This operated the bailer. There were usually three or four great big horses hitched to this cart. That's the way they bailed their hay. They also had grain elevators, which were operated by a three and a half horse powered motor. Their work harnesses and buggy harnesses, were decorated with chrome plated buggies, snaps and white rings where the reins went through, while ours were plain, no chrome plated buggies, snaps or white rings. All our buggies, snaps and rings were painted black. Most of them had their barns white washed on the inside. On the outside their barns were either red or white. They were also allowed to put up a lot of board fence and paint it. Their houses could be split levels, or, as a matter of fact any style they desired. Some also had electricity in their homes. None of the Amish are allowed to have television or radios in their home, even though some of the teenagers have battery-operated radios without their parents knowledge. When some of the higher classed Amish, turned sixteen or seventeen they decided not to help their parents on the farm anymore. They could then start working in public places, such as restaurants or factories. Usually they had someone who had a car to take them back and forth to work. The kids would stay at home free of charge, and would save up all their money to buy a car. They would no longer be dressed Amish.
Usually for the first couple of months the parents made their kids park their cars at the end of their driveway, or behind the tool shed. After the parents got used to the kids having a car, they might even have their kids take them places. A couple of boys I went to school with, were higher classed Amish. Their parents helped them buy a decent car. On weekends these boys usually picked up other boys who didn't have cars. Then they'd go out, get drunk, have fun, and listen to the radio.
Sometimes, on a Saturday evening Amish boys and girls would get together with a horse and buggy, then go to Mt. Eaton, Ohio and tie their horses up behind the elevator, where they usually stashed an extra set of clothes. The girls would dress in a pair of jeans, and let their hair down. The guys would also dress up in different more stylish clothes. They'd go out, then come back in time to change clothes and be back home by morning, before their parents got up. I soon began socializing with these "higher classed" Amish. They had a live and let live attitude. Our church was the most backward church of all of them. We even had a nickname the other Amish called us, the "noodle pushers." Someone once told me we got that nickname for eating so many homemade noodles. We did so because it was inexpensive.
In the early nineteen hundreds, the Amish were all one church, according to the Amish History book. As I sit here writing about my Amish Childhood, they are coming up with even more Amish churches and beliefs. At the present time, there's a big Amish settlement in Wayne County, Ohio. There are some in Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, Missouri, Canada, Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida. As long as we, children, were living at home, we were to dress as our church did. We weren't allowed to have a car at all, let alone park one at home. If you got a car, you were kicked out of the family, condemned by everyone. Our barns were painted dark red, and if we had a board fence around our corral, we weren't allowed to paint it. Our houses were painted white on the outside, and inside; the woodwork was dark gray. The upstairs was the same, unless there were children who were sixteen years old, or older. Then they usually painted the woodwork dark blue, and the remaining light blue. They weren't allowed to have any couches or love seats. All had to be hardwood chairs, or homemade hickory rockers.
Most of the time we had to carry all our drinking water into the house, in five gallon buckets. There was usually a wood shed built close to the house, on the end of which was a laundry room. The Amish heated the house and cooked on wood burners. The laundry room had a big twenty-five gallon iron kettle in it, which was used to heat water for laundry. When it was time to take a bath, the Amish would also heat the water in the iron kettle. We were usually only allowed to take a bath once a week because, my Dad always said it cost too much for soap and shampoo. During the summer, when we were busy making hay or thrashing oats, we would a bathe more often. We couldn't have any batteries, storm front windows, lights, or mirrors on our buggies. Also, we couldn't have heaters installed in our buggies. The true old Order Amish believe these items are necessary for safety reasons, in that they are not in conflict with the true Amish religion. The Hershberger, Swartzentruber and the Miller Amish are convinced these items are against the biblical teachings. Therefore, we were permitted a simple buggy with a wooden box, black canvas top, and seventy-two inches of reflecting tape on the back. At night we used a kerosene lantern with a red reflector on the back of it. The lantern was hung on the outside of the buggy. Not even as much as a slow-moving vehicle emblem on the rear was allowed. I didn't know which group of Amish I wanted to join. I sure didn't like the one I was living in.
At this time, I was working outside, making eighty dollars a month, plus room and board. Mom and Dad insisted that I join their church. In order to keep peace, I decided to join that summer. My brother-in-law, Rudy, was no longer farming at home. Rudy and Dad just couldn't see eye to eye on the farm. My Dad was a southern gentleman, and Rudy was the Bishop's son. In the Amish, the Bishop is the head of the church. Rudy could get away with practically everything he wanted to because he was the Bishop's son. When Rudy rented the farm, Rudy and Dad didn't have a written contract, just a verbal agreement. Rudy wanted to change his agreement about every two weeks. The preachers somehow or another always believed Rudy, whether he was right or wrong. This caused my Dad a lot of heartaches, so Dad finally told Rudy to move. Eventually, Dad sold the farm to my brother Pete. Dad kept fifteen acres of land on the back side of the farm, to build he and Mom a little retirement house and barn. Dad would do a little farming and help Pete on his farm. Everything was working our really well for Dad that summer. Dad had somebody living at home who had a lot more respect for him. Everything was going fine until around the end of July.
In about two months, I was scheduled to be baptized, but there were still too many unanswered questions. For instance, some of the higher classed Amish couldn't show in the Bible where it said, you had to be Amish to go to heaven. One afternoon, I told the Amish man that I was working for, that I was sick and I needed to go home. When I got home, I said, "Dad, I need to talk to you." "Not now, son," Dad said. Dad said, "Look how good your brother Pete is doing farming. And brother Joe would be proud of you if he could see you were growing a beard. Since you're here, you might as well stay for supper." That was a little more than I could handle. Ever since Joe's death every time I tried to talk to my parents it was always what if Joe was here. I needed somebody to talk to. I had broken up with my girlfriend Edna for a couple of different reasons.
Edna said my parents were right, I needed to join church because we were going to get married this fall and take over the farming at her parents place. I had never asked Edna to get married. For the last six months Edna was trying desperately to get pregnant or get caught. One night we were having sex I heard footsteps coming upstairs, I knew it was her brother Joe. He had to go past our room to get to his. He would always stop in and talk for while. Usually he would be high on marijuana. "Edna, we got to quit, your brother is coming," I said impatiently. "You are going no where, it's just Joe," she said. But I was able to break free a split second before he opened the door. Lucky me, I only had my pants down over my buttocks. "What was all that noise?" Joe questioned. Frightened, I said, "Oh, it was nothing." Joe was high enough that he soon forgot about the extra noise just before he entered the room. I was able to pull my pants up and button them up under the bed sheet without Joe realizing what I was doing. Joe was younger then Edna and her brother John was older than her. They both like smoking marijuana. This was something I didn't think was cool. At this time marijuana wasn't wide spread under the Swartzentruber Amish.
One Sunday, Joe had tricked me in smoking marijuana. He filled his smoke pipe out of a Prince Albert smoking tobacco pack. He lit up the pipe and said, "Here David, try this out, it is some cheap tobacco. See how you like it." I took one puff, inhaled it, and I began coughing. "Joe, what is this shit, it taste like you are smoking brush," I said. Laughing, Joe said, "It's just some cheap tobacco you ought to get use to it." I tried to hand Joe the pipe back. Refusing, Joe said, "No, you must finish it, you will like it better I assure you." When I finished the pipe of marijuana he filled up another one, and I started smoking on it and I realized something was wrong. I started to get light headed and everything went into slow motion. I gave Joe the pipe back and asked, "What is this shit?" "David, you have been smoking dope," he said. Stunned, I said, "Oh my God." Joe showed me the Prince Albert tobacco pouch, which was filled with marijuana. I was hungry shortly after that and became paranoid. I promised Joe I wouldn't tell on him, but I told him this is my first and my last time, I don't like this shit.
Edna constantly trying to get pregnant while we were having sex and her brothers smoking dope. I had just lost my brother in a tragic accident. Edna, John and Joe all three are members of the church. I definitely was confused. That evening, I decided to leave the Amish. I went up to the other end of the farm where my brother Pete lived. I played with his kids for a while, then began walking, not knowing where I was going and without a dollar in my pocket. I walked all night until I found a nice big modern dairy farm. "Do you need any help making hay?" I asked the farmer there. "How old are you, son?" the farmer said. "Eighteen." "Yes, sir. I could use a good hand. In fact I have a lot of hay to put up tomorrow. The farmer gave me room and board, and enough money to buy me two sets of English clothes. That was for three days work, from daylight to dark.
On the fourth day we were putting up more hay, when all of a sudden the farmer said, "Look out the driveway. There comes a horse and buggy!" My heart started beating wildly. I knew right then who it was: Mom and Dad! I didn't want to go and talk to them, but the farmer said I should. I was wishing I was any place else but there. But they were my parents, after all, so I had to talk to them. When I got over to the buggy, Mom looked up with tears in her eyes saying, "There's my son. He's got to come home." Dad was sitting in the buggy with his head tilted down, and his big hat pulled down so I couldn't see his face. All of a sudden Dad started raising his head. Dad looked up at Mom and said in a low voice, "Lets not cry. Our son is still alive. There's still time for him to come back and live our way." Dad looked over at me and shook my hand, and said, "We're both sorry, son, we should have listened to you the other day when you said you needed somebody to talk to." We talked for a short while. The farmer I was working for said, "At eighteen years of age, you're going to help me make hay, or you are going home with your parents." "Well," I told Mom and Dad, "I'll go home with you, if you promise not whip or yell at me any more. "We promise," Dad replied. "We'll listen to what you have to say." I thanked the farmer for the meals, and told him good-bye. I rode home with Mom and Dad in the horse and buggy.
On the way home we stopped at a little store. Mom and Dad asked me if I was hungry. I said I wasn't, but they got ice cream anyway. We went on home and had a great big supper, with strawberries and ice cream. My sister Mary was working in Medina County for an Amish couple eight dollars a week, and room and board. Sister Amanda was working in Wayne County. Amish girls don't make as much working out as the boys do. They don't believe in equal rights. Mom, Dad and I had the evening all to ourselves. Dad said, "You can help brother Pete on the farm. You don't have to work away anymore." Of course, I was automatically grounded.
Church Sunday came around, and we all went to church. Everyone in church looked at me like I was no good. Those three days that I wasn't Amish, I had my hair cut short and shaved my beard off. I knew they wouldn't baptize me that fall. A month passed and since I'd a taste of the other life. I knew that sooner or later I'd probably try it again. Dad noticed I wasn't the same boy anymore. He figured it might be better if we moved out of this big Amish settlement, to a small Amish community where I didn't know anyone. They were afraid I was going to leave again. I guess they could tell. My parents were feeling very uneasy.
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