The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1929, Page 181

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER. 181

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This church is the realization of a vision which
Pastor Hill had for many a year. Long, long ago he
was warned by one pastor not to attempt the impos-
sible; but as we sat and chatted when the day was
done, he slowly said: “The ‘impossible’ has been ac-
complished.” For a little more than eighteen years
this pastor and congregation had worked to this end.
A few years ago they bought the lot in their
own name, and now a handsome house of worship,
51X24 feet, has been erected on it. The church is
built of hollow tile and stucco at an approximate
cost of $15,000. It is a very beautiful church.

What has been accomplished at Yonkers should
be an incentive to other congregations of our mission
to do more, much more, to help themselves.

F. D. Atston.

Immanuel Lutheran College Chronicle.

The Rey. W. D. Spencer addressed the students
during chapel period on Reformation Day. His
subject was, “Genuine Protestants Protest against
Doctrines of Men.” In the evening the Booker T.
Washington Literary Society, assisted by members
of the seminary, rendered a program, consisting of
hymns, addresses, and recitations of poems from the
Lutheran Witness in commemoration of the four-
hundredth anniversary of the Catechism.

Mollie Louder’s Orphanage.

The students have decided to send the collections
taken in their Sunday-school to Mollie Louder’s
orphanage near New Bern, N.C. This orphanage
was opened by Mrs. Louder, a Lutheran, at Swans-
boro, where in June, 1928, the Rev. Martin Dorpat
conducted services for the first time. Soon, for
various reasons, unfavorable sentiment arose in the
community, and Mr. and Mrs. Louder decided to
move with the children to New Bern, where in
February of this year they found what appear to
be permanent quarters about three miles from
the city.

Mrs. Louder, who at one time served as cook here
at the college, deserves the reputation she has of
being a good manager, since she succeeds in sup-
plying the wants of all the children, all of whom
are baptized Lutherans, on $20 a month. On at
least one occasion, when supplies in the pantry ran
low, Molly Louder served grass soup. Yet the
children appear to thrive both mentally and physi-
cally. Of the six children in Mrs. Louder’s care,
five, ranging in age from six to fourteen years, can
recite the entire Small Catechism from memory.

The work in New Bern is being carried on by

the Rev. John Fuller and by Student Walter Hart.
Prospects for establishing a mission-congregation
appear favorable. At present we have a Sunday-
school of forty children in the city and another
school of sixteen at the orphanage in the country.

Grace-Luther Memorial Church.

Work on the new Grace-Luther Memorial Church
is progressing rapidly. The weather thus far has
been very favorable, the lowest temperature having
been well above freezing. Rainy days were few.
The members of our two colored churches are look-
ing forward to the day when they may move into
their beautiful church-building. This is especially
true of the two teachers of Luther Memorial Church,
who are now conducting a school of eighty-six chil-
dren in an unpainted plank hovel, which serves both
as church and school.

For the sake of our friends it is perhaps well to
say that in this mission a large day-school is not
always an indication of a large and flourishing con-
gregation. Some parents send their children to our
schools for the sake of the religious instruction; but
others are interested only in the loaves and fishes.
These temporal advantages are in this case an edu-
cation for their children. In many localities in the
South, as appears also from Miss Rosa Young’s ex-
cellent little book Light in the Dark Belt, very little
money is spent for the education of the colored
children. In the Negro Year-book for 1925—26
we find the following average values of public school
property: “Missouri, $109.46 per white child of
school age and $104.33 for each Negro child;
North Carolina, $52.08 and $12.90, respectively ;
South Carolina, $60.12 and $5.90, respectively.”

When a Lutheran mission with a day-school is
opened in one of the backward sections, children

flock to our school, but in many cases attend ser- .

vices elsewhere. Hence the Mission Board, realizing
the duty of the Lutheran Church to preach the
Gospel and also to build the kingdom of God, but
not being able to take care of all the children that
come, finds it necessary to enforce the ruling that
such children as attend our Sunday-schools and
services have the preference in our day-schools.
Since the above paragraph follows the reference
to the school of Luther Memorial, it is only fair to
say that the Sunday-school has more than ninety
on the roll. .
A Happy Missionary.
Missionary Erich Knoernschild recently wrote:

“J am not willing to swap places with any one in

the States right now. India is good enough for