The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1905, Page 15

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

NOTES AND ITEMS.

Sr. Lours, Mo.—Our colored Lutheran mission
at St. Louis celebrated Christmas with joy and
thanksgiving. Mrs. B——, the Superintendent of
the school, writes:

“Our Ev.-Luth. Grace Colored Mission had its
second Christmas celebration in its church on cor-
ner 12th and Carr streets. The church was deco-
rated with wreaths of holly, and our tree was laden
with all good things, many a light gleaming from
the tree and reminding our poor little colored chil-
dren of the glad Christmas tidings. The children
were also pleasantly surprised to find their boxes
filled with all kinds of good things. With glad
hearts they sang praises to the dear Christ-child
who was born also for them. No tongue can tell
the joy that was seen in this little Mission at this
joyful Christmas celebration. - Teacher McDavid
delivered a very impressive address on the birth of
the Saviour.—Our mission is doing well, and we
have all reason to thank God that there is a pros-
perous colored mission in St. Louis, Mo.”’

Greensporo, N. C.—Speaking of the college to
be erected at Greensboro for colored students, and
of our mission there in charge of the Rev. J.C.
Schmidt, a writer in the Lutheran Church Visitor
says:

“The writer spent a summer in Greensboro some
eight years ago. While doing some office work in
my room at my boarding house one forenoon, I
overheard a heated discussion in the back yard
upon the subject of religion between two cooks
and a wood chopper, all negroes. Curious to hear
what perverted ideas they might advance, I found
myself an eager listener. It soon appeared that
the wood chopper was more than a match for the
cooks, one a Baptist, the other a Methodist. He
unmercifully assailed the pet doctrines of his an-
tagonists, and then proceeded to enlighten them as
to what salvation is, and the means through which
it is attained. To my utter surprise he outlined a
clear conception of the Lutheran faith in the plain-
est terms, establishing his position by abundant
Scripture proofs. On inquiry, I found this wood
chopper was Rey. Schmidt’s Sunday school super-
intendent. I investigated Rev. Schmidt’s mission
and methods, and found that he used no clap-trap
schemes. In the week days he taught school for
the colored race, making religion a part of the in-
struction. No member was admitted to the con-
gregation who had not mastered the Catechism and
understood. its conception of salvation.’’

15

AN INDIAN CHIEF’s PLEA. — A correspondent in
New York writes: Two real, blanketed Indians of
the Comanche tribe, from the reservation near Fort
Sill, Oklahoma, spoke on a recent Sunday after-
noon at a missionary meeting in our city. A third
was also expected to address the meeting, but he
was ill. The three Indians are traveling in the in-
terest of their tribesmen. Their names are Peri-
conic, Nahwatz, and White Wolf. Periconic is the
chief of his tribe, and up to three years ago was a
worshiper of Mescal, the sun god. He at that time
was a famous gambler and drinker, and altogether
a bad Indian. About three years ago a Protestant
missionary held an Indian service at Fort Sill,
which Chief Periconic attended. It was there that
he first heard of what the Indians call ‘‘the Jesus
road.’? He was brought to faith in the Saviour,
and ever since has been anxious for the Christian
instruction of his tribesmen. ‘‘I am on a long
trip,’”’ he said to his New York audience, ‘‘to ask
the paleface to send a missionary down to tell the
rest of my tribe what I have heard. I am a poor,
ignorant man, and cannot read.’? The Christian
chief is also making pleas for funds with which to
build a little Indian church on his reservation. ‘‘I
want it built strong,’’ he said, ‘‘so it will last after
I am dead.” The chief said that he left his squaw
and pappooses and also his crops to come among
the palefaces to get help for mission work among

‘his poor Indian people.

HEATHEN CruELTY.— When a chief or some
other prominent man in Africa dies, it brings great
suffering upon his widows and slaves. Some of his
wives are thrust into the grave with him. When
they begin their wailings, they do not know which
of them must endure this dreadful fate. The choice
is kept secret until the body of the chief is ready for
burial. Then ten slaves have their heads cut off.
But death is not so easy for the four widows who
are to follow their husband into eternity. Witha
club their arms and legs are broken, that they may
be rendered helpless. They are then cast alive into
the grave. The chief’s body is placed upon them,
and all are covered up with earth.

Such is the cruelty of heathenism.

A Nozsre Conression. —The first Papuan to be
baptized by the Rhenish missionaries in New Guinea,
before his baptism, in order to show his faith before
his people, spoke as follows: ‘‘I renounce the cus-
toms of my ancestors. I know they have made the
people believe on the idols through lies. I believe
in Jehovah. He is the true God, who made heaven