Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-02-09
AS OTHERS SEE Us.

Houses and Inns-Habits and People
The Tobacco Mart"
so. F. A." writes from this city to the
Boston Eccniny zranscript, under date of
Feb. 2. as follows:
One Of the things which strikes a
stranger most pleasantly in Lancaster is
the window-gardening SO prevalent
here. The whole community is fond
of flowers, and on some streets it is a
rare exception to find a window on the
first floor not filled with flowers. Espcci-
ally is this the case among the poorer
people. And the plants thus cultivated
arc not the common hardy sorts only, but
those demanding good deal Of care in
in their cultivation. 1t would seem, sOmes
times, as if the humber the circumstances
of the f1ower-owner, the greater luxuriance
of the flowers themselves. l often find
myself pausing before the windows in the
poorest neighborhoods which are fairly
ablaze with geraniums callas, cyclamens,
and numerous other blooms, or else cool
delight of graceful ferns and rich begonias.
A people whose love of flowers is so in
tense as it appears to be here must GER
tainly have many other excellent qualities
One cannot wander far in any direction
i'm this old city without finding one or more
log houses They abound in narrow alleys
in the heart of the city, or close to the street
line in localities removed from business
quarters, and are constructed of logs pre-
viously squared by the axe, the inter-
sticcs being filled with plaster. Occasion
ally one sees an old house cross-timbered
and with plaster filling between, but these
are rarcr. OF a later date, probably, but
still respectfully antique, are the small one
story dwellings of brick or stone which are
50 numerous in certain nei ghbOrhOOds and
on the older streets. They are not un-
picturesque, these groups of houses, with
their low and broadly projecting caves and
mOSs-grOwn roofs.
A peculiar feature of the great majority
of houses in Lancaster and it's vicinity is
the long, narrow balcony, which extends
along the rear of most dwellings in front of
the second and third stories. A house
without this balcony attached to the rear
building would hardly be considered com
plete here. AS one takes short cut
through an alley or side street, scores of
these balconies are to be seen, and the
passcr-by is perhaps family reminded of
some Italian city, where every dwelling
has its balcony or log yia. But the illusion
utterly disappears when one hears from
some one of the Lancaster loggic, instead
of the liquid Italian tongue, the unmusical
cultural of the Pennsylvania Dutch.
Lancaster abounds in old hotels and tav-
erns the names of most of which show an
English origin. For instance, there are
the Manor House and the Inn of the
Golden Plow, the Cross Keys and the
Grape, the Black Horse, the Swan and the
Fountain Inn. The Lamb and the Leo
pard are two more OF these old taverns
much frequcnted by farmers, but judi
ciously, considering the opposing nature
OF the animals whose names they bear,
placed several squares apart. The Stevens
House. named in honor of LancaSter'S
great statesman, Thad Stevens is by far
the most important hotel. 1t is a large,
four story building, extending over a good
deal Of ground, ut the corner of Prince
and King streets. 1t is, however, unfortu-
n&tely placed on a sharp decline, and its
handsome proportions are nowhere seen
To the best advantage.
The pavement washing, to which allu-
sion was made in Il former letter, goes on
with scarcely abatcd ardor throughout the
winter. On all days when snow has not
covered the sidewalks, which has but
rarely happened this winter, the scrubbinS
has been in;lulgcd in unless the tcmpera-
fell, and even then the desire for securing
the pavemcnts was not wholly to be re-
strained in some quarters, noticed.
/ observed an odd figure in the street
the other morning. 1t was that of a young
Amisil boy of about fourteen. A long,
snuff: colored coat fastened by hooks and
eyes, and with deep cape, reached nearly
to his heels. His hair, cut straight across
his forehead, hung down on his shoulders,
while from beneath prepOsterOusly broad
brimmed hat looked out an innocent,
sleepy German face. When the weather
is not SO cold as to require him to wear an
OvercOat, the male of the Amish persua-
sion appears in roundabout jacket with
out the faintest suspicion of skirts thereto.
A group of them in their short jackets and
heavy boards present an odd combination
of the juvenile and antique. An observer
so IN learns to distinguish the Amish men
from their Mennonite brethren. The for
mer wear long hair and boards, and, in the
days when it was all but universal for
mankind to shave the face, were known as
''beardy men. The Mennonites, on the
contrary, wear neither beard nor NOUS
tache and clip the hair quite short. 1t
used to he said the chief difference between
the two faiths consisted in the fact that
the Amish fastened their coats with hooks
and eyes. while the Mennonitcs, or Men,
nists, as they are often called pronounced
Men-ncestS(, used buttons. There are,
presumably, wcightier matters of differ
encc than this, but this is the most clearly
apparent to an outsider. The Amish are
the stricteSt in their adherence to a pecu-
liar costume. and | heard story
a day or two since illustrative of
their rigor in such matters. Such
details of costume as suspenders are or
were considered as too worldly for the at
tcntiOn of an Amisll, and had been forbid
den. A young boy Of the persuasion, find
the wearing of trousers involved constant
ilitching up in order to keep them in place
contrived during: the absence of his parents
ut meeting one Sunday to eXtemporize a
pair of suspenders for some bits of tow,
and for a time, let lis hope, was happy.
But the period of his bliss was short.
When his elders returned from meeting,
the eye of the father was at once arrested by
the element of wOrldliness in his son S at
tire through the uncommon freedom from
bagginess of his pantalOons the use OF
suspenders was revealed, and the unfOrtu-
nate youth was commanded at once to re- |
move the offending tow strings and never !
to venture to commit such sin again.
Ihave spoken before of the quantity of |
tobacco raised in Lancaster county. At
present the trade in that article is extremely |
brisk. and would kindle to fever heat the |
feelings of James [. were he here to witness !
it. On Wednesdays and Saturdays, market |
days, long before the light, great Conestoga
wagons rumble in from the country piled
high with tobacco, and as later in the day |