# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1853 10 11_S29
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

29

entered, warned, like a great saint who does no work on Sunday, the mother of the child who afterwards drowned, who intended to go into the woods and pick berries, that she should not do such work on Sunday. But the woman, driven no doubt by want, did as she had intended; she went into the woods and picked berries. And when she came home she found this scene of misery, her child drowned and the relatives seized with the deepest grief over this sad occurrence. On the same day the Methodists carried the news of the sad event up to Bethany, and cried: "This comes of the false doctrine of these white people; the people are not rightly instructed in the keeping of the Sabbath." That is their theme year in and year out. Now, it was not a matter of indifference to me that the sad event had happened under these circumstances, and that the Methodists had gained such a plausible right to these blasphemies; yet I committed the matter to the Lord and left it to Him to care for the outcome. But now something else came in addition. For the report went around that the two oldest women named above had gotten drunk in Saginaw. What wonder that this too was laid to our charge. It should be remarked, however, that precisely the one who first let herself be led into drinking (by the chief from Sibiwaing, whom she met in Saginaw) belongs, or at least formerly belonged, to the Methodists. It happens now and then that individuals among our Christians succumb once again to the temptation to drunkenness that so often comes upon them, and thereby show how hard it is to deny the sinful nature entirely and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this world. But the Methodists do not consider this, among whom still more horrid vices are in vogue.

Concordia College near St. Louis, Mo.

Among the dear readers of the Lutheraner there is surely many a one who, with warm interest in the above-named institution, which he has perhaps already proved by deed, yet has little knowledge of it. Likewise there are among the dear readers of the Lutheraner perhaps some who, if the institution were only better known to them, would gladly entrust their sons or wards to it for education. For these especially the following account has been written.

In the name of the institution the word College is taken in a wider sense than it is usually taken. For it properly means a learned institution consisting of 4 classes, which, as regards subjects of instruction, attainments, and age of the pupils, correspond about to the four highest classes of the gymnasia in Germany. But our institution comprises a theological seminary and a gymnasium, and so, in the latter, a college in the narrower sense and still lower classes.

For those readers who have not yet been in this region, we will describe the locality in a few words. The Mississippi flows, as is well known, in a southerly direction. On the right, that is, the western bank, lies St. Louis. The ground on which the city is built rises gradually from the river both in a westerly and in a southerly direction, until after reaching some height it continues as a broken or undulating plain. One (English) mile south of the city, on a hill, lies the College building. As is well known, only the two wings have been erected so far. These are two large brick buildings, two stories high with a ground floor (basement) and attic rooms. They lie with their fronts toward the east and leave space between them for the central building. In front of them the broad Jefferson Avenue, which runs from north to south, passes by. Behind them are the yard, gardens, and playground of the institution. The ground belonging to the College amounts to two acres. Almost all the neighbors are larger landowners, some of whom have already furnished their residences quite beautifully. Especially many peach trees have been planted in the gardens round about, which in spring, when they are covered all over with red blossoms, afford a splendid sight. From the situation of the College the reader can already conclude that its inhabitants always have fresh air and a wide prospect, and so it is. Even in the hottest season of the year a gentle, cooling breeze always blows, and the prospect is not only wide but also beautiful. In the northeast, over the Commons, covered in the good season with grazing cattle, the church towers of the city of St. Louis appear; in the east, behind orchards, the handsome Marine Hospital rises up; in the south, where a small ravine runs down to the Mississippi, one perceives on the height opposite the College red and white country houses in gardens, the broad road to Carondelet extending between them, and through the ravine the surface of the Mississippi, where steamboats often glide past with their black and white clouds trailing behind; the view is bounded in this direction already, in blue distance, by the bluffs in the neighboring state of Illinois, stretching along the Mississippi. The west presents a wide plain, here and there dotted with farms and bounded at the horizon by woods. In the northwest one sees the God's acre of the Evangelical Lutheran congregation of St. Louis, with its graves and grave markers under young trees, and near enough that one can hear the devout singing of the friends who bury their loved ones in the earth.

The wing first built is now occupied by the teachers with their families. The northern wing, completed last year, is taken by the pupils and the steward. Its interior arrangement is as follows.

By means of middle corridors (passages) the ground floor, as well as the two stories and the attic space, are divided into two halves. On the ground floor the southern half is divided into two rooms, of which one serves as kitchen, the other as living room of the steward; the northern half is the dining hall of the pupils. On the lower story the southern half is likewise divided into two rooms; the front one is the classroom and study room of the pupils of the theological seminary, the rear one the library; the northern half is the classroom and study room of the pupils of the gymnasium. On the second story both halves are undivided and serve as dormitories. The southern attic room is designated for a sick room; the northern serves as classroom and study room for the older pupils of the gymnasium. The rooms in the stories are 11 feet high and sufficiently provided with large windows, the northern halves each with two windows on the east, on the north, and on the west. On the rear sides of the two wings wide porticoes are attached to both stories.

It may perhaps interest the reader to take a look into the interior of the building. In the classroom and study room of the gymnasium students there now stand 9 long tables, all set from the windows toward the interior of the room, around which the pupils sit on benches, three or four at a table. On the fourth, inner side of the room stand book repositories in which the pupils keep their books. In the dormitories there stand along the walls nothing but single beds, one high and one low, so that the low ones can be pushed under the high ones during the day.

The days pass, to be sure, mostly uniformly, but quickly and happily. The day's work is regulated by a clock in the new wing and a bell sounding far and wide in the yard. At 5 o'clock in the morning the latter gives the signal for rising to those whom it does not find already at work. Fifteen minutes later common morning devotion is held in the large classroom under the direction of one of the teachers. At half past six breakfast is eaten, and then work begins. At a quarter to nine the bell gives the signal to prepare for the morning lessons, which begin at nine and last until 12 o'clock. After twelve dinner is eaten and the pupils have free time until two. Five minutes before, the bell is rung again and the afternoon lessons begin, which last until five o'clock. From then until half past seven is free; at half past six supper is eaten. At half past seven the bell gives the signal to go to work once more, and at a quarter to nine it calls to evening worship, which is again held in the presence of a teacher, and after which the younger pupils retire to rest. During the hours of work the younger pupils of the gymnasium are always by a pupil of the seminary