27th November:
The children, who had been longingly waiting for the day, began coming to school early. There were 17 of them. They are dear children, that really make one truly happy. I held school in the method mentioned. They paid attention in an exemplary fashion. The children fit into [the method] so very well that we could not be more surprised and happy. They were cheerful and full of life. The school began with noticeable blessing and continued in this way until my departure. The children can’t get enough. The parents said that when [the children] come home they relate with joy what they have heard and learned and in the night they have dreams about it.
28th & 29th November:
I let Br. Johann Schmidt hold school. He uses the method right well and relates very well with the children. In the afternoon I held [school]. It was a separate school. Something like this was so needed that the children had tears running from their eyes. We notice that the Savior is by and with us.
30th November:
Instead of afternoon school, we had a Singstunde [9] with the children so that they can learn to sing and might become familiar with a few tunes.
1st December:
There was no school today so that the Brethren and Sisters are free on Friday and the Sabbath [10] to visit their Brethren and Sisters in those little places where there are only a couple. About 1 o’clock in the afternoon the Communicant Brethren and Sisters gathered for whom with blessing I held the usual Quarter Hour Devotion. In the evening we received a visit from Johann and Daniel Heckedorn of Yorktown on the Catores [sic] [11] above the Susquehannah.
9. The familiar Moravian Singstunde, literally “hour of singing,” means “Singing Lesson”
10. 18th Century Moravians observed Saturday as “ the Sabbath” and Sunday as “the Lord’s Day”
11. i.e. York PA on the Codorus Creek a tributary of the Susquehanna River
Brother Bader's Diary
of his Journey and Visit to the Schools in the Country from
16th November 1752 to
28th February 1753
Translated by Pastor Roy Ledbetter
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