June sixth
Mein Buch,
Today was a lovely day, we did a lot of cleaning about since after church things tend to get a little ferschmutzed what with 300 people around und all those little children going in und out, in und out. But it was nice to air everything out; it's a twice-a-month chore we do here. I had the job of stripping the beds, washing the sheets und cases und skirts und the towels in the washroom, und hanging it all out to dry. I would have got it all done faster, were it not for Samuel, my youngest brother (he's three years old und quite a bundle of energy) knocking about. He upset the wash bucket several times until Mamm called him inside. He's a sweet little boy und I love him to pieces, but when you're trying to get something done, he's not got the patience to sit still or watch. If you give him a job to do, he gets all excited und works his hardest, but if it's not something big with action, like plowing, he gets bored pretty fast. To try to occupy him so he wouldn't be underfoot, I said, "Samuel, how would you like to help me with the laundry? You could turn the crank for me if you'd like." He got all excited und sat down to work for a while, und I was feeding the sheets through the wringer und he was turning the crank, but one of the cats came out of the barn and he up und ran away, leaving me with half the sheet on the ground. Ja, the dirty ground. Ach, well, you just have to love him; he gives you one look with those big blue eyes of his und he knows your heart belongs to him.
Well, it's getting pretty late; all the chickens are in the coop and the dog is lying near the front door. I think I hear Jeremiah coming up the stairs.
Gut Nacht,
Annie Stoltzfus
June Seventh
Mein Buch,
Today was Thursday, und I attended my first actual "hop". For honest and for goodness, it was the most exhilarating yet frightening thing I've done all my life. Jeremiah und his Aldi, Esther, rode with me in the buggy to Jacob Yoders' where the hop was. We trotted up the front drive und we could hear the music from the barn all the way from the house. I looked in und said hello to Rachel and Aaron, Jacob's parents, und they told us that they were turning in for the night. How they slept I'll never know. Some Englisch kids brought CDs und speakers und all this crazy electric stuff that none of us Plain kids knew how to work und the city kids were blasting it from here to Glory. Then there was the alcohol. Our bishop doesn't really care if we drink, he's made that pretty clear in our Ordnung sermons, but he certainly made it clear that one shouldn't overdo it. Overdo was a true understatement for some of these people. There were kids with beers in one hand und marijuana cigarettes in the other. I had one Peppermint Schnapp und that was it. I was already ferhoodled from all die Musik and stuff and with the drink added on, I thought my head was going to explode. Then some Englischer I didn't even know asked me if I could take him for a ride in the buggy und I had no idea what he was asking (Jeremiah said he was from way out of town und that was why I couldn't understand him, plus he'd had about 6 beers and three cigars, not mixing too well in his head apparently). Then he got kind of rough with me, takin' me by the arm und all that, till Jeremiah stepped in und told him what for. Esther und I let him handle it, because we were absolutely sure that if Jeremiah hadn't been there, he would have tried some crazy worldly thing on us. The kid up und left after Jeremiah was finished talking to him. We left the enclosed barn in the back field for some quieter areas with circles of people around little camping stoves. We joined one circle to find that my cousin Yonie (John) from Ohio was there. We asked him if he needed a bed to sleep in and he said that he'd come down to work for Dat, but we'd been so busy figuring out the whole hop thing that Dat hadn't had time to tell us. He was going to sleep in the downstairs of the Daawdi-Haus! Well, if that didn't beat all, I don't know what did. Well, we had some good fun and some Englischers were telling "Amish jokes" and we got to telling "Englisch jokes' and we were having a wonderful time. It was funny because these four Englischer boys were all dressed "plain". We were laughing because their clothing was hardly Plain enough to pass Mennonite inspection, let alone the inspection of a Plain bishop. Their shirts were all hochmut-proud- with row of buttons going down it like the stripe on the back of one of our barn cats, und their pants with zippers and all. It was awful funny because they were comparing all the clothing to our own gelassenheit– plain- clothing, made in das alt Gebrauch- the old ways. Our boys pointed out all the errors und the boys were laughing. So were we.
It was a gut night and I'm glad I went, thought I 'spect that that one situation sure as heck coulda gotten out of hand right quick hadn't Jeremiah been there.
Ach! I just looked at the old clock und it's already past 2 in the morning. I've got to get up at 5 to get some of my choring done before Samuel gets up. Since he's smaller he gets to sleep in. I love it when he comes out to the living room, hair all ferhoodled, und him still rubbing his eyes with a fist still wearing his fer-schlaffen Kleidung–for sleeping clothes. He's the right cutest little boy in our district, even if it's proud to say so.
Gut Nacht!
Annie
June Eighth
Mein Buch,
Today was certainly trying. Levi, Samuel, Andrew, und Jeremiah, along with Mamm, Leah, Mary, und Rachel were all ill. Herr Dokder Stoltzfus, Dat's oldest brother, came by und gave us some tea to make their stomachs calm. They slept nearly all the day und it was Dat, Me, Yonie, Abram doing ALL of the chores. Of course, I wasn't upset; it's perfectly awful to have to lie in bed all day with an upset stomach. Poor Samuel couldn't even drink a glass of water without bringing it back up. He stayed in bed with Mamm all day. The chickens got out of the little fenced off area they rule in the orchard und I had to go und round them all up, without any cracked corn or anything to lure them back.
It's supper time und I have to make it.
Tchüß!
Annie