Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-05-21

Some miles west of Pembina, on the British
side of the boundary line, there is large set
tement of Russian Mennonites About 1000
have come to Manitoba. where the govern
ment has reserve d 800, 600 acres for their set
Elements 1t was a beautiful morning when
We set out on ''prairie yacht, behind pair
ofquick-st.ppingh horses, to visit the Mennonite
Reserve. Our road lay along the north bank
of the Pembina River, skirtlng 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 log tavern, and we stopped
for little dinner. The landlord was from
tiersmau who had tried life in many terri
tories. We asked him whether the Mennonitcs
were good settlers and how he liked them.
Well, he said, they're quiet enough
and some on EN- 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 crowd on 'em comes
in here to drink, each man steps up and
drinks and pays for his OtcH HquOr."
Such conduct as this, of course, is subver-
sive of the very first principle of American
society, which recognizes treating" as the
true medium of friendly intercourse.
A few miles farther on we found the farm
village of Blumenort. 1t is not the largest Of
the villages on this reserve, but it will serve
rs a type of the rest. The high-road was
simply 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 centre. Every man
cultiyates his own land, and the four and
twenty families have the advantage of living
close together, and making common front
against the hardship and loneliness of frontier
life. Each village has its head man, or
ScAUlz-its school l-master-who teaches in
German; and if the village is too small for a
church, the PfuTer comes over from some
larger town to preach at stated times
We sat on the steps of the mill, talking
with some of the villagers, and eating wa
ter-melOn, which was passed around from
man to man for each to cut off a slice with
his pOckctknifc. The Mennonite German is
a barbarous dialect it has not been improv-
ed by ninety years sojourn in Russia. But
it served as a medium of communication.
They told us that their village had been un-
fortunate 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
his allotment of land, complained greatly
that under the new law. made this summer,
he could get only eighty acres of homestead.
He thought of going to America q. C., the
United States, where he could get one hun
dred and sixty acres But how about the
oath of allegiance ?" we asked He shrugged
his shoulders and grinned from which we
concluded that he must be Buttoner of the
looser stamp.
The men expressed some anxiety to know
if Sitting Bull were coIAing to make war in
Manitoba. They had heard that he was
marching with four thousand braves to at
tack Emerson. They seemed much relieved
to hear that he was many hundred miles to
the west of them.
On the other side of the road saw a clay
threshing- floor between some wheat stacks,
and an old man driving team of horses over
it to tread out the grain. The method was
old fashioned enough to be quite n novelty.
l went over to watch it, and thus CHANGED to
make the acquaintance of the proprie-
tor of the stacks and the horses. He was a
pleasant, laxative old man, who had come
from Russia within year, and was just be-
ginning to make "A home for himself. This
was his first crop, and he thought it would
average over twenty bushels to the acre.
Three or four barefooted girls, ruddy and
strong, were brushing up the grain as the
horses trod il out, and winnowing it. The
scene was picturesque, and / called Cad over
TO make sketch OF II. But something IN his
dark and rolling eye, or some natural timidity,
sent the naidens scampering off to hide be-
hind the stacks, from which they made rapid
sallies to gather up little wheat in their
aprons. Meanwhile the old farmer was ask
ing many questions. He was particularly
anxious to know the value of Russian money
in New York, for he still had little stock of
rubles which he had brought with him from
his old home. The Mennonites are, almost
without exception, well-to-do people. What
is the mysterious connection between the doc
trine of non resistance and worldly prosper
ityY Why do they always go together?
After a while Brother Peters asked us to go
home with him, and see his house, which was
but a few yards away from the threshing-
floor. 1t was built of logs, plastered with
clay, and matched 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 was
made of clay. Peters was particular to i'm
press upon us that the house was not finish
ed he had bought the shell, as it stood, from
another man, and he pointed out with admi-
rable pride how he proposed to wall OF 4