Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-07-22
Land of scrubbinE Brushes.

There is a portion OF the interior Of
Pennsylvania which is peopled by clannish
folk known as the pennsylvania Dutch.
The women keep clean houses, the men
keep clean farms. The farms are kept
NEEDLESS. The fences about the houses ana
yards are whitewashed. Old-fashloned rail
feLces inclose the fields and pastures.
Barbed wire is rarely seen. Farm houses
aud II ost of the town houses are built on
the same plan and the roofs are shingled
with slate Innovation is frowned upon.
The women are proud Of the amount of
manual labor they can perform, relates the
Chicago Record Herald. They are valued
by that standard. They have heard that
western women do not work much. At
least that they do not bake fifteen or
twenty pies each Friday, daily polish the
cook stove and scrub the outside steps,
milk all the cows and do other kinds of
outdoor labor besides their housework. BY
western women they mean ali women west
Of Pennsylvania. They have heard this
disgraceful news about the western women,
and they believe it. One young denizen
OF this happy land once ventured so far
as Ohio. From there he brought back
wife and settled down with her on his
farm. The neighbor women called not
upon her. She was ostracized That was
eleven years ago, and. although she has
diligently toiled, she has not yet lived down
this blight upon her western fame. II they
speak to her 1t is in an unknown tongue,
and they pretend not to understand her
English. She says she cant get used to
it."
Pennsylvania Dutch is the only language
spoken. 1t is a corruption of English and
German. They all speak it, treating Eng
lish as foreign tongue. Like the Indian,
they resent 1t If addressed in other than
their own dialect
"Spotlesstown" would appear to be the
name Of the average village. Each house.
wife, II she happens to sweep the dirt on
the sidewalk, sweeps II onto the street
then sweeps up the street, carries the dirt
back and burns 1t. Her neighbor, when she
calls will examine the cook stove to ascer-
tain II It has received it's daily polish, and
observe the back steps to see If they have
had their daily scrub. The virtue of clean
illness of the house is carried to such an
extent that It ceases to be virtue. 1t il
only a bore.
with all thy getting get a scrubbing
brush is the motto OF the Pennsylvania
Dutch woman.
A stranger called at a farm house for
voice within. The owner Of the voice was
the only occupant of the house at the
time. She was born with only stumps Of
legs and no feet, and her hands and arms
were deformed. She was on a chair wash
ing dishes. She talked cheerfully and
proudly told of all the kinds Of work she
could do
Il scrub the front aud back steps every
day, too" she said.
An elderly woman, who was alone in her
house, was standing on a step-ladder polish
ing her cupboard She fell, and in falling
knocked down a dish of eggs, which broke
and made a mess on the floor. One of her
ribs and her left arm were broken by the
fall. She got the scrubbing brush and care
fully cleaned up the floor before she sent
for a doctor. She died a victim to the
scrubbing-brush habit.
The Pennsylvania Dutch woman would
die happy could she have a scrubbing
brush carved on her tombstone