Abner's Story
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Abner looked at the pegs Grandpa had been carving and saw that they were pieces of a small branch from which Grandpa had stripped off the bark and sawed into lengths about as long and as thick as Abner's little finger. Seeing that Abner was interested, Grandpa explained to him how pegs were used. "First you drill the hole, then you pound the peg into the hole with a mallet," he said. "You saw it off underneath and on top, and then you smooth it off with a pumice rock. The peg must be hard wood, harder than the wood that you are pounding it into." "Why are you using pegs instead of nails?" asked Abner, "I thought that you used pegs only on fine furniture." "I have run out of nails and I can’t get any more because the king has taken all of the nails in the kingdom to use on his new palace. That’s why." Grandpa looked disgusted. "We don’t have a very good king, do we?" asked Abner. "Ssshhh." Grandpa said, looking startled. He put his finger to his lips, and whispered, "The walls have ears." Abner raised his eyebrows in question. "What do you mean?" "I mean we live in dangerous times, and although we feel safe in our own homes, there are some things that are best not said." Abner nodded his head. As young as he was, he understood. "Now about tomorrow," Grandpa continued, "if your mother will allow you, and Schotzy’s grandfather will allow him; you may both come along and help. I will have to talk to Herr Schotzenberger before I say anything to Schotzy about teaching him. The boy is his responsibility so it is up to him to decide. You must understand that I cannot teach him for free." "But you will teach him if it is all right with his grandfather, and something can be worked out. Not?" Grandpa smiled and nodded his head. **************** "I must not take up any more of your time, ma’am," said Klaus as he stood up. "You don’t have to go," answered Rachel. "I’m about to make all of us some tea." Abner just about fell off his chair in surprise. The offer of tea meant that Rachel liked Klaus, too. "Well, thank you," Klaus answered with a smile. "I’d be pleased to have something hot to drink. I got chilled in the rain and it is still raining." Rachel went to the kitchen to make the tea, leaving Abner with the men. He had expected to have to build up the fire in the kitchen or help his mother in some way, but not! He could stay with the men. "Tell me, Jake," said Klaus, "when you went to America, did you have any trouble be-ins you didn’t talk the same as the people there?" "There are lots of places in Pennsylvania where only our language is spoken, but I tried to learn English as quickly as I could. If you want to deal with the English, you have to speak their language. They aren’t about to learn yours." "Was it hard, Cousin Jake?" asked Abner. "I made a lot of mistakes, and people made fun of me, until I met a man who was willing to teach me. I did him favors and we became good friends, but sometimes we would play tricks on each other." Cousin Jake laughed at the thought of it. "What kind of tricks?" asked Abner. " Not mean ones, I hope." "No, not mean ones. Just a little something to lighten the load. Like the time I needed a cap because I had lost mine. I asked him the word for cap. Nearly everybody who ever stays at an inn gets a louse or two, and also fleas. So to have a little fun with me, he told me that the word for hat was louse cage. I went to a hat store and asked for a louse cage. The storekeeper nearly died laughing and the other customers downed* me and said I was a dumb Dutcher. I didn’t know why they were laughing until somebody told me what I had said. But I have my tricks and I got him back."
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About the Book
An exciting tale of family, faith, and survival, Abner’s Story begins in the 1730’s after ten-year-old Abner and his friend Schotzy hear William Penn’s land agent tell of the opportunities in Pennsylvania. The boys are excited and ask Abner’s grandpa to teach them all they need to know to go to America, including how to build a house. As Grandpa is planning to repair Widow Schneider’s porch the next day he agrees to begin by taking the boys along to help. However, he is unaware that Schotzy’s grandfather, a widower, has plans of his own. He accompanies Schotzy to the work site where he sweet talks the widow and then disappears. The boys are caught up in a series of events over which they have no control. There is tension in the village because by law, everyone must worship in the official church. However, Abner’s family belongs to a group that refused to do so. The king has forced Abner’s father to work for him, and is beginning to clamp down on the dissidents. Trouble breaks out when several boys from their religious group play a prank at the official church. "This work makes a contribution toward retaining a fast-vanishing culture – that of the Pennsylvania Dutch. One intriguing part of their culture is its language, which is a form of German rather than Dutch. The language is often interspersed with English words, and some English speakers of Pennsylvania Dutch intersperse their language with German words. It’s all part of what makes the Pennsylvania Dutch seem so quaint. Abner’s Story digs into that culture and its language. Indeed, it effectively begins before the Pennsylvania Dutch era to when they were farmers living in Germany. One other point: Abner’s Story describes powwowing and other Pennsylvania Dutch superstitions. Powwowing, a kind of faith healing bordering on white magic, will intrigue readers turning these pages. Information on these practices, also on the wane in Pennsylvania Dutch culture, deserve to be captured for posterity. Abner’s Story does just that." James McClure, Managing Editor, York Daily Record York, Pennsylvania. "As York County celebrates the past 250 years, we commend the heartfelt effort to document and preserve this facet of our heritage? Rarely have I read a story that expressed the feelings of the people who were not the stereotypical adventurers that we like to think came here. Rather, they are ordinary folks being stifled by others’ belief systems. They only thought of leaving their beloved homeland after it was no longer safe to stay in their own homes." Karen Hostetter, Headquarters Manager, 250th Year Anniversary Committee of York County, York, Pennsylvania. Abner’s Story is not difficult reading and is suitable for the entire family as well as public, private, and Christian schools. It is historically accurate, fast moving, filled with interesting characters, laced with ethical values and humor, as well as pathos and mystery.
About the Author
Louise Coffman was born in Turlock, California, in 1924, and raised on a dairy farm in the San Joaquin Valley, a descendant of pioneers. After graduating from Modesto Junior College in 1944, she taught school for one year. She married Dean Coffman, a sailor from the Pennsylvania Dutch Country, and accompanied him there when World War II was over. Culture shock! She had never gone to a school without indoor plumbing and the school in Abbottstown, where they moved, had an outhouse. The people had customs, superstitions, and ways of speaking that were strange but intriguing. When she was amused, confused, or appalled she tried not to show it, knowing that she was just as strange to them. In 1952, wanting a better school for their son and two daughters, they bought a wooded lot near York, lived in the garage, and spent five years building a house with the help of Dean’s family. Louise became a Den Mother and a Brownie leader. Dean worked at Nabisco Pretzel Bakery. When the house was finished, he joined the Naval Reserve and she began teaching elementary school while taking classes toward a Bachelor’s Degree at Millersville University. She graduated in 1961 and earned a Master of Education Degree from Western Maryland College in 1966. In the 50 plus years since moving east, she has learned to love the beauty of York County and respect the Pennsylvania Dutch of York County. They are different from the Lancaster Pennsylvania Dutch in that there are no Amish riding around in buggies, no one wearing 17th century costumes, and no homes without electricity. Nevertheless, she found that York Countians are products of the same Germanic culture and difficult to know. Still, as a person inside a Dutch family, she learned their ways, their speech, their food preparation, and their secrets in a way no one else could. In 1979 Louise began to freelance for the York-Lancaster Sunday News and was asked to write a weekly column. Notes from the Country was a regular feature for nearly ten years. She retired from teaching in 1984 and became active at church, traveled, and enjoyed being a grandmother to six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. To help celebrate York County’s 250th Anniversary in 1999 she wrote Abner’s Story, to tell the reason why some of the Pennsylvania Dutch left Germany in the first place.