The Portland daily press., 1896-05-30
THE PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH.
Good Material That Has Not Rasr r1.;,,,ed
by the Story Writers.
(From the Philadelphia Evening Tele-
graph

(From the Philadelphia Evening Tele.
graph
No man has yet told the heart of tbe
Pennsylvanisch Dsutsch. Almost alone
among the non English speaking neoples
long established in our country they
await their reyealer.
| The late DR.. Seidestioker wrote much
in German about their history, their re-
| ligtons, their language; Judge Penny.
packer has made study of their number,
and Mrs. Gibbons has recorded some of
their interesting customs. But there has
Ryet to be written novel of Pennsylva-
nanisch Deutsch life. Moravian life in
Bethlehem has figured in one or two
short stories, but these dwelt principally
on the quaint customs of these modern
followers of Huss and Zinzendorf; they
were not revelations of their inner life.
Here is great opportunity for a move
ilst-a field of virgin soil that will bring
forth abundant fruit. But the man who
| tells the heart of the Pennsylyapisah
Dentsoh must be one of them, he must
have lived among them and known them
and loved them and hated them. If they
| are to be given place in literature it
must be done quickly, for with the con-
slant extension of railroads and compul-
| sorry education they are becoming rapid
! ly Anglloized, and in another generation
much of their pioturesqueness--
| customs and manners of the Rheulsh
fatherland-will have disappeared.
These manners and customs would be
surprisingly strange and refreshing to
| the general reader, as we'll as of the
greatest value to tho student of folklore.
The Halloween pranks, the Easter egg
hunting, the foreoasting of fate by the
sediment In the cider barrels-how these
and thousand other practices unknown
to the majority uf their brethren of Brit
ish ancestry could be introduced into
stories of their lives. They are generally
considered st0lid, unimaginative peo-
pie, and perhaps they are but their lower
classes away back In the little mountain
valleys of the tier OF "Dutoh." counties
from Northampton on the east to Adams
on the west have superstitlons and ira
ditions that are of intense Interest,". And
life with them, in all it's great features Of
the struggle for existence and the strug-
gle for advancement, Of love AND of hate,
OF joy and of sorrow, of excitement and
of monotony, Is the same as with all
mankind.
| And then what q background is it
played out against What pictures of
natural beauty, of rugged grandeur, of
pastoral serenity, of monotonous farming
lands, of dense, gloomy forests-do the
mere naming Of the Dutch" counties
bring up Monroe, Northam pton, Lee
high, Berks, Bucks, Montgomery. Lancast-
or, Lebanon, Dauphin, York, Adams
and Perry-is not every phase of tho nat
ural beauty of Pennsylvania revealed in
one or the other of these countiesP Then
how different are the various German
peoples inhabiting them What contrast
| Ing characters their various religions de-
| velop- Reformed, Lutheran,
| Schwenkfeldsr, Mennonite, Dunkard and
Moravian; how divergent is the
daily life Of these sects The Pennsylya-
nisch Deutsoh arc q people distrustful of
strangers and this has proven barrier
to any other than one of themselves Civ
ing the world their inner history, and no
| born and bred Pennsylvania German has
risen to speak for his race. Bayard Tay-
| lor was Pennsylyanisch Dsutsch on his
mothers side, but his interest in matters
| co.
land; and W. D. Howells, another liter
| ateur of the same maternal ancestry, had
| the misfortune to be born and bred in
Ohio. The Pennsylvanisch Deutsch are
| acknowledged to 10 the best farmers In
America, the traditions and customs Of
| many of their farm laborers are of an
Old World order found nowhere else in
America. The Pequea Valley is an ideal
scene for farm idyl yet none Of the
Pennsylvanisch Deutsch has written it,
The Pennsylvanisch Deutsch were the
first weavers and vintagers and printers
written story of the old German town
where they g rst established these indus
tries.
We arc not advocating literal ure in
Pennsylvanisch Deutsch, but we do want
to see the Pennsylavnisch Deutsch given
place in English literature. Is there no
man of their race to do this for them ?
His could be life nobly spent.
TOW NEW IItDCc