Unlike Auerbach , Bitzius was not a peasant by birth , but belonged to the educated classes . He reproduces what he had seen and learned , and not what he had himself personally experienced . It is written ( like the rest of his works ) in German , but contains expressions from the Bernese dialect of the Emmental , though it must be remembered that Bitzius was not ( like Auerbach ) a peasant by birth , but belonged to the educated classes , so that he reproduces what he had seen and learned , and not what he had himself personally experienced .