Another unusual Amish story.
dreher
Member Posts: 8,891 ✭✭✭✭
Before I start this story I need to provide some basic info. I was the go to Englishman for eight Amish families oh so many years ago. The Amish put people into three groups. Amish. English, any white person who isn't Amish. Black, anybody who isn't Amish or English.
Amish only bathe on Saturday evenings so they will be clean for Sunday services. The Amish don't use deodorant. They use the same work clothes all week. These clothes, by Saturday noontime will contain all of the barnyard odors one would expect when you milk cows by hand and your farm tractors are horses. Not to mention the occasional hog, sheep or chicken odors. The worst odor just might be week old Amish BO!!
On to the story! So I hear an Amish buggy coming up my driveway one Friday morning. I and go out to see who is coming over. Enos came over to ask me if I can drive 5 elders to the hospital, 45 minutes away that night after they all have finished their evening milking. The leading elder had a heart attack earlier in week and they wanted to visit him and see how he was doing and if there was anything they could do for him. I, of course, said yes. I do need to add it is January in Ohio and it is in the single digits, as in it is COLD!! I also need to add that this is in SE Ohio where no road runs in a straight line. The road will be going either up or down, right or left, usually two of those at the same time! 😁
So at 6:30 I take my medium sized four door Buick and show up at Enos's farm where I am to pickup the five elders. Three climb in the back, two climb in the front with me and down the road we go. Immediantly the smell hits me. OMG THE SMELL HITS ME!!!! Remember it has been six days since they have bathed and changed clothes. I want this trip over with yesterday so I put the hammer down on those twisty, turny roads. Almost instantly I hear a please slow down I'm getting car sick coming from the back seat. Since the only way I can envision my car smelling worse is if they start barfing in my car, so I slow down. I crack my window and get my nose up to the crack and that fresh air really helps. Then the please put the window up, its cold back here starts in. Which was true. I had already figured out running the heat full blast made the smell even worse so I had dialed the heat way down. Because of having to drive slowly the 45 minute trip took almost an hour. We finally get there and all six of us go into the hospital. They go up to visit while I wait in the waiting room. I sat down and couldn't figure out why people were moving away from where I'm sitting when I realize just how bad I smell. 😁
The trip home was just like the trip there. I dropped them off and went home. Since it wasn't supposed to snow, I rolled all four windows down in the hope the car would air out by morning. I went straight to the utility room and put all my clothes in the washer than headed for the shower. When I told my first wife about my trip she hollowed with laughter. She thought it was funny. I didn't.
Comments
The Lord was watching, good for you!
good on you for helping out your fellow man at lest beyond the smell you can feel good about taking your time most would never do it
I worked with a fellow who was Mennonite ( or close ties ) he helped the Amish by hauling them around , when he retired he started full time hauling / transporting them to different events as you to visit distant relatives or hospitals he also bought a van to haul them and the tools to work sites as they were not allowed to own power tools they paid for them but he had control and kept them in his van for them made decent money as a shuttle driver
i have heard they have to get permission from the elders to use tools ( not allowed to own ) as long as its for the good of the community and members same with the tools used on the home workshops and farms as in cash coming in . also all the different branches have there own rules so it changes.
we have them around us mostly about 10 miles or so north but we mingle at a local auction held once a month and yes they get ripe in the summer no standing close 😲 also noted the women and kids wear no shoes 99% of the time
they also sell baked goods out of wagons .. but that for me that goes back to the eat any thing post a week or so ago ) no refrigerators no hand washing or bathing for that matter . JMHO I take a pass , but obvious it wont kill ya
Poor fellas probably couldn’t afford to give you gas money.
They could easily afford gas money but the Amish are as tight as bark on a Beech tree. Gas money was never offered, but maybe they knew me well enough by then to know I wouldn't have taken it.
The local Amish hired a my friend to drive them to upstate NY to buy supplies and sent a couple of young men to go. My friend stopped and rented a motel room, but the guys said they would sleep in his van. When they got to the place to buy supplies, the guys pulled out a wad of 100 dollar bills as big as a fist.
I didnt expect real Amish in the story
We have Old German Baptists locally. They have electric, phones & drive cars. They are exceptionally neat, clean & friendly.
My newest employee is also an 'Amish taxi driver' so I hear these stories often.
Old Order Amish are not neat, clean & friendly. Since there are times I was needed, they were all very friendly with me but that is not the norm. It is part of their society to be apart from those that are not Amish. If an Amishman starts spending to much time with non-Amish he will be front pewed at Sundays service and the sermon will be about all about him!! 😁
One of my neighbors drive full time for the Amish, he makes a living at it.
To my knowledge, the Amish don't pay taxes and don't believe in banks. They use cash only. It's common to see them subcontracting foundation, framing and roofing around here. They do a good job. They take time off for softball. It seems they love softball. They smoke habitually. With their attitude towards modern conveniences like indoor plumbing, I wouldn't eat anything they touched.
The Amish like to smoke. That is surprising to me. Do they smoke pipes, or what?
In PA the Amish pay income, sales and property taxes. The don't pay SS tax and nor do they collect it. Old order is a little more laxed on alcohol and tobacco. I have never found them to be unclean.
...Neighbor or not...if they were that filthy, they would not get into my truck unless it was a life or death situation...its unhealthy, nasty, and plain ignorant to be that filthy, never heard of the Bible telling people its holy to STINK like hogs, that has to be their weird interpretation...don't tell me they don't smell one another...
One guy I know makes a living driving Amish anywhere they want to go. He even takes a crewcab pickup and pulls a horse trailer if they go to a horse sale. He wouldn't mind the smell since he wasn't all rose water and lilacs either.
I drove through an Amish community yesterday afternoon and saw a young guy who must have had a Saturday night date. He'd washed his "dating buggy" and was scrubbing his buggy horse.
I took my teenage grandkids to a popular swimming hole on the creek near the Amish community. Of course, granddaughters wore bikinis. The Amish girls ran away but the Amish boys sheepishly hung around.