The Red Cloud chief., 1885-11-27
a CUNkER lOvE-rEaST.
\ Strange Ceremony Tha; Took Place Not
Iar from EphrafA. "a.

a Strange Ceremony Tha; Took Place No'
Far from fphra,a. Ia.
AbOu, n mil. northeast Of the litt!,
town of Ephrata. where the lane from
Fahnestock's mih crosse, the old Read.
ing Road. stand, the new Dunkel
Meeting House. The old Bunker >st.
flement. around which TO-DAY cluster
SO MANY memorie, Of the revolutionary
epoch of u Nations history. i some
distance AWAY. The people IL the town
like 20 tell yoa about the latter place
they call II the c!ol,tcr here-spvak II
il With the greatest vencratIon and wall
take YOU a few steps out If tn. WAY 20
show YOU = plC:nr. Of the >AAl, the
brother, house or the m~oua>trr. WsV.
way back, when the infant United
States Wa, laying unca>ily IN the cradle.
imbibing the Gour-hing milk Of pa
triotic enthusiasm. the Duuk-r~ had
erected their buildings for religious
worship here.
To the everyday reii-ioni>t they seem
like 4 peculiar people. with their broad
brimmci black hats. odd Gu; 81 coats
and with hair long and parted in the
middle.
bunker or TINKER comes from Ger
man tanker. which means - dip, Ii :
that part Of their ritual which has given
them the name o! the German Bsp-
lists.
There was = time when the Bunker
Church was small and had hut one
Bishop in TIM, section. bu: the church
NJ Ephrata was ST OF from the main
congregation. or the tonr~;pEa Church.
- II was called in ls53. IL had then
only two hundred members. and Israel
MycT~. who was III. resident minister
nj thar time. hut has zone 10 h. long
rest. Rev. Samuel Harley. eoen after
the establishment If the church. WAS
chosen Bishop and still pr.,idr<. The
church has a membership to-da, of over
three hundred and nifty. perhaps over
four hundred.
At noon last Thursday Dunkrr> from
every near section put on their newest
beavers and their wives and daughters
their caps of snowy wu;'-nr>~ and
rolled over the dusty highway 80 the
mother m",ting-hou~c-th I've new burA-
cr mceting-Iou~c one milo from Erhra-
Ia. The annual loyt-fr"-i was to TAX.
place All afternoon The preacher cN-
tortrd and the people PRAYED ard sang
end when evening cam- ana those who
lived far away had partaA,n of the
Iiuu> evening meal IN tire basement Of
the church. people bean - Hoes INTO
the roomy ri.lcc and crowded 10 L.
overflow inc.
The mccting-hou,c j, the largest one
in the county and j. one story hiyh.
hUt under is entire lru-.h fl.rr T., a
roomy basement divided .ut1 g.r.i
rooms. Enter IT the mtiu door and %,
the other "nd l. - platform. Aiong
either ,idc are nj least ten .ong benches.
each one being a foot higher than TIA"
other or one i'm front AMI running from
two feet above the lower floor up to
twelve feet. They remind one OF par
quot circles and the lower floor the
pit On the inclined seats the i'm
menee crowd Of worldly people sat and
watched the exercises.
Ia the center are 50 row, Of benches
Of NJ least twenty feet IN length. They
have high backs and on the usual meet
IN" DAYS arr used aS such. TODAY
every fourth one wa, turned around
and on the backs of thee q wiic board
wa placed and that made u iir~t-ra;c
table. and so il was all over the church.
At $50 o'clock Ministers En,ming,r.
Of Annyillc; Iook, George and Christ
Butcher. of Lebanon; Keller. Mycrs.
Newcomer. If White OAK. and Others
arose in the audience and soou the ser
vice began with cNhortttinns and sing
ing. The four hundred Dunkrrs took
an active interest in the services. On
the one side were seated the men. on
the opposite side the wonrn and ia
comparison they Were ~ tive j. q three
i'm the latter favor. Then there wa-a
luil in the services and the little ,rbs
were brought out and the frrt-w a-hing
BEGAN. Thi~ occupied AZ most an hour.
and after it had been finished IA. tables
were surrounded and ~nup Wa handed
around. II vas served III little bows.
and n feature was seeing four eat out
Of the same bowl. II rpmindcd one Of
the story 81 III" boy who had only a
dime and wanted To treat hi- girl - ice
cream and ordered zone cream with
two spoons but this had four spoons.
The SCUM j. made Of lamb flesh Twp
zeal of The Passover. Then the sacra-
meDt of the Lords supper. admins
tered similar To that 81 other churches.
and after IL the Hiss .: charity wa-
given. a minister came To a bench
where sat twenty men and he kissed
the n nearest him. He In turn kissed
the next. and 80 il was given one to the
other until all had given each ether
that bencdiction. On the other side II
the house the wives II the min.-i.rs-
deacone>,c- a. they are called -vere
doing the same for the ome
Ii was midnight and the interesting
services had not ended. and :; ~, AZ
least two o'clock when i, was finally
finished and the people di,per,ed.-
Lancaster fPr.J L.teiiigeHcer.