The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1922, Page 79

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'The Lutheran Pioneer.

79

winter is at the door. How are you going to get
through the winter?” “Mrs. X., God only knows.”
“Barbara, here are $25; these I will give you and
still more, if you will get out of this old German
mess.” “Thank you, Mrs. X., but I prefer to stay
with my Lutheran Church.” Was not that stead-
fastness ?

Here is another instance. Down somewhere in
Alabama there lay a Colored mother on her bed of
pain. People living in the neighborhood were try-
ing hard to get her away from her Lutheran Church.
They went so far as to tell her that her sickness was
a punishment for having embraced the Lutheran
faith. But the Colored teacher of the mission-school
came and read every day to the dear old soul out
of her Bible and Catechism. ‘The patient felt that
her end was near. She gathered her children about
her deathbed, telling them that she was ready to die
in the faith which the Lutheran pastor had preached
to her, and earnestly pleading with her children to
remain faithful’ to their Lutheran Church and
school. “Then she closed her eyes and peacefully
passed away. She was faithful unto death, and
Christ has given her a crown of life. May God
grant that we by His grace and strength remain
faithful to His Word unto our end!

IreMs oF INTEREST. .

1. June 14—18 the first general conference of
our missionary laborers convened at New Orleans.
A full report of the proceedings was brought in the
August number of the PronEEr. It was a most
successful convention in every way. ‘The second
general conference is to be held at Concord, N.C.,
in three years (1925).

2, May 8, 1921, Pastor Nils J. Bakke, after forty
years’ service in our Colored Missions, passed from
labor to rest and from strife to victory. He attained
an age of G8 years and 8 months. During the forty
years of his service he became the guide of many
Negroes to the realms of glory. (See PIoNEER,
1921, p. 42.)

3. The passing of Pastor Bakke gives the Board
occasion to suggest that the Synodical Conference
pass resolutions regulating the support of super-
annuated white laborers and such as may be unfit
for service, as well as of the needy widows and or-
phans of white laborers. The support of Colored
laborers and their survivors will probably best re-
main in the hands of the Board for the present.

4. Our Two Colleges. — Immanuel College,
Greensboro, N.C. The Board has devoted much
time during the last few years to the discussion of

higher education. Immanuel College, especially, was
the subject of deliberation. Once the enrolment at
this institution had fallen to thirty-eight (1916
to 1917). This was probably due in a measure to
the low entrance requirements of the school. These
were at one time so low that persons having finished
the third grade were admitted. To-day the school
is on a level with our ordinary high schools. The
attendance has increased to 165. These were in-
structed by seven white professors and by two
Colored assistants in the Preparatory Department
and by one Colored matron. ‘To provide accommo-
dations for the unprecedentedly large enrolment in
1920, the attic of the college building was converted
into bedrooms for the boys, at an expense of $1,000.
Because of this temporary arrangement we were
compelled to put up two fire-escapes at a further
expense of $1,000. The girls are for the time being
quartered in the school-building standing on the
campus. By means of Beaver Board this building
has been partitioned into a number of smaller rooms
and thus has been transformed into a dormitory. It
is all a wretched arrangement and cannot continue
much longer. Though a girls’ dormitory to cost
$30,000 was authorized by the Synodical Conference
two years ago, the Board is not able to go ahead till
at least two-thirds of the cost of the building are
on hand.— A vote of thanks is due the American
Luther League for the complete furnishing of a
scientific laboratory at a cost of $850.

Luther College, New Orleans, La. This institu-
tion has also shown very gratifying progress. The
enrolment reached 49 last year. More room is sorely
needed. Repairs are also necessary. We hope that
the Jubilee Collection will enable us to do something
for Luther College. The faculty of Luther College
consists of Director Hugo Meibohm and Prof. Dr.
Henry Nau. ‘The faculty has asked that Pastor
John McDavid (Colored) of Charlotte, N. C., be
added to the faculty. The Board has granted this
request, and Pastor McDavid has been ‘called.

In this connection the following resolutions,
which were passed at a plenary mecting of the
Board, April 21, 1922, may here be added: 1, Ac-
cording to present prospects the faculty of Im-
manuel Lutheran College at Greensboro is to remain
a white faculty exclusively. 2. The Mission Board
recognizes as the ultimate aim to develop our mis-
sions into self-supporting, self-governing, and self-
propagating congregations, and hence considers it
but natural to train Colored workers for the facul-
ties of our colleges. 3. The Board is favorably dis-