Second Letter From Luella Kern Engelhart to Alfred L. Shoemaker, May 27, 1949

Authors

Luella Kern Engelhart

Document Type

Correspondence

Files

Date

5-27-1949

Keywords

bundling, Pennsylvania Dutchman, games, Don Yoder, Good Friday, superstitions, braucherie, Slatington

Description

A handwritten letter from Luella K. Engelhart addressed to Alfred L. Shoemaker, dated May 27, 1949. Within, Engelhart praises Shoemaker's work with the Pennsylvania Dutchman periodical and recounts her experiences with pow-wowing and superstitions.

Sender

Luella Kern Engelhart

Recipient

Alfred L. Shoemaker

Corresponds to:

Packet 373-2

City

Catasauqua, Pennsylvania

Transcription

May 27, 1949

The Pennsylvania Dutchman

Pennsylvania Dutch Folklore Center, Inc.

Franklin and Marshall College

Lancaster, Penna.

Gentlemen,

Sorry to be tardy - here’s six dollars, three for me and three for a friend - may we have it from volume one, number one?

The friend is,

Col. Alton C. Miller

1601 Ripon Place

Fairfax

Alexandria, Virginia

The Pennsylvania Dutchman “gives me homesick” because there is so much with which I am familiar.

I played nipsi in the early 1900s in Slatington and “hit the wiskie” too

My husband Col. Engelhert, originally from Cleveland, said they played it there but called the game One Old Cat.

I’m not a mother (#2) but I would never lay a loaf of bread upside down, I wouldn’t burn any either.

I wouldn’t dream of ironing, cutting or sewing, on Good Friday afternoon. My mother would never let us do it and now I am actually afraid to do so.

“I don’t believe in it” but when I was twelve, I saw pow-wowing work and get results - a cure. If you want to keep a witch out of your house, just lay a broom over your doorway. She will not step over it.

In the early 1900s there was a lot of braucherie going on, in the Slatington, Emerald, Slatedale section. And the ones who called the braucher weren’t what is called dumb Dutch.

A sweet old lady told my mother several years ago that the girls took their beaus to bed to keep warm, and not for any untoward reason. They were fairly well-off, having a large mill and hotel and she never appeared to be stupid and it would be hard to believe she had at one time been careless.

Anyway, your periodical was needed badly and I was glad you started it. There is no doubt about your not being successful. So many P D columns in newspapers aren’t interesting to anyone while your paper is interesting to other than us Dutchmen. There’s not a darn dull thing in it.

By the way, I should like to ask Dr. Yoder, if he didn’t believe the book “Secret History of the Revolution" by Van Doren, wherein is shown that Christopher Saur did help the British.

Good luck! Sincerely,

(Mrs. G. K. Engelhart) Luella Kern Engelhart

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

Engelhart, Luella Kern, "Second Letter From Luella Kern Engelhart to Alfred L. Shoemaker, May 27, 1949" (1949). Alfred L. Shoemaker Folk Cultural Documents. 290.
https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/shoemaker_documents/290