The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1927, Page 43

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

43

memorate the semi-centennial of our Negro Mis-
sions. Pastor Ad. Poppe, of Little Rock, Ark., has
been asked to deliver the sermon. Christ Church
is our oldest congregation in Alabama. The old
chapel is to be replaced in the coming months by
a new structure, which is to cost $1,500.

Philadelphia, Pa. — Missionary Trumpoldt, who
recently had a call to a white congregation in
Harrisburg, has declined and will continue his
successful work as missionary among the colored of
Philadelphia.

Jubilee Collection. — Since our Negro Missions
will celebrate their semicentennial this year, our
Negro congregations have decided to gather a special
Jubilee Fund as a token of gratitude to God for
what the mission of our Church has brought them.
The proceeds of the collection will be used to help
our mission in Philadelphia.

Missionary McDavid, Los Angeles, Cal. — Pastor
Hansen writes thus concerning the work of Mis-
sionary John McDavid among the colored people in
Southern California: “Pastor McDavid’s work in
Los Angeles is most successful. The ,brother’s
reports to you are evidence of this. He has well
adjusted himself to the conditions here and is in
every way a credit to Synod’s workers in the South-
west. Rev. E.G. Wachholz, the city missionary of
Los Angeles, and Rev. McDavid ‘hitch’ fine, and
this has given the latter much opportunity to follow
leads found when jointly they made visits to insti-
tutions in care of the former. In Oakland, too,
Rev. McDavid has gained foothold. No expense is
attached to his trips up there, transportation being
furnished by the kindness of the District’s railroad
agent. May the Lord continue to bless our Southern
California Colored Missions, as well as all the mis-
sions among the colored folks and the Board for
Colored Missions! Fraternally, Southern Cali-
fornia Mission Board, A. Hansen, Secretary.”

The Fee Simple! — Everywhere chickens are
accounted a favorite contribution to the church and
an acceptable offering to bring the pastor, but in
the Philippines the gift of a chicken has a special
significance. When the missionary sees Francisco
coming up the steps with a chicken under his arm,
he is immediately reminded of a certain form
which he rehearses upon certain happy occasions.
And, sure enough, the conversation about the
missionary’s health and the weather and the
crops always ends with: “Ah—ah—, Pastor, —
ah—could you marry Ol Juanita — on
Wednesday ?”

‘

Where Time Is Money. — In Korea, both among
the more prosperous Christians and among those
who seldom see a coin, a favorite subscription blank
will read: “I promise to give . . . days to church-
work this year.” The days thus given are devoted
to personal mission-work or to the building of
churches and schools.

Illiteracy in India.— There is one chance in
a hundred of a Hindu girl’s learning to read. A boy
has five times as good a chance. One-ninth of the
four million schoolchildren in India are in mission-
schools. Of these, about 330,000 are boys and
100,000, girls. While the Christians of India have
a much higher standard for literacy than others in
India, India’s need for schools is far from being
met. There are thousands of Christian children
who are having no chance, as matters now stand, to
learn how to read. But an illiterate church is
dangerous.

How the Hindu Shows His Faith.

Any one making his way down one of the narrow
streets of an Indian town will soon notice many
men with marks on their foreheads. Inquiry will
bring the information that these marks are caste,
or rather, sectarian marks, used by the Hindus to
show their peculiar faith. A red mark on the fore-
head shaped like a flame stands for fire, the symbol
of Siva (Fig. 1). A yellow triangle with a red
border represents the same idol (Fig. 2). Still
another caste mark of a worshiper of Siva is
that of three brown lines, surmounted by a circle
(Fig. 3), for this is the peculiar mark of Bhavani,
the goddess of nature, and her three sons, Brahma,
Vishnu, and Siva. There are still other marks of
the worshipers of Siva, all of them variations of
the half-moon symbol in reds and blues; for the
Sivites, among many other things, worship the sun
and moon (Figs. 4—6).

Siva is not a very amiable god. Neither is he
generally represented as being very handsome in
appearance. Sometimes he is represented with five
faces and then, again, with one face and three eyes,
with which he looks into the past and future and
sees the present. Often he is shown with a necklace
of skulls and many serpents. These are supposed
to symbolize the dissolution and regeneration of
mankind. His body is covered with ashes, his hair
is all tangled, and from his forehead projects a

-hornlike growth. Sometimes he is white with the

reflection of the snows, and then he is shown