Читать книгу Mennonites in the World War: Non-Resistance Under Test - Jonas Smucker Hartzler - Страница 29

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While government was in need of good meats for the army, many of these prosperous farmers had fat cattle and were offered very high prices for them but were not willing to accept continental money because it had depreciated so much and no one knew how soon it might be absolutely worthless. Not any one of these things was responsible for the feelings against the Mennonites, but all of them together. Mobs took away horses and cattle with seemingly no intent of ever returning them, and in many cases never did. Another condition which meant loss and suffering was, that some of the bat tles were fought in Mennonite communities. Smith's "The Mennonites of America" says, "The little stone church at Germantown which had been built just a few years before occupied the very center of the battle-field in the battle of Germantown. The winter quarters at Valley Forge, made famous be cause of the intense hardships endured by the Amer ican troops, was in a Mennonite community. Some Mennonites were compelled to do hauling for the army during that time. The adage that trials nev er come single handed seemed to be verified a- mong the Mennonites in Southeastern Pennsylvania, but as is always the case, those who bore them in the right way and with the right spirit were made the better for them. They drove the victims closer to Him who bears our griefs and carries our sor rows, and who promised, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. "