Page 103 - March On! God will Provide by Brother Aubert

82 cIFT oF GoLD
The colony had been the idea of a group of Germans
living in Phiiadelphia and Baltimore who had purchased
35,00"0 acres in tire hope of selling it to German emi-
grants. The Germans had come but they- had only the
irorrey needed to Pay their way on the ship,.and most
of thi:m were city-dwellers who know nothing- about
farming. They had nothing to tide them over the pio-
neering days.
A R"edeirptorist Father had arrived among- them -in
1843, and f,i ftaa succeeded in providing a church for
them at St. Mary's (Marienstadt). With him was a
Redemptorist Brother who taught school. With the
numbei o[ immigrants swelling to two thousand in a
few years, the school population had grown from thirty
to one hundred sixty-two.
Always attracted to the Germans, Ryken wanted to
find a piace in this colony but he was prudent-e-nough to
realize- that before he took any stelx he would have to
visit America and see the place. He assured the nuns
that he would act for them.
For some time this project was one of high hope and
then it was forgotten.
When the Mother Superior informed Ryken that two
o[ the young men were still interested in the Xaverian
Brothers, he sent her minute instruction on how they
could get from Rotterdam to Bruges in one day. They
were to leave Rotterdam at 4:30 a.m. on the Van Gent
stage coach for Antwerp in time to catch the last train
for Bruges.
"shortly before arriving in Antwerp they must
ask the driver where they get ofi to get the train.
They must take another direction and not to go
into the city. Arriving at the depot, they will ask
for two places on the train for Bruges, each costing