# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1929_S15 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) THE LUTHERAN PIONEER. 15 called at his house, but he was obliged to leave with- out a word of thanks. But again and again Pastor Bongarzone met him, and finally he succeeded in attracting his attention. After months of such personal and solicitous care, Tony and his family began to attend the ser- vices of the Italian mission. Later, by the gracious work of the Holy Spirit, he embraced his Savior in true faith and joined our Church. The family attends the services regularly. The strength of Tony’s new devotion to the Lord is shown not only by his regular attendance at worship, but also by his completely changed family life and by the fact that he now contributes one-tenth of his income to the Lord and that the oldest of his five children is now studying for the ministry in one of our in- stitutions. If all the members of our Church would follow the example of Tony, we would have an income of more than thirty million dollars a year larger than our present receipts, and we could have thousands of ministerial students more than we now have. One Girl’s Influence. A Boston lawyer, who has for forty years been eminent in his profession and no less eminent in Christian work and in princely gifts to the cause of benevolence, tells this story of what fixed his course in life. When he was a young man, he once attended a missionary meeting in Boston. One of the speakers at that meeting, a plain man, said he had a girl in his domestic service, at a wage of less than two dollars a week, who gave one dollar every month to missions; she also had a class of poor boys in Bible school who never missed her from her place. And he said of her: “She is the happiest, kindest, tidiest girl I ever had in my kitchen.” The young man went home with these three broken sentences sticking in his mind: “Class in Bible school — dollar a month to missions — hap- piest girl.” The first result was that he took a class in Bible school; the second was a resolve that, if that girl could give one dollar a month to missions, he could, and he would. These were the immediate effects of one plain girl’s consecrated life. But who can count, who can imagine, the sum total? That lawyer was, for almost half a century from that time, an increasingly active force in every good work within his reach. The War Ory, quoted in Lutheran Missionary. BOOK TABLE. Verhandlungen der 31. Versammlung der Ev.-Luth. Synodalkonferenz von Nordamerika zu Omaha, Nebr., vom 8. bis zum 13. August 1928. Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, Mo. 77 pages. Price, 50 cts. Contains a German paper on the priestly office of Christ by Prof. W. Arndt, the biennial report of the Board for Colored Missions, and resolutions passed by the Conference in matters pertaining to Colored Missions and other things. Synodical Reports of Missouri Synod, 1928. Nord- Illinois-Distrikt. Papers: “Was muss geschehen von seiten unserer Gemeinden und der Synode, damit wir auch in dieser eigenartigen Zeit erkenntnisreiche Christen erzichen?” (Rev. M. Nickel); “Brotherly Admonition” (Rev. Aug. Burgdorf). 112 pages. Price, 18 ets.— Kansas District. Paper: “The Im- portance of Firmly Adhering to the Doctrine of In- spiration.” — Kansas-Distrikt (German). Paper:. “Die Lehre von der Inspiration” (Pastor Th. Juengel) . ee Kalender fuer deutsche Lutheraner, 1929. s Lutheran Annual, 1929. Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, Mo. Price, 15 cts. each. Every family of the Missouri Synod should have a copy of one of these annuals in its possession. Besides the edi- fying reading-matter to be found in these publications, they contain information concerning the Missouri Synod and its various enterprises that should be known to every member of the body. The Story of the Catechism. By Th. Graebner. Con- cordia Publishing House, St. Louis, Mo. Cloth; 147 pages. Price, 75 cts. This book ought to interest all of us, especially at this time, when we are getting ready to observe the quadricen- tennial of Luther’s Small Catechism. The author tells us how the Catechism came into being and writes of its early reception and its continued use as the guide for religious instruction in the Lutheran Church. Thirty-two valuable cuts illustrate the fourteen chapters of the book. Four-Hundredth Anniversary of Luther’s Small Catechism, 1529—1929. By J.7'. Mueller, Ph. D., Th. D. Wutheran Literary Board, Burlington, Iowa. Artistic board cover; 37 pages. Price, 65 cts. Order from Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, Mo. The imitation vellum cover of this booklet gives it a very artistic appearance: The initial letters of the eight chapters are illuminated. The illustrations are copies of the cover, title-pages, illustrations, and pages of the text of the 1536 edition of the Small Catechism. This book shows why we should regard Luther’s Small Cate- chism as a most precious gift of the Reformation. Author and publisher have succeeded in putting out a fine gift- book. Rex Amoris. (The King of Love.) By G.L. Wind. Con- cordia Publishing House, St. Louis, Mo. .Cloth bind- ing; 344 pages. Price, $1.75. i A romance laid in the days of Christ. The author gives us a vivid picture of the religious, social, and po- litical conditions obtaining in the Holy Land at the time of Christ’s coming into the flesh. The haughty Roman and the impatient Jew suffering under the galling yoke of Roman tyranny are skilfully drawn. Israel’s false hope in a Messiah that would free the chosen people from Gentile political supremacy, the increasing gloom that gradually settled down upon the remnant of Israel, and the bitter disappointment felt when the Promised One came poor and lowly and founded a kingdom that was not, of this world, —all this is brought out in the mas- terfully dramatic narrative. No less impressively does $2