GERMAN CATHOLICS IN INDIANA.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VII, Issue 393, 22 October 1880, Page 19

GERMAN CATHOLICS IN INDIANA.

(From the New York Herald.) Oldenburg, Ind., July 26, 1880. Unboubtedly this is one of the most peculiar communities in the United States. It has probably over two thonsand inhabitants, which number is augmented on Sundays to considerably over three thousand, all Democrats (even the postmaster), all Catholics, and all Germans, and that of the class known as Low, who speak a dialect of their own. Though by far the larger majority of these people were born in this country they still inherit the customs of their German forefathers. Oldenburg is situated about seven miles from Batesville, a small station on the Indianapolis, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Chicago Railway, and reached from Batesville by the stage, which meets the two trains which stop there daily. The country is exceedingly hilly, but the soil appears to be very fertile ; opulent vegetation surrounds the traveller on every hand. Oldenburg itself nestles comfortably in a pleasant valley. Its principal industry is a large cotton mill ; its finest building is the Young Ladies' Academy, conducted by Sisters of one of the many Catholic Religious Orders. Next to the convent is a monastery of the Franciscan Fathers, and opposite to both convent and monastery stands the village church, a large brick edifice. Of hotels there was a plentiful supply ; also of beer saloons and country stores. Though, as I said above, all the inhabitants are German, still they address strangers in the English language, and the English they they speak is remarkably pure, considering the fact that all business is carried on in German. Before going further into the backwoods I concluded to remain in Oldenburg a few days to observe the customs of the natives, and with ease could have imagined myself transported into some village of Central Germany. On every hand I met with uniform courtesies and liberal potations of the Teutonic beverage, retailed at most places at two and a half cents per glass. Though old and young, without regard to sex or wealth, seemed to imbibe freely, still in my three days' sojourn I did not see the least intoxication, though the quantities which some succeeded in disposing of convinced me that there must be a science in beer drinking. It was Friday, and I dined sumptuously. Eges, fresh from the barn yard, butter just churned, fresh fish from a neighbouring stream, native wine and beer, with 'all the entrees of a good Catholic Friday dinner, I did not notice the absence of meat. On the following day we had chicken and various kinds of meats, and though I was stopping at the most aristocratic hotel in the place, the charge was only twenty-five cents per meal. A neat room with all the accommodation we could wish, was furnished at a similar figure. I spent several hours in one of the country store, where the anomaly of a Democratic postmaster under a Republican administration was explained by the statement that there was no ltepublican within ten miles of that place. The bartering between the countrymen and the storekeeper was a source of a great deal of amusement. Money was only a dernier resort, and the products of other places paid for in butter, eggs, etc. Butter is worth six and eight cents per pound, eggs six and eight cents per dozen, spring chickens eight and ten cents each, large chickens fifteen cents each, etc. Speaking to the most prominent politician of the place, a man who is considered by his neighbours as ■well up to the times in everything, and who speaks English fluently, I ventured to inquire how Indiana would vote in October. " This part will certainly go for the Democratic nominee, and our folks are just enthusiastic for Hancock. As far as I have heard, there seems little chance for the Republican ticket anywhere in the State ; but ; then we read nothing but solidly Democratic papers here."