Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1900-03-16
INDIANA AMISHMEN.
COLONY OF A QUEER SECT LIVING
ON FARMS.

as Much Property as His NeighbOr.
They Are All Happy and Content
in Their Way of Living.
Ten miles northeast of Washington,
Ind. there is a fertile section of land
owned and cultivated by peculiar sect
OF people known as the Amish. Little
i known of them except by the people
living in the immediate vicinity OF
their settlement.
The Amish came to this country at an
carly date, and bought rich farms for
nominal price. They have added great
~ TO their possessions until now this
iettlement takes up thousands of
tcres. Their peculiar manners and
tustoms are interesting.
According to their religious beliefs
tuc Amlsh are not allowed to use butt
t..- on their clothes. Instead OF but
ton, they use hooks and eyes. Their
rIulAus is home-pun. and they Wear
bl.rl, -iouch haLa. All AmishUau let
tnliI hair grow lone and fail over Their
tE3Uidcls. They never shave. not evea
when young men. They invariably
drive fine. big horses. They prefer
death rather than TO swear in court.
! hey are an economical sect OF people,
and are q eat traders. hey seldom
pay cash for anything, but always in
s.st 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
ancestors. one OF these laws is to the
eject that no Amisnman in the settle
ment shall be entitled to more Of the
worlds goods than his neighbour 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 then pockets, pay his
indebtedness, and, if necessary, buy
him a new farm and stock it.
The Amish originally came from a
county in one OF the Eastern States
There are few families still living
in the East. Whenever a scion of one
of the Eastern families emigrates to
the Indiana settlement he is mme-
diately presented with a 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, honent. and truthful. They
do not deposit their money in banks,
but accumulate and hoard it in their
homes They raise all the farming pro-
in, . 8
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 ilashy colors. and
long pants are put on the boys at the
age of 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 a 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, as 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,
Der of the settlement. After several
weeks he allowed his beard to grow to
its former length, 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
ishmen of the settlement looked wise
and called a mass meeting to decide
whether or not it was proper for one
of their number to ride upon such
contriyance as a bicycle. The verdict
of the elder heads was against the
youne Amishman, and he was compell-
ed to part with the wheel.-Indianapo
lis News.