e endeavor to
fulfill her own long-cherished wishes, which were those of Stein. Just
at this time, in 1831, the cholera broke out in her native city. She
took this as a providential opening, by means of which deaconesses could
begin their work, and went at once to one of the cholera hospitals,
offered her services as a nurse, and at the same time issued an appeal
for sister-women to join her. But no one came. The only outcome of her
effort was a woman's society which she formed to care for the sick and
the poor of her native city, and to work for this she devoted the
remainder of her life. Stein and Amalie Sieveking had in mind an order
of women closely resembling the Sisters of Charity. That their efforts
were not crowned with success seemed to the evangelical Protestant
promoters of the deaconess cause in later times providential.[26]

Shortly after, in 1835, Count von der Recke, already well known as the
founder of two charitable institutions, issued the first number of a
magazine called _Deaconesses; or, The Life and Labors of Women Workers
of the Church in Instruction, Education, and the Care of the Sick_. Only
a single number appeared, but his earnest plea for deaconesses, and the
elaborate plan he devised for an institution and officers, aroused wide
attention, and brought him a letter of warm commendation from the crown
prince, afterward King Frederick William IV. Evidently the idea was
ripening, and a near fruition could be anticipated. But neither to
minister of state, count, nor prince--to no one among the distinguished
of the earth--was the honor given of reviving the female diaconate. It
was to a humble pastor of an obscure village church that this work was
committed.

The little village of Eppstein lies in a beautiful country, full of high
mountains and deep-lying valleys, about a dozen miles from Wiesbaden. At
the village parsonage of the little hamlet was born, January 21, 1800, a
son, the fourth of a family that numbered twelve children. The pastor,
whose father before him had filled a like office, was a favorite among
his people for his pleasant speech, sound advice about every-day
matters, and his faithfulness in instructing the children in the Bible
and the catechism, and caring for the sick and the afflicted.

The little boy proved to be a strong, healthy child, and as he grew
older developed a liking for books. His father taught a class composed
of his children and some boys in the neighborhood,