The citizen., 1899-10-13
INDIANA AMISHMEN. !
COLONY OF A QUEER SECT LIVING
ON FARMS.

lava Made 1t Home-One Man OwnsH
as Much Property as His NeighbOr.
They Are ALI Happy and Content
I'm Their Way of Living.
Ten miles northeast Of Washington,
Ind there Is q fertile section OF lano
owned and cultivated by peculiar secs
Of neople known as the Amish. Little
is known Of them except By the people!
living in the immediate vicinity oLi
their settlement. u
The Amish came to this country al an
early date, and bought rlcn larms Io[
nominal price. They have aooeo great
ly to their possessions until now tnls]
settlement takes up thousands OF,
acres. Their peculiar manners anu
| customs are interesting.
According to their religious behels'
ths Amish are not allowed to use but.
| tons on their clothes. Instead or Dut-'
tons they use hooks and eyes. Their,
/ clothing is homespun, and they wear
black slouch hats All Amishmen lee
/ their hair grow long and fall over their.
shoulders. They never shave, not even,
when young men. They invariably
drive fine, big horses. They prefer
| death rather than to swear in court.
They are an economical sect of people,
and are great traders. They seldom
| pay cash for anything, but always IN
| sist on trading farm products and poul-
| try for what they want.
! Their settlement is divided up into
! farms Of an equal number of acres.
| They adhere strictly to the code OF
| laws handed down to them by their
J ancestors. One of these laws is to the
/ effect that no Amishman in the settle
ment shall be entitled to more of the
worlds goods than his neighbor. Con-
] sequently the farms are about the same
/ size and stocked equally. Another law
says if one member OF the settlement
meets with misfortune his neighbors
must go down in their pockets, pay his
, Indebtedness, and, if necessary, buy
/ him new farm and stock it.
4 The Amish originally came from a
county in one of the Eastern States.
, There are a few families still living
+ In the East. Whenever a scion of one
of the Eastern families emigrates to
/ the Indiana settlement he is imme-
diately presented with farm equal in
size to those OF his brethren. The
+ Amish do not believe in courts, that is,
they never settle any of their difficult
ties in the courts. All disputes and dis
agreements of every nature are taken
up for settlement by majority Of the
members Of the settlement. 1t is, how
ever, a rare occurrence that the least
trouble arises among them. They are
law abiding, honest, and truthful. They
do not deposit their money in banks,
I but accumulate aud hoard it in their
/ homes. They raise all the farming pro-
I ducts usually grown in this section Of
the country, and are said to be the
most successful poultry raisers in the
United States.
Their every day life is their religion.
They speak the German language, and
no other. They are negligent about
educating their children, and start
them, boys and girls alike. to work in
the fields when young. The women
and girls never wear fashy colors, and
long pants are put ON the boys at the
age of 2 and years.
Several months ago young Amish-
man conceived an idea to discard the
hooks and eyes on his clothing, to
shave his beard, and to don suit OF
store clothes. This he did, and re-
turned to his neighbors in the new
garb He was Immediately elected
from the community. His farm was
taken from him, DIS we'll as his stock
and farm machinery, and he was given
strict orders never again to put his
foot on property owned by any men,
ber of the settlement. After several
weeks he allowed his beard to grow to
its former lC I'll, discarded his new
clothes for the old, and returned to
his people. They finally received him
and returned his property to him.
Another Amishman, while doing his
trading in Washington, became struck
with the idea Of wheeling. He pur-
chased a bicycle and went gleefully
home, to show the machine to the
members of his family. The old Am
lshmen of the settlement looked wise
and called mass meeting to decide
whether or not it was proper for one
Of their number to ride upon such a
contrivance as a bicycle. The verdic:
Of the elder heads was against the
young Amishman, and he was COMPEL.
ed to part with the wheel.-Indianapo.
lic