84 / Growth-and Some Decline-of the Churches Steiner (1866-1911) who records the following:

During the colonization period Mennonites devoted themselves primarily to the task of overcoming the difficulties and hardships of pioneer life-and they did it manfully. The poor members of the congregation were looked after and well cared for. The children were sent to school, when they could be spared, often over rough and dangerous roads.'

These communities were church-centered. According to Steiner:

Communication between the settlements was necessarily inadequate. Church papers they had none, letter writing was expensive, and traveling slow and tedious. They were taught to be conscientious and upright in their dealings and to keep themselves unspotted from the world. In those days the word of a Mennonite was as good as a note. He always paid what he owed and in case he did not, the church paid his obligation.

The way in which these communities regarded the world around them is important and is hinted at in the above quotation. The same

author goes on to enlarge on this by saying:

The world to them was sinful and wicked, and all of its ways were to be shunned. In fact they had suffered much during the persecution in Europe, both from the officers of the government and the officers of the popular churches, and as a consequence learned to look upon all of them as their enemies and the enemies of the Gospel. To them there was no difference and this idea accounts, at least in part, for the fact that they formed the habit of leaving others alone, and of devoting themselves to keeping the church free from all forms of worldliness. Their mission was not so much to save the world, as it was to abstain from the world.

The same observer notes that the zeal of their forefathers during the persecutions in Europe seemed to wane in the struggle for a

livelihood in America. Their prayers for deliverance were realized in the freedom of the young nation. Peace and prosperity came in

the "forest and wilds of the New World." But peace and prosperity may bring temptations. Continuing Steiner's account:

Many of the brethren in 1850 had become well-to-do. They increased their farms, educated their children in the language and customs of the day and made strides in worldly interests on every side, but failed to advance accordingly in their religious duties and life. Some of the brethren saw the crisis coming on and endeavored to avert it. They talked of it to their ministers, and ministers talked of it to each other, but what was to be done?

There were other threats to the life of these new religious communities. The frontier was settled by a variety of persons including