90 MEMOIRS or 



once gave rise to acts of criminal violence. A pious pastor^ 

 named John Frederick Oberlin, who has since become so 

 celebrated undertook to civilize them ; and for this purpose, 

 like one who knew mankind, he first attacked their pover- 

 ty. With his own hands he set the example for all useful 

 labours, and, armed with a pickaxe, he directed them in the 

 construction of a good road, digging- and labouring with 

 them ; he taught them to cultivate the potatoe ; he made 

 them acquainted with good vegetables and fruits; showed 

 them how to engraft, and gave them excellent breeds of 

 cattle and poultry. Their agriculture once perfected, he 

 introduced manufactures among them, in order to employ 

 superfluous hands ; he gave them a saving-bank, and put 

 them in communication with the commercial houses of the 

 neighbouring towns. As their confidence increased with 

 their improvement, he, by degrees, gave them instruction 

 of a higher nature. He himself was their schoolmaster, 

 till he could form one capable of seconding his endeavours. 

 Having once learned to love reading, every thing became 

 easier ; chosen works were brought to them to aid the con- 

 versation and example of the pastor ; religious feelings, and. 

 with them, mutual benevolence, insinuated themselves into 

 their hearts; quarrels, crimes, and lawsuits disappeared; 

 and, if by chance, some dispute arose, they, with one accord, 

 came to Oberlin, and begged him to put an end to it. In 

 short, when this venerable man was nearly at the end of his 

 career, he was able to say, that in this province, once so 

 poor and thinly populated, he left three hundred families, 

 regular in their habits, pious and enlightened in their sen- 

 timents, enjoying remarkable ease of circumstances, and 

 provided with the means of perpetuating these blessings, 

 A young female peasant from one of these villages, named 

 Louise Scheppler, though scarcely fifteen years of age, was 

 so forcibly impressed with the virtues of this man of God, 

 that, although she enjoyed a small patrimony, she begged to 

 enter into his service, and take a part in his charitable la- 

 bours. Froni that time she never accepted any wages ; she 

 never quitted him ; she became his help, his messenger, and 

 the guardian angel of the rudest huts. She afforded the 

 inhabitants every species of consolation ; and in no instance 

 can we find a finer example of the power of feeling to exalt 



