The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1897, Page 7

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‘The Lutheran Pioneer.

were brought to bear upon the people from
year to year, their temporal condition also
greatly improved. Among the missionary’s
labor-saving inventions were a cross-cut’ saw
snd a plough, the latter made chiefly by him-
self. As the old chief stood upon a hill and
watched the plough ‘‘tear up the ground with
its iron mouth,’’ he exclaimed, ‘‘If it goes‘on
so all day, it will do more work than ten
wives!!’’ ‘Thus was ushered in a new era in
agricultural pursuits as well as in the moral
condition of the people. ‘The rapid growth
of garden seeds amused them very much, but
when they saw the use to which lettuce and
other salads were put, they laughed heartily
and said: ‘‘If the missionaries and their wives
can.eat grass, they need never starve.’’

This place became a radiating center about
which, in the course of timt, other missions
were planted. In 1855 a beautiful stone chapel,
accommodating six hundred people, the cost
of which was $5000, was erected by the united
efforts and contributions of the people, with-
out foreign aid, with the exception of the gift
of a pulpit from a few friends in Cape Town.
At its opening services the chapel-was-filled
with an attractive and well-dressed congre-
gation, and the collections amounted to $80.
There were at that time 184 communicants,
and 300 children in the mission schools. -

——> + eo +

~---Story of a Kitten:--- -~-

You may be pleased to read a story about
a harmless kitten that caused much fright
among the people of one of the islands of the
South Sea.

The rats and mice were said to be so nu-
merous on these islands that a missionary, for
example, was obliged to engage three men,
in.order to keep away these uninvited guests
from the dishes, chairs and table, while he
was eating. As cats were unknown on the
islands, the missionaries thought the best
thing they could do would be to have a num=
ber of these useful animals brought in a ship
from Europe. This was accordingly done,
and when the cargo arrived the cats were dis-
tributed among the missionaries on different
islands. In this way a kitten was brought to
the island Rarotonga, but as the good animal
did not feel at home with its new master, it
tan away and got into the mountains. ‘There
Stood the house of a heathen priest who, sev-
eral days before, had accepted the Gospel
and burned his idols. One night, while he
was asleep on his mat, his wife, who was still
awake, suddenly beheld in the doorway two
flery eye-balls and heard at the same time a
Mysterious voice. ‘Trembling with fear, she
waked her husband and severely reproached
him for his folly in having burned his idols
who, as she thought, had now returned to
Avenge themselves. ‘‘Get up and pray!’’ she
cried, ‘get up and pray!’’ The man arose
and, as he opened his eyes, he too beheld the

to say a prayer that he had learned a short
time ago.
heard his voice, it ran away, being not less
frightened than the priest, and the poor people
congratulated themselves that through their
prayer, as they imagined, they had driven the
devil away.

and came to a dense idol-grove, where it
found a kind of temple-hut, in which it made

two later, however, a heathen priest with a

fiery eye-balls and heard the strange sound.

As soon as the innocent kitten

The homeless kitten now wandered about

itself at home among the idols and enjoyed
arich feast upon the many mice. A day or

crowd of natives came to the grove to bring
an offering to the idols. As he was about to
enter the hut, the kitten greeted him respect-
fully with a ‘‘mew.’? Unaccustomed to such
a voice, he ran back affrighted to his attend-
ants and cried, ‘There is in here a monster
out of the deep!’’ Hereupon they all hastened
to their dwellings, called the people together,
put on their weapons of war, and, armed with
spears, clubs, and slings, “several hundred
marched in battle array upon the monster.
Frightened by the tumult, the kitten jumped
up; the warriors fell back in amazement and
let the poor creature escape through their
ranks. In the evening these warriors had a
dance in the open air. The kitten came that
way and thought it would look on. But
hardly was. it observed than‘the barbarians
ran for their weapons and gave chase after
the innocent creature. But it was soon out
of sight and, tired out by the hardships of
the day, it lay down to rest in the hut of
a native under a mat, on which he was wont
to sleep. As he came into the hut and was
about to lie down, he was frightened to be-
hold the monster, ran out and closed the door,
and—now the poor, innocent kitten was lost.
A number of the people came together and
killed it with their clubs. ‘They imagined they
had performed avery heroic deed. Later they
regretted their folly exceedingly:
Now you may laugh at the ignorance of
these heathen people. But let us remember
that even greater and more dreadful than this
ignorance of earthly matters with which we
are familiar, is their ignorance of spiritual and
heavenly things. The Gospel is the power of
God unto salvation. They need that above
everything else.
~~ eP oo

He had Learned to Pray.

As illustrating the extraordinary impression
which the character of Stonewall Jackson pro-
duced upon the men who served under him,
the New York Evangelist some years ago re-
produced an anecdote related by the presi-
dent of a New York bank, who had returned
from a visit to the Shenandoah Valley, where
he had enjoyed the companionship of Gen-
eral Thomas Jordan, chief of staff to General
Beauregard.

The two men found themselves at nightfall

Terribly affrighted, he began, in a loud voice, | in a wild and lonely place, with no house near

except a shanty occupied by the track-walker
on the railroad.

There, as a last resort, they
took shelter.

The unprepossessing look of everything

was completed when the track-walker came

in and took his seat at the head of the table.
A bear out of the woods could hardly have
been rougher than he, with his unshaven beard
and unkempt hair. He looked like a border
ruffian, the bank president thought.

As he took his seat, however, he rapped on
the table, bowed his head, and began to pray.
‘‘And such a prayer!’’ exclaims the narrator.
‘*So simple, so reverent, so tender, so full of
humility, penitence and thankfulness.”’

At the first opportunity the New Yorker
whispered to General Jordan, ‘‘Who can he
be?”’

“I don’t know,’’ was the reply, ‘‘but he
must be one of Stonewall Jackson’s old
soldiers.’’

And so he was. As the three men walked
out of doors after supper, the New Yorker,
after a few questions about the country, said:

‘*Were you in the war?’’

‘*Oh, yes,’’ said the Virginian, with a smile;
**T was out with old Stonewall.’’

———» + oo

Russian Babies.

As déscribed by a recent traveler, Russian
babies; as seen in the homes of the Russian
peasants in Siberia, are very unattractive spe-
cimens of humanity. ‘‘I looked curiously at
one little bundle,’’ says the traveler, ‘‘which
was laid upon a shelf. Another hung from
the wall on a peg, while a third was slung
over one of the supporting rafters, and was
being swung to and fro by the mother, who
had a cord loop over her foot.’’ '

““Why,’’ cried I, in surprise, ‘‘that’s a
child !’”

“Of course it is,’’ replied the woman.
“‘What. else should it be?”

Having learned so-much in so short a time,
I had an irresistible desire to inspect the con-
tents of the swinging bundle. I looked, but
turned away in disgust, for the child was as
dirty asa pigina pen. I could not refrain
from asking one question. It may have been
impertinent.

“Washed !’? shrieked the mother, appar-
ently horrified. ‘‘Washed? What? Wash a
baby? Why, you'd kill it!”

oo ee

Not Alone.

If all my earthly friends remove, 3
My fondest wishes empty prove,
Still am I with my Saviour’s love,
Alone —yet not alone.
Whate’er may now to me betide,

I have a place wherein to hide,
By faith ’tis e’en at His blest side,

AFF MEMORIAL LIBRARY” not alone.

CONCORDIA SEM INARY

§T. LOUIS, MO,