“It
was on December 1 when we had the court case in Morden, and I
had to say good-bye that morning to my children and my pupils
in Bergfeld. I loved my students very, very much. They were so
dear to my heart, I have a whole box of letters that they sent
me; and so I thought, what will I say to my students; I did not
know when I was coming back, so I said to them that morning, I
said “Let not your hearts be troubled; we believe in God, believe
also in me.” And that was the last time that I was a public school
teacher.”
“I
was sentenced to Headingly for 12 months, and I tell you things
were hard. Especially when in Morden, when the police… said I
should be six feet under the ground. And you know it is something
to be handcuffed. And I remember spending my first night in prison
with three other people in Morden, and then we were brought to
Winnipeg, and then to be handcuffed, taken to prison. I just want
to tell you that experience as a radical was very, very hard.”
“I
served in Headingly, and later on in Brandon, and one thing I
want to say is this, that I got to know my Bible, and to study
it there in prison, is something. Not only that, but I had to
change from the German to the English. There are many, many blessed
times that we had in prison, where the Lord was so near to us,
and he had helped us. I also want to tell you that it is very
hard to stand at three or four o'clock in the morning by the bars,
and to examine your life, and all the thoughts that come, Lord,
how it is.”
“But
I want to put in a plug for our government. I love our government,
I love Canada, and you know, when I think of how well our government
treated us, it is just tremendous. I want to tell you, in Brandon,
those of you who went to camp; some of those people said, “Look,
my son is a the front line, and here they are sending these people
to a holiday resort!” And there is the alternative; and so I just
want to tell you that, as far as my stance is concerned, as with
Florence Nightingale that said, “True patriotism is to live for
our country,” you know, and that is what I want to do, and also
for my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Thank you for letting me
share this with you.” [ASM, 154-155]
