National Republican., 1883-01-03
THE THE ppENNsYLvAN1A DUTCH.
A Glass Of Natives that Speak Different
Language.


In this great America of ourand in the very
heart of its Oldest and highest civilization
there are whole communities whose present
inhabitants, as well as their ancestors for a
century past, were born where they now re-
side, and yet are almost entire strangers to
the English language, hundreds and even
thousands of them not being able to speak or
understand q word of it. Take the coun-
ties of York, Lancaster, Lehigh, Berks,
the northern half of Bucks, and the southern
half of Dauphin, besides several other coun-
ties in the state, and four-ffths of the people
will be found to entirely ignore the English
language among themselves, and in many
communities the English speaking traveller
will scarcely be able to find any one to whom
he can make himself nderstood-certainly
no women.
These people are what are known as Penn
sylyania Dutch They have no written lam
guage, their speech being simply dialect, the
only analogy of which with anything else of
human antecedents lies in the fact that an
occasional English, German, French, or Span
ish word has been sandwiched with strange
discordance into it, A great number of tho
people are bitterly opposed to their children's
learning to speak English, and If allowed to
go to school at all it is to private one with
Dutch teacher, and even at the public
schools, where of course, English is taught,
upon the playground, as was observed by the
writer while passing u country schoolhouse
only % few days ago. In fact in passing
| through this entire section Of central Penn
| sylvania the ordinary American will find his
surroundings, as regards both language and
the social customs of the people, just as strange
and foreign to his'ideas as though he were An
Westphalia or Norway.
And not only this, but he will find that he
| is looked upon with the same degree of half
suspicious curiosity, and as being as much of
| an interloper as would be the case in the
foreign countries mentioned. This condition
of things embraces q territory of many thous-
ands of square miles of the very finest section
of this great commonwealth, and u population
| of more than 100000 people in the very heart
! of our civilization. The masses of the southern
people have ever labored under the impression
that during the late unpleasantness our army
was very largely recruited from foreign
countries. This view has been held up to tho
writer on innumerable occasions and made to
explain our ability to place such overwhelm-
ing armies in the field. This belief arose from
the frequent capture of these Pennsylvania
Dutchmen, who could not in many cases speak
| English, and in their contact with several
regiments of troops raised in this region. And
| vet the ancestors of these soldiers for gener-
| ations back were born upon this soil In fact,
| so far as the matter can be traced, this
| language is indigenous to this section, as no
people using the same or a similar dialect arc
| known anywhere else on the face of the earth.
| The native Hollander, be he Of either high or
low Dutch origin, can no more understand the
people here than can the ordinary American.
As rule they are not an agreeable people TO
mingle with, either in business dealings or in
social intercourse. Ignorance, seltishness and
greed are their governing traits.