NEFF, FELIX, 1;98-1829; b. at Geneva, Switzerland. He received his early educe. tion from his widowed mother, who was distinguished for piety, and lied occasional les sons from some pastor of his native canton. ilis favorite authors in youth were Plutarch anal Rousseau, and he was fond of mathematics and natural history. At an early age he was placed with a florist-gardener, and at 17 entered the army, that he might not longer be a burden to his poor mother. His excellent character and fidelity soon raised him to the rank of sergt. His strict principles and the purity of his life provoked the hostility of his associates, and lie decided to leave the army. Being advised to enter the ministry he resigned his commission in 1819, and offered himself as a catechist or parish missionary. The first years of his missionary life were spent in the cantons of Geneva, Neufchatel, Bern, and the Pays de Vaud. In 1821 he went to the destitute district of Grenoble in Fence, and afterward to Mens in Isilre. Religious scruples pre Venting his being ordained in the established church of Geneva, and his being a for eigner rendering it impossible to obtain ordination from the Protestant church of France, he went to England, and having been ordained in 1823 by the Congregationalists be returned to Mens, the scene of his former labors. But his heart was with the destitute
on the mountains, and, turning away from those by whom he was greatly beloved, he went to the high Alps, and labored with great courage and zeal among the descendants of the Vaudois in the wild picturesque valleys of Queyras and Freyssinieres. Here he preached, organized schools, dedicated churches. laboring incessantly among those lonely glens and dreary mountains. His pastoral work was performed in a poor Alpine dis trict, comprising 17 isolated villages within a circuit of 80 miles. In one part of his parish the people were so degraded as to be scarcely removed from the condition of barbarians. As they needed education and were unable to pay a teacher, he became schoei-master as well as preacher. They became so much interested that they built a school-house, he directing the workmen and acting himself as architect and mason. Exhausted by these labors he visited the baths of Plombli3res, but returned to Geneva without permanent benefit. Companies of the poor people of the Alpine valleys made long journeys on foot through the snow to see their beloved dying pastor.