Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-05-07
among the 1IennonItes IN Manltebn.

British side Of the boundary line, there
Is a large settlement of Russian Men
nonites. About 1000 have come to
Manitoba, where the Government has
reserved 100000 acres for their SETTLE
ments. 1t was a beautiful morning
when we set out on a "prairie yacht, I"
behind pair Of quick-stepping horses,
TO visit the Mennonite Reserve. Our
road lay along the north bank of the
Pembina River, skirting the edge of
the timber, and occasionally cutting
across a point of woods which ran out
into the open prairie. We passed
many thrifty looking farms, where the
men were still working at the remnant
of the harvest. At Smuggler's Point
there was a log tavern, and we stopped
for little dinner. The landlord was
frontiersman who had tried life in many
territories. We asked him whether the
Mennonites were good settlers, and
how he liked then.
"Well," he said, "they're queit
enough; and some on 'em lives pretty
white; but they amt no good to the
country. They live on black bread and
melons, and raise their own tobacker /;
and when a crowd on 'em comes in here
to drink, each man steps up and drinks,
and pays for his own liquor.'
Such conduct as this, of course, is
subversiye of the very first principle of
American society, which recognizes
treating" rs the true medium of
friendly intercourse.
A few mile farther on we found the
farm village of Blumenort. tits not the
largest of the villages on this reserve,
but it will serve as a type of the rest.
The high-road was simply a well-worn
wagon track over the bare plain. An
irregular line of a dozen low thatched
houses on each side of the road and a
steam saw-mill made up the village.
The farms radiate from this center.
Every man cultivates his own land, and
the four-and-twenty families have the
of living close together, and
making common front against the hard
ship and loneliness Of frontier life. Each
village has its head-man, or Schulz-its
school-master-who teaches in German (;
and if the village is too small for
church, the Pfarrer comes over from
some larger town to preach at stated
times.
We sat on the steps of the mill, talk
ing with some of the villagers, and eat
ing a watermelon, which was passed
around from man to man for each to
cut off slice with his pocket-knife.
The Mennonite German is barbarous
dialect; it has not been improved by
ninety years. soiourn in Russia. But it
served as a medium of communication.
They told us that their village had been
that they had been forced
to move twice on account of the wetness
of the land. The present situation
seemed to be better. They like the
country better than Russia. But one of
the men, who had not yet taken up his
allotment of land, complained greatly
that under the new law, made this sum-
mer, he could get only eighty acres of
homestead. lie thought Of going to
America q. g., the United States),
where he could get one hundred and
sixty acres. "But how about the oath
of allegianceP" we asked. He shrugged
his shoulders and grinned, from which
we concluded that he must be a Button
er of the looser stamp.
On the other side of the road saw a
clay threshing-1oor between some
and an old man driving a
team of horses over it to tread out the
grain. The method was old-fashioned
enough to be quite a novelty. went
over to watch it, and thus chanced to
make the acquaintance of the proprietor
of the stacks and the horses. He was
pleasant, talkative old man, who had come
from Russia within year, and was Just
to make home for himself.
This was his first crop, and he thought
i would average over twenty bushels to
the acre. Three or four barefooted
girls, ruddy and strong, were brushing
up the grain rs the horses trod it out,
and winnowing IL. The scene was pic
turesque, and | called Cad over to make
u sketch of it. But something in his
dark and rolling eye, or some natural
sent the maidens scampering
off to hide behind the stacks, from
which they made rapid sallies to gather
up little wheat in their aprons. Mean
while the old farmer was asking many
questions. He was particularly anxious
TO know the value of Russian money in
New York, for he still had little stock
Of roubles which he had brought with
him from his old home. The Mennon-
ties are, almost without exception, we'll
to-do people. What is the mysterious
between the doctrine Of
non-resistance and worldly prosperityP
Why do they always go togetherP
After a while Brother Peters asked us
togo home with him, and see his house,
which was but few yards away from
The threshing-floor. 1t was built of logs,
plastered with clay, and thatched with
straw. The chimney was a square hole
in the roof. The inside of the house
was rough, but comfortable, or at least
It might be made so. The floor is made
Of clay. Peters was particular to im-
press upon us that the house was not
Iinished he had bought the shell, as it
stood, from another man, and he pointed
out with admirable pride how he pro.
posed to wall off u Gastzimmer here and
q Speisezimmer there, The central
point of the establishment was the great
oven, which answered at once for pur-
poses of cooking the food and warming
the rooms. All improvements in the
place the old man intended to make
with his own hands at his work bench,
which occupied one side of the living
room.
As we sat there in that rude room
talking with the old Russian, putting
away quietly at pipe of the peace
making Indian weed, we seemed to have
quite into the circle of his do
mestio life, In one corner of the room
sat the old Hausfrau eombing her scanty
locks. The eldest daughter was very
busy with some household work, while
the little grandchild played on the floor
beside the workbench. In the middle
of the room was the dinner table; pres
emily three or four girls came in from
their work, and we were cordially asked