A Black Hat and a Buggy - part 2 of a story of life on one North Country farm


Amish buggies in the village of Heuvelton, NY ~ Kathy Liebler photo

Elam Miller reached marrying age and the elders paired him up with Mary. She had “a funny eye” (she would cheerfully point out) that looked to her right and toward the heavens, and she was from a family of good gardeners (Elam would cheerfully point that out). The Amish accept whatever God gives them for looks, and in a culture that eats what it grows, the second quality was held in high esteem. Both Elam and Mary considered themselves fortunate.

Real estate goes pretty cheap in the North Country, but the price of a good farm is out of the reach of a young couple starting life together. A hundred and fifty years ago, an elder son might stand to inherit the family farm, but the younger sons would have hugged their mother, shaken their dad’s hand, and headed west. Today, west of anywhere is already bought and settled. Fledgling sons and daughters in the Amish community have to find new solutions to the problem of getting their own farm, and some have decided to hire out to established “English” farmers. The farmer provides a house of some sort and garden space; the Amish couple milks cows and does other farm chores for reasonable wages. So it was that Pierce met Elam and Mary... but not before being inspected.

The elders visited Pierce’s farm, hopeful that a working arrangement could be reached, yet holding firm to their principles: there are some things Amish people do not do, and many of those things have to do with modern machinery. The “stick-steered” motorized feeder in the barn drew close inspection. Shoulders were shrugged, stones were kicked around, and jokes and concerns were swapped as three men in black hats and one in a baseball cap grappled with the conflict between internal combustion and internal conviction. In the end, the elders approved of Elam being taken on provided he not drive anything with a steering wheel – thereby okaying the stick-steered device so necessary to the farm’s barn work. When it came to rules and limits in their sect, the elders confided, it wasn’t so much where the line was drawn but that there was a line. Pierce converted his garage into an apartment, and soon the hired help wore black and drove horses.

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Note: Because of their religions beliefs, the Amish do not want to be photographed. I have generally respected this, passing up many opportunities that would have produced wonderful pictures. The above photo was taken in a local hardware store parking lot.