The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1932, Page 8

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8 THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

investigation is done, or else we risk being mobbed.
A Buddhist priest gives a fat, greasy nod as we
leave. We do not give him a ticket, — he looks well,
— but give him a Gospel tract.

Home to breakfast and hurry to the kitchen.
What a crowd of blue-clad folk — good, bad, and in-
different, one might say. They “pile” in and file up,
and good, steaming porridge, made from rice well
cooked, is soon going down their throats, and as the
last one goes through the gate at a little after noon,
we register 2,026.

There is a crowd of poor folk entreating that
tickets be given, but they cannot be given here; im-
position would be sure. So we take their names, and
an investigator will be sent, and if help is needed,
tickets will be given. Some “old hands” are picked
out and sent about their business (which, I think,
is chiefly roguery), and we turn homeward for din-
ner. A short rest and then a visit to the prison.

Northern China Daily News, October 24, 1931.

From the Highway.

The article which follows was taken from the
latest number of the Northern Illinois Messenger.
It made a deep impression upon the writer, and
he cannot but feel that it will have a similar effect
upon others. The incident shows how God often
shapes circumstances to give us an opportunity to
witness for Jesus and put people upon the way
leading to the Savior. This good lady of Northern
Illinois, while hearing or reading of what this or
that Christian was able to do to bring persons to
her Lord Jesus, may have thought she had never
had the opportunity to do this; and here God puts
a little child in her way and gives her the inspira-
tion to do what the Editor is ready to designate
as a beautiful example of mission-work.

“One day last June a woman living in Oak
Glen, Ill., drove home from Hammond, Ind. She
overtook a Chinaman who was accompanied by
a@ boy about nine years old. The man ‘thumbed’
for a ride, and the woman, seeing the tired little
chap, stopped to ‘give them a lift. The Chinese
_ father with his little son (the mother, a Jewess,

had died) had set out from Chicago to ‘hitch-hike’
his way to New York. The Oak Glen woman took
both to her home. Worried at the thought of hay-

proceed to New York alone, and later, when he

had found work and a home, to send for the boy.
The husband fully agreed with the fine, sympathetic
plans of his wife. She won the boy’s confidence ;
he stayed, and the father departed. The Chinese-
Jewish lad became the playmate of the five-year-old

‘son in the Oak Glen home.

“One evening in July the lady came to our
Mr. W. Kraegel, teacher of Trinity School (one
room, eight grades, 55 pupils), to tell him the story.
She and her husband are without any church con-
nection. She said to the teacher: ‘Now that I have
the boy, I must send him to school in September.
I somehow feel that he ought to be given some
religious instruction. I cannot teach him anything
in religion as I know nothing; neither does my
husband. Will you accept the boy in your school?”
‘Well, I should say so, — gladly.’ The pastor (Rev.
A. Guebert) was informed immediately; the school
board was consulted, and the question was presented
at a voters’ meeting. All had but one answer: ‘If
any one comes to us in this way, we certainly will
not refuse to accept him.’ A remark by one of the
ladies of Trinity surely is to the point: ‘If we
should say no in this case, we should have to
discontinue having mission-festivals and sending
money to China.’

“The end of the story? That is not known at
this writing. But Mr. Kraegel writes in conclu-
sion: “The boy attended our school during Septem-
ber and October. On October 30 he was sent off
to New York at the request of his father. However,
he had by this time learned the commandments, the
Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer as well as a number
of simple hymns and prayers. He was greatly in-
terested in the Bible-stories and in the Catechism
truths. He left us knowing, ‘I am a sinner; but
Jesus is my Savior; He died for me and paid for
all my sins.’ ”

ee

A Crisis in Liberia.

Liberia, the only Negro republic in the world
apart from Haiti, was founded in 1820 by liberated
American slaves under the auspices of the American
Colonization Society. The government is modeled
after that of our country. A peculiar interest at-
taches to Liberia in the development of Africa and
the Negro race.

Liberia has an area of about 45,000 square miles,
a little larger than Ohio and a little smaller than
New York. The population is about 2,000,000. The
50,000 people living along the coast are quite well
known, and among these are approximately 15,000