The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1913, Page 70

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70 The Lutheran Pioneer.

Items of General Missionary Interest.

Missourr Sxnop Mission 1N Inpra.— Three
new workers will enter the field this fall. A
superintendent for the mountain home is also to
go out in the near future; he will have charge of
the home and of the education of the foreign
workers’ children. A medical mission is to be
begun as soon as possible, and a capable physician
and surgeon has already offered himself for the
service. The medical missionary will be accompa-
nied by an educated nurse, whose salary for the first

year of her service is deposited with the treasurer,

having been gathered by the endeavors of Mrs.
Zucker, the wife of Prof. Zucker, of Fort Wayne.
A nurse with the necessary qualifications has also
been procured. ‘The Mission Board has further de-
cided to send ont a well-educated female teacher
to found a girls’ school, the schools up to this time
having all been boys’ schools. A lady qualified to
fill this important position has volunteered her serv-
ices. Finally, it has been decided to find a young
minister who, after taking a thorough course at
some teachers’ college in this country, is to go to
India to take full charge of all the schools of the
Mission. Every friend of foreign missions must
rejoice to hear all these things, since the execution
of these plans will mean 50 much for the success
of the work.

OruerR Facrs Concennine Inp1a.— From
1901 to 1911 the native Christians of India have
increased from 2,923,241 to 3,876,196, or by 33
per cent. This great increase was largely in the
extréme South, where in Travancore and Cochin
more than one-fourth of the total population are
now Christians, the rate of increase in these two
native states during the decade -having been 30
per cent. ‘This large rate of increase was, however,
exceeded elsewhere, though the numbers were not
so large. In the United Provinces of Agra and
Qudh the Christians increased from 68,841 to
136,469; in the Punjab, from 37,980 to 163,220.
The rate of increase in Assan was 90 per cent.; in
Burma, 45 per cent.; in Bihar, 33 per cent.; and in
the Mohaminedan state of Hyderabad, 300 per cent.
Some of the Protestant denominations show extra-

ordinary figures. ‘The Baptists, mainly in Madras

and Burma, have multiplied from 221,040 to
336,596; the Lutherans, in Madras and Bihar,

‘from 155,455 to 218,499; the Presbyterians, in the

Punjab and Assam, inne 53,931 to 181,128; the
Methodists, mostly in the United Provinces of Neel

and Oudh, from 76,907 to 171,754; and the Con-
gregationalists, in Madras and ‘Travancore, from
37,874 to 135,264. ‘The Salvationisis now number
52,407, mostly in the Punjab, Travancore, Bombay,
and Madras. ‘The Catholic increase from 1901 to
1911 was 22 per cent. — 'l'ravancore, where the mis-
sionaries of the Missouri Synod have been working
with such signal success for several years, has a
population of 3,428,975, an increase of 16 per cent.
in the last decade, which follows upon an increase
of 15 per cent. during the previous ten years. ‘Chis
gieat increase in the population of this native state
shows its prosperity. Its prosperity is also shown
by its comparatively ‘high standard of education.
‘he native Christians have here inereased faster
than the general population, and now number more
than one quarter of the total. ‘Travancore seems
to be white for the harvest. May God help us that
we may gather in many sheaves in this field!

Fist Istanps.— The Wesleyans have 1,002
mission schools on these islands, attended by 16.525
pupils.

Jaran.—In Japan, 931 foreign laborers and
563 native workers are spreading the Christian re-
ligion; there are 1,132 Christian houses of worship
in the empire and 75,608 Protestant Christian
natives. forty-five years ago there were but four
Protestant natives.

Basuronand, Sourm AFrica.— Education is
quite’ general in this native kingdom. At the va-
rious mission schools in this state no less than
17,400 scholars were in attendance in 1912, the
majority of whom were girls. — News comes from
Basutoland that Lord Gladstone, the governor of
South Africa, has declared Griffith king of Basuto-
land, the first Christian king the country has had.
Up to a year ago Griffith was more conspicuous be-
cause of his vices than for his virtues. About that
time, however, he suddenly changed his life, gave
up his drinking, dismissed his inferior wives, and
gave other evidences of a changed heart. Griffith
if said to be a man of about forty and is possessed
of considerable independence, energy, and adminis-
trative ability. If Griffith of Basutoland should
prove to be what Khama of Bamangwato developed
into, his reign will help the spread of the cross
throughout South Africa.

A LivincstoNe MemorraL Sraion. — “The
directors of the society which had the honor of
sending Livingstone to Africa as a medical mis-
sionary are appealing to the public for a sum of at