The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1919, Page 78

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78 . The Lutheran Pioneer

care, have gone from bed to bed whenever my varied
other activities permitted me to do so, and instructed
the sick and the dying, consoling and comforting
them in their trouble by the comfort wherewith we
ourselves are comforted of God. 2 Cor. 1, 4.

TupercuLosis Hospirans.— The three tuber-
culosis hospitals are: the one connected with the
Cook County Hospital, the Cook County Infirmary
at Oak Forest, and the Municipal Sanitarium. In
these three hospitals there were recently 1,400 con-
sumptives. It was my privilege to bring the comfort
of the crucified Savior in this year to about 2.120
sick- and death-beds. What woes do not the walls
of these institutions harbor! It is not the intention
of this report to arouse sympathy with hundreds
whose sufferings have already led them to the door
of eternity, or to picture to you some of the heart-
rending situations that I have met there. It would
serve no purpose, nor would it be keeping faith with
those who have in confidence told me their trouble.
It is also not possible to relate the many joy-bringing
experiences that I have made at their sick- and
death-beds in the last year. Time does not per-
mit me.

Coox County INrirmary. — Among the 4,000
inmates of this institution are the members of our
Ebenezer Congregation. ‘heir number is 280, most
of whom are very regular in their attendance at
divine services and the Lord’s table. Many a one
of these 280 has confessed, and now bitterly repents,
that before coming to the Poorhouse he had gone
for years without God’s Word and without divine
services. We have found many who had gone astray
like the prodigal son who had left the house of their
Father and then suffered in a far-off country, and
sought to satisfy their spiritual hunger with the
empty husks of worldly joys, but who here, in the
Poorhouse, by the grace of God and through the
work of our City Mission, were brought back into
the arms of their and our Savior,

JuveNtLE Courr.—'The work in the Juvenile
Court is so necessary and important, as well as
suecessful, that it dare not be given up. Although
the “Kinderfreund-Gesellschaft of Illinois” has for
the last two years received no children from the
Juvenile Court, because, as its superintendent says,
it is impossible to find a home for the children,
still children are being offered to me for adoption
and I cannot reject them. In the last year I have
accepted the following children and found homes
for them: a pair of twins (girls, six weeks old),
both in one family; one boy of seven years; ‘another

of ten months; a three-year-old girl aud four youths,
in all eleven children. ‘The Charity Association has
furnished the necessary money and has also this
year approved the expenditure of $38.28 for this
purpose. It has cost us just exactly $3.48 to find
a home for each child. How trivial the cost, how
great the blessmg both for children and parents!

Cook County Jatt.—In the jail, where the
suffering and misery is largely well merited, I have

attended to the duties of my calling whenever time

and opportunity presented themselves.

Cuicago STATE HosprraL ror THE INSANE, —
The usual visits were made in this institution. Our
divine services, which take place there every second
and fourth Sunday of the month, had to be omitted
for two months on account of the influenza epidemic.
The patients regretted this very much, but the super-
intendent, although heartily in sympathy with our
work here, was forced to obey the order of the health
authorities, which forbade all divine services.

In the Cook County Infirmary, the Insane Asy-
lum, and the Municipal Sanitarium for Consump-
tives, the. Word of God was preached publicly.
Kighty-eight services were held in these three in-
stitutions in both languages during she past year.
A careful estimate of the attendance at these ser-
vices places the number approximately at 32,000.
They were made up of destitwtes, cripples, sick,
lame, — white and black, — all of whom heard the
pure doctrine of God’s Word, the gracious invitation
of the Savior: “Come, for all things are now ready.”

Private Hosprrans. — Many pastors outside of
Chicago requested me to visit their sick members in
the different hospitals in the city, and I gladly did
as I was requested. —'That is a short summary of
my work as City Missionary in the public institu-
tions of our city and county.

Straristres. — During the last year 88 regular
divine services were held. ‘These were attended by
about 82,000 hearers. Confessional services were
held eight times. I attended thirteen funerals, and
made 17,800 sick-calls. The public distribution of
Communion was attended by 665, and private com-
munion by 96, a total of 781. Eighteen persons
were baptized. I officiated at six marriages. Thirty-
eight addresses, lectures, and sermons were delivered
by me at mission-festivals and on other occasions.

In reading this report, one cannot but wish that
our Church could have a City Missionary in every
one of our larger cities. Such work surely is a
blessed work. BF. J. 1.

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