Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-05-27
THE PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH
curious Customs of a Colony Which
Furnished Many Great Men.

VII Tue explorations of Henry Hudson
ana one or two others, they occupied
Two OF the most favored regions on the
Atlantic slope: the Valley of the Hud-
son and shores of Delaware bay. The
history of the Dutch on Manhatten Is
iand mas received liberal attention
from the pen of the most distinguished
American historian. but the Dutch of
pennsylvania have never had an an
nalist. and yet, from what is known of
them, there is no reason to doubt that
they merit the attention of the writer
quite as much as their brethren of
New York
Among the Pennsylvania colony Of
St Louis there is a gentleman promi-
nent in educational and social circles.
whose early life was passed among the
Pennsylvania Dutch. and who recalls
with singular vividness the manners
and customs of these primitive people
in the first half of this century: Gus
| toms which continued until the devel-
opment of the country by means of
railroad communication placed all ru-
raj communities on the same footing.
The gentleman is a native of Crawford
county, in the extreme western portion
OF the state. district which, in his
boyhood, was inha bited in about euual
proportions by the Dutch. who had
| Travelled across the state. and by the
Scotch Irish. who had come by way of
the lakes.
The sparseness with which the coun-
| try was settled made the little com
munitleS socialiStic to an extent that
nowadays would hardly be believed,
were not the evidence Of the fact so
abundant. one of the most curious
| manifestations of the communistic
spirit was seen in the amusements of
the people, which invariably took a
unitarian turn. There were no gath
erings FOR merely social purposes:
every meeting, save for Sunday ser
vice. and an occasional revival. or
| protracted meeting" had work for its
| object. There was something to be
done and something which the mem
bers of one family could not do by
themselves. so all their neighbors We're
called in. many hands made light work
ana with laughter and song, joke and
repartee. the business was done.
! The favorite gatherings of the men
| We're log-rollings. When young coup
L. was ready to begin housekeeping.
the parents of the bride and groom in
vited the whole neighborhood to log
rolling. Everybody came. the men with
their axes, the women with their knit
ting. The former fell To work on a
plot of ground. which had been pre-
ViouSly delimited as the property of the
young couple. and. with fifty to one
hundred axes hard at work. in a single
half day. the trees We're felled. the logs
cut into convenient lengths and rolled
with hand spikes into piles. where they
were left 10 dry and a few weeks
or months later were burned. lumber
which now would be worth thousands
of dollars being thus consumed in or
der that the land might be made fit for
cultivation. When. by the joint efforts
of the friends of the young couple, a
cabin was reared for their use. the
gathering was known as n house-rais-
ing. and on both occasions work was
| continued until II or l o'clock. when
operations were suspended: u dinner,
provided by the parents of the young
couple. was eaten. and. after a few
hours spent in social intercourse and
jollity. everybody went home. These
gatherings We're always widely adver
tised. after the fashion of the times
and were taken advantage Of by poll
ticians for electioneerlng purposes.
hence the term passed into politics,
and is in familiar use among people
| who never saw a log rolling.
The great social festival of the year,
however was not Christmas, nor Eas-
ter. nor even the Fourth Of July. but
hog killing day" This feast. which $
not down in the ecclesiastical calendar.
was. like Easter. a movable festival,
being adjusted. not SO much according
to the age of the moon. though no true
Dutchm3n would kill his hogs when
the moon was waning. for then the
meat would be certain to shrink, as TO
suit the convenience Of the neighbor-
hood. for everybody had hogs, and
needed assistance at hog killing time,
so dates were arranged by mutual
consent and concession, until often the
last three weeks in December and the
first two or three in January were filled
IN with appointments for hog killings.
/. on the date assigned for hog killing al
Hans Faust's. for instance. great prep
arations were made the night Defore'
great cauldrons filled with spring wa
ter were supported by stones, WIN
ample space beneath for fire; the
women were busy cooking everything
that could be cooked in advance pax
ing bread and making pies: the eyes
I IF the children stood out with eXpec-
tancy as they peeped through me
y cracks of the fence at the mast-tat-
tened hogs. and specuiated how many
inches each would cut on the ribs,
and the amount of souse ana Drains
that might be anticipated from a par
ticular pOrker.
At sunrise. all company began to ar
, rive. the men armed with butcher
knives and 'whetrocks, the women
with babies and young ones OF All
apes n considerable proportion Delhs
lads and youth just beginning to take
notice" of the girls. who. in their oes'
frocks. walked demurely with tneii
mothers and watched over the smaller
| children.
AT an hour by sun" the hog-kllins
. festival was in full operation. Hog'
we're squealing Justify as they met'
. dragged from the pen TO yield up 'hei'
- lives in the interest of society group
a of laughing. joking men We're sousihs
z tho bodies of the iuckless porkers iht
Il ia yats of boiling water anu puillii.