COUNTESS AS A REVIVALIST.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8169, 27 June 1906, Page 7

COUNTESS AS A REVIVALIST.

JWAID-OF-HONOUJR'S WORK AMONG SAILORS. ROM ANTIC CAREER. ' One of the most remarkable religions philanthropists of the world is Adeline Countpsa schimmlman, who recently oonoluded a special mission to soldiers and sailors in 4;he cosmopolitan city of Oardiff. The Countess is 52 years of age, and her life story forms a remarkable romance. For many years SHE HAS DEVOTED HER LIFE to the welf&re of the fishermen and sailors of Germany and Sandinavia, and her nama is as well known among them and aa deeply respected as is that of Miss Agnes Weston in British ports. The work of the Counters among the miners of the .Rhine district is also a and it was while moving among these >men that SHE HAD FREQUENT OPPORTUNITIES of bearing of ifran Roberts and the Welsh revival, and this induced her to visit Wales. ft The Ooantess can converse fluently in five languages, and several dialects. The ease with which she -changed her speech while working among the cosmonolian population of Cardiff has been a matter of wonderment. One of the most remarkable she has attended during her visit to Wales was an undergronnd service in one of the mines at six o'clock in the morniug, before the miners began their work. The men sang and prayed, and listened attentively to an address by the Ooantess. Tfte Countess is a daughter of the late [Count Lehnsgreve Sobimmerman, and was born in the castle of Abrensfcurg, in Holstein. Her early life was spent in the most exclusive aristrooratio circles on the Continent, and for 18 years she was maid-of-bonour to the late Empress Agusta of 4 Germany, the Kaiser's grandmother. She never took kindly to the •conventionalities and insincerities of Court life, however, and eventually herself from her class and kindred, and, acting under -strong religious convictions, 'l'olstoianjm obaraoter, DECIDED TO DEVOTE THE WHOLE of her life and possessions to the amelioration of the lot of the flsher- • men and sailore of Germany and other-countries. The enthusiasm and unselfish sharing of the World's goods whioh characterised her work among these toilers of the sea raised (he ire of her immediate relatives. In her autobiography she relates how the superintendent of a private , asylum was to certify heir as insane. iNbtwithstaniding the warnings of friends; she was kidnapped, and KEPT IN SECRET SECLUSION in p place which she has described as a "human hell," where "lunatics

of the worst description" surrounded her. Eventual? the Danish Minister for Polioe heard of her plight. Parliament was moved on her behalf by means of the representation of niece of Prince Bismarck, and she was released after the foremost specialists of Germany had pronounoed her to be absolutely sane. 3he at once went to Denmark, her father's native land, aud was received wih unbounded sympathy wby everyone from the Royal family downwards. Her evangelistic work among the seamen was resumed, and in order to do this satisfactorily she purchased the yaoht Dueu, the property of Prince Waldemar of Denmark, youngest brother of Queen Alexandra. Since then HER MISSION WORK so increased that its ramifications are now world-wide. Her "home" on the Baltic, and especially the Naval Home at Kiel are taken as models all the world over. A many as 3,000 sailors and fishermen have attended her meetings at Hamburg and elsewhere. Among the annual subaoribers to her mission funds are many of the oooupants of the throaes of Europe, including Queen Alexandra, whom tho Countess has visited on more than one occasion.