The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1916, Page 3

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The Lutheran Pioneer. 3

o’clock, and otherwise attending to the pastoral
duties of the parish. ‘Iwo classes, one numbering
six children, and the other the same number of
adults, are regularly receiving the customary in-
struction in the doctrines of the Bible as confessed
by the Lutheran Church, preparatory to their con-
firmation.

Thus the outlook in this mission is rather bright.
By hard work and with the Lord’s gracious help
much good will be accomplished, in spite of the
fact that the missionaries are not a little handi-
capped by the lack of a suitable building. a church,
in other words, where our worshipers would feel at
home, and where the kingdom of God could be built
unhampered by objectionable conditions and cireum-
stances.

We hope and pray that by the beginning of the

‘next school-year our little mission will boast a

modest chapel erected to the glory of God and for
the welfare of many sinners. It is now up to our
good Christians of the North to see to it that the
spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not hin-
dered by the mere absence of a fitting house of
worship. Ep. FH. Scrratpr.

a

What Will We Do About It?

From Albemarle, N. C., comes the news that

“one of our faithful missionaries, Pastor Fred Foard,

is ill and in great need of rest. ‘I'wice recently it

Pastor Frod Foard.

has happened that he broke down in school, and
required the immediate attention of a doctor. ‘The
cause of his illness is said to be found in the fact
that for four years Pastor Foard has heen com-

pelled to teach in a miserable and wholly inade-
quate hut. ‘The shack measures 12><20 feet, and in
this hut Pastor Foard is expected to teach 55 pupils
day after day for six hours. Is it surprising that

School and Church, Albemarle, N. C.

Pastor Foard should be an ill man after teaching
this number of children in such a small, unventi-
lated room for four years? Would Wwe notihave far
greater reason to be surprised if he had retained
his health under the circumstances ?

The Synodical Conference passed a resolution
a year and a half ago to build a new chapel at
Albemarle, to serve as church and school, but so
far the necessary funds to carry out this resolution
have not been available. Now, however, after hear-
ing what the consequence of our delinquency has
been in the case of poor Pastor Foard, are we going
to put off the matter any longer?

About twenty-seven years ago I was sent to New
Orleans to take charge of St. Paul’s Mission School,
whose faithful teacher, Charles Berg, had just passed
away. I shall never forget what an impression it
made upon me when, upon my inquiry as to the
cause of his death, I was told, “He died of con-
sumption, which he contracted in the ‘old chicken-
coop. And when the next day I for the first
time laid-my eyes on the “old chicken-coop,” and
learned that Berg had taught upward of a hundred
children in that low-ceilinged, unventilated build-
ing, measuring only 2030 feet, I never for a
moment doubted the correctness of the information
given me as to the cause of the death of that faith-
ful and efficient teacher! Should not one such ex-
perience be enough for us, and teach us a lesson
never to be forgotten ? ;

Brethren, can we justify our dilatoriness in
carrying out the resolution of the Synodical Con-
ference to build the chapels so sorely needed?