The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1905, Page 95

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

NOTES AND ITEMS.

Crose or VoLume.—This number closes an-
other volume of our Lurneran Pioneer, and as a
new volume begins with the new year, this is a
suitable time to send in the names of new sub-
scribers. If our friends will speak a kind word for
our paper and get new subscribers for it, we should
be very thankful. With their assistance the cir-
culation of the PionreR can be increased, which
would also be a. help to our mission work since all
the profits go into our mission treasury. The close
of the year is an excellent time to get subscribers
for the new volume, and we hope that the friends
of the Proneer will make use of their opportunities
in this direction.

A Penny A Day.— Right after a missionary
meeting, a poor woman called at the residence
where the missionary was staying, and told him
she had been prevented from attending, but hoped
she was not too late to present a little contribution
she wished to make to the Missionary Society. The
poverty of her appearance induced the missionary
to say, he feared she could not afford to give any-
thing ; but the poor woman assured him that though
she was a widow and had four children to support,
she had contrived to save a little, and that she
should be much grieved if he should refuse to take
it. She then untied a bundle she had brought with
her and produced three hundred and thirty cents.
She had laid by one cent every day for the year
past, excepting those days in which illness pre-
vented her from working.

A TuHank Orrerine.—The British and Foreign
'Bible Society received from Rey. Mr. Casalis, of the
Paris Mission in Basutoland, South Africa, $826 as
an offering for its Century Fund from the Basuto
churches. About $40 of this amount is from a
newly organized church under charge of a young
native pastor, which has very few men on its list
of members. The most of the money came from
the sixty women of the church. These black women
earned it, a few cents ata time, and made it truly a
thank offering.

Your Neicusor.—A minister was soliciting aid
for foreign missions, and applied to a gentleman,
who refused him with the reply, ‘‘I don’t believe in
foreign missions. I want what I give to benefit my
neighbor.”’ ‘‘Well,”’ replied he, ‘‘whom do you re-
gard as yourneighbor?”’ ‘‘Why, those around me.’’
“Do you mean those whose land adjoins yours?”’
inquired the minister. ‘‘Yes.’’ ‘‘Well,’”’ said the

95

minister, “‘how much land do you own?” ‘‘About
500 acres.” ‘‘How far down do you own?” ‘‘Why,
I never thought of it before, but I suppose I own
half way through.” ‘‘Ixactly,”’ said the clergy-
man. ‘‘I suppose you do, and I want the money
for the New Zealanders—the men whose land joins
yours at the bottom.’’

Tue True Missionary Sprrit.—A friend once
tried to dissuade a young man from going as a mis-
sionary to Africa, by telling him he would die there
in a short time, as he could not stand the climate.
His answer was, ‘“‘I think it is with mission work
as it is with building a temple. Some stones must
be buried in the earth for a foundation. If Christ
wants me to be one of the unseen stones lying in an
African grave, I am content.’’

ANOTHER.— A true missionary spirit was also
manifested by a young missionary candidate whom
Bishop Hedding, of New York, was examining, in
order to test his fitness for the work. Said the
bishop: ‘‘Have you considered that you will have
to go away from home and friends, and be among
strangers and enemies?’ “‘I have,’’ replied the
young man. ‘‘Have you considered that you must
leave your native land, with all its institutions and

_ privileges, and be a foreigner in a strange land,

where everybody will regard you with suspicion
and prejudice?” ‘‘I have considered it all,” said
the preacher. ‘‘Have you considered that in that
land your health may fail, you may be prostrated
by malarias and fevers, and you may die prema-
turely by disease or violence?”’ ‘‘Yes,’’ continued
the young man, ‘‘and if I had a thousand lives I
would give them to Jesus. Bishop, please don’t ask
me any more questions, but send me, send me!”?

EARNESTNESS OF NATIVE ConvVERTS.— The ear- .
nestness of native converts is illustrated in a recent
report of a missionary from Fukien, China: ‘‘Some
of the Christians who worship here come from a
great distance. Three women walked seven miles
to-day to get here. One was an old lady of sixty-
four, with snow-white hair. Only a short time be-
fore she walked the same distance to join the church.
Another one, who is sixty-two, came with her little
nine-year-old grandson. After morning service they
were in my room, and just before going out, she put
her hand caressingly on the little fellow and said:
‘Son, you must plead with your mother to be a
Christian.’ He promised to do so, and his arm went
up in a loving embrace to grandma’s neck. That
dear grandma had only just reached the place where