The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1904-01-21
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otterhein Kramer Tells OF His Stay In Q
| Primitive Community in the Mountains o,
| Georgia. -
| i don't think l have any story worth
telling" said otterbein Kramer modestly,
with aashfof color rising to his cheeks.
My experiences have been quite usual
and commonplace.
| Yes, you must have story, and a
mighty interesting one" insisted ST. I'VE
have always heen very anxious to hear
it, but there always seemed to be urgent
business on hand. Now we have plenty
OF time, and our curiosity is prodigionsly
reinforced by that of the girls. They
have heard me and Shorty talk worlds
without end about YOU
Indeed we have, and we're just dying
to have you tell US all about yourself, !"
said Maria. There's nobody that we are
so crazy to hear about"
Your husbands have both much better
stories to tell than l." answered Kramer
eyasively. They have had more happen
to them in an hour than / have in my
| whole life''
Don't know about that; don't know
| about that" doubted ST. Something
mighty lively must have happened to
bring man like you to cooking for rebel
| cavalry Colonel down there in South Caro-
| lima. Tell US about that"
Yes, indeed, do" put in Shorty. 1.-THE
girls have had to listen to our stories right
alOng-morn, noon and night, and a
change would be mighty refreshing Tell
| us how You came to be rounded up with
| that guerrilla gang down there"
The idea OF man Of your education
and cloth being compelled to go along
with those horrid rebels and actually cook
for then,' sighed Maria. My, wasn't
it just awful
1T certainly was far from pleasant"
said Kramer. But the Lord, or Satan,
tries man in many ways to develop his
soul, and test what is in him. thought
hardest man was ever called upon to
endure, but we are all likely to think that
| the cup pressed to our lips is the bitterest
| ever known"
well. how did you come to be down
there, and get pressed into that outfit?'' in
quired Shorty.
Well, | graduated from an academy
in Pennsylvania, and got license to
preach. Before | really entered the min
istry, however, letter came to the Prin-
cipal from friend who was travelling in
| the South. He said that in the most out
of-the-way part Of the Georgia mountains
| he had come across the queerest sort OF q
| community: A century before it's ances-
| tors, fleeing from the cruel religious perse-
i
ocean, and hidden themselves hundreds of
miles beyond the borders OF civilization.
| where they would feel sure there would
be no one to modest them on account of
any peculiar belief that they might choose
| to entertain. They were much more will
ling to trust themselves to the mercies of
the red Indians than to white men having
Element was Nyartburg.''
Well they do get up the funniest
Shorty. There was Punkinyine, Lick
skillet, SHakerag, Lumpkin, Bnttonville,
and SO on. But Wartburg beats them
ssWartBnrgsis a place Of great interest
Thuringia,, Germany, where Luther was
| concealed for a long time from his enc
| mics. where he wrote many important
| works and began the. translation Of the
Bible, and where he vanquished the devil
by fiinging an inkstand at His Satanic
Majesty's head The people around
bWartbnrgin Germany are quite independ.
ent and even eccentric in their religious
| views. They were the first to hold that
mans religious opinions were nobody's
| business but his own. They got into a
| heap OF trouble on that account, and the
| result was the emigration OF this little col
ony, Which determined to go SO far away
that they, would be out of the reach OF
| meddlers." $4,000,
TT don't blame 'em,' intcrjected
Shorty. If anything makes me hot it is
for man coming round poking his nose
into my religion. / don't care q hooter
what any other mans religion is, SO long
It's It's 1and he ], glanced at Maria)-so longs
"Weii, they were Baptists, all right.
| fists"
"Then they were all right, whatever they
| DONE" asserted Shorty in tone that ad-
mitted Of no contradiction. Shorty's ac-
quaintance with Baptists was confined to
Deacon Klegg and his family.
I'm getting ahead Of my story" said
Kramer 1.-The letter to the Principal said
| that the Wartburg settlement wanted a
young man of German blood and gedly
| education to come there and teach school
| in Winter and read the Bible to them and
preach in their meetings. They wanted
| one with no new, finicky ideas rs to either
| education or religion. All that they
| wanted their children TO learn was the
three Rs-reading, writing and arithme-
tic. More than that made the children
| lazy, and put Eighty notions in their
heads. In religion he must be satisfied
| with exactly what was written down in
| the Bible, and not attempt to put in a
word that wasn't there, or take out one
tnat was there. lie must be able to read
the Bible in German and translate its
| meaning into English. The German Bible
was truer in its expression than the Eng
| lish. 1t did not permit of SO much differ
| ence OF opinion. They had lost most Of
| their German in their long life among the
mountains, and wanted some one to help
them get at the true fountain of faith.
Above all, he must be flially obedient to
the elders. The Principal handed the let
ter to me without a word. As soon as I
read it my inward voice said Co. and I
said to the Principal:
/ II you feel that you can eonscien-
| tiously commend me, you can write to
them that l will come
Better pray over 1t, brother said the
Principal That will take you far away
from your home and kindred, and from
you opportunities for labor here, to bury
yourself amid those distant mountains
No answered, I don't need to pray
over it. IerecoEnize this as the call to the
vineyard which knew would come from
somewheres I've no right to pick and
choose and consult my own selfish desires
when the Lord calls. I'll go to them, il
you think / am ft.'
sAbundently fit he answered. Your
German is as good as IL you had been born
in the FatheriAnd. / am going to give
i 10 Id