The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1926, Page 35

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

Little Colored Missionaries.

Joyful anthems ringing

Beneath a Southern sky,

Little children singing hymns

Our mission-schools supply.

Happy little children,

With skin of somber hue,

Singing songs of saving love

With thanks to God and you:

With gratitude to God, who gave
His own beloved Son,

The Christ, who on th’ accursed tree
For them salvation won;

To you, who brought the Gospel pure
To their benighted race

That they, embracing it in faith,
Might glory in God’s grace.

Joyful anthems ringing

Sweet melodies of love,

Colored children making known
Glad tidings from above.

For old and young, who gather

At ev’ning when it’s cool,

For them they sing the songs again
Sung at the mission-school.

Stewardson, Ill. C. T. Srrrz.

Reclaiming Christ’s Heritage.

XY.
CENTRAL AMERICA.

That part of America called Central America
consists of six small republics and the English pos-
session of British Honduras. The six republics are
Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua,- Honduras, Salva-
dor, and Guatemala. .

Land and People.

The area of all six Central American countries
- is only 215,000 square miles, which would equal the
combined area of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michi-
gan. Of the six million people living in Central
America, about one-third are supposed to be Indians.
Central America has valuable natural products, such
as bananas, coffee, fine woods, chicle, gold, and
pearls. The soil, where tillable, is extremely fertile,
but because of the mountainous nature of the sur-
face only about one half can be cultivated. Earth-
quakes are frequent and do much damage at times.

In some respects we might call Central America
a world in miniature. High mountain ranges, iso-
lated volcanic peaks, elevated table-lands, deep val-
leys, broad and fertile plains, and extensive alluvial
areas are here found grouped together, relieved by

large and beautiful lakes and rushing rivers, the
whole teeming with animal and vegetable life and
possessing every variety of climate, from torrid heat
to the cool and bracing temperature of unvarying
spring.

As stated before, pure-blooded Indians form
about one-third of the population of Central
America. Only about forty thousand of the people
are of pure white parentage, while the rest, com-
prising more than half of all the people, are half-
breeds, the offspring of whites and Indians or of
Negroes and Indians. While there are many Indian

A Central American Indian.

dialects spoken, Spanish is understood by all and is
the official language of all the countries.

The social condition of the Central American
people is far from satisfactory. Laziness and cow-
ardice, revenge and treachery, are prevalent vices.
Education is on a very low scale, and though it is
nominally free, only a very. small fraction of the-
children is enrolled in the schools.

Spiritual Condition and Need.

Central America is a greatly neglected mission--
field. Though most of the people are nominally
Catholic, yet most of them are virtually heathen.
“In many places, dolls representing the gods of the-
forefathers of the Indians are hidden under the-