The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1885-11-20
A PECULIAR PEOPLE.
The Queer Ideas, Customs and Language Of
the Pennsylvania Dutch.

The Queer Ideas, Customs and Language Of
the Pennsylvania Dutch.
A wealthy Pennsylvania Dutch farm
er died in the western part OF this
county not long ago. From different
parts OF his house, stuffed in stockings
and salt bags and stored in old coffee
pots and tin fruit cans, over $35. 600 in
gold and silver and bank bills were ia
ken by his family and accounted for
to the person who was named to settle
up the estate. That this large sum of
money was stored about tho house in
that way seemed to be no secret either
to the family or any n else in the vi
cinity, and its presence in the house
caused no comment.
There is nothing strange about
that" said a resident of Easton to the
SIN correspondent 81 could find you
hundreds of instances among the old
Pennsylvania Dutch farmers of this
and other counties where the stocking,
the salt-bag and the coffee-pot are the
sole repositories of hundreds of thou
sands of dollars. | can remember
when very few of these old farmers
would entrust a dollar with q bank, re-
garding them with the greatest suspi-
cion. Modern influences, however,
have changed the set opinions of the
most of these honest old residents, but
there are still many who hold to their
distrust of banks, stock investments
and the like, and who store the annual
returns OF their splendid farms where
their wealth may be constantly under
their eyes, just as their fathers and
gr%andfathers did before them, when
there were no banks to deposit in, and
nothing but the land for an invest
ment.
There is not a more curious people
under the sun than these same Penn
sylvania Dutch farmers. Their ances-
tors were the pioneer settlers In one Of
the most fertile sections of Pennsylva-
MIA, and the superstitions. customs and
antipathies of the fathers are still held
by the o The War of the Rebel
ton did more 10 dispcl the traditions
of the Pennsylvania Dutch than any
thing in ticir history, but 60 among
them in the back counties, where their
farms are isolated from towns, and
you will find them still firm believers
in 'spooks,' witches and charms, ad-
herring to the custom of bundling, and
strong in their doubts of the necessity
of the common schools. They are as
honest as the day is long, and the most
clost-fisted and exacting in a bargain
OF any people in the world. Driving
long distances to market, they higgle
over q dime in a bargain that involves,
probably the sale of hundreds of dol
lars worth of produce, and if assured
that by driving ten miles farther they
will be able 10 sell their goods and
make the extra Ten cents they will not
hesitate "A moment to take the journey.
The extra time and labor they do not
stop to take into account.
''From the earliest days of the Penn
~sylvania Dutch farmers they have re-
garded mental service the duty of their
women 1t is by no mean an uncom-
mon sight in passing through the back
farming regions to see the women
working the fields the same as men
mo- only hoeing or harvesting, but fol-
lowing the pillow or harrow. This idea
that women should have no mission
beyond mental labor is we'll illustrated
by the fact that many a domestic
drudge in the town families is the
daughter of a farmer rich enough to
buy her employer over and over again.
! have a servant in my house whose
father is one Of the best known Dutch
farmers in eastern Lehigh county, and
is worth ut least $50, 000.
''The one great characteristic of the
Pennsylvania Dutch is their regard for
ooI etr;at .ta.tnno ~ ~ ~
matter how far the nearest church
may be away, the farmer and his fam
lily never misssa Sundays service. A
ma may get drunk, lie, cheat or of
fend against law and morals in any
other way, and be forgiven, but if he
neglects his church he is at once
placed under the ban of society. The
Pennsylvania Dutch are proud of their
piety, and they adhere closely to old
forms. They are the severest Of Prot
estants. Politicians understand, and
use this love of church among the
farmers. and a candidate going among
them and making ostentatious show Of
his church connections, and being able
to quote freely from the scriptures,
captures the hearts and votes of the
supplemented Dutchmen. They are
easily hoodwinked in local politics. A
candidate who can talk loudly on the
stump and use large and high-sound-
ing words, whether they are necessary
to the sense of his speech or not. will
gain favor above the man with ideas,
quietly but correctly expressed. They
regard a personal visit from a candi-
date as a high honor.
Probably nowhere else in the coun-
try are the social pastimes of the faith
ers preserved and INDUCED in to such
an extent as they are among the Penn
sylvania Dutch. The apple cut, the
corn husking, the quilting bee, the old
fashioned country dance, furnish the
amusement and recreation of the bux-
ON Dutch maidens and lusty swains
to-day as they did to those of a hum
dred years ago. The dances are kept
up from early evening until daylight.
There is no going to bed after a dance.
The women at once 60 to their house.
hold duties and the mon to their labor
in the field, the same as if they had slept
rs usual from candle light to
candle light, according to the old
Dutch custom. Work, indoors aud
out, begins as soon as it is light enough
to see, and continues until it is too dark
to see, winter and summer.
1.-The Dutch families discourage and
disapprove of all marriages that will
destroy the purity of their blood, and
hence marriages with members Of any
other race are very rare. This ac-
counts for the remarkable preservation
of their language, the customs and the
tradition Of their forefathers among
these people, surrounded as they are by
the influences of the highest modern
thought and example. But in spite of
their exclusiveness, their tenacious ad-
herence to ideas of a century ago, and
stubborn resistance to the advance of
those of to-day. the lessons in industry,
integrity, thrift and thoroughness
which they have given have had a
most benificent effect. not only in the
region where they have developed, but
throughout the State as we'll. and Penn
s~ylvania is a hundred-fold the better
for their presence. -Eastoa (Pa.) Cor
respondence New York Sun.
The FIJI Julep.
The drink most partakan If np thu