I Heard of a River

I Heard of a River

A Story of the Pennsylvania Germans

Land of the Free Series
by Elsie Singmaster, Henry C. Pitz (Illustrator), Erick Berry (Editor)
Publisher: John C. Winston
1st Edition, ©1948, Item: 87661
Hardcover, 209 pages
Not in stock

Historical Setting: Pennsylvania, 1670s

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Here is a part of America's heritage—the story of the German-Swiss Mennonites who settled in what is now Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. At William Penn's invitation to establish themselves near Philadelphia, these people came to America, bringing with them their superb knowledge of agriculture and a grooved, or rifled gun. 

They came to the New World because all through their oppression in their homeland they had heard of a beautiful river in America, which we know as the Susquehanna, and whose verdant banks were the source of legend. They came to build a new life in this strange, unspoiled Paradise.

This is a story of Hannes, a German-Lutheran boy who joined a band of Swiss Mennonites fleeing from Europe's desperate terror and poverty of the 17th century. It is a story of the perils of Hannes' journey and the improvement of his rifle, brought from his fatherland.

A moving, stirring adventure of a people who found happiness in the freedom of America—the story is an intrinsic part of the courageous heritage of "The Land of the Free."

—From the dust jacket

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