Page 147 - The Diary of A. H. W. Behrens

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1883
So I had a full workload as missionary, a house, even a farm and so I could confidently look forward to establishing a household in 1883. In November, my bride arrived with the young missionaries and on 13 December 1883 my wedding took place in Bethanie. We had little furniture, but a poet
once said, “Space there is enough even in the smallest hut for
a happy loving couple,” and we coped! Ernst Penzhorn and August Behrens were my bestmen and the sisters were the bridesmaids of my bride. My Lisbeth arrived on ox wagons together with others, von Reiches in Natal, where she had stayed for a few months until it had rained and there was enough grass for the oxen on the way.
Father had again given me a young riding horse as a gift.
It was called Hassan and it served me for many years. On horseback I rode to far-off sermon places and every now and again also to the farm to give instructions because I had neither a wagon nor oxen nor a cart. I always had to borrow these. As a married man I got a salary of ₤ 5 per month, father about ₤ 7. Wickert had been sent to Mahanaim and Pastor Hoyer
had the seminary in Bethanie. He was Missionary Otte’s
Supt. Vorweser’s spy and he found something wrong with every missionary, reported to Otte and wrote to magazines
in Germany, also to Pastor Wyneken and to the Hannover Mission Paper, they believed everything and published everything. It was a scandal.