The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1894, Page 6

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at

They are me-

color, and

of Japanese.
‘people. They have their schools, and their

' own literature. They have false religions, for

6 The Lutheran Pioneer.

Japan. *

Of all foreign countries in which Christians
are doing missionary work, perhaps none is
more interesting than Japan. It is called the
Sunrise Kingdom. That is because it is the
most eastern country of the earth. It is a
kingdom made up of islands — over three thou-
sand islands. Only four of these islands are
of any considerable sizé. -Many of the others
are very small.
many short rivers run across these narrow
islands, and become very useful for shipping

It is a hilly country, and-

religion to their offspring, than many so-called
Christians are in teaching the true religion to
their little ones.

The Japanese have a love for the beautiful.
They make many ornaments. You have often
seen, no doubt, samples of their handiwork.
They manufacture fine pottery and porcelain,
and carve beautiful designs out of wood and
ivory and paper. However, not all that is sold
as Japanese ware is the genuine article. :

The people of this far-off land had learned
to mistrust foreigners. Their treatment at the
hands of Portuguese and Spanish missionaries

lumber when the snow in the mountains melts | led to this. So they would have nothing to do

and swells them.
Japan grows
plenty of veg-
etation “and
fruit, the lat-
ter, however,
being of an in-
ferior quality.
There are for-
ests of fine
timber here.
Grains of var-
ious kinds are
“cultivated.
Domestic ani-
majs, such as
we, have, are
found there,
also wild ani-
mals, as bear,
deer, fox, etc.
Have you
ever seen a
Japanese?

dium in size,
of a light olive

-black hair.

Men have their
hair cut off,
except a tuft
on the crown.
Women wear
their hair long and adorn them with jewelry.
The J: apanese baby is a funny brown creature,
with snapping black eyes, and a full crop of
hair. That is, he would have a full crop if his
mother did not shave his head, sometimes as
bare as a croquet ball, but other times in fancy
patterns. A favorite way of doing this is to

" Ieave two little tufts at the side and a larger

one the size of a saucer on the top of its head.

We have said that Japan is only a group of
islands, but do not conclude that there are
only a few people to be found there. ‘This is
a large kingdom. There are about 34 millions
And these are not an illiterate

ey are heathen. But they teach their chil-
dren of their false gods. Indeed, they seem
@ more concerned in teaching their false

with missionaries, but for many years would

Interior of Japanese House.

not even allow them to land upon their shore.
In 1853 a treaty was entered into between our
country and Japan, the result of which was,
that these time-worn barriers were thrown
down, and missionaries soon began to pour
into the Sunrise Kingdom. And the missionary
work in Japan for the last forty years is’ bear-
ing rich fruit. The Japanese are rapidly be-
coming disgusted with their false religions,
and are forsaking their idolatry. In many
places they listen right eagerly to what the
missionaries tell them of Christ and His holy
religion.

The introduction of Christianity is making
wonderful changes in Japan in every way. It
is not 20 years since the first Protestant church
was built there, and now tliere are perhaps 200.
Twenty-five years ago there was not a news-
paper in all Japan, now there are more than

2000.. Theological seminaries have been es-
tablished, and native converts are prepared for
the ministry. The native Christians seem to
be in deep earnest. Last year the native con-
verts of Japan, with average wages of less than
twenty-five cents a day, contributed $27,000
to mission work. Surely, we ought to be in-
terested in missionary work when such results
as these are to be seen.—JLittle Missionary.
4 + oes oe

(For the ‘‘Lutheran Pioneer.’’)

Chips from New Orleans.

In the past year Bethlehem Chapel had
grown from 113 to 133 souls. But owing to
: the removal of
some and the
death or apos-
tasy of others,
the congrega-
tion at the end

of the year
numbered 125
souls.

Since last
summer the
services have
not been at-

tended any
better than the
year previous.

Before that,
however, the

attendance
had been grat-
ifying, indeed,
and since the
holidays the
audiences have
been larger
again. Invar-
iably, more
people come to
church the for-
mer half of the
year than the
latter.

There are
170 pupils at school. Over 200 are enrolled
in the Sunday School.

The total receipts during the last year
amounted to $632.47. That this amount is
not nearly enough to maintain the church and
school ought to be plain to anybody. Yet our
members are always berated by prejudiced
people for ‘‘depriving their own color’’ by
taking their mites to the ‘‘church with the
white preacher.’’ If the laborers at this mis-
sion were to depend on the money contributed
by the congregation, they would forsooth!
have been starved long ago. ‘This statement .
is merely made, however, to show who the
beneficiaries of the mission are. Some of our
members—to the praise of God be it said—
contribute quite generously.

That deep sigh of the Pronger at the close
of the past year aroused our sympathy. Could