Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-08-03
L" Yes was the renlv

A0S, was tuo reply.
For Bartholomew Richter the mists
OF the future had suddenly disappeared.
He now found himself face to face with
the question which few hours before
ne mad been unable to answer other than
by saying he did not know. He must
know now. for he must act.
bartholomew Richter was not a man
to shrink from facing q difficulty, and
resolutely he turned to the question he
had so recently put from him as puzzling
and Improbable. The time for decision
had come. He did not for one moment
stop to consider that the lot would de-
eide for him. He felt at once that he
must decide now whether it would be
his duty to abide by the decision of the
lot, or to do as Johanna said-choose
what he knew in his own soul to be
right, though the whole world said it
was wrong.
That night, in the solitude of his own
chamber, he met the question and an
swered it; and on the morrow, when
the lot did not fall on johanna, he did
not change his decision, but went to St.
Thomas alone. And the Elders were
sore distressed on his account and very
greatly feared lest Satan should in the
end overwhelm their much-loved brother
with some mighty, yet subtle temptation.
PART III.
The years fly by. Bethlehem, the
little Moravian settlement, spreads out
her skirts like proud lady and daily
grows larger, and more fourishing; but
in the Rothe cottage there have been
changes of different nature. The
gentle-hearted mother has passed away.
The brother has married, and johanna
laid away her red ribbons and tied the
pink beneath her firm little chin, and
went away to the quiet shelter of the
"Sister's Home;" and there, within it's
peaceful walls, has lived ten years of her
quiet life of good deeds and loving words.
And many times the message came from
the Council of the Elders'' that by lot
Johanna Rothe was chosen for the wife
OF some thriving citizen; but Johanna
could not be prevailed upon to leave the
''Home" for home of her own, and no
one except Brother Paul, an old and
tried friend of the Rothe family, knew
the reason why. say he knew. His
own heart told him. Johanna never
limited it, by words or look; but Brother
Paul had had heart history of his own,
some thirty or forty years before, and
when man has once learned such
lesson he can readily see whether an
other man or woman has been taught
the same.
1t is Brother Paul who has kept up a
somewhat desultory correspondence
with Bartholomew Richter, and through
him the young missionary once sought
the aid of the s'Council of the Elders"
that they should send him companion;
but, though the Council had done it's
part, yet still Bartholomew remained
alone. Perhaps Johanna learned from
Brother Paul that Bartholomew had
sent for a wife, and, when she knew
that he did not marry, perhaps she
thought-well one thing I am sure of,
she did not grow sour and disagreeable.
She did not speak slightingly of mar
rage, or even bitterly of that perverse
little lot; but her heart was as true and
tender, her face as bright and beautiful,
as on that summer morning, ten years
before, when Bartholomew Richter bid
her goodbye, and went out alone to his
field of labor, with the silent disapproval
of his church and people resting upon
him.
Ten years, and the years between
twenty and thirty are longer than any
ten afterward. Ten years, and Brother
Bartholomew waits on the sea-shore,
for the good ship rides at anchor, and
the little boat bobbing up and down
upon the sparkling waves comes shore
ward with its precious burden of human
life. There is stirring in his spirit, a
quicker action of the heart, and a
sudden rush of feeling; for he knows
that the ship has brought missionaries
from America, and among them is his
old friend Brother Paul.
Now the keel CRATES on the sandy
shore. The passengers are leaving the
boat. There is the tall form of Brother
Paul. How white his hair has turned
since Bartholomew saw him last! A
woman walked by his side. What was
there in her attitude that struck Bar
tholomew Richter with surprise, with
interest? Had Brother Paul married?
The fiutter of pink ribbon said ''No,"
and the good brothers. words, as he
grasped his friends hand, revealed the
mystery.
.'I sought the Council for you again,
Brother Bartholomew, and this time
the lot fell on Johanna." IN. Y. Lade-
pendent.