The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1914, Page 67

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

67

the others followed their example, and soon the
river-bed for a considerable distance was under
cultivation.

Because of the products of their gardens and
wheat-fields, the people were no longer dependent
upon their cattle exclusively, and so they became
more settled. A further result was that they began
to build more substantial dwellings, houses that
would not tumble down over their heads, as did
their former mud huts every time there was a heavy
downpour of rain.

But while the young missionary was thus hard
at work on the outside, his wife was doing an
equally important educational work in the house.
She instructed the girls, in bands of three or four,
in the art of baking, cooking, washing, and ironing.
She showed them the importance of cleanliness
and order. She formed sewing-classes and taught
the women and girls to make shirts, skirts, and
dresses, yes, even men’s trousers and coats. ‘Thus
did the young missionary and his wife work on
from day to day faithfully and hopefully:

Ilowever, some of you will say: “Is all this
missionary work? Should not the missionary have
devoted his whole time to the preaching of the
Gospel? Is not that what he was sent there for?”
Kind friend, the young missionary fully realized
that his chief purpose in coming among those
people was to bring them the Gospel, and he did
all this other work to gain this end. He took
advantage of every opportunity to lead these poor
savages to the Savior. He gathered as many of
their children as he could into his school and in-
structed the adults for baptism. Every Sunday
he held divine services, and as time went on, the
attendance at these services grew quite large. He
also made preaching trips into the country sur-
rounding Otjosazu. Yes, the preaching of Christ
was always regarded by this young German mis-
sionary as the chief and main work for which

he had come among the Herero.:

But I set out to tell you particularly of the
great social and civilizing influence of this young
missionary and his wife, and so I shall proceed.

‘Their house was open all day for their black

visitors, who made full use of the privilege. This,

of course, was not very pleasant for the missionary’s
family, but it was of very great importance for
the natives, since thus an opportunity was afforded
them to get acquainted with Christian family life,
Christian conversation, and Christian customs.
And these Herero were close observers. Their fre-

quent visits to the missionary’s house also gave
them an idea of orderliness, cleanliness, and punc-
tuality, all things unknown to them before. Above
all, they learned to see that among Christians the
wife is the helpmate of the husband and not his
slave, as is the case among the heathen. Again
and again the missionary and his wife were brought
face to face with the fact that their example spoke
louder to these people than their words, and this
again admonished them carefully to watch their
every action, lest they give offense to these poor
ignorant people. Oh, indeed, this work required
great patience and- faithfulness and not a little
self-denial ! —

And now let us visit Otjosazu twenty years
later. What a change has taken place! You would
not recognize the place again. A very pretty church
stands in the center of the village, its tall spire
beckoning and bidding you welcome from afar.
It is flanked on one side by a neat schoolhouse
and. on the other by the missionary’s dwelling,
now much larger than twenty years ago. In every
direction you can see the neat limestone houses of
the natives. And these dwellings are furnished
with chairs, tables, beds, and commodes. In some
of the houses you will find the housewife sitting
at the sewing-machine sewing clothing for her
family, and the sewing is carefully and neatly
done, too. The well-kept gardens on both sides
of the river and the broad; green wheat-field in
the dry river bed prove that the Herero have learned
to work.

But the most wonderful change has taken place in
the Herero themselves. Men, women, and children
are decently and neatly dressed. The stupid facial
expression has vanished, and from the bright eyes
a soul now looks out at you. The ringing of the
churech-bells calls hundreds to God’s house every
Sunday. Every churchgoer has his hymn-book, for
there is seldom a Christian Herero to be found
who cannot read. The singing of our good old
Lutheran chorals would delight your ear if you
could be there to hear it. In school the children
gather on week-days, and gladly learn the white
man’s wisdom. The Christian families of the vil-
lage have regular daily devotional exercises in their
homes consisting of Scripture reading, singing, and
prayer. The whole village is an example of quiet-
ness and order; the disorderliness and noise of
twenty years ago is indeed a thing of the past.
Even the heathen —for there are still some who
have not embraced Christianity —have outwardly