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diff --git a/14017-h/14017-h.htm b/14017-h/14017-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5ae7ed4 --- /dev/null +++ b/14017-h/14017-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,759 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Clara A. Swain, M.D., by Mrs. Robert Hoskins</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; } + p.ctr {text-align: center;} + hr.full { width: 100%; + height: 5px; } + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + pre {font-size: 8pt;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14017 ***</div> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Clara A. Swain, M.D., by Mrs. Robert Hoskins</h1> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>CLARA A. SWAIN, M.D. </h1> +<br /> +<h3>First Medical Missionary <br /> +to the<br /> +Women of the Orient </h3> +<br /> + +<h3>By</h3> +<h2>MRS. ROBERT HOSKINS </h2> +<br /> + +<h4>1912</h4> +<br /> +<br> +<br> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<p class="ctr"><a href="#SWAIN"><b>CLARA A. SWAIN, M.D.</b></a></p> +<p class="ctr"><a href="#EARLY"><b>EARLY LIFE</b></a></p> +<p class="ctr"><a href="#CONVERSION"><b>CONVERSION</b></a></p> +<p class="ctr"><a href="#TEACHING"><b>TEACHING IN CANANDAIGUA</b></a></p> +<p class="ctr"><a href="#SANITARIUM"><b>TRAINING IN THE SANITARIUM</b></a></p> +<p class="ctr"><a href="#COLLEGE"><b>AT THE MEDICAL COLLEGE</b></a></p> +<p class="ctr"><a href="#SERVICE"><b>CALL TO SERVICE IN INDIA</b></a></p> +<p class="ctr"><a href="#BAREILLY"><b>APPOINTMENT TO BAREILLY</b></a></p> +<p class="ctr"><a href="#NAWAB"><b>THE NAWAB'S GIFT</b></a></p> +<p class="ctr"><a href="#FIRST_FURLOUGH"><b>FIRST FURLOUGH</b></a></p> +<p class="ctr"><a href="#RANI"><b>PHYSICIAN TO THE RANI OF KHETRI</b></a></p> +<p class="ctr"><a href="#SECOND_FURLOUGH"><b>SECOND FURLOUGH</b></a></p> +<p class="ctr"><a href="#KHETRI"><b>RETURN TO KHETRI</b></a></p> +<p class="ctr"><a href="#EUROPE"><b>TRIP THROUGH EUROPE AND THE HOLY LAND</b></a></p> +<p class="ctr"><a href="#JUBILEE"><b>TO INDIA FOR THE JUBILEE</b></a></p> +<p class="ctr"><a href="#CASTILE"><b>AT HOME IN CASTILE</b></a></p> +<p class="ctr"><a href="#GLIMPSE"><b>"A GLIMPSE OF INDIA"</b></a></p> +<p class="ctr"><a href="#LIFE"><b>THE LAST YEAR OF HER LIFE</b></a></p> + +<br> +<br> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="SWAIN"></a><h2>CLARA A. SWAIN, M.D.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>"The frail little mother of a frail little daughter" did not live +long enough to see the fullest answer to her prayer that her +youngest born might "grow up to be a good and useful woman," for +she passed away before her daughter began her medical career, but +the prayer was not forgotten by Him who ever hears the cry of +those who call upon Him in faith.</p> + +<p>Clara was the youngest of the ten children of John and Clarissa +Seavey Swain. She was born in Elmira, N.Y., but when she was two +years old her parents returned to their old home in Castile and +here she spent her early life.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="EARLY"></a><h3>EARLY LIFE</h3> + +<p>She was not a strong child, and being the youngest of a large +family naturally received much attention, which in after years she +concluded was not good for her. She once described herself as a +puny little thing who wanted everything she saw and thought she +ought to have it. "I had a will of my own," she said, "and my +mother found it necessary to be very firm with me at times. Once I +was very rude to her when she did not give me what I wanted, and I +shall never forget how grieved she was, how lovingly she explained +to me the necessity for controlling myself if I would be loved by +those around me." She was six years old when this naughtiness +occurred. "I promised my mother then," she said, "that I would be +a good girl, and that I would ask God not to let me be naughty +again."</p> + +<p>She and her sister Hattie, not quite two years her elder, loved +out of doors a great deal. They were very fond of flowers and +animals, and, hand in hand, would wander up and down the street to +stop and admire the flowers in the neighboring gardens, always +mindful of their mother's injunction never to take a flower +without permission. Happy indeed were they when they could bring +home a handful of wild flowers to their mother. "God's flowers" +they called them, because they did not grow in anyone's garden.</p> + +<p>Clara's love for animals led her to pat every dog she met, and +more than once she caught a stray cat and took it home to pet it. +A story is told that seeing a lame chicken she wrapped it in her +apron and took it home and bandaged its leg neatly, tending it +with such devotion that she soon had the happiness of seeing it +able to run about to seek its own food. The cousin who told this +story laughingly said, "She probably used splints, but of this I +am not sure."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Swain's sister Elizabeth lived a mile out of the village, +while the home of the Swain family was within the boundary line, +and as the little red school-house was between them the children +of both families attended this school.</p> + +<p>Clara was very fond of her Aunt Post and often went home with her +cousins, staying with them days at a time. One of these cousins, +now eighty-eight years of age, writes: "When Clara was seven years +of age she was a very pleasant child, always eager to help +someone. She lived with us, off and on, until she was twelve years +old, when we moved to Michigan. She was as much at home with us as +in her own home and we were sorry to part with her."</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="CONVERSION"></a><h3>CONVERSION</h3> + +<p>When Clara was eight years old her sister Ann, six years her +senior, joined the Methodist Church, and this made a great +impression on her youthful mind. The consistent life of this +sister and the sweet and simple religious life of her mother gave +her many thoughtful hours, and she asked one day, "Why am I not a +Christian? I want to be good, too." Just before she was ten years +old, under the influence of a powerful sermon, she felt that she +must give herself to the Lord to be his child forever. There were +hours of darkness when she felt that she was too great a sinner to +be forgiven, but light came at last and she was happy in the +consciousness that she was an accepted child of God.</p> + +<p>From her father's family she inherited a fund of Irish humor, +while her mother, of good old New England blood, inclined to +quietness of spirit with earnestness of purpose; and this blending +of fun and sobriety caused the young Christian much perturbation +of spirit. Conscientious in the extreme, she had many an hour of +self-questioning when she feared that, in the exuberance of +youthful merriment, she had cast a shadow on her Christian +profession and caused sorrow to the heart of her loving Master. +Then it was that the wise and tender mother helped her to see that +it was the duty of a Christian, though only a child, to be +cheerful and joyous, and that it was possible to please God in her +play hours as well as in attendance at church or Sunday school or +prayer meeting,—just to be the happy child that he meant her to +be, and to ask his help to keep her good and true.</p> + +<p>Her school books did not satisfy her mind, and one who knew her +at that time says she frequently visited the neighbors and +borrowed books, some of which she read over and over again.</p> + +<p>Her love for children led her, when she was about twelve years +old, to accept the proposal of the wife of the village merchant +that she assist her in the care of her baby, and the money thus +earned was used to help her with her studies.</p> + +<p>In 1848, Clara's sister Ann went to Michigan to teach, making her +home with the Aunt Post who had been so dear to the children of +the Swain family. After two years of teaching she was married from +her aunt's home to a worthy man who still survives her. Before +Ann's marriage Clara had gone to visit this aunt and was persuaded +to stay, and eventually she took a small school near the farm and +taught for a year. "While she was teaching," wrote one of her +cousins, "my mother broke her ankle and Clara cared for her almost +a year. She was a grand nurse, even at that age, and was a great +comfort to us all; she was so bright and cheerful that we were +unwilling to have her leave us."</p> + +<p>Her talent for nursing was called into requisition soon after her +return to Castile when the children of the Presbyterian minister, +the Rev. Mr. Hurlburt, became ill with typhoid fever and she was +called to assist in caring for them. It was an anxious time for +the nurse as well as the parents, as one child after another fell +ill. Two of the children died, and later the father succumbed to +the fatal illness. The faithful nurse remained with the distracted +widow and the remaining children can cared for them tenderly as +long as they needed her services. In an old and well-worn Bible is +this inscription in her handwriting: "This is the first Bible I +ever owned. It was presented to me by Rev. and Mrs. Hurlburt."</p> + +<p>The sumer of 1855 found Miss Swain, then twenty-one years of age, +teaching a few private pupils in the village. One of her scholars +of that summer recently spoke of her loving interest in her pupils +and her care for their welfare. The following year she went to +live with some cousins in Pike and attend the school there.</p> + +<p>Mr. Swain had a sister living in Canandaigua, who, knowing of +Clara's strong desire for self-improvement, invited her to come +there for a year of study in the seminary, an invitation which she +gladly accepted; and after a year of close study she obtained a +position as teacher in the primary department of one of the public +schools. "Clara was determined to get an education and make use of +it if she could," wrote one of her cousins.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="TEACHING"></a><h3>TEACHING IN CANANDAIGUA</h3> + +<p>In the spring of 1859 began an acquaintance with one who was ever +after one of Miss Swain's dearest friends. Miss Martha McFarland +of Albany accepted the position of teacher in the intermediate +department of the school in which Miss Swain was teaching and they +at once became friends. As Miss Swain's aunt was soon to leave +Canandaigua, the two friends secured a pleasant boarding-place, +and for three years they walked to school together in the morning +and home again in the afternoon. Bothe were nature-lovers and many +a delightful hour they spent on their holidays and Saturday +afternoons and whenever they could find leisure for one of their +picnic outings. They were both members of the Methodist Church and +were constant in their attendance at the Sunday services and at +Sunday school as well as at the midweek prayer and class-meetings, +and were ever ready to help in all forms of church work.</p> + +<p>Through her years of teaching Miss Swain showed the same +conscientious spirit that was evidenced in her child and school +life. "Have I done all I ought? Have I been as helpful to my +pupils as I might be?" she often asked herself. For a time she +taught a class in Sunday school, and her boys were impressed by +her consistent life. Later, one of them said, "We noticed that you +always went to prayer meeting so we thought we would go and see +what was in it." This class was a joy to her and her pleasure was +great when one and another gave himself to the Lord for service.</p> + +<p>"Miss Swain was ready <i>in season and out of season</i>," said one of +her friends. "One Sunday evening when a company of us were +together having a sing, she turned to a young man near her and +bluntly asked, 'Why are you not a Christian?' Taken by surprise, +the young man had no answer ready and they both went on singing." +The Rev. Mr. Hibbard was pastor of the Methodist Church in +Canandaigua and Miss Swain and her friend very much enjoyed an +occasional visit to the parsonage, where they were always warmly +welcomed.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="SANITARIUM"></a><h3>TRAINING IN THE SANITARIUM</h3> + +<p>Notwithstanding her love for children, Miss Swain did not find +teaching altogether a delight. The inattention of the children and +the daily routine made her feel irritable, she said, but she kept +steadily on, hoping in time to carry out a purpose which she had +in mind of some day becoming a doctor. When an opportunity offered +for her to take a position in the Castile Sanitarium under Dr. +Cordelia A. Greene, she gladly gave up teaching and entered upon a +course of training which, though sometimes irksome, proved more +congenial than her former occupation.</p> + +<p>All the way along, her strong will had availed to overcome +obstacles, and here, during many weary hours, she comforted +herself with the thought that she was nearing the goal of her +ambition. She could not have had a more satisfactory opportunity +for the training that she needed; for though Dr. Greene exacted +thoroughness in every line of work, she was so sympathetic and so +ready to give a word of commendation and encouragement, that her +pupil could not do otherwise than accede to all the requirements +of her position. It was not long before doctor and pupil became +fast friends and the congenial companionship was a life-long +pleasure to both. "I owe much to Dr. Cordelia," she said many +times in after life.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="COLLEGE"></a><h3>AT THE MEDICAL COLLEGE</h3> + +<p>After three years of study and practice in the Sanitarium she +applied for admission to the Woman's Medical College in +Philadelphia, from which she was graduated in the spring of 1869. +She often spoke of the pleasure she had in lingering in the park +after class hours, on her way to her boarding-place, and of the +occasional free and intimate talks with certain of her +instructors.</p> + +<p>She enjoyed the Sabbath services and had many opportunities of +hearing some of the celebrated preachers of the day. The Rev. Dana +Boardman seems to have been a favorite with her and she took notes +of several of his sermons. "Bishop Simpson's Christmas sermon +(1868) on Luke 2:13, 14, filled my heart with peace and good-will +to (all) men," she notes. A sermon by Dr. Willett in November, +1868, on "What do ye more than others?"—Matt. 5:47, and one by +Dr. McGowan on Mark 10:21, "One thing thou lackest," led to much +heart-searching. A short time before leaving Philadelphia she +heard Phillips Brooks preach from Malachi 4:2. "A wonderful +sermon," she termed it, and she greatly enjoyed a talk by him on +tithing, which she determined to act upon.</p> + +<p>We have no special record of Dr. Swain's years of study in the +Woman's Medical College, but we may be sure that she improved +every opportunity to perfect herself in her chosen calling. Her +instructors were her warm friends and she corresponded with some +of them after she went to India. Dean Bodley, in one of her +letters, gave the names of nine young women in the college who +were preparing for medical missionary work, and Dr. Swain made a +note of them, saying that she must write to them before their +graduation. Two of these ladies went to India as medical +missionaries.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="SERVICE"></a><h3>CALL TO SERVICE IN INDIA</h3> + +<p>The story of Dr. Swain's call to go to India has been told many +times. Mrs. D.W. Thomas, who, with her husband, had charge of the +girls' orphanage of the Methodist Mission, had long felt the need +of efficient medical aid for the women and children of India and +had been doing what she could to alleviate the sufferings of those +with whom she came in contact. She had even thought that she would +herself study medicine when she should go to America for change +and rest. In the meantime she was instructing a class of the older +girls in the orphanage in physiology and hygiene, both in English +and the vernacular, with the hope that some time they might have +regular medical training. She talked with native gentlemen and +with English officials of the great need for intelligent medical +treatment for the women and children of the country, especially +for those who live in seclusion, and of her hope that a lady +medical missionary might be sent to India. A native gentleman so +thoroughly approved of the idea that he offered to defray all the +expenses of a medical school or class if a lady physician could be +sent from America to take charge of it.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Thomas's letter of appeal to Mrs. J.T. Gracey, a former +missionary, for her assistance in the matter, led Mrs. Gracey to +inquire at the Philadelphia Woman's Medical College if a suitable +person could be found among the graduates, who would accept a call +from the Woman's Union Missionary Society of America to go as a +medical missionary to India. Miss Clara A. Swain, M.D., was named +as one fitted by both professional acquirements and Christian +character for such a position. It required much thought and prayer +on Dr. Swain's part before she could signify her acceptance of the +call, and during the three months of delay in giving her answer +the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal +Church, of which she was a member, was organized. Naturally she +preferred to go under the auspices of her own denomination, and +the Union Missionary Society gracefully and generously accepted +her decision.</p> + +<p>Confident that she was obeying the call of God, she set about her +preparations for the long journey before her in a cheerful spirit, +answering the demurs of her friends with, "It is God's call. I +must go." She was greatly cheered when she found that Miss +Isabella Thoburn, whose brother (now Bishop Thoburn) had been some +years in India, was to be her traveling companion. They sailed +from New York November 3, 1869, and arrived in Bareilly January +20, 1870, during the annual conference of the Methodist Mission.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="BAREILLY"></a><h3>APPOINTMENT TO BAREILLY</h3> + +<p>The two ladies, whose previous slight acquaintance had ripened +into warmest friendship during their weeks of journeying together, +had hoped that they might be associated together in mission work, +but it was not so to be. Miss Thoburn was appointed to educational +work in Lucknow, and Dr. Swain found that she was to remain in +Bareilly. This appointment gave her the opportunity to begin her +medical work at once, for there were not only the girls' +orphanage, for which Mrs. Thomas had so long desired efficient +medical help, but scores of Christian women who could not go to +the city hospital. In addition to these, there was the class of +fourteen intelligent Christian girls that had for two years been +receiving excellent preparatory training from Mrs. Thomas, who had +fully believed that her prayer for a lady doctor would be answered +and that these girls would yet have the opportunity for the study +of medicine. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas were well acquainted with several +of the wealthy and influential natives of the city, and Mrs. +Thomas welcomed the opportunity to introduce her doctor friend to +these homes.</p> + +<p>There was no lack of patients for the new doctor; for in addition +to her work in the orphanage and her medical class, calls to +native homes in the city became more and more frequent. At the end +of the first six weeks after her arrival in Bareilly, Dr. Swain's +note book recorded one hundred and eight patients. Her report to +the conference, after a year of such service as she had never +dreamed of, gave the number of patients prescribed for at the +mission house as twelve hundred and twenty-five, and of visits to +patients in their homes, two hundred and fifty.</p> + +<p>The young women of the medical class were gaining practice and +experience by caring for the sick in the orphanage and the +Christian village, and sometimes accompanying Dr. Swain to visit +her city patients, and they were also becoming proficient in +compounding and dispensing medicines. This class, begun March 1, +1870, was graduated April 10, 1873, having passed an excellent +examination before two civil surgeons and an American physician, +from whom they received certificates entitling them to practice in +all ordinary diseases.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="NAWAB"></a><h3>THE NAWAB'S GIFT</h3> + +<p>The need for a dispensary and hospital became daily more +imperative, and it was opportunely met in the munificent gift of +the Nawab of Rampore, who owned an estate adjoining the mission +premises in Bareilly. The Hon. Mr. Drummond, the commissioner of +the Northwest Provinces, was interested in mission work, +especially in the effort to help the women of the city and +neighboring villages through medical aid, and he agreed with the +missionaries that the Nawab's estate was just what was needed to +carry out their plans. He therefore arranged that Mr. Thomas +should go to Rampore and in a personal interview represent to the +Nawab his desire to procure a portion of his estate in Bareilly +which adjoined the mission property, for the purpose of +establishing a hospital for women.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, on receiving an intimation that the Nawab would +receive them, on October 8, 1871, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas and Dr. +Swain set out for this momentous interview. An interesting +description of this visit is given in Mrs. Gracey's book, "Woman's +Medical Work in Foreign Lands," and in Dr. Swain's book, "A +Glimpse of India." Mr. Thomas's carefully prepared Hindustani +speech was not finished before the Nawab replied graciously, "Take +it! It is yours! I give it to you with great pleasure for such a +purpose."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Thomas naively wrote: "We were so amazed at the readiness and +graciousness of the gift that we nearly forgot to make our salaams +and express our thanks and gratitude. The Nawab replied that there +were two great merits in this gift—one for himself and one for +Mr. Thomas, for taking so great interest in the charitable work. +Mr. Thomas then asked permission to found the first hospital for +women in India in His Highness's name, to which he replied, 'As +you think proper, so do.' So His Highness Mahomed Kallub Ali Khan, +Bahadur, Nawab of Rampore, has the honor of making the first +generous contribution toward founding the <i>first woman's hospital +in India</i>. His Highness again expressed the satisfaction he felt +in bestowing this gift, and said he would send his general to +Bareilly on Monday to make out the papers and put us in formal +possession of the property."</p> + +<p>Before the party left the Nawab's dominions, the ladies were asked +to see a sick woman in the Tahsildar's house, and they found her +very ill indeed. Dr. Swain prescribed for her and for several +others who asked for medicines; then they returned to the Rest +House to get their breakfast and talk over the interview, and to +thank God for his great bounty to the mission work.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Thomas wrote: "We were bewildered and overwhelmed to think +that the possessions which we had longed and prayed for these many +years were ours. The gift came to us so freely and in such a way +that we could take no credit to ourselves for having obtained it. +Like all God's free gifts it was given before asked for; no +persuasions or arguments of ours would have made any difference. +God saw our need and supplied it."</p> + +<p>The estate consisted of forty acres of land, a fine old kothi or +mansion, and an extensive garden. The house needed repairs which +were soon completed and Dr. Swain and Miss Sparkes, who had been +appointed to take charge of the orphanage, moved into their new +home January 1, 1872. A part of the house was used for a +dispensary until other arrangements could be made, and then +followed busy and often weary days, borne with patience, however, +for the work was for the Master.</p> + +<p>The much-needed and well-planned dispensary building was completed +in May, 1873, and the hospital buildings connected with it +received the first indoor patients January 1, 1874. From that time +on there was no lack of occupants for the rooms. In the published +collection of her letters, entitled "A Glimpse of India," Dr. +Swain gives a graphic picture of the buildings, their occupants +and their mode of life.</p> + +<p>Visits to homes in the city were continued, and Dr. Swain and her +assistants were fully occupied every day. Three of the graduates +of the medical class were employed by Dr. Swain as Bible women and +gave much assistance in the religious work connected with the +hospital.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="FIRST_FURLOUGH"></a><h3>FIRST FURLOUGH</h3> + +<p>The anxiety and the responsibility of the rapidly increasing work +brought weariness of mind and body, and in March, 1876, Dr. Swain +returned to America for a much needed rest. This was extended to +the autumn of 1879 when, on September 25, she again sailed for +India, arriving in Bombay November 6. At the conference held in +Cawnpore in January, 1880, Dr. Swain received her appointment to +Bareilly and with gladness of heart took up her old work.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="RANI"></a><h3>PHYSICIAN TO THE RANI OF KHETRI</h3> + +<p>In March, 1885, Dr. Swain received a call to a native state to +attend the wife of the Rajah, and after two weeks of successful +treatment she was formally requested to remain as physician to the +Rani and the ladies of the palace. After much thought and prayer +it seemed to her that it was the Lord's will that she should +remain and do what she could for him in this place where there +were no Christian influences; so she consented to the proposal on +condition that she and her companion be allowed to carry on the +work as Christians should. To this the Rajah agreed, and Dr. Swain +signed a contract to remain two years.</p> + +<p>In the Blue Book, or Administration Report, of the Khetri State, +1886, the Rajah wrote: "I cannot look back with greater pleasure +or satisfaction on anything I have done than on the facilities +introduced by me for rendering medical aid to the female portion +of my subjects. It is a patent fact that the Indian woman, +secluded as she is within the four walls of the zenana, cannot +fully benefit by any system of medicine; and it was not till the +generous efforts of Lady Dufferin were turned in this direction +that the wives and daughters of the richest and most enlightened +Indians enjoyed a better position than the lowest and meanest of +their fellows. It therefore gives me genuine pleasure to bring +prominently to your notice the existence of a regular institution +in this benighted portion of India, for the treatment of females +of all classes. I have employed a very competent European lady +doctor, Miss Swain, M.D., to attend on Her Highness, the Rani +Sahiba, and, feeling it my duty to place her advice and assistance +within the reach of all my subjects, have established a regular +dispensary for women. It was opened June 1, 1885, at the expense +of the state, and a room in the palace building appropriated to it +until a more convenient and suitable one could be provided. An +allowance of Rs. 100 per mensem is fixed for medicines, and is +found for the present to be sufficient. The average daily +attendance at the dispensary is five."</p> + +<p>Under Section 12, Schools, this report is given:—"I am glad to +say that the people of my state are beginning to evince greater +interest in the education of their children than they have done +before. The greatest desire of Her Highness, the Rani Sahiba, was +that I should make suitable provision for the education of girls. +I, accordingly, engaged a competent European lady, Miss P.E. +Pannell, as mistress, and the Khetri Girls' School was opened by +Her Highness in April, 1885, in the teeth of opposition from the +orthodox portion of the community. As was expected, at first every +effort to teach these girls was frowned upon and considered absurd +by their relatives and friends. This feeling, however, gradually +gave place to trust and confidence, and the school is now showing +some return for all the time and patience spent upon it. The +number of pupils on the roll is twenty, of which three have gone +to their <i>susval</i> (husband's home) and three attend only +occasionally. The average attendance of fourteen girls has, +however, been regular. Great pains has been taken to teach +truthfulness, honesty and love for one another. Instruction is +also given in needlework of various kinds, and other things, the +knowledge of which is necessary for good housekeeping. The +improvement made by some of the girls in this direction may at +once be noticed by a change in the manner of doing nicely the +little things which go to make up their lives. The school owes its +existence to the care of Her Highness, who is much interested in +it."</p> + +<p>In addition to her school, Miss Pannell was engaged to teach the +Rani and some of the court ladies. Dr. Swain and Miss Pannell were +the only Christians in the state, but their little Sunday service +conducted for their servants gained attention, and others asked to +be allowed to attend, some becoming so much interested that they +procured Bibles and Testaments that they might read the "wonderful +words" themselves. A supply of tracts and portions of Scripture +was always on hand, to distribute whenever and wherever the ladies +felt they would be appreciated.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="SECOND_FURLOUGH"></a><h3>SECOND FURLOUGH</h3> + +<p>The serious illness of one of Dr. Swain's sisters decided her to +return to America, and she left Khetri in March, 1888, having +spent nearly three years in "seed sowing" as she called it. Her +own health, too, demanded a change, and in company with a most +congenial missionary friend she turned her face toward the +homeland. She returned to India in company with the same congenial +friend, in time to attend the North India Conference before going +to her Khetri home, Miss Pannell again accompanying her.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="KHETRI"></a><h3>RETURN TO KHETRI</h3> + +<p>The isolation of their life in Khetri had been at times a great +trial to both Dr. Swain and Miss Pannell, but they felt that they +were where God wanted them to be and bore their privations +bravely. However, at this time Dr. Swain wrote: "After eighteen +months of the religious life of America and the many precious +privileges enjoyed there, it seems harder to settle down to the +life here. I miss the church services much more than I did when I +was here before." At another time she wrote: "I have sometimes +felt tempted to give up my work here, but then the thought comes +to me that I can do more by remaining here, and paying the salary +of a native preacher to do what I should never be able to do."</p> + +<p>A second princess had been born during Dr. Swain's absence from +Khetri. This occasioned close attendance at the palace, as the +baby was delicate, and Dr. Swain had an opportunity for Bible +study with the Rani who enjoyed nothing more than an hour of daily +study of the Scriptures. The older princess, too, was ready with a +new Bible verse every day, and a Sunday service was held in the +Rani's apartments, at which the women of the court and their +attendants were present. The Sunday Bible class at the home was +not neglected; it increased in interest and numbers, some of the +more intelligent of the Rajah's staff occasionally joining the +company and listening with interest to the hymns and the reading +of the Scriptures.</p> + +<p>The birth of the prince and heir in January, 1893, was a time of +great rejoicing and much ceremony. Offerings were made to the +deities day after day, the poor were fed and presents given to the +Brahmans. The Rani acknowledged her thankfulness to God by a +donation, in the name of her little son, to Christian work, asking +that the money be used to support an orphan in the mission to +which Dr. Swain belonged.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="EUROPE"></a><h3>TRIP THROUGH EUROPE AND THE HOLY LAND</h3> + +<p>Dr. Swain's engagement with the Khetri state expired in October, +1895, and in March, 1896, she left India, as she supposed, +forever. "Mother Ninde" and her traveling companion, Miss Baucus, +from Japan, were among the missionary party of eleven, some of +whom were anticipating a trip to the Holy Land. In company with +Miss Baucus, Dr. Swain visited Jerusalem, where they were joined +by Miss Dickinson of Utica, N.Y., and the three traveled together +from April 1, 1896 to July 4, when they sailed for America. They +had visited the places of interest in and around Jerusalem, +Bethany, Bethlehem, on to Beirut, Damascus, Baalbek, Nazareth, +Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee, a tour much enjoyed by them all.</p> + +<p>At Jerusalem they met a company of Americans, and arranged to +accompany them to Constantinople. On the way they stopped at +Smyrna and made a hurried trip to Ephesus, arriving in +Constantinople May 20. There they remained six days and then +sailed for Athens. On June 2 they began their European tour, +sailing on an Italian steamer to Brindisi, where they parted with +their American friends. The three then visited Venice, Munich, +Dresden, Cologne and Paris, reaching London June 27, and remaining +there till July 4, when they sailed for New York.</p> + +<p>"No more sea for me!" was Dr. Swain's reply when asked if she were +not tired of travel. "I took many rest days while the others were +sight-seeing, and now I hope to have a good long rest here at the +Castile Sanitarium."</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="JUBILEE"></a><h3>TO INDIA FOR THE JUBILEE</h3> + +<p>But to the great surprise of many of her friends, and +notwithstanding the remonstrances of some who feared she would not +live to return to America, she determined to go to India to attend +the Jubilee of the Methodist Mission, founded by the Rev. William +Butler in 1856. In company with some missionaries under +appointment to India she sailed from New York, November 6, 1906, +just thirty-seven years from the time that she started out on her +untried career. She spent eighteen months among old friends and +old scenes in India, rejoicing in the great advance in numbers, +intelligence and spirituality of the native Christians, and had +the great pleasure of meeting again the young prince of Khetri and +his sisters—now orphans—and of hearing from them of their +mother's last days and of her continued love for the Bible, to +which she had given so much attention while Dr. Swain was with +her.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="CASTILE"></a><h3>AT HOME IN CASTILE</h3> + +<p>Once more she turned toward the home land, arriving in Castile, +N.Y., in April, 1908, where she was joined by the friend of her +early missionary days in India.</p> + +<p>Dr. Cordelia Greene, who established the Sanitarium, was succeeded +by her niece, Dr. Mary T. Greene, who arranged that the two +friends should occupy rooms in her lovely cottage, Brookside, +opposite the Sanitarium grounds, where for nearly three years they +enjoyed the comforts of a home and of congenial society. Though +living outside the institution they took their meals with the +Sanitarium family and took part in the daily morning prayer +service in the helpers' sitting-room and the after-supper service +for patients and guests in the large parlors, enjoying to the +full the spiritual atmosphere of the place.</p> + +<p>There were quiet hours of delightful study in the Book which each +had made the guide of her life; social afternoons with friends +from different parts of the country and from over the seas who +were taking a rest-time in the lovely village; and pleasant +evenings before the cheerful grate fire in Dr. Swain's room. These +were made more heartsome one autumn because of the presence of a +much-esteemed missionary friend, Miss Knowles, from India, and of +Miss McFarland, Dr. Swain's dear friend of Canandaigua days, who +had come to spend a little time with the one whose companionship +had always been a pleasure, and whose correspondence during her +absence from America had been a delight.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="GLIMPSE"></a><h3>"A GLIMPSE OF INDIA"</h3> + +<p>Relatives and friends of Dr. Swain had carefully preserved many of +her letters; and Dr. Greene, who had long desired that these +letters should be published, conceived that the favorable time had +come and urged the immediate preparation of the work. The letters +were read, extracts made, compiled and edited; and in the summer +of 1909 "A Glimpse of India" was given to the public. This +furnished a most interesting record of the busy life of the first +medical missionary to the women of the orient. As long as Dr. +Swain was able, she attended the Sunday morning service and the +Thursday evening prayer meeting, as well as the meetings of the +missionary and the Ladies' Aid societies of the church. When she +was no longer equal to the walk to church, she and her friend had +regular Sunday morning service in their room with hymns, Scripture +reading, prayer and a sermon, and were often present in spirit at +the midweek prayer meeting, though their prayers and praises were +uttered in their room.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="LIFE"></a><h3>THE LAST YEAR OF HER LIFE</h3> + +<p>The last year of Dr. Swain's life was spent in much weakness at +times, occasioned by an attack of grippe which would not be +overcome, but it was not until the first week in December that she +felt that she could not hope to get stronger. When confined to her +bed she kept her Testament and Psalms near her, and though seldom +able to read more than a verse she enjoyed the daily morning Bible +reading and prayer with her friend.</p> + +<p>Loving attendance and the best medical care were given her but +nought availed, and early Christmas morning, while sleeping, she +passed from earth to her Father's home above. She was laid to +rest in the beautiful cemetery at Castile, December 28, 1910.</p> + +<p>The prayer of the "frail little mother of a frail little daughter" +was fully answered in this good and useful life.</p> + +<br> +<br> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14017 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |