Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1886-05-20
AN INTERESTING PEOPLE.
The Pcculiarities of the Pennsylvani
Germans Described by One of Them.


Germans Described by One of Them.
Rev. Lee Heilman recently delivered
an interesting discourse ON "Pennsyl-
vania Germans" in Grace Lutheran
Church, Chicago. In the course of his
remarks the speaker observed:
1.-The Pennsylvania Germans are
really Americans. They have descend
ed from foreign parentage, but reared
on Pennsylvania soil, they have so
long stood aloof from the Germans,
that the tongue of that nation is but
poorly understood by them. They
have, however, retained the language
Of their fatherland, but with such abb
breviations and notifications as would
make it accord with the busy progress
of American life.
Originally, many of them were
Quakers, but they have touched the
life lines of our country in all direc-
tons and are enrolled in every branch
OF civilization fostered by American
freedom, and their tongue, with its
mutilations, has been heard in the halls
of National and State Legislatures with
unvarying might, dignity and credit
They have been ridiculed for the simple
fact that they have been misunderstood
Their customs and habits are peculiar
ly their own. They had the happy fac
ulty of making work pleasure, and
learned the grace of tightening bur-
dens by sharing them. Their quilting.
spinning, cider-making, plowing, hay
making, husking and harvesting, while
being prosecuted in cheerful COM
panies, were robbed of irksomeness
and reduced to the level of what they
were able to consider daily pleasure.
Much of their domestic drudgery was
done in rounds, and the weaving of
bed and table linen, the sour-kraut
making, the picking, the preserving
of fruits and smoking of meats, were all
the result of mutual interest and mutu-
al help. The boys and girls were sent
to school supported by general sub
scription, and lessons on morals were
as literally dispensed as their hospital
ity OF their assistance at the seeding
and harvesting seasons. Their churches
| were simple, and SO was the service
and the pew. They buried their dead
tenderly, lovingly and sorrowfully, and
with the omission of much of the false
ceremony and hollow mockery that is
now noticeable. Their courtships were
shy. and firtations unknown, for traffic
in affections was considered too despic-
able for any honorable man or woman
| to indulge in. 1t has been said that
Americans have no homes, that their
flowers are without fragrance, and their
birds without song, but the home life
of the old Pennsylvania German is a
living contradiction of that libel. There
was little school life for their sturdy
| little children, but the deficiency was
well atoned for in the universally of
home education. They studied the
ways of birds, fish, fowls and beasts, and
their knowledge of the clouds, rainbow,
seasons, moon and stars would shame
many specialist of nature. The most
jealous care and devotion was bestowed
on the youth, and in infancy the child
was stroked, and rubbed, and turned,
so that all parts and every organ in the
little anatomy should become vigorous
and assertive. The result was a race
of sturdy men and women, fit not only
Il live, but to live well. They trained
themselves from the cradle to frugality
and temperance, habits which were
confined to no condition or station,
and even to-day YOU will find them in
affiuence early risers, abstemious and
economic. This robust living left nc
material for the breeding of tramps
and rascals, although they are not with
out the average blots of humanity
! Cbicu0O Inter OcfQu