Rough House, near Hamburg. He
had just returned from his laborious tour through the districts of
Silesia, which, in addition to the demoralizing revolutionary
excitement, were stricken by famine and fever. Whole villages were
depopulated, not enough inhabitants being left alive to bury the dead.
Grief and despair reigned everywhere. The number of orphans had grown so
large that Wichern and his few assistants, with all their experience and
organizing power, were unable to remedy their immediate wants. The scene
having made a profound impression upon his mind, he unburdened his heart
to the assembly. He described what he had witnessed, pictured the evils
of his people in their true light, and declared that the church must
either do more Christian missionary work at home, or God's curse would
rest upon it. He therefore called upon the Diet to incorporate the Inner
Mission into its system as a necessary measure to improve the religious
and social prosperity of the country. He spoke as one sent from God. The
assembly was mastered, and the reformer's plan adopted. In all the
subsequent meetings of the Diet, about one half of its session, or two
whole days, have been occupied in the management of the Inner Mission,
and in discussions on the best means to secure its increased
effectiveness.

But Wichern was not a stranger to the members of the assembly. The
beneficial results of his labors at the Rough House had already been
felt throughout Europe. An old thatched cottage, about three miles from
Hamburg, was the nucleus of his work. He sought out wild, abandoned
boys, and aimed to bring them within the fold of domestic Christian
influence. He solicited no contributions, but, adopting the method of
Mueller, of Bristol, England, prayed to God that funds necessary for his
great purpose might be forthcoming by voluntary benefactions. An
associate was so struck with the repeated bestowal of the needed supply
that he exclaimed, "Just look! We no sooner make our purchase in faith,
than the Lord stands behind us with the purse to pay the bill."
Gradually the Rough House was surrounded with other buildings, while the
managers and those under their care became very numerous. The
institution was no longer a local but a national charity. It was a
centre of light for the abandoned of all lands. In 1856 there were two
hundred and sixty of its reformatories in existence, and the work of
establishing new ones was going on rapidly in Europe an