I Hear the Reaper's Song: A Novel

by Sara Stambaugh

          Portrays tragedy and crisis in a small Pennsylvania community in 1896 from the point of view of a 15-year-old Mennonite boy in the whirlpool of his first encounter with death. In the spring of 1896, Silas Hershey was 15. He worked hard six days a week alongside his family in their corn and tobacco fields. On Sundays he gossiped with his cousin Sam, eyeing the girls from a corner of the Paradise Mennonite Church yard, and several evenings a week he drove his sister Barbie and cousin Biney to "special meetings" at nearby churches. Then there were the troubled romances of both Barbie and older brother Hen.           But social and political change was flooding the country, and in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the ripples lapped up over the church steps and into the pulpits. The special evening meetings which to Silas and Sam were little more than out-of-the-ordinary social occasions in fact signalled a radical change in Mennonite belief and tradition. All promoted by the "Western preachers," as Silas called them. Events come to a climax one summer Saturday night when Barbie and her young man, Enos Barge, are coming home from a party and a train hits their buggy at a dangerous crossing. The Western preachers capitalize on the incident; neither Barbie nor Enos had yet joined church, and the revivalists point to them as examples of what can happen to those who are not "saved." People convert in flocks. And the Hersheys, to whom Barbie was their light and joy, are left stunned by grief, struggling to keep a shattered family from disintegrating.           Sara Stambaugh tells the story with both sympathy and candor. She also succeeds remarkably well in capturing the point of view, language, and feelings of an adolescent Mennonite boy, caught in the whirlpool of a first encounter with death. Her images evoke a time and place so clearly that the reader can almost smell the arbutus and feel the crackle of ice underfoot.

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Genres: Fiction

221 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 1969

Reviews

[Doug Kauffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This historical novel could be called a coming-of-age story, given that the point-of-view character is a Mennonite teenager processing his beliefs and feelings in the context of a family tragedy. But it's so much more than that. It's an engaging exploration of the upheaval brought to the Mennonite church by the introduction of revivalism, and it gives a sympathetic and convincing voice to the conservatives of the time.

I did have some trouble keeping track of who was who and who was related to who, but even that added to the feeling of historical accuracy (the Mennonite Game at its finest). Overall, I enjoyed the authentic voice of the narrator and the quiet, intimate tone of the story.

[Lynn Joshua · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up at the book sale - took a chance on it because it is a story of a Mennnonite family living in the Strasburg area of Lancaster County where I grew up. It is written through the eyes of Silas Hershey by his granddaughter, and so is based on true events.

Teenaged Silas is working hard on his family's farm, playing with his cousins, going to parties, not too concerned about spiritual things. As Silas explains, "Joining church was different in those days, something you did when you were grown-up and sure you'd decided for certain, usually after you'd been married a year or so.... That way young people had a chance to get the wildness out of their systems."

After his sister dies in a tragic accident everything is changed. Revival preachers come to town, and "take advantage" of the emotional state of the community to push their conviction that the unbaptized are damned. They want public born-again conversions, and stricter separation from the world. The family takes sides and the tension is on.

I was interested in the author's portrayal of the reaction of the Mennonite community to the revivalists. In my view, the Mennonites were wrongly trusting to works and traditions of the church for salvation, but the revivalists were wrong as well. Instead of presenting the truth of the gospel, they just substituted an emotional conversion experience and stricter conformity to yet another set of man-made rules! I would like to read more on the subject - especially how the Lancaster Mennonites came to invite preachers from Moody's training program into their community.

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plot is based on historical events that happened in a Lancaster County Mennonite family. Stambaugh gives a convincing voice to her main character, and the quality of writing is good.

[Carolyn Lind · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just stumbled across this book in our church library and was pleasantly surprised with the contents. I found the story surprisingly well written and enlightening. Sara Stambaugh tells the story that centers on a family tragedy with grace and humor.

Based on actual events and changes in the Mennonite Church around 1900, this book helped me better understand some of the fragments of history I have learned from other sources. It helped me better understand the Mennonite Church of my childhood. I was interested to discover why some disapproved of those changes that later became so important to the adults of my world. It also helps me understand the church today and why some may be discarding those changes.


" I wish they'd keep to the old ways," Peter Eby said....."First the English and the Sunday schools, and now the missions, not to mention these preachers Ike Eby keeps bringing in from the West, all talking about conversions and inner lights and such gibberish that it's like listening to people from the moon." `p. 58

"I know what Ike Eby's about," he said."but that doesn't make it right. Things are in a fine pass when the children lead and the fathers follow because they can't keep them in line any other way. Give Ike Eby his head, and pretty soon our church will be as proud as any. We may not have colored glass and pipe organs yet, but that's what he's taking us to."

"They might as well be Baptists," old Peter was saying, " all this 'Gemut' and 'Gottseligkeil' and stirring up feelings, as if committing yourself was a clap of lightning. But I'll tell you, I've known men hit by lightning, and if they live through the first jolt of it, they're the same people they were before. If Ike Eby wasn't such a fool, we wouldn't be having all this trouble, turning our young people wild because they don't have enough trust to know they're God's children without going through some conversion." -p. 188

The author is the grandchild of the main character, Silas Hershey, and the book includes stories she heard from him and her great aunt Martha. It would be interesting to know more precisely what parts of the book were included in those memories.

[Tanya Bellay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up around many Amish, Mennonite, and Brethren and most of the kids I knew joined the church and started dressing plain while still quite young. Eventually I realised that it used to be common to join the church in your 20s, often after marrying and starting a family, and became curious what caused that change to happen.

This book is a historical fiction based around real people and events in Lancaster County, PA in the late 1800s. It explores the changes in the churches at that time that led to younger and younger people joining the church.

The families are large and I found myself getting a bit lost keeping track of all the characters. But the book was well written and very well researched.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 104 year old mother who remembers her Uncle Silas says the book is very accurate. Great story and great history lesson in one book. My mother is a life time member of Hershey's Mennonite Church where Barbie is buried. Five stars.

[D. W. Hershey · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 20%

Poor story structure, terrible sentence structure, awful editing along with telling...not showing...dooms this book.

This indie novel has particular significance to my family history, and I appreciate it for that, but I will not pretend it is well-written or enjoyable to read.

[Carolina Ceton]

Historische fictie, wel aardig.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this a lot. The history and genealogy was compelling. it was a little slow for me until "the incident" and the I loved the rest of the book.