The audience at one of the London county courts had the pleasure of laughing at a German, a German baron at that. The proceedings were rather strange, and Baron Nieroth, a missionary, began to give some cause for merriment. He had summoned Miss Sawtell, who keeps a boarding house in London and with whom he lived, to deliver some of her furniture, which she had assigned to him for money he had lent her. Middelerwyl, a servant of Miss Sawtell, who was apparently indifferent from whom she borrowed, had brought a demand against her mistress for 150 guilders, which money also had to be taken from the furniture. The question for the judge was which claim had priority, and since the German baron could not prove which furniture had become his, the maid received her full amount. Applause from the audience, who had already begun to laugh when the German said that Miss Sawtell was so pleased with him; that was the beginning of the introduction. "A love story?" asked the judge. "No," replied the witness, "only friendship." (Laughter.) "What was she pleased with?" — "With my preaching." (Loud laughter.) Miss Sawtell confirmed this: she was charmed by my spiritual gifts and wonderful preaching.

Whether it was that Baron Nieroth was offended by the judge's overemphasis on his relationship with Miss Sawtell, or that the audience's laughter continued undisturbed, he jumped up and said that he thought the proceedings were shameless. Such a thing would not be possible in his country. (Laughter.) He had come to London as a missionary to the poor moral cannibals who infested it. Nowhere else in the world would that be necessary. The English sent missionaries to China among the heathen, but they were needed much more in England itself. He had traveled all over the world, but nowhere had he seen so much starvation and immorality as in rich England. (Loud laughter.)

The good missionary was actually delivered to the heathen.