of logwood chips; put quarters of an hour; air and rince [sic] your cloth and shift them loosely into a thin coarse bag and boil it for about one your liquor from your copper, wash clean and fill with fair hour, then take the bag out. ow add to the dye half an water; then add four pound offustick chips, boil well, and ounce cream of tartar, then bring it to a boil, and put in the then add half a pound of all urn: run your cloth ha lf a n hour; woollen for one hour: it is then to be taken out and aired. In then add five pounds of red-wood chip , boil one hour, and the next place refresh the dye with water, then add to it half add a quarter of a pound of allum; run your cloth three an ounce of copperas; when it is dissolved bring the dye to a quarter of an hour; let it teep, a nd run till the strength is moderate boil, then enter the woollen and move it round well out of the dye. To sadden, take one gallon of sig, and for twenty minutes; it is then to be taken out, aired, and handle [till your color pleases.]"56 rinsed ."58

The remains of Bethlehem's third dye house today showing the actual dyeing area next to the dyer's residence.

117 CONCLUSION 4Scharf a nd We~ tcott, I. p. 146. 5While not a ll English settlers came to Pennsylvania with seventeen The remains of Bethlehem's la t d ye house still sta nd on se rvants a~ did Quaker merchant Ro bert Turner. it's sti ll doubtful that the building's ori gina l site; it is the only known eighteenth many city dwelling Quaker fami li es wove their own textiles, let alone dyed century d ye hou estill exi ting in the United Sta tes. Its them. 6The Rau Collecti on, "Papers o n Trade and Industry," Moravian importance to our understanding of the past is undisputed : Archives. Bethlehem. Pa. it pecific contents are known from a va riety of inve ntories 7 Rau Collection. taken every yea r; its ledger books tell us a great dea l a bout 8Joseph Mo rtimer Leveri ng, A History of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (Bethlehem, 1903), p. 202. its day-to-day workings; and the many documented refer­ 9Rau Collection. ence to the dyema ter and his trade by other members of IOSid ney M. Edelstein. Historical Notes on the Wet-Processing Industry the community give an a lmost living picture of its operation. ew York , 1972), p. 46. " Rau o llcction. Today the building lie e sentially as it was left when 12E li n beth M ye rs Scrapbooks, " ature. History and Other Lore," WPA workers removed most of its western walls. However, Historic Bethlehem Room, Bethlehem Public Library, Bethlehem. Pa. handhewn stones from the Santee Mill, which stood ju t Il lbid . 14 lbid . north of Bethlehem, have been salvaged for rebuilding, and 15 l bid. the d ye hou e makes a unique structure to consider for 16"Specifications for all our buildings and estates on May 31. 1758." restoration. The space in the two-story dyemaster's house i Moravian Archives, Bethlehem, Pa. To put these figures in perspective, at this time a good ho rse was worth five pounds. ideal for adaptive reuse in a variety of different ways, and 17 Elijah Bemiss, The Dyers' Companion, I 15 (Reprinted, 'ew York. the 1772 inventory provides a unique picture of the one­ 1973), p. 107. story section (opened in 1771) where the work was actually 18 Edelstein. p. 46. done. Thou ands of yard of fabric and yarn in a variety of 19 Rau ollection. 20 Rice Collection, Moravian Archives, Bethlehem. Pa. fibers and colors were dyed here, and until ready-made 21 Hell muth Erbe, Bethlehelll, Pa. - A Communistic Herrnhut Colony cloth could be purchased in the early nineteenth century, of the 18th Century (Stuttgart, 1929), p. 57. 22 Erbe. p. 128 . thi dye house remained an integral part ofthecommunity. 2l Erbe. p. 122. Restoration would make it possible to once again see in­ 24 Rau Collection. digo-colored linens hanging from its ceiling; would once 25 lbid. again bring an important craft back to life in Bethlehem. 26 lbid. 27 Dye house papers. Mo ravian Archives. Bethlehem, Pa. 28 Levering, p. 568. 29 Rau o llection. 30 1bid . 31'The Old Moravia n Cemetery of Bethlehem. Penn .. "Transactions of ENDNOTES the Moravia n Hi torical Society ( anreth, 1899). V. p. 134. I Penn ylva nia Ind ians u ed pigments and d yestuffs long before the 32 Rau ollection. colonial period, but generally not for clothing. Indian clothing was mainly 33 l bid. skins deer, bear, beaver or raccoon- se wn together. While records do 34 lbid. mention the red dyeing of deerskin, colored pigments were u ed primarily 35 lbid. for facial decoration: blood root was a major source for the red pigment; 36 lbid. burned umber was also used ; wood ash or black hale made the black. 37 Blue- and red-checked shins were also worn in the colonies. In Beth­ " Paint ing the face was a univer a l custom among the men and women" lehem, Indians, children and laborers often wore blue-checked shirts ( Paul Wallace, Indians of Pennsylvania ( Harrisburg, 1970), p. 21.), and made by Moravian tailors. (Ledger B of the Diaconat at Bethlehem. was mentioned in Europea n accounts of the Delawa re Valley Indians as Moravian Archives.) early as 1639. 38 M yers. Ind ian women were subdued in their face painting compared to the 39 Rau Collection. men, often pUlling round , red spots on each cheek, reddening their eyelids 40 tenton Hall in Philadelphia has an example of indigo-printed linen and temples and even the tops of their ears. The men's faces were highly that is used for a bed hanging. decorated. "The figures, pai nted on their faces, are of various kinds. Every­ 41 Rau Collection. one follows his own fancy, a nd exerts his powers of invention to excel 42 Erbe, p. 6 others, and have something peculiar to himself. One prides himself with 43 Rau Collection. Weiss also dyed for the Single Brothers and any the figure of a serpent upon each cheek. a nother with that of a to rtoise, fabric dyed specifically for a ny of the Brothers had to be listed by name in deer, bear. or some other creature. as his a rms a nd signature." (George the ledger book a nd approved by " Brother Petzhold a nd Frank"who were Henry Loskiel, HislOrr of the Mission of the United Brethren Among the in charge of the ingle Brothers' House. Rau Collection. Indians in North America (Londo n. 1794), I. p. 49.) The Ohio Moravian 44 Erbe. p. 62. missionary David Zeisberger noted a male who painted o ne side of his face 45 1bid. red. the other side black. 46 Rau Collection. Early Dutch a nd Swedish traders were the first to give textiles in ex­ 47lbid. change for furs. The India ns began to adopt European styles and most of 48 1bid . thi~ cloth was already dyed: "Their holiday dress either blue or red. a nd 49 lbid. sometimes black [was], hung a ll around ... with red. blue and ye ll ow soE li7abeth Myers. "Christian prings in Old Times."(Bethlehem. N.D.). ribbands." (Loskiel. pp. 51-52.) Printed linen and CO llon skirts were worn unnumbered. by the women. William Penn included textiles when he purchased parcels 51 J . a nd R . Bronson. Earll' Alllericall WeOl'ing alld Dreillg. I 17 (Re- of la nd from Pennsylvania tribes. White bla nkets. shirts. coats. caps. printed, New York. 1977). pp. 183-84. stockings and duffel (a coarse woolen cloth few Europeans would wear. 52 Rau C ollcct ion. made especially for the India n trade) were included as part of the payment 53 Bemiss. p. 50. in his 1682 treaty to buy the la nd for his country ho use. Pennsbury Ma nor. 54 Ibid., pp. 148-50. 2J . Thomas Scharf and Thompson Westcoll. History of Philadelphia 55 Ibid.. pp. 223-24. ( Phila., 1884), I. p. 138. 56 lhid.. pp. 41-42. lThomas Budd, Good Order Established in Pennsr/l'ania alld Nell ' 57 Ihid.. pp. 53-54. l aser. 1682 (Reprinted. C levela nd. 1902). p. 33. 58 Bronson. p. 183 .

118 This hymn - intended as a practical aid to worship (as were all Sudermann's poems) - expresses theol(,Jgical concepts in popular language and imagery: "The godly love, which I deeplx feel, is only dreaming of the time when my soul [the bride] will come to her bridegroom [Jesus Christ]. Then I will feel peace and quiet forever. So it is my deepest desire to be there. My heart will not separate from God by day and night. I praise his love, and, if necessary, I would even suffer for that. The one who can feel that godly love knows its uniqueness, and he also knows the maliciousness of the world, so that he will separate from the world."

DANIEL SUDERMANN, SCHWENKFELDER HYMN WRITER by Monica Pieper When the followers of the Silesian nobleman Caspar the Liege region of Belgium, the son of a famou painter Schwenckfeld von Ossig emigrated to Pennsylvania in and designer. About hi religious education, he relates 1734 they left behind their most important problem: in a poem that he was baptized as a Roman Catholic, persecution by governments and churches because of then went to a Calvinistic school when he was eight their faith. More than a century before, another man years old (Figure I) . He li stened to Lutheran sermons as had solved that problem in a quite different way. This well. I Sudermann was also familiar with the idea of the man was Daniel Sudermann, poet and hymn-writer of Dunkers. In 1594 he joined the followers of Schwenck­ the Schwenkfelders, who collected and edited the works feld, to whom he remained faithful to the end of his life. of authors belonging either to the radical Reformation He demonstrated hi loyalty to chwenckfeld by collecting or to the medieval period of the mystics. and copying the writings of his religious teacher and Daniel Sudermann was born (in 1550) and grew up in leader.

119 While traveling with hi father, Sudermann became acquainted with many noble families in Germany. After the death of hi s father, he worked as a personal tutor for the nobility in several German cities. Finally, in 1585 he took employment at the Bruderhoj at Stra bourg.2 The Bruderhoj was the chapterhouse of the Protestant canons of Strasbourg, where the nobility sent their children to be educated . During the first years of hi s educational activities at Strasbourg, Sudermann lived at (-5. the Bruderhoj itself. Later he had an apartment in the c. " . town near the cathedral. The city of Strasbourg had been a religious center and place of refuge since the beginning of the Reformation, and even before. As a crossroads between France, Ger­ many and Switzerland, the city became an important de tination for religious leaders who were per ecuted in their own countries and who were earching for a new home. When Martin Luther's writings created doubts and criticism concerning the situation of the church and the Christian lifestyle, voices arose throughout Europe to proclaim the new ideas of true Christianity. The city of Strasbourg became a meeting place for these religious seeker in the years that followed; Caspar Schwenckfeld had been there twice (1529 and 1534). Others who came were Hans Denck (1526), Michael Sattler (1526) , Paracelsus (1526), Pilgrim Marpeck (1528), Melchoir Hoffmann (1529), and Sebastian Franck (1531) . Again and again the government of Strasbourg had to examine the religious background and beliefs of these newcomers and observe their activities. The situation wasn't so difficult in the following decade when Sudermann lived there, but he was suspect too. Between 1622 and 1626 he was observed several times - as may be seen in the existing government documents.3 There are some letters from the cities of Ti.ibingen and Worms containing information about Sudermann and hi friends. The letter were answers to questions by members of the Strasbourg government who knew that Sudermann occupied himself with texts with forbidden religious contents. This despite the fact that Sudermann tried to avoid all public interest in his personal life and work. This was the main difference between him and other sectarians of the time: he thought it would not be useful for the readers of his text editions and poems if he were to become an object of public interest; i.e., if he risked losing the possibility of writing and printing. He was not a man who sought a high profile through con­ Fig. 1: A Sudermann poem (1624) concerning his troversial proclamations. He preferred working quietly, religious education; the illustration may be a selj­ but with enthusia m. portrait. There is also another reason for the fact that the government finally abandoned its persecution of Suder­ mann: although he considered himsel f a true Schwenkfelder, he never published just the literature of that circle. He was also interested in the authors of mystical theology; in Reformation literature of Lutheran and Calvinistic origin; and he read the writings of the church fathers and the medieval

120 Catholic. So it must have been very difficult for ex­ aminers to determine his real position and to accuse him of a particular "crime." After 1626 there was no more /1 public intere t in his activities, and Sudermann used that &£it1 . 50h(~ e~(~C(tn. liberty to turn to the publication of his large collection 't{i- ~~~ ~~~ f.~

SUDERMANN'S WORK

As ha already been mentioned, Sudermann was the '1. . on of a painter and designer, and thus was fami liar with the effects of art on human emotions. This ex­

perience wa important for hi s work during hi s whole ~ .. . T""'v~~w~ ~ \~~, life. Another valuable experience wa hi s employment ~'c<~ ,,(1< +> ~ . as a teacher; he knew the methods of teaching and was able to influence young people and to share important religious thought and knowledge with them. So he ap­ plied two talents in hi s poetic and editorial work. When he read the sermon or teaching of his preferred theological authors, he tried at once to "translate" the difficult content of the work into the way of thinking and language of the religious layman. Mo tly he chose \'0., .\[.:.. ~ .,.. I the form of the poem to repeat main thought of hi s no ' I ' "- famous predece sors. ~~""~\"'\l""" \.'W'\:.~ , These poems were never supposed to be olely art. ~ ~, -€.:. a~Q.. "'II.":' I . ' .' " Sudermann was convinced that there was no better w~ J.i\ f" e. f~K. method to learn and to retain the important contents of the Christian faith than rhymed poem. So he started ,-. writing poems early in his life, and he collected them in large, hand written books. He often read them again ~" 5' ~~~ ~~~c:£Q""'S;-~I '~ I and again, changing words and sentences to improve the 06' ~~ f:;~ , effect. In the last years of hi s life he finally took a selec­ tion of more than two thousand poems as an edition of ~1C"r"Y~hC.k ~~~ ! the work. I have decided to describe the development of "Y\:.~f.:" ~ffl~;" Sudermann's writings in such detail since there are some hymns whose story continues in Pennsylvania. The first is the hymn "Herr, nimm von mir, In "'C 1C"~, ~f~ r~~~' ~~ I diese(r) welt" ("Lord, take from me, in this world"), "'Jl ,.; ~ "" t \ t1 ;'\; t I which was taken to America by the Schwenkfelder im­ ""fv ~10!'1(' c.~e.~j~" ~ , migrants. 4 Figure 2 shows the first draft of the text by -C Sudermann in 1597. He called it a "prayer" and said S~~ ~;",~~" b> ~ , that it is cited by " Bruder Claus von Underwalden" (that is, ikolaus von der Flue, Switzerland). At the same time, he shows that the prayer is not only a quota­ tion by adding the words "elwas gemehre/" (increased somewhat). It is also Sudermann's idea that the prayer would be useful as a hymn. He must have been familiar

Fig . 2: First draft of Sudermann's hymn, "Herr, nimm von mir, In diese(r) welt."

121 ([in ~ci~fid2 ~icb/ £D(\~ bit ~tcb~a&rtti)c <5ede I with a lot of German, French and other songs of that "~ll i~rcn gdicbtcn '.:8rcutigam time, because he often mentioned a melody of a secular ~~tl~o/ntcl)1 mbm /l1OC~ ~(\r. ong a the tune for his hymn . He did this in our exam­ ~~fftI9 I cbCl\ mae· ple too: "Herr, nimm von mir, In die e(r) welt" follow I. the melody of a secular ong from the Netherlands. r.>~ebenbt 6tcl/rccld)c mm &111 Another note on the manuscript shows his strict and ex­ J:;.,®cfd)"ffcn ~ic "lIff (ftbcn : act method of working: "1st getruckt worden Anno ~flrfcl "lid) bnrd) Jtfl1ln ~bti~1 tin," e'obn/ idea is a lready found in the texts of the Church fathers ~DI . 4 . ecm ~(\!lt "nb 2(nff:rflobn ./?Jdff rmr tier E3irntlen ab: (but there not the soul, but the church is the bride of . la%B bCI13 111 !I.r bcrantlrl Christ), and during the German Baroque period there ro.)lItf} ber eill.lIcnbanbr / lDrinh id> "crfh'lcfcr bml were several authors who dealt with that subject. ~urcf} !lem., (jj,.IlB hebe Sranb/ Sometimes the poetry inspired by that motif must even f.6fcn "ntl nemm", bin. :0 ..( : ,1. :)dj I.~ Xo~ttll ••• &Leb<.&l§ be regarded as erotic li terature. Some famous names DI.~t. ' te. I . 'J\tq. 1. :0" J)m X.&('(I .... ~Ik ~ •• hbe., fio~r« In Ne J)6n ( .&er ~nok ) ..... may represent the whole circle of poets who treated the ... I~rr ~".nF I te. eap. I~ . :0. ,~ ..ft ,. tft 'Pro,"n b' ~ l:o&I., ••b ..ibI(l : t>met) ::i'liml il~nli l ~ « fl¢ nNil brf,bnl ~ ) (cI " 1 { . If. II I. ~ ( q . l. 3~ " tN Iii r-"ei) elll m.:nnl Ifcc',[. -.-: tUL I ', I . .JC'~ . •• :).;crb. ~ . r nl'· fo t>« i)(1i Jut!, f

~." f.: 1111 ~ : lff( " .li;:" : , q l:nlhu .rr t'11 ~ "'"nI1 ilIOn ' (f. :rccbagfwl fl' ... hr.(jl [\. 'df. W .fl"J 0 9'" ~ J-: I 't)nt> 'I.'crt>lCll(C 1I ; .il .;11< 3wl It;.. ; ~ .~ ( t" ' ''I . 2.L ,,'M miT " H"~' ulI.lrr • J 1 "~r ttr \lld;1I fiClIl : ':)\ ~ m . ~. ') . n tpr 1 . \·· ~ r. j. 'l.I,It> ob lei) (.!,J,II k ~ "t>/ S; ~ ~ r. 9. f Jy '/12 9 J .1 • "=J=::p cry IIl1r r,i,Jr greff: 1'L;lIl'11 , ll.'f.11. I JO. V41l JUJU' ! II,:!, J1dr- !Con Dgll':~ lI,m ~rlllTrr Iff I . :'('h. L !C\JIIII ,1I(r ~tlcllfc9;i\r: l.l;;.tr!1l~rrl3lll bit.

Fig. 5: Sudermann's hymn, "In der hellen Abgrund," with music and illustration. theme: Bernhard von Clairvaux, Johannes Tauler, God"). '4 Sudermann call ed hi poem a hymn, but he Philipp von Ze en, Martin Opitz and Gottfried didn't give a melody; so it must be supposed that the Arnold. " melody was added in Pennsylvania. Sudermann himsel f had no interest in erotic imagery. [n the Saur edition one can find only melody devices He described the bride a a poor human being, longing without music becau e the hymnal didn't have space for her union with the groom and desperately uffering enough. At the end of the hymnal all the tune are sum­ from her relation to the world. To udermann this marized. Sudermann used to work in the same way; he situation contains a Ie on: The oul has to ri e ubersich reminded hi readers of a popular tune - for example (above itself; above its limit ). It must leave behind all of a wr: i- known secular song - to show them the creature which hinder the way to God. If it fall back melody for hi s hymn. Thus he didn't need any space on one day it has to tart once again, and it must not give hi s printed page for melodies, but he needed a lot of up. Sudermann use everal ymbols to explain the space for hi illustration, ince he tried to draw a pic­ necessity of the union with Christ: The dove which ture for nearly every hymn he wrote. oah released came back when it saw there was no There i only one collection among Sudermann's possibility of surviving on earth; the fish can only li ve in printed works that contains music a well as illustra­ water. These ymbols were familiar to religiou laymen tions. 's Since this book was not taken to Pennsylvania, [ since the Middle Ages, 0 everyone knew the ubject. [n want to show its interesting construction here. The the last verse udermann wi shes hi soul to be hymn [ have chosen as an example, " [n der hellen "verziickt" ("in ecstasy") and "mit Golt vereint" A bgrund" (" [n to the abyss of hell"), tells the tory 0 fa ("united with God") - expressions which have their human being trapped in hi life of in which have led origin in mystical language. him to Hell, not to Jesu Christ. He know that it i im­ "Liebende eel, welche nun bi st" took the same route possible for man to fulfill God' claim of justice. Then to Pennsylvania as the previously mentioned hymn, ' 2 he remembers that even the pious persons of the Old and is 10 be found in the same book as "Herr, nimm Testament weren't able to fulfill that claim, but God ac­ von mir, In diese(r) welt." In 1749 it was copied and cepted them anyway. So, the hymn-writer concludes, alloted a position in the "service order"; that is, it was each Christian can be hopeful again, because God's sung during the service of a special Sunday or a fixed justice i not the same as man's justice. holiday. 'J In the Saur edition the hymn appears in the The illu tration (Figure 5) which i combined with chapter "Von der Liebe IU Gott" ("By Ihe Love to "[n der hellen Abgrund" shows a rocky landscape with

123 a bi g, dark hole in the middle. Seated there is a female (A living pig is of no use in the home, figure. She is praying - desperately and hopefully at But slaughtered, you get sausage, bacon and pork from: the same time - for mercy and salvation. This figure, As well a rich but miserly man drawn with long hair and white dress, corresponds to Who serves no one- he dies then!) Sudermann's pictures of the human soul. Certainly tl.e peaker of the prayer is the soul. Along with Schwenck­ feld, Sudermann was convinced of the dualism in human nature: Only the soul can have a dialogue with Je us Christ; the body is only interested in worldly pleasures and sin s. The soul must be strong enough to win the fight against the body and its interests. The illustration is followed by the music in combina­ tion with the text of the first verse. On the next page the whole hymn is printed, but not in verse. That mi ght have been difficult for the singer, but Sudermann never divided hi hymns into verses. Indeed, the Schwenkfelder immigrants, who used his hymns in Penn­ sylvania, had already begun to mark the verses in Suder­ mann's original books that they brought with them. During hi lifetime Sudermann himself looked after the printing and elling of his books, but after hi s death most of hi s work was soon forgotten in Europe. Only in Pennsylvania were hi s hymns sung in the services and used by the Schwenkfelder community. A ide from hymns, another form of Sudermann's poetic work came to America. He wrote hundred of short poem, each consisting of four lines and each try­ in g to compare difficult theological concept with a well-known worldly experience. Known as "emblemata" in the hi story of literature, this wa a favorite form of writing in German Baroque. Sudermann's "emblemata" are not as artistic as others of that time, but he didn't want to produce art, he wanted to be helpful in the prac­ tice of the faith. A number of these poems are contained in a Sudermann book found In Pennsburg' Schwenkfelder Library.'6 Some of them are original enough to allude to here. Each of the pages is divided into five parts: A text from the Bible in both Latin and German; the poem in the same two language; and an illustration by Sudermann (see Figure 6). Sudermann's hymns express olely theological statements in popular, but reserved language and imagery. In the "emblemata," however, he show that he i able to write in a more aggressive manner too. The Devil, for example, will run away if Christians are praying eriously. Sudermann compares the Devil with a Fig. 6: One oj Sudermann's emblems. fly confronted with a hot pot. In another such poem he describes learned men without practical Christianity as hollow bells. Bad preachers are sick sheep who infect the whole flock. The following example tells of a ri ch but avariciou man who is only u eful to others when he dies. So he is compared with a pig, useful for man only for butchering: Kein lebend schwein ist nutz in haus , Geschlachtet, es theilt fleisch, wurst, speck aus Also ein reicher, karger Mann Keirn Menschen nutzt - er sterbe dan.

124 Fig. 7: Title page of Harmonia oder Concordantz.

Although Sudermann condemns the learned man, he would have shown the contrary. Doing that, he surely himself had studied theological literature, from the was not correct, but his peaceful intention mu t be seen church fathers to the authors of his own time. He col­ a positive in a time of terrible religio us controversy. lected the results of these studies in hi s only prose work, The most interesting part of Harmonia oder Concord­ Harmonia oder Concordanlz 17 (Harmony or Concord­ anlz is Sudermann's endnote: H e declare that the ex­ ance). This book is 469 pages long and contains the pre sions of the quoted authors corre pond to the teachings of famous Christian authors about the most teachings of Ca par Schwenckfeld! If he had been right important questions of faith. Catholic, Lutheran and about that, the emigration of the Schwenkfelder from Calvinistic writers are mentioned. Through this collec­ Silesia in 1734 wouldn't have been neces ary. tion Sudermann intended to show that the different Nevertheless, Sudermann knew about the difficultie groups have no reason to fight against each other, this book would create becau e he avoided writing his because their teachings do not differ very much in the name a editor on the title page (Figure 7). He sugge ts main points. Since Sudermann was very much interested printing only the initial "D.S.", but later he eliminated in reaching that conclusion he avoided quotations which even those two letters. Today it is difficult to imagine

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" C'fjoue Tort/lbllf I'ne j(e,(d.) 1Ilcrbcnl SO.r eo~n / ,11 "Ill' !J(f;nt I. i· Fig 8: The only Sudermann 511 2:td)(e~(m g:b"r:nl hymn still sung in Germany 310 eull un :.8lntl.!'In/ today, "Es Kompt ein Schiff (j)lt'l fid) fUr one •• rl~brm: <6:1obCl mu@ C~ feln. geladen. " r. 'XInb 'I1'cr biB :.8mtl/lnil frw'/)cnl !WIT'" I "mbf.mgm willi lIer mutt "or mil ,~m btlcn' CVrofJ p"n/.,nb mancr OIl. 6. J)arne~ mil jbm aNd! (icrbcn' 'X)nb ( g\lllitd)) alllfzrlh~m I !l\X'I{te. I~brn 3uer[1ml role an i>n1 III 9(f~ < ~;n. S. ".gum"",. 1)", qi& mlr (In fu

126 E DNOTES

'The poem was written in 1624 and is combined with an illustration ' Neu-Eingerichtetes Gesang- Buch is sich hallend eine So mmlunR of Sudermann (Figure I). The page is hand-wrillen and appended to (Illehrenteils alter) scho'ner lehr-reicher und erbaulicher Lieder, the "Schwenckfeld-Epi stolar" of the Library of the University of Welche vor lon ger Zeit her bey den Bekennern und Liebhobern der Halle. Perhap Sudermann drew the picture himself. The page is al so Glorien und Wohrheit Jesu Christi bisz anjetzo in Uibung gewesen: the only evidence concerning Sudermann's death: Sudermann added Noch den Houpt-Stiicken der Christlichen Lehr und Gloubens every year the actual date, the last noted date is 1631. In the einReth eilet, und Mit einelll Verzeichnisz der Titel und dreyen "Schwenckfeld-Epistolar" of the Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfen­ mitzlichen Registern versehen. Anjetzo also zusammen getragen, und btillel (Cod. Aug. fol. 37.27) the page i contained as a copy (= source Zum Lobe Galles und heilsamen Erbauung im Christenlhum, ans for thi publica ti o n) . Detailed biography of Sudermann see aloin: Licht gegeben. Germantown , gedruckt bey Christoph Saur, auf Monica Pie[ler: Daniel Sudermann als Vertreter des mystischen Kosten vereinigter Freunden, 1762. Spiritualism us. Stullgan 1985 . ' In the Saur edition the last two verses are marked as Pennsylvanian 'The documents of the Bruderhof don't give any information about addition, but - as shown by the manusc ript - it is Sudermann's own the exact task of Sudermann there. Some poems - dedicated to poetry. scholars - allude to hi s educational activities. " Source: 894. I .theol., Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbuttel, ' Ratsprotokoll , Archives of the cit y of Strasbourg, no. 103 (1622)f. which gave permission for it s publication . 194v., no. 104 (1623)f. 118 , no. 488 (1623)f. I 03r.- 107r. " Friedrich Ohly: Hohelied-Studien. Grundziige einer Geschichle 'The manuscript (MS.germ.quarl. 102) is part of the Sudermann­ der Hoheliedouslegung des Abendlandes bis um 1200. Wiesbaden collection of the Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin , 195 8. which gave permission for it publication. " V 33-12, Schwenk felder Library, Pennsburg, Pa. ' V 33-12, Schwenk feld er Library, Pennsburg, Pa. " VB 4-5, Schwenkfelder Library, Pennsburg, Pa. ' Th e Genealogical Record of the Schwenkfelder Families. Seekers "Christoph Saur(ed.), op.cil. p. 333f. of Religious Liberty who fled f rom Silesia to Saxony and thence to " The title of the collection is: "Etliche hohe geistliche Gesange Pennsylvania in the Years 1731 to 1737, Edited by Samuel Kriebel .. " (894 . l.theol.) Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbtillei. Brecht, A .M . ew York, Chicago 1923 , p. 886. " VN 33-15, Schwen k felder Library, Pennsburg, Pa. ' Tagliches Gesang = Biichlein, Das ist Morgen = Tisch und Abend " The illustration shows the title page of the only survivin g Lider, samt einer Einrichtung u. Ordnung, Was man Vor = und ma nuscript, (MS.germ.quarl. 105) Staatsbibliothek Preussischer achmillags; sowohl auch des Abends nach denen Tisch = lidern, Kulturbesitz, Berlin . nach Beliben, singende betrachten kan ... Zusam(m)en getragen im " The hymn is printed in the collection "Etliche hohe geistliche Jahr Christi 1727 und aUffs neu abgeschriben im Jahr 1757. Juniata Ge iinge .. . " (894 . l.theol.) Herzog August Bibliothek , Wolfenbu't­ College Library. p .63 . tel.

127 THE PERNICIOUS EFFECTS OF WITNESS UPON PLAIN-WORLDLY RELATIONS by W ill iam T. Parsons

In May and June 1984, events took place in Lancaster ture made in thi locale would bring upwards of six County, Penn ylvania which virtually guaranteed that million dollar into the regional economy. ot only do life will never be quite the same in the Amish region the Amish live here, but it is also part of the East Coast there. At the invitation of the Bureau of Motion Picture urban megalopoli . The money looked good, but the and Television Development, a bra nch of the Depart­ scheme ignored the beliefs and cu toms of the Old ment of Commerce of the State of Pennsylvania, Para­ Order Amish, the folk who were mo t affected. Inciden­ mount Pi ctures, a division of Gulf & We tern con­ tally, the economic return for the region ha been clo er glomerate, made the commercial movie, Witness, in the to two-and-a-half million dollars, though that is not an central and lower town hips of that county in nine or amount to ignore. ten weeks time. 1 Amish objections were registered on everal scores. The moment leaders of the Amish community learned They are trained and till believe that work is the way to of the proposed venture, they regi tered their trenuous satisfaction and achievement. Those who do not work objections, although by the very nature of their religiou are su pect morally. Tainted money i evil. When the beliefs they could take no stronger action. They did, movie people offered huge rents for brief use of proper­ however, appeal to the former Amishman, Professor tie , that looked like a bribe. That ort of money is in. John A. Hostetler, who has been the most devoted and Moreover, movie which flaunt greed, lying and accurate voice of the Amish for twenty-five years, to do violence, including bloody murder, are not compatible what he could to "get the picture stopped ." Ho tetler with Amish life and value. We who are idealists in i t did try; he called upon public and private Pennsylva­ that William Penn's invitation to the Rhineland Ger­ nians to express their objections to the Commonwealth, man (ome of them Ami h) to come to Pennsylvania to but rarely evoked any response from Harrisburg. In the work and live in their own way without coercion, i till end he failed to halt it. in effect today. These Plain fo lk should be able to purn The rationale of the Bureau was simple: a motion pic- the invention and machination of the world a the

128 have attempted to do for two-hundred-and-fifty years; kept. I have always adhered to that rule of understand­ the world should not impinge upon such important ing and, so far as I know, so did all others who sang. belief. May they not escape the boorish, complaining, The Lancaster County locale of the singings ranged interfering presence of droves of tourists and hustlers, from Gordonville or Ronks at the center, to who e cameras have invaded home, market and Bowmansville and Honeybrook in the east, and to workplace? In all honesty, I under tand that not all peo­ farms in Pequea and Providence Townships, slightly ple agree to such Amish rights. south of Lancaster city and toward the Susquehanna I John Hostetler ri ght that the film amounts to River. Out there, we met in the kitchen of an Amish or "marketing the Amish soul"?2 Or is Merle Good cor­ Mennonite house, or less often in a barn or tobacco rect when he states that the controversy over the film shed, or in the side yard in warm summer weather. The may have "more of an adverse effect upon the Amish site in Franconia Township (or Salford Township) was people than [Director] Weir's [actions] will have"?' on the threshing floor of a Pennsylvania barn Many who are not Old Order seem prone to wonder just (Schweitzer scheier), or occasionally in a one-room what the fuss is all about. Many of my friends who have Mennonite school house or in the basement of a meeting een the film point out that the nudity, violence and house. Sometimes we were in Delp's Herrite Meeting. bloodletting are far less prominent than in many other Singings at Old Order farms began with a meal, both promotions we see in films and on television everyday. for nourishment and for fellowship, so it became While I mu t concede that the film was well directed and customary for Franconia Conference hosts to offer a could have been much worse, I still object. Unfor­ picnic meal. After the main meal at the Old Order tunately for our Mennonite nei ghbors, it has aroused a homestead, the men gathered in the parlor or on the heated debate among them, bringin g confrontation in front porch and in the yard, while the women ate, print where virtually all participants regard themselves cleared away the meal and cleaned up so all could sing in as ympathetic friends of the Ami h. Note the twenty the kitchen, at the same tables where we had eaten our articles, editorials and letters in Gospel Herald, a Men­ supper. nonite weekly journal from Scottdale.' Several of the When it was time, the homeowner or other singing letters from reader wondered aloud why Mennonites leader gave a first signal and all who could, found place hould become so embroiled in a debate about the around the tables set end-to-end in the farm kitchen. Ami h. ' All the choices are difficult. When we sang at Christopher Dock's Salford This paper began as a study of exchange singings be­ schoolhouse, we all sat around an open space in the tween members of two communities of Pennsylvania middle of the floor. All the Vorsingers (singing leaders) German Mennonites and Amish people. Those ex­ of the participating groups sat at the singing table, along changes took place between November 1978 and July with most of the male and female visitors. All others - 1984, a relatively short period in the ongoing history of the remaining males, most of the women and such Old Order folk in Pennsylvania. Nevertheless, it children as were interested - sat on chairs or benches represented an attempt to examine some cultural varia­ around the perimeter. tions among them in an atmosphere of mutual trust and Although the composition of the singing group understanding. The two groups were loosely organized, always varied, persons often attending included I. with a consistent framework of singing styles. Clarence Kulp, Henry Derstine, Lois Gonzalez, Alan Partners in the singing were 1) a historical study Keyser, and Willi Parsons of the Franconia group of Franconia Conference Mennonites and "Goschenhoppen Sing-Schieler." Phares Hurst, John counterparts in the Church of the Brethren who came Zimmerman and his two sons, Amsie and John, led the from the upper middle part of Montgomery County, horse-and-buggy Mennonites. Amos Hoover was the Pennsylvania; 2) Old Order Amish and Old Order Men­ black-bumper Mennonite representative, and several nonites (horse-and-buggy members and black-bumper Old Order River Brethren came occasionally. The Wengerites) along with Old Order River Brethren from Amish included Abner F. Beiler and Joe Beiler, Amos Lancaster County Gemeinde, or communities. Without Fisher, Levi Stoltzfus and Sam Stoltzfus, der Hut­ formal structure, the group usually met twice a year: macher, as well as Elam Fisher and numerous others. once during the summer, in June, July or August, in the Other persons who participated sometimes included Salford Township locale of the Pennsylvania German C. Richard Beam, Evan Snyder, David Yoder, John L. region; then the ovember return singing gathered at Ruth, Martin Ressler, John and Beulah Hostetler, Blan­ the farm of an Old Order elder, preacher, or singing che Schultz and Phyllis Parsons. When Hermann and leader of a community of the Lancaster Dutch area. Jutta Jaeger of Bad Bergzabern and Widmar Hader of Among Old Order people, the rules of the church (Ord­ Stuttgart visited Pennsylvania, they also came to the nung) forbid musical instruments in religious services, singing. so we sang unaccompanied. So also, because of the Old We sang from the Unpartheyisches Gesang-Buch of Order rule prohibiting the use of recording devices as the Lancaster County Mennonites,6 and from Die kleine well as photographs, no audible nor visible record was geistliche Harje der Kinder Zions7 or from A. G. Clem-

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mer's "Deutscher Anhang" in the English language later. Although I do own a copy of Ressler's tape," I Church Hymnal: Mennonite (1953),8 both now still regret that I was not able to preserve the variant superseded hymnals of the Franconia Conference. Most forms, debates about origins and correct usage, com­ often singers held forth in the Pennsylvania High Ger­ ments about word use, and the memorable hymns of man of the Plain folk, i.e. , written as a variant of our informal get togethers. Deutsch, but pronounced in Pennsylfaanisch Deitsch. Let me demonstrate some types of music we sang, For example, Leut, Freud and Zeit rhymed . Now and varying words and styles in this introduction. As a then the singing included English language gospel tunes Church German with no Anabaptist ancestry, I had before we finished. never heard religious music of this sort, but the singings Often we simply started from a volunteered first line offered a fine way to learn. I am at home in eighteenth­ or with a familiar tune from a source other than the century studies. In the Goschenhoppen Sing-Schieler I printed books we used . Some of the religious folksongs am the token Deitsch Rejormiert, the only one who is were not found in the books we used, but were pieces neither Mennonite nor Dunker. But I am a scholar, and remembered from other occasions. Since there were this was a learning experience. never enough hymnals or songbooks, all of the singers When the Franconia Conference singers led off, we shared books or just sang from memory. ordinarily began with a hymn in the old slow way of For Old Order folk whose Ordnung allows no elec­ singing, die alte langsame Weise. That meant to employ tricity, therefore no radio or television, and who do not what the leaders called regelmiissig vorsaage, sometimes attend shows or motion pictures, this is a permitted ac­ also termed ausleine (lining out the verse), after which tivity.9 It must remain an experience common to all, the singers joined with the tune. For example, "Sey Lob never competitive nor the occasion for one singer to act und Ehr dem hoch ten Gut" was familiar to virtually all superior to any other. Each song remained an expres­ who came to sing. 12 The Montgomery County element sion of joy. Our singings taught us that familiar items would sing from the Franconia Conference Mennonite often had variants, many of which were also meaningful hymnal, Die kleine geistliche Harje der Kinder Zions, and acceptable. In short, it was a positive evening which which has been used since 1804. (My own copies of Die gave no offense. kleine Harje are a fifth edition from Doylestown, 1848, When I said to Abner Beiler one evening that it was and a eventh edition from Elkhart, Indiana, 1904.' J) really a shame that I could not record the singing, he Then the Lancaster Mennonite might well respond said, "Use the copy of Amish hymns and songs that with the same hymn sung to their tune version, using Merrill Ressler had sent to the Library of Congress." 10 virtually the same text from their Unpartheyisches Another example of Amish sly humor, perhaps, for I Gesang-Buch der Mennonisten Gemeinen, also in use am told the L. C. rejected the donation since no written since 1804. All sang along to tune of each other group, consent from the singers was included, as I found out from books of the local community or from personal

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copies. 14 Most of these are true folk melodies, transmit­ children, appeal to Old Order folk as well as to the ted orally, without musical notes or instruments, passed Franconia people, but for us they are especially dear from one generation of Vorsinger to the next. I S since they were written by leaders of our very own. Lutheran or Reformed Germans prided themselves in Christopher Dock, Skippack schoolmaster, wrote their church organ and additional instruments. "Kommt liebe Kinder, kommt herbei" to encourage his Then we sang a faster tune, set to the same words. students to live a Christian life. 21 One of the Franconia Listen to Goschenhoppen ver ions of "SeY· Lob und preachers, who obviou Iy remembered hi s Swiss origins, Ehr" and another slow hymn, "Herr Jesu Christ, dich wrote "Wie lachet der Himmel wie glilnzet die Erde," zu uns wend." 16 The fast tune for the latter differs only with its recollection of "die Gemsen," steep-slope slightly from that in the Deitsch Rejormiert hymnal that animals which never existed in Penn ylvania. 22 To il­ my grandmother used in 1894. 17 lustrate just how local those items are, they were com­ When it came time for an Amish contribution to the pletely unknown in Lancaster County until the singing, Kulp or Kai ser asked that we use a song which Goschenhoppen singers carried them out to com­ is quite fast for an Old Order tune. It was one I had munities there. In the short five year we ang together, never heard before. Apparently all of the Old Order they have both become new favorites. folk know "Es glci·ntzet der Christen inwendiges At some time during most of the si ngings, usually well Leben," whose tune is vaguely remini cent of a fifer's into the evening, one of the Old Order people would marching tune. ot strange at all, for we were told that recall that at previou singings we often sang some of really is the source. 18 The words are quite moral and the camp meeting songs which celebrate the anticipation uplifting and sound strange to my ear when used with of a happy, though eventual, heavenly reward . These that martial tune. In Joseph Yoder's Amische Lieder, are the true Pennsylvania German spirituals, ung in one finds a version as sung by the Ki shacoquillas Valley nineteenth century revival meeting to a catchy tune, Amish: alternate lines are the same as Lancaster, but the often originally a secular or popular melody. 2) These are melody of the second and fourth are quite different. 19 what the folk called "the choruses." Of course, as true In general, even at friendly si ngings the Amish do not folk music, they varied from county to county and from sing from the A usbund, for that hymnal is used essen­ song leader to song leader. One hymn beautifully tially with unday meeting. t several ingings we did adapted to that chorus style , is "Nummer 54 in em A. prevail upon them to sing the" Lobgesang" for some G . Clemmer, sei Deit cher Anhang: Kommt Bni·der, si ngers who had never heard it before. 20 Here is that kommt, wir eilen fort," whose many choruses included ultimately slow hymn from Merrill Ressler's recording " In die Ruh," "Ich wilr so girn ," "Wo die Perlen which I had labeled Library of Congress. Sometimes it Thoren," "Meine Heimat is nicht hier," "Ein elige takes them twenty minutes just to sing its four verses. Leben in meiner Seel," and triumphantly, a German Two of our very favorite hymns, one of them for equivalent of the English language camp meeting song,

131 "And when the battle' over, we hall wear the crown" Iy among them has a hollow ring. Unfortunately ("Un wa nn der Kampf ferbei iss , griegen mir die arguments a nd criticisms became quite heated, a con­ Gron").24 tradiction in the quiet of the Amish country. The other spirited hymn of heavenl y triumph is also Hostetler's efforts to fulfill the trust the Amish had in to be found in the A. G . Clemmer "Deit cher Anhang.· ' him, namely that, while acting on their behalf, he mi ght It is " Kommt Brllder teht nicht still e," perhaps more be able to sway the governor and the H arrisburg commonl y known by it chorus name, " In dem Himmel bureaucracy, were twisted to make him a shrewish voice ist Ruh ." 25 Do you see how a ll that made for a beautiful of decadence. 31 When he failed, those Plain folk just fe ll ow hip, encouraged worldl y people, even professors, withdrew into their customary shell. William Ba ll as farmer and factory workers among us, to be open and spokesman for the National Committee for Amish understand the other person, whatever hi s faith or pro­ Religion, which earli er had been heartily applauded by fes ion? Yet it violated none of the demanding rules and the Amish themselves, made attempts whi ch paralleled re trIctlOn of the Ordnung. 1 have never left a ny those of H ostetler. 32 But when these two took on the gathering with a better feeling of calm and well -bein g Ho ll ywood establi shment, they suddenl y became than I did from tho e happy evenings . pariahs. Yet a cloud came upo n the horizon, completely unex­ Some of the executives at Paramount failed to show pected . Suddenly Amos Fisher, Abner Beil er a nd Amo the common sense which would have at least maintained H oover, three seeker among the Old Order Brethren, a moderate tone in the di cussions. The film's producer became less communicative, les haring of thi musical told a national newspaper that one reason he wanted to tradition, more concerned that they hold absolutely to make the movie was because Harrison Ford "would traditional limitation . Amo Fisher wa one of the ear­ look fu nny in an o utfit like that," an unworthy state­ ly su fferers, though I fo und that out from another ment. 33 friend. The film could have been a powerful testimony to H e took part in a dialogue eeking to ease orne local Plain pacifism . Even though it did in some parts show fears a nd tensions: differences about the way Plain folk more sensitivity than have many other similar items, it acted as compared with Worldly neighbors. A mi ssed the mark by a long way.34 Still, the picture was photogra pher for a Lancaster newspaper, who surely not intended to be a documentary; it was and is a story, knew better, not o nl y photographed Amo at that an entertainment. Some players did well, others never meetin g but a lso published it the next morning. There came close. "Their P ennsylvania Dutch accents left stood Amos Fisher, lookin g out from a scene which much to be desired," wrote o ne correspondent, though di sturbed the bi shop. At the next meeting, Amos had to she added, "but the portrayal was closer to authenticity tand before the Gemee and publicly confess the pride than I had da red hope fo r. "35 On the other hand, the whi ch overcame him and a ll owed his image to be thus herb man who rescued Ford had a decidedly Yiddish ac­ represented before the world. 26 Whether Amos even cent; while Yiddish and Pennsylvania German dialect reali zed that the photo had been taken is not at a ll clear. have some things in common , as John Costello has No matter, it was clearly against the rules: "It was the demonstrated linguistically, 36 in this case it si mply did Ordnung," he said. not fit. Wa it surprisin g then, when the furore about Witness It is difficult to asses statement in the press by ac­ broke upon an equally un uspectin g Lancaster County, tres Kell y McGilli and to compare them with the that the entire Plain community recoiled? Certainly not, Amish interpretation of what happened. She claimed to but they had no say. have li ved with an Amish family for two weeks to ab- What were the facts of the Paramount production, orb their way. The interpretation 1 got from the Lan­ really? Well , it is certainly true that contradictions caster Amish i that she misrepresented herself as a abound. Statements and accusations were made both in tranger who was "just intere ted" in Amish customs private and in the public press . 27 There is little doubt and life tyle. When they realized who she really wa that Director Peter Weir is one of the outstanding film­ after some days, they a ked her to leave. Again, perhap maker at work today. One of the images often evoked a simple contradiction, but compounded by an ex­ is that of Weir with a copy of Hostetler's Amish Society ecutive snort that wor e mi tatement were often made. on hi s de k. 28 John Hostetler was asked to serve a No work of art, like Witnes , ever receives universal historical or sociological consultant for the film. He approval nor total rejection. So it was with thi . Of refused, protesting that the film was not appropriate in those who have objected, orne have orne particular face of real Amish objections. 29 The story Paramount dislike, while other center on a completely different er­ publicized was that Hostetler refused becau e they had ror. The main point in que tion (one that both offered too little money, when price was never discu - Hollywood and Harri burg have totally mi ed) i the ed. 30 degree to which this film contradict the Ami h value Thus, attempts of producer and actors to learn details ystem. Gushing blood, not only in the opening ten of Amish life by careful observation and by living brief- minutes, but in a cene unbelievably gauche, objec-

132 tionable in almost every sense, the drug pushing detec­ forced the surrender of the corrupt chief of police even tive is gunned down in the j udergang of the Amish barn , though he held the gun, not they. to leave a mear of blood against its whitewashed wall. The topless scene struck one of my German acquain­ To many persons sympatheti c to the Amish, injection tances in Pennsylvania as being poignant a nd valid; I of just that ort of contradiction is unjustified . No one thought it was in bad taste and unnecessary. The claims that the Amish are without fault. The real objec­ language of Philadelphia police was vile. Those things tion to the film has little to do with plot or detail , it is combined to earn the film an "R" rating. That is what that the film was made in the first place. the producers wanted but what appalled moderate As in 0 many other cases, the attempts of Harrisburg Anabaptist observers. 42 The thing is, those who are po r­ bureaucrats to avoid re ponsibility has made them the trayed in the film, in good taste and in bad, the Amish, ultimate in mi srepresentation. Havi ng heard the will never see it. In fact, Amish acquaintances insist legitimate objections after the filming they approved that, after initial reactions to the filmmaking, they have and invited, they announced in spring 1985 that in no further thoughts and precious little concern today. 43 fairness to the Amish and after local objections, they Increased tourist traffic was a main concern. It grew would not approve a second such film. 3' But then, why perceptibly, especially after the film premiere in Lan­ a first? caster on 7 February, 1985, to be the bi ggest year for The Pennsylvani a Dutch Visitors Bureau promised in tourism there. Encroaching upon the Amish was exten­ late winter 1984-85 , that they would not exploit the sive.44 News stories of horror incidents and interference movie as part of a tourist promotion. 38 Six weeks later, showed a lack of manners and no common sense." But their national ad for tourism in Pennsylvania offered: that is nothing new. Indeed one of the best assessments " Vi sit Another Country .. . Pennsylvania Dutch Coun­ of the problems tourism presents was written a decade try - As Seen in the Movie Witness." 39 A later admis­ ago, before the story-line of Witness existed. Grant M. sion that the initial tatement was in error, changed Stoltzfu s looked at the problems, which he assured us nothing. were then raised by the Broadway epic, Plain and Fan ­ Small flaws appear in any artistic work, so I regard cy.46 Thus we have been through all this before. Still, it criticism of lack of perfection to be minor. John Book, is no less discouraging when a tourist auto from Florida Samuel and Eli Lapp were convi ncing characterizations; squeals to a halt. From car windows, cameras poke out Rachel Lapp was much Ie s so. If I heard the dialogue to film an Amishman working. When he raises his arm correctly, Samuel greeted E li as Gpa. That is valid to prevent his face from being photographed, they boo homeland German but not used by P ennsylvania Ger­ him roundly, give him the finger and speed off. 47 mans in usual conversation. Yet has the film really brought very many more Scenes between Samuel and John Book and with his visitors to the Dutch Country? Chamber of Commerce Grossdaadi Eli are delightfully convincing; the elders figures indicate that 1985 showed a large increa e. But a are made to look more ridiculous than is comfortable. calm Amish voice responds that he has not really seen Eli concludes that if Book can navigate about the farm, any more this year, 1986, than in the past:s If he is cor­ he can work: milk cows, for instance. H e comes to wake rect, then much of the furore appears overblown. Book and "the Engli sh" sleepily inquires what time it When Merle Good asks the question directly: "Is is . With a guffaw, I answered before the old man could, H ostetler the official spokesman for the Amish " Halwe jimj!" Guess what? It was indeed four-thirty. 40 people?,,.9 the answer obviously is "No." Good uses Was the scene of an Ami h visit to Intercourse, John that assumption to challenge Hostetler. I would counter Book in his "high waters" and all, convincing? Would that no single individual speaks for more Pennsylvania they really have taken him to town, knowing the odds Amishmen than does John Hostetler. He has served were virtually all bad? If they had done that, how would them in many ways. This question reminds me of a sing­ they actually have handled his violent action to defend ing at Amos Fisher's. A group of the Ami h constantly the passively defensive real Amish? Smashing the nose surrounded John , telling him of new developments and of the city slicker wise guy was almost as offensive as minor changes in their ways and methods. I said to were the police shoot-outs on Lapp's farm, if also Amos, " Bu t you know that when you tell him such understandable.41 things, he wi ll incorporate them into his next book." He Students reminded me, knowing of my general objec­ smiled as only he could, then answered imply, "Why tion, that the film did make a major point of peaceful do you think we tell him all that?" Of course, 1 am not resistance in one of the last scenes in the movie, after acquainted with all Lanca ter Amish, 0 I could be Samuel summoned all the neighbors by ringing the bell wrong. Still , those I do know all regard him a their as an alarm. Even as they gathered, they threw down friend and spokesman. They are the ones who fir t told whatever pitchforks, shovels and rakes they carried, me that he wa originally an Amishman. which otherwise might have served as weapons. The ar­ Merle Good does have a point when he ays it will rival of all those farm folk, completely unarmed, then take more than a mere movie, no matter how good or

133 bad, to effect a ny basic change among them. "If Amish throwing around is obscene. For use of an Amish farm ociety ro e a nd fe ll on omething 0 in igni ficant as a a the si te of the fi lm, they offered $260,000. Imagine. movie which none of them wi ll see ... then the Amish But NOT ONE Amishman agreed; not a sin gle one, would have di appeared from the earth generations even for such money, whi ch anyone could find use for." ago."50 In assessing effects of Witness, Hostetler On that farm, work would be taken care of for six responds, " [t's an event that contributes to the erosion weeks, the fami ly to be put up at a motel, expenses paid. of the boundaries between the Amish and the world .. . " But Amos," I responded, "if no Amishman would More and more boundaries are falling. You can see the rent to them, how did they get the place to make the boundaries breaking down." 51 fi lm ?" With a twinkle in hi s eye, even under those try­ Pettiness and ignorance have di sturbed them as they ing circumstances (and revealing some rivalry whi ch still disturb other Americans, but will surely NOT change ex ists), he said, "They rented from a Mennonite who their valu es. Ju t as they have conditioned themselve so used to be Ami h! " that they per pire very li ttle, even with hard work in "And the barn raising, was that at the same place?" I dark clothing under a ummer un, I have no doubt they asked. "Oh no, they wanted a spot which was more on a will take all thi in tride. But the way all thi s affected us hill ." "Well , how did they manage that?" "Same and our improving Pla in -Worldly relations, became ap­ way," Amos answered, "but to find a place they could parent a we prepared for a ummer singing at Amos rent, they had to go down alm ost to the Maryland Fi sher's farm in June and July 1984. The occasion wa border." (That scene, I might note, was one of the most an ordinary one, although r wa making the ar­ effective and most authentic scenes of the entire movie.) rangement for the Montgomery County contingent "They filmed the whole scene in a few days," he con­ rather than to have Clarence Kulp do it. If there was tinued, "and when they had fini shed, they told the anything special about the plans, it revolved about the fa rmer they were leaving." " But," said the astoni shed participation of Hermann and Jutta Jaeger, who would farmer, "what am I to do with the frame of the barn be on one of their American folksinging tours. As they that's in my field now?" The answer, according to had do ne before, they looked forward to the evening of Fi sher, was: "That is your affair. You have lumber fe ll owship and singi ng at Amos's farm. Beam a nd Par- there, you can fi ni sh the barn and it's yours at no cost. ons were about the extent of Church German represen­ Or tear it down, sell the wood and pocket the money." tation.52 But when I went out to talk to Amos Fisher in (I have read that an Amisher who served as advisor for order to make final plans - sin ging pace, food, time the barn-building, was excommunicated. 55) expected and all that - he said that the entire situation Amos Fisher was clearly di sturbed. But he continued, had changed "becau e of the Hollywood picture " I believe our singing is not in volved, so we have it." people." My first reaction was to cancel immediately. My response was quick, " 0 K, Amos, but we do not " 0," he aid, "I a m hopeful that all will be fine." An want thi to hurt you in any way." "No, no, but if indication to the contrary, as I reflected on it later, was anything changes, I will let you know." his switch to English as we poke about it. He wa one The very next day he wrote a hort note to me. 56 "I of my patient teachers in the dialect, who knew that my got a chance to talk to other Amishmen. We call it off. comprehension of nuance was someti me less than it You know it is all ri ght and J know it is all right, but might have been. As I see now, so that I would under­ how does it look, as we Amish object to Worldly stand precisely , he said it all in English. presence, if I have automobiles and vans out behind my The upset was major. Amish bishops throughout the barn? No, we don't have the singing, we call it off," he area were frustrated because of the developments. A repeated. "Maybe next summer," said 1. "We see." his friend Christian Kurtz wrote in 1986, "Amos was When I spoke to Abner Beiler at his Buchbinderei in helpful to many people." S3 When Amos Fisher told me Gordonville later on, his ad judgment was, "No, Par­ the details of the Witness controversy, I did understand sons, I think the singings are finished." At the very and I believe hi s observations were entirely correct. The least, that was the la t time I sang with Amos Fisher, for Amish objection, he said, was that this movie crew had he died of cancer on 24 January 1986. 51 been invited by state officials, though opposed by the To be sure, even before Fisher died, two more visits Amish community. When they stated their objections, did occur in October and November 1985. I attended no one li stened. So they went to John Hostetler and ask­ one of them, Abner Beiler be ide me. It was at an Ami h ed him to intervene and do hi s best to kill the project. farmhouse in Honeybrook. But it wa also an entirely Hostetler assured me later on the phone that he really different kind of singing, more like a concert of Fran­ had tried, but with absolutely no success. conia songs, and the Amish joined in. Not a ingle hymn Fisher went further to detail the offensive events. from Unpartheyische Gesang- Buch; not a single Ami h First, the producers, who admirably attempted authen­ item to accompany or to answer a Franconia hymn. ticity, tried to hire Amish folk to act in the film. 54 The And more of the inging wa in Engli h. Perhap we will bishops said "No," and not a single Amishman par­ sing together again one day. ticipated. "Why," said Amos, "the money they are But you see what Witness has cost me personally. The

134 friend with whom [ enjoyed singing so much; who per­ von andern rechlgla'ubigen Chrislen hin lind her gedichlel worden. Allen und Chrislen, Welcher Religion sie seiell, unparrheiisch sehr onified Old Order values, died before we ever sang 17!i'l zlich, 13ten Aunage. (Lancaster County: Verlag von den together again. Amisc hen Gemeinden, 1955) , The Lobgesang is Lied 131 , on pages We all remember scenes, flowers, smells or thoughts 770-71. "" Anhang," 9; Zions Harfe, 390-91. from the past. For me it is usually music. If Beiler is cor­ 22 Zions Harfe, 72-73, rect and our singings are at an end, a Dunker hymn " Don Yoder, Pennsylvania Spiriluals, (Lancaster, PA: Penn­ would sum it up. Clarence Kulp often tells the fact that sylvania Folklife Society, 1961), 11 -12 , 27, 343-48; Yoder, "The Themes of the Pennsylvania Dutch Spiritual," Pennsylvania DUlch ­ he sang it at Reinhard Gottshall's funeral when a great man, 3:7 (1951): I. modern Vorsinger was buried: "Wann ich nicht ''''Anhang,'' 21 -22; Albert C. Buffington, "Dulchified" German Spiriluals, (Lancaster: Pennsylvania German Society, 1965), 104-06, mehr. "S8 Now the singings may be over: "Wann sie 114, 167, 181 .82; Pennsylvania DulCh Spiriluals-Choruses, nicht mehr." (Harleysville, PA: Goschenhoppen Sing-Schieler, 1981 ), 4. END OTES " "Anhang," 23; Buffington, "Dulchijied," 104 . " The Amishman who recounted this event requested his name be 'Edward S. Feldman Production, Wilness, Paramount Pictures, omitted. starring Harri on Ford and Kelly McGillis, directed by Peter Weir, c. " Good, "Renections on Wilness, " 162-63; Joel Kauffmann to 1985. Videotape of Wilness, Paramount Productions, 1986. editor, 21 Aug 1984, 586; Ann Hostet ler to edit or, 2 April 1985 , ' John A. Hostetler, "Marketing the Amish Soul," Gospel Herald 242-43; Annie Wenger-Keller to editor, 2 April 1985,243, (Scottdale, PAl 77:26 (26 June 1984): 452-453. " Good, " Renect ions on Wilness," 161 -63; Harry Troyer to editor, ' Merle Good, "Renections on Wilness controver y," Gospel 9 April 1985 ,258, questions Good's objectivit y in reference to Weir , Herald 78: 10 (5 March 1985): 161 - 164 . 29 Ho tet ler, "Marketing the Amish Soul," 452-53, 'Gospel Herald (Scottdale, PA: Mennonite Publishing House) '·Letter, John A. Hostetler to William T, Parsons, 14 June 1986, 77:26 (26 June 1984) to 78:25 (18 June 1985). Four feature articles, an " Letter, Hostetler to Parsons, 14 June 1986; Good, "Renections item under Items and Comment and eighteen letters to the editor. on Wilness, " 161 , 'Gospel Herald 78: 19 (7 May 1985): 331; 78:21 (21 May 1985): 363. " Hostetler, "Marketing the Amish," 452; "Committee urging 'Unparrheyisches Gesang-Buch, Enthallend Geislreicher Lieder und boycott of Wilness on behalf of Amish," Gospel Herald, 78: 12 (19 Psalmen, Zum allgemeinen Gebrauch des Wahren GOllesdien les. March 1985):207. Auf Begehren der Bni'derschafl der Mennonislen Gemeinen, Aus " P . Gregory Springer, "Bearing ' Witness': a review of the movie," vielen Liederbiichem gesammell, Sechste verbesserte Aunage, (Lan­ Gospel Herald 78:10 (5 March 1985) : 165 . caster: Johannes Bar' Sohnen, 1865). " Springer, "Bearing ' Witness' ," 164-65, 7 Die kleine geislliche Harfe der Kinder Zions oder auserlesene " Rosa Stone to editor, 9 April 1985,259. geislreiche Gesange . .. allen Chrisllichen Gemeinden des Herrn zum " John R, Costello, "A Lexical Com pari on of Two Sister Diensl und Gebrauch, Fu'nfte Aunage, (Doylestaun: Jung und Lob, Languages: Pennsylvania German and Yiddish," Pennsylvania 1848). Folklije, 29:3 (1980):138-142. 'A. G . Clemmer, "Deutscher Anhang" in J . D. Brunk & S. F. Coff­ " "State of Pennsylvania agrees to discourage movies depicting man, eds, Church Hymnal, Mennonile, 12th ed, (Scottdale, PA: Men­ Amish," Gospel Herald, 78:5 (5 February 1985) : 96 . nonite Publishing House, 1953) I-56 following 536. " William C. Eckenbarger, "The Amish under Siege," Inquirer, 'John A . Hostetler, Amish Sociely, 3rd ed, rev, (Baltimore: Johns (Philadelphia, 26 January 1986), 20, Hopkins Press, 1980) 84-86, 104. " Eckenbarger, "Amish under Siege," 20. '·Conversation with Abner F. Beiler, Honeybrook, I ovember •• Wilness. 1985 . " John Burt to editor, 30 April 1985,314. " Merrill Ressler, "Amish Traditional Music" Cassette copy in per­ "Springer, "Bearing 'Witness'," 164; Good, "Renections on sonal collection of the author. It is marked Library of Congress LWC Wirness," 161,163; Paul A, Miller to editor, 9 April 1985,258; Lowell 8891. But Joe Be iler told John A . Hostetler that the L.c. rejected that & Henry Brubaker to editor and Marilyn Yoder to editor, 16 April material since it was not accompanied by written con ent of the 1985,275; Floyd & Irene Rheinheimer to editor, 23 April 1985 ,291. singers. Unfortunately actual evidence is to the contrary: One of the "Conversation with Abner F. Beiler, Gordonville, PA, 17 June students in my 1986 cour e "Pennsylvania German 422: Photography 1986, in the Dutch Country," gave me hi s copy of the Ressler recording "Eckenbarger, "Amish Under Siege," 16-18. which the Library of Congress se nt him on order no earlier than um ­ ·'Ibid ., 17 . mer 1983. This appears to be another ca e of being somewhat less than "Grant M, Stoltzfus, "Touri m and the Amish Way of Life," Penn­ candid with Amishmen. sylvania Folklije, 25: I (1975):47-48, I2Unparrheyisches Gesang-Buch, 312-13; Zion's Harfe, 217-18; "Eckenbarger, "Amish under iege," 17 . Eckenbarger's account is "Anhang," 27 . revolting enough, but the added detail appears to be valid, I got it " Doyle taun, 1848; Die kleine Geislliche Harfe der Kinder Zions, from Amish friends in Lancaster County. Perhaps Eckenbarger 7th ed, (Elkhart, I D: Mennonitische Verlagshandlung, 1904) . restrained hi s published statements or maybe hi s Ami h informer did 'In Spring 1984 Abner Beiler bound my Unparlheyisches Gesang­ not tell him the entire story. Buch which I had obtained from Amos Hoover 26 August 1983; it is a "Conversation with Abner F. Beiler, 17 June 1986, sixth edition from Lancaster, 1865. "Good, "Renections on Wilness," 163 . "'Vors

135 TRADITIONAL SLOVAK COURTSHIP AND WEDDING CUSTOMS

by Helen Urda Smith Erecting a Maj.

INT RODUCTION TH E COURTSHIP I was brought up in a fam ily to whom Slovak tradition Trad itio na ll y, Easter Monday is a day of great expecta­ a nd culture we re a n importa nt heritage, a nd I was also a ble tion fo r gi rls of marriageable age in Czechoslovaki a, fo r to interview a nd absorb those values fro m compatriots, that i the day that many will fi nd out if the boy they care artis ts and practiti oners who rehear ed the olden ways for, cares fo r them. Carryi ng bottle of plain or perfumed whenever possible. I myself became a storytell er a nd have water, young men come knocking at the door in order to taught Slovak tories a nd traditions to several generati ons sprinkle the girl they wish to court. In some sections of the of fa mily and neighborhood youngs ters. Although I have country they carry a switch instead, and gently ta p the gi rl attended a nd pa rtici pated in traditional lovak weddings of thei r choice with it. I f met with a parental frown the young in Pennsylva nia a nd in Czechoslovakia, I rea lize that the couple may, depending upon the trength of thei r feelings, majority of weddings and fo rmal ceremonies involvi ng a ba ndon the relati onship altogether. In more favorable cir­ Slovak-Americans today have become thoroughly mod­ cum ta nces, however, the relationship progresses, and the ernized, a nd the traditio nal costumes are being used less courtship ritual fo ll ow a fa milia r pattern. a nd less often. When the fIrst of May dawns, some girls will fmd that their suitor has erected a Maj outside of their I know that many people today have no res pect for the house. The Maj is a pole decorated with long, color­ practices of fo rmer times (ma ny second and third generati on ful ribbons that blow in the breeze; the higher the pole, Slovaks in Pennsylvania simply reject ethnic traditio ns out the greater their love. In response, the young man of ha nd), and that many more are simply unaware of their is invited to dinner; a dinner the young woman will ri ch ethnic heritage. Moreover, while ma ny non-Slovak help to prepare. Now he finds out if he will be A mericans a re aware of such incidents as the "bartered welcome in the family permanently; if so , his father bride" through the music of Bedrich Smeta na, few know must visit the pro pective bride's home a nd ask her father if the actual tradition - the ritual kidna pping a nd styli zed the fa mily will kindly give the ha nd of their daughter to his swap of the bride - in Slovak folk culture fr om which it son. T he girl's father consults privately with her mother a nd deri ves. How much more reason, then, fo r those of us who their a nswer is then given to the pros pective groom (he a nd do know (and care) to preserve as many of the traditi onal his mother have a rrived in the meantime) and his fa mily. o bservations - or, at the very least, a knowledge of those T hey a k what the bride's gift (or dowry) - to be given on traditional observations - as possible. The fo ll owing the wedding day - will be, a nd deta iled plans begin to be descriptions fit that mold . made.

136 Doll dressed in traditional wedding costume. Above and following: Examples of traditional Slova­ kian needlework.

The young people continue their courting, going on trips morning of the day he is to be married, the bride looks to see play and musicals, going for walks, picnics and to nostalgically around her room and sees all her possessions Sunday afternoon dances on the vi llage green, or to the packed, ready to be moved to her new home. Touching the movies in the evening. They might also go for a stroll to the down coverlets (duchni), she remembers the summers of her cemetery to visit the graves of their families and friends. This childhood when she watched the geese, and, working very is one of the quiet, serious time of courtship, in contrast to carefully, helped her mother pluck the down and feathers one of the mo t festive and joyou aspects of that period: and lay them (covered by cheesecloth 0 they wouldn't blow the bride-to-be being serenaded about ten o'clock in the away) out in the air to dry. She also remembers the paracki, evening by mu ic and song from her intended from beneath parties held on winter evenings, when friends and relatives her bedroom window. got together to de-bone the goosefeathers. While the women The sound of the inging and the strains of the gypsy violin did the work in a se parate room (for again, the slightest are a supreme pleasure to hear, not only for the young breeze would send down and feathers flying), the men looked woman, but for her friend and neighbor as well. After the after the children and entertained themselves by telling im promptu concert the singer and musicians are invited in jokes, and by playing musical instruments and singing. Of and treated to good food and drink. Sometimes the future course refreshments were erved, and a wonderful time was bride is given her engagement ring on this occasion; but that had by all. is not always the ca e, for this is one decision made by the From the toasty-warm down comforters, the bride moves young people themselves. I t is a private matter, not inter­ on to her down pillows and her pillow cases, beautifully fered with by anyone. However, the couple will discu s their decorated wi th colored eyelet embroidery a nd edged with wedding plans with their pastor, and the banns will be lace. All have been made by her mother or by her elf, as were announced on three consecutive Sundays. I n this three week the rest of her linens (woven from the family's home grown period anyone opposed to the union must speak up or"for­ flax) which are also delicately embroidered in her favorite ever hold his peace." colors. Taught by her mother, she has also made the fine lace that forms part of her dowry, and her hand-cut crystal THE WEDDING glasses were made by her father, her relatives, or her friends. A happy time, the courtship period passes rapidly and the Awakened from her reverie by the sound of voices, the wedding day is soon at hand. When she wakens on the bride sees from her window her arriving guests, the men

137 wearing beautifully embroidered white linen jackets Ze ako sa bude so mnov nakladati. (kabanice) and black boots, also embellished with fancy Ale je to Vetko zakrito pred nami embroidery. She hurries to get ready for the bridal luncheon, vevieme to nikto co sa stane snami; for which many delicacies have been prepared. The guests Ci dobre ci zle? will sample a variety of soups; chicken and geese will be on Odpustile mi panenske krehkosti, the menu; a whole beef or ox may be roasted; or pigs Kcen na sebej zvejti nove povinosli. butchered to produce ham, kie/basi (a smoked sausage with Ostavajle zdravi zmilim Panom Bohom. a light garlic flavoring), or hurike and jaleriiicki (sausage delicacies made of ground, cooked pork liver, heart and A BRIDE'S FAREWELL kidneys mixed with spices, onions and cooked ri ce; served I stand on a dark and lonely road fried) . There will also be a number of baked goods served: Wondering what my future will hold; ko/alike, bite-size sweet raised dough baked in fancy shapes Whether I choose good or bad, and filled with apricots, prune butter, nuts or poppyseed; If I'll be happy or be sad. kifles, dainty crescent- and fancy-shaped fruit-filled pastries; My dear parents you'd like to know and perhaps tortes, sweet butter cakes garnished with fruits What the future holds in store for me. of the season and plenty of whipped cream. It's in God's hands, it is my fate, After lunch her mother - assisted by the maid of honor ­ It's hidden from us 'til a later date. helps to dress the bride, while the father and best man assist Forgive my young errors, whim , and deeds, the groom. During the ceremonial preparation, the young I take upon myself new responsibilities. couple is told what to expect of marriage and is given ad­ May God be with you when I'm away, vice on ways to meet its challenges. When she is dressed, May health and happiness be here to stay. the bride calls in her father, and has her last moments of I bid farewell to my youth and home, privacy with her parents before the wedding. She kneels be­ Don't be sad and feel alone; fore them and repeats the following: I In my memory and heart you'll be. PROSBA NEVESTI And may God be with us, you and me. Ja na tmavej ceste postavena stojim; Now the bride kisses her parents; they bless her in the name Ci dobre ci zle si vivolim. of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and she is ready to leave Rodicovia moji radi bi ste znati, her family home.

138 ***** bers of both families and the members of the bridal party. Next is a toast to couple, and then food is served, and will If the bride and groom are from diffe rent vi Uages, a ribbon be served continually, even if the celebration lasts for several is strung across the road when the bridegroom's party comes days. [t is the custom for the bride and groom to feed each to coUect his intended; they are stopped by the bride's people Dancing - to the music of a gypsy violin, citar, accor­ and must pay before they are allowed to cross the barrier. dion, cymbals and drums - begins as soon as the meal is This payment is for the privilege of laking the bride from finished, which means that the bridal dance usually starts at her home town, a nd i the origin of the cu tom of "the bar­ about ten o'clock in the evening. First the bride dances with tered bride," celebrated in the mu ical composition of the her mother and father, and then with her sisters and brothers, same name by Bed rich Smetana. It is all done in fun, but in that order. When they have finished , the groom dances the money remains in the town for church or community use. with the members of his family in tbe same order the bride When it i time for the ceremony, the groom and his party did with her ; a nd when they are done, the father of the wait for the bride at the town hall, where the marriage is groom dances with the bride's mother after which the inter­ first performed according to civil law; then it is on to the changed families da nce together, thus signifyi ng that they church for the religiou service. Again, the groom and hi are now a part of each other through their children. party await the bride and her attendants. When they leave When the interchanged families have finished their dance, the church after the marriage, relative and friends of the the bride's father presents her to her new husband. Then, if bride throw cookies and zakuski ( mall butter rolls) wrapped either of the newlyweds have an older, unma rried brother in fine linen hankerchiefs to the crowd waiting to greet the or sister they will be given a broom - dressed as a member newlyweds. This signifies to all those assembled that both of the opposite sex - as a dancing partner. Each unmarried partners will be willing always, with God's help, to welcome sibling must da nce one dance with hi or her wooden mate, guests into their home for food and hospitality. amid much laughter a nd clapping. Each will keep that From the church the bridal party and gue ts proceed to broom as a memento of the happy occasion. As the bridal the home of the bride's parents to continue the festivities. dance continues, each person who dances with the bride or The bridal couple sits at the head table, along with their re­ groom must put a donation in a basket. The donated money spective parents, si blings, grandparents and, mo t particu­ will be given to the bride to help her supply her kitchen or larly for they have a special role to play, their godparents. for other household needs. Later in the evening the bride is After a pastoral prayer the toastmaster introduces the mem- "stolen" a nd then "found" by the groom who must pay for

139 -, . "' z'- , .' , .:. .. :! g", " ' ~l ' : .: .. ' ..~ ~ .. l: :: ' i~" ~ : ~ . l , ~ ,. ~. r~ ' ~ ' I'"r::.. .. 'l.,.:J.;,. . ~~ II.~~ I:':'.0' . ~.. .~~ I!. .~ .:J . ,:.0' 0 ..f! .' .r-,;..o .:!:."'- .'.,'.g '.? .', .jl'. .',..,,, ',,'. ',' '. .',' ',"tt,·. o ,!' .,. , • 'J o ••.•.. .~, ,'., ~ ...... :.: ,.,. .:~ . :~ :i',• " t~.· : .~,", ,::~,'. •~, '~i ,.. , ,:.,. ,. .•!- .,:! ~, ,. I'.,', ,'. •!J .'.!.. her return, while at the same time promising to be good to ber of the church and the community. And, once again, her. They return to the dance floor, whereupon the bride church duties are emphasized- God is never to be forgotten. throws her bouquet and the groom his flower. The bride's dowry i presented at this time, and then the After the bouquet and flower throwing ceremony, the couple bids a sentimental farewell to all. They depart, bride is seated, music begins to play again, and the guests heading for their new home where, on the threshold, the ing "Nasa Mlada • evesta" (Our Young Bride). ow her groom sings softly to his bride: godmother removes the bride's veil and, depending on the "Dobru noc rna mila community she comes from, puts on her head a beautiful Dobru noc. babuska (a square piece offabric, generally made from very echiije sam Pan Boh , fine cashmere embroidered and trimmed with lace which is a pomoc folded into a triangle and tied under the chin); or a fine Dobru noc dobre spi (a hat or cap - depending on the bride's preference ­ cepee ech sa 'ti siiivaju 0 mne sni." of lace, linen or silk, embroidered and trimmed with ribbon). Now she is accepted into the community of married women, ("Good night my love, and she listens as her godmother gives a kindly recitation of Good night. her responsibilities: wi'fely, motherly, community and May God be your helpmeet. churchly duties; of which the latter are especially solemn. Good night, leep well, Now is is the groom's turn, and he is instructed as to his May you dream beautiful dream of me.") responsibilities as a husband, father, son-in-law, and mem- In the very early morning they are awakened by the sound

140 of banging on their door, accompanied by music and bride's parents, and continues with the festivities which houted que tion : "Are you sleeping?" "Did you leep we ll?" may la t for several more days; or in fact, until the last guest This is to remind the young folks that there is a time for leaves, bestowing good wishes and many thanks on their everything; and everything has it time. hosts and the bridal couple. Small wonder that anyone who Meanwhile, the wedding party has been goi ng on all has ever attended a traditional Slovak wedding neve r for­ night, with different orchestra taking hifts, and the gue t gets it. Since World War 1I , many things have changed in singing uch beautiful Slovak folk ong a "Sadla Muska Europe as they have in this country. It is sadly reported that na Gonarik" ("A Fly at on a Branch '), " Kebi dali Este Raz some of the bea utiful cu toms are dying and Western clothe Viberat" ("If Only They Let Me Choo e One More Time''), are becoming the tyle, leaving the world a poorer place by " Konik Bezi" (" lovak Heritage'), and " Pod Tym asim far. But we who have seen former times have wonderful Okeneckem" ("Underneath Our Window')' When daylight memorie - memories of the music, of the dancing and arrives the party proceed to the home of the groom's inging, of the good food and the warm hospitality - that parents, where they have brea kfast and enjoy a huge kolach will li ve with us forever. - a pastry of sweet rai ed dough baked in the shape of a ro e - prepared by the bride's relatives. Ri ch in texture, it is beautifully wrapped in line linen adorned with beauti ful END OTE ribbons and is carried on a decorated pole about ten feet I This lovak version was recalled for me by Mrs. John Feher; the high. former Margaret Mizur (Adam). Mrs. Feher died recently. two days after her ninetieth birthday. he English version. in parallel expressions, is my After breakfast everyone returns to the home of the own. as are the other transla ti ons.

141 difficult is the linguistic and cultural problem of settlements of other dialect German and how to categorize all that. Per­ haps Kehr will find solace in the obvious fact that Pennsyl­ vania Germans and other German-Americans have still not reached agreement on how to solve that agonizing question. BOOK REVIEWS What Enninger, Raith and Wandt have accomplished Werner Enninger, ed. Internal and External Perspectives promises much for the future of their projects and the pro­ on Amish and Mennonite Life. Essen: Unipress, 1984 . gram at Es en. As Werner Enninger notes in his preface, Werner Enninger, Joachim Raith and Karl-Heinz Wandt, 1987 and 1988 programs in Pennsylvania and Iowa bode eds. Int ernal and Erternal Perspectives on Amish and well for the future of this cooperation. Mennonite Life 2. Essen: Unipress, 1986. In 1987 Americans with a sense of language importance These two related publications have recently appeared in will have an opportunity to peak out, for Old Order topics print and may be of some interest to our subscribers and will be discussed at length at John A. Hostetler's already to students contemplating summer 1987 courses. Books or­ announced conference at Elizabethtown College in July. ganized and edited by Professor Werner Enninger of the Moreover, classroom studies related to subjects these two German University of Essen, they speak to a mutual interest books address have already been announced for the College­ many have in Plain folk and Plain living. Both are bi-lingual, ville campus. The Institute for Pennsylvania German Studies although the number of articles in English outnumber the there will offer a summer replete with college-credit courses articles in German by three to one. Friends of Pennsylvania for the afficianado as well as for the neophyte, between I June Folklife will be delighted to see articles by Marion Huffine , and 14 August 1987, encouraging participants to take time John A. Hostetler and William T. Par on (all of them con­ out to participate in Hostetler's conference toward the end tributors to our journal), which appear in one or the other of July 1987. of these books. WTP Both volumes emanate from the Conferences on Amish and Mennonite Life held at Essen in 1984 and 1986. They ***** reflect the interest of Homeland German and German­ , " Americans in scholarly studies about German-American Walter Andre. Uff Piilzisch: Gedichte in Pjalzer Mundart, people and their language. French, Swiss, American, Eastern Kircheimbolanden: Selbstverlag Andre, 1986. European, and Canadian writers treat various aspects of Devotee of dialect poetry will almost surely find a new language, costume and custom, as well as de cribing folk friend in this neophyte who writes in such a sympathetic migration themes. way. As I read his comments on lethargy and on his aversion The 1984 volume contains articles on clothing, occupa­ to telephone and weather forecasts, I found myself cheering tion, religion and speech as visible sign of Amish and Old aloud. We must be spiritual twins at least. This is not his Order Mennonite similarities and distinctions. John A. first publication- his work has appeared in Die Rheinpjalz Ho tetler examines silence as a folk survival mechani m; - but as Andre himself notes, it is his first book of verse, Enninger himself describes speech patterns and variations in and it i good. Its appeal i as strong in Pennsylvania as it Amish High German; interviews, casual conversations and must be in the Rhineland, for any Pennsylvania Dutchman publications such as the Budget serve a sources of expres­ who reads Es Bischli Gnippli (c. Richard Beam) in Lang­ sions and information about the Old Order people; and e chder Caunti or Der Alt Professor (Earl C. Haag) in Gertrude Huntingdon shares some of her experiences with Schuykill Caunti willjerschteh graad aus (will understand the Amish in much the same spirit as has Hostetler. Of straight away) the Palatine dialect of Walter Andre. Anyone similar interest are names much less familiar to an American who has bles ed the telephone and its independent nature reading public, for people named Kehr and Kalesny show will find a kindred soul in this free spirit; and who has not Amish or Anabaptist reaction to the surrounding com­ verbally or silently struggled with eyegla ses repeatedly munity in such disparate places as Virginia and Slovakia. sliding down the nose? Widdermohl saagt mer net, "Yuscht The second volume, dated 1986, contains the work of a wie der Walter!" (Wouldn't one say once again, "Just like larger number of contributors than did the earlier one, and Walter!'') So sympathetic is his verse that I re pond. examines a broader spectrum of confrontations and ex­ periences as well. The breadth of information ranges from Wann mer en neier Schreiwer lese, connotation of clothing to the cultural aspects of Amish Der uns ins Hartz so schnell schtellt nei; quilts. Photography and Mennonites, motion pictures and Ferleicht mer ihn juscht Andre heese: the Amish also bring together seemingly contradictory sub­ Muss ochber orre Freindschaft ei! jects. In this tome, Kurt Kehr tackles the always puzzling prob­ (Whenever we read new poet's rhymes, lem of Pennsylvania German language forms, connotations Which bring 0 pleasant a sensation: and difficulties involved when the supposedly stay-at-home We can just read this Andre's lines: move into other locations or spread their farming, religion And think him friend or close relation!) and culture beyond formerly restrictive bound. Even more WTP

142 ***** GUCK YUSCHT WA S EIKUMME ISS Rachel a nd Kenneth Pellma n, Amish Doll Quilts, Dolls, (CHUST SEE ONCE WHAT WE GOT) and Other Playthings. Intercourse, Pa.: Good Books, 1986. In the mail from Ken Hottle way up there in Allentown, This is a worthy additio n to the growing Li st of Good came items he found in sale books from S henkel, Pa. Ken Boo ks which deal with popular aspects of Pla in li fe a nd does not save dialect items, but knows how much we prize culture. A one might expect si nce they try to avoid all them. I bach's "Grutta Kling" (The sound of frogs a nd tree­ wo rldly way and lifestyles, most Amis h toys are homemade. frogs) was one relatively fa miliar piece, a nd the other is the This book not only shows ha nd-crafted playthings- it con­ broadside advertisement reproduced here. tains dozens of full-color photographs- it a lso ex plai ns how their creation oft en teaches needed skills, a nd actually re-affirm A mish fa mily values. Anyone with a n interest in the Amish and their ways or in A meri can folk art will enjoy this beautiful book; more informatio n can be obtained by ~o 'w po~I1ich Yu~ht ~o§I Do. writing to the publisher in Intercourse, Pa., 17534. Olles wos Deim House Nuch Fail'd. KG Now horrich mohl, dei house is guth, Sheh ousgelegt oll awaig; Sheh eigericht mit fe nshtera, Un Deera, Shtoova, Shtaig­ Gookt ollawaiga recht un guth, A ding rail'd ov\,er nuch- E bral1 ch oll ivver neiy paint, Duh sel druf grawd de wucb.

Dei h ulswarrick leit shawda do mit, Ferfault un shpringt cle r ur; Un no kllsht mainer ivver 'n wi le, Now yusbt ferl us rlich druf. Dei go ns house in wennich un \JUS, Fum keller bi t8u'rn doch, Brauch neiy paint, sel wai ht du wu!. Un aw dei houserode och.

NEW ACQ ISITION AT ow gri ck der YUAht Bel "PENNS' PAINT, " De be 'ht im lond gamocht; ALLENTOWN ART M SEUM So sha un fri sh in fo rriva, If your intere t in the Moravians has been piqued by our Dos se em grawd awlocht. '0 wulfel aw ferlus dich druf, cover story, you might want to ee the Allentown Art Do aryeds ward gamocht; Mu eum' late t acquisition, the painting" iagara Fall ," Un wahrt feel longa dos onner paint, by Moravian artist Gustavu Grunewald (1805-1878). Born Kauf kenny unsht, geb ocht! in Germany, Grunewald was a pupil of the premier German De "Pennsy Paint" Works sin grawd der Romantic artist Caspar-David Friedrich. In 1831 he joined blots wo mer grickt wos mer order't. 011 the Moravian community in Bethlehem, and erved as the ehra paint is guaranteed by de drawing ma ter at its eminary from 1836 to 1868. Although ~o~ga n ·~uth·~OO~B paiqt ~ Colo~ Co" he returned to Germany in 1868 , virtually all of his produc­ i 401·417 South 11th t reet, I tive year as an arti t were pent in America; he exhibited I regularly at the rational Academy of De ign and the Penn­ READING, PA. , sylvania Academy of the Fine Art , Philadelphia. " iagara Falls," unknown to American art hi torians and scholar of Moravian hi tory, was sold at Christie's in ew Although this epic poem really de erves a proper tra ns­ York in December 1985. It is the earliest and largest of lation into poetic English, the best I can do on a moment's everal scene of the falls painted by Grunewald, and notice i to summarize it as fo ll ow : mea ure 34Yl by 54 inches. His most ambitiou early paint­ Of course your house i very nice ing in this country, the work i dated 1834 and inscribed But a coat of paint would help. "Philadelphia." The museum has a special interest in Grune­ The shabby pots would di appear wald because of his links with the Lehigh Valley, and is in A you apply the paint your elf. the process of compiling an inventory of his works. So far To do the job from cellar up fifty works have been id entified, many of them in institu­ With hearty soul, not faint; tions in Bethlehem. May I sugge t you do the work The Allentown Art Mu~eum is located at Fifth and ourt With good old "Pennsy Paint!" streets, and is open Tuesday through Sunday. W .T . Parson, Archivi t

143 ALMANACS AVAILABLE Rec[eiv]ed. January 31st. 1781 of Peter Richards, One of When a recent gift of alma nac ca me to the Pennsy lva nia the Sub L[ieutenan]ts, County of Philad[elphi]a [later German Archives, it included not only several dozen item Montgomery], the sum of Two hundred and forty Dollars, we did not have in the coll ecti on, but also several duplicates being for the Use of Four Muskets (in the Campaign at a nd a number of single copie already in our files. If you Trenton,) belonging to Four Men of my Comp[an]y. L 90.-.- have any interest in obtaining any of the following numbers, P[e]r me, Johannes Jost, L[ieutenan]t. we as k o nly a wap or even-up exchange. Just send for the master Ii t of our almanac collection. I f you have a ny which ***** a re among the ones we a re mis ing, just send it (them) to us, indicating which item from our collection you want in ex­ Received May ye 13th 1782 from Jonathan Blare [Blair] change a nd they will be sent in the fir t return ma il. If you Collector for Non-Attendance, The sum of One Pound & have no copie for exchange, ju t send $5 .00 for each Four Shilling , it being for Drummer's pay for the fore part Almanac you want from the following li st and they are of the yea r 178 1. P.W. [Philadelphia (later Montgomery) yours. All item a re one of a kind and so are subject to prior County] Received. Philip Wentz sale. orne copies a re damaged or are lacking front or back covers. ***** John Baer Sons. Lancaster, PA. Agricul(ural A Imanac for (he year 1882. Towamensing Sept[embe]r 28 . 1782 arne, 1883 (Jones Detwiler ' copy); Same, 1884. I do hereby certify that Bernard Cline [Bernhard Klein] arne, 1885 (D.H. Bertolet' copy); 1886. has erved seven Days under my Command on the Frontier Same, 1890 (D.H. Bertolet's copy); 1892 (Bertolet). in March Past. arne, 1893 (D.H. Bertolet' copy); 1895 ; 1897; 1898. Witness my Hand George C hild , Public Ledger, Philadelphia, PA. [Northampton (later Carbon) County] Peter Roads, Capt. Public Ledger A lmanac. 1877, 188 1, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1888. ***** Since we have been very fortunate that many Friend of the Pennsylva nia German Archives have remembered u when they ha ve uch items to di po e of, we ex pect still Zeugni s das hannes heller hat gedien 1m Jahr 1782 in more will arrive in time to come. If intere ted, end u a a llen Mo ter und Battalyen Dag mit aus Er war Krank. Wa nt Li t. We may be able to help you. Of course cash Bezeyt mit mei ner hant. Pa ul Feyer, Capt. payments and cash gifts are surely welcome. We feel good whenever we can help friends. (Witnes that John Heller served in the year 1782, in all muster and Battalion Day except when he was sick. Authorized by my ha nd. Paul Feyer, Captain) MISCELLANEOUS VOUCHERS Li ted below are several miscellaneous voucher from the ***** American Revolution, taken from Pennsylva nia Militia Den 26 Abril 1784. Ich bezaige mit meinen guten willen Accounts, 1774-1794, in the collection of the Office of the und Wortern, dass ich beza hlt sieben chilling und 6 bentz Comptroller General which is located in the William Penn an Peter Fentling fur meinen drommen zu nicken. State Archives, Harrisburg, Pa. Such items are often useful Vallentein Gresch to genealogists compiling family histories. (Tran lation into English where necessary by William T. Parsons.) (26 April 1784, I certify by my good intention and tate­ ment that I paid seven shilling ix pence to Peter Fentling macunschi Daunschip, northemton caundi den 7 tag october 1778, freind Coli Baliath: ich lasse euch mit die to have my drum patched. Valentine Gre h) sempar zeilen wis en da der georg fetzer seine zewei monet in der militz geDint hat. so viel fon mir, georg knappenberger, Capten CORRECTION Due to an editorial mistake, the information about (Macungie Township, orthampton County, 7 October 1778, Friend Colonel [Stephen] Balliett: I let you know for Barbara Knox Homrighau on the "Contributors" page of the Winter 1986-87 i ue i incorrect. Mr. the regular tally that George Fetzer has served his two Homrighau co-authored a social history paper, months in the Militia. "Building a Town but Preventing a Community: A So much from me, George Knappenberger, Captain) ocial History of Centralia, Pa. 1985"; he did not do a ***** ociological tudy of Centralia.

144 INSTITUTE ON PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN STUDIES SUMMER COURSES 1987

In 1987, the Pennsy lva nia German Department presents a n Institute on Pennsy lvania Germa n Studies , unique not onl y in the United States, but anywhere in the world . 1987 is the fourteenth yea r that a full schedule of courses has been offered. A tudent may elect to register fo r eleven semes ter hour credi ts in a n eleven week period. Courses given by professors from Pennsylva nia a nd Germany are listed below, for college credit or audit. Local history sources, archi ves and Dutch country artifacts. Programs a nd fi eld trips. PA GER 201. PA GERMAN HIST & CULTU RE TO 1800 SESSION A 3 hrs day, 3 credits Dr William PARSON 1-19Jun Hi tory a nd cultura l ex perie nces of the unique ethnic group which is Pennsy lva nia German. From German o ri gins to Pennsylva nia a nd into bord ering provinces. Pla in Folk & Fancy Dutch. Religi on, crafts, folk a rt & music. Muse um and fi eld trips. PA GER 202 . PA GERM A HIST & CULTU RE SI CE 180 1 SESSION B 3 hrs day, 3 credits Dr Wm PARSONS 22 Jun-IO Jul History a nd culture of Penna Germa ns in the U.S.; in other states a nd nations. Politics, business, frontier, a rt & music. Women a mong the Folk . Pla in People in today's world . Visit Kutztown Folk Festi va l & other indoor and outdoor museums. S pea kers a nd vis ual aids; student pa rticipation. Bibliography PA GER 426 . SEMIOTIC ASPECTS OF AMISH LA GUAGES ( I week) 3 hrs day, I cred it Dr Werner ENN ING ER 13-1 7 July An examina tion of the la nguage ( Pennsylva nia Germa n, Amish High German, American Engli sh) a nd some non­ ve rba l codes (clothing, hai r a nd beard style, buggies) of the Ami h from a semi otic perspecti ve . De ve lopment, struc­ ture a nd functi on of the la nguages a nd nonve rbal codes. PA GER 427. OLD ORDER SCE ES AND SOUNDS (I week) 3 hrs day, I cred it Christia n EWSW A G ER 20-24 July A persona l view of the Old Order Amish by a nati ona lly known folk a rtist a nd a uthor, who has li ved and worked with them. Examination of the aesthetics a nd evolution of his a rtistic style. Field trip to a n Amish fa mily. Awa rd-winning documentary fi lm by the professor. Exhibition of his Amish a rt. PA GER 423 . SCHW E KFELDERS I EU ROPE AND AMERICA ( I week) 3 hrs day, I cred it Dr Monica P IEP ER 27-31 July Identificatio n a nd beliefs of Schwenkfelders from Silesia a nd Saxony. Their faith te timonies, hymn and diaries; life in Europe. Religious causes fo r emigration to Pennsylva nia; conditions encountered here. Leaders a nd develop­ ment in Penna. Schools & education; Fraktur a rt & needlework . Schwenkfelder hymns a nd litera ry activit1es. Artifacts in museum setting. PA GER 424-5 . PE A GERMAN IT EMS FOR TEACHERS (2 weeks) 3 hrs day,2 cred it Barry FLIC KER 3-14 Aug Theories a nd examples of classroom u e of Pennsylva nia Germa n materia ls; holiday & festivals, music & the arts; games a nd progra ms; dialect sayings & poetry. Movies & plays a bo ut the Folk. Enrichments data for history a nd folk culture classes. For information and enrollment forms, write to: Dr. William T. Par on , Head, Penna German & Director, In tit ute on Penna German Studie , P.O. Box 712, Collegevi ll e, PA 19426 June 27 -28-29-3U­

July 1-2-3-4-5 f 1987

GATHERINGS

The Festival and its Sponsorship The Kutztown Folk Festival is sponsored by the Pennsylvania Folklife Society, a nonprofit educational corporation affiliated with URSINUS COLLEGE, College­ ville, Pennsylvania. The Society'S purposes are threefold: First, the demonstrating and displaying of the lore and folkways of the Pennsylvania Dutch through the annual Kutztown Folk Festival; second, the collecting, studying, archiving and publishing the lore of the Dutch Country and Pennsylvania through the publi­ cation of PENNSYLVANIA FOLKLIFE Magazine; and third, using the proceeds for scholarships and general educational purposes at URSINUS COLLEGE.

I)R THE FOLK FESTIVA WRITE TO: Pennsylvania folklife Society College Blvd. & Vine, Kutztown, Pa. 19530