Exodus

The wind-bitten old woman, her brow furrowed beneath her black kerchief, kept her eyes on her hands as she knitted. "I go," said Mrs. Helen Hildebrand, "because most of my family is going." At 75 she was leaving Canada, with six of her eight children, 51 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren. Last week, in Winnipeg, they joined 1,608 other Mennonites (total in Canada: 111,380) who were bound for sparsely populated Paraguay, where Mennonites from Europe have already settled to lead their strict way of life.

Mrs. Hildebrand was an infant when her Mennonite parents left Russia and joined Canada's new Mennonite colony in the Red River Valley. The empty west assured isolation and few distractions for the Godfearing. They had their churches as they wanted them, without organ, altar or ornamentation. Their preachers were unpaid, farmed for a living. They clung to their pacifism, dressed in the plain garb that allowed no ornamentation or jewelry.

The gradual settling of the prairies ended Mennonite isolation. Good crops brought prosperity. Neighbor vied with Mennonite neighbor for such worldly possessions as automobiles and radios. Children brought home new ideas. Old-line Mennonites shook their heads over marriages outside the fold, the trend away from the soil. Then, in World War II, 50% of the young Mennonites deserted the sect's pacifist principles and joined the armed services.

Two years ago, the orthodox Sommerfield group in the Red River Valley area decided that the time had come to move. Small groups in Saskatchewan and British Columbia joined them. They auctioned off their lands and farm equipment to other Mennonites. They advertised for creditors they might have overlooked, checked with the Income Tax Department on back taxes they might still owe. Then they packed.

Last week, after an all-day church service and tearful farewells, they were ready to go. Mrs. Hildebrand's son Henry, 40, spoke for the others: "We must do something to keep our way of life. Children don't believe as their fathers did. They drift to the cities. Some follow the trades, even become lawyers, which is forbidden in our belief. We want to live as the Bible taught us."

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