CHAPTER III.

OBERLIN'S FIRST IMPRESSIONS ON REACHING WALDBACH-STATE OF THE PARISH-IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED-OPPOSITION MANIFESTED BY THE PEASANTRY-CORRESPONDENCE WITH M. STOUBER-LETTERS FROM THE LATTER-HIS MARRIAGE, and PRAYER.IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONDITION OF THE ROADSAGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENTS, &c.

ON Oberlin's arrival at Waldbach, he took up his residence in the parsonage house, a tolerably commodious building, formerly occupied by M. Stouber. It had a court yard in front, and a good garden behind, and stood in a delightful situation very near the church, being surrounded by steep dells clothed with wood, and rugged mountains, the tops and sides of which were partially covered with pines, and a few other straggling trees.

The first glance which he threw over the mountains destined to be the scene of his ministerial labours, convinced him, that notwithstanding the partial reformation effected by

M. Stouber's exertions, neither the necessities of his flock, nor the difficulties which opposed their removal, were of any ordinary kind.

They were alike destitute of the means of mental and social intercourse; they spoke a rude patois resembling the Lorraine dialect, and the medium of no external information; they were entirely secluded from the neighbouring districts by the want of roads, which, owing to the devastation of war and decays of population, had been so totally lost, that the only mode of communication, from the bulk of the parish to the neighbouring towns, was across the river Bruche, a stream thirty feet wide, by steppingstones, and in winter along its bed; the husbandmen were destitute of the most necessary agricultural implements, and had no means of procuring them; the provisions springing from the soil were not sufficient to maintain even a scanty population; and a feudal service, more fatal than sterile land and ungenial climate, constantly depressed and irritated their spirits.

Confident, however, that strength would be afforded, if rightly sought, Oberlin at once

resolved to employ all the attainments in science, philosophy, and religion, which he had brought with him from Strasbourg, to the improvement of the parish and the benefit of his parishioners.

Those individuals over whom M. Stouber had gained an influence, silently acquiesced in the projects of his successor; but a very determined spirit of opposition soon manifested itself among the opposite party, under the supposition that old practices are always safe, and that whatever is new must be pernicious. They resolved, therefore, not to submit to innovation, but to try what they might be able to effect by determined resistance. On one occasion, soon after his arrival, they laid a plan to way-lay their new minister, and inflict upon him a severe personal castigation, judging that such a measure, at the commencement of his career, would prevent his future interference.

Oberlin happily received information of their intention, and, without being disconcerted at the intelligence, immediately determined upon a mode of correction, in which the peculiar