CONTENTS
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| I. | Flight from the World | [1] |
| II. | "Peter the Hermit" | [10] |
| III. | Sonnlein | [21] |
| IV. | We Leave the Hermitage | [30] |
| V. | Ephrata | [40] |
| VI. | Concerning Taxation | [51] |
| VII. | The Right Prevails | [69] |
| VIII. | Our First Loss | [77] |
| IX. | A Love Feast | [86] |
| X. | The Brotherhood of Zion | [94] |
| XI. | Brother Agonius and his Prophecy | [108] |
| XII. | Sister Bernice is Comforted | [127] |
| XIII. | The Comet and Brother Alburtus | [135] |
| XIV. | Our Sister Leaves Us | [146] |
| XV. | The Great Comet | [155] |
| XVI. | A Far Journey | [165] |
| XVII. | In a Strange Land | [176] |
| XVIII. | Sonnlein Cometh to Man's Estate | [193] |
| XIX. | When Hearts are Young | [207] |
| XX. | Sister Genoveva is Gone | [223] |
| XXI. | Brother Alburtus | [235] |
| XXII. | Sonnlein Taketh the Ordeal | [249] |
| XXIII. | A Midnight Visit | [265] |
| XXIV. | Mine Enemy's Hiding-Place | [281] |
| XXV. | The End of the Witch | [295] |
| XXVI. | The Twain are Made One | [305] |
| XXVII. | Retrospect | [324] |
CHAPTER I
FLIGHT FROM THE WORLD
Happy the man who has the town escaped;
To him the whistling trees, the murmuring brooks,
The shining pebbles, preach
Virtue's and wisdom's lore.
The whispering grove a holy temple is
To him, where God draws nigher to his soul;
Each verdant sod a shrine,
Whereby he kneels to heaven.
—Ludwig Heinrich Christoph Hölty.
For a clearer understanding of what I have here written in the fond desire that there may be those who delight in a tale simply told, even though it be of my brothers and sisters who lived their quiet, peaceful lives, with now and then, 'tis true, a jarring note, consecrated to their faith, in the solitude of a new-world wilderness, I must set forth, without weariness to the reader, I hope, somewhat of the humble pilgrim whose now old and time-worn hands pen these lines.