The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1930, Page 180

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180

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

consider that there are about 200,000 Negroes in
this city and in the outlying districts of East Balti-
more. For several months the local Y. M. C. A. has
been used for services. The attendance during my
several weeks here has been satisfactory under the
circumstances, as the work had to be neglected for
four or five months while the mission was waiting
for a new man. Of course, I am entirely new at
the work, having just finished the Seminary at
Springfield, Ill., last June. My efforts have been
mainly to get more intimately acquainted with the
faithful members on the list, so that I may reach
out for strangers through them. This has proved
successful; for two or three times I have had out-
siders in my services. According to instructions
given me by the Mission Board at St. Louis I am
to center my main activities in the western part of
Baltimore, and this I intend to do. Besides the
work here in Baltimore I am to try to get a foot-
hold in Washington, D.C., looking up those who
are still our members and locating the Lutheran
students at Howard University. This is to be done
soon, so that I may be able to report on the pros-
pects for that city ‘at an early day.’”

. Pastor Schlichting’s average attendance for the
first six weeks was twelve. His average collection
for the same period was $3.10. Six members at-
tended his first communion, and his prospects for
adult instruction number three or four.

May God richly bless the labors of Pastor
Schlichting ! J. E. SHUFELT.

Our Colored Mission in Buffalo, N. Y.

Under an arrangement with the Board for
Colored Missions of the Synodical Conference, the
Lutheran Institutional Missions are conducting the
work of Colored Missions in Buffalo for the present.
The new missionary, Pastor E. R. Pflug, has been
placed in charge of the work. He reports that the
past months have shown very gratifying increases
in every department. The baptized membership
now stands at 50, 13 of whom are adults and the
remainder children. 66 children are now enrolled
in the Sunday-school. During the past month the
average attendance was 45.

Services are being attended by an ever-increasing
number, both morning and evening. The average

_ for the last month in the morning service was 32,

in the evening 10, a total of 42 per Sunday.

_ The ladies’ aid and other organizations are func-

tioning,-and in general a spirit of cooperation and

optimism prevails among the members and friends
of the mission.

The growing attendance at Sunday-school ses-
sions is making more urgent every week the erect-
ing of a new chapel, for which we have been hoping
for a number of years. Nothing can be done in this
respect, however, until a larger sum has been col-
lected for the chapel fund. About $2,000 is now
in the fund, and the committee is at work looking
over sites and making tentative plans for our build-
ing enterprise. There is some possibility that we
shall be able to secure a large plot of ground of
60-foot frontage, with a usable house on it, for a
reasonable price. This lot is very well located and
ideally adapted for our purposes. Nothing can be
done toward purchasing this lot, however, until
more money is available. H. L. W.

Death of a Pioneer at Mansura.

From Mansura, La., comes the sad news of the
death of Paul M. Lehman, a pioneer of our congre-
gation near Mansura. He departed this life on
Tuesday, October 28. Pastor C. P. Thompson ofli-
ciated at the burial services. The lifeless body
found its final resting-place in the Lutheran
churchyard.

Rey. Paul D. Lehman of Greensboro, the oldest
son of the deceased, says in a letter to me: “TI left
for Mansura and arrived there on Tuesday, the 28th
of October, just five hours before my father passed
away. He was fully conscious to the last and
assured me with his own lips that he was ready
to go, confidently believing that eternal life was
his for Jesus’ sake. Rev. Thompson says that he
daily requested him to read to him his favorite
hymn ‘I Know that My Redeemer Lives.? The
words of Job from which this hymn is taken were
his funeral text.

“And now, among the many reasons I have for
thanking God for the many blessings which have
come to me through my dear Lutheran Church, is
also this one, namely, that my dear father was
brought to the knowledge of his sins and to faith
in Christ Jesus, his Savior, within her walls.”

In the year 1898 the departed, Scott Normand,
and Pete Batiest were repairing the chimney of
Widow Lehman near Mansura. When their work
was done, they sat down to rest and talk a while.
The conversation drifted to the treatment which
the colored people and their children were receiving
at the hands of the priest. Referring to the new