able.

Then said the inquiring boy again, "Jesus could not come, and so he sent
this poor man in his place: is that it?"

"Yes, dear child, that is just it. Every piece of bread and every drink
of water that we give to the poor, or the sick, or the prisoners, for
Jesus' sake, we give to Him. 'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of
the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.'"

Falk's benefactions were of varied character. He organized a system for
the cessation of beggary in Weimar; established a training institute,
the _Johanneum_, for instructors of the youth under his charge; sent
forth many hundreds of the inmates of his _Reformatory_ to become useful
members of society; wrote earnest religious songs which the people will
sing for generations; died uttering the words,
"God,--popular,--faith,--short,--Christ,--end;" and was borne to the
grave by the children whom he had blessed. His resting-place is now
marked by words which his own pen had written:

"Underneath this linden tree
Lies John Falk; a sinner he,
Saved by Christ's blood and mercy.

Born upon the East Sea strand,
Yet he left home, friends, and land,
Led to Weimar by God's hand.

When the little children round
Stand beside this grassy mound,
Asking, who lies underground?--

Heavenly Father, let them say,
Thou hast taken him away;
In the grave is only clay."

Other philanthropists followed in the footsteps of Falk. What he did for
children has been succeeded by greater humanitarian movements in behalf
of the criminal youth, and abandoned and helpless adults. Theodore
Fliedner was pastor of a congregation of operatives in Kaiserswerth, in
1826. Very soon after his installation they were reduced almost to
beggary by the bankruptcy of their employers. He refused to leave them
in their distress, and devised plans for their relief. One step led to
another. He became the friend of not only the poor of that town, but of
all the adjacent country. To become more useful at home he traveled
through foreign countries. He described his visit to London in the
following brief but characteristic words, "_I have seen Newgate and many
other prisons._"

At last he matured a settled plan. It was the amelioration of the sick
poor. The largest house in the town being for sale, he secured its
possession, and on the 13th October, 1836, opened his _Deaconess
Institute_. The enemies of Fliedner ca