Horst Weber

The Reverend Horst Weber sat in his study preparing his sermon for the coming week. His sermons were encouraging. He was proud of his Bohemian religious background and shunned the itinerant self-appointed pastors who descended on a village in those days preaching hellfire and brimstone and moved on to the next village after accepting the offerings of those fearful for their future afterlife if they didn’t send the preacher on his way well rewarded for his time with them.

His ancestors had migrated to America in the late seventeen hundreds to escape persecution from those who accepted the cold orthodoxy of a corporate Christianity that demanded obedience to the leaders of the church and their rules rather than the tenants of sacred writings Horst valued more than his life. He felt the words of scripture promoted love and peace and prevented crime of all kinds, so he put his heart and soul into his sermons and regular visits to the members of this village.

Offerings collected each week certainly didn’t promote a grand lifestyle for he and his family, but the house was provided free by the citizens of New Haven when they observed this minister came to town content to live among them in a tent which was large enough to serve as a meeting place on the day of rest too. It was plain he intended to remain to serve them. There’d been a hasty meeting of the men, and a site had been chosen to build a house and church which all in the village gladly contributed to with money and their own building efforts. When it became apparent the village was building these structures for Horst and his family and for a place of worship he was moved to tears and joined in the construction of the church. He was an experienced builder and from that point on villagers consulted with him on any building project.

Horst and his wife Clara visited regularly the homes of villagers accompanied by  their two children, Ella and Waldo. If there was sickness in the village Clara would spend all night using basic medical skills, she’d had passed on to her by her ancestors to try and bring each sick person back to health and she was passing on these skills to her daughter Ella. Horst would be out with those on rural properties who were shorthanded at harvest time helping with the harvest or helping with the construction of barns. The pastor and his wife were loved and respected by every member of New Haven.

Horst was very straightforward with his opinions on what was right and wrong. Sometimes people he visited were offended when he put his finger on ways, he thought parents should be bringing up their children but while his visits were sometimes resented because of that villagers never lost their respect for the way he conducted his own family and his obvious interest in the welfare of each of the citizens of New Haven and the surrounding rural properties. He led by example not words only.

Horst was particularly exercised by whispers of what continuously went on in the Novac property. In his eyes Filip Novac was an agent of the devil who would eventually be confined to the fires of hell if he were not converted. The father is the head of the home, and he reasoned the children coming under that influence would be evil just like their father. Like father like sons the saying went, and he believed in that. He could not detect evil as he watched the Novac boys and their sister in church, but it had to be there.

He’d talked with some of the village leaders about a delegation of them going to visit Filip and labor for his soul hopefully converting him from his evil ways. The village leaders refused to accompany him to the Novac property as they valued their lives and strongly counselled their pastor not to attempt that because they needed him alive to share his insights and talents with them. The villagers were alarmed when they saw Horst was going to tackle Filip by himself and decided to use psychology on their pastor which they knew would get his attention. They reasoned that if we deliberately venture into satan’s ground then we will not be protected. This startled Horst and he was determined not to take that risk, thanking the villagers for their counsel. This was reinforced by the sheriff who paid him a visit and forbade him to go to the Novac property. Horst respected the law and that settled the matter.

Horst and his family had been permanent residents of New Haven for a long time now and he was finding it more difficult to handle work on rural properties at harvest time and climbing around scaffolding as they built barns and houses around town together with the rest of the village folk. His daughter Ella was now twenty and Martin Robinson’s son Simon had been accompanying her since school days with the pastor’s permission. The Robinsons were pillars of the community, and he felt quite comfortable if he were approached by Simon for her hand in marriage. But of course, it would be necessary for Horst to interrogate him first to see his soul was pure and give him instructions on the appropriate treatment of women. He was finding more resistance these days from the young men of the village contemplating marriage when he called them in for counselling before consenting to marry them. Some were preferring a civil wedding presided over by the sheriff rather than have the pastor forcing his ideas on them.

Waldo was now eighteen years of age and Horst had been instructing him in depth into the treasures of the scriptures he loved along with his secular schooling and learning a trade as he accompanied his father to harvests and building projects. Horst was proud of his son’s willingness to learn and take counsel and was considering which school to send him to for final training in the ministry. No doubt he’d find his way to some place far from New Haven and they’d likely never see him again, but Horst felt he’d done his duty to prepare his son for this noble calling as his father had taught him in turn.

Horst put his notes aside and stared out the window. The Novac children came back into his mind for attention. He’d noted while preaching his sermons each week for some time the interest being paid to young Helena Novac who was nineteen and of marriageable age. It was particularly evident in the picnics afterward when the mood was not so somber and young adults of the village felt freer to mingle together and get to know each other. The young men were vying for Helena’s attention and although Horst could not detect this young lady as flirtatious the fact was, she was one of the viper’s broods and he needed to ensure none of his flock were caught up with that brood. He felt sorry for the young Novac’s in a way, but evil must be kept at bay and the village on safe ground from his perspective, but sin should not be permitted to seep in through mingling with Filip’s viper brood. He’d need to counsel with parents if he saw any of his flock getting into a serious relationship with the Novac children.

He’d heard from casual conversations with his parishioners on visits he made each week that Martin Robinson was contemplating employing Helena as help for his wife who the doctor had diagnosed with incurable cancer. It was reported that Helena would occupy Lizzy Robinson’s room and look after Grace Robinson and cook for the men. He’d married Lizzy to Andy Vidler, and they’d departed the village to join Andy on his father’s ranch. It was bad enough that an unmarried young woman would be in a home with three men not of her family, but Helena was a Novac and Simon Robinson was courting his daughter Ella. He knew the Robinsons were upright and of the highest moral training, but it was not proper, and he’d have to talk with his daughter Ella and communicate with Simon, her father did not approve.

Ella was visiting the village with her mother but as soon as they returned, he’d call her and deliver his decision. If Helena moved to the Robinsons, then Ella would no longer be permitted to be with Simon. He was confident this would end the plan to have Helena in the home even if it were for a good purpose and the Robinsons would see the reason for this position. His wife and Ella could pay regular visits to the dying woman and the men would have to care for their meals as best they could.

When Ella returned home with her mother and was summonsed to a talk with her father, she hoped Simon had approached him for her hand in marriage. She loved Simon and imagined a happy marriage with him, but his delay in proposing made her impatient.  She was shocked at the purpose of this visit as her father expressed his firm position and directed her to visit Simon and pass it on.

Her first reaction was resentment towards her father as she knew Helena and was quite sure Helena was not an immoral person. She’d known of the plan to employ Helena to look after Grace Robinson and had thought nothing of it because she knew the Robinson family and understood they’d never think of taking advantage of her young friend. Now her father was making the whole innocent plan look sordid and she was angry. She went to her room to think as she knew Simon would be hurt by the implication, he was part of some sordid plan.

But as she sat in her room thinking of how to approach her true love, she suddenly realized that Helena, more beautiful than Ella, could be a threat to her happiness by being near the one she loved. Ella was not prepared to share him with anyone and her resentment slowly transferred to Martin Robinson, who up to this point of time she’d loved and respected as a future father-in-law. Ella loved grace too and thought perhaps she could be the one to move over to the Robinsons and care for Grace and cook for the family, but she knew her father would never permit that either. The more she thought of it the more Helena appeared to be a threat to her happiness, and she stormed out of the house and headed for the Robinson home to give Simon a choice. Helena in the home meant no more contact between them. Or Helena goes and they wed, and she’ll look after the family.

Reaching the Robinson home, she went inside as she customarily did without knocking to talk with Grace about it and was greeted by Helena who appeared from the kitchen taking food to Grace’s room. Helena greeted her warmly. They’d spent time together at church functions and were on good terms. Helena spoke.

“Hi Ella, nice to see you as usual and you always manage to cheer me up, but I suppose you’re looking for Simon and he’s in the workshop with Martin still but should be in for his evening meal soon.”

Ella managed to smile and nodded then turned to leave the house and find Simon at the workshop. This was going to be a disaster.

To be continued.

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