# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1927_S32 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) THE LUTHERAN PIONEER. 31 farm-tools. But the most disagreeable feature about them was that they were possessed with the idea that Christ would soon come and that they must go forth to meet Him in the same condition in which they were born, that is, in complete nakedness. Thus one day they marched into Yorkton stark naked, 1,700 men, women, and children. At another time 600 of them marched off naked into the prairie in midwinter. On each occasion of this kind the police were compelled to round them up and confine them until they became sane enough to put on their clothes and behave as normal people should. Canadian Mennonites. — There are about 30,000 ' Mennonites in Canada. Their original home was in Poland and Prussia, whence they fled, in 1787, on account of religious persecution, finding refuge in Russia. For a long time the Russian government favored them, and not a few of them became pros- - perous farmers, stock-raisers, and even manufac- turers. Before the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway a large number of Russian Mennonites was induced by the Canadian Government to settle in the Red River Valley of Manitoba, and their com- munities thrived and prospered. After the World War wealthy Mennonites in Pennsylvania financed a fresh immigration to Southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan. They there located on very desir- able lands. It is said that among these later immi- grants there were men who before the Russian revo- lution had been owners of large estates of from ten to fifteen thousand acres. One of these immigrants had been one of the largest horse-breeders in Russia and had been worth half a million dollars. Some of the Mennonites who first came to Canada have emigrated to Mexico, where they have established colonies similar to those in Canada. Are We Doing Likewise?— Shortly after the burning of an excursion boat on the River Thames, in which a number of lives were lost, a man, who had intimated his knowledge of the disaster, was asked, “Were you present when the terrible disaster occurred?” “O yes, I saw it all!” “Did you see it when all those people were drowning?” “Yes, indeed, I did!” “Did you try to help any of them?” “No, I didn’t.” — How many there are who see the spiritual need and imminent ruin of so many people around them and yet are doing nothing to help them! How about you? Work among the Insane. — Pastor W. C. Stoll, of Weyburn, Sask., is doing extensive work in the large mental hospital located in his town. Among the inmates are seventy-seven Lutherans of different nationalities. Pastor Stoll is preaching at the hos- pital twice a month to an average audience of thirty to fifty. He also gathers them into smaller groups, as opportunity offers, for religious instruction. A Blessed Work. — Pastor Geo. Allenbach has been given a wonderful opportunity to proclaim the Word of Life to the inmates of the Ohio State Institution for the Feeble-minded at Columbus. He preaches there three times every Sunday, the num- ber being so large that the chapel is filled three times by those to whom he may bring the story of Jesus. He also conducts regular classes of instruc- tion with many of the inmates. This work is being signally blessed. Evidences of Missions. — Like the native Afri- cans, the South Sea Islanders are very proud if they can get hold of a pair of European shoes. They are especially gratified if they can get a pair that squeak, or, as the Africans express it, shoes that talk.