PADUTCH-LIFE-L Archives

From: "Vee L. Housman" <>
Subject: 6-Old Beckie Shtitsel in the Poorhouse
Date: Sat, 01 Aug 1998 18:01:42 -0400

OLD BECKIE SHTITSEL IN THE POORHOUSE

They've finally sent poor old Beckie Shtitsel to the poor house.
Beckie was one of the first settlers here at Rabbit Mountain. She
was one of the best householders and smartest wives in the land.
She is the mother of six children. Her husband, John Shtitsel, died
twenty years ago. He was a hard-working man, and the both of
them cleared their land by hand. Old Beckie did a lot of the digging
by herself.

Five of her six children are still living--so far as anyone knows. A
year before his fathers death, Bill, one of Beckie's sons and the
black sheep of the family, borrowed a neighbor's horse and never
returned it. Bill and the horse are both thought to have fallen into
the wrong hands and are now assumed dead. When the old man
died he had no will, so Beckie allowed her children to sell the
twenty thousand dollar farm which was also her dowry. No sooner
had she gotten the money then she divided it among her children in
equal shares. Her children promised to take care of her with the
interest that they'd earn on the money.

For a couple years everything went all right. Her children invited
Beckie to stay with them for any reason, and they couldn't do
enough for her. She was welcome everywhere. She mended their
old trousers, darned their old socks, knitted new ones, and was in
great demand by her married children when they needed her.
Eventually her seventy years finally began to take its toll on Beckie.
She grew weak, and rheumatism caused knobs to grow on her
hands.

Jeck, her youngest boy, was living with her and was single. He
found that she could no longer keep house for him, so he went off
to town to find a wife. His wife had a good education, and really
enjoyed herself by reading novels while old Beckie did the dirty
housework. Whenever highfalootin company came to visit, old
Beckie was told to stay in the kitchen where she wouldn't bother
anyone. But as things go, old Beckie said something that displeased
her new daughter-in-law in the presence of company. Beckie was
scolded, and she answered by saying that in all her life she never
saw anyone eating grammar or tasting a spelling book. The
daughter-in-law warned her for the first time that she was to hold
her mouth as long as she lived under her son's roof. That did it.
Jeck soon found out about the riff between his mother and his wife.
He stood by his wife, and pretty soon the roof was too small to
shelter both women. His mother had to go.

Seeking a new home, Beckie wrote to Mike who lived out West,
and he replied saying it was too cold for an old woman to live out
there. Then she wrote to Mary who lived twenty miles to the south.
Mary wrote back saying it was too warm for Beckie in the south.
Sus wrote in her reply that the commotion of living with all her
children would be too much for Beckie. Sam's excuse was that his
house was too small to provide any shelter for her.

The old lady was at the end of her rope. Finally, one day she took
off, walking over the hill on the road to the poorhouse. I asked
what had led to all of this. She told me her story just as I have
printed it here. Then she said, "Gottlieb, this is the thanks I get. I
am now seventy years old. Fifty years of my life were spent caring
for my children. How often have I rocked them to sleep alone in the
still of the night with no else by my side but dear God. My poor old
hands are gnarled and crooked with pain from working and caring
for my children. This is my thanks. I've had to take difficult steps
before, but this is the hardest of them all."

I watched her walk alone up the side of the hill until she
disappeared. Then I made my way home with heavy thoughts in my
mind.

* * *

Note: This collection of Boonastiel stories was written by H. A.
Harter in the original Penna-Dutch dialect and were published in the
Keystone Gazette, Bellefonte, PA, between 1894 and 1904. They
were translated and transcribed by Bob James of Alaska and they
are being posted to this PADUTCH-LIFE mailing list with his
permission.

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• 6-Old Beckie Shtitsel in the Poorhouse by "Vee L. Housman" <>