Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 August 1887 — HEROIC MISSIONARIES. [ARTICLE]

HEROIC MISSIONARIES.

A Grand Work Accomplished by Them in the Dark Continent. The flippant paragraph is hardly the place nor is its usual style the proper one in which to mention the killing and eating of another missionary in Central Africa. The brave and sincere men who are carrying Christianity into the heart oi the dark continent are engaged in no humorous occupation, and the fate of such of them as fall victims to the savagery of native monarchs and people is too solemn for jest. Middle-aged men not many years away from their schoolbooks can remember the time when, except for a fringe of settlements along the coasts, the great continent of Africa as it appeared on the maps was unmarked by river, mountain, lake or town. The school maps were not more blank in this respect than was human knowledge generally, and though Livingstone gave to the world some ideas of the mysteries of that unknown region, it has been only a few years Since it was known that from sea to sea Africa embraces hundreds of millions of human beings the majority of whom have no conception of civilization, and no religion save that of fetichism. The efforts of a few nations to open up commerce with these tribes have attracted wide attention, as is natural enough, whereas the more zealou sand daring attempts of many missionaries to carry Christianity to them have been almost unnoticed.

r -The commercial instinct is strong in these days, but it is to be said to the honor of the churches that it has not yet carried men to death, as zeal for the salvation of souls has done. Beset by dangers from ferocious beasts and scarcely less ferocious men, in a country untrodden as yet by the foot of a white man, where disease and death lurk on every hand, there are no substantial barriers to Christian unity in that region. The missionaries work together so far as is possible, and in the presence of coiamon perils readily agree upon a common creed, non-essentials being wonderfully narrowed down by the magnitude of the work and the risk of prosecuting it. The forerunners of commerce are beaten back occasionally, and for long periods of time are inactive, but not so with the bearers of the Gospel message. lessors press on as before. “Teil the King,” said Bishop Hannington, as he lay dying of many spear thrusts, “that I have puichased life for him and his people.” There is no humor in such a scene as this. The missionaries who are waging this unequal warfare believe what they teach, and by comparison with the cautious movements of the emissaries of trade their heroism stands out luminous and beautiful in an age grown sordid and skeptical.

France's Wonderfut New Rifle. New York Evening Post. The Lebel rifle, the new arm with which the French infantry will be supplied before next spring, is, according to all accounts, a wonder, and several models of the gun which have been received here have excited great interest. The new rifle is known bv the name of its inventor, Lebel, and is smah ler and lighter than the rifles now in use; the French Soldiers call it the “little gun.” The most authentic descriptions given to the gun agree in attributing to it a carrying power beyond that of any rifle heretofore in use. The models received in New York are not known to be accurate copies of the Lebel gun, ar d experiments with them are impossible, owing to the fact that the powder used is a secret compound of which the French Govenment has the monopoly. According to all accounts the Lebel gun will carry its bullet more than a mile and a half, and with a more certain aim than has been possible with ordinary rifles. The bore of the gun is very small, and the ball which is of steel and sharply pointed at one end is said to revolve at a speed of a thousand revolutions a second. In the test made by the French Government this bullet has penetrated a brick wall eight inches thick at a distance of 500 yards; it will go through any kind of armor which can be worn by soldiers, and at a distance of more than a mile will pass through a man as easy as at ten paces. The gun has no recoil underfire, and the powder gives out no smoke whatever. It has been said that the powder used must be a type of smokeless hunting powder already in the market; but this is denied by the inventor, who says that he uses an entirely new'cornpound. The Lebel gun, is of course, a repeater, and the cartridges are so small that each soldier carries 220 rounds of amunition, as against 116 formerly considered the maximum. The French Government is now making these guns at the rate of *OO a day at Saint Etienne, and is now preparing to turn out double that number. Four factories, those at Chatellerault, Tulle and .Saint Etienne will soon be at work upon them. - * --

The sect of “Soul Sleepers,” in Jefferson county, have a ten-year old boy, Pascal Porter, for preacher.. He is said to lead his congregation with eloquent earnestness. hall's Catarrh Cnrf is anT similar remedy jntatnally. foraale by all druggists