THE OLD ORDER AMISH

foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the luxuriant emerald green landscape stretching before our eyes are in Lancaster County in Southeastern Pennsylvania some of these fields have been under constant cultivation since the early 1700s when groups of refugees from European oppression came here at the bidding of William Penn to take up their lives Anew English-speaking settlers already in the area called these new immigrants who spoke only German the Dutch on the farms of this idyllic setting live close to 8 000 of the highly idealistic old order Amish who choose to withdraw from the world and its distractions so as to dedicate their lives to resolutely following the Bible and the plow for the Amish farmer only the scriptural virtues of humility Holiness and hard work can lead to happiness the simply furnished Amish home is as far removed from the outside world as is practical no electric wires or gas lines connected to the world radios television sets and other of them at media have no place in the homes power to pump water for the house and the barn is provided by the crude water wheel in the Meadow or by the windmill families are large and work is hard here literally the biblical exhortation to earn one's bread by the sweat of the brow is willingly fulfilled to offset the bareness and simplicity of their homes the women employ whenever possible splashes of color in traditional Pennsylvania Dutch designs in an effort to achieve relative self-sufficiency the women make whatever they can at home for baking bread most women prefer indoor ovens a dutch oven [Music] [Applause] [Music] preparing the large dinner which the men working in the fields will expect is a Cooperative project on the part of all the women in the household at an early age children begin to gain familiarity with the fields and the animals they will be working with for the rest of their lives it is not long before they Master the fundamentals of farming the Amish live rooted in religious traditions in a little world of their own making though they would undoubtedly like to they are unable to build a physical wall to close to themselves hence they must be content with the building of a symbolic wall to shut themselves off from the world this wall is made up of indifference to what the world has to offer and a rejection of the influences of the world the use for example of These Fine draft horses instead of a modern tractor represents part of that wall within their little world whether it be in Pennsylvania Ohio Indiana Illinois or Canada conformity in matters of dress transport Customs housing farming methods and the like is total thus the distinction between the plain Amish world and the gay outside world is all the more firmly established [Music] to dinner and a short rest of the girls help the men hitch up the team before going back to housework [Music] foreign foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] ly proud of their show China but only take it down on special occasions [Music] even the children have their chores as the afternoon wears on the house takes on the aspect of orderliness the lack of closet space the girls dresses are hung on wall pegs the younger girls wear the brighter dresses glassware in China are collected by every unmarried girl for inclusion in her true self [Music] foreign families are kept in family Bibles or on embroidered plaques which are displayed on walls the first Amish came to America from the German palatinate in the early 1700s and settled in the Holy Snyder Valley of Pennsylvania during the massacres of the French and Indian War many lost their lives and were buried in small family cemeteries which remained to this day the Survivor scattered a number came South to Lancaster County John Schmucker was among the first he almost eroded morse-covered Stone previously marking his grave has been replaced recently with a much more legible Stone an early map of Upper laycock Township indicates that by 1860 families of Amish had already saturated certain areas of Lancaster County the most common names then as now were stalks boost Byler zuk and Schmucker Still Standing not far from the Amish area is one of the first homes built by the Mennonites the Religious brothers of the Amish who suffered like persecutions in Switzerland and Germany the Builder was Christian Herr construction by early Army settlers was quite substantial the farm was intended for many generations of descendants as with a building it was very rare that an Amish farmer permitted his land to leave the family today the last married child stays on the family Homestead while the previously married are set up by their parents on nearby Farms most of the expense and labor involved in starting a young couple in a life of farming is borne by the parents and close relatives as the Amish have remained relatively unchanged so also have the physical aspects of the countryside around them this beautiful stone Grist Mill in continuous operations in 1760 would have crumbled to ruin without the Amish to bring in business Bridges such as these would long ago have proved inadequate if the Amish drove large trucks to and from Market instead of their wagons [Music] [Applause] here three generations of the same family live on the same farm and work it cooperatively each family lives in its own self-contained unit everything is in Readiness for Sunday church meeting or as the Amish call it may the benches are waiting to be picked up and brought to the house where May will be held the going to meeting clothes are being aired the service is held each Fortnight in the home of another member of the congregation [Music] foreign service is beginning [Music] it opens with a number of slow-tune hymns chosen from a hymnal called the ausband the person who chooses the hymn leads the verses he is called the four Sangha after the hymns the preachers and ministers ordina preach long sermons testimonies or zikness are then delivered by members the service ends with a parting him [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] chaps book or Fellowship each age group clusters off by itself to discuss its common interests while the women open the picnic baskets brought by each family set up tables by mounting the church benches on saw horses and serve a tasty cold lunch [Music] late in the day the get-together breaks up as the older folks leave to take care of the animals and the younger folks to take care of their courtship [Music] is only interested in one of the girls he's giving the other a ride to a friend's house where she'll pass the rest of the afternoon discussing subjects close to the female heart foreign [Music] what's a trap [Music] [Applause] later in the evening the Young Folks hold their singing bind up on benches facing one another the boys and girls sing their fast tunes and cut their normal adolescent capers [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you an addition is being built to the Old Homestead which means that a pair of newlyweds is about to move in [Music] insta school is a point of major contact with the world the Amish parent adamantly refuses to accept any other than the one-room school which he feels keeps his children close to home in in their own element anymore Friday things [Music] the teacher is an outsider with an understanding and respect for the Amish way of life she teaches eight grades in one room leaving little time for personal attention to an individual or to a grade children themselves make up for this by helping one another and by studying quietly in the early grades the children take their study seriously and seem to learn quite fast while one grade is reciting members of other grades busy themselves doing various things such as drawing on the Blackboard the various seasons of the year or making up their notebooks [Music] foreign [Music] the only interruption in the smooth routine of the morning will be the lunch hour [Music] boys [Music] foreign [Music] Ernie get up Sergio he said get out back after breakfast I want you to water the cabbages after surgery had me eating his breakfast or barge and milk though most Amish children know only Pennsylvania after a few months thanks to the combined efforts of the teacher and the older children they learn to speak and to read English after a while said you woke up from his mouth because he heard a splashing noise at the Palm she saw a small elephant splashing water with his trunk [Music] foreign [Music] a big event in the life of every Amish farmer is the public sale there it is possible to get away from farm work for the afternoon to meet with friends and to eat hot dogs and hot chicken corn soup besides it's also possible to pick up a few bargains those who do the buying of the men but the women do their utmost to exert a bit of influence [Music] foreign [Music] few of the older women may bring along their quilting and the younger men a small ball which they used to play Carnival Corner ball or mosh ball as the Amish call it is played on a mushy surface one team forms the corners of the square and throws the ball another team is in the middle of the square and Dodgers are chukes the ball a corner man who misses or a set a man who is hit drops out of the game the team to run out of men first loses all right the day ends on a friendly note with everyone satisfied to go to town the Amish must leave the confines of the group thus they become part of the business life of the world they shun and the symbolic wall around their little world begins to crack and yet it could not be otherwise in the 20th century the Amish need the products the world supplies they also need the money the outside world is willing to pay for their products in order to buy farms for their children but on the other side of the coin a trip to town can achieve a number of things one can take the family horse to the town blacksmith to have his Hoops trimmed or to have a new set of shoes put on or one might take the children to the general store to get them a pair of new shoes [Music] at the farmers markets the entire family sells the products of the farm or the Garden or such homemade products as cakes pies and preserved Meats [Music] everything [Music] else [Music] [Applause] [Music] the moment the Amish farmer leaves his farm and his people to come into town he seems to lose his Poise and self-assurance city is almost like a foreign country which you cannot understand he is always anxious to return to the farm those Intrepid Souls who come to town by buggy face the constant threat of the speeding Auto a horse is much more difficult to control than a car the less Intrepid Souls come to town by bus time the Amish farmers pour their animals and their labor the thrashing party moves from Farm to farm leaving behind at a number of over-brimming granaries wheat is sold to the local Grist Mill where it will be made into flower the outer covering of the grain serves well as cattle feed [Music] um tobacco is the money crop this tobacco will be homogenized and used as cigar filler [Music] each stake or lat holds five to six stalks of tobacco the stalk is impaled on a small blade placed over the end of the lab [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] tobacco Waits outside the barn to be hung up on the Rafters later on in the year when the plants turn brown the leaves will be stripped from the stalks and compressed into bales [Music] the last crop of the year is corn [Music] during the winter fire ravaged this Amish bar the immediate task of the neighbors is to tear down the unburned sections and to clear the way for a New Foundation to be built by contractors [Music] neighbors leave early on the spring morning of the barn raising past the charred remains of farm equipment come the first to arrive about 200 men from as far as 10 miles away are assembling to contribute their time and labor to building a new barn close to 50 women are also coming to help prepare meals and refreshments foreign [Music] best a crew including a few non-amish neighbors busies itself mortising and otherwise preparing the large eight by eight beams that will make up the frame [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] had been sustained by the entire Amish community family contributes to a common Fund in proportion to its ability to pay this is a rudimentary form of Mutual Insurance [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] Jesus [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] conflicts between the Amish and the outside world arise inevitably while the Amish farmer tills the land of his Homestead and sending a small one-room School large Consolidated Schools are built a stone's throw away how long can the one-room School survive with highways and byways becoming more and more crowded can the struggle between the horse and the buggy and motorized transport and other than disastrously for the Amish [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the funeral procession moves slowly drivers and Powerful cars feel the momentum checked and moved to pass it's not disrespect for the hers just impatience with slowness as the momentum of forward moving America increases pressure on the slow-moving Amish grows as the American personality moves towards homogenization Amish non-conformity is increasingly resented the only salvation for the Amish farmer is to remain blissfully unmindful of the attitudes of the world back must stay turned on the world as he inexorably follows Bible and its plow toward the renewal of life in his Fields each spring thank you [Music]