Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1880-07-08
A Visit to the Pennsylvania Dunkers.

through valley more fruitful imam
Temples and within diadem of timber
cornered hills-will bring you to
Ephrata. The village has history which
is In tender keeping with the halo OF
peace that encircles the rude cloister
and quiet graveyard OF the ''Sieben
Jaeger Baptiste.
Driven by the hand of religious per-
secntion from their homes in the Pala-
innate, other parts of Germany and
from Switzerland, the German Baptists.
..Taufer,'' found brief resting place
in Holland and Friesland and finally
emiorated to these shores in the hope
of practicing religion according to their
own peculiar tenets. They were a mere
handful then and came here in scattered
groups The doctrine of The Seventh
day worship did not obtain among
them until many years later, when the
pioneer, Conrad Beissel, effected the
change. For years he lived recluse
inhabiting cave on the banks of the
Coealico His leadership was soon ac-
knowledged and one by ONE ii the
faithful locked to his standard. The
monastic life of his association began as
early as 1882, when temple or saal
was erected for public worship. Al
most century and half has passed
over its peaked gables, but it still
stands marvel of quaintness, ingenuity
and strength. 1t occupies bit of pic
turesque ground on the banks of the
COcalico, surrounded by a hundred
acres of fertile land, from the cultiva-
ton of which nearly all the necessaries
of life were obtained. To it is attached
q large four-stOried structure, known
as the sister house, which, as it's name
implies, was devoted to the exclusive
use of the females. All the buildings
are of medieval style of architecture.
The Saal and the Sister House occupy
position aloof from the others and are
more pretentious edifices. Heavy oak
timber was used for the walls and
floors, and poplar for furniture. 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. An
other popularity is that these windows
originally turned on wooden hinges.
Their knowledge of the uses of iron
was extremely limited. All the locks,
bolts, hinges, latches, door handles and
fastenings were of wood, generally of
oak and made by hand.
Entering the temple you stoop through
the low door and make your ascent to the
upper floor by steep, crude stairway.
You tread on floors filed in with NOR
tar and which from age have billowy
unevenness. Traversing the narrow
and unfrequented passages of the .'Klos-
ter" into which the feeble light darts
anu vanishes with ghostlike presump-
ton, you are reminded OF some Old
World castle where the captive, with
gyved heel, was hurried through dark
and tortuous ways to d subterranean
dungeon And this illusion is not cas-
lily dispelled by the gardener who chap
erons YOU. Taking you into one of
the many compartments Or KAN
mers,' he points to the rough bench at
one end and informs you that his an
cesters slept there, with nothing for
pillow but a rude block of wood. He
dressed in the habit of a Capuchn monk,
which, with some modification, was the
garment worn by the g Schwestern.'
Descending to the first floor we are in
the temple of worship, where the Dun
kers held their love feastS. The furni-
ture is like that of Quaker meeting
house. 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 on the low backed benches. From
the desk the grave Beissel or intellectual
Peter Miller holds forth on the doctrines
of trine immersion. peter Miller. by
the by, is credited with having transla-
ted the Declaration of independence
into seven languages). And now the
music swells in harmonies more inspir-
ing than that of the Eolian harp, for
the Dunkers had trained vocalists, and
their choral services are represented as
singularly beautiful and pathetic. Con-
cerning this music it has been written
that the style was taken from the tones
of the Eolian harp.
''The tones issuing from the choir
initiate very soft instrumental music,
conveying a softness and devotion al
most superhuman to the auditor. All
the parts, save the bass, are lead and
sung exclusively by females, the men
being confined to bass, which is set in
two parts. the high and the low bass,
the latter representing the deep tones
of the organ, and the first, in combina-
ton with one of the female parts, is an
excellent imitation of the concert horn.
The whole is sung in the falsetto voice;
the performers sat with their heads re-
clined, their countenances solemn and
detected, their faces pale and emaciated
from their manner of living, the cloth
ing exceeding white and quite pictur-
esque and their music such as thrilled to
the very SOUL" Their musical compo-
sitions have been preserved, but the in
toned service is never used. There re-
mains to be told their curious skill in
penmanship The walls of the saal are
hang with mementoes of the art execu-
ted on parchment sheets about three
feet by four. in an elegant Gothic text.
Some of these are Bible extracts; some
importune to celibacy; others, again,
are sentiments breathing spirit of de-
yotiOn.
Die Lieb ist unser kron und heller tugend
spiegel,
Die Welshelt unser Lust, und reines Gottes
Siegel;
Das Lamen list unser schatz wir uns an YER
trauen,
Und folgen seinem Yaug ais reinste jung
frauen.
One of the more pretentious and la