Published in the interest of the best in the religious, social, and economic phases of Mennonite culture INDEX 1946-1955 This issue contains a complete index of the first ten years of Mennon­ ite Life. This should prove helpful in locating information regarding per­ sons, congregations, communities, countries and other subject matter deal­ ing with the Mennonites, treated in the issues 1946-1955. (See page 33). Most of the back issues of Mennonite Life are still available at the regular subscription rate. Mennonite Life is available in a series of bound volumes as follows: 1. Volume I-III (1946-48) $6 2. Volume 1V-V (1949-50) $5 3. Volume VI-VII (1951-52) $5 4. Volume VI1I-1X (1953-54) $5 If ordered directly from Mennonite Life all four volumes are available at $18. Back Issues Wanted! Our supply of the first issue of Mennonite Life, January 1946, and January 1948, is nearly exhausted. We would appreciate it if you could send us your copies. For both copies we would extend your subscription for one year. Address all correspondence to Mennonite Life North Newton, Kansas Cdver Load of hard wood logs. Main«». Photography: United States Forest Service. MENNONITE LIFE An Illustrated Quarterly EDITOR Cornelius Krahn ASSISTANT TO THE EDITOR •John F. Schmidt ASSOCIATE EDITORS Harold S. Bender Robert Kreider J. Winfield Fretz S. F. Pannabecker Melvin Gingericn J. G. Rempel N. van der Zijpp Vol. XI January, 1956 No. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Contributors ----------- - 2 The Gospel Herald --------- Jacob Sudermann 3 Definition ----------- Jacob Sudermann 3 When Love Stepped Down -------- - Harold Bidler 3 Concert of the Angels -------- Daniel Wohlgemuth 4 Old Books from a Musty Corner ------ - - - _ 4_5 Peace on the Molotschna - - - - - - - - Johann H. Janzen 6 From the Rodolphe Petter Collection ------ - 6-7 Relief Workers after World War I ------ - 8 Memorial — Denkschrift -------- - 8-9 Mennonite Singers on Adventurous Choir Trip - H. A. Fast 10 A Christian Community Is Born ------- - Bernhard Bargen 13 Mennonites and Whaling -------- - 17 A Transplanted Witmarsum ------- J. S. Postma 19 The Story of a Mill - - - - - - - Ida Plank Yoder 21 In the California Gold Rush ------- Cornelius J. Dyck 25 Progress through Study Conferences ------ J. W. Fretz 28 Why I Am a Mennonite -------- - Wm. Yake 30 Some Publications on Anabaptist-Mennonites, 1955 - Cornelius Krahn 31 Books in Review - H. J. Stucky, Mrs. P. S. Goertz, J. W. Fretz, Cornelius Krahn 32 Index: 1946-55. Ten Years of Mennonite Life - - 33 Mennonite Life Dinner 1955 ------- Inside Back Cover Readers’ Response to Tenth Anniversary ----- Inside Back Cover Index: 1946-1955. See pages 33-48 in this issue. Mennonite Life is an illustrated Quarterly magazine published in January, April. July and October by Bethel College, North Newton, Kansas. Entered as second-class matter December 20, 19-10, at the post office at North Newton, Kansas, under the Act of March ’ 3,' 1S79 Contnibuton& L a t k l & Ü 4 4 u e (From left to right) CORNELIUS KRAHN, director of Bethel College Historical Library and editor of M ennonife Life. IDA PLANK YODER, homemaker and writer, Newton, Kansas, member of Kansas Author's Club, writes for many journals. BERNHARD BARGEN teaches Business, Bethel College, spent three weeks at Woodcrest Bruderhof, New York. J. W. FRETZ, professor of Sociology, Bethel College, and assistant editor of Mennonife Life. CORNELIUS J. DYCK, University of Chicago, former relief worker, and pastor of Zion Mennonite Church, Elbing, Kansas. H. A. FAST, director of public service and professor of Bible, made the arrangements for the choir tour. IACOB SUDERMANN teaches German, University of Indiana, and writes for various Mennonite periodicals. NOT SHOWN HAROLD BULLER, pastor of Bethel College Mennonite Church, was M.C.C. relief worker in Berlin and other places. I. S. POSTMA, minister and educator, formerly The Netherlands, Paraguay, now Witmarsum, Brazil. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Photos, p. 5, McCormick-Armstrong; p. 7, Wichita Eagle; p. 11, German Tourist Information Office; p. 16 Arox Photo Studio; inside back cover, Mennonite Weekly Review. MARTIN LUTHER FILM now available through Mennonite Life. For complete information on showing of this outstanding 103-minute film write to Mennonife Life, North Newton, Kansas. MENNONITE LIFE AGENTS Ready to serve you EASTERN USA Mennonite Book Concern Country Store D. W. Friesen & Sons Berne, Indiana Meade, Kansas Altona, Manitoba Friendly Book Store Quakertown, Pa. Mongomery News Stand The Bargain Book Shop Evangel Book Shop Bluffton, Ohio Rccdlcy, Calif. Steinbach, Mnnitoba Herald Bookstore CANADIAN Mennonite Book Store Soudcrton, Pennsylvania Eitzen Book and Gift Store Rosthcrn, Sask. Mountain Lake, Minnesota Golden Rule Bookstore Weaver Book Store 1S7 King St. East J. A. Friesen & Sons 1320 G. St. The Bookshop Kitchener, Ontario Hague, Sask. Lancaster, Pa. Freeman, South Dakota Peter H. Dirks Printshop Christian Book Store A. P. Rntzlaff Virgil Ontario Clear Brook R.R. 1 CENTRAL AND WESTERN Henderson, Ncbr. A bbotsford, B. C. G. D. W oelk Gospel Book Store Mennonite Brethren Pub. House Leamington, Ont. EUROPEAN Goshen, Indiana Hillsboro, Kansas The Christian Press Mennonitengemeindc Goshen College Book Store Crossroads Co-op 137 Kelvin St. Suedwnll 11) Goshen, Indiana Gocssel, Kansas Winnipeg, Manitoba Krefeld, U. S. Zone, Germany Annual subscriptions S2.00; Single copies 50 cents; Bound volumes S5.00 (two years in each). Printed by The Herald Bool; & Printing Co., Newton, Kansas Jlim tts We have fastened on its warm breast (Elfe d>nsprl ülcralü Convulsively, tenaciously By JACOB SUDERMANN Waiting for the new flow, Waiting so long! A crier A cry in the wilderness! He conies, Why in the wildernessf Hallelujah, He comes! Why in the desolate placesf In the dry valleys, To be heard: Locked in dry silence To beat against no barriers The dry bones stir, Of sound, The cactus buds, To take wing in all directions, The Trumpeter sounds To find the listening ears The day of incorruption. Cupped for the word of life— Drowned out long since, Drowned in the sonorous Diapason of death. But the cry, The voice filters through: Heffmftmt Make straight, By JACOB SUDERMANN Make straight The way of the Lord! And this is death: Compassion’s Jesus fingers We have waited so long retying deft the severed Standing in the withering blast; cord of birth; a drifting We are dried shapes out of petulant turbulence Clinging like sere leaves like patterned, frosted flake To life’s source, into a landscape blanketed Held by slender stems with breathing peace; No longer succulent, where all the facefull angularities Shrunken, clinging. of life are symphonized in one closed, infinite While faith wrestles reason, cathedral keep, and Love grows cold, shafting, prismatic colors Still, hope springs eternal! focus on a throne of healing light. U U f y e tt i & t n t g 5 3 o u m By HAROLD BULLER In cowering fear the shadowy forms of men The Eye of God beheld. Bent low to hide The Heart of Heaven wept. For night was here. The Hand of Hope reached forth From out each stricken heart To plant the Star of Morn, There poured the tide of doubt And from its palm there flowed the dawn. That rose, with dark intent, Then Love stepped to the earth To kill. And Christ was born. JANUARY 1956 (Concert of tl7ß Angels. — Sugelkonsert. By Daniel Whlgemuth, Gundersheim, Kr. Worms, Germany This well-known artist whose art has been featured in Mennonife Life (Jan. 1954), presents a Puttenbild. A num ber of paintings of this type of art have been added to the D. Wohlgemuth Collection which is on display in the Bethel College Historical Library. On April 17, 1956, Daniel Wohlgemuth will observe his 80th birthday for which occasion his biography and some 25 of his best paintings and works of art will be reproduced in book form. This souvenir can be obtained for S3 through M ennonife Life. («Dlö Honks from a üföixstij Corner A glimpse into the vault of the Bethel College Histori­ to the plains of America. One copy has already reached cal Library takes one, as it v/ere by means of a magic the library through the courtesy of missionary Alfred Wiebe. carpet, into ancient times. We see books printed and used On this picture we see, in the center, one of the largest some three to four hundred years ago. Some are Bibles books, with a torn back. It is nearly three hundred years which were published in the days of the Reformation in old and has been used much, as can be seen. The covers Switzerland or in the Low Countries and used particularly consist of leather-covered oak boards, and the binding is by the early Anabaptists so that they became known as excellent. This is one of the earliest Dutch editions of the "Anabaptist Bibles." There is, for example, the Froschauer Martyr's Mirror, relating the story of suffering and cour­ Bible of Ziirich with the date on it ” 1536." It w as brought age, faith and martyrdom of the sixteenth century Ana­ along by the Swiss Mennonites who came to this country baptists. The excellent illustrations by Jan Luiken alone some one hundred to two hundred years ago, and has make this a very valuable item. Formerly this book was since found its way into the Historical Library. Or there is the so-called Biestkens Bible which originated at about second to the Bible in many Mennonite homes; today ihe same time in the Low Countries and which was in use there is almost a complete unawareness of this former among the Dutch speaking Mennonites. Biestkens printed classic in devotional .^Literature, Should it not be possible many editions for them. Some copies were taken from to prepare and distribute a popular small illustrated Holland to Prussia, from Prussia to Russia and from Russia edition of it with success? A.