The modest women of Spring Prairie Colony share a quiet moment in the early morning sun on a trailer behind a tractor headed for a cucumber field northwest of Hawley, Minnesota. Minn. Although Hutterites believe that if you spare the rod you spoil the child, the elder minister of this colony northwest of Hawley says teenagers are teen-agers and, as such, should be given a little latitude.
Some people grow in stature faster than their mind and that sometimes causes problems.
I guess the colonies aren't immune from that, but then I guess the control we have is different. At Spring Prairie, teen-agers' clothing, like adults', covers them almost from head to toe. Hutterite boys wear button-down shirts, long black pants, suspenders and caps. Hutterite girls wear white button-down shirts under brightly colored vests and matching long pleated skirts with aprons. Their hair is always parted in the middle, pinned up in the back and covered by a bonnet or kerchief, depending on their age.