The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1909-03-13


would'st thou light extract from shadow
Would'st thou ope' the darkest cloud?
And with silver fill thy dwelling
Then buy laughter from the crowd2
Do not then bemoan your station;
Up and lend a helping hand;
Turn the sunshine on the shadows,
Yours to help the weak to stand.
MENNONITEs OF LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa.
A correspondent ofthe Philadelphia
Record, writing from New Holland,
Lancaster county, Pa, has the follow
ing to say about a people who form
an important part of the population
of that county:
Nowhere else in the United States
are the Mennonites so important a
factor as in Lancaster county. This
year marks the two hundredth ami
versary of the arrival of the pioneer
colony Of these "plain people" in this
county, they having been the first to
effect permanent settlement in Lam
caster.
Today the traveller meets the quaint
ly-garbed men and women of this faith
in every town, village and township
of this region. They mingle with the
throngs on the streets of the city of
Lancaster they are seen on almost
every car on the wide-spreadipg elec-
trio railway system; their plain little
meeting houses dot the pleasing rural
landscape; they cultivate the best
farms of this famousagricultural coun-
ty, and their probity, industry and
stability have contributed not little
toward making Lancaster one of the
foremost counties of the State.
Deeming everything that savors Of
display to be at variance with religion,
the Mennonites will observe the BIZ
centennial of their settlement here in
the most modest manner. A meeting
was recently held in Lampster, at
which it was decided to commemorate
the anniversary by erecting memo
rial over the grave of Rev. Hans Herr,
leader of the first band of Swiss Men
nonites who fed from persecution in
Europe and sought home in the New
World. They took up 10000 acres
north of Pequea creek and built log
houses, utilizing the black walnut
timber that abounded in the region.
Some of the black walnut cabins stood
until the middle of the nineteenth
century.
Among the first settlers, besides
Hans Herr, the leader, were Hans
Meylin and his son, Martin; Martin
Kendig, Jacob Miller, Hans Funk,
Martin and Michael Oberholtzer and
Wendell Bowman. These family
names have ever since been among
the most prominent in Lancaster
county.
Lancaster affords an illustration Of
the numerous divisions into which the
Mennonites have separated. Though
the denomination has but 60, 900 mem
bers In the United States, it has twelve
branches, these being the outcome of
numerous secessions and schisms in
the past two centuries. Nearly all
these are represented in Lancaster
county, and nowhere are the quaint
characteristics of the denomination S
earlier days so we'll preserved as in
the rural districts of Lancaster.
There are Mennonite congregations
in Philadelphia and in many of the
larger towns of Pennsylvania which
differ little from other Protestant
churches. These adhere 10 the Cen
eral Conference of the Mennonite
Church, which was formed half
century ago. With these the Old
Mennonites and the Reformed, or New
Mennonites of Lancaster county have
little in common. The New Men
nonites, it should be remembered, are
called so not because of any disposi-
ton to adopt the novelties of the
world, but because they aimed to re-
form the church by returning anew to
the original strict regulations of the
sect.
All the Lancaster Meunonites dress
in the plainest garb, devoid of jewelry
or adornmeut. The men wear long
hair and full beard or are clean shaven,
a mustache being mark of unhal-
lowed vanity. A neat little white car
is cart of the women's dress. One
branch of the sect, known as the
"Hooker Mennonites," placed bar
on buttons, considering them indica-
tive of love of ornamentation. The
members employ hooks and eyes in
place of buttons, even on the mems
clothing. For similar reasons these
Mennonites do not wear collars either
on their shirts or their coats, and neck
ties and watch chains are also barred
Many Of them, however, have tele-
phones in their homes, and some are
also buying automobiles, for only in
novations that are pronounced useless
are prohibited.
Besides the divisions Of the seci
named there are the Amish, the Old
Amish, the Church of God in Christ
the Bundes Conference, the Defence
less and the Mennonite Brethren in
Christ. Most of these choose theil
ministers and bishops from among
their numbers by lot; they believe ir
the baptism of adults by sprinkling
avoid politics and litigation and prac
tice feet-washing according to the
Scriptural mode. heAmish, in many
respects, are the most primitive of al
the Mennonites. They believe thai
J even churches and meeting-h house:
tend toward undue extravaganza, ano
so their congregations generally hole
services in barns or farm houses.
One of the most notable instance:
of the Mennonite influence for gooe
in Lancaster county is the work o.
! the members of that faith In reforming