The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1930, Page 42

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42

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

a non-member, Misquaanoquod, “the Red Cloud,”
asked for the privilege to address the assembly.
And this is what he said: “I do not belong to the
congregation, but for the sake of my wife and my
children, who are members, I should like to say
a few words. I believe that, even if we all should
rise and stretch forth our arms toward our white
father in an attempt to hold him here, we could not
persuade him to stay with us. He has been called
away, and he will go, but I fear that it will be with
us as with a heap of dry leaves when the wind
blows.”

Missionary Edward R. Baierlein was _ born
April 24, 1819. After leaving Bethany, he did
mission-work in India for thirty-three years, then
returned to Germany, and died in the year 1901.

Shortly after Pastor Baierlein had left Bethany,
Wyneken, then President of Synod, visited the
Indian Mission. It was his purpose to ordain
Miessler as pastor of the Indian congregation and,
incidentally, to look over the field. When the
Indians finally grasped the idea that Wyneken was
the President of Synod, they soon had a suitable
name for him. Baierlein had been to them Meka-
dekoneh, “Blackcoat,” Miessler was Mekadekone-
hons, “Little Blackcoat,” and Wyneken, to show the
proper respect for so high an official, was Kichi-
mekadekoneh, “Big Blackcoat.” The ordination
sermon as well as the whole ordination formula.was
repeated in Indian, word for word, by the inter-
preter. With the interpreter an agreement was also
made that he would give instructions five hours
a week, interpret.in all services, and accompany the
missionary one day a week on his pastoral visits.
His salary was to be $13 a month, and other services
which he might render were to be paid at the rate
of 75 cents a day or 12 cents an hour.

When Roeder, Miessler’s assistant, arrived at the
mission-station with his wife, Mrs. Roeder at once
took over the reins of the household. But Roeder

_ did not stay long. After a little over a year he ac-

cepted a call to a white congregation in Town
Middleton, Canada. Shortly before he left Bethany,
Pastor Miessler married Miss Johanna Pinkepank,
a sister of the former Frankenmuth teacher and
later Pastor Pinkepank, of Buffalo. A successor to

_ Pastor Roeder could not be found; so Miessler was
_ compelled to do the work alone as well as he could.

Outwardly, living conditions. in Bethany had-

; _ improved. From this time on — 1855 — settlers
_ gradually began to drift into the surrounding ter-
“Titory. According to the homestead laws of that

period, government lands could be bought for
50 cents an acre. Along the Pine and other rivers,
lumber camps were erected. In the immediate
vicinity of Bethany a little town was started,
St. Louis. Roads were cut through the timber. The
Indian looked upon the new arrivals as intruders,
who had spoiled his hunting-grounds. The mission
board, in the course of time, had acquired a tract
of land containing 1,640 acres. The understanding
was that this ground should be resold to the Indians
at a low price, —a 40-acre plot to a family, — and
payment was to be made not in cash, but in goods:
maple-sugar, corn, or whatever the ground would
produce. The idea was to train the Indians to have
a permanent home and accustom themselves to
a more orderly way of living. Only in this manner
could they ever hope to build up the mission. But
the desire to hunt as soon as the cold weather sct in,
to tap the maple for sugar as soon as spring came,
and to pick berries in summer seemed to the Indian
a more worthy occupation than to work the fields
and earn his bread by the sweat of his brow.
E. A. Mayrr; tr. by E. H. V.
Michigan Lutheran.
(To be continued.)

Lutherland as a Missionary Proposition.

Lutherland in the Pocono Mountains was estab-
lished under the auspices of the Walther League
about four years ago. Since that time it has de-
veloped with amazing rapidity. To-day it is an
ideal vacation resort, offering every form of Chris-
tian sport and entertainment and ministering to
the spiritual life of the guests. It protects against
the common temptations of vacation season; it sus-
tains Christian habits by providing daily devotions
and Sunday services; it deepens Christian knowl-
edge and trains for practical church-work by lec-
tures and institutes.

A Senior Camp for 500 young people, with
room and board for $15 a week, is now being built,
and other important improvements are being made.
In order to finance this building proposition,
$200,000 worth of bonds are being sold.

The bonds are being issued in denominations of
$100, $500, and $1,000, paying 6 per cent. interest
and maturing in ten years. To enable all our
people to help this noble cause of our Church, the
privilege is given of paying for these over a period
of one year. No sacrifice, no gift; only a loan is