Document Type
Correspondence
Files
Download Full Text (998 KB)
Date
1950
Keywords
bread, Reading Eagle newspaper, folk cures, powwowing, healing remedies, Pennsylvania Dutch dialect
Description
A handwritten letter from Dorothy Palmer addressed to Alfred L. Shoemaker, dating from circa 1950. Within, Palmer expresses her enjoyment of Shoemaker's column in the Reading Eagle, and provides folk cures from her grandmother.
Sender
Dorothy Palmer
Recipient
Alfred L. Shoemaker
Corresponds to:
Packet 174-1 to 174-3
City
Reading, Pennsylvania
Transcription
712 Sch. Ave.
Reading, Pa.
Dear Sir:-
In Wednesday night’s Eagle you had a verse that you said was untranslatable, well my grandmother often said it to me - Heele, heele, hinggl drek Bis Mayre frii is ales vek. And then she would blow on the injury and it would seem to get better. It means -
Heal, heal, chicken dirt till tomorrow morning all will be gone.
She also had one she said -
Fire, forbrent mere net - “With fire we won’t burn”
brote forhungert mere net - “With bread we won’t starve”
Wasser, fordostch mere net - “With water we won’t thirst”
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost - Amen.
I can’t write it like I can say it but maybe you can understand it. I enjoy your column very much as that is all I could speak until I went to school. I still talk it.
Thanking you
Mrs. Dorothy Palmer
Language
English and Pennsylvania German
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
Palmer, Dorothy, "Letter From Dorothy Palmer to Alfred L. Shoemaker" (1950). Alfred L. Shoemaker Folk Cultural Documents. 267.
https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/shoemaker_documents/267
Included in
American Material Culture Commons, Cultural History Commons, Folklore Commons, Linguistic Anthropology Commons, Social History Commons, United States History Commons
Rights Statement
In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
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