The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1872-07-26

| JONAe5 ASA anu wv JOuuS HOLnEA
sit up together over night to watch
| in a room adjoining that of the dead
When the funeral takes place on
Sunday, an immense concOurse ot
people is assembled. There are
sometimes as many as three hundred
carriages in attendance. The servi-
ces are usually in the German Ian
guage. An invitation is given to the
company to return to the house and
eat after the funeral. The tables
are sometimes set in barn, or large
wagon-house, and the guests succeed
one another until all are done. The
entertainment generally consists of
cold meat, bread and butter, apple
sauce and pickles, pies and rusks, and
sometimes stewed chickens, mashed
potatoes, cheese, and coffee invaria-
bly,.
The weddings are of even q still
more primitive character. On one
occasion the writer of the volume
was invited to see the bride leave
home. The groom arrived at the
house about six o'clock in the morn.
ing, having previously breakfasted
land ridden four miles. AS he no
doubt fed and harnessed his own
horse, besides dressing for the grand
Occasion, he must have taken an
early start on the frosty October
morning. The bride wore purple
mouselinede -laine and a blue bon
met. The bridegroom was a me-
chanic. The party was composed of
four couples, who ride to Lancaster
in buggies, where two pairs were
married by minister. In the after
noon, the happy mortals went to
Philadelphia for few days, and on
the evening Of their return there was
a splendid reception or "home-com-
ing" The supper consisted of roast
turkeys, beet, steWed chickens, cakes
pies, and coffee ofcOurse. "Raisin-
lpie" is one of the rare dainties on
such festive occasions.
Another wedding took place in
the eting-house, one bitter Sunday
morning in December. The party
entered through an adjoining brick
dwelling, one room Of which served
as an ante room, where the sisters
left their bonnets and shawIs. The
meeting house was crowded. On the
left IN front was a plain of muslin
leaps on the heads of the sisters.
Along the other side, the hats and
overcoats Of the brethren were placed
on shelves and pegs. The building
was entirely unpainted, with white
washed walls. A small unpainted
desk, before which was a low table
two stoves, and half. a-dozen hanging
tin candlesticks, with the benches,
constituted the furniture of the
Iapostolic cathedral. After a plain
spoken discourse by the preacher,
the marriage pair was called upon to
come forward. Upon this the man
and woman rose from the body of
the congregation on either side, and
looming out to the middle aisle,stood
together before the minister. Thev
had both good faces, though they
had passed their early youth. The
bride wore a mode colored alpaca,
and black apron, and plain clear
starched cap without frill or border
The groom had on a rather conspic-
uous dark green coat, cut "shad-bel-
lied" after the manner Of the breth-
ren. After putting the usual ques-
tions, and directing them to Join
hands, the preacher pronounced them
husband and wife. This was fol-
lowed by short prayer, when the
welded couple separated, each again
taking place among the congrega-
tion. The occasion was not without
a certain homely pathos. On resum-
ing his place in the desk, the preach
er's eyes were suffused, and pocket
handkerchiefs were visible on either
side, "those Of the sisters white, of
the brethren, colored silk" The
church does not allow wedding
parties, but few friends may gather
at the house after meeting.
The farming of the fertile lime
stone district inhabited by the
l"Dutch" is entirely by tillage, and
very laborious. The usual routine
is to break up the sward every five
years, and plant the ground with
corn. The next year it is soRn
with oats, and in the month of Au-
lgust, the stubble land is manured
for wheat. Wheat and timothy are
put in with drill, and in the ensu-
ing Spring clover is sown upon the
same ground. When the wheat is
taken off in July, the new grass is
growing, and will be ready to NOW
in the next or fourth summer. In
the fifth year, the sod forms a rich
pasture, and is ready to be broken
up again in the Fall for Indian corn.
Potatoes are seldom planted in large
quantities. On farm of forty acres
more than twenty will be put into
wheat. The average yield of his
crop is twenty bushels, of corn about
forty. When wheat and oats are in
the barn or stack, enormous eight
horse thrashers (steam thrashers
have lately been introduced) are ia
ken about the neighborhood from
farm to farm, and dispatch the
whole crop in a few days, completing
before the first of October what was
once a job for the Winter.
The Pennsylvania "Dutchman"
has no extravagant enthusiasm on
the subject of education. He fears
too much of it for his sons, as it may
lead to laziness; and laz1ness with
him is mortal sin. The book mar
ket is not active. During the Win
ter months, the young men usually
60 to school, sometimes with a little
reluctance, where they learn to read
and write, with a touch of arithmetic
and geography. They speak Eng
lish at school, and the German dia-
lect at home.
The Dutch housewife is consid-
cred as more than half the family.
She milks the COWS, raises poultry,
takes care of the garden, which she
often digs herself, and plants and
hoes, with the help Of her daughters,
and her "maid," when she has one.
She does not indeed go in for veget
able raising on large scale, nor has
she nrtnn cinro hndr Of ctr-o rlnn1.rina