Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-06-03
GERMAN BAPTISTS.
Lancaster COunty's Quaint Religion, Com.
munity.

mu,,ity.
Ephrata Correspondence of the Press
A hours journey on the Reading and
Columbia railrOad-thrOugh a valley more
fruitful than Tempe's and within diadem
of timber-cOrnered hills-will bring Won to
Ephrata. This place, though it possesses
no aspect but that of the ordinary rural
village, yet once g.oried in the name of
summer resort. The generous largess OF
nature is shown in the unceasing How of
her mountain springs, in the picturesque
sweep of the landscape, and in the wealth
of crops already smiling in her fecund lap.
Like most of the pioneer settlements
which lay scattered among the abOdes
of the swarthy savage, Ephrata or Dun
kertOwn did not enjoy monumental peace
in her early days, nor were the golden
harvests always gathered by the hands
whose sturdy toll had sown the grain and
fattened the glebe. But, apart from this,
der keeping with the halo OF peace that en-
circles the rude cloister and quiet grave
yard of the ''Sieben Jaeger Baptiste. At
this period, too, it has an additional inter-
est, as the law has been evoked to determ-
inc the right of the present occupants to
undisturbed possession. Driven by the
hand of religious persecution from
their homes in the Palatinate,
other parts of Germany and from Switzer-
land, the German BaptistS, or 'Taufer,"
found u brief resting place in Holland and
Friesland, and finally emiSrated to these
shores in the hope of practicing religion ac-
cOrding to their own peculiar tenets.
They were 4 mere handful then, ard
came here in scattered groups. The
doctrine of seventil-day worship did not
obtain among them until many years later.
when the pioneer, Conrad Beissel, effected
the change. For years he lived Il recluSe,
inhabiting a cave on the banks of the Co
calico. His leadership was soon acknOwl-
edged, and one by one the members of the
faithful flOcked to his standard. The
mOnastic life of the association began as
early as 1882, when temple or saal was
erected for public worship. Almost a cen
tury and half has passed over its peaked
gables, but it still statnds Il marvel of
quaintness, ingenuity and strength, ltOc-
cupies bit OF picturesque ground OH the
banks of the COcalico, surrounded by
hundred acres of fertile land, from the cul-
tivatiOn of which nearly all the necessaries
of life were obtained. To it is attached 4
large four-stored structure, kncwn as the
Sister house, which, as it's name I'M
elusive use of the females. Be
sides these two principal buildings
there were school house. printing office,
paper mill, workshop and bakery. In the
days Of the revolution the paper mill w;s
in full operation, although it's site is now
occupied by large and substantial flour
ing mill. Shortly before the battle of
Germantown the Federal soldiers made II
raid ON the paper mill and carried away
with them three carloads of book paper
in printed sheets, to be used for cart
ridges. All the buildings are of n medi;r-
val style of architecture. The Saal and
the Sister house occupy 4 position aloof
from the others and are more pretentiouS
edifices. Heavy oak timber was used for
the walls and floors and poplar for furni-
ture. The walls are clapbOarlcd with
white oak and the nails are wrought iron
of their own manufacture, resembling,
the clincll-nail Of the present day. The
windows are set in on an irregular line.
some having four, some six, and others
eight panes of glass to a frame. There is
no accounting for this freak. Another
popularity is that these windows origi-
nally turned Oh wooden hinges. Their
knowledge of the uses of iron was ex-
tremely limited. All the locks, bolts,
ings were of wood, generally of oak, and
made by hand. Entering the temple, yon
StoOp through the low door and make
your ascent to the upper floors by a steep,
crude stairway. You tread on floors filled
in with mortar and which from age have
billowy unevenness. The walls are
heavily coated with plaster and even the
roof is lined with the same material. 1t
WAS intended for the double purpose OF
projections from cold and heat. Travers-
ing the narrow and unfrequented pass
ages of the "KlOster," into which the
feeble light darts and vanishes with ghost
like presumption, you are reminded of
some Old-wOrld castle where the captive,
with gyved heel, was hurried through
dark and tOrtuOus ways to u subterranean
dungeon. And this illusion is not easily
dispelled by the gardener who chaperOnes
you. Taking you into one of the many
compartments or Examiners, he points to
the rough bench at one end and informs you
that his ancestors slept there, with moth
ing for a pillow but rude block of wood.
That ancestor did not know the luxary of
a rag carpet, nor did he have mirror to
complete his toilet, but he seems to have
been a contented mortal nevertheless. He
dressed in the habit of a Capuchin monk,
WHICH,, Will SOulc IOuIuCdIlOu, WdS Iuc
garment worn by the "Schwestern." A
row of wooden pegs did duty for a clothes
rack, and a small wooden cabinet fastened
to the wall may have served for a hundred
humble purposes. In one of these EXAM
mers" are lot of old-fashiOned culinary
vessels, which out-date the present CEN
tury. Their use is almost lost art. A
spinning wheel stands in an opposite cor,
ner. Some sentimental spider has woven
for it beautiful shrOud Of silk and
marked it sacred to the memory of past
generation. Descending to the first floor
we are in the temple of worship, where the
Dunkers held their love feasts. The fur
niture is like that of Quaker meeting
house. The spirit of humility and devo-
ton pervades the place. 1t requires no
stretch of the imagination to see the thrOng
of devout wOrshipers, in their Capuchin
robes, file through the open door and take
their seats in the low-backed benches.
From the desk the grave Biessel or intel
lectual Peter Miller holds forth on the doc
trines of true immersion. (Peter Miller,
by. the-by, is credited with having trans
lated the Declaration of Independence into
seven languages.) And now the music
sweels in harmOnies more inspiring than
that of the Eolian harp, for the Dunkers
had trained vOcalists, and their choral ser
vices are represented as singularly beauti-
full and pathetic. Concerning the music it
has been written that the style was taken
from the tones of an EOlian harp.
The tones issuing from the choir lmi-