There are differences in their way of life that is sometimes difficult for the English (non-amish) to understand.
The women do the cleaning. cooking, gathering-traditional womanly chores. Some would see this as sexist. To the amish, it is their place. Without a good woman, the man is less. They are equal in that the genders have duties and without each other, both are diminished. I'm having trouble putting thtis into words as I don't fully understand it. how about if I say the man and woman complete each other.
The woman traditionally wear black dresses and white bonnets. Young girls may wear blue. The men wear black pants, white shirts, suspenders and a straw cap. Young boys may wear blue shirts. There are exceptions, but they are few and from what I could tell, tolerated. The exceptions were on the order of denim because it wears better in certain situations, or a dark colored, say, maroon, dress. Monday was laundry day everywhere. Drive along, see a clothes line: white white white white black black black black black black blue blue blue blue. Clothing is simple because it shows humility, before god and each other. It also makes shopping for fabric much easier.
I remember the part of the book where Almanzo's mother made butter. The amish make their own butter, it is to die for. The girls make the butter. By the age of 7 or 8, they would be competent in such a basic skill. There is no sense of dread at mundane duties or hard work. It is accepted as what is expected of them. It is their place. Try getting my brother's kid to mow the
lawn. Discipline is instilled in the children at a young age. As a side note, my grandmother had no problems putting one of us kids outside, even in the snow, during breakfast if we were unruly, my old man would just take off his belt. As far as abuse or negative reinforcement methods, I saw no evidence of this, for or against, so I can't speak of how the discipline is instilled.
If you meet an amish fellow, do not hold out your hand for a handshake. You are outside of their community. Not exactly sure why, but they won't typically shake hands with the English. Lewis introduced me at the barnraising, I shook many hands. If you are accepted, you have it made, otherwise you will be looked upon warily. The young ladies will not look you in the eye, that would be a sign of lust. They will not speak to you unless spoken to, and then only with brief responses. When I first arrived, I had to be out of the house on Wednesday mornings. I made the mistake of being in the house the first Wednesday when Susie came over to do the cleaning. A young girl, alone in a house with an English man, OH THE SCANDAL!
In the summer, if not working in the fields, most of the amish were barefoot around the homestead. I don't know if there is a religious reason or if they are reducing wear on their footwear. I like to be barefoot, maybe they do too. It is a fair bet that there is a reason for their shoeless behavior. The lifestyle is full of tradition and purpose in everything they do, and barefeet qualifies as simple.
The men shave mustaches but not beards. The first time I met Lewis, he was walking up from the back field. I asked my host how old he was-about 50. I responded "that beard is at least 60! Then I met his wife. The woman also do not shave their beard. It can be a shock.
The money is not spoken of much. It is certainly clear that they use it. Lewis sells his saddles, Alvin Mast sells his lumber, Miller sells his produce. Cottage industries abound, with each family having a skill. A guy named Rudy repaired plows and implements. Another fellow had a machine shop where he made parts for diesel engines. Whatever their specialty is, they charge for it. When Lewis' boy was done with the plowing, I asked Lewis what I owed him. He replied to the affect that he was helping a neighbor and sometime I could help him. This was a big job, 2 acres of plowing. It would not be right, in my mind, to not pay for this service. I got sneaky. "If not for you, then for the boy. He did a man's work, he should get a man's pay." and handed him a hundred bucks. This seemed to go over well with him. After that we traded about everything. I gave him a ride, he'd send up a gallon of milk. Charge thy customer, help thy neighbor. I gave his wife some
greenhouse plants for their garden, a pie would show up on the porch. I stopped by to see if she needed onion sets, gave her all she wanted, I later enjoyed a vast array of pastries.
The amish don't often take employment. That would make them dependent. But, they will do some regular tasks-housekeeping for example. When I needed help clearing rocks from the field, I proposed to the boys that they start their own rock clearing business and I would be their first customer. They helped clear the rocks, but would not take any pay. I later helped fix their hay baler and resheath a wall on the icehouse.
Frugality and Thrift. Is it a virtue or means of getting by? Some English guy had a bread route. Stocked stores with bread, cakes, twinkies, hot dog rolls-commercial bakery type stuff. Me and Lewis went over to unload his truck and load up mine with the out of date product. My truck was loaded, make that overloaded, and another neighbor took him another day for another load. The bread was fed to the pigs. Cakes and twinkies that were still fine were taken to the house for consumption, along with hot dog rolls because they were having hot dogs that night. The boxes were piled for firestarting. The pie pans were saved for their own pie making, washed of course. The twist ties from the bread bags were saved for their own bread. I don't know what they did with the plastic bags from the bread, but if there was a use, they were saved. Otherwise they probably went into the woodstove. I did the math on the value of the twist ties, pig food, treats, hot dog rolls and pie tins. I came up with something like $300 in value for that truckload of baked goods if they had to buy the stuff of the shelf, thats at 5 cents a pound for animal feed value. Lewis paid something, maybe 20 bucks, I dont know.
Whats next-ah, horse training.
When the 3 horses plowed my field, 2 were older and experienced, one was young and green. The young horse was put in the middle. The horses knew exactly what they were doing. The boy, I think his name was Mark, would only need to call out rarely and with simple commands, haw, gah, whoa, and the horses responded immediately. When hooking up the plow, it was a foot short in reach. Mark said "BACK" The three horse, in unison, took one step back. I was speechless.
The amish don't have a church. They travel each week to someone's home where they hold their services, than enjoy dinner afterwards before returning home. Next week, someone else's home. I understand the reason for this is to maintain the community. They'd put on their sunday best, black pants or dress, white shirt, bonnet and hat, hook up the horses to the bigger buggy and head out. Sunday morning was what I called Amish Rush Hour. I'd hear the clopping of the horses then look up to give them a wave and over the hill they went. Then another and another and another. A few hours later, they come back over the hill and clopp into the woods one after another.
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when they seemed to have all else in perspective
