818-Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, May 14, 1994 Harness Shop Meets Needs Of Amish Community GAIL STROCK It used to be. long ago, that evcry- Mifflin Co. Correspondent one worked directly with what the RPM VTT .I .E (Mifflin Co.) good earth offered in order to pro- ar-cut edges and neat stitches are trademarks of bri dles, harnesses and straps made In this harness shop. READY MIXED CONCRETE • Quality Controlled Concrete • Mixer Mounted Conveyor • Mixed Uniformly thru Automation • Radio Equipped Fleet 1 For Prompt, Courteous Service Call; • Front Discharge Mixers 800-422-8107 • PA DOT Approved Plant 717 7KQI • Crushed Stone or 7^-33^591 • Asphalt Paving • Black Top & mil Asphalt Materials v/A m I COCAUCO CONCRETE 74 Kurtz Rd., Denver, PA vide for themselves. Hands'churn ed milk into butler, readied the garden soil for the seeds they'd, saved from the previous year, and’ wove straw from the fields into hats. Before machines, electricity, tractors, cars, and Walmarts, fami lies literally lived off the land. It used to be a way of life. Some would say 'used to be’ is dead now, but the private lives of the Old Order Amish of Mifflin County attest to it differently. We always called them “white-top pers,” in reference to the color of buggy they drive, and they live as close to the good earth's gifts as anyone. One member of the Old Order Amish called my father his child hood friend, so the three of us talked. He said he didn’t mind visitors to his harness shop as long as they obeyed the rules of decen cy don’t take advantage, don’t steal, and don’t come back to har ass or vandalize. f 3 s ■*» i } i i , f I Subscription Price: J V $21.00 per year; $40.00 * 2 years *il J? $31.00 per year outside of: V Jk PA, NJ. OH, MP, PE, NY. VA & WV y • P S. • Don’t Forget Your Father-In-Law! A <V PLEASE SEND MY FATHER LANCASTER FARMING JTi Irf vt |4& (Checkone) A V \S □ NEW SUBSCRIPTION Jj \i 4 »/ □ RENEWAL S i A? ■(& ENCLOSED IS A f/J IA □ CHECK □ CASH □ MONEY ORDER /! 0 II t * (To Holp correctly code your addres, please (umiah COMPUTE addreai As sn stamp!*. Include number of the Y t M •Vj dwelllnc. street name, city and state When appropriate. Include other specific Information auch as suit*, jpfF I L £ # | % apartment, floor, bon number, etc If you have an RD, pleas* Include Boi Number) | M W J NAME V| fik A JJj ADDRESS A V C,TY STATE S| YS \ ZIP +4 - COUNTY Ti\ V Send Gift Card From 4KU JSp f /s Send us your coupon now with your payment to; / 9k Lancaster Farming & A P.O. Box 609 S Ephrata, PA 17522 S Allow 2 weeks for delivery of your first issue. We can also add 1 year to existing \ subscriptions sent in for renewal. Their privacy is important, but my father’s friend fields visitor’s questions with some of his own do you go to church? He said I could write an article about his work if his name wasn’t used or his address revealed. Wasted space is one thing not to be found between the wood floor and low ceiling of the one-room harness shop. Walls are lined with shoes of all sizes, long work benches, and foot-powered sew ing machines for stitching leather. And in between hang hooks, clips, chains, leather straps, bridles, and shelves of ointments and medi cines for man or beast. The wood stove takes up the center of the room. My father’s friend makes horse bridles and straps. He said he or ders the hides from Ohio, picking up examples to show us. Steer hides are more uniform in thick ness throughout. Bull hides thick en at the neck of the hide and are harder to work with and sew. Beside the bench he starts to un harness a cutting machine. He literally muzzeled the crank-hand led machine for safety’s sake. With a turn of the handle crank, he slips a tough 3/Bth-inch leather scrap through the razor-like disk blades, cutting it like, as the say ing goes, a hot knife through but ter, leaving clean edges. Under standably, he re-muzzels the ma chine before showing us his stitching machines. Leading us to one of two ma chines by a window, our friend shows us up close, like introduc ing one old friend to another, how this Champion Shoe Machine works. He says he bought it some 30 years ago and it wasn’t new then. Reaching for an already cut strap, he bends it in two and be gins to sew sturdy white thread onto rich, brown leather. As he (Turn to Pago B 19) arming
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