The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1910-07-05

4 Land Of "Good People and Much
Bread" Where Patriotism and
Love OF Home are Strong.
(Sy T. H. Dreher.)

OOIOulUid) ana luS lluG u1' 'lu4lAS Iva
ington and Newberry counties, as the
base, is popularity known as The
Dutch Fork The recital OF a lew
facts bearing upon this region, OF l4O
. square miles, will. it is believed, prove
interesting to the Idle Sunday reader
and reveal a few unique features,
probably unusual, in the annals of the
y State. Hedged off, as it was, from the
outside world, for upwards Of a CEN
tury, without railroad or telephone
lines, and inhabited by quiet, indus
trious and unobstrusive citizenship,
4 little was known or written about 1t
Buntil recent years.
Like the waters of the Gulf Stream
''the wandering summer Of the sea-
it has retained it's distinct individual
ity to degree almost inconceivable, in
-, an age of shifting scenes and diverse
conditions Its population is almost
as peculiarly Germanic, in origin and
tastes, today as it was one hundred
years ago. To philosophize over the
effects of this lack Of heterogeneous
racial elements does not fall within
lthe parview Of this letter. There is
ihardly name in this Fork" which
does not betray its origin, but her peo-
pie are proud to trace their ancestral
lineage back in straight line to the
wooded forests of Germany, along the
beautiful Rhine, where the intrepid
Arivistus made his bold, daring but
bootless stand, in battle, against the
Roman coneueror, julius Caesar. They
are of the same Palantinate STOCK
whose people were, driven from their
peaceful and happy homes by the cruel
and blood-thirsty Louis XIV, during
"The War of the Spanish Succession -
and who sought, by the aid, of the
good Queen Anne of England, an asy-
lum in the New World, where they
could worship their God according to
the dictates of their own Judgment
and conscience. =
Germans Proud History.
The hard experiences of these retu-
gees across the broad Atlantic, in
search of their new. homes, need not
be recorded here. Many landed IN
Charleston, some of whom wended
their way up the State along the
banks Of the Edisto, Congaree, Board
and Saluda rivers, where they hero
ically felled the forests, amidst almost
insuperable obstacles and difficulties,
in order, to meet the necessities OF a
precarious existence. History has
never been prodigal in giving these
people their true place in the picture,
but they have made good, just the
same, and added much to the COM
! nlercial, educational, social and reli-
gious development Of the Common
wealth. =
Let him who is disposed to ignore
and hides his German parentage, re-
member thstdahis branch of the. great
4esiesa 1ly played a mighty part
V anna of the worlds history,
liter the fall of the Roman EN-
Y e largely shaped the destiny OF
modern European civilization. Let
him remember that Gutenberg, a Ger
man. and Roster, Hollander, preced-
ed Caxton, of England, with printing
by 96 years; that. a German monk,
Berthold Schwartz, invented gun
powder, and that John Reuchlen, a
German, and Desiderius Erasmus, a
Hollander, were most instrumental in
introducing the study of Greek into
European universities.
Such is the blood which flows in the
veins of practically every man, wo-
man and child in '"The Dutch Fork of
Lexington county, and they are
proud to claim it. The same patriotic
love and devotion for home and its
traditions which characterized their
ancestors when ruthlessly driven
from their fresides, is still ruling
characteristic of their progenitors.
Thus it was that, when a movement
was set on foot to connect "The Dutch
Fork" with Richland county last year,
the sentiment of its people was so
pronounced against in that the matter
was never put to vote.
4 White Mans Country.
The old Dutch Fork is pre-emin-
emily a white mans country. The ne
gro is a negligible quality
cally and otherwise. With barely
more than a third of its territory, anu
4 no town of any consequence, its White
4 &voting strength exceeds the whole OF
= Calhoun county, and has white rural