According to the old fatalistic saw: "If a man is born to be hung, he can never be drowned." This is far more trite than true. So far as it implies that any man is born or predestined to be hung, it is not true. But that some have been marvelously and repeatedly preserved from drowning, and that there is evidently some reason for their apparent immunity, is true.
Brother Ernest R. S. Schnelle has had many narrow escapes from drowning, and been subjected to very many accidents of other kinds. He firmly believes that there has been a Providence over his life, and that his willingness to accept the Gospel and devote his life to the service of the Master may be the sequel therefor.
He was born on the 25th of May, 1852, in Bremen, Germany. He fell in the fire when only a few months old, and narrowly escaped burning to death. He bears the scar of the burn on his forehead even now. He was almost drowned in a mill race when he was only two years old. Of course he doesn't remember the incident, but was told so by his parents.
His mother was a consistent member of the Protestant Church, but his father while nominally of the same creed had a poor opinion of preachers in general and was never known to attend Church but once, and that was on the occasion of the confirming of his eldest son; and then he seized his hat and left in the midst of the sermon, not having patience to remain longer.
Without explaining her reason for the belief, the mother used to say that the time would come when one of her boys would believe in the God of Heaven. Of the parents and seven children which the family included, Ernest (the subject of this sketch) and one brother are all that are now alive, and Ernest has had such a checkered career that it is a wonder that he has survived.
When five years old he accidentally fell from a housetop, and was supposed to be dead when picked up, but, to the surprise of all his friends, he soon recovered.
When seven years of age he threw a snowball at a girl in a spirit of fun. She resented it by taking off her wooden shoe and crushing his skull in with it.
When nine years old he had an accidental fall, and broke his right arm, and also fell from a ladder and drove his front teeth through his lip.
When he was fourteen years of age he went to sea, as cabin boy, in a Spanish barque, called the "Tres Hermanos," of Allicante, Spain, bound for Havana, Cuba. During the voyage the crew mutinied, some Spaniards being among them who used their knives quite freely. The chief officer was beaten most shamefully and almost killed, but the captain finally brought the rebellious men under subjection.
On reaching Havana, Ernest quit the vessel, and shipped on the Spanish brig "Michael Angel," bound for Falmouth, England. The very first day after sailing from Havana he was stricken with yellow fever, a disease that was so prevalent in Cuba that many ships in the harbors were unable to sail for want of crews, so many of the sailors having died of the fever.