The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1889-10-10
PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH.
The Language Rapidly Going 0ut OF Use and Eng.
lIsh Taking Its Place.

In % or 80 years II not before the Penn
sylvRnin Dutch dialect will bo 10 all intents
and purposes dead language. There have
been very great changes during the last 10 ar
Is years aud the rapidity with which they are
taking place IL being accelerated every year
This Is noticeable in the churches In the news
papers, In the language Of business in inter
course with the people, aud Ia the increased
facility with which one tho does not under.
stand the dialect can make himself understood
wherever he goes When tho Presbyterian
Church was founded in Reading, Pa. about half
u century ago IL was demo chiefly because there
were a fcw people who wanted 20 have English
preaching and the only way to have IL was To
found new church. Now there are only three
or four out OF 40 churches where tho services
are conducted Ina the German language.
a score OF years ago ihere was n serious split
ia the Trinity Lutheran Church, tho largest in
Reading. because aomeof tho members wanted
one service each week In English. Now and
for "A long time past all the services In that
church have been in Epglish. In the country
all the young people who come up for Z" con-
hrmation" have been taught the cateehism In
English, aud where they have not already been
granted 10 they are elamorng for English serv-
ices In the churches and all the old-siyle preach
eFs who have been accustomed to delivering
German sermons all Of their lives fiud that
they must begin to yield little to the new de-
larity. Every parent who Is ambitious for his
children desires that they shall learn TO speak
English. every young man and woman feels
that 10 DO so il much desired accomplishment,
and there ARE few of the younger generation
who are not able 20 understand and carry on
con versation in tho language OF tho country,
though in their homes and in their ordinary
business they may use the Pennsylvania Dutch.
Nearly all Of tho last generation were taught
20 read and many of them to write, German in
the schools which were attached to the
churches Since the establishment of the com
mon school system these have gradually died
out and there Is probably not one of them left.
The early newspapers Of the country were all
German, aud there are still quite number of
them published, but they seem destined to die
out In comparatively short time for want of
subscribers who will be able to Fead them. The
proprietors of the adler, one of the pioneer
newspapers Of Pennsylvania, which was found
cd over century ago, have recognized the
direction in which things are trcnding by
issuing nm English paper To take the place of
the German edition. The same precaution has
been taken by the owner of the Kutztown
journal, an old and influential German paper.
The time of the war, and for a few years
thereafter, the Adter was still great power in
politics, and what IL said was widely quoted
and commented upon but for The last Is years
il has scarcely been heard of, even in the
who wishes To address the public on any poit-
ical subject thinks of doing through the
journal that for nearly century was one of
the great Democratic organs of Pennsylvania
and was known far and wide AZ the Berks
County Bible. This is not because the Adier
is no longer good newspaper, but because il is
printed in a language which Is being rapidly
discarded by the rising generation.
Here In Reading the language of the street,
OF the store and of all public places is Eng
lish, and Pennsylvania Dutch is seldom heard
except in some of tho outer wards 1t Is STILL
of course desirable that clerk or "A conductor
Of great retail store should be able to talk
Pennsylvania Dutch, but it is no longer abso-
iutely necessary, and il Is becoming less SO
every year. Out in the boroughs aud larger
villages more aud more English Is being con-
stantly heard tho English newspaper is every
where seen, and in every possible direction the
old language is losing its hold and English is
| heup RuhSIiIuted