The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1927, Page 31

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

31

farm-tools. But the most disagreeable feature about
them was that they were possessed with the idea that
Christ would soon come and that they must go forth
to meet Him in the same condition in which they
were born, that is, in complete nakedness. Thus
one day they marched into Yorkton stark naked,
1,700 men, women, and children. At another time
600 of them marched off naked into the prairie in
midwinter. On each occasion of this kind the police
were compelled to round them up and confine them
until they became sane enough to put on their
clothes and behave as normal people should.

Canadian Mennonites. — There are about 30,000

' Mennonites in Canada. Their original home was
in Poland and Prussia, whence they fled, in 1787,
on account of religious persecution, finding refuge
in Russia. For a long time the Russian government

favored them, and not a few of them became pros- -

perous farmers, stock-raisers, and even manufac-
turers. Before the building of the Canadian Pacific
Railway a large number of Russian Mennonites was
induced by the Canadian Government to settle in
the Red River Valley of Manitoba, and their com-
munities thrived and prospered. After the World
War wealthy Mennonites in Pennsylvania financed
a fresh immigration to Southern Manitoba and
Saskatchewan. They there located on very desir-
able lands. It is said that among these later immi-
grants there were men who before the Russian revo-
lution had been owners of large estates of from ten
to fifteen thousand acres. One of these immigrants
had been one of the largest horse-breeders in Russia
and had been worth half a million dollars. Some
of the Mennonites who first came to Canada have
emigrated to Mexico, where they have established
colonies similar to those in Canada.

Are We Doing Likewise?— Shortly after the
burning of an excursion boat on the River Thames,
in which a number of lives were lost, a man, who
had intimated his knowledge of the disaster, was
asked, “Were you present when the terrible disaster
occurred?” “O yes, I saw it all!” “Did you see
it when all those people were drowning?” “Yes,
indeed, I did!” “Did you try to help any of them?”
“No, I didn’t.” — How many there are who see the
spiritual need and imminent ruin of so many people
around them and yet are doing nothing to help
them! How about you?

Work among the Insane. — Pastor W. C. Stoll,
of Weyburn, Sask., is doing extensive work in the
large mental hospital located in his town. Among
the inmates are seventy-seven Lutherans of different

nationalities. Pastor Stoll is preaching at the hos-
pital twice a month to an average audience of thirty
to fifty. He also gathers them into smaller groups,
as opportunity offers, for religious instruction.

A Blessed Work. — Pastor Geo. Allenbach has
been given a wonderful opportunity to proclaim the
Word of Life to the inmates of the Ohio State
Institution for the Feeble-minded at Columbus. He
preaches there three times every Sunday, the num-
ber being so large that the chapel is filled three
times by those to whom he may bring the story of
Jesus. He also conducts regular classes of instruc-
tion with many of the inmates. This work is being
signally blessed.

Evidences of Missions. — Like the native Afri-
cans, the South Sea Islanders are very proud if
they can get hold of a pair of European shoes.
They are especially gratified if they can get a pair
that squeak, or, as the Africans express it, shoes
that talk. <A story is told of a South Sea Islander
who came into church with shoes that had a merry
squeak. He walked proudly up the aisle to the front
seat and, removing his shoes, dropped them out of
the window, so that his wife might also have the
pleasure of coming in with “talking shoes.”

The Edge of the Map:— Somewhere on the
British front during the World War a big push was
in progress. The battle was on, and the great tanks
went lumbering ahead, making nothing of flattening
a house and then moving on over the ruins. But
one tank stopped. It was not disabled, and none
of the crew had been killed or hurt; there was also
plenty of ammunition. Yet the tank had stopped
dead still in its tracks. An officer came rushing up
and with a flow of much forcible language de-
manded why the huge machine had halted, when
the job was far from completed. The tank crew
understood the officer’s impatience, but still the big
beast stood still. Said one of the crew to the officer,
“The trouble is, sir, we’ve got to the edge of our
map!” — There may be many folks in the Church
of Christ who are like that tank’s crew. But if they -
are, then, so far as-missions are concerned, they
have the wrong map. The mission-map takes in
“all the world,” “every creature.” See Mark 16, 15.

BOOK TABLE.

hat Lutherans Teach. By K. Kretzschmar. Concordia
Mi Publishing House, St.Louis, Mo. Price: Single copies,
5 cts.; 100, $1.50. :
This pamphlet most admirably sets forth the doctrinal
position of our Church. Let us do all we can by means of
tracts like this to let our fellow-Americans know what our
Church stands for. F.J.L.