Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1899-05-17
OUT OF THE MOUTH
OF BABES.

r = HAT led Herr Schweppe to
N/ Join the Amanites no one
knew but the elders. The
Amanites did not gossip about 1t. They
were not given to gossiping about any
thing Work, duty, GOd-these were
all their thoughts. But the visitors to
the close-lying Amana villages seldom
tailed to notice that Herr Schweppe
was a gentleman and to wonder how
he came to join the Amanites, with
their plain clothes and their lives of
toll. The mystery was hid in the books
II the elders. There was once a visitor
who claimed that he had a glimpse Of
The page and saw Bismarck" written
name was Won Schweppe," too, this
visitor said, although it was only
schweppe now.
Be that as it may, Herr Schweppe's
laughter, Annie, bore the traits of
noble German birth. She was a dark
haired, dark-eyed maid, appearing
among the other girls of the community
ike bit of Sevres ware surrounded
By pieces Of useful but homely plain
godly Amanites care for such beauty.
In Amana a yard of blue calico was
accounted as worth far more than Q
Ample.
The sorrows of exile killed Herr
5chweppe when Annie was a child. be-
fore she had grown SO beautiful. An
ME had never seen a mirror, and no
Dne told her Of her beauty. Her mother
gloated over It in secret. She loved
have sanctioned. but when the child
was near she was silent and cold. The
dfe Of repression had had its effect oD
poor Mother Schweppe.
In Amana the elders discouraged
ovemaking. Men and women entered
the church by different doors, and a
dne Of sawdust-box cuspidors marked
III the mems side Of the house. But
among the girls at the Amana CAST
haus were two persons who did not
have the law Of Amana In their hearts.
They were not Amana girls, but came
trom outside, for no Amanite would
have permitted his daughter to be sub
lected to the gaze Of the strangers In
he gasthaus. 1t was Madge and Nora,
alAs! who put all the mischief into An
nos mind.
June moonlight was falling over the
yellow wheat fields, and the fragrance
II grapevine blossoms on the wall half
Intoxicated Annie as she leaned ont Of
the small, square window next the
Ilanting roof Of her mothers cottage
It was while Annie was still thinking
Of the land that might lie outside of
Amana that Madge and Nora came
along and asked her to go with them
to their party" And Annie stole away,
and went.
A ghostly little party" it was, of
Madge and Nora and Annie and only
three others, in the hotel kitchen, but
as they sat in the glare of the oil-lamp
reflector 1t seemed to Annie the wild
EST dissipation. Two sheepish young
Amanites slouched on the bench at one
hde Of the kitchen, nervously pulling
heir straw hats over their faces If any
,ne glanced at them. The third young
man was entirely unlike these. Annie,
big-eyed and timorous. gazed at him
In wonder. He wore such clothes as
fitted him: his ruddy hair was brushed
back from his ears, not over them, in
the fashion Of the Amanites. His face
was clean-shayen, his figure 1.-THE and
sinewy, and his merry eyes roved hith-
er and thither while he regaled the
company with music. 1t was q mouth
organ which he played, but no matter.
To Annie 1t was heavenly. She had
never before heard music Of any kind,
for the Amanites attached a penalty
even to whistling. Suddenly Annie was
trembling and sobbing, and the player
conscience-smitten,c ceased his melody
He was not great stranger to her
as Annie had thought. He had, not so
very many years ago, worn the blue
jeans and straw hats Of the commun.
Ity. He was none other than Hermann
the son of Herr Tappan, whom Annie
had often seen in church when a child
Tappen to send his son away to a col
lege, for Hermann was to be the ply
sician Of the community, their Herr
Doctor, as they called him.
Hermann understood the timidity OF
Annie. He, too, had once been restrain
ed till all his thoughts were sadness
no hada the girls take her Mt onco q
her mothers cottage, and he watched
them till Annie had disappeared
through the window.
But why should the young Herr Doc
tor come to Mother Schweppe's cottage
seGt day. asking for her famous wine
for his patients?
"Knowest thou not I have disposed
Of it long before this time" cried
Mother Schweppe.
Il thought perhaps thou mightst be
making 1t again." faltered Hermann.
Make wine in June? What sort OF
L man"' and Mother Schweppe laugh
ID loudly and unmelodiously, much as
one of her cabbages might have laugh
ed
And while her dull eyes were closed
In mirth, Hermann crushed into Annie's
hand a bit Of paper, and Annie, child
though she was, hid herself among the
grapevines before she dared to open II.
Thou art most beautiful l love
thee" That was all.
After that 1t was easy for Annie to
climb down by the grapevine from her
window, and once she went alone with
Hermann, far down the SUaftAfy rail-
road track. But Madge loved Her
nam, too, In her way, and, being 5eal-
On, sle ts1a Annie's msthsr.
Ths next day the eI1sss came te
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