The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1892, Page 26

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Letter from Concord, N.C.

Dear PioneEn.—‘‘I offer to donate three or
four acres of land in the eastern part of Con-
cord, known-as the Litaker property, as a
building site for a Colored Lutheran College
and Seminary.’’ This is the summary of a
document which Hon. Warren C. Coleman, an
enterprising merchant of Concord and a repre-

‘sentative colored man of the ‘‘North State,’’

handed to your Missionary the other evening.
A Lutheran College and Seminary, a colored
Concordia, if you please, for the classical and
theological education of colored young men
for the ministry in our church is a long-felt
want. Without it we can not, for obvious rea-
sons, carry on successfully the mission work we
haye undertaken. What the colored people of
the South need and must have are thoroughly
educated christian men of their own race, men
that will not work for their own
selfish ends, but by faithful in-
struction in church and at school
lift their fellowmen out of their
‘ignorance and degradation. The
day may not be} distant when the
Eyangelical- Lutheran Synodical
Conference need missionaries for
the dark tribes of the dark conti-
nent. Whg would be better fitted
to undertake the cause of Christ
among those Africans than the
Southern negro boys, who with
the mother milk, as it were, have
drank in the great glorious doc-
trines of our church.

Our parochial schools with their
hundreds of little boys, into whose
hearts the love of Christ and the
great confessions of our church
are daily being planted by our
Missionary teachers, are in a posi-
tion to supply such an institution
with select material and thus better enable it
to turn out first-class men.

Concord, with the valuable donation of Hon.
Coleman and others in view, offers excellent
facilities for such a school. It is a healthy,
thriving town. Colored Lutheran schools and
churches are being planted round about, which
would take pride in their Seminary and in many
ways help to support it. The expense of build-
ing and maintaining it would be materially
cheaper than in the larger cities where we have
mission churches. But locate the Seminary
wherever you please as long as one is estab-
lished. We bespeak for it the heartiest sup-
port of the entire Synodical Conference and
of our colored Lutheran churches every-
where. Let it be brought prominently be-
fore our people, acted on by those delegated
to act in the matter and push it to complete-
ness. ; :

On Sunday Exaudi, the 29th of May, four-
teen members were added to our church by
confirmation, the first fruit of the Mission-
ary’s labors in North Carolina. With the ex-

ception of a few, who entered later, they have
attended catechetical instructions since Octo-
ber last and were well prepared to enter upon
the duties of membership in our church. On
the same day three were baptized and one
was re-admitted to the church. The house of
worship was decorated with fragrant flowers
and a great concourse of people was in attend-
ance. Another class is being prepared, and
before the year is over, the congregation will
have more than doubled itself.

May the Lord gracefully preserve these
young witnesses for the truth in His word and
grace unto their end and continue to add to
the church such as shall be saved.
Missionary.

Concord, N. C., June 17., 1892.

O Happy House.

“<Q happy house, 0 home supremely blest,
Where, Thou Lord Jesus Christ, are entertained
As the most welcome and beloved guest,

With true devotion and with love unfeigned;
Where all hearts beat in unison with Thine,
Where eyes grow brighter as they look on Thee,
Where all are ready at the slightest sign,

To do Thy will and do it heartily.

“<Q happy house, where man and wife are one,
Through love of Thee, in spirit, heart and mind,
Together joined by holy bonds which none,
Not death itself, can sever or unbind;

Where both on Thee unfailingly depend,
In weal and woe, in good and evil days,
And hope with Thee eternity to spend

In sweet communion and eternal praise.

*<O happy house, where with the hands of prayer
Parents commit their children to the Friend,
Who, with a more than mother’s tender care,

* Will watch and keep them safely to the end;
Where they are taught to sit at Jesus’ feet,
And listen to the words of life and truth,

And learn to lisp His praise in accents sweet
From early childhood to advancing youth.”

Missionary Cucumbers.

Some twenty-five or more years ago, a cer-
tain Sunday-school agreed to contribute forty
dollars a year toward the support of a native
preacher in India. Lach class in the school
was provided with a small tin box in which to
deposit its pennies. The boxes were opened
quarterly, and the money forwarded to the
missionaries in India.

Fora while everything went along smoothly,
but after a time the collections began to drop
off, and there were some doubts about the
school being able to continue the project.
There was one class, however, composed of
boys about ten or twelve years of age, who
were very much interested in the matter; and
one day their teacher said to one of them,
who, for convenience sake, we will call Harry,
‘Something must be done to increase our col-

lections and I have a proposition
to make. I will plant some things
in my garden, and when they are
ready for market you may sell
them, and we will put the money
in our box.’’ Harry was very much
pleased with the idea; he at once
agreed to the proposition, and the
teacher planted several hills of cu-
cumbers.

These missionary cucumbers, as

* they were called, seemed almost to
know what was expected of them ;
for they grew rapidly and pro-
duced bountifully, while other veg-
etables, on account of dry weather,.
shriveled up and amounted to noth-
ing. Of course this was due, to a
great extent, to the extra care the
cucumbers received.

When they were ready, Harry
took a well-filled basket on his arm
and started out on his first trip.

He had no trouble whatever in finding a mar-

ket for all he-had; and, indeed, could have
disposed of more. ae

Every few days Harry would go out with his
basket, until his customers, when they saw
him coming, would say, ‘‘Here comes the cu-
cumber boy.’’ Everybody who ate them said
the cucumbers were fine, and we never heard
of any one being sick as a result of their use.

Well, time passed on, and when the end of
the quarter came that box was full; and upon
its being opened and the contents counted, it
was found to contain more than twenty dol-
lars. That box saved the day, and for sey-
eral years the forty dollars were regularly sent
to India. Harry and his teacher are both still
living, and neither of them have ever been
sorry that they raised and peddled cucumbers
for the missionaries.

—_—_—_—— Po oe _

TRIALS and crosses are part of your day
portion; but God promises you strength ac-
cording to your day, therefore expect strength
in every trying season. :