332 



LUTHERANS. 



so far as the public knows, but a novel from her 

 pen is an affair of considerable importance to 

 those who appreciate the vigor and delicacy, the 

 romance and the realism, of her Vesty of the 

 Basins. Flood-Tide, her latest novel, is worthy 

 of its author. Dealing with the crude life of the 

 fisher-folk of the Maine coast, it exhibits the 

 same uncommon merits that have won for Vesty 

 of the Basins a success more to be desired than 

 the ephemeral popularity achieved of late years 

 by many lesser novels that have in them no ele- 

 ment of permanence. 



After all. are we not forced to the conclusion 

 that in our heart of hearts we are more grateful 

 to the man or woman who gives us a convincing 

 picture of some phase of contemporary American 

 life than to the author who begets even the most 

 brilliant romance dealing with the men and man- 

 ners of a remote past? Duffield Osborne's The 

 Lion's Brood, a vivid and scholarly tale of Han- 

 nibal's invasion of Italy, has added much to the 

 enviable reputation of the author of The Robe of 

 Nessus and The Spell of Ashtaroth. But while 

 the title of " the George Ebers of America " is 

 well worth winning, is it not a fact that Owen 

 Wister, Charles W. Chestnutt, John Uri Lloyd, 

 John Fox, Jr., Booth Tarkington, and others who 

 are conscientiously and often brilliantly adding 

 to the fiction that interprets American life in its 

 varied phases to-day, are doing work that is of 

 more insistent significance than any that the best- 

 equipped writer of historical romance can accom- 

 plish? Whatever may be the answer to this ques- 

 tion and the answer depends largely upon the 

 consideration whether the individual looks at fic- 

 tion through the large or the small end of the 

 telescope it is safe to assert, in conclusion, that 

 this year's production of American novels demon- 

 strates the fact that there is nothing of narrow- 

 ness in our national literary genius; that it is 

 catholic in its choice of the media through which 

 it seeks expression, and that in every department 

 of fiction it has of late put forth either the 

 flower of fulfilment or the bud of promise. Gaz- 

 ing as we now are at the foundation stones, we 

 realize that the American fiction of the twentieth 

 century is to rise to splendid heights, a glorious 

 structure built upon old lines but with many new 

 and impressive ornamentations. 

 LOUISIANA. (See under UNITED STATES.) 

 LUTHERANS. The Lutheran Church in 

 America, with its ministrations in more than a 

 dozen different languages, is a polyglot commun- 

 ion of growing strength. Its growing literature 

 in English, together with its 75 English period- 

 icals, will doubtless bring it into such publicity 

 as will enable all who are interested in the prog- 

 ress of religion in the United States to become 

 better acquainted with its character and opera- 

 tions. Aecording to the latest statistics, gathered 

 for the Lutheran Church Almanac, the Lutheran 

 Church numbers 02 district synods, 6,914 clergy- 

 men, 11,425 congregations, and 1,705,185 commu- 

 nicant members, an increase over last year of 200 

 clergymen, 300 congregations, and 40,000 mem- 

 bers. There are 4,034 parish schools, 3,994 teach- 

 ers, and 190,095 pupils; 6,725 Sunday-schools, 

 with 52,001 officers and teachers, and 570,129 

 scholars. The purely benevolent offerings for mis- 

 sions, education, and works of mercy, exclusive 

 of contributions for local work, amount to $1,- 

 185,958.92, an increase over last year of $15,000. 

 There are 114 institutions of learning, of which 

 23 are theological seminaries, 48 colleges, 32 

 academies, and 11 ladies' seminaries, with prop- 

 erty valued at $5,638,560, endowment amounting 

 to $1,660,452, libraries with 313,880 volumes em- 



ploying 818 professors and instructors, and hav- 

 ing 12,990 students, of whom more than 2,500 

 have the ministry in view. There are 97 chari- 

 table institutions, of which 18 are hospitals, 43 

 orphanages, 17 homes for the aged, 8 deaconess 

 institutions, and 11 immigrant and seamen's mis- 

 sions, with property valued at $4,623,029, endow- 

 ment amounting to $522,269, and providing shel- 

 ter and care for 35,632 inmates; or a total of 211 

 educational and benevolent institutions, having 

 property valued at $10,261,589 and endowment 

 amounting to $2,182,721, a total money value em- 

 ployed by the Church in furthering its various 

 activities of $12,444,310. This is all the more re- 

 markable if we consider the fact that most of 

 these institutions have been established within 

 the latter part of the century just closed, and 

 that none of them, except one, have been the re- 

 cipients of large gifts from individuals. They 

 have been built up with the small gifts of the 

 people. 



The Lutheran Church in this country is divided, 

 not so much on account of doctrinal differences as 

 on account of language and territory, into 4 gen- 

 eral bodies, embracing 47 of the 62 district synods. 

 There are not 19 different kinds of Lutherans in 

 America, though there are 19 synodical bodies. 

 Their differences are linguistic rather than doc- 

 trinal. Following is a brief summary of the sta- 

 tistics of the general bodies and independent 

 synods: 



Among the 15 independent synods are several 

 large Scandinavian and German synods that are 

 not yet sufficiently Anglicized to be identified with 

 any of the 4 general bodies in the diversified in- 

 terests of the Church at large. The Lutheran 

 population in the United States and Canada num- 

 bers about 9,000,000, and that of the world about 

 65,000,000. Two of the general bodies held conven- 

 tions in 1901. 



General Synod. This is the oldest general 

 body of Lutherans in America, having been or- 

 ganized in 1821. It embraces. 24 district synods, 

 nearly all of which are composed <of English con- 

 gregations, and has a membership of 1,210 clergy- 

 men, 1,561 congregations, and 198,575 communi- 

 cants, and 1,514 Sunday-schools with 195,137 pu- 

 pils. The benevolent offerings for the year 

 amounted to $312,128.21. It has under its care 

 and control 5 theological seminaries or theolog- 

 ical departments in colleges, and 5 colleges. It is 

 the largest English body of Lutherans in America. 



The fortieth biennial convention of this body 

 was held at Des Moines, Iowa, May 29 to Jun2 

 6, 1901. The opening sermon was delivered by ths 

 retiring president, the Rev. Samuel F. Brecken- 

 ridge, Sc. D., D. D., professor in Wittenberg Col- 

 lege, Springfield, Ohio. The 24 district synods 

 were represented by 120 clerical and 116 lay dele- 

 gates, a total of 236. The Rev. William S. Freas, 

 D. D., of Baltimore, Md., was elected president ; 

 the Rev. W T illiam E. Fischer, D. D., of Shamokin, 

 Pa., secretary; and Louis Mauss, Esq., of Cincin- 

 nati, Ohio, treasurer. The principal business of 

 the convention consisted in considering and acting 

 on the reports of the boards by which the various 



