Page 169 - March On! God will Provide by Brother Aubert

Chapter 25

PIONEERING IN LOUISVILLE

/Tlm "INoreNe" REACHED Nnw Yonr Crrv on Tuesday,
August first. The voyage must have been "just an-
..1-
other routine crossing." Brother Ignatius l\{elis, one of
those involved, was so unimpressed that he felt he had
done his duty to posterity when he ended his account
of "the early days" by simply stating that the "Indiana"
sailed from Le Havre on July 15, 1854.
According to Brother Stephen Sommer's brief sketch,
"Little Reminiscences of Our Congregation in America,"
the pioneers-and he was reporting secondhand-spent
several days visiting friends in New York. The most
talked about incident involved the Superior, Brother
Paul, and it was always good for a laugh: "The weather
was exceedingly hot," wrote impish Brother Stephen.
"Brother Paul was standing on some street waiting for
the Founder. He stood his post even when the glued-on
rim of his bowler hat, purchased especially for use in
America, became unglued and falling down over his
ears came to rest on his shoulders."
Specific details on the families visited are lacking but
there was one home that Brother Ryken did not miss,
that of Mr. and Mrs. Ross on Clinton Street near Grand,
a block away from the Bowery. He had sent word of
his coming, promising to drop in {or one more sample
of Mrs. Ross's excellent cake which he hoped to wash
down with a glass of warm wine. He was thinking back
to the days when he lived and worked in New York City
and when the Rosses made him welcome.
It was perhaps from the Rosses that he found out that