Heinrich Freidrick Mellenbruch was born in New Bremen, Ohio, in 1838. His family moved to Jackson County, Indiana, when he was about nine years old. As a young man he taught school. He fought and was wounded in the Civil War in 1862. He married Sophia Dorothea Maria (Mary) Meyer three years later. She was born in Hanover, Germany in 1838. After they started a family, they moved to a farm Brown County, Kansas, in 1872. They raised nine children: Louis, Henry, Thomas, William, Anna, Sophia, Fred, John, and George. In the months before the death of H.F. Mellenbruch, he composed a letter to his children summarizing his advice on quality living and suggesting his family hold an annual reunion. The reunion was first held in the fall of his death (1898) and has been held each year since.
My Dear Children,
I feel that my strength is failing and my days on earth shall soon be numbered. I have no dread of the future, for I fully trust in my Savior and my God. He has helped me through all my trials and troubles and He will be your refuge too, forsake Him not.
I cannot leave you each a fortune in dollars and cents but my tenderest love reaches out to you in prayerful solicitude for your temporal and eternal welfare. If you love me, and revere my memory, then give heed to the following earnest advice:
1. Love one another. Remember the love that your father and mother had for each of you.
2. Be forgiving, one toward another. Remember you are all human; bear with each other's shortcomings, do not scold one that errs, but rather plead, yes, go to the erring and plead. Do not whet a silent anger. It saps the fountain of life.
3. Be of a liberal mind. When a misunderstanding occurs, be always willing to give way or meet the other more than halfway.
4. Beware of things new and untried. You cannot afford to experiment thus. To try new experiments often brings failure, discouragement and unhappiness. So, as a rule, hold to the tired and proven in business methods, as well as in your friendships. Be as sure as you possibly can be that you are in the right, then steadily and calmly go ahead.
5. Forsake not our dear church. Let your anxious care extend to our spiritual children that are there born into Christ’s Kingdom. Let no mistaken endearments outside or ill felling inside, tempt you to grow cold in visiting the sanctuary of God. Be kind and courteous to outsiders but beware of snares.
6. Evil days will come. Be not discouraged; trust in God and do your duty; although at times you may seem forsaken, all will be well in the end.
7. Make you each a copy of this last advice and read it at least once a year. I recommend that you have a family reunion once a year, say on Thanksgiving Day, and read it there in memory of Your Loving Father, -- H.F. Mellenbruch
Posted
by Nathan Krämer
on 6/17/2012
Orpheus
Orpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music; his attempt to retrieve his wife, Eurydice, from the underworld; and his death at the hands of those who could not hear his divine music.
In February 1994 Peter Phillips and the Tallis Scholars performed on the 400th anniversary of the death of Palestrina in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, where Palestrina had trained as a choirboy and later worked as Maestro di Cappella.
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Palestrina
Posted
by Nathan Krämer
on 5/18/2012
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (also known as The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel for the Elderly and Beautiful) is a 2012 British comedy-drama directed by John Madden and written by Ol Parker. Based on the 2004 novel, These Foolish Things, by Deborah Moggach, the film features an ensemble cast, with Judi Dench, Celia Imrie, Bill Nighy, Ronald Pickup, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson and Penelope Wilton, as a group of British retirees staying in an ancient retirement hotel in India.
