# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1932_S15 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) THE LUTHERAN PIONEER 15 been shaken by medical science. The old medicine- man is now a rare sight; in fact, he will avoid being seen either by Europeans or by members of the mission. The more human method of extracting teeth at the mission dispensary, the treatment for general complaints, and the prevention of dreaded diseases by means of inoculation have resulted in an increasing number of medicine-men’s being on the unemployed list. The change is due to the power of the Gospel of Christ. A tragic accident took place at a school in Hunan Province of China. The high wall of a neighboring house fell without any warning and demolished a portion of the church premises occupied by the girls of the Church Mis- sionary Society school, causing the death of a Chi- nese teacher and six young girls. Bishop Holden writes: “Six years ago such an appalling accident would have meant a terrible outcry against the Church; but so much has the situation changed that the general attitude has been for the most part one of sympathy and help.” These are indeed hopeful signs. = — Pigmies of Africa.— Speaking of the pigmies of the African forest, a recent traveler writes: “Only in one sense did the pigmies seem to me comparable to the dwellers in a modern metropolis. This is their attitude toward religion. I lived among them for whole weeks and found no trace of a faith. They said no prayers, there was no trace of a cult or images associated with a cult in their houses, and I had already decided that at last I had come upon people that had no faith and no god. But I had been in total error. At the end of about a month the veil lifted, and I learned that they did recognize a supreme being, and they prayed to it when they went on a hunt or in search of honey. ‘To this supreme being they always make thank-offerings. The practise of giving the first- fruits and the first portion of honey and other bits as a sacrifice I found flourishing among all tribes.” What a sad reflection do these poor pigmies, dwarfs in mind and body, cast upon many born and reared in Christian environment and enjoying spiritual and material advantages all their lives such as these pigmies in the wildest flights of their imagination could not dream of! A Family of Missionaries. — Dr. John Scudder was the first medical missionary in India, sent there ‘ by the Dutch Reformed Church in America. That was in 1819. Since he entered the mission-field, more than a hundred years ago, no less than thirty- seven Scudders have gone to India, most of them as medical missionaries. In succession seven sons followed John Scudder to India in the last century, and to-day two members of the family are at the head of the Scudder Memorial Hospital near Madras. In all, the Scudder family has spent 1,000 years in the missionary service of the Dutch Re- formed Church in India, and at present eight of the third generation and six of the fourth are still there. How a Bible Did Double Duty. y A Christian lady once went into one of the many little candy stores in Tokyo. While the clerk, an old woman, wrapped up the candy, the lady looked over the little store. She noticed that the walls were covered with the pages of some old book and found, upon looking closer, that they were pages from a Bible. When she expressed her surprise, the old woman told her the history of that “wall- paper.” Years ago the old woman had walked by a book- store and found a pile of waste paper. Since her walls did not look well, she picked up the leaves, carried them to her store, and pasted them upon the walls. A short time thereafter her grandson, who had learned to read, came on a visit and began to read to her the stories on the old leaves. She enjoyed the stories so well that she listened atten- tively. When her grandson left, she asked every customer who could read to read to her from her “wall-paper.” One day a young-man entered the store and asked whether she knew what was written upon her walls, whether she understood it, and whether she was a Christian. The next Sunday he called for her to take her to church. The story ended in this, that the old woman had come to faith in the Lord Jesus and had been baptized. — Fachange. BOOK TABLE. (By the Eprror.) Missouri Synod Synodical Reports. Concrodia Pub- lishing House, St. Louis, Mo. No.9. Central Dis- trict. SO pages. Price, 30 cts. Doctrinal papers: Das Werk der Heiligung. “How Can a Christian Congregation Best Accomplish the Purpose for Which It Exists?” — No. 10. Nord-Nebraska-Distrikt. 84 pages. Price, 28 cts. Doctrinal paper: Die Regie- rung Gottes.—No.1l. Northern Nebraska District. 56 pages. Price, 15 cts. Doctrinal papers: “The First Commandment.” “The Providence of God.” (Résumé.) — Colorado District. 80 pages. Price, 20 cts. Doctrinal papers: “The Kingly Office of Christ.” Die Gemeinde und das Pfarramt. — No. 12. Eastern District. 109 pages. Price, 51 cts. Doc- trinal papers: Johannes der Taeufer. “Unionism.”