FARMERS' REGISTER— REVIEW OF THE MEMOIRS OF OBERLIN. 



373 



"Yesterday, I found him encircled by four or five 

 families who had been burnt out of their houses; he 

 was dividinjjj amonj^st them articles of clothing;, meat, 

 money, books, knives, thimbles, and colored pictures 

 for the children, whom he placed in a row according to 

 their ages, and then left them to take what they pre- 

 ferred." 



M. le Comte Francois de Neiifchateou on ))ro- 

 posinnj a fljold metal to Oberlin for services render- 

 ed durintj more than half a century, to afj:ricLdture 

 in particular, and mankinil in fjeneral, thus ad- 

 dresses himself to the Royal and Central Agricul- 

 tural Society of Paris. 



"If you would behold an instance of what may be 

 effected in any country for the advancement of ap;ri- 

 culture and the interests of humanitj ," said he, when 

 addressing the y.ociety upon this occasion, "quit for a 

 moment the banks of the Seine, and ascend one of the 

 steepest summits of the Vosges mountains. Friends 

 of the plougi), and of human happiness, come and be- 

 hold the Ban de la Roche! Climb with me the rocks 

 so sublimely piled upon each other, whicli separate 

 this canton from the rest of the world, and though the 

 country and the climate may at first sight ajjpear for- 

 bidding, I will venture to promise you an ample re- 

 .compense for the fatigue of your excursion. 



"As for myself, after having formed the administra- 

 tion of the department of the Vosges, in 1790, and 

 presided overiv, in 1791, I had, in 1793, to travel over 

 those mountains as a commissioner of the government, 

 at the very period when the parishes of Rothau and 

 Waldbach, belbre that time dependant on tlie princi- 

 pality of Salm, were united to the department. I have, 

 therefore, been long acquainted with the valuable ser- 

 vices rendered, for more than fifty years, to the Ban 

 de la Roche, by John Frederic Oberlin. Ever since 

 that time, and to the advanced age of seventy-eight, 

 he has persevered in carrying forward the interesting 

 reformation first suggested and commenced by his vir- 

 tue, piety and zeal. He has refused invitations to 

 more important and more lucrative situations, l^st the 

 Ban de la Roche should relapse into its former desolate 

 state; and by his extraordinary efforts and unabated ex- 

 ertions, he averted from his parishioners, in the years 

 1812, 1816, and 1817, the horrors of approaching fa- 

 mine.* 



"Such a benefactor of mankind deserves the venera- 

 tion and the gratitude of all good men; and it gives me 

 peculiar pleasure to present you with the opportunity 

 of acknowledging, in the person of M. Oberlin, not a 

 single act, but a whole life, devoted to agricultural im- 

 provements, and to the diifusion of useful knowledge 

 amongst the inhabitants of a wild and uncultivated 

 district. 



"We have already ascertained that th^re is in 

 France uncultivated land sufficient for the formation 

 of five thousand villages. When we wish to organize 

 these colonies, Waldbach will present a perfect model; 

 and, in the thirty or forty rural hamlets which already 

 exist, there is not one, even amongst the most flourish- 

 ing, in which social economy is carried to a hig'ier de- 

 gree of perfection, or in which the annals of the Ban 

 de la Roche may not be studied with advantage." 



* The new crop of potatoes that Oberlin hart introduced, 

 formed the principal .subsistence of the people during tliose dis- 

 astrous years, when tlie season was so cold and rainy tii.it they 

 co\ild not eet in two-thirds of the corn at all; and the'scarcity so 

 great, that poor liule children, e,\hausted with hunger, were 

 seen to drop down in the streets. A sack of wheat durin? that 

 time of distress rose to 145 francs, and the potatoes to nearly 

 one sou apiece. 



The precise acquaintance which the inhabitants of the Ban 

 de la Roche had acquired, throuzli Oberlin's assistance, with 

 the vegetable productions of their canton, was believed to be 

 the means of piuvunting the most distresoiug diseases. 



Perhaps in closing this little book some ingenu- 

 oi!.s but romantic reader may sigh for another Ban 

 de la Roche, where, nestled among mountains, he 

 might aspire to the obscure heroism of the curate 

 of Waldbach. It may be that in Virginia there 

 are none who live u]ion wild apples, or speak a 

 vile patois; yet if defects, disadvantages, and 

 drawback's be desiderata, on this score perhaps, 

 in some parts of this state, there will be found 

 small ground lor complaint. To diminish the 

 sources of human ill-being, and niulti|)ly the 

 sources of human well-being, is a field, every 

 where, without limit: and if there were ordy an 

 Oberlin in each count}' — in each parish in Virgi- 

 nia, how soon she would start like magic out of the 

 ashes of her present decay! 



Oberlin seems to have formed his plans by 

 somewhat of a military amp d'ceil. He had a 

 firm confidence in himself^ — a strong decision of 

 character. He had an untiring industry and pa- 

 tience of detail. He understood the maxim, that 

 small causes produce grand effects. He was a 

 man of minutise and particulars. He knew that 

 "many a little makes a mickle" — that masses are 

 made up of mites. 



While Oberlin was carrying into execution this 

 beautiful system of improvements, France became 

 the theatre of revolution, and the most sanguinary 

 anarchy. But the fury of civil war never reached 

 the peaceful secluded district of the Ban de la 

 Roche. Encircled by mountains and the guar- 

 dianship of Oberlin, the peo])le of the Steinthal 

 escaped unhurt amid the billows of national tur- 

 moil. 



In our own country is it not to be lamented, that 

 our ears are so often saluted with the din of poli- 

 tics? Does the happiness of the people depend on 

 every wind and hollow blast that issues from the 

 the ^olian cave? Is there nothing worthy of 

 human concern but politicians and politics? 



"In every government though terrors reign. 

 Though tyrant kings, or tyrant laws restrain. 

 How small, of all that human hearts endure. 

 That part which kings or laws can cause or cure ! 

 Still to ourselves in every place consigned. 

 Our own felicity we make or find. 

 With secret course that no loud storms annoy. 

 Glides the smooth current of domestic joy." 



A Vasa may tree his country — a Washington 

 make his country independent — but it takes an 

 Oberlin to make his countrj^ happ3^ 



It was Oberlin's fortune to be a cotemj^orary of 

 Napoleon. Napoleon published his warlike bul- 

 letins from the field of battle, and dated his imjie- 

 rial decrees at the palaces of dethroned monarchs 

 and the capitals of subjugated kingdoms. 



Oberlin issued his little circulars from the par- 

 sonage at Waldbach, to the villagers, directing 

 them when and how lo set out, and trim their Iruit 

 trees. 



Napoleon's rewards were sceptres and crowns — 

 trium])har arches — the roar of artillery, and the 

 acclamations of the multitude. 



Oberlin's reward was smiles and tears of grati- 

 tude li-om those whose happiness was his. 



Napoleon amid the pomp and magnificence ot 

 the Tuilleries was restless and disturbed — his heart 

 rent with the fijr^- of contending passions. 



Oberlin in the parsonage wiis heard to say — 

 '"'Yes, I am happy." 



The one tlied on a volcanic rock in the ocean — 



