13. And so the adversary took from within his power to roll back the carousel of progress, rolling it many days back, rolling darkness away before light and light away before darkness, 14. and he appeared in the time of the grandparents of William Landsmann. 15. And he did afflict William Landsmann’s grandmother with great suffering, such that she did return to a distant country, 16. and there he smote the mind of William Landsmann’s father with sorrow and loneliness and resistance, 17. and the sorrow and loneliness and resistance bore the father of William Landsmann into battle, where he met with great torment and horror by his own hand, which he did raise against his brother, 18. and when his brother’s blood cried out to him from the earth, the father of William Landsmann heeded it not. 19. And the father of William Landsmann also heeded not the cry of his wife, and he allowed her to perish, 20. and thus did William Landsmann’s mother perish when William Landsmann was a young boy, 21. but William Landsmann did not curse God. 22. And William Landsmann was uprooted from his native land, and uprooted again. 23. And upon reaching the land of New Jersey, William Landsmann’s father took his life, leaving William Landsmann alone, with neither mother nor father. 24. And many years thereafter, the granddaughter of William Landsmann, a young woman, not yet fully formed, was struck as she walked by the way, and fell, and died, 25. and the dead girl’s parents and brothers journeyed far away, to California, leaving William Landsmann far behind. 26. And then William Landsmann’s wife was stricken, and her memory slipped away from her, so that even her husband she barely remembered. 27. But through all of this William Landsmann did not curse God.

II.

1. Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before God, and the adversary appeared among them. 2. And God said to the adversary, “From whence do you come?” And the adversary answered God, and said, “From wandering and roaming across the earth.” 3. And God said to the adversary, “Have you taken note of my servant William Landsmann? There is none like him on earth: a simple and forthright man, who fears God and shuns evil, 4. and still he holds fast to his integrity, although you did move me against him to destroy him without cause.” 5. And the adversary answered God, and said, “That’s life! All those whom a man has he will give up for himself. 6. But put forth your hand now, and touch his slides, and he will curse you to your face.” 7. And God said to the adversary, “Behold, he is in your hands.” 8. So the adversary went forth from the presence of God.