# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1854 08 15_S204
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

204

ful (geography, universal history and natural history). — — —

2. The second question in a schedule of hours is this: "how are those subjects mentioned to be arranged according to the various classes and daily hours of instruction?"

Every teacher will indeed go his own way in this; yet the following may be taken as an attempt how a schedule of hours might be arranged.

Some subject that is taught must furnish the standard by which to divide the pupils into classes. Proficiency in reading seems to me the most suitable for it. And proceeding from this point of view, three classes would result, namely thus: that to the first class would belong those pupils who can read correctly and fluently — to the second those who do not yet read fluently — and to the third, who cannot do either as yet. The rest will appear from the following table.

Monday. From 9 to 10¼ o'clock:

Morning devotion. Thereupon religious instruction according to Luther's Small Catechism.

From 10¼ to 11 o'clock:

Bible reading for the first, and writing exercise for the second and third class.

Note. After the reading the teacher has the main contents of what was read related to him; he proceeds likewise with the second class, in that he questions them on the history read.

From 11 to 12 o'clock:

In the first half, mental arithmetic for the first and second class, and spelling for the third; in the second half, instruction in singing.

From 1 to 2 o'clock:

Writing exercise for the first, history reading for the second, and spelling for the third class.

Note. If one does not get through with the third class, one must continue with it in the following hour.

From 2 to 3 o'clock:

Slate arithmetic for all pupils.

From 3 to 4 o'clock:

English, combined with German language instruction. At the close, prayer.

Note. The third class learns by heart for each day a small piece of the catechism or a short Bible verse, which is recited immediately after the reading.

Tuesday. The same order as on the day before.

Wednesday. From 9 to 10½ o'clock:

Morning devotion. Thereupon biblical history according to Hübner's Historien, combined with the reading of the same for the first and second class.

From 10½ to 11½ o'clock:

Written German language exercises for the first, penmanship for the second, and reading for the third class.

From 11½ to 12 o'clock:

Continuation for the first, and recitation for the second and third class.

From 1 to 2 o'clock:

Slate arithmetic for the first and second class, reading for the third.

From 2 to 3 o'clock:

The generally useful for all.

From 3 to 4 o'clock:

English reading and language exercises. At the close, prayer.

Thursday. The same order and the same subjects as on Monday and Tuesday; only in the second hour of the forenoon, for the first class, the reading of a hymn in the hymnal.

Friday. In the forenoon the same order as on Wednesday; in the hour of biblical history only the change that the first class does not read. In the afternoon the first two hours as on Wednesday. In the third hour the corrected German exercises are given back and new ones assigned. The first class then recites its lesson learned by heart. Then, as preparation for Sunday, the Sunday Epistle and the Gospel are read by the first class. At the close: prayer.

B.

Address

Delivered at the Grave of the Late Pastor Eißfeldt.

A few hours before the burial of the late brother, the writer of this was commissioned by the Synod to speak a few words at his grave, and afterward to communicate what was spoken through the "Lutheraner" also to the synodical members who were not present. Only for this reason do we hereby communicate this address, written under great inward heartache and bodily exhaustion, as it was delivered.

* * *

LORD JESUS Christ, who hast called me through my brethren to speak at the grave of a beloved friend and brother, with whom I but a short time ago, in close union, drank from the fountain of Thy eternal truth, I beseech Thee, give me grace and strength to speak words of edification, that this place of death and corruption may become a place of life, a place where Thou comest to us and blessest us. Hear us for Thine own sake. Amen.

Beloved in Christ on every side, mourning hearers!

"Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour"—so must we exclaim at this grave with the holy Prophet. For alas! whose is the mortal frame which this grave is about to receive? — It is the frame of a man whom, far from the circle of his dear ones, death has swiftly and suddenly overtaken in the bloom of his years; for whose speedy return the wife, joined to him only some few months, now waits in vain, who now, instead of embracing the beloved with tears of joy and pressing him to her heart, receives the heart-rending tidings of his death. It is the frame of a father, through whose death a little child becomes an orphan before it has seen the light of the world. It is the frame of a grateful son, whose aged, godly mother sees with it the joy, hope and crown of her much-tried old age sink into the grave. It is the frame of a faithful, loving brother and friend, whose death makes the whole world ever emptier, darker and more desolate to a whole circle of friends and brethren. Alas! it is the frame of a young servant of the Church, who, equipped with the most glorious gifts of spirit and heart, full of fidelity and zeal, full of humility and strength of faith, promised to become a champion of the Church, now so beset and orphaned; who not yet a year ago over yonder *) prepared himself for the holy office and now, returned, has found his grave here, to rest therein already from his short labor until the day of the resurrection.

*) A few steps from the local parish burying-ground lie the college buildings, which could therefore be seen from the grave.

With tears we look into his grave as into a depth without ground, and our heart says: God, God, why hast thou done this to us? Yea, "verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, Thou God of Israel!" Yet, dear brethren, as certainly as we must sighing exclaim this with the Prophet Isaiah (45, 15), so confidently must we also, at this grave, add: "the Saviour." For however hidden the works of God on earth may ever be, He always lets some rays of His light shine forth for us from His Word, and however incomprehensible and unsearchable His ways and judgments may be, in them all He reveals Himself to us withal as a "Saviour," who seeks our salvation and even out of the silent grave speaks loudly to us.

So let us now, before we commit the earthly remains of the dear departed to the bosom of the earth, consider:

What does God preach to us from the grave of our suddenly departed young fellow-servant and fellow-brother? and indeed:

1. what does God preach first to us, as the fellow-servants, and

2. what does God preach to all those present, as the brethren of the same?—

If we, dear hearers, approach this grave with the light of God's Word, we see that it is threefold what God the LORD preaches first to us, the fellow-servants of the departed, from his grave: 1. Acknowledge your sin and repent! 2. I have no need of you! and 3. Become more faithful in the administration of the office which is committed to you.