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Chapter 5:- Youth
This was a tight knit community that loved and treasured their children and if possible would never permit anything to happen to a child. A lost child brought out the entire valley in a wide spread search. Anyone harming a good woman or a child faced dire consequences and not from any court of law. The whip or hot tar and feathers were not uncommon solutions for problems. The people could and would mete out swift justice.
Most of the people in the valley were honest, God fearing, Lutherans, although they might bargain sharply or stretch the truth as to the age of a horse or the quality of the wine on some occasions.
Most of us considered Catholics a strange group, none living in our valley. We heard that they had priests who forgave their sins. We Lutherans were stuck with our sins, hoping God would eventually forgive them and let us in, but we were never too sure, so we had to be very careful about what we did and said. Cussing came in different types and levels. One of my uncles, a known hexorai, it was said, cussed so loudly if he hit his thumb with a hammer, you could hear him for five miles across the valley. All he yelled was, “VELL, VELL, VELL, VELL, VELL, DUNNERWETTER!!!!! in a rising crescendo which really means, “Well, Thunderstorm!!!!”. Nothing he said was particularly bad, just the way he said it.
Baptists, now, we didn’t understand them with all their shouting. We had a small congregation of them in the valley. I quickly learned if they weren’t like us, they must be wrong. I outgrew that around age fifteen, I hope.
Jewish merchants did come into the valley carrying monstrous packs jutting high above their heads. These were filled with wonderful things even our best craftsmen could not duplicate. Most of them spoke a form of our language. They stopped at the “Big House” first, giving us the first choice of everything. This doesn’t mean we bought anything and certainly not right away. They were sharp traders, but so were we. We loved to haggle over the value of an item and if all went well, both sides felt they had gotten the better of the other one and went away happy, usually after a good meal that ended the session with good feelings all around. The Jews somehow seemed to be like distant cousins, but different. Bargaining was a skill I learned and used often.
Once a Chinese merchant came to the valley and brought beautiful silk. We had no use for it and he went away to never come back. Many people came out to see a “real” Chinaman. It was a chilly day and before he left he was heard to mutter, “Belly cold, belly cold.” A woman from the community, not knowing that belly was to him was “very” mispronounced, loudly said, “Stick your shirty in your pants, then your belly won’t be cold.”
This was a tight knit community that loved and treasured their children and if possible would never permit anything to happen to a child. A lost child brought out the entire valley in a wide spread search. Anyone harming a good woman or a child faced dire consequences and not from any court of law. The whip or hot tar and feathers were not uncommon solutions for problems. The people could and would mete out swift justice.
Most of the people in the valley were honest, God fearing, Lutherans, although they might bargain sharply or stretch the truth as to the age of a horse or the quality of the wine on some occasions.
Most of us considered Catholics a strange group, none living in our valley. We heard that they had priests who forgave their sins. We Lutherans were stuck with our sins, hoping God would eventually forgive them and let us in, but we were never too sure, so we had to be very careful about what we did and said. Cussing came in different types and levels. One of my uncles, a known hexorai, it was said, cussed so loudly if he hit his thumb with a hammer, you could hear him for five miles across the valley. All he yelled was, “VELL, VELL, VELL, VELL, VELL, DUNNERWETTER!!!!! in a rising crescendo which really means, “Well, Thunderstorm!!!!”. Nothing he said was particularly bad, just the way he said it.
Baptists, now, we didn’t understand them with all their shouting. We had a small congregation of them in the valley. I quickly learned if they weren’t like us, they must be wrong. I outgrew that around age fifteen, I hope.
Jewish merchants did come into the valley carrying monstrous packs jutting high above their heads. These were filled with wonderful things even our best craftsmen could not duplicate. Most of them spoke a form of our language. They stopped at the “Big House” first, giving us the first choice of everything. This doesn’t mean we bought anything and certainly not right away. They were sharp traders, but so were we. We loved to haggle over the value of an item and if all went well, both sides felt they had gotten the better of the other one and went away happy, usually after a good meal that ended the session with good feelings all around. The Jews somehow seemed to be like distant cousins, but different. Bargaining was a skill I learned and used often.
Once a Chinese merchant came to the valley and brought beautiful silk. We had no use for it and he went away to never come back. Many people came out to see a “real” Chinaman. It was a chilly day and before he left he was heard to mutter, “Belly cold, belly cold.” A woman from the community, not knowing that belly was to him was “very” mispronounced, loudly said, “Stick your shirty in your pants, then your belly won’t be cold.”
