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Pennsylvania Folklife Magazine Pennsylvania Folklife Society Collection
Spring 1959 Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 10, No. 1 Frances Lichten
Victor C. Dieffenbach
Walter E. Boyer
Earl F. Robacker
Edna Eby Heller
See next page for additional authors
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Recommended Citation Lichten, Frances; Dieffenbach, Victor C.; Boyer, Walter E.; Robacker, Earl F.; Heller, Edna Eby; Hostetler, John A.; Shoemaker, Alfred L.; Andreas, Jeremiah W.; Shively, Jacob G.; Bowman, John Butz; Smith, Elsie; and Baver, Florence, "Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 10, No. 1" (1959). Pennsylvania Folklife Magazine. 5. https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/pafolklifemag/5
This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Pennsylvania Folklife Society Collection at Digital Commons @ Ursinus College. It has been accepted for inclusion in Pennsylvania Folklife Magazine by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Ursinus College. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Authors Frances Lichten, Victor C. Dieffenbach, Walter E. Boyer, Earl F. Robacker, Edna Eby Heller, John A. Hostetler, Alfred L. Shoemaker, Jeremiah W. Andreas, Jacob G. Shively, John Butz Bowman, Elsie Smith, and Florence Baver
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EDITORS :
Dr. Alfred L. Shoemaker, M anaging SPRING 1959, VOL. 10, NO. I D r. D on Y ocl er, A ssociate DEPARTMENT E DITOR : Contents D r. E a rl F . R obacker, A ntiques Frances Lich ten, Art Craf ts : 2 "Tramp Work" : Penknife Plus Cigar Boxes Henry .J . K auff man, X V III Century FR.\ XCES Ll HTEN Olive G . Zehner, Contempora1'Y LeR oy Gensler , D esign 8 Tramps of My Youth Rev. Thomas R. Brend le, Folklore V I CTOR C. DI EFFENBAC H Edna Eby H ell er, Food Frederick \V eiser, Genealogy 14 The German Broadside Songs of Dr. Arthur D. Graeff, H istory Pennsylvania \\. a l tel' E. Boyer, L iterature II' ALTE R E. B OYE R Dr . .T. William Frey, M u. ic 20 The Ri se of Interest 111 Folk Art S BSCRIP TION R ATES : E ARL F . R OBA CKER 5.00 a year in the nited tates ancl Canacla. E lse\\'here fi fty cent a ddi t i o n al fo r postage. ingle 30 Dutch Treats for Breakfast cople TOO. EDXA E BY H E LLE R
1\1 A D PHOTOG RAPH : 33 The Am.ish, Citizens of Heaven and America The Editor will be glad to consider J H N A. Ho. TETLER M and photographs ent with a vi ew to publication. When un ui t able, and if accompanied by return 38 Collectanea po tage, every care will be exer ALF RE D L .• H OE;.rAK E R ci ed toward t heir return, a lthough no responsibility fo r their afety 42 My Great-Grandmother i a sumed. .JI;:rm ;'IJ .\ H \\'. A~\, DR EAS PE~X S YLVAXI A F OLKLIFE, Spring ] 9.59 , Yo\. ]0, N o. ] , pub 43 Old Sweitzel"'s Ghost li shed . emi-a nnuall y by the P enn sylvania Folkli fe Roc i ty, Inc., Ire. t King. 't., Lancaster, P a. 8x ec utivc ancl editoria l office 21 \\'. 44 Pastimes of My Youth :\ Iain . 't., K utztoll'n, P a. Content, Copyril-!h ted .J Oll'" B UTZ B O W~1A N 4 6 Battalion Day ELS II~ ,':'TI T TT
4 7 Seven Day Make One Wept
F LO RlcXCE B AVER 1. Comb and Brush holde r: ill7 ple but characteristic piece of edge carving.
2. Hanging Dressing Cabinet, three feet in height, is delightful ex am pIe of edge carving a/ its best.
2 "TRAMP WORI("": Penknife Plus Cigar Boxes
By FRANCES LICHTEN
"Tramp ll"Ork," a blunt and unflattering term for a broad category of old-time craft, has been passed over by antique co llector- in their pre ent-day co mpetition for article of fo rmer days. Yet these articles, locally dubbed "tramp Ilork," were whim ical and often most attractive exampl es of handwork quite worthy of a collector's con ideration. They II·ere contrived fr0111 wa te materi al-di carded cigar boxes-and the only tools requisite we re patience and a harp pcnknife. :\ly mo t important piece of tramp work lI'a acquired in an amu ing fashion. I was spending a weekend in a J enn ylvani a Dutch farmhou e, and my ho tess had sent me out to her summer kitchen to~look at a nonde cript aggregation of old golden oak pi eces of furniture which he had collected and pile 1 up for her hu band to re tore and rcfi ni h. He is an amiable man who spends t he weekends
3. Match Holder, whose contour sugge ts the work oj primitive peoples.
3 Courtesy: Notional Callery 0/ Art. Index 0/ American Design. 4. Wooden casket. c. 7860--1890. Carved all four ide with traditional lIlolif froll1 cigar box. and then mounted on a ba e.
4, working in hi barn with tho e engro 'si ng ma ~c ulin e play in antiqur s h op~, things-modern power tools, Ou r chief ~ollrce of materi al, hOII'C' I'c r, fo r ou r const ru c In the midst of thi heterogeneous collect ion I had spied tion pro.iect~ II'a~ a pi lc of ciga r box scraps, whi ch was an object \I'hich was to send me back to the fa rmhouse intended for kindling, :\1,1' fat her, JI1 hi s ro le of customer kitchen bubbling oyer with enthu s i a~m , Even in the dim of the facto ry \I'hi ch turned out ciga r I oXt's, 11'C1~ el'idently greeni h light which filtered in thro\lgh the litile yine gi \'cn a IOi1d of thi s sc rap from time to time, From t h e~r covered Irindow of the old tone building I could ~ee that bit s of cedar, we cont ri \'rd e ndl C'~f' ]liece~ of doll flll'niture, on this object mirror gli ttered, and that it ~ entire surfacc JT nd t, as a child, e\,er see n piC'ces of the craftsma n ~ hi p I was worked Irith fin e carving, In tha t lOll' ligh t I did not noll' fi nd so appea ling a cx,1J1lples of peasa nt handi craft, I cxamine it carefully enough to decide on i t~ purpose, buL might have tried to orn ament the edge~ of my piece" in like my hoste recogni zed it, neyerthele", from m~ ' meage r fas hi on, Perhaps at that time I did seC' them but b~ ' pa s~e d de cription and grabbed her ister by the arm. ~ uch objects then a "countrificd," or, more lik e l ~', was dis "Emil y," ehe ea id , " burr~ ' out to the summer ki tc hen and co uraged from attemptin g surh carving b~' the invari abl e get that old tbing and give it to her before ~ b e changes her dulln ess of such pcnknivc ~ as little girl s possesscd. mind! " In a few minu te Emily returned with " tha told While edge ca rving wa s the fina l simplificat ion of the thing"-a bulky yet not too h avy object. In the brighter age-old craft of wood-ca n 'ing, it fa ll ~ Il'ithin its most primi light, I sa w that it I\"a a hanging dre, ~ in g cabin et, deco rated ti l'e dil'ision-that of chip ca1'ving, Chip ca n 'ing was a Il'ith II'hat-for Irant of a better name-I hall ca ll "edge tec hni que prac ti sed throughout the ce nturie by peasants ra rying," In a tastefu l fa hi on, it co ml)i ned small mirror ~, pf many coun tri es and, eve n today, b)' S<1 I'<1ge t ri bes. As a special ection to hold brush and co mb, toO'et hcr with four soon a man del'ised a cutting tool nnd Il'as movee! to little dra IVers for t rinkets, deco rate the objects he mad C', chip can'ing el'olvee!, :\Iy ho te, looked at the cabinet, and then at me, q\liz (" hi p ca rving ca n be defi ned as ornament Il'hi ch is produced zica ll~ ', saying, "Do you really Ira nt it~ IVe were going to r ntirely wit h knife or c hi ~e J. All its ba~ i c cuts nre tria ngular burn it wh en we get round to cleaning out the summer in "hnpe, and the I\' hole ~c b e m e of de:,ig n is made up of kitchen." combin ations of thesr ~m;l ll e l e men t~, Three in cision s of "Indeed I do," I repli ed, "I think it is beautiful and I the knife producC' n t ri ,tn gul ,lI' pocke,t, fou r, a ~ qu a r e one, knoll' just Il'here I am going to pl ace it." I n edge carving , two di agona l cut:; faci ng rach oth C' r at a In my mind's eye, I already all' it h\lng in a tiny hall in .J.5 ° angle m,ld e on the edge of a piece of Il'ood producr a my city apartment, it wa rm cedar brow ns harmoni zing diamond shapr, In edge ca n 'i ng , this met hod of chi pping delightfully with the co ral color of the wa ll. It hangs there edge is the o nl~ ' d e~ig n elemr nt C' mp}oyed, but oddl y r nougb, today, and i , to me, the mo t attractil'e piece of P e nn ~y l it wa~ one ('~c h ewecl by the chi p ca rver , The latter co nfined "1ll1i a Dutch \\'orkmanship I pos ee ' their decoratil'e effo rts to the fidd of obj ecL they ornn ":\lother will be , 0 pleased you arc ta king it," my h oste~~ l11e nt E' d, and ignored the (' dge~, went on. "It u ed to belonO' to her, he ca n tell you all The technique of edgr ca rTing req uired the ~ impl rst of about it." rC]uipment. After the piece,; of the design Il'e re cut out and This Il'olk of art-for such it actuall ,l' i ~-was made of the ornamented on the r d ge~ wit h a penknifC', tbrl' co uld be Il'ood of dii'ca rd ed ciga r boxe , and is a splendid exa mpl e a ...... ;embl ed Il'ith a ham mer, some brad~, and gl ue, X 0 I'i, e of edge ca n 'ing, Edge-ca rved Irork ::eems to me to be the Ir a~ neC'ded to hold the piece, fo r the chip ca rver cou ld la::t unlval-in the direct linC'--of the pea"a nt t radition hrace hi ~ wo rk aga in ~t hi ::; hod~ ' to s tC' <1 d~' it. With tbiR in II'oodcarving, object in thi technique being produced in ~ upport , hr could p roceed to place his ~ mall slanting cuts the late 19th century, These a rticl e~ han> enormou appea l in a de li berate m,lnner, rnn wbile C' ngaging in Iivel,I' poli tic,11 for me, I find them touchinO' examples of the c r afts m a n '~ lI rgum ent Il'ith fellow whittler ~, The cra ft of edge cal'l'ing losing fight again t industrialism whi ch wiped out the craft InlS one Il'hi ch lC' nt it elf to Ro ciabilit,l' as it co uld be followed tradi ti on in a fell' decades . II'herevcr the \I'hittling f r ate rni t~, co ngregatrd- in such II'ell T' e rh ap~ ml' inte r e~t in objects made from ciga r box woocl known ce n ter~ of good talk <15 the benc h e~ o ut ~i d e the io fou nded on nostalgia , for in m~ ' childhood, though raw co untr~ ' store, in the dim co rn e r ~ of lil'ery ~tab l e or black material for children', p ro jcct~ was hard to CO Jl1 e by, t here ~ mit h ~ h op, or around tho stOI'C, II'a, plenty of cigar hox wood arou nd home. :\Iy father Or t be ca n 'P I' mi ght be fo und adding h i~ minute chips ',I'a one of the m a n~ ' manufacturers Il'ho establi shed ciga r of (' dar to the litter of ~ h a \'ing s on the floor of a fn rm factories in the Lehigh Y alle~' and adj acent co un ties in the I\'o rkshop Il'hose am iable Oll' n(>[ had prol'idcd him Il'it h a late nineteenth centUly-a region in Il'hic h labor in t hi s Hight'" lodgin g, mea ls, and ~o m e di sca rd ed box C's in exc hange , pecializrd trade wa plentiful. Quitr a fell' of our pl ay fo r a pirco of hi s tedio usl,l' prod uced handll'ork alld the t h ing~ were b~'p r oducts of the ciga r-m anufactu ring busi l ate~t reporb on the doings in the cou n t r~ 's id e througb nr~~ : among thp~r were lovely sa mplr boob of ciga r box which hi" wallde rin g~ took him, In the m,lin , edge ca n 'ing It.brb, !!'Ii ttering Ivitb gold e l1lbo ~s ing and ri (' hl ~ ' co lored 1I',lS prnC'l iscd b,l' el d(TI~ ' German immigra n t ~ whom thr lithography, Then therc were littlc packeL of "hin .\' cigar machine age had p i 1 ~~e d b~ ', ,\'hatel'er thei r craft m a~' hand~, also bright orange and ~'rllow ribbon ~ braring printrd hnl'e been, there wa~ no long( r a n~ ' demand for it. But inscriptions which Il'rre lI sed to tir around bundlr;.; of ('igar~, ('wn wit hout an,l' me , tn ~ of support, the.I' still lik ed to k ep The lattrr two iteJl1i' were ]lar tic lllarl~ ' ~o ught aftrr b~ ' hu ~~', ~o tu rn rd 10 the making of ~ mall I\'ooden ob.i ects whi ch ladie", who collrctrd in hoth categorir~ from their cigar t h e~' co uld prdelle throughout the ('ountry ~ icl e, or exc hange ~moking frirndr< ane! relatiwf'. The cigar band:,; they tran ~ fer a mgbt's lodgi ng and a ll1 C'a l r two , formed into a~ht r a~'s, hy gluing them to the underside of To fi nd thr raw material for their craft pr e~e nt d no glass tray, in formal pat tern s, TIl(' ribbons t 11(',1' ~e\Ve d problem, Cigar box(' ~ were pi ntiful at the tUI'l1 of the rogrt l1Pr In geoJl1etrical arrangrJl1e nt , to make c'u ~ hi o n tops, (enlur.I', al' m('n ~ !l1 oked eiga rs, not eiga rC'ttes, .\Illong t1w Both itf'm" in great vog1le a half-c'enturl' ago, noll' tllrn lip ~o lid citizen r ~' ciga rettC'Cl, rlul bC'eI "coffin nail s," hnd made
5 ourtesy: Norman mith , Lenhartsville, Po. 5. Multiple mirror lrame, with cresting whittled Irom cigar box wood. A pea ant simplicity is evident.
6 little headway. 'iga r bow provided ju t the kind of wood con truction can be deduced from certain piece of wood the ca rn' rs preferred for their work-thinly 'awed, fine wh ich a re much longe r than tho e provided by the a veragc grained, not too ha l' I, and lIith a moothly fini hed surface. box. Furthermore, it did not plinter easily. I have been tolel by ome one Il'ho remember t he old The average piece of edO'e ca n 'C'd \I'o rk wa ma Ie of cut ti me yendors of edge-carved work (it wa he II'ho ca lled il nd haped piece of II'ood, each bo rdered with evenly cut it "tramp \I'ork") t hat t he cold felloll' used to inquire of notches. The e piece were t hen assembled in layer, suc the cu' tomers they met on their rounds whether the~' had cessively c1imini hing in sizC', so that the email diamond any boxes or bits of broken mirrors to givc all'ay. I ca nnot shaped notche pre ented a ri ch effect, one often of almo t state with a n~' authori ty whether thi type of work II'a' Oriental intricac~', yet an intricacy achi eyed by the mo t made in other s ctions of the United States. I, myself, elementary of means. ometime there were as man~' as have noted exa mples only in eastern Pennsylvani a. I might ten or tweh'e layer of edge carved piece. The average ve nture a gues!:', hOIl'ever, that in all likelihood, they were piece, however, attained a fairly elaborate effect II'ith but produced in thi locale-as it was one II'here the craft t radi fo ur or fiye layers. tion lingered on-and b~' the itinerant cra ftsman who could Before \\'orking on the C'dge of a piece, the craftsman IIOt fi t into t he \I'orld of machinery. chimmel, that well had to have a clea r picture-either in hi s mind or drawn publicized 1I'00dcarver of the nineteenth century, was an on paper-of what he planned to make. Each layer of a old German wanderer of thi type. H e, like the edge motif had to be cut out in order that it would be smaller carvers, \yorked with scrap material he picked up, and than the one heneath it, so that each notched edge would practised hi craft in such malc haunts as wago n hops, be \·isible and thu contribu te it bit to the general decora 0 1' even when ea ted along the road id e, working away at tive etfect. his birds and eagles with hi cIa p knife. Although come craft~men piled up the e multiple layers ::Jcwspaper holders, picture and mirror frames, doll furni on their pieces, ot h er~-II ' ith les~ , kill , les material, 0 1' ture, sewing boxes, t rinket cases and match holders a re but rerhap less patiencc--\I'ere content to notch t he edge of a fCII' of the a rti cles deco rated with edge carl'ing, or if not a decoratiye fo rm and appl~' this form as a si nO'le layer to carved in that fashion , II'ere made from the sa mc ciO'ar box a plain background. (ee illu. t ration l.) Edge carving \\'ood. All di play a ce rtai n charm and artistic pea ant embelJi hed many small ohjects whi ch were planned to catch f)uality. tbe homemaker's fancy. One of the com monest wa the Illustration 1 holl' a brush a nd comb holder which is brush and comb holder. Eyery farmhouse had one of t hese typical of the impler form of this a rticle found in Penn- aid to rural good grooming, placed beneath a small looking ylvani a Dutch lo ca le . Thi ~piece is ornamented with gla hung in the kitchen, or on the back porch near the several 1 orders of chip ca rl'ing, together with variou edge ]lump. Answering the ca ll of the dinner bell to meal, the ca rved 1'0 etteR. A gouge chi eI wa used to add a linear men on tbe farm cleaneelup at the p ump, grabbed the brush decoration. llnd comb from the holder, and gave their hair a ha ty Illustration 3 is a match holder whose can 'ing is much slickin CT oyer before sitting lown to t he huge meal ]lrovided more preci e than on mo. t pieces I have seen. This very daily by the country \\'ife. B ru ~h and comb holder added arcuracy of workmanl'hip suggests that it may not have 11 (ouch of ornamentation all'o to bedroom. , an I in ome been made by a n itinerant whittleI' in P enn ylvania, but in:,tance \yore ext remely elaborate pieces of wo rkmanship. that it ca me from that co un t ry of skill ed \rQod carvers, Illustration 2 pictures the piece which hangs in my hal hYay; II'i tzerland. it is the large t and best -d e~igned that I have ever een. "While not an exa mpl e of edge ca rving, the casket shown Studying it in detail, one get the id ea that it might have in Illustration 4 fall~ in thi s cateO'o ry of cra ft 1I'0rk, for it, been planned a, a wedding gift, so sentimental a re t he too, is made of ciga r boxes, its decoration being both carved clements of its design. The, e include fiye hea rt-shaped a nd pi ercd. The ornament, cut in separate pi ece, was mirror , additional heart>; can'ed of \I'ood, plu that ymbol mounted on a ciga r box foundation. The bird and flower of good luck-the horse hoe-and yarious unit II'hich re [ll'e \I'ell designed , yet pleasantly primitive. Here again, the oemble pairs of cherubs' \I'ings. :\Iy piece is probably not u~r of a chi seled line a dcl ~ needed detail to the imple forms the unique creation I fir~t thought it lI'a~, fo r friend who of the birds. Half-round molding is tacked on for fin ish haunt count r ~' auction. told me that t h e~' 8aw a sim il ar a nd further embell ishment. This piece was obviously pro but not so large or elegant an example, come up recently luced by 130m one II'ho lovec! to wield a penknife, and is at a sale. ~ upp osed to have been made in Berks County, P nnsylvania, From my friend's motlwr, I learned the hi tory of the in the 1 O's or 1890's. cabinet. It wa. made in .\Ilentown in the Lehigh oun ty Illustration 5. The cre ti ng on the top of this multiple Jail by a man \\'ho was placed there becau~e he didn't up jJicture framc was deyi, eci by .ome one also \\'ho lik cl to port his wife. Thi8 "tor~ ' made it (·lea r where the carvel' (' ut a n I whittle. The I ird a nd lea f form could hardly be fonnd the time to lavish 1'0 much Inbor on t he piece, and jmpler in outline than the~ ' a rc . ,Vhat enrichment the ma~' even explain ~ome of the sentiment al aRpects, si nce bird motif po. e se~ was added b~ T closely set line, made 111' had amplr time for repentance ami rcflection. In addi with a CTollge chi el to in li cate feathers and vei nings. The tion to the lI'in!!' shapes Il'hirh he adcleel to diversify t he Cr ting is initialed, but lI'hethel' the e ini tial represent the ontline of my particular cabinet, t here arc appliques of carver or the owner, no one can ~ay. Thi, again, i a -mall ro~ett c~, hearts, and bordrr~ of linked ovalR, all noteh piece of loca l origin. ('dgecl. Thc ornamentation on thi~ piecc i~ built up of foul' Before t he instinct for ca rving in the oIl craftsmen finally layers. Thr piecc is madc entirelv of cigar box wood, flickered out, it ca n 1 e se n from t hese fell' exa mple -an 1 fa~tenrd togethrr with glllr ami brad '. ,'omr of t he drawer, I know that many more ca n be found-that r ("a ll~ ' a l' List ie made of thr box it~rlf, still brar thr brand marks of the ohject WNe prodll crd from that hUlllbl eHt f matcrials factory. That (·igu r boxe. of various. 'izr ' were u: d in its the discardPcl cigar box.
7 Tramps of My Youth 0 0 00 00 0 0 By VICTOR C. DIEFFENBACH Tramps, when I mlS a youth-in the 1890's-were a remember- was a genuine, dyed-in-the-wool German. He frequent sight on alma t a ny co untry road. Today they co uld swim in Inge r beer. I do not knoll' of hi working, but ha ve a It bu t d isa p pea red. he would playa monstrous ha rmonica in the country taverns 'Webster defin es n trnmp n a foot-walker. This accord~ fo r d rinks. He could keep it up a long Winter's eve and with the Pennsylvania Dutch designa tion "der rum-Iayfer. " still be quite abel'. ome of the wanderers were also called "en bettelmann," If one cnme to a country inn some fifty year ago and sa w that is, one who begs; nnd veril y most, if not nil , did .iust a short, thick et man, witb a big bea d, round a a bullet, a that. Some, though, were very helpful a round the fa rm . closely cli pped mustache, nnd hnvi ng a pencil and making Whenever a knight of the road asked for a handout or fo r pot-hooks, curve and curlicues on a sheet of paper-thnt permission to Icep in t he bnrn, he wn customa ril )' nssigned was Eddie Brnun. It II'ould not ta ke more t hnn ten minutes :1 stint :"It the II'oodpile to saw or cut wood in to stovc-Iength, when the paper wou ld cen e to revolve, and t he sketch was ~ uffi c i e nt for a fell' dn)',' requirement. I remember the time fi ni shed. H e lI'ould draw a nyone', feature for a drink. Iyh en lye hnd nll gone to a nearby sa le. ''i' hen we came home, Eddie drank chnapp ; nnd he would get drunk. there in front of the barn sat a t ramp. One cou ld sec he Then t here wa a smnll , todgy, bcwhi skercd old gent; had been Iyorking, his shirt wa weat-sonked . H e wa "des T routmannly" i, II'h nt he n l way~ called himcclf. W hat making hi pipe, mealmhile fa nning him elf with his hat. ail ed hi s eye I do not knOll', but the cdges of his cyelid He had been to t he woodpile a nd hncl cut enough II'ood to wc re raw and fie ry red, as though someone had cut off a lnst over a month. ::Jaturally (hi fellow wa one of t he thin strip. H e came to Dad's pl nce fo r )'ea r , nnd he lI'a.; " regula rs," the name we a signe I to t hose t r a mp ~ who came always cheerful and gn~·. H c, too, was a Germa n. Il lway at certain time, of t he ~ ·ea r. Some II·ottid he nrou nd Old ~J a r x was a clown. He would tell u tall talc of only twice 11 yea r- in the Spring nnd F all. Others would come four t im es a yen r, and a few, who did not mind working; nnd who liked good food and a good clea n bcd, would come IlS often perhap a every other month. The latter were for t he most part clea n in garb and habit. One of them, for instance, always aid grace at table. D ad always insisted that if one was good enough to work a day in t he field or 1V00d , he was entitled to a good Il"a rm meal with t he fn lllil~·. The tramps who passed th rough ou r northwestern pa rt of Berks County ca me from many d ifferent countrie. l\I n n ~ ' , I would gue three-qua rters of t hem, were Germa ns; in fac t in our Pennsylvania Dutch speech t he word "en D eitscher" or a German was synonymous with t ramp. M y parents ga\'(' shelter to Briton , Irishmen, F rench, Itali ans and on e lone paniard. J ell' by t he score came a round, but t hese were in another category. Al 0, once in a while a negro would co me along, but very, very seldom . And there wa one lone specimen from the "F lowery Kingdom"-J apan .
WHO THEY WERE
Of all t he tramp, Professor Kintzel was my fnvori te; he, \\'as a big, heavil y built man, with a fl owing red beard, thi ck-l ensed glasses, plus a hear t of gold. H e II'n s a ma the matician nnd an astronomer. While just a kid of tender year I watched him and listened to hi s High German as he tl\ught my older brother the rudimen ts of a lgebra. Seated at the big table in the ki tchen, he would explain in detail ''1l"ie ix ist zu zett" (a X i to Z) un til I fell asleep listenin o to his droning voice. "Der D eitsch Fridder"-what hi la t name wn s I do not
8 the Ba ron :\lunchha usen yari ety un t il we laughed and cri ed C ha rley 1(ell er \I'as a taciturn ma n. H e seemed to be in s imult aneou~ly . continual retrospect. ITe would it for hours by t he fire, A spare, wi?ened gnome, lea ding a n emaciated nag, too silent a the Sphinx. \\'eak to carr~' a rider on it back, a nd a lw a ~ 's accompanied Cha rley Winter, like K ell er, wa tall a nd thin, but more by a dog or tll'O- that \I·a. "c\rr \Yaldfogel. " \Vhether thi!' loquacious. itting by the fire, hi pipe a -O'l ow, a nd a mug was hi real name or not 1 ca nnot tell ; it is t he onl y name of cider nea rby, he Il'ould regale us for hours at a sitting. \I'e eyer found out a nd he was a bi rd from the woods, a his I-Ie wa from Bava ri a, and spoke more like a P enn ylva ui a na me implied . Dutchma n tha n a rea l Germa n, although he I\'ould interj ect K a p CI' Xebelhut \I'as (a ll and !knee and break that tick in two stars; \\' h ~ ' t here a ren't that ma n ~' llames.) like a radish . H e would look at the splintered ends almost P rofessor IJein(zelmann aL a \\'as hi ghl y educated . H e as t hi ck a a ma n's a rm, smil e, a nd a ~', "That took almost ',I'as uffe ring from a respira tor.\' disease a nd Il'as unfi t fo l' as much as old K a rl von Kurlmurt's a rm did." ha rd labor, although he was a willing wo rker. H e had hi s Ot to W a rfel II'as also big and fa t; he had a face like a home Il'ith I-fa rry , toudt, a fa rmer lil'ing nea r H o t, a nd ha rve't moo n a nd his old pipe sta nk \I'orse tha n a skunk. there, on(' da~', he died. H e is buried at St. J ohn's (H ost) H e was a k a~'s jolly . If one fill ed him wi th cider, he would Church a nd has a nice tom bstone made of cone I' teo be ga rrulou a ncl a clown to boot. He used to a y he had And t hen t here were "The F ou r Cha rli es"-that is II'hat bcen a n "Unteroffi zicr." B e would make a wax threa d, my D ad always ca ll ed t hem: C ha rl ey Smi th, ha rl ey K ell er, gra b a n a wl a nd mend ome ha rne. a nd roa r at hi own C ha rl e\' W inter, a nd C ha rlie Stra usb. These men a!ll'ays jokes. H e allmy' ma in tained he had been t he saddler's came fo ur times a yea r a nd tayed oycr night. In winter, a si ta nt of Count yon H assin gen, but had to fl ee his country or in in clement weather, t h e~' would lin O'e r fo r a da.\' or t \\'o. fo r some mi deed. '('yeral t im es two of t hem ca me t he same evening, but onl y St. John was a ta ll pan i,lI'd , thin as a boa rd a nd wiry as once a fa r as I reca ll did K ell er a nd Winter come one night; ra w-hide. H e t raveled li ght, a tin box of paint in tube a nd they, tayed the next da~', and late the foll owing afternoon also water colors in ca ke or in little cup . H e had colored cam Smith, but he di d not seem to be popul a r with the inks enough to paint a ra inbow. H e was a n eXI ert at fractur other - he wa~ ~et in his ways a nd lots of folk. couldn't get 2nd so was D ad ; 0 one ca n imaO'in e wha t ha ppened. If it along wit h hi m. :\ [ o~t fo lks just call e I him "del' chittel rained or nowed he wo ul d tay for days at a time. H e "chmidt" (sha king Smith ) berall se his head was continually would draw a nd paint a ngel a nd ha rps a nd bird , in fact shaking, owin g to ~ome nE'ryous d iso rder. H e wa quick .'I nything one ugge ted ; a nd the)' a ll seemed to be a live, witte 1 a nd fu ll of fUll. One ni ghL he sUI ~'e d with a n ol d they looked so na tural. H e also ca rriecl a ra pier or fencing cou ple; t he old 111 'ln was \ 'e r ~' close-fi sted . ,0, when they fo il. 1t II'as a thin, na rrow bl ade of the v e r~T fin est steel, so sat down to t he table (hr re \\'(' re \'ery fell' yi ctuaL ( 0 be een. supple that he could I ring the point back to the hilt, forming T he old man said grace. C ha rl ey said , "Er hu t lung un loud a circle . I t was razor-sha rp, a nd the wiry fellow said he li n ~onneft li n ~eas gal'a iL" (H e p ra.\'ed long and loud, a nd owed hi s life to it more tha n once. 1 ca n till sec tha t mC'ek and ~wea(.J \'i'lw n til(' old miser said " Amen" ha rley whirling, f1 ashin17 bl ade, swinging, thru ting, pa rrying stroke, I' o~e from hif' ~rat and ;;a id, ":\Ia ny tha nks fo r t he prayer from a n Im agin a ry foe, as he la ne d on the kitchen fl oor it \\'a' short a nd 111 place," a nd he ('o ntinu ('d , "but as fa r a at night. I would it like a frog catching fli es-mouth agape the eat,; are conc('rn('
9 DRES A D ACCOUTREMENT classe of people in thei r peregrinations, rubbing off the harp co rners, as it were, and al 0 seeing how the other fellow As a rule the tramps wore ordinary work-clothes. Once does it. Once their wanderlust wa a uaged, thei r goal in a while there would be a real ragamuffin. Kintzel always accompli hed, many a one would return to hi native shore wore a collar and a tring-tie. Once, in a hilariou mood, and settle down to a succe sful career. he got a monocle out of ru pack, put it to his eye and then he did look like a professo r. ATTITUDE OF MY ELDER All wo re heavy leather knee-length boots and these usually had truck half-soles, some being reinforced with hob nails. A a rule, tramp we re always welcome at our home, as A tall old Swiss carried a gen uine "Alpenstock"; t lli was long as they behaved, that is. Dad was very trict in onr a rugged cane of more than ordinary length, made of very thing : they had Lo give him their suppl y of matche beforE' tough wood. It had a brass ferrule at the lower end and a they were allowed to enter the barn . On e time a newcomer heavy, quare iron pin in the middle of it ; this pin was came on a Win ter' eve; it wa cold and "looked fo r now ," about an inch long, that is, it stuck out that far and wa as we Dutch put it. .f] e gave Dad a small tin box containing quite sharp. Whenever he came to our home he would go possibly a dozen or 0 of matche. I was ready to go to into the hop, pu t the cane in the vise and fil e that pin to a town. 'When I came back later, I smelled tobacco moke han) point. as soon a I entered the horse-stable and when I got in the The Italian and the Spaniard wore clo thes of a different house I told Dad abou t it. (Jo one of our entire family pattern. The lone Japanese, however, looked like an Ameri used tobacco in any form.) Dad goL a lantern and we both can, if viewed from a di tance. Only ru s slant eyes, hi went out to the feed-entry where the "Weary Willie" lay, speech, and rus perpetual grin betrayed rus nationality. presumably asleep. Dad roughly hook him and he finally Most of the tramp had a strong canvas-bag slung over "woke" up. Dad told him he wantedllis pipe and the t ramp their shoulder by a leather trap or thong ; it had an promptl~ ' went and got it out of hi pack ; it wa cold. I ext ra outer covering of oilcloth or some kind of waterproof was ure the man had been moking a different pipe when material. he arrived- one with a lid on the bowl. 0 I told rum, and Some tramps had quite a few cooking utensils in their he started to grumble. Dad grabbed rum and hauled rum pack : a kettle, a pan, and a small coffee-pot. All German to his feet; he made him empty rus pockets and out came a were inveterate coffee drinkers. Some had a tiny tool kit knife, a small purse, and a co uple of matche ·. Dad hollered, stowed in the bottom of the pack, and any such tool was "The pipe! Out with it or I'll kill you! " Finally he pro usually of superior workmansrup. One old Swiss wa a duced it from an inner pocket, the pipe he had been smoking watchmaker ; he took Dad's old watch apart right there in on arrival and also at the time I came home. The bowl t. he shop, on the workbench, and pu t all the tiny wheels in was stili warm. Dad took the pipe, matche and all and a little glass dish. He had a magnifying glass which h(' told him he could get it next morning. ,Vhen we walked would screll' into his eye-socket. 1 thought he would never to the house Dad said to me, "That dirty rascal will never get all the tiny part back in place again . eeing ho\\' I again leep in my barn! " And he didn 't. He was gone the was watching rum, and undoubtedly recognizing my incredu next monling wh en \\'e got out to the ba.rn ; he never came lous visage for what it was, he handed me the glass. When back. Dad put the pipe and the pur e on a helf in the T looked through it, the tiny wheels that were only half a::; big as a clime looked as if they belonged in a wheelbarrow. Turning to Dad, I said, " 'iss net del' Deitsch, siss es gla ws !" And they both laughed at me.
CLAS IFJCATION OF TRAMPS Qui te a fe\\' of the tramps were shiftless and lazy and did no t seem to care about their per onal appearance. But as 11 rule they were quite clean, and many a time far ahead of their host in sanitation . Some few were filthy. Some tramps were inebriate : they soaked up schnapp like a sponge; other would drink, buL moderately. Once my Dad offered to pay uch a vagrant if he would help u get in two load::; of hay; he refused to help. He said , "I don't like to wo rk . If you did pay me, I'd just go to town and drink it up. So I'll go to town and play cards and if I win I can buy a fel\' drinks; if I don 't win, it i still easier than pitching hay." Some tramp would pick up anything lying loose . 0 do some other fo lk::;. But a a rule th y were honest. Were they ignoramusses? No, not by a long shot. The [LVerage tramp was oft time;; much better educated than the man who sheltered him . If they did no t have much book learning they were so much mol' proficient in their craft or trade. Especially so were the Germans. Many of the yo unger ones were "Handwerks-burschen" or journeymen. They had to be far advanced in their trade pl'eviou to thei r wanderings in other lands. They had to associate with all
10 he carved it into the ::;hape of a head, a Bi ma rck, Lincoln , Washington, a negro, Christ and his disciple. Some he old for a dollar ; orn e co t more, depending on the subject and the work he had done on it. I remember how Dad was cutting out li ttle owl , kittens, dogs, deer, roosters, bird , ducks, eagles, and even an ele phant ou t of tin for making cooky cutter . Fir t he would draw the sketches on paper and then t ran fer them to the tin . Then he cut naITOII" strips of tin to form the cutting part ; and these had to be oldered to the backs of these cutouts. And right there came thi tramp. "Ach du lieber! " he said . a saying he got a fine soldering-iron from his pack and also som e flu x; it was mu ch better than Dad's flux of rosin. Both went to work and bl" dusk thel' had a miniature Noah' Ark in the old hop. • . In the late eigh teenth century, when John J acob Dieffen bach (an ance tor of mine) was building one of t he very first pipe organs ever built in Am eri ca, he bought the zinc for t he pipes in big shee ts in Philadelphia and had them conveyed to hi fa rm a mile we t of Bethel by a Conestoga wagon . When the time came to older the pipe he found out he could not do it. So he stored the solid walnut case and everything in an old pigsty and there it rested for several years. According to family t radi tion a t ramp came along later and taught him how to older and my forebea r fi nished his fir t organ in 177 . I som etimes think that the knowledge of this family tr a d~tion gave both my Dad and ~ hop and there it was for a year or more. One day he said, Grandad a leaning toward the German tramps. "That maker will never shall' up to cl aim this stuff." So Cobblers were no rarity among these wanderers; they he opened the purse . It held three pennies . Dad aid I II"ore ou t a lo t of shoes and boots; and, not being pas e sed could have them as 1 was the one who had noticed the of much money, they did their own.J11ending. 1 had a pair different pipe. The pipe he burned. of shoes soled by such a tramp and everyone asked me who ~ly Grandmother often gave the tramps a glass of milk, made such a ni ce job of it. The tramp also sewed patches fresh whol e milk or butter milk ; ome I\" anted the one kind, on shoe and did a job as ni ce a if it had been done by a some the other. So one day in the Spring, shortly after machine. dinner, he and 1 were in the garden and there is a tramp ~( Umbr ell as to mend?" he 1V0uld holler at the top of hi and ask for a cup of coffee. Grann y had just emptied the VOI ce wh en he ca me down the road. And mend them he did. coffee-pot and wa hed it. a 'he told him she had no coffee He'd have a bundle of " keletons" on his back; the e he but she would go and get him some milk. "Yes, 1 can drink picked up wherever he could, rega rdl e of their condition. milk," he said, "but I would have liked coffee much better. H e often needed but one piece to make a broken down But if you have none, I'll drink milk, but I like coffee so umbrella look like new. And how he II'ould mend them wi th much better! " Granny lI" a ready to go down the twenty II-ire, tin and solder. Usually he ca me in the earl y prinO" t wo stone steps to the brick-arched underground cell ar wh ere before the rainy sea on. ", the milk was kept. She wa a biO" fat old woman ancl although this wa harcl for her to do, yet he would ~l a dl y One t ime Dad had a wagon to paint for omeone a nd wh en have done it ; bu t wh en he kept on II'ith hi wrangling "he about half fini shed, he go t sick. The job was upposed to got mad. She lammed the door and yelled, "Datt iss di e be fini shed by such a day and the own er had quite a distance . bump, datt konsht du soufa un won du sell net O"l eichsht I could not do it, although I lI"ould help at painting. So don mach dich fo rdt! " (There ta nd the pump, there Y O~ when thi tramp came (1 do no t remember his name) Dad can get yourself a drink ; and if that doesn't sui t you, why told him his trouble. The Germa n sa id he hould only tell hIm what color the stripes II-ere to be and he would put them you 'd better be on yo ur way.) on ; and so he did. Dad could tripe a wh eel in a jiffy, bu t At our home t ramps Il" ere given the ame food we ate. the tramp dId three to Dad's one; he went like a mechani cal One day an old German was sitti nO" in Dad's coachmakinO" toy-no sudden jerky movement -all went like a clock. shop, whittling a nd smoking his pi p~. All at once he looked Dad wa heavy and clumsy, ancl the tra mp hopped a round up and aid , "Your neighbor is a good man, I like him ." like a tomcat on a hot tove. After a fell' puffs he said , "Yes, Henry is all right, but that old she-devil! he ga I'e me a moldy elderberry pi e!" La te r addler too were among the 'e men. r\ tra mp helped my on the barn on that pl ace burned down . Dad make new ha rnes for one of au I' horses. D ad took the hull-hide to the tannery at butcherintr time a nd had it ta nnd into ha rness-Ieather for the half shn reo 0, by the time the 'RAFT :-,lEX AMOI\G THE TRAMPS ha rn e s was done, all it co t wa the wax a nd threa d, plus Yari ed as were the tramps in their look so did the,' difTer 1\ fell" mea ls. in their pa rticul a r ~ kill s . One Germa n ~I' as a woodcarver I remember the time when a tramp ca me to the mithy and a mighty good one. lie carved butt rmolds spoon at Bl ack Bear, run by Peter Di ffenbach. H aving asked and had a lot of very fancy ca ne. . He would d'ig ou t ~ Pete's permission, he proceeded to forge a pair of tiny horse shoot in the w ood ~, one wi th a very big crOII"n-root and then shoes to put on the heels of hi boots. The he fa tened
1] Il'ith thin handmade nail ~, 1 think he could ha I'e made a I remember is that a farmer chased a tramp off for smoking wa tch on t hat anvil from the look of t hose shoe', in the barn and a fell' day la ter all his cow had their tail s ~J a n .I' a onr cou ld fractur like a steel eng raving. St. John, cut off close to the root or rump. The farmers found a tramp the pani;lrd, 1I'0uil sit by the hour and ketch and color with bloody clothes a nd jumped to the conclusion he wa s the crrtific,1tr:; of birth and baptism, a ll in various co lors. H e culprit. So they Il'ere going to ha ng him to a nea rby trce. had marri;lgr nnt! co nfi rmation certificates; h made fi ll of .Just then a man came driving a lonO', lle stopped, sa w onr thr m for sa le, of the farmers putting a rope a round the tramp's neck and Ba:;k\>tr.I' 11';1" a favo rite pastime of the gypsies. They used bloodstained shirt front. He bega n questioning the O'roup to ca mp at a brook for weeki;, scouring the cou ntryside in of outraged farmers about Il'hat thry Il'ere pl anning ; then thrir horsr-trading I'entures. Thr~ ' made a nd sold basket", he jumped from his buggy a nd took the noose from the poor of Il'illoll' 01' oak. I havr one made by them t wenty-five t rembling wretch, s a~ ' ing, "Boova, deer mis t ai rsht en ~ 'e,H S aO'o, and still in usc, onnerer m:.1nn greega, won deer ainer henka wett. Dar doe mann hut geshter meer helfa my grosser old tel' evver Thatching the old barn wa s where somr tramps camc in schneida, Deer lu ::; t ihn gay! " (:'I en, you'll have to find \'c r.I' h and~', TllP Swi s were I etter thatchers than thr ~ ' o\ll' se lv es a nother man' if ~ ' ou're mindecl for a hanging. (iermans, but were far fewer in number. The chap \\'hom you have here helped me cast ra te m~ ' boa r Woodturning was the fal'orite hobb~ ' of a few, On the yeste rd a~' a nd ~ ' ou a re goi ng to frec him.) ~eco nd floo r of Dad's shop Il'as a monstrou lathe, with J bed 10nO' enough (0 turn the posts of the old tyle " four TRA:'IP LORE postr r ~." One tramp would spend hours up there a nd 1 still treasure a file- handle of applewood that he helped me The ~Jan-II ' ith-th e -Brown-D e rb y wa s a German tramp make. a nd he did weal' a brOll'n derby, H e alway had his wife THEIR HIDE-OUTS :1 long, B e wa s a rea l big gU~'-a six-footer. One time they rame Il'hen we had just fini shed sweeping the barn-floor for Tramps lo\'ed to co ngregate ali'ay from t he common the t hr e~ h e rman who wa s expected a ny day, H e got a little crol\'([,.;. An old aba ndoned limekiln nea r the tOll'n of sack out of his bundle, while she got a tiny whisk a nd Il'ept Shirksl'ille lI'a ~ one of their ha unts for year ; later, when a spot clea n of dust on the floor. Thcn he poured the coffee fo lk;; :,; tartrci to complain of missin g poultry, co rn and po beans out of the bag on the pla nks and he got on II-ith his tatoes, thi::; ga ng I\'a broken up. In the old covered bridge size-elel'en boots a nd crushed a nd crunched them to powder. Ilea l' Fr~ ':5 toll ' n lhe~ ' al so would sit a nd . moke and pl ay cards. Fritz Wulfe 11':1:; a big old German, One da~' he came to SO llth of Bethel, close to the Swatara, Il'as a big icc-house, 0 '11' place wearing ;1 pair of nell' cO II'-hide boots. I-Ie asked \\Tith the birth of a rtifi ci,l l ic c, the building wa s abandoned ; Dad if he could get some old shoes or a rctics to wear, the this \\,;1", <1 Ln'ori te rendezl'ous for tramps. Likewi:,;e were while he Il'as stretching th boot. They Il'ere too tight a ncl t he h o r ,..;e-~ h e d s a t t he \'a ri olls chll rche::;. pinchrd him . Dad gaye him a pair of loots and Fritz went PER-:\TICIOUS ACTS a nd fetched in :.1bout :.1 peck or so of hell ed co rn, Thi he pourecl in hi, sock , while the,l' were in the boot, He tied Pernicious acts perpetrated in rel'enge for being refused the socks at the top Il'ith tring a nd then he poured water ~ h e lter-the se occurred once in a while, but not in our into those boots a nd put them back of the stove in t he hop. immediate neighborhood, I remember that my Dad a nd l\cxt morn ing I wa ' the fi rst man on deck, It had worked. Crand-dad spoke of it, I ut I lI'a ' just a wee kid, knee-high The boots Ir ere st retched. \'Cry much so! Fritz hacl o\'er to a bedbug at the time, I am not su re of the location-all done it ; the scams were busted from the instep halfll'ay lip
--- ,- 7?/~~~ - ~ ~ ,- ~~~~,,;,.W)~ ,~~~~" ~~:.f/II!t ILif~?kl~ ~U~ -
12 I he Ie~~, Once he ~a \\' the damage he promptl,l' \\'e nt to Il'o rk "Xo, I II'on't," ~a id til(' tramp, "b\lt if you had kept your ;lI1d ell'ed them lip by hand and much ni ce r than they had da mn trap sh\l t the old \\' it eh \I'ould al ready be dea d by thi s bee n from the sta rt. ti me , You had better mol'(' the old Il'oman and her daughter One da~ ' a tramp came Il'a lkinrr up to the door of our au t of ,I'ou r tena nt hou 'e !" horse-sta bl e, ' '"hen he 100kPd in the black gelding in t he On e tim e Dad had a kicking eOI\', The Il'omen could not fi rst , talliookcd at him and ni ckered, ( ome say " II'hi ckere I" milk hr r, neithrr could I, and Dad could not milk, And or " nei!!: hed," Dad alll'ay' sa id ni ckering Il'as so much so ft er there came thi ' tramp, "There's nothing to it," he sa id a nd fi nd melloll'er than lI'hi ckering, ) The tramp told us t hat if l!:ot a bucket and ~at dOll'n at that co \\' a nd milked her a nd :1 black horse docs that, then a letter or messa ge of so me ~ h e ne\'er made a n effort to ki ck, But he Il'ould not tell kind al\\'ay a rri\'E'd , He aid the hor~e had stamped hi ::; Dad \\' hat hr did to make the call' be have, But I had ~ee n fo re-foot and that mea nt a fun eral and in the direction the him stroke her, making the sha pe of a era s ol'er her back. hal' e had bee n looking, from that direction \\'ould co me the letter, I \\'ent to the crea mer,l' and on my \\'ay home I got TALE TOLD BY TRA:\IP ou r ma il at the postoffi ce at Fr~ 'sto \\'n ; and sure enourr h Old :'IIa rx \I'ould rega le liS for hour \\'ith storie about there u'as a letter \\'i th a hea l'), black bo rder, I ga\'e it to Baron :\I un chau en, The Baron wa,; out in Winter all day Dad, Some relati\'e hau died, Old Phillip Zi egler happened one time, said :\Iarx, a nd he had used liP a ll his am munition to be there at the time, He wa s a tonemaso n of so rts, and just then came a sta rving \\'olf, a big bru te, Il'ith open lIe had hea rd the tramp's prophec,I', ~o he rema rked, "Er .ia\I '~, and he had no Il'eapon to defend him elf. He took off hut b~ ' Gatt eppes gall'i st !" (By golly, he did k 11O II' hi glol'e and braced himself. ' ''hen the \\'olf pra nO' fo r something, ) him he t hrust his naked hand do\\'n the bea t's throat, "Die ka rreb-fra\\''' (the \\'oman \\'ith ba ket ,) I\'a a li ttle pu hed it ri ght through the II'olf's bac k-doo r, grabbed the ;:todgl' German Il' ho a lll 'a ~ ' carried h\'o big market-I a kets, wo lf's tail, gave a might~ , .i erk a nd tu rned him in id e out. One tim e ;:he had a se tting-hen a nd ca rried it along un til the When the Ba ron ca ught Ir o l \'(' ~ and faxes in traps he rhi cb came out of the h e ll ~, She seemed to be quite would take hi ::; hunting kni fe a nd aft er ha \'inO' nailed their intelli ge nt ; ~ h e sa id since she had no chil dren of her o\\'n, brushes to a tree, he I\'ould cut a cross through t he skin on this afford ed her so me amu ement and helped her satisfy their forehen d; then hr would take a hi ckory-switch a nd fl og her maternal instinct, ' ''hen the hotel-ma n wh ere she th em until they ~ prang out of their hides, Ma rx would -topped for a ha ndou t asked her, "Would you Il'an t me to chu ck le to himself as he ~a jd, "Er hu t sic ols ferdamm t r:l rr ~' ~'ou a round \ln t il \,ou r cggs hatched?" he replied, ~aga rrebt." "and if they did hatch they'd be nothing but little tu rkey ~I a r x alFo tol d of the time the Ba ron wa driving in a huzza rd ~ " and puttin!!: her thumb on her nose she sa id satta ~ I e igh a nd thr hungl'\' \\'o ll'e' pursued him , The hor::;e ra n \'oce, " Du sc htinbht I" until exhausted, He cou ld feel the breath of the foremo t A Il'hole raft of u ~ ,l'(ll ll1 gster enj o,l'ed her retort a nd took wo lf on hi ~ nec k, So he snuggled dOI\'l1, the wolf leaped over her I"HOI\'n and bou!!ht her a good meal, p lu a tiff hot him upon the h o r ~e's haunch, When the Baron a ll' the of rye, " he I\'as fa r from craz~', \\'olf ea ting himself into the hal' e'g rump he rose to his fept, laid the braided leather lash on the \\'olf, a nd Il'hen thr ,\ THA:\Il' 1'O\\'\\'OW poor hor"e fell , the I\'olf ~ prang in to the ha rn ess a nd he drOl'e One day Dad Hnd 1 Il'e nl on'r to old Dan Gerber, a nea r a ll 'a ~ ' from the p:1ek, Il('ighbor, on ;:ome erra nd 01' other. Da n I\'a a n old man, P rofesso r ](intzel Il'ould tell u,; of the days Il'hen the When \\'e got there II'(' found him out at the ba rn , He a ked knights \I'ere ~ 'et in their prime, Of hall' th e ~ ' \\'ould fight Dad to baye a look at onE' of the call';: that \\'a sick-she [It the tournament , and hall' t h e ~ ' did ;:CO lII' the cou ntn'side ,':as not che\\'in g her cud, ,'he trampled from side to side in pursuit of robbers, AI ~o of thei r helping the aged, the and emitted loll', moaning grunt s, Dad sa id ;:he I\'a s po sibly poor, alld a Aii cted; it Il'as better than most sermons one poisoned, .Just then the big deg ~ t a r ted ba rking a nd a small get ~ to hea l' n OII'-a-da~',;, The nged \\'anderer knell' and tolc! old man, a tramp, han' in sight. He came in the table and of horsehrreding from II'n)' back; ho\\' the horses Il'ere too looked at the co\\', He said , "Die koo die gookt dart uff del' f'l11all and light to ra rrl' the knight r nrasec! in a ponderom; g-rundt; sie ~'aimert un ~ee iEs net gsundt. Sie dribbelt un suit of steel. Hall' the knights I\'ent to fo reign cou ntri e~ a nel grikt, "ie brummt un greekst; die koo die iss by Gatt fought a nd brought home monstrous horses as ~ poil ~ of Il'a r, fe rhext." H e ~ai d ~ h e \\''' be\\'itched, From t h e~e s tud-hor ~es he claimed e\'olved the Xorman in "Cm ~'ou do ~ometh in g fo r her? Do ,I'O U kno\\' Il'hat to the pro\'i nee of X orm ;l ncl~ ', la tel' eLi Ileel the lJe rcheron, do ')" a, ked old ])an, ' Vh et her it II 'a~ 11 halberd 01' ;1 hopple, a c uira ~s or some "Ye~ I knoll' Il'hat to do, and I ra n do it too, Ju ~t tell ,1lgebraic formula , P r ofe::;~o r l(intze l \\'a s at horn e on the mf' 10 go ahea d," The old man ga\'e his co nse nt , By t hi ~ ~ ub.iect , linw it had ,ta rled to rai n, The tramp took his hat a nd Yohll nn I\Tenner-.Joha nn \'on Culden"tein \\'as \\'ha t he fn nn ed alnl~' the dirt pn the ground under the fore l ay of the ~a id had been hi s name in Cerman~'- \\'a s a dreamer a nd a \'a I'll; hr HI'rpt :t ~ pot a:; big as a b\lggy-II'heel. Then he cloll' ll to boot. Incredi ble a~ ~o m e of hi ~ ta les \\'ere, ~ 'e t at Irent in the ~tab l e and got tl\'O pi eces of 8t l'al\', one about time they ~ m ae k e d of ori gi nali t,l' and \\'ere accurate to a ~ix inche~ long a nd the other about fou r ; the!"e he laid on hair. He co uld play an accordion like n obo d~ "~ bu s ine ~~, lhr ground in the form of a cross, a nd put a little stone Hi were the ta les of maid ens impri oned in i\'ied to\\'ers of IInderneath wherr the\' era sed, Then he goL a bit of the solid m aso nr ~ and hall' their lover::; rescued them and bore ('0\\",. dung and P\lt it on the intercection of the c r 08~, goL t hem off on t hei I' \\'a r-hor c., H e told of behea ded wa niors a match from hi s porket, lit it and held it to the end of a nd headless ghosts roamin rr through a ncient ea tI s at ni ght, t hr rro~;;, of royal intrigues a nd a ll th rogues a nd habitues of the royal " J! old it!" old ])an yell ed, "Yo\l'11 bll rn do\\'n my ba rn ," m nage, l ie hi mself laid clnim to I' yal a n cest r~ ',
13 The GERMAN BROADSIDE SONGS of Pennsylvania
By WALTER E. BOYER
The , tudy of t he Germa n broadsid e printed for the Penn Interpreters of P enn. ylva ni a Germa n culture have often ""'Ivania German co mmunity ha been the mo t neglected pictured the earl y settlers a having a li tera ry diet restricted s~ lll 'Ce for the study of thi cul ture. This is unfortunate, to Bible, alma nac, and prayer look, but the broad id e c l ea rl~ ' for it is a source that i ri ch in variety a nd more reflectivp shows that at lea t t llP fir, t genera tion of na tive-born had n of popul a r beli efs a nd attitude tha n a ny other ource. morC' va ri ed fa re of printed litera ry material ava il a bl e, a nd Indeed, Iw d t he broadsid e poetry been co llected and t ud ied it i not improbable that ma ny immigra nts had a broadside as avidly as the la n Penll sylva nia Fnlkli/e ociety Coila tioll A religious broadside, dated and signed, 15 L-pon rcading this onc cannot fai l to rccognizc thc strong four-b E'a t linc which is thc ba . ic rh.l·t hm pattE'rn of \I' hat has bE'cn cal lcd tlw "bush-lllccting f< piritual. " Note als0 thaL the German is Standard German and not thc High Germa n ~ . dialed, P c nn s ~ ' I\' a nia German. In other word s, in language it i" aki n to thc traditio ll<11 h~ · llln od .l · of tbe churchc" although I h:1W not fo um) this partic ul ar song in any of ~tne t~au r i ge ®efd)td)tc the ea rl ~ ' h~ 'm n a l" of thc churche ·. HO\\'el'er, I hal'e fou nd that the sonO' is of Ge rm an ori gi n. \jOlt bet It i" #2034 in Erk-Bohm e, Deut cher Liederhol't,' and Dr. ~ I) { ( 'J. \ 'an 'T Hooft identifics this so ng a:; one of the "geisltlli che Tanzliede r.'" H E' ha es his eli cussion on Erk-Bohme, and below arc the two fi r t couplE' ts as they appea r in this sou rce: -- , Ilr 7. Ludwig E rk and Franz ;',,1. Bohm DClilsc /wl' L ie e/ erharl, 1 [I. pp. 738. 739. 8. B. H . Van 'T H ooft, Dos Deutsche l'o lksliec/, p. 35 . 9. E rk-Dohm e, III. p, 738 . 10 . For a mo re dclai JE' d accounL of this broadsid e see IllV article, "Adam und EI'a im Paradi E's." Th e Penllsylvan ia DuLc/i man, , 2. Q}t'OW. ct ('m Den <5rerl ~ ' Pen.n syl vania Folklile ociet), Collec/iu ll $i)a ell 0,16 S~ ei( 1'1)" A broad ide of th e famous Poll), ballad. ~uf ! 011' t',rl. Bt l t ~(C cud) ollf CllII}l ]6 2etcf)tef 0inn. £rei [ Boa)clI \lor OnCrtl ba gd)t bcr (5d)I1CC meg, !t>alllt f)cirat~'t mein (5rt)(lf?d)cn, bann f)'1b' id) 'nett SUred'. ~rcu f,ab' ia) ge(icbct, lUa6 ()ab' iff) ba\)ol1 ? ID1cil1 (5a)al~ct)ett bctriibt, .bat; ()ab' id) 3um ~o()n ! IDaG f)i(ft mit: mein ®rafctl, 11.lCml\~ (5id)d tlid)t fd)lIcii) 1t ; IDa6 f)iCft mit: meitt (5a)a~et)clI, mClIll\~ bel mit: nid)t bfeibt. ?B(l(b grar' jet) im %(d'cr, bali) grap iet) am mai II, ?Barb [)_lb' jet) cill (5d)llf?d)cl1, barb I)ab ia) ami) fein'rt . A folksong broadside. Th ese SUrei mOrCl! im ®llrtclI, brct ffiligfcill illl are rarely come upon in the ffi3ufl', Pennsylvania Dutch Country. $Den (5omll1cr ift\3 (icb(id), bctt ffi3il1tcr ift'6 f,1[t. (fill aftc6 s.pilar Od)fctI, cin' fa)IUllt:3braIlIlC ~ Sl it!), @!r,~~ $Ua6 gibt mit: mrin mJfCr, luetin ia) l)c ira ~J,-:.c ~ t1)etI tbu . 'l, -, (5)ibt er fic mir l1id)t, fo !)cir,u[j' id) l1idH, ~ <50 bfcib iel) bcim (5ct)oM)Clt 11l1i) fl1g' C6 ib m t1id)t. ~ ' 5)111> Sjllbcr gcbrofd)C Il , I)llll' ~il1 f~tI geW, ~ Sjab ItHll1ct)CG fct)l' lI IjJhlM)CII tlll Za11 3C gei:rel)f. . ._ ~ llt mirt!)G!)i1l1 fe i:lriibclI l'a .fichet Ci.1l ~ ~ ta), SUll rappdll bie @(,lfcr, DII tnl1fe1.1llm frqci). ~n UIl~t1rn, in s:o,o{c I1 J'lcht\~ [ufhg b,1QU, . £a hll13CIl l'le ~ 1I11ntcrll, till f{,lp pcrn i)I C e c1)ul) . .J' Pennsylvania Folkli/e ociety Collection he must permit Benjamin, his favorite son, to accompany hi s due time, these vel' ions hall be compared with one another brother to that country. It i;; a pity that thi s song is no ns \\'ell as with the Engli h vel' ions, Il"h ich do no t, as a whole, longer a part of our prese nt cu lture. At a Grundsow Lodge appear in a complete a form, and may appear in these page, banquet some years ago I tried to revive it, but I fear tha As one miO"ht expect, broad ides of New Year Bles ings ihe "ong ne\'er had n chan('1' to see its Olm shadow. riyal in number tho~e thnt a re es 'e ntia ll .\' religiou , although The greatest su rprise in thi~ ~tudy came from the di. cove r ~' thi i not to ay that the Ble 'sing are irreligious. Inde d of German version ' of the \'Cry widespread "Wicked P o lI~ '" it i here t hat this is eviden t: the flourishing of folk singing ballad. In spite of the ol'emhelming number of Engli h and t he broadside tradition that i in turn depend nt upon version of thi ballad, I have had to come to the co nclu ::; ion it can exist on ly in a society that is unified by a religious that t his originally was a German ball ad. To date five my t ho. t h'l t firmly e tabli hes the pattern of all belief a nd different Gennan broad ide of t hi ong ha l'e been found, practice', and a soo n as thi myt ho i enda ngered by any but more importantly, it can al 0 be shown that the hort doubt or doing-such as dancing-that has the power of I'er.'ion, a' well a the be t known one, was derived from a institutionalizing th break with tradition, then folk singing "ong, Des. 'undprs terbenbett, which i. . twice as long, In cha nges it character-as \\'as probably th ca, e with the 17 ~ :§ ~ r (!)e'oan~cn 6a(w eilt, U 1\ 9 {fi d' fe (i 9 ift m~il\ h6en, 3~r tmm6ret IItCille q)dll, W1ifibHgl1ugt unb J' IlImcd icb, 3~r nilllmt mid) ber <5run'Otn, :>c nes 11)<\6 mid ~ nn bcrgnugen, i)ie fd)on (angftens fCl)1l bcrfd)munben, ~(le9ct IInb Cl1tfHncr ndl , (!)cnug ",mn iet) mid) brein ergicb, <;r' gficb mufi id eel! f t'r t{a9~n, Un'll iu) 'llicl) b~ftanllig (jeb. <;rd licb me! nn ncb meille \P(a \11, nnb bas Penn sy/t!(l nill Folklile ociel ), Colleclioll A broadside of an unhappy love affair. 18 l'ennsyh·a nia German piritllal-or may disappear, and the stanza of poetry. Thi i t ru e also of ce rtifi cates of con Groad ide tradition become topical and pa rtisa n. This may fi rmation, marriage, and memorial of death. The House be seen in minia ture in the development of the Xew Yea r Ble in g II·as also printed in t his manner. Bles ing, II·hi ch began a a ble sing-a communal rite-to Thus fa r no one, whether writing of folk art or of li tera 'Issure thc annual succe ·s of the co mmunity. Wit h the ture, has pointed out the unity of expression t hat t hese eo ming of the newspapers and the wider di t ribution of their broadside communi cate. In these broad ides the functional publication" the blessi ng, which was once orientated in the :) spect ca n best be ee n. And if one i going to discuss the concept of a life-giving God, i now gi ven in the name of folk-art, then t he discussion to be in telligible must begin the 1H'II·s pa per and refi ect t he edi tori al policy of the paper. II·ith this aspect. The fact is t hat more stupiditie have been What was once a fo rward look become now in part a back written about P enn ylvania German folk art than about any II·a rd one. The "lay priest" who bl e ed t he home and other a pec t of her cul tu re. It is unfortunate, for what ha directed t he hooting at t he termination of the ble sing nOlI· been written the museum have arranged. became a nell' -boy who begged for a hand-out. In the end In my co llection I have an excell ent example of thi unity thi traditional, communal rite became entirely individualized of expression in a form tha t ha been seldom seen. It is a and appears as a -:Jell' Year greeting. Eyen a we have broadside by Peter Montelius and co n ists of a bird illustra greeting. today, so me a re entimental; other, sa tiric; but tion and a poem of three eigh t-line tanza. The purpose all a re per onal. of thi s broadside is to announce and to invi te t he children In Germany one of the most popular broadsides was t hat of the co mmunit~ , to come to catechetical instruction. Both Iyhich related an unu ual event uch a a murder, or a illustration and poem have one purpo e : to et this activity suicide, or an unnatural birth, etc. This is also true in the Iyi thin the total mythotic framework of "to be right with English tradition . Thus it i a urprise to find so few of God, one must know the ways of God." Thi is what the ~ u c h character in t he Pennsylvani a German tradition. Per Pennsylvania German ]x'c rent could rea d, and when he all' baps thi i one of the reason why the ballad of Susanna the bird, hi s fir t impulse 11" as not to identify the bird. His Cox II·as printed so frequently and was distributed so widely. bird-watching came from a more prima ry source and had a True thi ballad is not t he only one, but it had very little more comprehensive application, for to him it was t he bird co mpetition from ot h e r ~ . that beEt knew the will of God. Was it not t he bird that II·as Love lyrics have been found but not in great number. the signaler of approachino- death ? Was it not the bird t hat The e love lyric cannot begin to rival the great number of bore the so ul to heaven ? [oye song in English balladry. Furthermore, it is interesting Now to id entify uch a unifi cation of a rtistic expre sion also to note that even t hough P ennsylva nia German culture a " pea ant" a rt i merely to talk.; It mea ns nothing. In was urrounded by t hese songs, they did no t find thei r way fact it is ironic that Iyhi le \I·e speak of t he unification of into t he culture. 'What approache of acceptance were made, several med ia of art for the purpose of a more co mprehensive uch as in "Der Ritter und ei[nel ::\Iagd,"ll ca n be traced id eoo- raphic expression as " peasant" a rt, painters and print to German origins. makers, inger and in trumentali st , poet and caligraphers Songs reflecting t he response of the. cul ture to historical from Nell' York to Houston a re combining their particular event and ocial conditions are numerous and the in tere t talent to ay what ca n be sa id only when thi union occurs. in the international scene may co me a a surpri e to ma ny Perhaps these a rti ts shall help to usher in a new under who t hink of t his cultu re a " peasant ry"-a term so fre standing and a pprecia tion of folk a rt. quently and so naiyely appli ed to the a rt. My favorite No , tudy of broadside poetry could have been made if it dealer found for me a most intere ting atiri c ballad con had not bee n for t he fore iO"ht of collector . Among the mo t cerning ::-rapoleon's ill-fated invasion of Ru sia . The ballad knowledgeabl e a nd kindest of them wa the late William S. is thoroughly American and is without parallel among the Troxell, affectiona tely knoll·n as "PlImpernickle Bill," who S pottlieder of t he German collections of songs. Our linguist willingly turned oyer hi s coll ection to me to study. Claude will find thi ballad to be mo t inte res ting. Unger wa , I uppo e, the dean of them all. At lea t he and In t hi s type of broadside songs one ca n sce al 0 the early the II·ell-known and revered Thoma R . Brendle were respon- rivalry between the fa rmers a nd t he urban centers. From ible for gathering together the O"reat majori ty of t he broad them, together II-i th t he info rmation tha t ca n be ga thered ide t hat finally found their way into t he Bassler Coll ection from the nell· paper' ::-rew Yea r Blessings, a more accurate that i at Franklin and ::\Iarshall Coll ege. refiection of !'ocia l attitudes can be obtained than from a Broadside of illumination a nd fr:!ctur have had numerous whole host of "historical" document from " fa mous" pcople. collectors. Since the e co ll ections have bee n widely publi Another t hing has come to me as a great surprise in my cized, no mention needs to be made of them here (you have, study of broad id e poetry: there a re so few songs in which no doubt, read thr exc ell ent a rticle by Ellen Shaffer on these t he fate-motif appear . I ex pected to find more t han t he materi als in the Free Libra ry, Philadelphia) ." However, si x in my collection at pre ent. It is difficult to accoun t for loca l hi torical Rocietie a nd public librari es should be en this paucity wh en one remember t hat the e people ca me co uraged to assemble all kinds of lo ca l broad ide materi al. from a culture that had ma ny of them a nd t hat they mad and to mclke them 1wailable fo r study. In almost every 'J R' of thi s motif in thei r stori e . in ta nc e I have had to 1I"0rk with uncatalogued documents. ::\10 t people a re acquainted with the deco rated birth a nd This i · a long a nd often a tedious ta k. baptismal ce rtificate, ; however, I da re say that few have This initial tage of the study of broadsid e materi al ha thought of them a. broadsides, yet t h e ~ ' a re. In this in ta nce reveale I a surprisin g abunda nce of ma terial, a wide va ri ety we a re intere,ted in tho e certificate,· in whi ch the lo ca l of themes, and adequate documenta ry evidence of the es en rrinters had a pa rt. The r broadside· almost always include tialunity of the cu lture. It i unfortunate t hat the materi al ha been neglected for so long a time. 11. Erk-Bohme, I. pp. 395---397; John M ier, Deutsche Volks liede r, III, i, pp. 1- 6.5 ; B. Velll'man en D . Bax, Liederen en 12. El len haffe r, "Illuminators, . cribes and Printe r ," Penn Dan.ye n uit lV e 8 t-Fie.~ I (((/d, ]Jp. 64-67. sy lvania F olk lif e, 9, 4, !Jp. 1 - 27. 19 The Rise of Interest In• Bv EARL F. ROBACKER La te in Hl.')8 a , impl colored drawing of General and )'Jrs, ("Lady") George Washington wpnt to the block at the P a rke-Bernet Galleries in.Xell' York a nd was auctioned off for , '3 OO-a figurr hitlwrto unheard-of in the field of P ennsyh 'ani a Dutch fraktur. Ey n ::I llo\\'ing for the carli n of the piece (liiO- 17io, ::Iccording to the catalogue) the uniqueness of t he ~ ub.i ect (rppre:5rntations of actual prrson a re rnre in fraktur), a nd the over-all importancr of the [l uction (the 1<1t r owner, Arthur J, u el, of Phila c1elphi[l, had long en,i o,\'ed a reputation a a disc riminating rollector) a ~a l e price of this magni tude for \"hat m::ly ·/\.. :~: \ so actually be ::I child's lira \\'ing "rems to ha \'r ~et in motion a re-appraisa l of the place of folk a rt in t he Ampri can ('uliural pattern, ",' o... , Oll e-piece sholl' tolVel with com petfnl dralVn 1V0 rk and jringe al bOl/ ollL. Above. the colored 1V00 is against homes pun are character iSlic oj Ihe years jrom about 183.') Hand-carved /JI'ackel shelj eighl in ches high, painled 10 1870. Earlier, only one co LO! ill brown, red. all d yellow. In I ic/orian limes. jigs alL' (red) lVas commonL), Ils ed. "carving" replaced this kill d oj /L'ork. 20 Whether or nol a naively executed drawing which co uld some cases glorify home talent-and then either forget or probably be ma tch d in quality by most fourth-o-radcr in fa il to take t he teps \\"hic h migh t help u to perpetuate American publiC' school today i "worth" uch a urn is omething \\'orth while, beside t he point; a sum of money i only one measure What \\'as p robably the fi r t American museum of any and not t he most important, although it cannot be O\'E'!' kind \\'a~ e;:;la blished in Charleston in 17 73. True, it would looked-of the "worth" of a n~ ' given piece of Americana, hardly bave included the badly spell ed (" Ledy \Yaschingdon \Vhat is ignifi cant i that at long last, with frontiering and ex elene georg general \Vaschingdon") and anatomi and the immediate' pinch of economic neces ity largely ca lly grate que little fraktlll' drawing whi ch I aped to fame IJehind u and ome degree of creature co mfor and leisure oeemingly at hand, we American have reached a develop mental stage at which \\'e ca n look back and evaluate I\'hat we have done. If we can not yet put all of the pa. t and its achi evements in proper perspective, we can at least distinguish some of the high pol -and omething like the ussel auction is .iu t what t he doctor would order for those of u who need to have our perceptin>ne5 quickened. Xot t hat we have eYe r existed in a complete vacuum a far a appreciation for t he pa~l i~ concerned, or that we have can istently failed to recognize artistic achieve ment; rather, we haye tended to recogni ze, a nd even in Photo b y Ch arles B ahr Except as noted, objects shown are from the Rohacker Collection Papier,mache squeak toy with //lovable wings. The body of the peacock is blue; Icin gs and th e area around tlt e eyes are cream, touched with red; tail feathers are red, blue, and green, with "eyes" of blue-on-green-on-yellow. Five inches tall. )mpptently carved and linter! wooden rooster tribut e r! 10 Aaron aunts, ilinprant artist, id to be a fJU piL of Jacob 21 himmel's. Cooky cutter de igns in myriad variety show folk ingenuity at its be t. The butterfly and rooster here were fa vorites of the late Levi Yoder, veteran collector and dealer. Rarities in folk art: eagle by Jacob chimmel, roo tel' by Aaron M01£lltS, and (right) one of five known specimens of sl£perb polychrom e painting over masterly carving by an un/mown artist. Birds tested the folk artist's skill. Bottom rank: bird on swivel; bird on stand for Christmas pl£tz; painted pelican in symbolical position, plucking her breast (Christmas tree ornament); stuffed calico toy. On basket: outside flat-carved, painted birds m ounted on pins; center, pelican. 22 Calligraphic art of folk I ~ "" I ralher than professional caliber" j ames Schaner IVa a well· known citi -en of Berks Count)'. 1 5 years latrr, but it indicated an earl.\· ~\\\" 23 Chrislmas putz buildings (the church is two inches tall ) done by George Huguenin, descendant of a line of Swiss toy carvers. Hu guenin's work also included dolls' hou es, farm buildings, alld animals. His favo rites were sheep. to each of which he affixed a wool pelt. In each flo ck of hee p he included one black pelt. pottery. l\ Ierce r and Barber, t herefore, appear to share pioneer honors in this fie ld . The results of Barber's research \\"ere reported in 1903 as "The Tulip-Wa re of the Pennsyl vania-German Potter-"-still one of the mo t in teresting wo rk in a fi eld which now numbers many hundreds of a rticles, monog raphs, and books. About the same tim e that Dr. Barber wa assiduously tracking down and recording potter and pottery, Alice Mor e Ea rl e was studying the ea rly furniture of Kew E ngland and Luke Yincent Lockwood wa concerning him self wi th fu rn it ure of the ,,·hole Ameri can cene. Keither was basica ll y concerned with fo lk-a rt a ngles of the subject. Writing in the introduction to "The Index of America n De ign," B olger Cahill notes an ex hibition of ea rly American and decoratiye art at t he :\Ietropoli ta n :\Iuseum as ea rly as 1909, the time of the Hudso n-Fulton celebration-proba bly the first cuch ex hi bition of mo re tha n passing signifi ca ncc . H owe\,cr, such an exhibition, whatcy r its importancc to it pat r o n ~, co uld ha\'c ra i ~e d ha rdly mo re than a ripple on the still quic~cent "·ater;:; of intcrC8t in fo lk a rt. At Ihe expense of the appliqued rose des ign. the photographer has trieel 10 show here the intricacy of the quilting-a peculiarl)' femi· nine folk art. Punched tin co ff ee pots with heart decoration ; twelve-pointed traditional Moravian Christmas star. Chrislmas stars, till used ill ome Moravian homes , are "properly" displayed from Christma through Epiphany. 24 Tulip, bird, and heart on slip, decorated paller)" lip decoralion I ~'as done m man)' places, but these three motifs are Dutch/and favorites, From thi poin t on, impetus to a n active concern with the attention of r eacle r ~ in 1914 in an a rticle by Harold home-made Am ri ca n a rt seems to ha ye come from fiye Donalcl.:;o n Eberlein in Amen'can Homes and Gardens , separate sources: publication, often dea ling with ingle, :'Ifost importa nt a mong publications in stimulating a nd 8pecialized pha e : the esquicentennial of 1926; t he e tab maintaining in te r e~t in fol k a rt ha ' been Th e J!agazine lishment and mushrooming den·lopment of commercial a n Antiques, e tabli shed in Hl22 by the late Homer Eaton t ique hows; t he building-up of major private co ll ections; K eyes and presrntl~' editer! bl' Ali ce Winchestrr. It is and the establi shment of great mu eums or pecial museum interesting to obserw that the editori al point of yiell' towarcl projects, The latter three not i n frequentl~' go hand in hanel. folk a r t ha parallrled-perhaps up to a poin t , pioneered Two book in 1914 focused public attention on hi g hl~ ' the el'er-increa -ing inten?Rt in "minor" workR; that is, Il'o rks clecoratiye Pennsyh'ania product of pre-Reyolutionary and of the folk. In the cl ecade of t hc---H120' and early -30's the R evolutiona ry times : Frederi ck ,\Villiam Hunter' wo rk on minor a rh \\'rre often co n. icl err el merel y "amusing" or Stiegel glas and Dr. ~I e r ce r ' book on ca t iron, In the "naive" h~' writers r l'en of major staturr; toda~', Ruc h strictest sense, perhaps neither the enameling ancl chaRing of condeRcrnding or patronizing acl.ircti\'('~ haye la rgely di.-ap glass nor the casting of highly ornamental ironware hould pearrd, Whilr The J!a{Jllzille Antiques i" outsta nding in he called folk art; in each ca e a high degree of skill , pre its ficici, othrrs of compa ra bl e nature hal'r abo been influ supposing an appren tieeJlip period, i~ call ed for, a nd the ential, a mong t hem Th e L-1mericall Collector (noll' defunct) , re ult ma~' in a sense be ca ll ed professional rather t han The Spinning Wh eel, The Early A mericall I ndustries Chroni amateur, At the arne time, hOII'el'er, the subj ct a rc the cle, Th e American Antiques JOlll'llal, a nd Hobbie, ubjects of folk a rt a nd the tradition appea r imitative In 192-1- a nd in 102\1 tll'O g rrat musrum:;: ga\'e status to without beino- academic, Fraktur Il'a again brought to fo lk a rt in acts of far-rr[lching importance: the ':'fet ropolitan :'I[u eum in Xel\' Y ork through t he opening of t he American Wing a nd, in particular, thr Pennsylvania German room:;:; nnd t he Philadelphia Art :'I1useum through the rooms from II'hnt is noll' ca ll ed "The H ouse of the :'IJilirr at 11illbach," ] t I\'a in 19:.1) that thr vast \Villinmsburg Restoration proj ert \\'a brgun b~ ' ,J ohn D. Rockefell er, Jr. Later Yenture have bren the unn,l':;: id e 11estoration at Irvington , Xell' York; the turbridgr ,:\Jw'eum in :'IIa ssachusetl ; the Farm r r ' :'I1u. eum at CooprL tOll'n, Xell' York; t he Henry F , DuPont Win terthu r :'I[u :;: um in ])elall'a re; th vast H e nr~ ' Ford :'Ifuseum <1t D ra rhorn, :'I Iichigan-,ll1cl still others of major imporlance II'hich space "'ill not pel11lit listing here, Ench of thrl11 in its oll'n way ha;; gil'rn dignity a nd , tatus to the genuine a n I appea ling, albeit untutored Iyork of our forefather , Influential among the boob publish d in 192-1- lI' ere J, B , K erfoot', Ameriran Pell'ler a nd Daniel Ba ud-Boyy' Peasant t1rt in Switzerland, I ubli hed in London , H ad there ever heen a ny rea l que. tion as to the ElII'o] ean ource of in . pira tion or of rr memberecl t radi tion as the hasis for much of rarly P e nn s~' iI 'a nia Dutch design , 1\ 1. Baud-Eovy's book II'OU] I haY(' . ettled the matter once and for a ll , Th book Il evrr b ca me popula r read ing, howevrr, a nd eldom fo und outside the la rgest librarie today, 25 Probabl y thr biggrst sin glr nl o,'r tL'''' Pin-prick artistry was Itihhl)r individll.al in conce pt and execution. Tlil''' raised" tlllality shows to bes t advantage. a here. when the paper is mounted on a black fabric. Rare jraktur marriage certificate and jamilJr register - and a m ys tery : The record oj the third birth has been "I,' \ I ellt or torn out of the jraktu,r- for what rea S OI1_ we shall probably never know_ / I' 1.. I • ( 26 As interesting as .f onas' birth and ba ptismal certifi cate is the hand ca rved, candle smoke-decorated frame in which it is mounted. to the treasures of the pa~t, but, more important, as a warm tl1(' 'a me tim e. Amo ng thC'sC' \\'a rC's, fo lk art object · ha\'e nnd ~ym p at h et ic perso n she h ad~anc l still has-acres to come to take a promi nC' nt plac(,--,lnd eac h piece bought he h ea r t~ of her people. 'Without "Hattie," as ~ h e i ' or sold lC'ods a little more import;1I1ce to the largC'r subj C'ct. knO\\'n to her my riads of fri ends, and lwr endl ess stock of The H):30 '~-thC' D ep r C'~~ion ye:HS-\\'ere important in the in formation 27 1837 R ebecca Y erger's sampler slopS jusl shorl 0/ per/eel s),lIll!l elry. The colored wools ';ave faded alll7 0SI 10 the no· lural color 0/ the hOll7 espun linen . The frame is 0/ sumac f locall l'. pronounced "shoe· make"), a wood not often put 10 such a use. ('0 III pr e hen ~ iY r, and 1ll0 ~t im porta n t si ngl e book to da te, ;,\\'a.l'Cd b.l· ; ldy e r ti~er~, promotion men-perha ps eyen by made it~ a ppea rance. This wealth of ri ches W,IS augmented ~ lIblilllin ~ li perception, go on to 80111rt hing nell". In te r e~t by 11 r nry.r. Kaufflll a n' ~ Penllsyluania Dulch American Folk in fo lk art ~eemb harcily lik e l~ ' to deteri orate into such Art. facldism, though bome dea lers in the H)30' lI'ere inclined In 194 John Joseph , toudt\ P('J1)lsyluania Folk ...l rt. to think that in tere.,t in "primitive" was al ready moribund, J ea n LipJll ,1n's American Folk Art in Tr ood ..V etal. and if no t defunct. 8tone. and :\ J a r~ ' Ea rl e Gould 's Earl y American Tr ooden One ('vidence of co ming of age Il"bicb had no t 1l1,1n ifested Wares Il'err published. The J. togde ll , toke~ auction of itself much brforr the ]9-0 '~ lI'a the trend toward relating fu rni ture, iron, tin, potter.I·, and pell·ter at the Parke-Bernet Am eri ca n fo lk art to \I'orld folk art-the attempt to fi nd Calleri es gaye a nell' generation of co ll cc to r ~ a chancc to our pl ace in the total ~c h r m e of thing ~ . .\n interesting and a ppl)' their information lea rned through rea ding to a n indisputable fact e merge ~ from e\'en a curso ry s ury e ~ ' of immediate situation. F lorence Peto's Am eric an Qu ills alld the el'id r nce: the mo ~t cii stin cti\'r J1o~t-Columbian folk art ('overlels in 1949 ex tended the boundaries of a field men prociu crci in the United State::; i ~ that of the P e nn ~ ~ ' h 'a ni a tioned b~' :\fiss Lichtrll in 1946. Cerman "-~lJ1d thi ", ~a m e art nla~ ' takr it place withou t In 1950 the long-awaited publi cation resul ting from the prejuciice in an~' total s ur\"('~ ' of the field. ~.cti Yitir of the Ameri ca n Index of Design madc it,; appea r This proce ~s of s un 'e~' and analysis has been go in g on anee. Under th e editor 'hip of Erwin O. hri steno;e n, the "broad a::; lI'eli as at hom, an 1 for the rea der II'ho has br"t of so me 1.5,000 "e parat e l~ ' reco rd ed art repre,'cntation s been inclin d prinltel.I' to deprecate t he homespun effo rts were pre~ent('d to th e public in book form. Other J1ub li ca of hi ~ ancestors there ma~ ' be ::;0 111 e therapeutic yaluc in (ion~, repre;:e n t ing ~ 1ll ~1 I1 e r phases of t h to(a 1 gO l'ernmen ( knowing that throughout the \iTes tern \Yorld , uch homc::;pu n "ponso red stud.I', appeared also. Of these, the one entitled crTort s a rr held in considerable esteem. Early Am crican JI' ood ('al'I'in(J in 1952 meL a need on the Rccom mended readi ng fo r such doubting Thoma,es-if parL . of lll anl' st uden t~. any: A ctua ll~ ', intere,;t in folk a rt, slow at the outset, had 19-1, : T he Decora lil'e Arts of ' (cedclI: l ana Plath (XCII' ('ol11e of agc by the ]950', In our typical Ameri ca n fashi n, York) wc rise to peaks of e nthu R i a~ m on a gi\"C'll subj ect a nd then, 1950: W elsh Ji'llm it lll'e; L. TIl"i ~to n-l)al ' i es and H, .J. 28 Llo~ ' d-John es (Cardi ff) ance or of seeming to deprecate a n a rea b~ ' not mentioning 1951: Le jOllets TJoTJlllaires (Folk-toy~); Emanuel Ilercik it at aU, one might list the follOII'ing as being significa nt (Prague I elivi ion in today' study of folk a rt : 1951: R aZz Bemalen (und) K erb chnitzen (\\Tood Pai nt Toy carving , e peciall y of bird a nd a nimal u eel in ing ancI urface Carving); Christian Rubi (Bern) connection with t he P enn ' ylvani a Dutch Chri ·t rna putz; oj 1953 : Folk /1. rt Europe; llelmuth Th. Bo ~ ert (~e\l' Whittling, often by tra mps or ilin r a nt ~-c ig ar -box carv- York) ing, gourd-carving, picture-frame cutting, and the like; 1954 : Deutsche T'olkskwlst (German Folk Art); Erich Ba ketry, \I'ith empha i, on individual technique; ::\Ieyer-H ei ig (::\Iunich ) Painting on 1I'00d-che t , boxes, clock-, furniture, etc.; 19-5: H ungarian Decorative Fall.- Art; Compiled by ex Painting on gla s, including rel'erse-pai nting ; pert of the Hunga rian Ethnoloo-ical ::\Iuseum (Budape~t) Polt ry, both form a nd design, especia ll y in the one-of-a 1955: Folk Pa inting all Glass; .J o~ef \'ydra (Prague) kind object made in some cases to be u eel as tO~' R; It \I'ould be out of the question to loin t to a nyone ('Primitil'e" painting from water color to oib, often catego r~ ' of folk a rt a more important than any other, just n mbitiou ~ in co ncept, in a ll tage of co mpetence; a~ it \I'ould be ridlculou ~ to apply the standards of fine art to t he a rt of tbc folk, or vice wr a . It IS possibl e, however, F a ncy metal wo rk, oftener in iron and tin than in copper, to indicate area~ of ::: trong current intere t, although there pewter, or brass, although the, e "finer" metal ' can not be i ~ a da nger in doing eY('n that. One or two co llectors excluded. j>os se~se d of tune a nd mean;:; may, t hrough their zea l a nd Each form-to say nothing of yet others-ha it ;:; se rious 8ctivitie ', al l ull\ritt ll1 gl~' di~tort the total picture b~ ' making student , it re-ea rch II'orker , a nd its admirer, as II'ell a it appe1r tha t thei r pHrticul a r field of study is the all it mere co ll ectors. T he co ll ector, of co urse, may be a nyone import,1 nt one. uch pcr80 ns Eoo n come to be "marked of the three-or a ll , or none. T o what extent the collector, men," :md not eH'n thcir minor purchases a nd offha nd II' ho in t hc nature of thing turns an a rt form into a com remark 0-0 unobserY<'d . On thc other ha nd, a dozen de moclity, holds the balance of pOII'er it II'ould be ha rd to say. yotee of a different a rt fo rm m a~', \\' ithout notice, be It seem:; ~nfe, t hough, to observe tha t the ub.i ect of America n engaged in a n actiyit~· \\' hic h in t he long run will a ppear fo lk a rt comma nds more rcspect to(la~' than it h a~ eyer done '1~ ma.io r in importantc. before a n I that this rcspect i ~ on the in c r ea~e rat her than At thc ri~k, then, of crcating a fal,:e impre s~ ion of import- t he decrease. Cast iron stove plate bew'in{!, the nalll e of" Baron" liegel, of Manheim . Coutesy: Th e HetrofJolitan lfll ' se um of Art, gift of 'vT rs. J. Illsle) Blair, 1947. 29 A di play 0/ Dutch breakfast foods af th e Hershey meelill~ 0/ the Pellsnylvallia German Folklore SocietJ' ill 19')8, ,ome left to fr~ ' for breakfast. Sometimes these are served DUTCH TREATS in the fo rm of potato c:l kes, made from mashed potatoe~, or fried, either whole or sli ced , To break open seyeral eggs ove r a pan of fried potatoes that hll\'e been du ly alted and for Breal~fust peppered, a nd brow ned ahnost to a cri p, is a tri ck that ha pleased m a n~ ' a Dutchman' pnlnte, The Amish people often mnke a milk gr:J I'\' in the fr~ ' in g pn n after t he potatoe have By EDNA EBY HELLER been fri ed, In nny of the e fo rms, potatoes are erved \I'ith the fried hnm, bacon, or dri ed beef g r ay~' , crappie and meat pudding are the tIro pork fayo ri te of ou r people and, Thr er~' fo r "Bicrcr('r and Better Breakfasts" i:i hea rd today of co urse, arC' made \r hr ne\'er the home butchering include~ over the whole lanel. The Dutchman smilC's, lIe \\ 'o nd e r ~ po rk , \Ve, too, enjoy sausaO'e for breakfast sometimes, if peopi<:' Il'illingly do go through six hour of the dny Il'ithout breakfast. To him that is un thinkable, for who woull Il'nnt 1fl- H '::\ PUDDl::\' to Il'ork on an em pty stomach ? It is true tha tome Penn There a re times when a substitute for polatoe i quite ~y ll' n ni a Dutch farmers r eg ul ar l~ ' milk twe nty COIl'S before acceptable, This is corn mea l mu~h thnt has been li ced and breakfnst, but then, the,l' C' n.i oy a brca kfllst menu thnt su r fried, It, too, ma~ ' hnye been left oyer from supper, fo r pa ses thC' dinner menu of man,l' non-Du tc h, To man~', the ma ny a cook has 'en'ed her wa rm boilC'd mush with cold milk quantit,I' of food foun d on t h e~e bre"kfast tables in P e nn s~' I poured onr it fo r the main 'upper dish and then poured the vani a is 1I1lpr e8~ II 'e, E \'en though there may be sel'C' rnl remaining mush into a loaf dish to cool fo r sli cing and fr~ 'i ng fruits, the meal i ~ unbalanced ncco rding to nutritional charts the next morning, For the reader Il'ho is Il'onderin O' holl' the because of nil the sta rch." foods, Fried food s nrC' includ C'C1 in Pennsyh'a ni a Dutch cook ac hi eyc ~ u c h perfect ly delicious C'ac h nnd C' 1 ' cr~ ' brea kLl:;t. The heart,l' diet of thC' P C' nn s~'I mush, it ~ h oll lci be poi ntC'c1 out that the fJayor of the local I':l ni a Dutch begi ns wit h breakfa~t. co rnmea l differs from the co rnmeal of the so uth, There are ! I\,O im po rtant sec rC't s though: 1l111~h need to be boiled \'er~ ' :'IIEAT AXD POTATOES 1011'1,1' fo r at lea ,t (11'0 hou rs, il nd in the frying, n low heat i .\leat and potatoes ,I'OU Il'i li surely find on the tnbi<:', for aga in the importa nt item, Sloll' fryi ng gi \'e that co\'eted we lea rn ed from ou r mothers and grandmot her, thilt meat cri sp coatinO' , :'IIush and Pudding (meat pudding) go hand and potatoes hou ld be sC' rnd three times a day, Grandma in hand, but there will a!ll'ays be the nece sary molasse nllrny. in i ,ted when we brough t potMoe~ from the cold s~' ru p clo e by, The three nre practica ll y inse parable; even ce ll ar for supper, thM II'e brought plenty, so there would be a, the cook and her fryi ng pan, Deep.Jat.Jried s p e ' c iaLties: plolVlines, / U It n e L c a k e s and IVa ffle II exes, 30 DEEP-FAT-FRIED FOODS Other unusua l items that one finds onl," in thi~ regional Som el hing or other is fri d for every Pennsyh"a nia Dutch cooke r~ ' a re stell'ed crackers, For man~' " ea rs the S,S, Butter b r e11 kfa~t, and quite often there ,He two or ewn three food" Crackers (often called Sunday School cn1cker ) lI'e re used fri ed for thi s nW31. In lHidition to the meat 11n d p o t a to e~ for thiS dish but ~i n ce their di",lppearance from the grocer's that :I re ~o fr e qu e ntl~ " fried, there a re ~o m e ~pce i a ltie ~ that ~ h elye~ thr Eaglr Butter,; a rr used, The reci pe for the~r i~ :1l'e gi,"en the d eep -f PLOWLIXES (:\ I ~o ('Rll rd St rei,'lin ) I ("l iP RW('(' I (TeRm 3 t. J) , sa lt 2 rggs 4 cu p sifted flou l' Combinr nr,ll11 wi I h rg:g-s :\nd h(':\ t. \Y ork 1Il t hr ~a l t and flour il~ for noodl r dough , Holl out VI of th(' dough at a timr 10 I/~ lnch tliickn 'So With a ] [HlY ":hrrl {'ut ('ac h round of dough into sr( tion~ 4 or 5 inchr, wide , Cut ,'ccl ions into half in {'h trip ~ , Ira"ing sec tion inlact by culling only to within onr inch of outer cdg Fry one or tll"O ~ect ion s al a time de pending II] on ~ I zr of pan, ] eep fat Rhould rrgl tel' 370 d rg r rr~ , Turn ing onc (', flY unl il p l ow lin e~ havr tmnrd a li ght 1)1'o ll'n , Drain on paper and srn 'r warm , 8r]"\'r8 six or r iglit , 31 Charles . Rice Ph otograph One oj the mosl interesting ights ill the Amish COUlltry are the many !V aler wheel which, in view oj tlte absence oj electric power. provide the m echanical power 10 PUI1l P water Jar hou e and barn use. A wire, attached to th e water wheel apparatus, extend to the house and barn and automatically pumps the water Jar Jarm use. 32 The AMISH~ Citizens of Heaven, and AIllerica * By JOHN A. HOSTETLER vYilli am .James once sa id, "t here i~ very Ii ttle difference Wh ~t is thr jU~lifi(' , ltion for foc usin g attention on one of hetll'een people, but what difference there is is very great." the el'eral P r nr. s~' l n1n i a Dutch groups in ~ u c h an occasion We are all fundamentall~' alike, and Il'e arc all fundamentalll' :1~ thi.'? Socirt~ ' 3 A ty pical feature of th e A m is h fa rm steads is the double or even treble house. it is not uncom1l1 0n to lind three generations living on one farm. each famil), having ils own quarlers. Additions to the main house go bJf the name of " Crossdawdi House : ' \yhrn II'r look a round in the II'o rld today, what do Il"r 'ee ') ult im ate goal fo r the .\ mi ::; h i ~ eternal li fe. Th e~' are fuuda .\. n inerra~ing number of A l11 e ri ca n ~ who do not have what Ill e nt a ll~ ' like all Cbristians in th ei r sea rch fo r etemal life, the Penn ~'h 'a n i a Duleh peopl havc--root. \Ve see f ru ~ hut fundamenta ll y di ffe rent in their search and exp res ' ion tratrd Ame ric-an :\egroe,.; and other mino ritie:" mi ll ion:, of of it. In order to a tta i n eternal li fe, the Ami::;h believe t h e~' American,; li l'ing below hea lth standa rds, th cramped 'ocial mu ,;t br se parate from the II"0 ri ei. In this "en e they arc rxi~trn('r of an increasin rr numbe r of slum dll'eller , condi citize ns of Heaven-colonizel" on thei r way to a betler wo rld , tions Il"h ich produce mo re and more d linq uent adul t and "in the wo rl d, bu t not of it." (·hildren, and o\'E' rfiowing mental hospitals. Th Ami h people are among the fell' left in thr II'orld trang , is it not, that mode rn 'oeiety doe ' not knoll' II' bo see in plea::;ure and personal pride, t Ill] lations beyond where it came from, or wher it is fTo ing. Or, at least Lhe their capacit,·. To 'eek wealth and to li,'e b~ ' il is I\·orld l ~·. great philo 'o phen; of our time a re Ie sure about "life" To improve one's personal ocial po ition Il"it h wealt h, fash and " the futu re" tban is the Amishman. ion, or e lu cat ion i ' worldl y. When oi l was di 'covered on Thi" leads me to tlw fi r"t ob ervaLio n whi ch we knoll' '0 .\ mish fa rm s in Kansa . a fe ll' year::; ago the.,' ,;old thei r fa rm ' well about the Amish people, namely, that they a re wi th fell" <1 l1 d moved uL of the ar a. To provide fo r the hou ehold exception s devoutly religiou ti people. The highesL value and and basic needs i ' nece 'sary, but lux uries and Iu tful app - 34 rites are harmful to t he soul. Amish piety i. in keeping for it stabilitv and contentment. There i no need for t he with the mind of the fourteenth century Monk, Thoma ~o n or daughter to leave the fa rm. Children are wanted. a K empi , who said that a poor peasant who erve God I-l ome a re effective teaching agencie. The mea ning of work i<' better off than a proud philosopher. and co-operation i learned earl y in life. In contra. t, the world spiri t of our day would remove The Ami h mother wo uld be horrified b~' the thought of a ll conflict between pleasure and guilt. The motivational working outside t he home and at the sa me time tr~ ' ing to resea rch peo ple have discovered, fo r exa mple, that adver raise a family. Therc i. plenty of time to bear children. tise rs seek to give u. moral permission to have plea ure Grandfather i re pected a a patriot, and hi s status (un without guilt. The co mpelling de ire for worldly success and like that in ou r soc i et~ ' ) increases rather than vani shes as happine s is foremost on the program of American pro"ress. he reaches retirement age. He would be insulted b~' old-age One of the Pennsylvani a Dutch proverbs I learned ea rl~ ' pension checks. T o retire he simply moves into the gmss in life, which i planted in the mind of eve r~' Ami h youngster dawdy (grandfather) house, a nd t he ~ ' Olll1g generation take at the da WI1 of adolescence i "Bhe lob stinkt!" ( elf praise over. If a barn burns down the neighbor a re there to help stinks! ) In much of the modern wo rld it no longer tink him build a new one. if you brag a bou t you rsel f. Ami h security co mes from friendly personal relations, Second, after devout religion , the Ami h maintain an from father and mot her, brother and i ter, uncle and aun t, agrarian way of life. An Ami hman's cha racter i judged by and church member , and not from impersonal and remote the orderliness of hi s fence r ow~, by the neatness of hi fa rm so urces such a investment bond , state security, th town building . A fa rmers the Ami h are citize n of Ameri ca, ship t rustee, or from welfa re board. Is there any wonder altogether in t hp wo rld bu t no t of it . that the Ami h home i ~ not broken up and that delinquency The stability of their agri cult ural community has no equal seldom has a chance? in the nation. 1 ext to the Bible, the soil is to t he Amish F or the past number of ~ 'ea r Ami h leaders have appefl red mind the most im porrant material substance on the ea rth. in Washington to seek freedom from federal aid. They have A spoke man for t he :-Jational Catholil' Rural Life Confer no objection to pay their taxes, including social sec urit~· ence ca ll ed t he Amish, "The finest rural cul ture whi ch \I'e tax, but the~' ob.i ect to receiving government aid, or have have been able to observe ..." Their fa rms a re know n their children a nd grandchildren fall hei r to such a temp for their high fe rtility an I high output. tation. Before the House Ways and Mea ns Commi ttee t h e ~ ' They transform poor land in to prod uctive farms. There sa id , "Old age urvivor in 'ura nce is abridging and infring are other features, such as buggy tran portalion, tbat a re in ing to our religious freedom ... Our faith has a lw a ~ 's been keeping with a simple and plain way of living. suffi cient to meet the needs a'l.- they co me." :Most people Strangers in an Amish community must adjust their speed go to ,Va hington to get something, but the Ami h go to to buggie on tbe bighway. The threat of udden death on avoid taking so mething. the hi/l:hway doe. n't rem to bother the Amishman. He Thongh we may differ with the Ami hman in specific, is probably more prepared to meet hi -:'IIaker on short notice on one principle In:' as citizens must agree--\\'it h the aba n than most people who drive automobil es. Ohio has r ece ntl~ · donment of per onal responsibility a n all-perva ive gov made provision fo r the buggies b~ ' co nst ru cting a berm along ernment fill. the vacuum. If the famil y breaks down the the highway, thu making travel safer fo r all. irresponsible wo uld let the government take over. If there Why do the Ami h use buggies in. tead of cars? Thi is leisure, let the government fill our leisure time. Are we wa the mode of t ravel ~rea r ago an I the Amish have re unable to think for ourselve , let the government do it for u . tained it like many other thing on the principle tbat " the Chari ty has largely become the function of the state, and old i t he best." T o accept the automobile wo uld lead to a birth and death a re co mmercialized, a nd even perfumed . breakdol\'n of their commu ni t~ , and would open the fl ood R ootleso; Americans no longer weep \\'ith t hose who weep. gate of ocial change. An Amish per on has a deep se n e Rootles they a re born, rootles they live, and rootles t h e~' of loyalty to hi brother, and to remain in good tanding die. Can a nation or a people be great if ma rriage vow he obey what the church ha decided. So long a the church and fam ily responsibilit y a re taken ligh t l~ r ,? ~o s ociet~ ' can does not unanimously agree to aUow automobiles, he abides manage it elf well when it violate the in teg ri t ~ , of its com by the decision, for to do otherwise would be a defilement mit,men ts, by their ma rriage, labor, politics, or government. of hi conscience. There i another old Amish proverb, oft repeated by t he The limitations of the hoI' e-and-buggy keeps the ocial mother to her son of courting age, which when t ran lated life of the fami ly in bound . Life is spent largely in t he goes like thi : " Wherever you make your bed, there you'll fam ily and co mmunity, rather tban outside of it. have to sleep." (The implication being that if the young Buggy and ha rnes shops are essential institutions. One man marries a ~ Ioppy , stroovlich. or doppich Iyoman he will firm in Indiana makes as high as 00 buggies every ~r ea r. have to live Iyi th ber the rest of his life.) If more people, The particular details vary from I owa to Penn ylvani a. The not only ons of courting age, but politician, admini trators, late t model custom-made cou rti ng buggy (in Ohio) include and businessmen, labor a nd management, realized the truth one or more of t hese features: wood-carved dashboard, of thi statement, our faith might be greater and our days one or more glove compartments, a celJuloid windshield, more mea ningful. chromium headligh ts, tail-light and parking lights, dimmer We can get orne insight in to people by studying thei r switch, foam rubber . eat, electri c clock, compa s, back-up garbage cans and their worries. What is the foremo t lights, signal lights, hat rack, and baU-bearing wheels. worry in the mind of an Amish woman ? The third a pect of Amish li fe i their ocial institution WiU my son marry a O'ood housekeeper'? and other topics which serve t hem so well ; gemeinschaft relation hip (inti fundamentally .. ocial in cha racter. mate family-like relation hi p) that are e. ential to tabili ty What i the [oremo -t worry of the American woman '?-T o in any ociety. retain her youthful cha rm, e pecially in the eyes of her hus The Amish family is a strong socJal unit generally known band. The Amj h woman has no such worry on her ub- 5 l'OIl~rlOuS ;lg('I1lI:i, end is the fi r,:t p rill ciplr." This simpl," mca ns that befo re .\ Ilothrr rO llcrrn of the . \ IIH'ri(, ~1 1l Il'oma ll toda~ ' i;; I\' hrt hr r one ~ fa r t s to go >'o 111 ell' here, a pc rson has to knoll' \I'hrrc hrr sark drr~~ fit" right. Thr . \ mi~h 11'0111<1 11 ha" nCI'rr had 11(' is go in g, It is thc dcst ill ation that determi nes t he direc 1I'0rrir" 111 lhi~ COl1llrct lOll, tioll of the fi rst strp, You ca nnot fi rst ,tart \I'a lking and 'lY e come noll' to ~ I di~('U~~IO Il of illdi ,'icllwl prrso 11 a I com then dpc icie \I'here YOIl arc going; thi, i, fin e fo r romantic l'r('llc,", or edllcatlOll ill thr bro,ld ~r n sr of thr trrm, III ('o upl es, but thr societ," in whic h \I'e li,'e, alas, is not a 110 :1"I)('ct of clIl t u rr ,lrr t hr 1':1ll1r" of t hr . \ mi sh morr at roma ntic institution, (,(Infli('t with tho>'r of thr la rgrr socirty than of hig hpl' (' el u Our s ocipt~ , t o d a~ ' u "e~ the pu blic school sy tem to accom l'atioll--holl' a (' hild ~holliel br traillE'd and \I'hat ro r. pli sh thc odd" and end s or their soc ial lil'ing, acco rding to In ('011 tr,] st , thr goals or ob,irct il'rs of thr pll bli c schools column ist S i d n e~ ' llarri s. T IlE' famil y of to d a~ ' has turned tocia," are not at all ('iraI', A"k the expert about the ,mbject ,To hnny ol'er to the school to remake him or fi ni sh mak in g of education toela,l' ,mel ~ 'O ll arc in fo r ,omp of the 111 0;;t him , II ,J o hnn ~ ' dop n't kn o\l' how to wipe his no. e, the ronI'll-eel, contradictor,' ancl I'ehement discu sio n of a sub (('ae her wi ll sho\l' him, Is S u z~ ' . h ~ " ) School will "bring ,wct that ])rrplrxed Plato and .\ristollr, and ha ' nCI'C'r her out." Is ,Johnny too aO'g rrs iY('? chool will pu h him :lc hiel'pd an.I' ciegrer of un an im it~ , amonO' the greatest mind;;, in, Should .Joe ira i'll hO\l' to cl ri l'C a ca r '? Then let's han T he ,\ Il1C'rican ",I,,, trm of rducation ha,; fo rgotten A r i stot l e'~ d ri\'C' r training in sc hoo l. fi r t dictum, n al1lcl~ ', that in practical matters, "the fi nal I J o hnn y '~ mind \I'cak? The 'chool will st raighten it. " Tlte start of an Amish funeral proceSS LOn . The fir st carnage lS the hearse alld contains al1 A mish body (lt e lua a ve l' )' good friend of mill e) beill g taken to tlt e p: ra veyard for burial. The lVido l(, follolVs ill the nexl carriage. A tn ish fu nerals, .Iuch as tlt is one. start at 9 A.M. all d contill ll e ul/t il about 5 or 6 P.M. Th is photo wa laken at4: 75 P.M. all d tlt ey still fwd 6 mile to drive to th e graveyard. " C. . R. 36 I hi ~ character Inlrped? The school will straighten it. I ~ tribute detailed aCcollnt~ of 1 1C'II'~ and happcnings for all hi body underdeYeloped') The sc hool will makc a man other . '- mi~h reade r,; , The .-\ mish ha I'e a great concern fo r out of him. health and in the~e column~ they mention who i8 not well, The modern O' ra b-bag method of ed uca tion resemblcs too who lI':t~ born or died, who fell d~11'Il the cellar steps or Il' ho mu ch a neurotic fa n ta~~', void of Aristotle's first principle, \I'as kicked b\' a mule, \\"ho in modern Am erica except the "in practical matters, the final end i ~ tbe fir~t principle." hospitnl cares Il'hen a woman fn!l~ dOll'n the cellar steps or The Amish fami l ~' is fa r more competent as a teaching ;\ ma n is kicked by a h o r ~e! Th rougholl t t he yea I' t hei I' Dge nt than an.I' fo rm al institution outside of that cu lture. journ:11 keeps f a mil '~· and coml11u n it~, til', st rong b~' t he re Amish fat h e r ~ and motbers knOll' what t h e~' Il'ant from a po rting of ordinar~' as Il'ell a~ spccin l h ;t ppening ~ wh ich nrc sc hoo l. Th e~' \l'a nt thrir so ns and daughter~ to acquire t he important to all .'\_ mi ~ h. ('s ential skill s of reading, writil1O', and cipheri ng. But their The Am is h ~oc l e ty has its st r r,,~es ;Ind strai n ~ a l ~o, Some contention is ba~ i cel ll y that in practical matters, lea rning is of their ~'oung('!' members leal'(' the Old Order ,1nd JOin a :1c hi el'ed most succes~f ull ~' tbrough in fo rm al relationships more moderate church. and gi rl s more infrequentl.I' go all such as in th(' home ~ nd comm uni ty, t han through hi gher the way to the II-O riel of lipstick, permanents, high 11Ceb, education, formal sc hooling, or "book lea rning." nnd tbe lI'ay~ of the charm sc hool. Thi is \l'h.I' the Amish draw a sharp lin e betwe('n the :\rental illn ess is probabil' as I)J'CYalent among the Amish clementa ry and the modern high sc hoo l. They a re the o nl ~' flS it is in modern soc iety. The~ ' ha I'e t hei I' "h" rc of suicides religious people in Ameri ca who ar(' Il'illing to go to ,jai l to too. Th o~e Il'ho leal'(' thc cu ltlll'e freque n tl~' find it difficult keep t h('i r hildren from s('c ular inAu cnccs, While it is t ru c to adjust to t he II 'n~'~ of soc iet l' about t hem. that fa rming today r e quir e~ mor(' t('c hni ca l kn owledge and Thie\'es hn\'C pai d thei r share of I' isits to the Ami sh and knoll'ledg(' of busi ness managemcnt than ~'ea r s ago, still we gangs haw done t heir share of del'i lment. On a num be r of must take a look at the modern high sc hool nnd it value occasions ,tones a nd bri cks ha I'e been t 11l'01l' n th rough Am ish as it 1'1'1a te~ to the fa rmer. In one res pect the Amish are II'i ncl oll's, and tbe 1;111' has el'e n c,lught up Il'it h a fell' per~on ~ right in sensing da n ger~ of the modern high sc ho ol. bould I\'ho admitted :lelting fi re to Am ish I arns. Ami sh childrer, lhcir chil dren attend high sc bool thel' Il'ould no longer be f r eq u ent l ~' arc grected Il' ith ,jl'ers and ~to ne s bl' other chi ldren fa rm ers, probably not Ami -hmcn. The modern hi gh sc hool Ir hen t h e~' migr,lIe in to nell' r egio n ~. All this l e,1Ye~ dee p is today a lewler of urban and rural w a~'s of lil'in g, not m'Hk ,.; on l )(' r 80 n a lil~ ' ,tnd is a most suhll e pref's lIl'e to co n o nl~ ' in Amcrica , bu t II'hrren'r America has transpl anted its fo rm to t he I:: rgrr soc iet~ ·, civili zation. Thr Ami~h Ira nt to con srrYe an ag ri cultllrnl T ec hnologl' i~ m,t king inroa ds on thr Amish societ~' ;l nd is II'a~' of li fe in a world Il'hi ch is rapidly beco ming urban. en usi ng con;-;idera bl e co nstern a tio n. The Amishman, in such a cru cial time, sta nds out as an They hal'e hope for tl1(' ru tulX'. " :\r~ ' life is happ.\'," sa id inner-directed perso n Il'ith plumb lin rs of con l'iction, He one Ami shman. "\\'e [I re no less happy tban people of an.I' will lik el~ ' co ntinue to be unpopul a 1', but as free citi ze n. Wi' ot her religion. We plan for the fu tllre. We li" e on hopes must respcct fundamental differenccs so that Il'e cn n remain and b;Hd II'o rlc . And II'e e nj o~' ou r li fe more than people fu nd ame n ta ll ~' free. who frel free to hel l'e a n ~,t h i n g in the Il'o rld t h p~' please." Tbe :\ mi~h man is b~' no means ignora nt of Il'o rld events. In conclusion, all of liS mu st trust 80 mebodY. \\' e must His cO lll'ersation Il'it h the I ' i ~ito r and . alesma n is often about tnlst eac h othE'l', difl'e rf:>nt as II'C arc in rel igion and cul ture. bappening:> in \Yashington, Europe, or about an ai rplane Tbere i' no ~ ul~ stitllte fo r character. The man who is fOI rrash in some remote co rn er of tbe ea rth. Ami"h h ospitalit~· sa le, who ma~ ' be co ncern ed but forel'e r put::; off dec i"ion i. .; un~u rpas able! There i a popula I' notion t ha t the Am ish hn s no charactrr II 'o r t h ~' of admiration. Every da~ ', indi clo not vote. In this respect th e~' are likc the rest of human \'iduals and mobs in h.I'steria are reft lsi ng to stand fo r what being in a democ ratic state, ome arc zealous and so me the~' once beli eYCd. As a citizen of Penn ~' h 'a ni a and an lethargic, ,\meri ra n, I belie\'e Il'e need more people Il'ho understand The Amish II'eekl.I' nell'spflper rircul ates in more t han and appreciate ru ndamental differencef:, fo r t hen Il'e shal l thirt.I' sta tes. Ami ~ h l\Titers from all o\,er t he nation co n- k noll' each othcr as fUllcLlme nta ll y alike. 10th Annual Pennsylvania Dutch All-Pennsylvania Folk Festival KUTZTOWN FAIRGROUNDS June 27 - 28 - 29 - 3D, July 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 37 SH 0 I~rv.1 J\}£~E Ft On a vi it to the Mu eum of Engli h Rural Life at t he is the equivalent of Vo lk kunde, which i the term in use in l~ niv e r ,; i ty of R eading in England two-three year ago, I German-speaking Europe, in Germany and Switzerland. had a fruitful meeting with its director, a youngi h British FolkJjfe is an all-encompassing discipline. scholar. In our convcr ation he mentioned that there was Because the word "folklore" has become umvorkably re one American collection he would likc to see above all other . strictive on the academjc plane and because it ha become I wonder how many of you have guessed which one he synonymous with "F ake-lore" on the popular level, the name had reference to. It Il'as H enry C. Mercer's Doyle town of the P elUl sylvailla Dutch Folklore Center ha been changed l\lu eum, nOlI" the Buck ounty Historical Society. to t he Penn ylvailla Folklife oci ety. The word "Dutch" Henry C, Mercer was America' pioneer in the field of was dropped for the reason t hat we shall henceforth be studying material folk-culturc. H e made the volumes of concerned wi th th totality of P ennsylvailla' folk-culture, the Buch County Hi torical Society a treasure-trove of unhamper d by ethillc sensibilities. Likewise, t he annual informa tion on P ennsylvanja's traditional material culture, Kutztown Folk Festival will here-in-out be the Pennsylvania That thero were no chola r Il'ith hj vision to carryon at Dutch- -All-Penn -ylvania Folk F esti\'al. hi ' death must be co nsid cred a vcr.\' great national tragedy indeed. F T R I "S ES OF PENN YLVANIA FOLKLIFE The blame for the lack of scholars in the realm of material In the future, the 'oncluding ection of each issue of folk-culture in this countr~ ' rests squarely at the door tep "Penn ylva ni a Folklife" will be devoted to recoriling the raw of Ameri ca n folklore. The Ameri ca n Folklore Societ~ ' a nd the dozen or so regional societies tha t ha\'e pruno- up in the material ~ of collccting. Thi is in keeping wi th the best procedure in the • uropea n folklife periodical of t he day. past fel\' decade, - the Penn yl vania Gcrman FolklorE' So ciety among them-are uffering from wh at I choose to call ilILA-itis. The :\ILA is the Modern Language Association of Ameri ca, a lea rned body comprised of coll ege and uni vel' ity profe ~s or s in the field of literature and linguistic,;, in English and the foreign language. B.I' their very t raining, these men-and it is they who a re overwhelmincrl.l· the lirec tors of the folklore ocieties-have narrowed the cope of folklore to the almo t lurely litera ry: ball ads, folksongs, folktales, proverbs, rhymes and riddle,:, wi th u persti tions thrOl\'l1 in for good measure. On the popular level the term "folklore" ha in wide circle become synonymous wi th wha t Prof. Richa rd Dol' on of Indian:! 'C n i ve l' s i t~ ' once called "Fake-Iore"-the Paul Dunyeo n, :\Iike Fink, Joe l\lagarac type of pseudo lore, or to bring the ma tter close r home, t he latc 01. H enry IV . Shoem,lker type of "folklore." Briti"h I:;le ~ schol an·-excepting for the a ntiquated Eng lish Folklore ociety-ha ve l a rg e l~ ' replaced t hc word "folk lore" with i t~ restrictive implications of folk literature in favor of the term " folklife, " borrowed from Sca ndina vi a n lands. CaseR in point a re two recently e tablished periodi cal , Ulster PoLklife and Gweriil , A. Half-Yearly JournaL of Polk Life. Since th e appearance of the lasl issue of F olklife mean~ the totality of folk-culture, it pi ri tua l aR Folklife. a picture oj a second dry house has well as its material aspect. In cope thc word "folklifc" com e to our attention. It is reproduced here. 38 marries before an older one, the saying i t hat t he older one must either dance in a pig-trough or ride t he bake oven. THE DRY HOUSE AGAIN (S elsrh t muss im sei-dToke dOllsa or muss der bock-uffa The front inside cover of the last is ue of "Pennsylvarua reida.) Folklife" wa devot ed to the Dry House, a building housing In the upper part of Berks ounty lI'hen t his happens, a tove and trays, used in drying fruits and ve"'etables in girl friends of the older brother or sister ecretl\' e\\" a quantit~ ·. ince its appearance, hl'o additional items on patchwork eu hi on, frequ ently ornate, of a size to fit an thi ubj ect have come our way, the first a photo"'raph of em'clope; t hi s they then send b~' mail to t he older brother 11 Dry Hou e from "olume XXII of the Proceeding of the or sister who, as the sa.y in .,. goes, ha ' to ride the bake o\'en P e llJ1 s ~ ' h 'a ni a German Soci e t~ ·; the other item is a n interest -all 0 tha t his or her "behind " 1\"111 not burn wh ile riding ing tradition from Jacob G. Shi"eh' of Millmont Penn \'1- the bake oven. ,·ania. Mr. hively write: ' ,. The bake o\'en cushion reproduced here is one ent to Our ance tor Chri stian cheibli (Shi\'ely) ettled on the Arthur Miller in 1932, on the oc a ion of his sister'" ma rriage eastern end of a tract of llOO acres of land ituated on (she being the younO' er) . the north side of Penn 's Creek, in 1775, in what is nOli' "(;nion County. The Indians did not gin' them serious trouble a t the time of the "Great Runaway" but kept getting bolder, and in the summer of 1781 made everal raid, in one of which our fo rebear's brother John, living ADDITIONAL BAKE OVEN LORE at the we tern end of the tract, 11'01 taken pri oner and Tothing eyer changed t he pattern of Penn ylvania folk thereafter wa~ never heard from. Our ancestor then eulturaJ life qui te 80 much a~ the int roduction of the cooking decided to return to his former borne in York County . ::; tove. It put an end to the open-hea rth and out-door-bake His prized po s sion wa a ten-plate stove, which he oven culi.n ary cul ture. It separated the eighteen th from the buried in the meadow so uth of his hou e on the night nineteen t II cen tury . And it deal t the death knell to the before he left . Continental type Pennsylvani a farmhou ·e. In the spring of 17 3 he returned and at once set abou t tryinO" to loca te hi love, bu t he never could find it. Frugality was one of the ke.'·stones of Colonial and post Colonial Pennsyl\'ani a folklife. Old-timers haw f r e qu e ntl~ · M a n~ ' years later a group was making hay in the meadow, among them se"eral of his sons. When the dinner horn told me that thcir grandmothers u ed to ay in the olden sounded 0 1H' of the men tuck the ha ndl e of hi s wood en rake into the ground and on doing 0 he noticed that it truck some object that did not seem like a stone. One of t he ons suggested, in a joking manner, that perhaps it was grandpap's sto\'e. A shovel was secured and t here, only a few inche belol\' the urface, the.,' found it. My Father, in telling the story, alway concluded by sayinO" that it lI'a~ taken to the dry house where it did dul,· drying sllitz and the many other items that were pre se rv e~l in that \\"ay. Later, \\"hen the dry house lI'as no longer used, it lI'a~ sold fo r scrap. B AKE OVEN CUSHIONS One of the half-dozen mo t interesti nO" bits of lore I unearthed in the past ten-fifteen years comes from Berks Coun ty. It belong8 in the rea lm of I\'edding cu toms. In the Dutch 'o untr~ ' if a you nger brother or sister Co urtesy 0/ Arthur Miller A balcc oven cushion mailed in 1932. A leoman from somewhere in th e Dutch Country holding mall- ize loa ue. of h OIll ebaked I)/·earl. Courtesy 0/ th e chwenk/elder Library A bake oven and heirloom photograph taken in 1903. The grandmother was Mrs. Enoch Rohrbach of igmund, Pa. time f r ('~ hl ,l ' IXlkecl IO c1 yes of brea d \\"ere neyer 8e n 'ed at thi s sa yll1g: . Could it meall t hat if one cra\\'ls in a bake ta bl e; th e ~ ' \\'ere put a\\·a.\" until the brea d \\"a ~ta l e: so that oyen one IS thE' n in another hemisphere? Ips,,; \\'oliid be eaten. A dialect cOllplet I collected ome My fa \'o rite desc ription of an el phnnt i onr :\Irs. mo nths a"'o from Isaac Eshl ema n of Lanra ~ ter Celllnt,l' brings (ieistweit of York ga\"t' her neighbor, :\1rs. ,Yeise r, in 1 0 thi,; beautifll ll~ ' to expre, ,; ion: :\Irs. " 'eior r had see n an rlE'phant at 11 loca l taYe rn and :\11' . Gei stlreit IrishE'd to know how it looked, "1 can .1 1eal I'OU', back-HfJa U'a11'1'111 te ll. You ,"' sa id :\1r8. ,Yei8e r, '"bet \\'een his head and ta il he .1Iacht dell reisc hda bo we l' awnn, i, like a bake own, hi ~ ea r" are like m~ ' apron, hi feet like (Fre ,.; hl~ · ground flour baked in to 10:1ws of brea I in an out a butter churn and his hea d like :1 n old stump \\ith the ( ~ oor bake ol'e n and eaten \\"arm will turn the \\"ealthiE'st of root sticking out." fa rm ers in to a pauper. ) In m~ ' ~ 'ea r ~ or co ll ect ing I hnw come upon t\\"o riddl es Among t he colorfu l expre8,; ions in dia lE'ct fo lk speech is in connec tion \\'ith a bake oyen. Onr is from William Ruoss t his one: del" bac/;'-lIffa iss ei-g folla. (The outdoor bake of Fritzto\\"n, Beri<::; o unt~ · : Ell sMall fall bralllli shoaf lill o\'en ba" collnp,;e cl ,) This is "a id Irhen a Il'oman has been n hilslli orl'igei hina -Ilooch . (A. fold full of bro\\'n sheep and rlf'linr cl of a ch ild . (. he is tl1('n no longer bi.,. like a a wooden organ in pursui t.) , ns\\" r r: A bake O\'en full of ha kr onn!) 10a\"Cs f bread and a peel to get them out. The ot llE' r riddle On l1umerou;; 0 'easions I h:we hea I'd tbe E' xpression : if I ha\'e from Jacob YoclE' r of Deyon, who wa rea red in th E' ~'o u \\"a nt to leave this world nil ~'ou neecl do is to craw l Hegin section : lI'as fer'lI hoot kammel' 1/ t Il'eara.J (What into an outdoo r bake Ol'en, then you :1 re out of thi ,,'orl d. kind of hat C:1 n one not \\'E':lI''I) Ans\\"er: The "hat " on :1 T hal'(' IlOt I)('en able to find a sa ti s factor~ ' expl:m11t ion for ba ke own. 40 From Monroe Ho\\'erter of Pitman R. D, I ha \'e a tradi whi ch a chi ck had hatched, cut it in minute piece,; and put tional rhyme he lea rn ed from his grandmother : it in some food the child ate, olamon in einer weisa Sh7Jricht: D, R , Han on, a fo rmer ~t udent of mine, recorded a Hinnich der back-ufJa shei , , , mer nicht, non-sy mpathetic cure fo r urinary incontinence : Take a bag FWIIW shteckt me,- de kucha /lei (If c l ot h espi n ~ and tie it arou nd your \\'a i ,t, putting the bag Un hinna muss's [u/t-loch sei, in bark, Thi prel"('nts your tu rning on you r back, olomo n in his wi"dom pake: One does not go behind a I,ake OH'n to reli eve oneself ; in front one put in the cakes .l nd in t he b,)c k there mu t be a hole for a draft.) The wab used in clea ning the Aoo r of the bake OH' n once CLOTHESPIN LORE the hot woo I a hes ha\'e been removed en 'cd a se condar~ ' Among the unsung craft smen of old en time Il'ere the purpose, a folk-medicinal one, Schuylkill co untians tell me clot he pin makers, Yea rs of questioning have failed to that if there Il'as a child in a family that wet the bed at uncover the name of a ingle perso n \\'ho \\'as acti\'e along nigh t, a com m o nl~ ' applied "cure" was to strike the child this lill e, three times Il'ith a !mddel-lurnba , which is the Dutch wo rd Wh,)t u"e Wf're clot hespi ns put to bes id e holding t he fo r wab, wash on the lin e and holding the scree ning cloth in place after milking? :\11' , Edith Kistl er of to ny Run tell s me the old women, when they were yo un g o-i rl s, to keep from o-etting a flat URINARY INCONTINENCE nose, would pinch a clothe pin ove r their nose at nighttime Il'hen the~ ' slept. In thi II'a ~ ' the\' I\'e re assured of a In nice society I am told even so mild an expre ion as beautifully pointed nose, but at \\"hat discomfiture! "to I\'et the bed" is inadmii'sa ble, :\1edica l sc ience knO\I' this Calvin tump of :\Jaxatawney, Berk Cou nty, tell s me co ndi tion b~ ' the nam!' of urillary incontinence, ?\I~ ' first that parent wou ld threaten to pin ch shu t their children' encounter I\"i th the lore of bed-wetting wa . at the time I li ps with a clot hespi n if they [oulld them using profa ne was cu rator of the Berk Co unt~ ' Hi to ri ca l Society, One da~ ' languao-e, He also ~a~'s that women used to put a cloth over an age I in fo rm ant came to m~' office (I \I'as then a fledgling a plant in the ga rden from which they \\'a nted to coll ect coll ector) to answer a query I had put in a column I was seed and at the bottom the,\' gathered the cloth and tied it then \\Titing for a Read ing paper, The old man reca lled a \\'ith a clothespin, tryi ng experi ence of his childhood, He told me he uffercd Children were O"iven clot hes pins for recreational purposes, from urinary incontinence , His mother ~o ught help from They were taught to make \rorm fencei' Il'ith them, Anot her her peer and was told to ta ke her son to a cemetery at game \\'a ' to sec which child co uld hold a clot hespin longest lIigh t bet\\'een eleyen and twelve, \\'hen there Il'a an open behind his ca r. At unday chool pi cni cs the,v had clothespin p:raw, and to have him urinate in the grave, This \\'ou ld co ntests, A clothes pin \I'as held \\'it h the head down\I'a rd ; cu re him , the mother Il'as told , The old-timer told me his the point was to Irop it in a mi lk bottle, The pin had to mother ca rri ed out the cu re to th e letter. "Un es hut aw stay in th bottle; if it jumped out the co ntesta nt \\'a !:lil/a" (and it cu red me), he conclu led, disqualified, A yea r or tll'O ago I ca ll ed upon Sa m Edri , an elderl ,v One lone riddl e about clothes pin s 11<1 8 co me m,\' way: hut Dunkard fa l mer, in northeastern Leba non ounty, :\1.\' dinna Zanga bay, en glainer kllPP un gore ken awga, was queri es centered on butc hering lore, :\1r. Edris mentioned iss's? (It ha thin , long leg, a ma ll head and no eye, that yea r ago in his section when they butchered it was not \\"ha t i, it ?) Ans\\" er : Ell wesc h-glomm (a clothespin ), uncommon to find ome of t he eld erl y women of the neigh ho rhood making a ('all to pick up a part of the pig 's anatomy fo r use in a bed-wetting ctlre, ' Vhen I asked what part it was he cou ld not reca ll. Later, in pursuing the subject UROPYGIAL GLAND LORE I found the an \ref. Dr. Ed\I'in :\L Fogel in his volume on the ~upe r ~tition~ of the Pennsy h'a ni a Dutch, page 282, In the clay wh en I was collecting materia l fo r m,\' doctoral lIumber 1-1 2. record ed this it('m: "If a chill wets the bed, dissertation on the P e nn s ~ ' h 'n ni a Dutch di alect of the Arthur, it houlel eat a little ~a u age made of the pudendum of a pio-, " Illinois, Ami h, I uncowred a long Ii t of name in dialect :\lr. , Frank Texter of :\1ohn 's H ill, Berks Coun ty, once fo r the uro p~'g i a l gland , This has a wondprful name in told me that the first time an infant i taken out of the common, everyda. English : the Pope's ~o e; it is the \"Cr~' house, ta ken along visiting that is, on(' hou ld n('\"(' r take it la t pa rt of the anntomy of a hen, the part \\'here the ta il o\'er a body of l\"ater (creek or II'hatever ) or el. e it \I'ill feat hers arc in, Dr. J, William Fr e~' ha,; fo r ~ 'ea r s been Iwcome a bed-II'pttpr. :\ J r ~, Texter ~a id she raised "even entertaining thousa nd ' of Americans at after-dinner ta lks ch ildren and that ~he wa~ careful each time to follow thi s on the ~ u b .i ect, in part, of th e nomencl ature of this gla nd folk-belief. in di alect, By noll' I think he h a~ gathered 1 4 1 ~ay the first meat one fed a child ~ h o uld be the Pope" "Henry, you pell 'thim ble,'" the teach r commanded. "Noce, whirh she called "es schllebberli" in Dutch. The \I'o rd "S-y-m-b-o-l" was I-J enry'. a tempt. sc hllebbera mean to go ya k-yak-yak, in dialect. "Ach no! I said thimble," objected the teacher. I once discussed this ubject with the late Ali ce Fulmer, "C-y-m-b-a-l" wa Henry's second effo rt. an aged lady of Green Point, Pennsylvania. She said she "Thimble," said the teacher im patiently. did not know any lore about gettin g a child to ta lk earl y, Possessed of a good in tellirrent quotient the boy ventured hut if a child, when it sta rted to ta lk did not talk p l a inl~ ', the answer: "S-i-m-p-I-e." one shou ld go to the store and ta ke a di sh (11'ithout saying " No! No! " cri ed the teacher, "I mea n the sing vomen unyt hing to 43 One morning an unu ~ ually large hole wa~ seen and The winters seemed to be \'ery long an I cold, begi nning after that there was no marc digging, nor did the in f\ovember and lasting until March, ~l en with idle team ghost of Old Il'eitzcr el'e r appear aga in , The wou ld make up sleighing partie, and, for ten ce nt, would supposition Il'a that the treasure had bec n found drive us down to Fall's lIotel at Pinedale, to warm up and and that Old weitze l" spirit thus fou nd peace, . pend the cxt ra pennies that \I' could rake up, AI a each sc hool would hal'e its ~lrig hing party, ===:: === =::::3 \\Tin te r evenings we roa ·ted com mon chi c-ken corn \I'ith ~a l t and butter in a f r~ ' ing pan, and if mother would not Irt me usc butter, lard would answe r. Co rn meal \I'e roasted PA TIMES OF M YOUTH* in the ~a mc manner, also flour, These \I'C took to . chool By John Butz BOln11a n nnd often put l et \I'een the pages of ou r geog r ap h ie ~ to hide it from the teacher and scooped it up with our tongues, Going for l e~l\"es wa a great outing and a so urce of much Coa ting \I'as done differently in those day, There \I'e re plea me in the late fall, A man ow ning a team of mu les no bobsled or flexible fli ers, . The sled were all st raight wou ld rou nd up a number of boys and , with them, drive without steering gea r , and you had to tee r them by kicking to the wood. to gathcr leave, with which he bedded hi s ~'o ur heels hard into the sno\l' to m,1 ke the sled tu rn in the idle team durin IT the II'in te r. The leal'e::; were gathered and direction yO I1 desired, There \I'as no tu rning out. The hill throll'n in to the Iragon box and stamped dOll'n tight by the had to be clea I' when you started, hays, \Vhen the box was fi ll ed, then we bega n to fi ll bags The \I'a ters of bot h Ca nal and Ri ve r ran clea r. There was to lay on top of the already loadeel wagon, One boy would deep "wimming anyw here in the Ca nal and docks and wim put his two feet into a bag and tamp it full with the leaves ming holes all along the chu ylkill , tha t other bo~'s brought to him, This had to be done from \Ve made ou r O\l'n rainbows, Thi. \I'e could do any time " ittin IT 01' recli ning po itio n, When the bags were all filled, the sun shone, The river banks \I'ere lined with birch and they Il'ere tlll'oll'n upon the wagon load, pressed dOll'n tight beec h, We wou ld selrct a place \I'ith the shadow of the trees and them tied sec urel~' with ropes, We all jumped on top to the cast and the Siin on ou r back to the we t of us, of them and the fun )'eall~ ' I egan on the hom trip, by the Then \I'ith ou r hands or paddles, \I'e would spla sh the water boys trying to sec ure places on top of the loa el and keep from hi gh in to the "hado\l'" of the trees , The un shining upon rolling off, the \I'ater \I'oul d cause a rainbow, ,iust the "a me a a sun ,Vhen ihe grou nd was hard in fall, s hinn ~ ' II ' a~ pla~ ' e d ~ h o\\'cr on a summer aftern oon, The hi gher the water was wit h crooked sticb 01' shi nn irs, silllii:t r to the golf ::;t icb of thrown and the longer roll' of bO,l's we were, t he bigITer toda,l', These ticks Irere made, as a ru ir, from .I'Olll1 g t rees r:J inbOlr \I'e got. pulled up by the root, with a small part of thr root attac'heel In ~p rin g time \I'hen the sap rose in the trees, we made to the "tem as a crook, TII'o derp hairs, one ilt rach rnel ho rn ., whi"tle!', and . quirters, of t he fie ld or ~ Jllall ('our:,e, we re dug into the oTo uncl as The blow horns were made b~' cutting the bark from a hases, Sides we l'e chosen, and a block of Il'ood 0 1' gto nr chestnut or wi ll ow li mh into one long st rip an inch or marC' constituted a bone of cont!'ntio n, placed Jlli ( hn1~' between wide, We began b,l' winding it around thc little finger, the two holes, The cluh "ll cceed ing in getting the block extending it outward :l nd \I'inding co ne hape, \I'ider and into thei r opponent',; goa l Il'on the game, It wa s abo pla~ ' e d wide r, until the desired length was reac hed, Into the finge r on sku tes upon the ic!' b~ ' one side gett ing the block and hole we would inse rt a mouth-piece made of the same ba rk, trying to keep it from their opponentg, there not being n n ~' The result \I'as i1 horn that made a \'erl' loud so und, "imilar pecia I goa I. to that of the coml11on butc her horn , nO\l' out of use, In Irinter lim r Ire ~kilted most anl'l"'w re, a,; the 'a nal Thr whi"tle W:1~ macle b,' rubbing and beating a st raight ,lIld River flo\l'ed righ t through the to\l'n, We skil ted to limb until Ihe ba rk was l oo~e n ed from the Irood ancl then Landingyille whrn the Hi,'('J' froze, This \I'a s a fete that slipped 011'. Onp end wa s plugged, a hole cut about an inch co uld not be done on the Canal, unl rs,; \I'e took our "kilte:; from the other, and a \I'ooden mouth-piece made to fit oyer, and wa lked arou nd thr locks, Skate then were \'er,' di f through whi ch the air pa ~se d, Thi made a plain whi. tie, f( 'rent from those of toda,l', Th e~' \I'ere made of \I'ood, with If we put:l mall rou nd piece of wood in, id e before clos ing a li ttle projection extending up from the midelle of t he heel. it, \I'e had a \I'hi st le \I'ith a \I'arble, Thi \I'as fitted into a hole in the heel of ~'our "hoe , The hair ,Ve made :l \I'ater squirter I I' remo\'i ng the pith from was mncle by u ~ in p; a gim let. The ska tes were fa stenecl b~ ' in~idc of an eld er stick and plugging it at one end \I'it h a leather buckle st raJl ~ :1 ncl yel'~' eld om co uld ~ 'o u draw them rou nd piece of wood wit h a :3ma ll hole in the center. A tight enough to keep them from ~ Iipping from 'id e to sid e, small mg or fine t\l'ine wa s then \I'ounc! tig h tl~ ' a rou nd a This W:JS improl'cd hI' foreing ·ticks of wood between the st ick of Irood and fitted ~ nu g l~ ' into the oi her end, When s trap~ ane! shoe, pre~~rd i1l\1'<11'd, thi~ plunger remoyed the air through the There \I'ere manl' irl lr Illul rs and horses in winter time, little hole, after \I'hi ch ~ ' Oll put the end in water and pulled and some good-natu red boatma n would a rrange a board at t he ~t i ck backll' 46 convenience, let' take sea onal a nd weekly grouping . tarting with ummel', the bigge t job wa preparing for SEVEN DAYS MAKE ONE WEEK winter, a one old lady down in the Oley Ya ll ey once ex pre sed it to me, "Ei dra w~ ' a we de g'shwa rl duhna" (Store By Florence Baver up like the quirrels do). Thi mea nt ca nning, pre erving, a nd drying fruiL and vegetables. l\Io t of these food s were ConcerninO" all housewives everYII'here, let's change the fo r fami ly con ulllption. However, well do II'e al 0 remember old familiar strain '·the house of thine abode" into the words how we helped to gather the fa ll en apples into bnsket II'hrn " the kitchc'n of thine abode." ~ I a n y of us ha ve hea rd the a you ng girl, to take home fo r mother to peel a nd cut into humoro1\s expre' ion in the past "Seven days in an old flinrer qua rters for drying. These d ri e I aprle "schnitz" II'CI'e "old make one weak." Likewi se, it is most believable to u. to the huckster by the po und when he ca ll ed w ee kl~ · to bu~ ' housell'ives of today that "seven day in t he kitchen make the eggs a nd butter. The p ri ce received fo r the e a pple one II'eak." That i why we a re most npPl' ecia tive of dad's "schnitz" wa very ~ m a ll but the a ti faction of not having sugge' tion to "eat out" frequently. Ipft a nything go to waste partly compen ated fo r thi lack The kitchen ha s been t he abode of the h Oll sewife even of moneta r.I' return. ":\Ier darf nix fe rhou a gae lu . a" wa s clays a II'eek down t hrough t he ages. The preparation of ~ characteri stic common amon CT the Dutch. (You hould food and ca ring fo r the children doe. not permit a n escape not let a nything go to II·a"te) . For thi. ummel' ca nning a nd even on the Sabbath. From ea rl y morn until setting sun preserving, mo t housell'ive Il'e re eager to move the entire the housewife fo und little spa re time and cou ld truthfu ll y hou"ehold from the big kitchen in the mnin hou. e over in to S it~ · , " A woman's wo rk i never done." H ousewives of the the summer kitchen whi ch was u. uall y attached or nen r b~ ' pa st lived a . t renuou li fe, but it was a simple and a happy the main h ou~e. This was done wh en . ummel' a rrived to one, and well may II'e t reasure thei r traditions and hand i sp,1re the good kitchen from m e"~' work. The big bra s wo rk. r reser\'ing kettles a nd a ll empty ja rs II'ere u. u a ll~ r ·tored in The bu . ~ . housel\"ife supplemented her "seven da~' s in t he the summer hou8e to be refi ll ed . kitchen" II'ith ma ny outdoor tasks, the open air making her B e::;id es drying fruit. a nd vegetable, the hou. ewife had health lrrow along with the growing vegetable a nd fl ower to applY hCl' vast know ledgr of the medicinal va lue of teas in her garden. ~oti n g t he p rogress in their growth were nnd herbs II'hi ch numbe re I man~ ' va ri eties. T o nnme just her grea te, t plen ures. This i evidenced o nl~ ' too well even [ ~ fell' common one. , he had to gather a nd dry catnip ten today in the di plays of flow er nnd vegetnbles at the co unt~ · fo r the bab /~ coli c, horehou nd tea fo r colds in winter, sage fa ir a mi the H :> ITest Home ervices in the rural churche.. fo r up ~et stomach, a nd eld er blossoms tea when a child got measles fi nd the\' didn't wa nt to come out. 1\[an~' teas were Another co ntribution fo r the hou .. ewife's robust co nstitu fo und growi ng in the gn rden but m a n~ ' II'ere also grow ing tion was the ab1lndance of food s which ha ve now become n wi ld nnd mnny t rips, over the field s a nd through t he Iroods, ra ri ty. Lucky a rc those of us who can remember goi ng li a I to be made in prepclration of a ll emergencies in the home. uown to t he pringhou e on a hot summer day a nd d ip a This was ('fi ll ed "gegreirl er slIcha." H ops were dried to stufT refreshing a nd invigora ting lrink out of a crock of ne a rl~ · n pi ll ow fo r one to li e on when having a feve r. Horse ice cold buttermilk setting in t he cool pring water. There (' hept nu ts were gnthered a nd sal'ed to put under a mattress I\"a nothing for toning up a n overworked stomach like fresh for a rthritis. Thi lea ds u. right in to wine making also, a .. buttermil k. Then there was t he homebaked " wholesome" hou ewi ves a II nl ~ 'S had to ha ve e ld e rb e rr~' wi ne (hullerbiera bread with homemade butter, almost as thi ck a the li ce of 1l' ei ) on ha nd for colds fi nd bird-' cherry wine (fogels-karsha bread itself, on it. Let's not go on, lest we fo rget the big lI'ei) for a toni c. W e cou ld nccu mulate a long Ii t of home kettle of ~a uerkr a ut and " peck" cooking on the ki tchen I' emedies but tha t is not OUI' rurpose and we will go on to stol'e, which, when eaten by t he farmer a t p lowing time, other chores. crea ted the expre ion "Sauerkraut un shpeck hi ept de a rd Besides the ma n.I' p repn rations that had to be made fo r aweck." (auerkraut a nd . peck pu he the earth a way). winter, there frequently occu rred a spec ial, immediate occa This ame a uerkraut gave nn equal yield of nergy to t he sion which call ed for prepa ration of food, such as the nnnufi l housewife as II'elL Sunday School picni c, f a mil~ · reunion .. , nnd a neighbor's Each of the seven day of the week b rought with it a fu neral. For the first two, washbn ketfulls of food were slice or portion of the wo rk meted out for t h entire week. p repnred a nd halded to the grove fo r eve r~ ' o n e to eat freel~'. ,'ince there eems to be a recurrence of ce rtain tasks at rather Food for the Intter was prepared nt the house of t he decea ed regular in tervals it ha proved adva ntageous to most hou e a cla~ r or two in :ld l'a nce. All other wo rk wa. dropped wive' to adopt a chedule fo r nccompli shing the e tasks. momen la ril ~ · a nd hflste Il'as not 11':1 nti ng fo r special occasions. The pattern that seems to have been most populnr among The a rril'al of fa ll would ordina ril y indica te n minimizing the Penn. ylv,lIlia Dutch housewive. clown through t he genel' of ca nning, th e l' eb~' decrea sing Uw hou ewife" labor . But ~t ion s i : ::'- Ia unda wg- W esh-dawg (~ r onday-Was h cl ay), t hi. is not so, as the dropping of fa ll appl es brought e vCl'~ ' Dinshtuall'g- Biggel-d,1wg (Tuesdav- Ironing day) , i\Iicl homestend in to the m id ~ t of the cidCl' making a nd nppl r wuch-Fli ck-da wg (Wednesda~'-~ I e nding clay) , Dunn rsh butter cooking. Cil thering the n pples, the ""chnitzi ng" dawg-. htrose-dnwg (Thursday-Errand da~ ' ), Fridawg ra l' t~ · , a nd a long d :l~' of conti nuOl! . cooking of appl e buttr r Bock-da wg (Friday-Ba king da~ '), Som>,hdawg-Butz- Iawg brought on more satisfact ion of h;wing a well filled Inrdel' . (.'alurday-C lea ning day), a nd Sundawg-Karrich-dawg Then cn m(' sa u(' rkra ut making, a task not to be taken lightl.I·. (. unday-Church day). These chore, already seem to Rut since superstitions enlered into a ll lomestic nctions a nd 100md out a seven day I\" eek in full fa shion . Yet t he other duties of everyday life nnd concerned every member of the incidrntal tash consuming the housewife's time a nd energ.v family, the housrwife hncl to study the nlma nnc diligently. a re also so n1lmrrO\l. throu/!,h01lt the weeks and months of Such II'a t he cn r in . :1 uCl'kra ut making fo r if she should tlw yrar that \\'e ('an not pa .. s by mentioning a few. For not b nwa re II'h('n the Callus Week wa . according to thr 47 almanac, her labor would be in vHin , beca use 'auerkraut, of sea 'onal ta ks of the a\'erag hOll. e wife, leaving only it was beli eved, made during thal week wou ld become bitter. weekly and specia l day and holiday task to di cus. , Gathering the turnips and pumpkins in the field and t he Job making regu lar weekly recurrence were churning vegetables still rema ining in the ga rd en and sto ring them in butter, making cottage chee e, wa bing the lamp chimney the ~round cellar wa s anot her fall chore. polishing the kitchen stove, co uring t he knive and fO I:k ' EI'en though \I'e will treat fall hou::;e clea ning lightly for \I-ith a he or O'round brick, clea ning the pot. and pans with brevity in this ,U'licie, I beO' of all rea ders to employ t hei r liquid lye (shmeal' sa/e), gettin g the egg. and other produce imaginations s trong l~ ' in this subject. St;uting on the attic ready to :;:ell to the huckster \I'hen he made hi s wepk ly call. :l llci ending in the ce ll ar, fall clea ning had to be timed ver.I' Be id ('s prepnring the meal;;: for the fa mill' the al'eruO'e careful ly, }jor rxample, my mother alwa.I's poli hed the hou ewife had one dail~ ' task the importanc~' of wh ich Via. K. L. M. qOYAL DUTCH AIRLINES July 8 - September 8, 196Q. TRAVELING PENNSYLVANIANS 1959 July 6 - August 25 A Thirteen- Country European Tour : Ireland, Scotland, England, Norway, Sweden, Denmork, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Itoly, Swihe rlond, ond France. Contemporary European life wiil be accented, plus folk traditions of W estern Europe. Vio K.L.M. Royal Dutch Airlines. TRAVELING PENNSYLVANIANS 1960 July 8 - September 8 In 1960 Traveling Pennsylvanians will fly westward around the world from San Francisco, to visit Hawaii, Japan, Thailand, Burma, India, Paki stan, Iran, Israe l, Turkey, Greece, Southe rn Italy, and Spain. 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