The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1896, Page 40

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40)

The Lutheran Pioneer.

The Outlook from the Editor’s Window.

—Os the 18th and 14th of September our
Lutheran Seminary at Springfield, IIl., cele-
brated the fiftieth anniversary of its founda-
tion. Thousands of Lutherans assembled and
gave thanks to God for the great blessing be-
stowed upon the church through the work of
our Seminary. On the second day there was a
reunion of the alumni of the institution, which
was attended by a large number of clergymen
from different parts of the country, and which
The speak-
ers gave interesting accounts of the work of
May God con-

was a decidedly pleasant affair.

the Seminary by decades.
tinue to bless Concordia Seminary !

—A CORRESPONDENT of the New York Ob-

? server claims that since the introduction of the
International system of lessons into the Sun-

day schools of the land, the memorizing of

the Scripture by the scholars has very largely

gone out of practice. In the days when the

catechism was more generally taught, nearly

all scholars were urged to memorize the entire
r Scripture lesson of the day—a practice of
5 which many now in middle life, whose minds
are treasure houses of Bible thoughts and
phrases, have felt the benefit. In some char-
itable institutions, the memorization of the
Scriptures is still an important part of each
day’s drill. To put the Bible into the mind
is the first step toward putting it into the
heart and life.

—Iws the year of 1842, which is indelibly
imprinted in Chinese memory as the time of
| the disgraceful ‘‘Opium War’’ with England,
t there were only six native Christians in all
t China; in 1853 not more than 350; in 1864
f there were 2000, and in 1890 already 37,300
| communicant members of 522 congregations,
94 of which had become self-supporting. The
: number of ordained missionaries was 589; of
t single female white helpers, 316; of ordained

native pastors, 211; of pupils, 16,836; of hos-
pitals, 61. Seven thousand of the 77,000 Prot-
estant Chinese Christians are members of the
Lutheran Church.

—Wuart a change! Rey. F. Ramseyer, a
veteran Lutheran missionary on the Gold Coast
of West Africa, together with his wife and
child, and his fellow-missionary, Rey. J.
Kuehne, had been taken captives by the
Ashantee warriors in 1869 and kept prisoner
until 1874, when he was released by the Brit-
ish forces, has lately returned to Koomasee,
the capital of Ashantee, whose dethroned king
had been exiled to St. Helena, to establish a
missionary station, under very favorable auspi-
ces. The new British governor has publicly an-
‘nounced that the missionary is under his pro-

* tection, and the chieftains, ‘‘kings’’ (!) of the
subdued tribes, are anxious to call their for-
_ mer Captive their best friend and to do him
all honor!

_ Tne New Hebrides, one of the Melane-

are Christians ; the Scriptures are read in 13 of
the 25 native dialects. The names of John
Williams and R. Paton will always be revered
by friends of the kingdom. The island of
Amityum now is entirely Christian, but there
was a time, only 50 years ago, when its in-
habitants were cannibals and its customs most
ferocious. The substitute for the Christian
marriage ring was the ‘‘marriage rope,’’ put
around the neck of the bride. This she wore
all her life, and when her husband died she
was strangled with it by his nearest relative.
The Rey. John Inglis, who began his work
there in 1852, reported that there was not a
widow on the island, nor any word in the lan-
guage for widow. ‘The unwritten law de-
manded that on the death of her husband the
wife be strangled, and her body cast into the
sea with his.

— Tue Lutheran churches in France—mem-
bership, 80,000— have decided to support the.
Norwegian Lutheran missions in Madagascar,
since the island has become a French colony.

—A Panis correspondent says: ‘‘The Nor-
wegian Lutheran Missions in Madagascar wish
to put a stop to the attacks made on them by
so-called French Catholic patriots. To this
end they have invited French schoolmasters
intending to go to Madagascar to make first a
sojourn at the missionary training-school at
Stavanger, where they will be kept for noth-
ing, taught the Norse tongue, and enabled to
understand the religious teaching the mission-
aries are to give. This the Norwegians hope
will clear away all misunderstanding and en-
able French and Norse teachers to go hand in
hand. The Norwegian missions have fully ac-
cepted the French conquest of the Island.
All they want is to be allowed to continue
peacefully the work they have begun among
the natives.’’

—A very striking incident reported from
Turkey is that of an aged mother, 110 years
of age, whose son was nearly ready to give up
in despair in view of the terrible experience
through which they were passing. But the
mother told the ruffians who were assaulting
them that she was too old to change her faith.
“I know only Christ,” she said, and they
took the dear old lady’s Bible and tore it up
and burned it before her eyes. ‘But thank
God,”’ adds the reporter, ‘they could not tear
the Word out of her heart.’’

— Oss of the things which renders mission-
ary work difficult is the strangeness of the
surroundings in which the Christian worker
must labor. <A lady who writes from China
gives some rather amusing instances of the
difficulties she has to meet. It is amusing to
see this Chinese school during school hours.
All our ideas about schools and school disci-
pline are totally set aside. ‘The scholars are
of all ages and sizes; they sit anywhere, more
often on the floor than not, probably all study-
ing aloud at once. When they hear one of
the foreigners coming, they all shout, ‘‘Here
comes Sinai,” (Mrs.) and they all rush out to

greet me by asking me, ‘‘if I have eaten my
rice’ (the usual salutation). The two young
ladies have charge of the executive part of
the school. It is so hard to hold and inter-
est women who have never read anything or
thought of much beyond eating and money.
One morning when I was talking to a number
of women in a small dirty room, a large pig
came in and settled himself fora rest. I said,
“Why do you not make that pig stay in the
yard?’’ They replied, ‘The pig is not will-
ing.’’ Too listless to make even a pig obey
them!

OUR BOOK TABLE.

AMERICAN SERIES OF DRAWING Books and First
EXERCISES IN DrawinG. A Preparatory Course
to the Amcrican Series of Drawing Books. Con-
cordia Publishing House, St. Louis Mo. Price
of the Drawing Books: Numbers 1—5 @ 10 cts.;
6—25 @15cts.; 26—29 @10 cts. Price of First
Exercises, 25 cts. per Set; Tablet to First Exer-
cises in Drawing @ 10 cts.

Experts have declared these Drawing Books to
belong “‘to the best in the market,’ and we doubt
not that they will be welcomed In schools and
homes where children are instructed in the useful
art of drawing. Teachers can get sample copies for
examination at half price.

ERZAEHLUNGEN FUER DIE JUGEND. 32, Biindchen:
Das Testament. Der Bauernkénig.— 33. Biind-
chen: Die Erbschaft. Price, 25 cts. each volume.
Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, Mo.

These instructive and entertaining story books
will be read with delight by young and old.

Evangelical Lutheran Colored Churches,
NEw ORLEans, La.

EV. LUTH. ST. PAUL’S CHAPEL.
113 Annette Str., between Claiborne and Dirbigny.

Divine services: Sunday morning at 10% o’clock.
Sunday evening at 7% o'clock.

. Wednesday evening at 7% o'clock.
Sunday School: Sunday morning at 94 o'clock.
Singing School at 714 o’clock Monday cvening.

F. J. LANKENAU, Missionary.

EV. LUTH. MT. ZION CHURCH.
Cor. Franklin and Thalia Strs.
Divine services at 7% Sunday evening and at 7% Thars-
day evening.
Sunday School meets at 9 o’clock.
Adult catechumen class meets at 744 Tuesday cvening.

E. W. Kuss, Missionary.

EV. LUTH. BETHLEHEM CHAPEL.
Cor. Washington Avenue and Dryades Str.
Divine services at 74 o'clock Sunday evening and at 744
o’clock Thursday evening.
Sunday School at 9 o'clock.
J. W. F. KOSSMANN, Missionary.

Ey. Luth. Holy Trinity Church.
Springfield, Ill.
Divine Services at half past 10 o'clock Sunday morning
and at 8 o’clock Sunday evening.
Sunday School at 3 o'clock P. M.
Catechumen class meets Monday and Friday evenings.
Singing-school Tuesday evening.
TT
—_———

TERMS:

Tux Lutnxran Pionzer is published monthly,
Fevable in advance at the following rates, postage
included, to-wit:

1 Copy Ebetisticercrsescatescrsecte Dice],
10 d -. 2.00
Der ee

9.00

Club rates only allowed if all copies are to be sent
to one address.

All business communications to be addressed to
“Concordia Publishing House,” St. Louis, Mo.

All communications concerning the editorial de-

artment to be addressed to Prof. R. A. BIscHOFF,

mcordia College, Fort Wayne, Ind.