My wife and I made a sleigh journey to my parents-in-law, in order to spend the following day in honor of my father-in-law’s birthday.
We left our half-year-old twins at home under the care of an old nurse, whom we could fully trust.
We spent a very happy day with each other. Towards evening, however, my wife expressed the wish to return home, as she felt anxious about the children. I was also seized with the same wish, and as the frost had become less severe, making us fear that thaw would set in, which would have hindered us very much with our sleighing, we decided to return home that same evening.
It was a splendid journey. The horses just flew over the frozen ground, so that we advanced very rapidly. About nine o’clock we reached the outskirts of a large wood. Our horses, in entering the wood, began to show unmistakeable signs of restlessness. They would rear high up, and then suddenly, fly off at a tremendous rate. We could not understand the cause. There was nothing round about to account for this strange behavior. In the distance we heard sharp howls of dogs. Apart from that, nothing was to be seen or heard.
With astonishing speed the horses raced on. Franz, our old coachman, did all he could to quiet them, but in vain. Meantime the howls came nearer. I looked around and saw two great hungry dogs running behind our sleigh.
“Let them come near,” I cried to Franz, “and give them a dose of the whip.”
The old man turned around.
“O, master,” he cried in terror, “they are wolves!”
I had never seen a wolf, as they had long ceased to visit that neighborhood. But Franz, who had spent all his life there, knew them of old. The intense frost of that winter must have driven the animals from their usual haunts into the neighboring districts, which they formerly avoided, and hunger had made them bloodthirsty.
As we were unarmed, our safety lay in the speed of our horses. We urged them on with the whip, but our pursuers followed close on our heels. My wife sat next to me, stiff with horror and white with fear. Both of us seemed to feel already the hot breath of these terrible beasts.
When they drew nearer to us, Franz threw his fur cloak to them. Furiously they threw themselves on this prey, so that we gained a little on them.
But this trick did not help us much, for soon they were on us again. What would become of us? Would we finally become their victims? O, how we cried to God in our anguish!
And God helped us. We succeeded in reaching our home. Fortunately the gate in the high hedge that surrounded the ground, stood open. In a flash we were in the courtyard; the wolves hesitated a moment, and before they could follow us, Franz had closed the gate. We were saved.
Immediately we went to the room where our children slept. But how shall I describe our new terror, when thick, heavy smoke met us. I sprang to the door and opened it. My wife shrieked aloud. The nurse lay in her bed insensible, the children looked pale in the cradle. We carried all three into our bedroom, and to our unspeakable joy succeeded, after some time, in bringing them to consciousness. We then discovered how the fire occurred. A piece of burning coal must have fallen out of the fire when they were sleeping. The dry wooden floor had caught fire and the thick smoke resulted. Had we arrived a quarter of an hour later, we would have found our two darlings, as well as their nurse, corpses.
That night I learned what true thanksgiving is. Such anguish the pursuit of the wolves had given us, yet these very bloodthirsty brutes had served in the wonderful counsel of God to spur on our horses to greater speed, so that we might not come to our children too late.
Yes, God reigns. Even the wild anals of the woods must obey Him while He protects His own.
ML 08/12/1945