Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-02-04
HOOK ANDEY[ DUTCH
Peculiar Custom Kept by Iowa
Sect..No Buttons on
Clothing.
Something OF the Amish and
Kindred Denominations.
Marry as Ordered.
bunker Love Feast and Feet
Washing an Interesting Re.
ligious Ceremony.
2epulllican.

4
Eagle Grove. Feb. 4.-There are.
turnout Iowa, number of settlements
of that peculiar religious sect generally
known, locally, as the Hook and Eye
Dutch" Their church the Amish, is a
! cousin german TO the Mennonites apd
the Dunkers and the peculiar fact that
its members consider the use of but
tons on their clothing as unholy and
worldly" and in consequence fasten
their habiliments upon themselves by
means of hooks and eyes have earned
for them their generic name as applied
locally. The writer has encountered
several communities of these queer
people in his Iowa travels and their
customs interested him. Hook
and Eye Dutchman," eschews buttons as
he does the devil and his works. Coat,
vest. underwear and trousers are kept
in place by the ordinary hook and eye
snd the young brother sister who has
dreams of buttons of shining brass or
lustrous pearl is looked upon much as
Methodist boy would be who devel-
The dream doesn't last long for the
church discipline of the Amish church
is rigid. The government of the elders
as unquestioned and implicitly obeyed
as the command of regular army ofti-
Ger by private. The Amish youth
wears what he is told and marries
without question the mate selected for
him by his elders in the church.
These marriages are arranged to
even up financial matters to some eN-
tent Too much land or money is not
allowed to marry into one family and
thus give that family the ascendency
wealth brings even among the Amish.
This is true to some extent among the
kindred churches. The writer has in
mind bishop of the bunker denomin-
alton ever in Illinois whose dream of
love was rudely disturbed by the pow
ers of his church. He was a widower
and thru his ministrations two wealthy
young women We're brought to see the
error and wickedness that group them
selves about silk dresses, ostrich feath-
ers and the various paraphernalia dear
and dangerous to the feminine soul.
The girls bid farewell to the fascina-
lions of dress and burned their bridges
behind them in the shape of bonfire
made of their glad rags" of which
they had many. The bishop. who WAS
a widower, proposed to clinch the con-
version by marrying one of the young
women himself and wedding the re-
mainder to his son. Here the church
stepped in and cut the bishop out. The
boy was permitted to we'd the girl of
his choice and the $40, 900 she possessed
in Illinois land and legal currency and
the bishop was informed that 1T was
not we'll to allow so much money to
marry into ore family. My recollection
is that the bishop bore the jolt we'll.
These allied religious sects have no
paupers. No bunker, Amish or Men
MONTE goes to the poor house, They
have their poor, but unlike many de-
nominations, to these simple and kindly
religionists Gods poor are the poor of
the church. The bunker aids his pow
erty stricken brother even to the ex-
tent of keeping him comfortably when
he is past the power to earn his living.
Carelessness in expenditure or laZi-
ness is next door to crime, however,
and while the poor are taken care of
there are precious few inducements
held out to parasites. Law suits are
almost unknown. 1t is the last re-
sort of a bunker and with the old
member of the original church this
method of obtaining justice is very
rarely taken advantage of. He simply
loses out" and makes no effort out
side the pressure of the church.
Among the peculiar rites of these
people is the ceremony of foot wash
ing the "pedilavium" of the ancients.
The foot washing takes place at the
annual love feast which is generally
held in one of the big red barns which.
with the white houses and whitewashed
fences, give the distinctive characters
tic to the landscape of bunker neigh
borhood. Several days before the cele-
bration of the love feast, from many
miles about, the elders and commonali
ty of the church drive the converging
roads, all headed for the rendezvous.
Among the older members one carriage
and it's occupants are as like another
as peas in a pod. A team strong fat
and bred in the best draft lines, car
riage plain in shape and finish, some
what heavy to fit the team and the
work harness. but made by an approved
of the best material and
in every way that it cost mon
ey; inside q man with long chin whis-
kers and smoothly shaver upper lip,
dressed in clothes of quakerish cut and
wearing a low-crowned, broad brim-
med hat. The wife by his side wears
Plain dress and a long black or drab
her. No rings or brooches. Meek, de-
mure and plain, but spotless, She is trim
as mother quail. To her hustle or
any other arrangement of dress de-
signed tot accentuate her form or add
to her beauty is an abomination, i'm |
modest at least, or at worst ungodly
and immoral.
To the younger members more lee
way is allowed. A little brighter paint
ON the buggy, team bred on trotting
lines, perhaps able to go fast and high |
The young mans suit is, in cut, a repli- |
ca of his fathers, but the material may
be better and its weave and finish soft
err and smacking more of STYLE The
young girl dressed in white, with her
pretty, demure face and roguish eyes
peeping out from her white sun bon
net is a picture. AT forty one remembers
how they looked and fails to remember |