In an hour two men came up from the farm house carrying a huge
pot filled with strong soup. Another brought a great dish of stew.
Women carried wooden platters, bowls of stewed fruit, and loaves
of bread; and the soldiers, seated upon the grass, fell to with
an appetite such as they had not experienced for weeks. With the
meal was an abundant supply of the rough but wholesome wine of the
country.
To the Scottish soldiers after the hardships they had passed
through, this secluded valley seemed a perfect paradise. They had
nought to do save to eat their meals, to sleep on the turf in the
shade, or to wander in the woods and gardens free to pick what
fruit they fancied. Under these circumstances they rapidly picked
up strength, and in a week after their arrival would hardly have
been recognized as the feeble band who had left the Swedish camp
at Old Brandenburg.
On Sunday the pastor arrived. He did not live permanently at the
village, but ministered to the inhabitants of several villages
scattered among the hills, holding services in them by turns, and
remaining a few days in each. As the congregation was too large for
the room in the farm house the service was held in the open air.
The Scotch soldiers were all present, and joined heartily in the
singing, although many of them were ignorant of the language, and
sang the words of Scotch hymns to the German tunes.
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