Es Pennsilfaanisch Deitsch Eck

By: e Late C. Richard Beam

(Originally published in the April 2, 1986 issue of The Shopping News)

Abril

By Gladys S. Martin

In Abril scheint der gross Muun schee Un mir sehne nimmi Eis un Schnee. Gleene Summe warre wacker, Glei muscht widder Gaarde hacke. Die Erd is grie vun Sunn un Rege, Der gross Muun macht die Widdering drehe.

April

In April the great moon shines beautifully And we see no more ice and snow. Tiny seeds come to life, Soon you must hoe in your garden. The earth is green from sun and rain, The great moon changes the weather. ***

Der Munet Abril

Abril

By Eli Keller

Is en wildes Fill: Schtellt sich wie en Lamm dohieDrau em awwer werklich nieMit kalde Wolke, rechts un links, Weist er dir sei beschde Schprings!

April

The month of April

Is like a wild colt: Pretends to be a lambBut you should really never trust itWith cold clouds, right and left, It shows you its best capers! ***

Once a month this year of our Lord 1986, we are featuring a poem by Gladys S. Martin, R. 3, Ephrata and a similar poem by the late Eli Keller, whose work preceded that of Gladys Martin by about 100 years.

Eli Keller was born on December 20, 1825 in Plainfield Township, Northampton County, where his greatgrandfather, the pioneer Joseph Keller had settled. In the spring of 1856, Eli was ordained to the ministry by the Mercersburg Classis of the Reformed Church. For the next eighteen years, he ministered in English and in German to charges in Ohio, but toward the end of the period only in English. He yearned for Pennsylvania and in 1874, returned tither. For the next 27 years, he served the Zionsville Parish in Lehigh County. In 1880, Ursinus College conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. In 1901, Keller retired from the ministry and moved into Allentown. On December 29, 1919, he celebrated his 94th birthday. A few days later, he died peacefully at his home on Chew Street in Allentown.

Eli Keller survived his friend Henry Harbaugh, the beloved Dutch poet (who wrote most of his Dutch poems in 1861 and 1862) by more than half a century. Keller was still writing in the first decade of the 20th century.

We mentioned last month that Keller’s Monet Spruech were printed on pages 71­73 of Daniel Miller’s volume entitled Pennsylvania German, “A Collection of Pennsylvania German Productions In Poetry And Prose.” The second edition was printed in Reading in 1904. Harry Hess Reichard’s 1918 book on Pennsylvania­German Dialect Writings And Their Writers presents a five page chapter on Eli Keller but makes no mention of the Monet Spruech. Neither does Preston Barba in “The Life And Works Of Eli Keller,” which he printed in the “Allentown Morning Call” on May 20, June 3, 10, 17, 24, July 1, 8, 15 and 22, 1967. Barba does mention Keller’s Pennsylvania German almanac which was published in 1885 in Allentown under the title Unser Pennsylfanisch­Deutsch Kalenner For 1885. We think it likely that Keller’s Monet Spruech were originally written for his Dutch almanac, but we can present no proof of this at this time. ­ Since the manuscript notebook in which Keller recorded all his writings in English, German and Dutch is most likely still preserved in the Pennsylvania German Collection of Muhlenberg College, we hope to be able to obtain a xeroxed copy of this manuscript and share some of its contents with you from time to time.

April 2, 1986

En Bischli­Gnippli, as alli Munet gleicht