The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1915, Page 54

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Death of Mrs. Salina Robinson.

The sad news comes to us from New Orleans that
our friend, Mrs. Salina Robinson, the wife of Peter
Robinson, the faithful and efficient teacher of
Trinity Mission School in New Orleans, passed
away on May 19, and was laid to rest on May 21.
Besides her loving husband she leaves behind three
children. In accordance with the dying request of
the mother, her niece, the wife of Rev. C. P.
Thompson, of Charlotte, N. C., will take charge of
the two little daughters, Mary and Alma, while
the son, Peter, will remain with his father. Having
known Mrs. Robinson for the past twenty-eight
years, and having been the recipient of many kind-
nesses at her hands, the news of her death affected
us almost as would the death of a member of our
own family. Mrs. Robinson had a wonderfully
sweet and full soprano voice, and we shall never
forget the many times that she helped beautify the
services with her song. Now the Lord has taken her
from this earth, and she now will help swell the
throng of the celestial choir before the shining
throne, singing without end a song of praise in
honor of the Lamb.

May the God of all comfort fill the hearts of
the bereaved husband and children in their great
sorrow with His abiding comfort, and permit them
to realize that even the dark cloud that now over-
shadows them is big with His mercies!

: F. J. L.

Items from the Foreign Mission Field
of the Missouri Synod.

Missionary Theo. Gutknecht, whose address,
while in the United States on furlough, is Binford,
N. Dak., has now so far recuperated that he is able
to address our congregations on the work in India.
We hope that he may be kept right busy.

Several months ago the dreaded bubonic plague
broke out in the village of Yerigutti, situated about
fifteen miles from Ambur. In this village the mis-
sion is conducting a day-school and a night-school
with a total enrolment of 50 pupils, quite a number
of whom are applicants for Baptism. ‘The school
is in charge of Teacher Jacob and his wife. Among
those first stricken was also one of our young Chris-
_tians by the name of Visuvasam. As Teacher Jacob
at the time was absent from the village, the patient
- could receive no immediate medical care and in

The Lutheran Pioneer.

consequence he succumbed to the disease in a few
hours. During these hours, however, he earnestly
called upon his Savior, and a faithful disciple of
Jesus, who lives in that village, Devapiriam, was
with him to the end. The next morning Visuvasam
was to be buried. His relatives, all heathen, wanted
to give him a heathen burial, but Devapiriam pro-
tested: “No, Visuvasam was a Christian, and as
such he is to be buried!” But he is not able to
read very well; so what should he do? ‘This is what
he did: he quoted an appropriate Scripture verse,
pronounced the form, “Earth to earth,” ete., and
spoke a short prayer.

When Missionary Kuechle visited the village
a few days later, he found that the plague had
rapidly spread among the poor inhabitants. ‘The
Sudras had kindled great fires at the four corners
of that part of the village in which they lived,
claiming that the dead, whom they had asked for
advice, had told them that by doing so they would
be able to confine the sickness to the portion of the
village peopled by the Parias. The missionary took
occasion to deliver an earnest sermon before a great

- multitude of heathen who had gathered around the

heathen temple.

Not less than forty were stricken by the plague
in this village; ten of these died, three of them
Christians. One of the latter, a young man, when
he saw that his end was near, cried, “Raise me up;
I want to go to the Lord!”

Missionary Kuechle reports that he was recently
invited to preach a sermon in front of the house of
a well-to-do man in a prominent Sudra street.
Of course, he gladly accepted the invitation.

The latest statistics of this prosperous Mission
are as follows: 11-stations; 14 missionaries; 58
preaching places; 1 evangelist; 16 catechists;
average number of hearers, 1,791; catechumens,
1,584; baptized members, 807; communicant mem-
bers, 210; 1 nurse; contributions by native Chris-
tians, R. 807.6.5; 44 schools; 32 Lutheran teachers ;
16 teachers of other Christian denominations; 30
heathen teachers; 222 baptized scholars; unbaptized

_pupils, 1,318; tuition from pupils, R.1032.10.6;

Government grant in aid, R.2452.15.10; heathen
baptized, 114; Christian children baptized, 8+;
confirmed, 14; communicants, 646; marriages, 20;
burials, 22. The Mission owns 36 parcels of real
estate, aggregating in area about 83 acres, 14 dwell-
ings for missionaries, 11 chapels, 29 pandals, 18
permanent school-buildings, and 13 dwellings for
teachers. Juu. A. FRIEDRICH.