Jonathan Wright. Bruce Coleman. Inc 
to integrate Daniel into the group, but 
his stubborn will had not been broken; 
he did not passively accept punish- 
ment at the hands of the older boys. 
He responded to teasing with anger; 
if an older boy called him a bad name, 
he responded in kind. The crueler the 
children were to him, the harder he 
fought back and the louder he yelled 
his objections — a response that is to- 
tally unexpected (and altogether un- 
acceptable) in a Hutterite child of his 
age. The colonists considered him a 
woeful example of a child whose will 
was not broken at the proper time. 
His situation improved after his father 
arrived and he could go around the 
colony with the school-age boys who 
spent part of the time working with 
their fathers or brothers. Nonetheless, 
today he deplores the Hutterite way 
of life. Since we left the colony he 
has returned only for very short, un- 
comfortable visits. On the other hand, 
it may have been in the colony that 
he learned to minimize physical dis- 
comfort. He still ignores public pres- 
sure. He knows that if one is willing 
to pay the price, one can go against 
convention and probably survive; the 
group does not have to determine one’s 
values or behavior. 
“Just as iron tends to rust and as 
the soil will nourish weeds, unless . . . 
kept clean by continuous care, so have 
the children of man a strong incli- 
nation towards injustices, desires and 
lusts,” wrote a Hutterite leader in 
1652. And today the German-school 
teacher reminds his charges, “Good 
children are obedient, peace-loving, 
and God-fearing.” Hutterites believe 
that children are inclined by nature 
to misbehave, but this belief does not 
mean that misbehavior should be tol- 
erated. Rather, the responsibility for 
the children’s behavior is placed on 
the adults, whose duty it is to watch 
over the children. Although these 
adults customarily use physical pun- 
ishment to elicit good behavior, there 
are no battered or neglected children 
among the Hutterites. As children do 
In German school, children learn 
to read German and write in 
Gothic German script. They must 
also memorize biblical passages, 
hymns, and innumerable episodes 
from Hutterite history. 
Robert Weinreb 
4! 
