# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1911 06 13_S192
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

192

in the various districts are so different. Unity in spirit is, after all, no mere illusion. And this too belongs among Walther's merits, that he knew how to instill in his students an 'esprit de corps' as hardly a second man could. I believe Kraemer too has accomplished great things precisely in this respect." L. F.

Foreign Countries.

On the present state of the Australian Synod, President Th. Nickel reports the following in the "Lutheran Church Messenger for Australia": "As of December 31 of last year the Synod numbered 169 congregations and preaching stations with 14,289 souls, 9,301 communicant and 3,026 voting members. In 61 parish schools and 3 private schools, 1,733 children were instructed by 38 male and 20 female teachers; in addition 293 children attended Sunday school. 480 children were baptized, 333 confirmed. 17,605 went to Holy Communion, 143 couples were married, and 99 persons were buried. For the Synod's various funds £3,051.10.11 (about $15,000) was collected. Comparing these figures with those of the year before last, growth appears almost everywhere. The Synod has grown by 11 congregations and preaching stations, 2 pastors, 912 souls, 649 communicant and 103 voting members. The number of communicants has also increased by 1,088. Still, the number of those who went to Communion in the course of the year could be larger. On average all communicant members went to the Lord's Table twice a year. Since many of our members commune three or four times, there is nevertheless still a considerable number who went to Communion only once or not at all; that is a disparagement of the Sacrament, which is evidence of indifference and false security. The collections raised for synodical purposes amount to £3,051; that is £678 less than the year before, and the smaller sum is explained by the fact that in the year before last special gifts were given for the new building at the institution." L. F.

Jacob Treu's Jubilee.

Good Jacob Treu was a teacher in Unterbergen. Twenty-five years he worked there! The beginning had been difficult. He was not one of those people who take hearts by storm. His outward appearance alone looked anything but eager or fit for conquest. Small of stature, somewhat stooped shoulders, shaggy hair falling long down his neck, broad, clumsy hands, a blunt nose — these were not battle-ready troops for an assault on hearts. It is understandable, then, that at first he had rather a hard time with the big Unterbergen girls and boys. And as if to make his disadvantage complete, his predecessor had been a man unsurpassed in stateliness and good looks, a true model of a man, for which reason he had soon thought himself too good for the remote place and had set his sights on the city. Naturally he got in without difficulty; for in the city people know how to appreciate a fine figure of a man. And now this dwarf of a headmaster! Surely one need not obey him! We are bigger than he is! It would have been up to the parents to instill in their offspring a sense for a different standard. But they too lacked enthusiasm for the new teacher; for he was shy, quiet, withdrawn, and even the village gentry, foremost among them the innkeeper, never once saw him at the evening gathering.

So he had to wage his struggle alone. And he waged it in his own way, without shouting and without blows, with a quiet but firm manner. With constant steadiness he exerted pressure against disorder and idleness. In his free hours he perfected his method through faithful preparation and follow-up. His teaching was a model of clarity and intelligibility. In this way he laboriously won ground, step by step. After three years he possessed firm authority in his little realm. Everything ran as quietly and regularly as clockwork. His influence had a good, formative effect on the children. One noticed it already in their greetings on the street. Only one thing he lacked: the gift of shining. He was no orator; his examinations lacked the charm, the delight to eye and ear, that which makes women praise a man. They said no more of him than, at most: "Oh yes, he really is quite a good teacher!" But if the women do not speak of him, who would?

So one year passed after another in steady, quiet work. He was content among his children and in his little garden. No one paid him any particular notice. There was not much to say about the school. Everything went its accustomed, straight course. Nothing striking or unheard-of occurred, except that the teacher had once become engaged to a childhood friend from his home town, and she died a week before the appointed wedding day. With the same faithfulness as before he worked on with the children of the school. Hardly anyone noticed that he grew paler and paler and more wasted.

Then the people of Unterbergen learned that their neighbors, the people of Oberberg, intended to celebrate the twenty-five years' work of their headmaster with a jubilee. Now, had not Jacob Treu moved in at the very same time as the neighboring teacher? So it was. And were we to fall behind the Oberbergers? Never! We too will give our teacher a jubilee. They intend to give a gold watch with chain. We too will give a gold watch with chain! So it was settled. A collection was taken. The gold watch with chain was procured. The celebration was to take place on the evening of the examination. The president of the school board had for some time been walking about pensive and stooped; for he was working on his jubilee speech.

Paler than usual, teacher Treu sat at his desk during the examination. His weak, often barely audible voice stood out oddly against the loud, lively answers of the pupils. The adults, however, paid it little particular attention, for they had just seen the gold watch with chain, and everyone was eager to hear what the president, the farmer, would say in his speech. And the children were already used to it. Only here and there did something moist mingle in a girl's eyes when she hung on the teacher's lips.

In the evening people came to the schoolhouse at the appointed hour to hold the jubilee. They gathered in the schoolroom, which was soon filled. Only the teacher was still missing. He had indeed been invited. He had indeed been told that it was in his honor! And now he did not come. At last the president set out to fetch him from his lodging. Soon he came back, alone, pale as death: "The teacher is dead!" A single cry of anguish rose from the crowd of children. The people pressed over to the teacher's lodging. There he lay in a pool of blood. A hemorrhage had suddenly carried him off after today's great exertion.

On the little table lay a written sheet of paper. On it the teacher had set down the notes for his speech of thanks. With trembling hand the president took the sheet; with trembling voice he read it aloud. At the close it said: "My dear friends! I thank you for your good will toward me. I will be open: it has often seemed to me as though I were laboring at an ungrateful