REV. BENJAMIN  SADTLER. DIED APRIL 28,   1901 REV. Benjamin Sadtler, was born December 25th, 1823, in the city of Baltimore, Md. He received his earlier educa- tion in private academies, and subsequently completed a collegiate course in Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, where he was graduated in 1842. He passed thence into the Theological Seminary, at the same place, and in October 1844 was licensed to preach the Gospel, by the Maryland Synod. Not having attained his majority he returned to the Seminary and devoted an additional six months to study. In April 1845 he took charge of churches in and about Pine Grove, Pa. From then un- til 1862 he served different charges in Pennsylvania — Shippens- burg, Middletown and Easton. In 1862 he became principal of the Ladies Female Seminary at Lutherville, Md. Here he spent fourteen years and six months of successful labor as teacher and pastor. In the fall of 1876 he was elected President of Muhlenberg College, Pa, and took charge there in January 1877, where he continued for nine years. In 1885 he had the misfor- tune to fall upon the ice, and thinking it a fracture of the hip that would heal in time, he continued his labors until he became convinced that he was disabled for life, and could not hope successfully to discharge the duties of his responsible position. Accordingly at the June meeting of the Board of Trustees in 1886 he resigned, and, at the end of the same year, removed to Baltimore and entered upon retired life. In 1867 he received the degree of D. D. from Pennsylvania College, and upon the resignation of Dr. Valentine several years later, was elected its President. He declined the honor and Dr. Valentine was induced to resume the position. Two editions of a Fast-day sermon delivered by him in Easton Pa. were published in 1861, also the history of St. John's Luthern Church of Easton in pamphlet form. In 1878 a paper read at the Second Lutheran Diet on "The causes and remedies of the losses of her population by the Lutheran Church in America," was published. He wrote many articles for the Evangelical Review; edited by 44 Dr. C. P. Krauth at Gettysburg. In connection with his work at Muhlenberg College, his Inaugural and a number of Baccalau- reate Sermons were given to the press. Dr. Sadtler became an active member of our Society soon after his removal to Baltimore, in the early part of 1887. Until a short time before his death, unless prevented by physical inability, he was one of the most regular and most interested attendants at our monthly meetings. Upon the death of our first Presi- dent, Rev. J. G. Morris, D. D., the choice as to his successor fell at once unanimously upon the Doctor and though he, at the annual elections earnestly favored the selection of a younger and more active member, the Society insisted upon his continuance in office. At our last annual meeting, how- ever, the Doctor insisted upon being released on account of his physical condition. The members recognizing the reason- ableness of his request, reluctantly complied with same, but mindful of his merits in behalf of the Society, created a new office and elected him as their first Honorary President. Rev. Dr. Sadtler was a man of piety and culture, and having served his time and generation well, entered into rest on Sunday, April 28th, 1901. At the regular meeting of the Society following his death, the following resolutions were unanimously passed: Since it has pleased Almighty God to remove from among us the Rev. B. Sadtler, D. D., therefore "RESOLVED, that this Society deplores in his death the loss of our first Honorary President, and second President of this Society since its foundation; "RESOLVED, that we bear witness to his gentlemanly and cour- teous manner in his presiding at our meetings and in all our intercourse with him; "RESOLVED, that we shall ever bear in grateful and honored re- collection his noble and self-sacrificing interest in the object of the Society, viz: the history of our German forefathers in this Country, thereby giving an example most worthy of imitation on the part of others of German descent; "RESOLVED, that a copy of these resolutions be forwarded to the family of the deceased, assuring them at the same time of our personal sympathy and esteem." EDWARD  F. LEYH. DIED JULY 2, 1901. IN the death of Edward F. Leyh we deplore the loss of one of   the founders, as well as one of the faithful members of our Society. We shall miss his jovial, sprightly nature, his incentive to stimulate us in our work; his contribution of historical research in manuscript, his cogent remarks and witty sallies at our meetings. Edward F. Leyh was an ardent student of history and a great reader of fine literature, ancient and modern. He posessed such a phenomenal memory, that it appeared as if he could recite any poem he ever read and give any historical data he had ever been informed of. Only of late years his wonderful memory seemed at time on the wane. He had not received a university education and by laborious study after the day spent in exacting journalistic work as the editor of a large daily paper, he tried in the hours of night to master the Greek and ancient languages, and became proficient in the old Norse and Germanic tongues. In reading the history of the American people, he, like other students, became aware, that the numerous, if not the most numerous element, the German immigration had been neglected, almost ignored; that its achievements were credited to the English and the German names anglicized. The value of history is to explain the causes of and how we arrived at our present social and political condition. If it does not state the whole truth it has no value. Leyh became active himself, and through the paper he edited, incited others, all over the union, into activity, to resuscitate from total oblivion many important historical facts and events of the share of the German element in the formation of the American nation. His article, page 77-85 in Sixth Annual Report 1891 to 1892 of our Society, entitled "Baltimore's German Americans in Trade and Industry" gives evidence of careful laborious work in collecting and arranging information of the beginning and development of the extensive trade and 46 the numerous industries in our city, due to the German immigra- tion. His love for historical study was not confined to local affairs, but embraced all modern and ancient history; and when he came to the limit of known and accepted history, his restless, ever searching spirit plunged into the region of the Germanic and northern mythology. He wrestled with the older and younger Eddas, the Wöluspa, Heimskringla, Niebelungen, Boer- woulf and the Sagas, to interpret and obtain from them, the underlying and hidden historical facts of the earliest period of our Germanic race. Not satisfied with the translation into modern language and the interpretation of and by the Ger- manists of these works, he studied them in their original tongue and his interpretations were often strikingly original and ingenious. The ardent duties of his position as the chief editor of a large daily paper left him but scant time for such studies to reduce the results into literary form for publication. If he had been financially better situated, he would have devoted his whole time to this work, which had an irresistible charm to him, and would have made him famous in this interesting field. Only one monography in this line by him "The History of the Mace" a symbol of authority and jurisdiction among the old Saxons and other German tribes, still in use in the House of Representatives of congress and in England, was ready for publication at the time of his death. He read parts of it before a literary society and leave had been given him to read it in the House of Representa- tives. It is of rare erudition, highly interesting, lifting the veil from an obscure custom practised in Germany centuries before the introduction of Christianity, carried by the Anglo-Saxons to England and from thence to this country. His studies of the old epic poems of the northern people did naturally generate in the poetic mind of Leyh scenes and actions, created by his fine imaginative faculties, of heroes and plots of those days. We owe to it a work intended by him as the text of an opera of drama; he entitled it "König Rother's Brautfahrt." The scenes are on the sea and shores of the Baltic and some of the Sagas are interwoven in it. It contains exquisite poetry. The lamentation of the king's daughter that there is not        47 allowed to her the right of the poorest maiden to select or accept her choice of husband, is of fine conceptions and sentiments: Was jeder Maid gestattet, Mir hat's mein Stand versagt, Den Gatten sich erwählen Darf die geringste Magd ; D'rum muss dich's nicht verdriessen, Dass mir die Thräne rinnt, Die Liebe, ach, die Liebe Ist für kein Königskind! "The Sword Song," which has been set to music for male chorus by Prof. David Melamet, is masculine heroic and a gem for an epic poem. I will read it in full: Vervehmt und vertrieben, Enterbt and entehrt, Ist nichts mir geblieben, Als du nur, mein Schwert! Du Schwert meiner Ahnen, Das Helden bezwang, In der Hand meines Vaters Die Herrschaft errang. Dir, hunischer König, Sei's künftig geweiht! Für dich will ich's schwingen, Für dich soll's erklingen, Und Ruhm dir erringen Zu jeglicher Zeit. Den Inseln des Meer's hat Geblitzet dein Stahl; Die Feinde am Festland Zerstreute dein Strahl. Du Schwert meines Vaters, Du Stolz seiner Hand, Schriebst scharf seinen Namen Auf feindlichem Strand; Errangst ihm den Ruhm in Unsterblichem Sang. Du Freude der Feldschlacht, Du Trost auf der Deckwacht, Mit dir in der Sturmnacht Ist niemals mir bang. 48 Gefallen in Schlachten, Verschollen zur See, Ist all' meine Sippe, Vereinsamt ich steh' — Mein einziges Erbe      Bleibst, Siegbringer, du! Und du wirst noch mein sein, Legt man mich zur Ruh'. So, wie wir uns beide Einander geweiht — Noch in spätesten Tagen Soll man singen und sagen, Wie wir Schlachten geschlagen Zu unserer Zeit! I cannot omit his beautiful song of the superiority of the northern people of Europe: Obwohl im sonnigen Süden Manch' grosser Held gelebt, Vor dem in Krieg und Frieden, Die Völker rings gebebt; Und wie viel Edeltannen Der Wälsche auch gefällt, Des Nordland's blonde Mannen Sind doch die Herr'n der Welt. So lang ein Heergeselle Siegvaters Schlachten schlägt, So weit die Meereswelle Die Wickiugsdrachen trägt; Sei's in der Seeschlacht Ringen, Sei es auf blutigem Feld, Wird Niemand uns bezwingen, Das Herrenvolk der Welt. Among the many of his poems "The Journalist" has been Widely copied by his colleagues of the press. In terse, succinct and clear lines he lauds and laments the high office of the true journalist; the first stanza — "'S ist ein Beruf voll Plagen und voll Freuden, Ein Dornenpfad, bestreut mit Rosenblättern;" and the last — "Wer's unternimmt, der Wahrheit Licht zu tragen, Und in den Tagesstreit sein Wort zu werfen, Muss Ruhm und Reichthum, ja sich selbst vergessen, Und dennoch schreiben mit dem Saft der Nerven." 49 shows us more specially his lofty conception of his duties as a journalist. His first literary effort was a novel published by him about the year 1875, under the name of "Der Tannhäu- ser." It was a poetic work of his own development and youth, the first part was of his life in Thüringen, Germany, and the second part of his adventures in Baltimore. It was variously criticised. He contemplated a second edition of this novel, together with the publication of some of his later literary works when death called him hence. Leyh published but few of his original poems and was better known by his masterly translation of English poetry into German. I believe I do not exaggerate if I maintain, that a reader who has full command of both languages, will enjoy the translation in the same measure as the original, if not more. Only a gifted poet can enter into the spirit and fragrance of a poetical work and reproduce it in a foreign tongue, as Leyh did in his translation. His first and most popular was our national hymn "The Star Spangled Banner" by Francis Scott Key, translated about 1864. The rhythm and the spirit of the original is so fully preserved, that I have heard it sung in chorus, where a portion of the singers sang the English and a portion the German translation, without it being discernable by the audience. The largest work he translated is: "The Gold- digger of Arizona" by Joaquin Miller, a most difficult but well rendered translation. A totally different subject is the trans- lation of the sweet love-song of "Hannah Morrison" by William Motherwell, a Scotish poet. He also translated "Childs' Harold" by Byron, but never published it. Leyh was a professional newspaper man; he started as a reporter and became one of the most eminent journalists of the German-American press, for many years until his death, the chief editor of "Der Deutsche Correspondent," a large daily paper, published in Baltimore. He was also a contributer to the the English press, such as "The New York Times," "Herald" and other newspapers. He was a correspondent and contributer to a number of influential papers and magazines in Germany. His style was lucid, vigorous and forceful, it was rich in epigrams, wherein his historical treasures came into brilliant use; often he assumed a censorship over his colleagues 50 of the press in other cities, when he caught them in a mis- quotation: a good genial humor pervaded most all his writing and blunted the venom which otherwise appears in literary controversies. Politically he had become a thorough American, a strong defender of free institutions, well posted in our laws and hostile to all reactionary measures. I read last year in Naples, Italy, a Berlin newspaper bought there, which contained one of his articles on Trusts, and wherein he was referred to as a recognized authority on politics of our country. He was generally recognized as an original and leading journalist of our country by the German and a large part of the English press and but few have received such encomium, kind and generous obituaries, as Edward F. Leyh at his death received by the entire English press of our city and State and of the the German of all the States of the Union. Edward F. Leyh was born on the 6th day of June, 1840, at Meiners near Liebenstein, in Thuringia. His father died when the child was but two years old. He was carefully educated and attended the Seminaries of Homberg and Schlüchtern to become a teacher in public schools. After leaving the seminaries he received the appointment as public school teacher. His ambition for a wider sphere induced him to leave the old fatherland and, on the the 29th of May, 1861, he arrived in Baltimore. Here he soon obtained a position as teacher in a German-Luthern parrish school on South Bond Street. Later at the private school of Schäfer in East Baltimore and a short time at Gardenville. About the year 1864 he became a reporter of the daily paper "The Baltimore Wecker." In 1867 he accepted the position as editor of "The Maryland Staatszeitung." He soon gave evidence of his talent for editing a daily paper, and when in 1871 Col. P. Raine, the owner and publisher of the "Correspondent," purchased the "Staatszeitung," he offered Leyh the position as assistant editor of the " Correspond- ent." Leyh accepted and remained with the "Correspondent," excepting an interval of two years, until his death. It was in 1881 that his friend Carl Schurz, then a part-owner of the "Westliche Post," an influential paper published in Saint Louis, Missouri, offered him a position as assistant editor on their paper. Leyh accepced and removed to St. Louis, where he 51 remained two years, when Col. Raine came to him and brought him back to Baltimore as chief editor of his paper. After the death of Colonel Raine, his brother Edward Raine became the owner of the "Deutsche Correspondent" and retained Leyh in his position. Leyh was a true German-American citizen, full of patriotism for his adopted country, public spirited he took an active part in every movement for the welfare of our city. The great sesqui-centennial celebration in 1880 of the founding of our city, which had been abandoned by the authorities, was by his energy and restless agitation taken up by the German- Americans and became the most glorious civic celebration in the annals of our city. The grand celebration of "The German Day in Baltimore," October 6th, 1890, see fifth annual Rep. pp. 43-72, was due to his initiative, and active participation. He was very active in the organization for the erection of the new Music Hall, took a deep active interest in our public schools, Maryland Institute and other institutions and movements for the public welfare. He refused positions of honor tendered to him and felt fully rewarded by the success of these public achievements. Personally he was a man of strong originality, social, democratic manner, and fond of men's company. Edward F. Leyh married on August 25th, 1861, Miss Elise Lauter, who survives him. Nine children were born in their wedlock, six thereof departed this life before his death and three, Mr. Fritz Leyh, Misses Bertha and Rosa survive him, also six grandchildren. His latest sickness was of a few weeks duration, he was convalescent and expected to return to work the next day, when the bursting of a blood vessel in his brain, ended his earthly career. L. P. HENNIGHAUSEN.