STRANGE COMMUNITY

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 101, 2 May 1933, Page 7

STRANGE COMMUNITY

PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH

THEIR QUAINT WAYS

Though they are known ,in the United States as the "Pennsylvania Dutch, }' this picturesque flittle colony in the eastern State are not Dutch at all but German, or at. least GermanAmerican; "Dutch" is merely a corruption- of, "Deutseh."f Lancaster County, not far, from Philadelphia, is a strong centre: of the "P.D.'s," as they are familiarly called. This is a good farming district, and one knows where one is as soon as the big,, solid, brick or' grey stone farmhouses ■■ are sighted, each in a little grove of trees, a welcome shelter in'the hot summer days. Even th» barns have a character all' their own.' ,'■ They ,are always, red in colour, with rows of g;aily painted imitation windows, says a writer in the'"Manchester Guardian." On market days one will see in the crowds .the quaintly dressed; Aimsh and Dunkards. The men of the colony are not fallowed to cut their, hair or. to shave, , and so present a patriarchal appearance,"with flowing beards and locks falling round ' their shoulders., They may not. adorn their clothes with buttons; ' their black broadcloth suits are1 therefore fastened with hooks an/I eyes." The women also wear black, with tight bodices fitting in vto .the natural waistline, long voluminous vkirts, and a black pokorbonnet. Even young Dunkard. girls when they decide to join the ichurch must adopt this severe "costume. This; is called "going plain," a phrase which does not refer to physical • go.o'd/, looks' but to the decision to. give up the vanities of modern attire. In the little villages or when working round the house the women wear; big checked aprons and elaborately .pleated ■ sun-bonnets that 'suggest a world remote from the shoddy smartness of city types. In the older part of the. towns the houses are built right ohvtotheL-street without any gardens in front.. ,Leading vp1 to the front., door is a flight of white steps which are washed just as scrupulously an they would be in Lancashire. A THMFTY SAGE. In summer wooden, benches are placed on the sidewalk in front, of the windows, and here at night the family sits .and talks, to the next-door neigh- j hour, just, as' their, ancestors did ,in C-rerraany. instead of drinking Munich beer, these Pennsylvania Germans night r drink their own good cider or home-made wine. They are unexcelled at making' both, and' your real "P.D."'always has his. own grapearbour that is sure to yield a good crop.':. .;' '.•'■ ,' '■■.' •■.' .■.■■■..' '.'. .; ';. One would expect such a race, to be thrifty and hard-working. And, indeed, the Lancashire housewife would find the , old-fashioned ' homes 'of Lancaster, Mannheim, or Wommclsdorf as spotlessly clean as those of Astley or Bolton. She would have to admit, too, that the women were wonderful cooks, though, the dishes andthe menus might astonish her. The Pennsylvanians are mighty eaters, and perhaps their characteristic build—fairly short, immensely stocky, evidently built. for work and endurance, not for speed—is partly the. result of ,their heavy,; rich meals. A whole essay could be written about Pennsylvania Dutch meals. Sauerkraut and cole, slaw are favourites, for they must use up the cabbage from their gardens. "Pon Haus" and! "scrapple", sound even more outlandish, but they are nothing > worse, than chopped-up pork mixed with cornmeal, cut into slices, and .then fried. What -would a Manchester man think of this for .breakfast: Pried eggs, ;fried potatoes, sausage, griddle cakes with all the butter you want melting over them and then drowned in real maple syrup, all eaten together off the same plate, and -taken with numerous cups of coffeef "Schmercase," or cottage cheese, eaten with jelly as a kind of relish is also good, as are great chocolate cakes; divided into layers with thick strata of marshmallow frosting; cookies of all sorts; tomato and pepper relishes; pickled peaches and peach marmalade. Such are some of the delicacies to be found on the tables of Lancaster county homes. / OfiSMAK INFLUENCE. , Even if they do not speak German, the Pennsylvania Dutch have a language that is' coloured by their German ancestry. After they stopped using the verb ."lasson,"?' for example, they never quite understood the English "let" and "leave," and usually today thus reverse their meaning. A "P.D." will say, "We'll just let it," not in the least referring to renting a house, but telling you that the matter will have to be left to.another time. "Will you leave me got" is a common phrase when asking permission. "To make" is used almost as extensively, as the German "machen." , Two illustrations of this peculiar phraseology are too .good to omit. A strange minister, not of German extraction, was about to pay a first call on one of his "P.D." parishioners when ho was deterred by hearing the small boy of the. house shout to his sister: "Come on in. Pa's on the table and Ma's half et." They were not cannibals, but were merely using the German idiom "an der Tafel." "No," said one stenographer to another, "I can't go with you on Saturday. My off is all." By which she simply meant her holiday was over. To know more about these honest, sturdy folk the short stories of Elsie Singmaster are worth reading. She comes from Gettysburg/ and has pictured her own people artistically, sympathetically, arid truthfully. ' . ' '