The Washington herald., 1921-08-28

young Amishman's one way Of escape from
the estate of his ancestors-would take him
He had become q brakeman in the freight
service; had lived for a while In Lancaster,
for a while in Downington, and for Ave
whole months in Philadelphia itself. Worsa
than this, he had Joined the roads Young
Mems Christian Association. Heaven only
y knew what false doctrines he had imbihed
at such a font but certain it is that, at the
associations gymnasium, he had taken, and
made brilliant success in, a course Of
physical development, which, since it in
cluded thorough instruction in the art of
fsticufs, was enough to bear horror to the
hearts of all wehrlos.
But that was all ten years ago. Here
and there the old Teutonic wanderlust re-
appears among this quiet people, and, with
a pagan voice that will not be denied, calls
a young man away from home and the home
traditions; away from the habit and the
occupation of his fathers; away even from
the faith for which his forebears once walked
calmly to the stake. Such . call had com.
to Amos, and he had obeyed it as one must.
Yet the wisest call cannot long hold any
good Pennsylvania German from his own;
for the wanderlust IL only the beginning
Of the Heimweh; and 50, like all the others,
Amos, a decade ago, had, in every sense OF
the word, returned.
Perhaps 1t was Of what followed that he
was thinking as he sat there in the twilight,
while the long purple shadows crawled over
the yellow fields, and the lamps were lighted
in the house behind him. Certainly he had
paI foY he
town; and 80 It must be that now, as the
evening drew its gray veil between him and
the silent burying ground, his thoughts
reverted to that day Of his Homecoming
when he, still the rustic on the city street,
but in the country lanes q staggering,
hashy, light-stepping, quick moving villain
of twenty, had met Mabel Leidy at that
Liebeamohl. which, though, he, as an inhdel,
had to hang about the outer door, proved
30 veritable ''love feast for him.
A child he had left her, and women
he had found her again, demure and sweet
with the patient hazel eyes, the cheek Ike
the peaches in old Leager's sunny orchard,
and the voice that, at the "singin's,' was
IS fresh and sweet as in the early days at the
red schulhaus on the pike. But Mabel
was a woman Of her people. Across her
breast the modest handkerchief met, and
under her dimpled chin, where were tied the
ribbons from her brown sunbonnet, there
peeped forth the thick white strings OF the
hidden can which bespoke the Amish faith.
Amo. sought the elders Of the church, as
man must do before he seeks even the maid
h.,se,f and when they insisted that he
,,r.t forsake the world before they would
...,t tn his suit, forsook it with free
heart.
-ap Am;sh is q silent being, both in his
sorrows and his joys. though be feels
5.eplv and keenly. Amos, therefore, bore
49,. h,ou q. becomes q man and a. was the
h,h,t of his neighbors. But he thought
much and the determination which had e1-
.it.d Daniel Schlegelmich's righteous ire
NAV have been the outcome OF some surviv
inr primitive faith demanding sacrifice to
m. den.rted. At any rate, II was fixed. and
since Chance works swiftly when she turns
her hand to the dramatic, opportunity
davned with the next morning.
On the pike, by the side OF the held where
Amos was working, there paused hsnt
wagon, driven BY q thick-set man IN
shepherds plaid suit OF clothes, saiy
decorated straw hat. and pink neShge
shirt into which had been screwed large
diamond stud. The mans face matched his
shirt, and his nose went it three shades bet
ter. He had q black moustache, and another
diamond glittered from his big right fist ;
but these things did not impress Amos,
whose whole attention was absorbed BY
bright, brand new sewing machine, which.
in all the glory of its --latest modern i'm
provements," stood in Turing novelty in the
wagon.
The event was so pat upon his invitation
that the racial caution of Amos Driesbach
took the wings of the morning and wen.
as far as they could carry it. Natural
hesitancy, the dread Of the strange, the
sense for bargain-all these were his birth
right, and all forsook him in the instant
of need. Scarcely pausing timidly to finger
the curious engine Of domestic industry, b:
replied in the Affirmative to the agents ques.
tion as to whether be wanted to buy = sew
ng-machine. Regretting only that the In
strument In the wagon was q sample, b
trudged quiescent to the house, bis hypno.
tized eyes constantly on the wagon, ant
there, without reading It, he signed ant
returned the partly blank ''order' which
was offered him BY the resplendent agent
who straightway thanked him, mounte'
again into the wagon, and, In . retreatint
pillar Of dust, disappeared down the pike
That was the second Of July. By tn,
second Of August Amos had not yet received
his sewing .msehihc, but on the second o