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CHAPTER 3

Once again, in the spring of 1968 we loaded up the boxcar. This time it was a little different, since we children were all big enough to help. By October we were ready to move back to Ohio. Dad was to travel, by himself, on the boxcar, with the horses and the rest of our belongings. The rest of us waited two more days to leave Tennessee. We figured dad would have arrived in Medina County, Ohio, by then. But, he didn't show up for another two days after we got there. All boxcars with livestock received a special pink slip saying, "DO NOT HUMP THIS CAR" HANDLE WITH CARE. But, in Covington, Kentucky they made a mistake while they were switching cars the engineer didn't have Dad's pink slip. They took one car at a time and switched them on the tracks, then came to dad's car and were moving rapidly.

Dad knew something was wrong, so he stuck his head out the door with his pink slip in his hand, waving it at the engineer, trying to slow him down. The engineer thought my Dad was a hobo, with his long hair and beard. He decided to teach the hobo a lesson by giving his car an extra hard hump. By this time his car connected with the other cars, they were going fast so the stop was really sudden. The horses fell flat on their bellies. The Engineer stopped his locomotive and came over to see if the hobo was all right in the boxcar.

When he approached, he heard all kinds of noises, and dust was flying. "Anyone in there?" he asked. "Yes sir," Dad said. "Do you have a flashlight on you?" and told the engineer to shine the light on the side of the door. On the side of the door it read, "DO NOT HUMP THIS BOX-CAR", and "Livestock, HANDLE WITH CARE."

The engineer knew right away he had made a big mistake, and could be in serious trouble. They gave Dad a hand, helped get everything straightened up, and sent him on his way again. They treated Dad to a nice cup of coffee and hot sandwiches. This is what caused their late arrival in Medina County, Ohio.

We lived on this farm for two years, which were two very long years, for all of us. This time we had a small house, a big barn, and a lot of other buildings. The buildings were all in good shape, however, the farmland needed a lot of attention. It sure wasn't like Tennessee. The water well on that place was not good, and we had to buy our drinking water from Lodi, Ohio by the truckload. We poured the water in our holding tank, which was built under the house. We had to refill the tank every three months. I'll never forget that first Sunday, we all got up early and did our chores. By seven o'clock we were finished and eating breakfast. We children didn't know anyone. We asked Mom and Dad, if we could stay home from church, but they said no.

We had to drive about five miles to church, which was at an Amish man's house. There were already a lot of buggies there. A lot of the married men were standing in front of the barn. The younger boys were in the back of the barn. The older boys, from sixteen years of age and up, were in the milk house smoking their pipes and cigars, which was their custom as soon as we had the horses tied up. We had to go around and shake hands with all of them. Dad left me back with the little boys alone. My oldest brother, Pete, went to the milk house. Dad went in the front of the barn, where the rest of the men were. I stood off to the side of the crowd, of little boys. I could hear them whispering, "He's that new kid from Tennessee."

At nine o'clock in the morning, church finally started. By two o'clock in the afternoon, it was all over, and we were on our way home. It was a long day for me, and I knew on Monday I had to go and meet a lot more new people, because we all had to go to school. When we got home from church, Dad said, "Ah! That wasn't that bad." But I was already wishing I were back in Tennessee. Monday morning came, and I told my Dad that I was sick, that I couldn't go to school. I still had to go. I really wasn't sick and my Dad knew it, because he took us to school.

We got there early and tied our horse up, outside the schoolhouse. Dad took us all inside, introduced us to the teacher, and told the teacher what grades we were all in. Then, he left. We had to walk home. We had the biggest surprise when the teacher gave us our books. I asked him, "What's that great big book on top, that says ‘English'?" He looked at me funny and said, "You mean to tell me that you didn't have to study English in Tennessee?" "No Mister," I said, "we sure didn't. In Tennessee all we had was math, reading, spelling, and the rest was all German." "Well, you're in Ohio now. We study English."

I took the old book anyway, went back to my seat, and put my books in my desk. We sang three German songs that morning before school started, which was their custom. As soon as we were finished singing, I pulled out my English book and looked at it, trying to figure out what I was supposed to do with it. At three o'clock, when school was dismissed. I said to the teacher, "Can I take my English book home?"

He said, "Yes, if you're careful with it." I took it home, and showed it to Mom and Dad. Dad just shook his head, and said, "What is this world coming to? We never had to study English before."

That evening after we had the chores done and ate supper, we all gathered around in the living room, trying to figure out what to do with this book. Mom said, "I guess if you have to take English, you have to study English. However, you're going to have to ask the teacher for help on that, because we never had to study any English."

Two and a half miles up the road from the school we were attending, was the English school, Black River High School. Our school was dismissed just a little bit earlier than theirs. Some of the students who attended Black River High School lived a couple of miles on the other side of us. Most of them disliked Amish kids, and soon they were picking on us. But verbal taunts were not enough for them. They began throwing small firecrackers at us; we were beginning to get scared. They appeared to be having a lot of fun. After a while we got used to it, and then that was not good enough for them anymore, either.

Our house was right out by the road. I guess they just couldn't resist the opportunity they had to see if they could scare the old man as much as they scared us kids. One Friday night, around midnight, they stopped their car on the road, in front of the house. They started throwing empty beer bottles through our kitchen and living room windows and knocked the mailbox off. Dad got up, but it was too late, they were already gone.

It was cold outside, and already close to Christmas. All the commotion woke us up. We were all scared, and Dad lit all our kerosene lamps. There was an English neighbor, Jason, living close to us. Jason either heard the commotion or saw the kerosene lamps, because by the time we were finished hanging blankets over the windows, he pulled in the driveway and knocked on the door.

"Is something wrong?" Jason asked. Dad told him what had happened. "Do you want me to call the law?" Dad said, "Well, that's against our religion. But, if you want to call the law, that's up to you." Jason said, "Thank-you Mr. Yoder, I believe I will call the law." Half an hour later the Medina County Sheriff arrived and said to my Dad, "Did you get the license plate number, or, see who it was?"
"Sorry, no," my dad answered. "If they do come back, try to get their license plate number," the Sheriff said. This went on all winter long.

About every two weeks dad told the Sheriff that we had been having trouble with the Black River High School kids, throwing firecrackers at us. The Sheriff advised my Dad that they had been having a lot of trouble with students there. In the meantime, we had to keep going to school.

My oldest sister Emma had a boyfriend Andy from Wayne County, which was about forty-five miles from our place. One weekend out of a month, Andy's parents let Andy have a horse and a buggy to come and see Emma.

It took Andy about six to eight hours to drive to our place. Andy had to stop along the road to give his horse a break. This cost Andy quite a bit of time, and was hard on the horse. In the spring of 1969, Andy asked my Dad, if he could marry Emma. Dad said, "Emma's kind of young she's only eighteen years old." "If I could marry Emma I already have a farm to move on, my parents' farm. My parents are going to retire," Andy said.

"Well," my dad said, "Sounds like you have good ahead of you. If you waited till spring, when the weather gets warmer, you can marry Emma."

They got engaged on the first of April. Their wedding was supposed to be two weeks later. We were all busy getting ready. We butchered a six hundred pound cow, a few days before the wedding. We invited all of Mom and Dad's brothers and sisters. Some of them were living in Wayne County, and some in Tennessee. The ones from Wayne County drove up with horse and buggy. Luckily, the relatives from Tennessee didn't all show up. Had they shown up, we would not have had enough room in our small farmhouse.

The morning of the wedding we got up at three-thirty A.M. to start getting ready. Emma got married at our Amish neighbor's house. People started showing up at seven A.M., and the wedding was on its way. They sang a couple of German songs, then preached for about two-and-a-half hours. Andy and Emma were married around twelve o'clock that day. After they were married, the people sang another German song. My brother Pete was best man.

Meanwhile, my brother Joe, Dad, myself and a lot of women were preparing a big meal at home. There were about twenty-four table waiters, and a dozen married women for cooks. We had four grown boys helping us. By one o'clock in the afternoon, all the buggies were starting to show up at our place, and we helped unhitch all the horses from the buggies. We had moved all our furniture out of our house, and put a big long table through the living room.

There was, also, a smaller table in the living room, which seated about fourteen people. That was for the preachers. A big table was set up in the kitchen, and another small table in the bedroom. There was a washhouse built onto the house, which also had a big table in it, this table was for little boys and girls. The boys sat on one side of the table, the girls on the other side. By one-thirty dinner was being served.

There were also a lot of church members invited. The kitchen and bedroom tables were refilled twice. The washhouse table was refilled three times. Of course, the living room tables were filled only once. At a wedding dinner they usually serve mashed potatoes, gravy, chicken, dressing, salad, Swiss cheese, lunch meat, pickled red beets, bread, three different kinds of jelly, and celery. For dessert we had, graham cracker pudding, peaches, cake, and several different kinds of pie. The main table in the living room was "L" shaped. The newlyweds were seated around the back of the "L" shaped table, in the corner, their dishes decked out more than the others. No one else got to eat any of their special food. The food was split between six people, the newly weds and their four witnesses, two boys and two girls.

By three-thirty P.M., we were finished feeding everyone. In the afternoon, the men started singing German wedding songs. The cooks and table waiters started preparing supper. By five o'clock we had to do the milking, and the rest of the chores. My brother Joe, myself, and the four boys that were helping us had to do the chores. It was hard to get around in the barn, with all the horses in there. We had to tie some of the horses outside in order to milk the cows. A lot of the Amish lived in this settlement and went home to do their chores, but there were still a lot of people remaining. By six o'clock in the evening they were showing up for supper, though there weren't quite as many as there'd been for dinner.

We also invited about three English families for supper. By six-thirty, supper was being served. At a wedding supper they serve, egg noodles, meat loaf, applesauce, chicken and dressing. The rest was almost the same as we served for dinner. I remember when our English neighbor Roy, who was a well-known auctioneer, showed up. I showed Roy and his family into the house. We seated them at the bedroom table, so they could see in the living room. This was really an experience for them. After supper was over, my sister, Emma, her husband Andy, my brother Pete and his girlfriend, along with another young couple, went upstairs. I went to check and see if our English neighbors needed anything else.
"We'd like to see the newlyweds, we have some presents out in the car, and we'd like to give them to them." I told them, "They just went upstairs, but I will show you where they are." I took them upstairs. They just couldn't see how we could feed and cook for that many people. However, they appeared to be enjoying themselves. They stayed for about three hours. We probably fed between two to two hundred and fifty people for dinner, and close to two hundred for supper.

At ten o'clock that night the wedding was still going strong. Around ten-thirty the single young folks, sixteen years of age and up, started playing their party, which was called snap and catch. The young folks used the washhouse to play their little game. It was off limits for anybody under sixteen.

To play snap and catch, a boy and a girl would stand in the middle of the room, with their hands on each other shoulders, facing each other. A girl would snap her finger at a guy. Then that guy would get up and chase the girl around the two standing in the middle of the room, until the guy finally caught the girl. Then they gave each other a big kiss. The couple that was standing in the middle of the room had to go sit down now. The other girl would stand and put her hands on that guy's shoulder, and the guy she snapped her finger at would go and snap his finger at a girl, now.

This kept going on for two to two and a half hours. We young boys were on the outside, trying to peep in, but the grown up boys on the inside chased us away. By twelve-thirty A.M. their party was over. The young folks all coupled up, and went to the midnight table for a snack. They sang a few German songs after their snack. At two A.M. it was finally all over with. A week later my sister and her husband moved to Wayne County, where they started dairy farming.

This summer was going to be really busy for all of us. We put out about seventeen acres of corn and oats that summer. The wedding cost Mom and Dad a lot of money, so we didn't buy any spray for the corn that summer. "We still have cotton hoes," Dad said. "Let's see if you all still know how to use them." It was almost like being back in Tennessee.

The summer went by very fast. Every three months one of us kids would get to go see sister Emma in Wayne County. That fall we had to go back to school. It was the same old story; the Black River High School students were still tormenting us. Soon, the State Highway Patrol and some of our English neighbors were watching out for us. The students knocked our windows out, and our mailbox over. After awhile, we didn't put our mailbox back up, or fix the windows right away. When it was mail time, Mom just took the letter out and handed it to the mailman. "What happened?" he asked. "Do you know who did this?"

"It was our neighbor boys, from a mile and a half down the road," Mom said. "Boys or not, it's a Federal offense," the mailman replied. Mom said, "We don't want to see anybody go to jail, but we'd like it if the boys came over to talk to us. We want them to replace the windows and put the mailbox back up. That's all we ask for."

"I should turn them in, but maybe it would be better if I talked to the boys' parents, and have them reach some kind of a settlement with you all, if that's okay."

"That would be just fine," Mom said. The same evening the boys' parents showed up with their sons, trying to reach some kind of a settlement. Mom and Dad told them all they wanted was to have the windows replaced, the for sale signs taken down, and the mailbox put back up. They had three days to get all this done.

On the third day when they finished up, Dad had a good long talk with all three of the boys. "Did we ever do anything to you fellas? Why have you been picking on him so much, throwing firecrackers at my children as they walk to school?" One of the boys said, "Your children didn't do anything, and, Mr. Yoder, you didn't do anything either. We were just having fun." When Dad finished talking with them, they said they were sorry.

One of them added, "Mr. Yoder, there'll be no more windows broken in your house, or mailboxes knocked down." Dad said, "I’ve seen the bad part of you guys, now I want to see the good part of you all. So, when you guys walk off my farm today, I expect you to wave to me and my family." Dad added, "Be our friends, not our enemies, and nobody will press charges against you boys. Stop in every once in a while and talk to us, we like company." All three of the boys shook my Dad's hand with a mile long grin, and said, "Thank-you Mr. Yoder, for your patience, and understanding, and not turning us into the law. We'll be your friends from here on out." There were no more broken windows, or firecrackers after that.

Winter went by, and the next spring my brother Pete got himself a girlfriend in Wayne County. None of us children liked it in Medina County. My sister Emma had a baby boy a year after she got married. This was mom and dad's first grandchild. We all wished we lived closer to her, so we could see her more often. We, children, talked mom and dad into looking for a farm in Wayne County, soon mom and dad bought another farm, close to Maysville, Ohio. This meant we had to get ready to move again that fall, but not by railroad this time. Instead we moved thirty-five miles with horses and wagons. Moving to Wayne County, Ohio was something our parents did not have a hard time persuading the children to do. We never felt very welcome in Medina County.