222
He shall care little for the good things of this world ;
If he stumbles, God shall uphold him ;
His sins shall be forgiven him ;
And, finally, God shall preserve him from the evil which may fall
from the heavens or rise from the earth.
Be generous to thy guest, for he cometh to thee with his good :
when he entereth in, he bringeth thee a blessing ; and when he de-
partcth, he carrieth away thy sins.
A Hallig preacher described to me his arrival in his parish much
as follows :
"My reception was very touching," said he, hardly able to repress
his tears. "How so, pastor ?" asked I. "Well, I came down the
geest (the mainland) with my wife, in a heavily-loaded waggon, for we
had, besides our clothing, many things that good friends here and
there had given us, to help our housekeeping on the Hallig. We
reached the shore a day later than we expected, and found the boat
that had been sent over for us lying by the dike. The poor people
had waited two days, and had uncomfortable quarters in the mean
time. They welcomed us, took our baggage on board, and we shoved
off. We soon approached a waste, treeless island, and I asked the
men if that was their Hallig. They took off their hats, and answered,
'Yes, pastor,' and I turned to my wife, and said, 'There, my child,
that is the island where we are to live !' When we landed on the
Hallig, we found the whole congregation assembled, men, women, and
the children too, which much affected me. 'Did some one of the
committee or the elders make a formal speech to you ?' asked I.
'Oh no, not that.' 'Did the women and girls sing a song of wel-
come ?' 'Oh, no ; these good people never sing but in church.' I
got out of the boat, helped my wife out, and said to them, 'Good
morning, my dear children ! I have brought you your pastor and
pastoress. God bless you !' 'Did the girls scatter flowers before you,
or bring you wreaths ?' 'Oh, no, they have no flowers.' The men all
came and pressed my hand in silence, and the women caressed us, and
