The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1926, Page 121

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER. 121

to enter our schools and colleges. Will you not
help them to gain their hearts’ desire? Will you
not help us provide room for them at Immanuel
Lutheran College in Greensboro and at Alabama
Luther College in Selma? It is boys and girls with
a spirit like this who will, with the gracious help
of God, be the main factors in uplifting the Negro
race and bringing more and more of its members
to Christ, the Savior. F.J.L.

Industrial Missions.

Not a few people cannot understand why Chris-
tian missions should concern themselves with in-
dustries such as farming, weaving, brickmaking,
and the like. However, if they were in the field,
they would soon see the necessity. In only too
many instances the embracing of Christianity on
the part of a Hindu, for example, means that he
will be thrown out of employment, since he will
lose caste by confessing Christ. Thus our own
people have been obliged to enter the industrial
field to afford employment and a.means of gaining
a livelihood for those who embraced Christianity.
Among Lutherans the Basel Missions have par-
ticularly emphasized the importance of industrial
missions and have in many ways proved to be
pioneers in this particular phase of mission en-
* deavor.

The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, has
been doing some noteworthy industrial mission-
work in the Congo regions of Africa, teaching the
natives how to raise cotton, pine-apples, coconuts,
sugar-cane, peanuts, and sweet potatoes and giving
them practical instruction in carpentry and cabinet
work.

In, Rhodesia, South Africa, the natives are sys-
tematically taught gardening, farming, and house-
building. In India the Baptists, for example, at
Bapatla, are teaching the natives the latest farm
methods; at Udayagiri they teach them masonry,
carpentry, and agriculture, and at another place
the raising of good live stock is emphasized. At
Bessein, fiber mills, partly owned by natives, are
doing excellent work. In still another locality the
handkerchief industry and the raising of silkworms
and the planting of mulberry-trees engross the at-
tention of the Christian natives under the super-
vision of missionaries. :

In Siam a Presbyterian missionary turned his
attention to the leather industry, and the result is
that hundreds of converts are to-day finding em-

ployment in tanneries, which started with only two
tubs and a few knives.

The Baptist industrial school near Iloilo in the
Philippines is known far beyond the bounds of the
islands. Upon sixty-five acres it has developed the
industries of farming, building, painting, cabinet-
making, electric wiring, telegraphy, and surveying.
In connection with the school are two stores, which
are managed by the students.

There can be no doubt that the missionary value
of these industrial missions may easily be over-
estimated. On the other hand, when properly
managed from the viewpoint of evangelization, they
can be a great factor in helping to bring the Gospel
of Jesus to those sitting in spiritual darkness and
superstition. Industrial missions should never be
the end, but rather only the means, else they will
lose their missionary value. F.JI.L.

Some Religious Beliefs of the Indians
of the Northwest Coast.

The Indian religion, spiritualistic in the ex-
treme, was based upon belief in spirits ranging
from Sahg-a-lie Tyee, the great supreme creator and
ruler of the universe, through an infinity of spirits
to Klail or Lejob Ta-mahn-a-wis, or the devil, with
all his demoniacal train. The latter was more often
worshiped than Sahg-a-lie Tyee, for he needed to be
conciliated or propitiated, or he would work harm.
But Sahg-a-lie Tyee was so merciful and beneficent
he did not need to be worshiped. To savage minds
natural phenomena were attributed to supernatural
powers or spirits, and the earth, sun, moon, stars,
mountains, rivers, lakes and ocean had each its
mythical ta-mahn-a-wis, or spirit. Hach tree, bush,
stone, or stick was personified, or rather, spiritual-
ized, having a ta-mahn-a-wis, and power for work-
ing good or evil. And every Indian had his ta-
mahn-a-wis, or guardian spirit, to obtain which the
Indian boys had to undergo terrible ordeals in utter
isolation and solitude. When reaching the age of
puberty, they were sent forth into the wilderness to
fast, pray, and purge their bodies, and endure trials
of physical endurance and rites of purification until
a state of bodily exhaustion and mental clairvoyance
was reached. ‘Then the first beast, bird, or fish that
passed before their half-crazed vision became their
“medicine,” or ta-mahn-a-wts, for life. It was ever
sacred to them, and nothing could induce them to
kill or harm it, for that would bring misfortune or
death. In that ordeal the character and after-life