The Street Preacher

Fern was a gentle little horse and after Daddy drove her for a little while he pronounced her safe for me to drive to town on my own. 

One Monday morning in early fall Daddy and Mom had things that needed to be done in town. They asked John and me if we wanted to go and we jumped at the chance.

After John hitched Fern to the buggy we headed down the road to the little town of Meyersdale 10 miles away. We agreed that I could drive on the way in and he would drive on the way back. The drive in was short as we talked and enjoyed the scenery and each others company.

Once we got to town we tied Fern to the hitching rack that was situated close to the middle of town. 

We walked to the stores and then had to carry all our purchases back to the buggy before we went to the next store. On our last trip back to the buggy we were surprise to see a man standing on one of the nearby benches shouting something on top of his lungs. As we placed the groceries into the buggy we stood and listened to him for a while.

"You have to repent!" he yelled. "You have to accept Jesus as your Saviour and become saved!" he bellowed. "You are all on your way to hell!" he continued.  We untied Fern and sat in the buggy and watched him jump around on the bench and swing his arms wildly as he kept repeating his three lines over and over at the top of his lungs.

As we drove away I tried to repress a shudder. Somehow the day didn't seem quite as bright any longer. I was glad that I was Amish and didn't have to worry about what the bellowing man had been saying.