The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1927, Page 103

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

103

the publication of the record of God’s grace and
blessings as experienced by our work among the
freedmen during this long span of time. We who
are interested in the spiritual welfare of the Negro
should have felt that a fine opportunity to tell of our
God’s wondrous works had been permitted to pass by
unheeded had the Board for Colored Missions not
told us with some detail what our Church has done
for the Negro during the past fifty years.

Realizing all this, the Board has put out a well-
written and profusely illustrated history of our work
among the Negroes. The book bears the very descrip-
tive title, Half a Century of Lutheranism among Our
Colored People. The author of the book? Why, who
else could it be but Rey. Christopher I. Drewes, the
Director of our Colored Missions for the past eleven
years? To have chosen any other person to write
this book would have been an almost fatal mistake.
Director Drewes has first-hand knowledge such as
no man has; he is interested in the whole work of
Colored Missions as no one else can be just because
of his intimate knowledge of all the phases of the
work; and this intimate knowledge has also filled
him with the conviction of this work’s great impor-
tance in a greater measure than that possessed by
any other man among us. Then, too, Director
Drewes has the gift of telling an interesting story
in an interesting way. All these qualifications of
the author of this book have conspired in giving us
a most readable and authentic history of our Colored
Missions. Correctness of presentation has not been
sacrificed in the interest of readableness; neither
has completeness been sacrificed at the expense of
brevity. We here actually have a complete, com-
prehensive, though brief, record, on the 111 pages
of this book, of our work and of God’s gracious
blessings, told by one who knows whereof he
speaks and who is able to tell us the story in a
most interesting way.

The publishers, who are never guilty of putting
out slovenly and careless work, have excelled them-
selves in this product of their skill and art. The
price is very moderate—only 75 cents a copy.
F.J.L.

bs Newly Found Americans.

There come from the Philippines the strange
tidings that in the western part of the island of
Mindanao a valley has been discovered which is
described as a veritable spot of natural beauty. This
valley is about twenty-five miles wide and possibly
seventy-five miles long. While very sparsely pop-

ulated, it is claimed by the enthusiastic discoverers
of this natural paradise that it is capable of sustain-
ing a million people.

This valley was discovered not long ago by an
officer of the United States Army and three or four
of his companions. They found the inhabitants of
the valley living in houses which they had built in
tree-tops. These tree-houses were made accessible
by long ladders. Captain Rice and his companions
were the first white men these people of the valley
had ever seen, and the sight of them struck the
natives with wonder and awe. They were wholly
unaware of the fact that they were Americans.
However, they showed no fear and soon were on
friendly terms with their discoverers.

Natives of Mindanao.

Not knowing the value of money, they refused
to exchange anything they had for it, but they were
willing to trade a hunting-knite for nine colored
glass beads which the explorers happened to have
with them. The explorers spent eighteen days in
the valley and during this time saw not a few
strange things. But what appeared to them most
remarkable was a river that was swallowed by a
mountain. :

The people of the valley call themselves Manobos.
They are on a very primitive level, and if the soil of
the valley were not so very fertile, their rude and
careless farming methods would not yield enough to
live upon.

We have said above that when found, these
Manobos knew nothing of the fact that their flag
was that of the Stars and Stripes. They had been