FARMERS^ REGISTER— REVIEW OF THE MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. 371 



any occupation, and in so wild and noisy a state that it 

 was with some difiiculty he could gain any reply to 

 his inquiries lor the master. 



"Thjri he is," said one of them, as soon as silence 

 could bj obtain-id, pointing to a wither-d old man, 

 who lay on a little bed in one corner of the apart- 

 ment. 



"Are you the schoolmaster, my good friend?" in- 

 quired Stouber. 



"Yes, Sir." 



"And what do you teach the children?" 



"Nothing, Sir." 



"Nothing! — how is that?" 



"Becausi," replied the old man, with cliaracteristic 

 simplicity, "I know nothing myself." 



"Why then were you instituted schoolmaster?" 



"Why, Sir, I had been taking care of the Waldbach 

 pigs for a great number of years, and w-hen I got too 

 old and inhrm for that employment they sent me here 

 to take care of the children." 



It remained for Oberlin to renovate education, 

 ns he did every thing else^and amidst moun- 

 tains and sterility, pauperism and rocks, to kindle 

 tlie rays of knowledge. 



Oberlin turned his attention first to the roads, 

 and like Captain Smith at Jamestown, not content 

 with arguments and persuasions, he went to work 

 himselt; and aroused the stupid peasants by the 

 magic of example. 



"In a country where rocks hanging on the steep de- 

 clivity of a chain of mountains, and rapid torrents 

 pouring from their summits, are perpetually causing 

 considerable falls of loosened earth, the formation and 

 preservation of roads involves an expense far beyond 

 the resources of a poor and isolated parish; and all the 

 roads belonging to the Ban dc la Roche w'ere, conse- 

 quently, during the greater part of the year absolutely 

 impassable. 



To rescue his parishioners from the half savage 

 state in which he found them, he judged it necessary, 

 as a preliminary measure, to bring them into contact 

 with the inhabitants of other districts, further advanced 

 in civilization; and for this purpose to open a regular 

 communication with the high road to Strasbourg, by 

 which means the productions of the Ban de la Roche 

 might find a market, and materials be procured for ex- 

 ercising their industiy and ingenuity. 



Having, therefore assembled the people, he proposed 

 that they should blast the rocks, and convey a suffi- 

 cient quantity of enormous masses to construct a wall 

 to support a road, about a mile and a half in length, 

 along the banks of the river Bruche, and build abridge 

 across it near Rothau. 



The peasants were perfectly astonished at the pro- 

 position. The project appeared to them totally im- 

 practicable, and eveiy one excused himself, on the 

 plea of private business, from engaging in so stupend- 

 ous an undertaking. Oberlin, still intent on the prose- 

 cution of his scheme, endeavored to refute the objec- 

 tions raised on all sides: "The produce of yourfi.dds," 

 said he, "will then meet with a ready market abroad; 

 for, instead of being imprisoned in your villages nine 

 months out of the twelve, you will be enablecl to keep 

 up an intercourse with the inhabitants of the neighbor- 

 ing districts. You will have the opportunity of pro- 

 curing a number of things of which you have long 

 stood in need, without the possibility of obtaining 

 tliem, and your happiness will be augmented and in- 

 creased by the additional means, thus ailorded, of pro- 

 viding comforts for yourselves and your children." 

 But his arguments were concluded with a more touch- 

 ing appeal. He offered them his own example in the 

 undertaking. "Let all," said he, "wiio feel the im- 

 portance of my proposition, come and work with me." 



Oberlin had already traced the plan, and no sooner 

 ]:ad hp pronounced these words, than, with a pick-axe 



on his shoulder, he proceeded to the spot; whilst the 

 astonished peasants, animated by his example, forgot 

 their former excuses, and hastened, with unanimous 

 consent, to fetch their tools and follow him. He pre- 

 sently assigned to each individual an allotted post, se- 

 lected for himself and a faitlilul servant the most diffi- 

 cult and dangerous places; and, regardless of the tliorns 

 by which his hands were torn, and of the loose stones 

 by which they were occasionally bruised, went to 

 work with the greatest diligence and enthusiasm. The 

 emulation awakened by his conduct quickly spread 

 tiirough the whole parisli. The increased number of 

 hands rendered an increased number of implements 

 necessary; he procured them from Strasbourg; expenses 

 accumulated; he interested his distant friends, and, 

 through their assistance, funds were obtained; walls 

 were erected to support tlie earth, which appeared rea- 

 dy to give way; mountain torrents, which had hitherto 

 inundated the meadows, were diverted into courses, or 

 received into beds sufficient to contain them; perse- 

 verance, in short, triumphed over difficulties, and, at 

 the commencement of the year 1770, a communication 

 was opened with Strasbourg, by means of the new 

 road, and a neat wooden bridge thrown across the 

 river. This bridge still bears the name of "Le Pont 

 de Charite." 



Next he stocked a warehouse in Waldbach with 

 implements of agriculture, and the like necessary 

 articles — established a loan fund, and by sending 

 capable lads to acquire the several trades at Stras- 

 bourg, introduced regular bred mechanics, where 

 theyhad been before unknown. Finally in place 

 of wretched hovels or cabins, he erected cottages, 

 and dug cellars for the preservation of what was 

 then their main sustenance, potatoes. 



Above all however, Oberlin strove to improve 

 their mode of agriculture. And here he appealed 

 to their eyes, rather than their ears. Attached to 

 the parsonage hou.se were two gardens, crossed by 

 very public loot paths. In these he set out young 

 fruit trees, and established a nursery. The pea- 

 sants had to pass through these gardens, in going 

 to their daily work — they could not help observing 

 the contrast between the scanty supply of their 

 own, and the rich produce of their pastor's land. 

 They inquired of him, and he taught them his 

 mode of cultivation. 



"The taste for planting trees was thus diffused, and 

 the art of grafting, in which he himself instructed 

 those who wished to understand it, became a favorite 

 employment. The very face of the countrj', in con- 

 sequence, underwent a complete change; for the cot- 

 tages, hitherto for the most part bare and desolate, were 

 surrounded by neat little orchards and gardens; and, in 

 the place of indigence and misery, the villages, and 

 their inhabitants, gradually assumed an air of rural 

 happiness. 



So barbarous before Oberlin's time had been the 

 state of the Ban de la Roche, with regard to the most 

 simple agricultural arts, that the old men told him they 

 remembered to have heard from their fathers, that pre- 

 vious to the year 1709, the people of this canton sub- 

 sisted chiefly upon wild apples and pears. The dread- 

 ful famine that took place that year, compelled them 

 lo devise means for procuring some other sustenance; 

 and, with this view, they partially cleared away an 

 immense forest, which extended nearly all over the 

 country, and planted a sort of potatoes, (qvemaltes, 

 or cnuittcs dc tierrc in the patois,) which were thea 

 first introduced. Owing to the rigorous seasons, and 

 to the soil having been often swept away from the 

 rocks it covered by the rain, this primitive potato had 

 so far degenerated, that, when Oberlin came to the 

 Ban de la Roche, in 1767, fields that had formerly 

 yielded from 120 to 150 bushels, furnished only be- 



