THE MENNONITE BROTHERHOOD IN RUSSIA (1789 - 1910), P. M. Friesen, 1911

the owner of a treadmill in Liebenau, for several years serving as assistant and village mayor. As regards the church he was, as it is well known, until the secession, a respected and beloved member of the church in Ohrloff-Halbstadt (formerly Ohrloff-Petershagen) and a friend of Gnadenfeld and of Wuest. In 1861 he sold his property in Liebenau. 330 After his release from investigative custody (Nov., 1865; cf. XVIII), he moved to Blumenort where for some time he lived with his in-laws, the Jakob Epps. Later, still in Blumenort, he became owner of a small farm situated on the upper side of the west end, until his resettlement in the Kuban, where he had always longed to go. The little, antiquated house in Blumenort (still standing today) with its roomy alcove (bedroom) attached on the garden side, was kept spotless and tidy, inside and outside, with the help of his wife. For some years it was the center of the M.B. Church on the Molotschna! Many deliberations and devotional sessions in smaller groups took place here. At the Kuban (from 1873) he had what for the time was a fine house, together with a small farm, an orchard, a nursery, and an apiary. He was always active in the yard and in his garden. This is how the author remembers him from the years 1886 to 1888. If there was nothing more important to do, he would be at the chopping block cutting brushwood “until he was numb with the rain and the cold,” as his wife used to scold. She would then have to put him to bed and warm him up with coffee for he was extremely anemic. He became youthful and happy, however, when in a small circle of friends the topic of conversation turned toward our full redemption in Christ, His coming and His kingdom, and toward old times: Tobias Voth, Pastor Wuest, the brotherhood. This was especially so when he had had a good cup of coffee. He became pensively monosyllabic, quite understandably so, when the discussion turned to the aberrations of the young M.B. Church. His favorite authors were those of Wuerttemberg: Auberle, Philipp Paulus, and, from the earlier period, Christian Hoffmann and relatives. His most preferred ministers were Ludwig Hofacker, and especially Friedrich Wilhelm Krummacher and Charles H. Spurgeon. Occasionally, he used portions of the sermons of the latter two in the later sixties and early seventies, reading them in small Sunday worship services and adding commentary, explanation, and application in the Low German language. In spite of his weak voice and unimpressive presentation, our hearts were ignited by the deep conviction of faith and the exuberant hope and joy of his soul, and we were lifted joyously heavenward as though on the wings of a cherub. 331 b) Brother Christian Schmidt, too, died within the time period here under consideration. His death came in 1905, ten years after the death of Huebert. (Cf. particularly sections 183 , 193 , 195 - 198 , 206 , and 231 - 234 [ 2]). Schmidt spent his last