Notes From Danville, Montour County, Pennsylvania: A Collection of Historical and Biographical Sketches

Authors

Alfred L. Shoemaker

Document Type

Notes

Files

Date

1950

Keywords

apple butter boiling, courtship, Danville, Montour County, Tulpehocken, humor, dialect

Description

A set of handwritten, copied notes from Danville, Montour County, Pennsylvania: A Collection of Historical and Biographical Sketches transcribed by Alfred L. Shoemaker. The notes describe the process of making apple butter and include a humorous interview with a local resident.

Corresponds to:

Packet 18-8

Transcription

Danville, Montour County, Pennsylvania, D. B. H.

Brower (Harrisburg, 1881)

p. 58 “Cider, with the addition of apples, was boiled down to apple-butter, an excellent article for the table, still in use. To make this, required constant boiling for about twenty-four hours. The services of a young lady and gentleman where usually called into requisition on such occasions, and they generally found stirring apple-butter to be no uncongenial employment, for the process of butter making and courtship could, not unfrequently, go on simultaneously.”

p. 258-259

A pleasant old lady was visited next, when the following dialogue took place:

You have lived here a good while?

“O, yes, longer as that.”

When did you come to Danville?

“It vas de time we moved here from Tulpehocken.”

You don’t remember the exact period?

“O yes, I mind it goot.”

Do you remember of anything important - anything that happened about the time you came, by which we could fix the date?

“O yes, it most the time when our Johnny vas born.”

Ah, now we have it. How old is Johnny now?

“He’s no olt at all. He’s deat.”

Could you tell me when he died?

“Yes. It vas about four o’clock in de afternoon.”

I don’t mean the hour, I mean the year.

“Vy it vas in de same year as he vas born.”

I left discouraged, as the old lady with a bland smile kindly said: “Come again ven you vant some more dings to set in your book.”

Language

English

Rights Statement

This item is available courtesy of the Ursinus College Library Special Collections Department. It is not to be copied or distributed for commercial use. For permissions which fall outside of educational use, please contact the Special Collections Department.

Recommended Citation

Shoemaker, Alfred L., "Notes From Danville, Montour County, Pennsylvania: A Collection of Historical and Biographical Sketches" (1950). Alfred L. Shoemaker Folk Cultural Documents. 100.
https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/shoemaker_documents/100