The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1914, Page 86

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86

and 25 cents, or 50 cents, or a dollar per week
until it is paid for, in other words, we pay for
it on the “installment plan.” So here— give as
much as you can now, and then 25 cents, 50 cents,
or a dollar at a time, until you have paid your
five dollars. Try it, and see how easy it is.

Now, dear reader, I hope you’ will thought-
fully and prayerfully consider this. Think of it
often, and every time you think of it, hand your
pastor or teacher a piece of money for the girls’
dormitory. Let us start a stream of 5, 10, 25,
50 cent and dollar pieces rolling into the office of
Mr. Schulze, and keep it up until he says “’Nuff!”
Remember, this building is for the entire race,
and, in fact, for the welfare of the whole United
States, for a true Christian womanhood means

a true Christian manhood, and that, in turn, .

means a Christian people. R. 0. L. Lynn.

——

An Appreciation of Our Negro Mission.

The Lutheran Church Visitor, the organ of the
United Synod South, recently published several
articles on missions among the freedmen, and in
these articles spoke some very encouraging and
appreciative words about our Mission. Referring
to these articles, Rey. C. L. Miller, who has been
an observer of our work for many years, writes
in the same paper: —

“In the summer of 1896, while serving as a
student missionary in Greensboro, N. C., I over-

heard from my room an animated discussion on ~

the subject of religion in our neighbor’s back yard
between a number of colored people, men and
women. As the discussion was fast and snappy,
I found myself an eager listener. I was surprised
to hear the victor in the argument outline as clear
a conception of the Lutheran plan of salvation as
I had myself. On inquiry, I learned that he was
the superintendent of the school conducted by the
Missouri Synod in the city. I lost no time looking
up the pastor in charge, and I will never forget
the afternoon spent in his home. He unburdened
his heart to me. He had been ostracized in the
city. There was but one white home open to him
_ —the home of a fellow-German. With tears in
his eyes he told me that he could stand it, but
that it was killing his wife. They had not been
married long, and his wife was from a most cul-
tured Pennsylvania family.

_ “What was he to do? He had been selected
from a class of 96 graduates of the Seminary in

The Lutheran Pioneer.

St. Louis, the most brilliant of the class, to take
up the work among the freedmen of the South.
He accepted, viewing it as one would view going
to Africa for the same purpose.

“T found him a most genial fellow, and gave
him what encouragement I could. Having laid
his hand to the plow, he could not — dared not
— turn back.

“T cannot here describe his work in establishing
a Lutheran congregation in that city —the trials
to indoctrinate a Lutheran conception of things
in the emotional negro. But patience and per-
sistence did it. Not only did he build up a con-
gregation, but he built a college in the city besides.
To the college work a theological seminary has been
added, and two years ago I looked in upon a negro
graduate of the college and seminary at Greens-
boro doing pastoral work in the community in
which I was reared. I found him intelligent and
a well-versed defender of our cultus and faith.
His church was neat and all its furniture Lu-
theran in arrangement and design. From him
I learned their method of work. ‘Their chief at-
tention is. given to schools and the indoctrination
of the young. This is now not a difficult task,
for all of us know that the negro is anxious and
eager for an education. Consequently, when a
school is opened free of charge, after the free
terms are completed, no difficulty is experienced
in getting pupils. Much is made of the festival
seasons of the church-year, and thus the indoctrina-
tion is wisely and skillfully carried along.

“On inquiry from neighbors in my home com-
munity I learned that conversions are genuine, and
that a different character is animating that par-
ticular settlement now from what had moved it
twenty-five years ago.

“These observations, made first-hand, over a pe- .
riod of thirty years, lead me to the conclusion that
Lutheranism is adapted to the black man as surely
as it is to the white man. That the negro has
a large emotional nature is true, but this fact does
not disqualify him for appreciating, the solid and
satisfying principles of our Lutheran faith. The
work of the Missouri Synod proves this quite
clearly to any one who will take the time to inves-
tigate first-hand what they are doing in this line.”

We feel certain that such words of hearty ap-
preciation will strengthen the hearts of our workers
in the field, and will prove an encouragement to ,
our whole Synodical Conference not only to con-
tinue in the good work, but to pray and labor
for its expansion.