Page:Historical and biographical sketches.djvu/188

184 great misery, and we brought them into the city. Then we said to our imprisoned brethren: The soldiers shall not get you out of here again easily, for if they use force, we will complain to our magistrates. This, however, did not happen. They went about in freedom, and we remained with them and witnessed all the manifestations of love and friendship with the greatest joy. We spent the time together delightfully, and after they were entirely refreshed, they the next day departed, though they moved with difficulty, because stiffened from their long imprisonment. I went with them for an hour and a half beyond the city, and there we, with weeping eyes and swelling hearts, embraced each other, and with a kiss of peace separated. They returned to the Palatinate to seek their wives and children, who are scattered everywhere in Switzerland, in Alsace, and in the Palatinate, and they know not where they are to be found. They were very patient and cheerful under oppression, though all their worldly goods were taken away. Among them were a preacher and two deacons. They were naturally very rugged people, who could endure hardships; they wore long and unshaven beards, disordered clothing, great shoes, which were heavily hammered with iron and large nails; they were very zealous to serve God with prayer and reading and in other ways, and very innocent in all their doings as lambs and doves. They asked me in what way the community was governed. I explained it to them, and it pleased them very much. But we could hardly talk with them, because, as they lived in the mountains