Pennsylvania German is Still Popular

The Hess family of Saucon Valley dates back to 1741, and many other Pennsylvania German families have intermarried so that the researcher never runs out of personalities to investigate. Another contributor to local history is Harry Hess Reichard, who lived between 1876 and 1956. Born in Lower Saucon Township, he married Ida Elizabeth Ruch of the same locale in 1903.

After graduating from Kutztown Normal School in 1895, Reichard received his B.A. degree at Lafayette College in 1901, and then his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1911. Dr. Reichard served as Professor of German at Muhlenberg College until his 1945 retirement. He became well known for his work in Pennsylvania German folklore and his radio role as Assebe in the radio series "Assebe and Sabina." Reichard was a popular lecturer on folklore for various clubs and societies and his many skits at family reunions.

He came out of retirement in 1951 to teach a course in the Pennsylvania German language, a study still popular in 2013. Reichard was a popular performer annually at the Kutztown Folk Festival and over the years studied abroad in Germany, Belgium, France, Greece, Switzerland, Austria and England.

One of the professor's crowning achievements was his text, "Author of Pennsylvania German Folklore," written for his doctorate and later added to for the Pennsylvania German Society. He also wrote dialect poetry while the Princeton University Press published much of his research into Pennsylvania German and German literature. Reichard also gained notoriety when his tall tales brought him the title of being a "Champion Liar" at the Hershey Pennsylvania Dutch Festival.

Fortunately, my friend Roger Shaffer gave me his book titled "Pennsylvania-German Dialect Writings and Their Writers," published in 1918 by the Pennsylvania German Society in Lancaster. This has been an invaluable source for sections of "Saucon Secrets, Vol. 2," published in 2012.

From that book comes the following quotation: "Art, science and all the varied interests which pertain to the national life at large are expressed in the literary language, but those peculiar and to some extent deeper traits which find expression in the domestic life and the daily walk and conversation of the people are naturally clothed in the form of dialect." Reichard attributes these words of wisdom to one of his mentors, Rev. John S. Stahr, Ph.D., D.D., L.L.D., former President of Franklin and Marshall College.

I would not be able to disagree. If a time capsule were available, I'd project myself backward in time to 1900 just to be able to listen to the evening conversation within my great-grandfather Weisel's Hellertown harness shop, as men passed leisure time sitting there while chewing tobacco and speaking in Pennsylvania German.

A fitting end can be found in a poem from "Nazareth Hall and Its Reunions," published in 1869. The title is "Morgets und Owets." The first stanza reads as follows:

Morgets scheint die Sun so scho,

Owets geht der gehl Mond uf,

Morgets leit der Dauim Gla,

Owets drett mer drucke druf.

Translation:

In the morning the sun shines cheerful and bright,

In the evening the yellow moon's splendor is shed;

In the morning the clovers with dew all bedight,

In the evening its blossoms are dry to the tread.

"Good night shirt!" my mother used to explain in frustration with my dad. Exasperation would be a better word choice. Ask any of my six children.