The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1927, Page 165

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

165

fore I left him at the asylum, he made me promise
that I would come back to visit him.”

He saw the surprise in my face, and his own face
lighted up as he added, “You see I cannot desert
him. He is my Christian brother.”

And so this son of an Indian outcaste quietly set
out on a long and expensive journey to visit Bapu,
the repulsive leper, because he was his Christian
brother! And I, for one, feel sure that, when the
King shall come in His glory and all the angels
with Tim, among the first to whom He will say,
“Come, thou blessed of My Father,” will be Ramb-
hau, the simple Christian of Khandala, who adopted
the village church as his child.

So far Missionary Clark’s narrative. Do you not
find it touching, this simple story of a simple Hindu
Christian’s life of faith and service? Jesus had be-
come his all in all, and gratitude to his Savior now
impels him to do one work of love after another in
His service. Truly, the love of Christ constrained
him to walk in His footsteps! May he be an example
to us in his simple and willing service! Let him
point out to us the way to show our Savior that we
are grateful to Him for our salvation. F. J. 1.

ee

The American Indian of To-Day.

There are approximately 336,000 Indians in
continental United States. We find them scattered
over practically every State of the Union on no less

Lutheran Stockbridge Indians.

than 147 larger and smaller reservations and in
various communities.. These Indians belong to more
than 150 tribes and clans, all speaking different
languages and dialects. Since the census of 1890,
when their number was about 250,000, there has

been a slow, but steady increase in the Indian pop-
ulation of our country. This increase finds its cause
in the better living conditions obtaining among the
Indians of to-day.

Sporadic efforts at occupation of the Indian

Lutheran Mission-Church for Stockbridge Indians.

Mission field by the forces of Christianity have been
made since the days of Campanius, John Eliot, and
David Brainerd. Partial returns tell us that 405
Protestant and 222 Roman Catholic missionaries are
working among the Indians of the United States.
All in all, there are said to be 594 churches for
Indians, and there are somewhat over 43,000 Prot-
estant and almost 58,000 Catholic churchgoing
Redmen. ‘Twenty-one different Protestant denom-
inations are working through twenty-six different
boards among the American Indians. In the twenty-
five Protestant mission-schools are found 2,000
pupils. It is estimated that the annual expenses of
all Protestant mission-work among the Indians
reach the sum of $330,000.

The Young Men’s and Young Women’s Chris-
tian Associations have about seventy-five organiza-
tions among the Indians. The total membership of
these branches is 2,200.

It is supposed that about 46,000 Indians are un-
reached by Protestant or Roman Catholic mission-
aries. These are found scattered over the following
States: Arizona, six tribal bands, 6,000; California,
6,000; Colorado, 700; Idaho, 600; Michigan, 2,500;
Minnesota, 2,500; Montana, 2,220; Nevada, 1,500;
New Mexico, fifteen Pueblo villages, 4,500; North
Carolina, 500; North Dakota, 500; Oklahoma,