The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1911, Page 38

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38

The Lutheran Pioneer.

A Child’s Prayer.

In a time of cruel war, about one hundred years
ago, some French soldiers came to a German village,
and looking for provisions rushed into a humble
dwelling, where the mother was lying sick with
fever upon a bed of straw. Beside her sat her little
daughter, singing one of her favorite hymns.

The noisy entering of the soldiers had so startled
and scared the little girl, that she fell off her bench.
But she quickly raised herself on her knees, and
folding her hands, prayed: “Dear Lord Jesus, have
mercy upon my mother and make the soldiers
friendly and kind. Give them to eat and to drink
at some other place; for:you know that my-mother
is poor and has nothing.”

One of the soldiers, who could understand and
speak German, touched by the child's prayer, said
to her, “My dear daughter, who taught you to pray
so well?”

“The Lord Jesus and my mother,” was the
child’s reply.

With tears in his eyes the soldier laid a piece
of money in the little girl’s lap, saying, “There,
dear child, you have something for your mother.
Pray for us also!”

He then kissed the child and hurried away with
his comrades. :

—- leo

The Sad Lot of Woman in Heathen Lands.

Sad, indeed, is the lot of woman in heathen
lands, as can be seen from the reports of mission-
aries. ‘The late J. G. Paton, pioneer missionary
to the New Hebrides, described the sad family life
of the heathen as he found it after he had settled
as missionary at Tanna, in the year 1858. He
says: — ’

“Amongst the heathen, in the New: Hebrides,
and especially at ‘Tanna, woman is the downtrodden
slave of man. She is kept working hard, and bears
all the heavier burdens, while he walks by her side
with musket, club, or spear. If she offends him,
he beats her or abuses her at pleasure. A savage
gave his poor wife a severe beating in front of our
house and just before our eyes, while in vain we

strove to prevent it. Such scenes were so common

that no one thought of interfering. Even if the
woman died in his hands, or immediately thereafter,
neighbors took little notice, if any at all. And
their children were so little cared for that my con-
stant wonder was how any of them survived at all.

—————

As soon as they are able to knock about, they are
left practically to care for themselves; hence the
very small affection they show toward their parents,
which results in the aged who are unable to work
being neglected, starved to death, and sometimes
even more directly and violently destroyed. A
heathen boy’s education consists in being taught to
aim skillfully with the bow, throw the spear fauli-
lessly at a mark, to wield powerfully the club and
tomahawk, and to shoot well with muskeé or re-
volver when these ean be obtained. Te accompanies
his father and brothers in all the wars and prepa-
rations for war, and is diligently initiated into all

* their eruelties and lusts, as the very prerequisite of

his being regarded and acknowledged to be a man
and a warrior. ‘The girls have, with their mother
and sisters, to toil and slave in the village planta-
tions, to prepare all the materials for fencing these
around, to bear every burden, and to be knocked
about at will by men and boys.

“Q how sad and degraded is the position of
woman where the teaching of Christ is unknown,
or disregarded though known !”

— Oe

Not Taxable.

An assessor came to a poor country parson to
make out the tax list. “How much property have
you?” he asked.

“Oh,” replied the preacher, “I am a rich man.”

The assessor opened his book, sharpened his
pencil, and said, “Well, what do you possess?”

““A Savior who procured salvation for me and
mine, and who has gone to prepare a place for us
in His Father’s house, where there are many man-
sions.”

“What else?”

“A good, God-fearing wife. Of such a wife, you
know, Solomon says: ‘Her price is far above
rubies.’ ”

“What else?”

“A cheerful, God-trusting heart, so that I can
joyously journey through life.”

‘The assessor closed his book and said, “You are
indeed a rich man, but your riches are not taxable.”

_ Thinking About the Sheep.

A missionary, while reading a tract to a com-
pany of people in Southern India, observed that
from time to time some one went into the next: