Papa Walterscheid Celebration, 1895

WALTERSCHEID, EICH, EISCHEID, SCHWALLER, BELLINGHAUSEN, NEU, HAUSMANN

Posted By: David Reineke (email)
Date: 4/29/2007 at 15:34:34

I translated the following article from Der Carroll Demokrat, a German-language newspaper published in Carroll, Iowa, between about 1874 and 1920. It was originally published on Friday, 5 July 1895. Any information in brackets or notes at the end are my own explanations. It reads as follows:

Halbur
As has been customary for several years, the Saint’s Day celebration of “Papa Walterscheid” was celebrated in Halbur last Sunday. It is mostly a patriarchal celebration, to which the sons, daughters, grandchildren, friends, family, and neighbors are invited to honor the head of the family, who for his part, happily at the side of his dear wife, thankfully receives this honor from his loving children and this sign of respect from his many friends. It is a charming scene which one experiences there, a picture in which the Christian family is so truly reflected. On the veranda sits the friendly old gentleman, his ever-present pipe in his mouth, conversing with each guest with an interested expression on his face and inquiring about the condition of those who were unable to appear for various reasons. Sometimes the witty jokes, for which Rhinelanders are known, spring forth from his lips and each time cause those around him to laugh, or he has a grandchild standing next to him to whom he poses questions about God, Heaven, or the destiny of humanity, and the well-instructed child promptly answers. The visitors group themselves in a circle around him and listen or converse, each one according to their own fashion. Truly, to attend such a family celebration is a pleasant, beautiful pleasure for the soul and the mind. On the premises we observe Charles and Wilhelm Walterscheid and their families; the “Wheatlanders” Henry and Wilhelm Willenbach with wives and children (Frank unfortunately could not come); Franz Eich and family; John Peter Neu with wife and children; the old “Papa Schwaller” with his family and Joseph; Wilhelm Bellinghausen; and Martin Eischeid. Peter Bellinghausen and wife live with their parents-in-law. Mr. Christ Hausmann and family unfortunately could not come due to the death of his old father. We must report one more very pleasant incident to our readers. As we were sitting at the long table for the noon meal, we observed a lady who appeared to us to be a daughter of the Emerald Island, but we were astonished when we heard her talking with her neighbors at the table in fluent High German. And we were fully convinced of our mistake when we heard her speaking with a man in the purest Cologne dialect. At supper the lady was seated next to us and we confessed to her that at first we had thought her to be from Ireland. With a friendly look, she admitted that our first suspicion was correct and that she had first learned High German and then her husband’s local dialect during her marriage. This lady certainly puts so many Germans to shame who feel embarrassed to speak their own mother tongue but then torture the English language so horribly.