SWEEDLIN VALLEY.
This valley lies in Pendleton County, West Virginia. It extends northward along the west foot of the Shenandoah mountain for about eight miles, and is separated from the South Fork valley west of it by Sweedlin mountain. It is the habitation of a good many families, is exceedingly picturesque, and is in some respects beautiful.
The two brethren were called here to preach the funeral of old Brother Nazlerode. His father had been a Hessian, and served under British colors in the American Revolution. At the close of the war he, with many others, declined returning to his native home in Hesse-Darmstadt in Germany, and decided to stay in America. But this class of citizens was not very welcome among the patriots of American liberty. They were looked upon with a degree of opprobrium; and hence they sought homes in the more remote and secluded valleys among the mountains. Brother Nazlerode had died some time before. The preaching was at the house where the old brother had lived.
Sermon by Daniel Miller.
Brother Daniel Miller spoke first in the German language. He took for his subject 1 Pet. 1:24, 25. "For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass: ... but the word of the Lord endureth forever."
He spoke very beautifully and impressively on the short-lived pleasures of earth. He said that the new birth and the new life, which lift man to God and fit him for heaven, are not begotten of the corruptible seed of man, but of God through the Word of his Truth, which liveth and abideth forever. He pointed them to Jesus as the "Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." He then, in a very affectionate manner, exhorted all to accept the salvation offered and walk in the way that our Lord has made plain in his Word.
Brother Kline followed and said: "Brother Daniel and I both felt moved to pity when we considered the situation of these people. They have a poor chance to hear the Gospel, and but few of them can read the Bible. We closed the services suitably, and then went to friend Jacob Wansturf's and spent the night."
Monday, April 13.—Brother Kline, in company with Brother Frederic Kline, went to Brock's Gap on the yearly visit. He says: "We found some of the members in a very poor condition. One sister, in particular, moved my feelings deeply. Her husband is somewhat dissipated and does not provide for his family as he should. She is the mother of three small children; and, judging from their present appearance, they have undergone a good deal of suffering for want of food and clothing. None of them have any shoes; and the thin coverings they have on are so patched and darned that one can hardly tell the kind of goods they were originally made of.
"I inquired how they were off in the way of food. She replied that they had about a peck of corn meal in the house and several bushels of potatoes buried in the garden; and she reckoned they could do right well till she could get some more washing and other work to do. I gave that patient, uncomplaining sister three dollars out of my own pocket money. 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' There is a day coming when we shall more fully realize this truth than now."
THE YEARLY VISIT CONTINUED.