brsc; 
terfere with their work and is not 
flaunted, adults tacitly accept it and, 
remembering their own youth, are in- 
dulgent. Sometimes the secret world 
is confined to a locked wooden chest; 
sometimes a corner of the attic is made 
into a personal microcosm. Here are 
stored bits of the temporal world — 
photographs, sheet music, suntan lo- 
tion, souvenirs. These artifacts rep- 
resent, however meagerly, what the 
individual has the freedom to pursue 
or the freedom to renounce. They rep- 
resent the world outside the colony, 
the self in its indulgent, vanity-pleas- 
ing aspects. As individuals mature and 
measure these trinkets and conceits 
against the full life around them, they 
generally find that the satisfactions 
received from active participation in 
the colony far outweigh those of self- 
indulgence. The Hutterite self-image 
requires colony identification. 
During the last year or so of their 
status as young people, adolescents are 
expected to show by their proven 
works — in other words, by their daily 
behavior — that they can adhere to the 
rules of the colony. When they have 
displayed by their actions and know 
with their heart and mind that they 
cannot continue as irresponsible chil- 
dren, they willingly and humbly re- 
quest baptism, so that they may be- 
come true members of the colony. The 
goal of the Hutterite system of child 
rearing is achieved. 
Throughout the centuries, Hutter- 
ites have developed subtle ways to 
elicit social conformity. Not only our 
children were exposed to intensive so- 
cialization — so were we. The first step 
was our dressing Hutterite. Accepting 
the symbols of the culture reinforced 
acceptable behavior. My husband had 
his hair cut and his beard trimmed 
by a colony member, indicating not 
only that he was a married man but 
that he accepted the rules of the com- 
munity. My mother and I wore long, 
dark dresses with high necks and long 
sleeves, and even when we were work- 
ing in the ninety-degree temperature 
we kept our heads covered with a cap, 
which buttoned under the chin, and 
a closely woven, double-layered, black 
polka-dot scarf. The minister quoted 
to us, “By their fruits ye shall know 
them,” which was interpreted to mean 
that by dressing correctly, we indi- 
cated our acceptance of our proper 
place in the universe. When my 
mother commented that she did not 
45 
