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diff --git a/29426.txt b/29426.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..052b50d --- /dev/null +++ b/29426.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9346 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Things as They Are, by Amy Wilson-Carmichael + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Things as They Are + Mission Work in Southern India + +Author: Amy Wilson-Carmichael + +Release Date: July 16, 2009 [EBook #29426] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THINGS AS THEY ARE *** + + + + +Produced by The Bookworm, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + +[Transcriber's Notes: vowels with macrons are shown by an equals sign +before the vowel in brackets. [=a] + +Bold is surrounded by =equal signs=. + +Italics are shown by _underscores_.] + + +[Illustration: Old India. "You think you know us; you know nothing at +all about us!" and the old eyes peer intently into yours, and the old +head shakes and he smiles to himself as he moves off. Every bit of this +picture is suggestive: the closed door behind,--only a Brahman may open +that door; the mythological carving,--only a Brahman has the right to +understand it; the three-skein cord,--only a Brahman may touch it. Even +the ragged old cloth is suggestive. In old India nothing but Caste +counts for anything, and a reigning Prince lately gave his weight in +gold to the Brahmans, as part payment for ceremonies which enabled him +to eat with men of this old man's social position. Look at the marks on +the baby's forehead; they are suggestive too.] + + + + +THINGS AS THEY ARE + +MISSION WORK IN SOUTHERN INDIA + +BY + +AMY WILSON-CARMICHAEL + +_Keswick Missionary C.E.Z.M.S._ + +AUTHOR OF "FROM SUNRISE LAND," ETC. + +WITH PREFACE BY + +EUGENE STOCK + +[Illustration: Tamil Text: VICTORY TO JESUS' NAME!] + + LONDON: MORGAN AND SCOTT + (OFFICE OF "=The Christian=") + 12, PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS, E.C. + _And may be ordered of any bookseller_ + 1905 + + FIRST EDITION _April 1903_ + _Reprinted_ _August 1903_ + " _January 1904_ + " _November 1904_ + " _January 1905_ + + + To the Memory of My Dear Friend, + + ELEANOR CARR, + + Whose last message to the Band, before her + translation on June 16, 1901, was: + + "YOU WILL BE IN THE THICK OF THE FIGHT + BY THE TIME THIS REACHES YOU, + [Illustration: Tamil text: THE BATTLE IS THE LORD'S!]" + + + + +Note + + +WITHIN a few weeks of the publication of _Things as They Are_, letters +were received from missionaries working in different parts of India, +confirming its truth. But some in England doubt it. And so it was +proposed that if a fourth edition were called for, a few confirmatory +notes, written by experienced South Indian missionaries, other than +those of the district described, would be helpful. Several such notes +are appended. The Indian view of one of the chief facts set forth in the +book is expressed in the note written by one who, better than any +missionary, and surely better even than any onlooker at home, has the +right to be heard in this matter--_and the right to be believed_. + +And now at His feet, who can use the least, we lay this book again; for +"to the Mighty One," as the Tamil proverb says, "even the blade of grass +is a weapon." May it be used for His Name's sake, to win more prayer for +India--and all dark lands--the prayer that prevails. + + AMY WILSON-CARMICHAEL, + Dohnavur, Tinnevelly District, + S. India. + + +Confirmatory Notes + + +_From_ Rev. D. DOWNIE, D.D., American Baptist Mission, Nizam's +Dominions, S. India. + +I have felt for many years that we missionaries were far too prone to +dwell on what is called the "bright side of mission work." That it has a +bright side no one can question. That it has a "dark" side some do +question; but I for one, after thirty years of experience, know it to be +just as true as the bright side is true. I have heard Miss Carmichael's +book denounced as "pessimistic." Just what is meant by that I am not +quite sure; but if it means that what she has written is untrue, then I +am prepared to say that it is NOT pessimistic, _for there is not a line +of it that cannot be duplicated in this Telugu Mission_. That she has +painted a dark picture of Hindu life cannot be denied, but, _since it is +every word true_, I rejoice that she had the courage to do what was so +much needed, and yet what so many of us shrank from doing, "lest it +should injure the cause." + + +_From_ Rev. T. STEWART, M.A., Secretary, United Free Church Mission, +Madras. + +This book, _Things as They Are_, meets a real need--_it depicts a phase +of mission work of which, as a rule, very little is heard_. Every +missionary can tell of cases where people have been won for Christ, and +mention incidents of more than passing interest. Miss Carmichael is no +exception, and could tell of not a few trophies of grace. _The danger +is, lest in describing such incidents the impression should be given +that they represent the normal state of things, the reverse being the +case._ The people of India are not thirsting for the Gospel, nor +"calling us to deliver their land from error's chain." The night is +still one in which the "spiritual hosts of wickedness" have to be +overcome before the captive can be set free. The writer has laid all +interested in the extension of the Kingdom of God under a deep debt of +obligation by such a graphic and accurate picture of the difficulties +that have to be faced and the obstacles to be overcome. Counterparts of +the incidents recorded can be found in other parts of South India, and +there are probably few missionaries engaged in vernacular work who could +not illustrate some of them from their own experience. + + +_From_ Dr. A. W. RUDISILL, Methodist Episcopal Press, Madras. + +In _Things as They Are_ are pictured, by camera and pen, _some_ things +in Southern India. The pen, as faithfully as the camera, has told the +truth, and nothing but the truth. + +The early chapters bring out with vivid, striking, almost startling +reality the wayside hearers in India. One can almost see the devil +plucking away the words as fast as they fall, and hear the opposers of +the Gospel crying out against it. + +Paul did not hesitate to write things as they were of the idolaters to +whom he preached, even though the picture was very dark. _It is all the +more needful now, when so many are deceived and being deceived as to the +true nature of idolatry, that people at home who give and pray should be +told plainly that what Paul wrote of idolaters in Rome and Corinth is +still true of idolaters in India._ + +Miss Carmichael has given only glances and glimpses, not full insights. +Let those who think the picture she has drawn is too dark know that, if +the whole truth were told, an evil spirit only could produce the +pictures, and hell itself would be the only fit place in which to +publish them, because in Christian lands eyes have not seen and ears +have not heard of such things. + + +_From_ Rev. C. W. CLARKE, M.A., Principal, Noble College, Masulipatam. + +I have worked as Principal of a College for over seventeen years amongst +the caste people of South India, and I entirely endorse Miss +Carmichael's views as to the actual risks run by students and others +desirous of breaking caste and being baptized. While the teaching of the +Bible and English education generally have removed a great deal of +prejudice, and greatly raised the ethical standard amongst a number of +those who come under such influences, Hinduism as held and practised by +the vast majority of caste people remains essentially unchanged. To +break caste is held to be the greatest evil a person can inflict upon +himself and his community, _therefore practically any means may be +resorted to to prevent such a calamity_. It is a commonplace amongst +missionaries, that when a caste man or woman shows any serious intention +of being baptized,--in any case, where caste feeling is not modified by +special circumstances,--the most stringent precautions must be taken to +protect the inquirer from the schemes of his caste brethren. + + +_From_ KRISHNA RAN, Esq., B.A., Editor, _Christian Patriot_, Madras +(himself a convert). + +The question is often asked whether a high caste Hindu convert can live +with his own people after his baptism. _It is only those who know +nothing of the conditions of life in India, and of the power of caste as +it exists in this country, who raise the question._ + +The convert has to be prepared for the loss of parents and their tender +affection; of brothers and sisters, relatives and friends; of wife and +children, if he has any; of his birthright, social position, means of +livelihood, reputation, and all the power which hides behind the magic +word "caste"; of all that he is taught from his childhood to hold as +sacred. + + +_From_ Miss READE, South Arcot, South India. + +I am not surprised that anyone unacquainted with mission work in India +should be staggered at the facts narrated in _Things as They Are_. But +as one who has worked for nearly thirty years in the heart of +heathenism, away from the haunts of civilisation, I can bear testimony +_that the reality of things far exceeds anything that it would be +possible to put into print_. One's tongue falters to tell of what is +custom in this country. I know a case where a young girl of ten was +placed in such a position that her choice lay between two sinful courses +of life, _no right way being open to her_. I think one of the most +distressing things we have to meet in caste work in this country is the +fact that often as soon as a soul begins to show interest in Christ _he +or she disappears_, and one either hears next that he is dead, or can +get no reliable information at all. + + +_Extract from_ a letter to Miss CARMICHAEL on _Things as They Are_. (The +writer is a veteran American missionary.) + +_I could duplicate nearly every incident in the book_; so I know it is a +true picture, not alone because I believe your word, but because my +experience has been so similar to yours. Many times, while reading it, +the memory of the old heart-break has been so vivid that I have had to +lay the book down and look round the familiar room in order to convince +myself that it was you, and not I, who was agonising over one of the +King's own children who was being crowded back into darkness and hurled +down to destruction, because Satan's wrath is great as he realises that +his time is short. + +I wish the book might be read by all the Christians in the homeland. + + +_From_ PANDITA RAMABAI. + +While I was reading _Things as They Are_, I fancied I was living my old +life among Hindus over again. I can honestly corroborate everything said +in regard to the religious and social life of the Hindus. I came from +that part of the country, and I am very glad that the book has succeeded +in bringing the truth to light. + + +_From_ Miss L. TROTTER. + +There is hardly a phase of all the heart-suffering retold that we have +not known: page after page might have been written out here, word for +word. + + + + +Preface + + +THE writer of these thrilling chapters is a Keswick missionary, well +known to many friends as the adopted daughter of Mr. Robert Wilson, the +much-respected chairman of the Keswick Convention. She worked for a time +with the Rev. Barclay Buxton in Japan; and for the last few years she +has been with the Rev. T. Walker (also a C.M.S. Missionary) in +Tinnevelly, and is on the staff of the Church of England Zenana Society. + +I do not think the realities of Hindu life have ever been portrayed with +greater vividness than in this book; and I know that the authoress's +accuracy can be fully relied upon. The picture is drawn without +prejudice, with all sympathy, with full recognition of what is good, and +yet with an unswerving determination to tell the truth and let the facts +be known,--that is, so far as she dares to tell them. What she says is +the truth, and nothing but the truth; but it is not the whole +truth--_that_ she could not tell. If she wrote it, it could not be +printed. If it were printed, it could not be read. But if we read +between the lines, we do just catch glimpses of what she calls "the +Actual." + +It is evident that the authoress deeply felt the responsibility of +writing such a book; and I too feel the responsibility of recommending +it. I do so with the prayer of my heart that God will use it to move +many. It is not a book to be read with a lazy kind of sentimental +"interest." It is a book to send the reader to his knees--still more to +_her_ knees. + +Most of the chapters are concerned with the lives of Heathen men and +women and children surrounded by the tremendous bars and gates of the +Caste system. But one chapter, and not the least important one, tells of +native Christians. It has long been one of my own objects to correct the +curious general impression among people at home that native Christians, +as a body, are--not indeed perfect,--no one thinks that, but--earnest +and consistent followers of Christ. Narratives, true narratives, of true +converts are read, and these are supposed to be specimens of the whole +body. But (1) where there have been "mass movements" towards +Christianity, where whole villages have put themselves under Christian +instruction, mixed motives are certain; (2) where there have been two or +three generations of Christians it is unreasonable to expect the +descendants of men who may have been themselves most true converts to be +necessarily like them. Hereditary Christianity in India is much like +hereditary Christianity at home. The Church in Tinnevelly, of which this +book incidentally tells a little, is marked by both these features. +Whole families or even villages have "come over" at times; and the large +majority of the Christians were (so to speak) born Christians, and were +baptized in infancy. This is not in itself a result to be despised. +"Christian England," unchristian as a great part of its population +really is, is better than Heathen India; and in the chapter now referred +to, Miss Carmichael herself notices the difference between a Hindu and a +Christian village. But the more widely Christianity spreads, the more +will there assuredly be of mere nominal profession. + +Is the incorrect impression I allude to caused by missionaries dwelling +mostly on the brighter side of their work? Here and there in the book +there is just a suggestion that they are wrong in doing so. But how can +they help it? What does a clergyman or an evangelist in England tell of? +Does he tell of his many daily disappointments, or of his occasional +encouraging cases? The latter are the events of his life, and he +naturally tells of them. The former he comprises in some general +statement. How can he do otherwise? And what can the modern missionary +do in the short reports he is able to write? Fifty years ago missionary +journals of immense length came home, and were duly published; and then +the details of Hindu idolatry and cruelty and impurity, and the +tremendous obstacles to the Gospel, were better known by the few regular +readers. Much that Miss Carmichael tells was then told over and over +again, though not perhaps with a skilful pen like hers. But the work has +so greatly developed in each mission, and the missions are so far more +numerous and extended, that neither can missionaries now write as their +predecessors did, nor, if they did, could all the missionary periodicals +together find space for their journals. + +The fault of incorrect impressions lies mainly in the want of knowledge +and want of thought of home speakers and preachers. I remember, thirty +years ago, an eloquent Bishop in Exeter Hall triumphantly flinging in +the face of critics of missions the question, "Is Tinnevelly a +fiction?"--as if Tinnevelly had become a Christian country, which +apparently some people still suppose it to be, notwithstanding the +warning words to the contrary which the C.M.S. publications have again +and again uttered. Even now, there are in Tinnevelly about twenty +heathen to every one Christian; and of what sort the twenty are this +book tells. Tinnevelly is indeed "no fiction," but in a very different +sense from that of the good Bishop's speech. Again, a few months ago, I +heard a preacher, not very favourable to the C.M.S., say that the +C.M.S., despite its shortcomings, deserved well of the Church because it +had "converted a nation" in Uganda!--as if the nation comprised only +30,000 souls. Some day the "Actual" of Uganda will be better understood, +and the inevitable shortcomings of even its Christian population +realised, and then we shall be told that we deceived the +public--although we have warned them over and over again. + +But the larger part of this book is a revelation--so far as is +possible--of the "Actual" of Hinduism and Caste. God grant that its +terrible facts and its burning words may sink into the hearts of its +readers! Perhaps, when they have read it, they will at last agree that +we have used no sensational and exaggerated language when we have said +that the Church is only playing at missions! Service, and self-denial, +and prayer, must be on a different scale indeed if we are ever--I do not +say to convert the world--but even to evangelise it. + + EUGENE STOCK. + + + + +Contents + + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. ABOUT THE BOOK 1 + II. THREE AFTERNOONS OFF THE TRACK 5 + III. HUMDRUM 18 + IV. CORRESPONDENCES 26 + V. THE PREY OF THE TERRIBLE 33 + VI. MISSED ENDS 41 + VII. "THE DUST OF THE ACTUAL" 57 + VIII. ROOTS 71 + IX. THE CLASSES AND THE MASSES 83 + X. THE CREED CHASM 91 + XI. CASTE VIEWED AS A DOER 96 + XII. PETRA 105 + XIII. DEATH BY DISUSE 111 + XIV. WHAT HAPPENED 118 + XV. "SIMPLY MURDERED" 124 + XVI. WANTED, VOLUNTEERS 132 + XVII. IF IT IS SO VERY IMPORTANT. . . ? 141 + XVIII. THE CALL INTENSIFIED 145 + XIX. "ATTRACTED BY THE INFLUENCE" 160 + XX. THE ELF 171 + XXI. DEIFIED DEVILRY 188 + XXII. BEHIND THE DOOR 194 + XXIII. "PAN, PAN IS DEAD" 203 + XXIV. "MARRIED TO THE GOD" 217 + XXV. SKIRTING THE ABYSS 223 + XXVI. FROM A HINDU POINT OF VIEW 236 + XXVII. THOUGH YE KNOW HIM NOT 249 + XXVIII. HOW LONG? 256 + XXIX. WHAT DO WE COUNT THEM WORTH? 262 + XXX. TWO SAFE 273 + XXXI. THREE OBJECTIONS 277 + XXXII. "SHOW ME THY GLORY!" 289 + APPENDIX. SOME INDIAN SAINTS 303 + + + + + Illustrations + + + AN OLD BRAHMAN _Frontispiece_ + BANDY CROSSING A POOL _Facing page 5_ + A YOUNG TAMIL GIRL 11 + A POTTER AT HIS WHEEL 24 + A DEVOTEE OF SIVA 26 + THE RED LAKE VILLAGE 28 + DEATH SCENE 51 + WAILING 53 + THREE CEREMONIAL MOURNERS 54 + CEREMONIAL BATHING 56 + AN ANCIENT PARIAH 58 + VELLALA WIDOW 66 + TYPICAL OLD WIDOW 73 + HINDU SCHOOLMASTER AND BOYS 87 + SHANAR MOTHER AND CHILD 91 + COOKING IN A SHANAR HOUSE 98 + FAIRLY TYPICAL VELLALAR 105 + CHRISTIAN WIDOW 112 + BRAHMAN GIRL 118 + THREE TYPES OF BRAHMANHOOD-- + KEEN 132 + THOUGHTFUL 134 + DULL 138 + AN OLD WOMAN AND BABY 143 + BRAHMAN WIDOW 145 + BRAHMAN STREET 147 + SHEPHERD-CASTE HOUSE 151 + VELLALA CHILD 161 + "UGLY DUCKLING" 178 + DESIGNS IN CHALK 194 + HANDMARKS ON THE DOOR 202 + A "HOLY BRAHMAN" 221 + WOMAN AND WATER-VESSEL 262 + + + + + Glossary + + + AGNI God of Fire. + + AIYO Alas! "Ai" runs together almost like "eye." The word is + repeated rapidly, Eye-eye Y[=o] Eye-eye Y[=o]! + + AMM[=A] Mother! (vocative case). "A" is pronounced like "u" in + "up." The word is also used by all women in speaking + to each other, and by girls in speaking to women. + + AMM[=A]L Lady or woman. "A" is pronounced like "u" in "up." + + ANNA One penny. + + ARECA NUT Nut "eaten" by the Indians with betel leaf or lime. + + + BETEL Leaf of a creeper. + + BANDY A bullock cart. + + BRAHMA The first person in the Hindu Triad, regarded as the + Creator. + + BRAHMAN The highest of the Hindu Castes. + + BRAMO SAMAJ A sect of Hindu reformers who honour Christ as a man, + but reject Him as a Saviour. + + + CHEE! Exclamation of derision, disgust, or remonstrance. + + COMPOUND A piece of ground surrounding a house. + + COOLIE A paid labourer. "Coolie" is the Tamil word for pay. + + CURRY A preparation of meat or vegetables made by grinding + various condiments and mixing them together. + + + FAKEER Religious beggar. + + + GURU A religious teacher. + + + IYER Title given to Brahmans and Gurus. + + + PADDY Rice in the husk. Paddy fields = rice fields. + + PARIAH A depressed class. + + P[=U]JAH Worship. "[=u]" is pronounced like "oo." + + + RUPEE Value 1s. 4d. + + + SAIVITE A worshipper of Siva. + + SALAAM A salutation meaning "peace," used in greeting and + farewell, and often in the sense of "thank you." + The right hand is raised to the forehead as one says + salaam. + + SEELEY Tamil woman's dress of silk, muslin, or cotton. + + SHANAR A Caste of Palmyra-palm climbers. + + SIVA The third person in the Hindu Triad. The Destroyer. + + + TOM-TOM An Indian drum. + + + VAISHNAVITE A worshipper of Vishnu. + + VELLALAR A Caste of landowners and cultivators. + + VISHNU The second person in the Hindu Triad. The Preserver. + + + + +THINGS AS THEY ARE + +MISSION WORK IN SOUTHERN INDIA + + + + +CHAPTER I + +About the Book + + + "We can do nothing against the Truth, but for the + Truth." + _St. Paul, Asia and Europe._ + + "There is too little desire to know what is the + actual state of mission work in India, and a + regard to the showy and attractive rather than to + the solid and practical. I will try, however, to + avoid being carried away by the tide, and to set + myself the task of giving as plain and unvarnished + a statement as possible of what is actually being + done or not done in the great field of our foreign + labour." + _Bishop French, India and Arabia._ + + +THREE friends sat Native fashion on the floor of an Indian verandah. Two +of the three had come out to India for a few months to see the fight as +it is. And they saw it. They now proposed that the third should gather +some letters written from the hot heart of things, and make them into a +book, to the intent that others should see exactly what they had seen. +The third was not sure. The world has many books. Does it want another, +and especially another of the kind this one would be? Brain and time +are needed for all that writing a book means. The third has not much of +either. But the two undertook to do all the most burdensome part of the +business. "Give us the letters, we will make the book," and they urged +reasons which ended in--this. + +This, the book, has tried to tell the Truth. That is all it has to say +about itself. The quotations which head the chapters, and which are +meant to be read, not skipped, are more worthful than anything else in +it. They are chosen from the writings of missionaries, who saw the Truth +and who told it. + +The story covers about two years. We had come from the eastern side of +this South Indian district, to work for awhile in the south of the +South, the farthest southern outpost of the C.M.S. in India. Chapter II. +plunges into the middle of the beginning. The Band Sisters are the +members of a small Women's Itinerating Band; the girls mentioned by +translated names are the young convert-girls who are with us; the Iyer +is Rev. T. Walker; the Ammal is Mrs. Walker; the Missie Ammal explains +itself. + +The Picture-catching Missie Ammal is the friend who proposed the book's +making. This is her Tamil name, given because it describes her as she +struck the Tamil mind. The pictures she caught were not easy to catch. +Reserved and conservative India considered the camera intrusive, and we +were often foiled in getting what we most desired. Even where we were +allowed to catch our object peaceably, it was a case of working under +difficulties which would have daunted a less ardent picture-catcher. +Wherever the camera was set up, there swarms of children sprang into +being, burrowed in and out like rabbits, and scuttled about over +everything, to the confusion of the poor artist, who had to fix focus +and look after the safety of her camera legs at the same time, while the +second Missie Ammal held an umbrella over her head, and the third +exhorted the picture, which speedily got restive, to sit still. So much +for the mere mechanical. + +Finally, I should explain the book's character. "Tell about things as +they actually are"; so said the Two with emphasis. I tried, but the +Actual eluded me. It was as if one painted smoke, and then, pointing to +the feeble blur, said, "Look at the battle! 'the smoking hell of +battle!' There is the smoke!" The Poet's thought was not this, I know, +when she coined that suggestive phrase, "The Dust of the Actual," but it +has been the predominating thought in my mind, for it holds that which +defines the scope and expresses the purpose of the book, and I use it as +the title of one of the chapters. It does not show the Actual. +Principalities, Powers, Rulers of the Darkness, Potentialities unknown +and unimagined, gathered up into one stupendous Force--we have never +seen it. How can we describe it? What we have seen and tried to describe +is only an indication of Something undescribed, and is as nothing in +comparison with it--as Dust in comparison with the Actual. The book's +scope, then, is bounded by this: it only touches the Dust; but its +purpose goes deeper, stretches wider, has to do with the Actual and our +relation to it. + +But in touching the Dust we touch the outworkings of an Energy so awful +in operation that descriptive chapters are awful too. And such chapters +are best read alone in some quiet place with God. For the book is a +battle-book, written from a battle-field where the fighting is not +pretty play but stern reality; and almost every page looks straight from +the place where Charles Kingsley stood when he wrote-- + + "God! fight we not within a cursed world, + Whose very air teems thick with leagued fiends-- + Each word we speak has infinite effects-- + Each soul we pass must go to heaven or hell-- + And this our one chance through eternity + To drop and die, like dead leaves in the brake! + + . . . . . . . + + Be earnest, earnest, earnest; mad if thou wilt: + Do what thou dost as if the stake were heaven, + And that thy last deed ere the judgment day." + +[Illustration: This is our bullock-bandy. The water was up to the top of +the bank when we crossed last. The palms are cocoanuts.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Three Afternoons off the Track + + "They are led captive by Satan at his will in the + most quiescent manner." + _David Brainerd, North America._ + + "Oh that the Lord would pour out upon them a + spirit of deep concern for their souls!" + _Henry Martyn, India._ + + "I ask you earnestly to pray that the Gospel may + take saving and working effect." + _James Gilmour, Mongolia._ + + +THE Western Ghauts sweep down to the sea in curves. Dohnavur is in one +of the last of these curves. There are no proper roads running under the +mountains, only rough country ruts crossing the plain. We were rolling +along one of these at the rate of two miles an hour. + +Crash and tumble went the bandy, a springless construction with a mat +roof; bang over stones and slabs of rock, down on one side, up on the +other; then both wheels were sharp aslant. But this is usual. On that +particular First Afternoon the water was out, which is the South Indian +way of saying that the tanks, great lake-like reservoirs, have +overflowed and flooded the land. Once we went smoothly down a bank and +into a shallow swollen pool, and the water swished in at the lower end +and floated our books out quietly. So we had to stop, and fish them up; +and then, huddled close at the upper end we sat, somewhat damp, but +happy. + +At last we got to our destination, reached through a lane which then was +a stream with quite a swift little current of its own. Cupid's Lake the +place is called. We thought the name appropriate. Cupid's Lake is +peopled by Castes of various persuasions; we made for the Robber quarter +first. The Robber Caste is honourable here; it furnishes our watchmen +and the coolies who carry our money. There is good stuff in the Robber +Caste people: a valiant people are they, and though they were not +prepared for the thing that was coming towards them, they met it with +fortitude. A little girl saw it first. One glance at my hat through the +end of the cart, and she flew to spread the news-- + +"Oh! everyone come running and see! A great white man is here! Oh what +an appalling spectacle! A great white man!" + +Then there was a general rush; children seemed to spring from the +ground, all eyes and tongues and astonishment. "She isn't a man!" "He +is!" "She isn't!" "He has got a man's turban!" "But look at her seeley!" +(Tamil dress.) A _woman_, and white--it staggered them till the +assurances of the Band Sisters prevailed; and they let me into a +neighbouring house, out of the sun which made that hat a necessity. Once +it was off they lost all fear, and crowded round in the friendliest +fashion; but later, one of the Band was amused by hearing me described +in full: "Not a man, though great and white, and wearing a white man's +turban, too! Was it not an appalling spectacle?" And the old body who +was addressed held up both her hands amazed, and hastened off to +investigate. + +An English magazine told us lately exactly what these poor women think +when they see, for the first time in their lives, the lady missionary. +They greatly admire her, the article said, and consider her fairer and +more divine than anything ever imagined before--which is very nice +indeed to read; but here what they say is this: "Was it not an appalling +spectacle? A great white man!" + +And now that the spectacle was safe in the house, the instincts of +hospitality urged clean mats and betel. Betel (pronounced _beetle_) is +the leaf of a climbing plant, into which they roll a morsel of areca nut +and lime. The whole is made up into a parcel and munched, but not +swallowed. This does not sound elegant; neither is the thing. It is one +of the minor trials of life to have to sit through the process. + +We took a leaf or two, but explained that it was not our custom to eat +it; and then we answered questions straight off for ten minutes. "What +is your Caste?" "Chee!" in a tone of remonstrance, "don't you see she is +_white_? Married or widow? Why no jewels? What relations? Where are they +all? Why have you left them and come here? Whatever can be your business +here? What does the Government give you for coming here?" These last +questions gave us the chance we were watching for, and we began to +explain. + +Now what do these people do when, for the first time, they hear the Good +Tidings? They simply stare. + +In that house that day there was an old woman who seemed to understand +a little what it was all about. She had probably heard before. But +nobody else understood in the least; they did not understand enough to +make remarks. They sat round us on the floor and ate betel, as everybody +does here in all leisure moments, and they stared. + +The one old woman who seemed to understand followed us out of the house, +and remarked that it was a good religion but a mistaken one, as it +advocated, or resulted in, the destruction of Caste. + +In the next house we found several girls, and tried to persuade the +mothers to let them learn to read. If a girl is learning regularly it +gives one a sort of right of entrance to the house. One's going there is +not so much observed and one gets good chances, but to all our +persuasions they only said it was not their custom to allow their girls +to learn. Had _they_ to do Government work? Learning was for men who +wanted to do Government work. We explained a little, and mentioned the +many villages where girls are learning to read. They thought it a wholly +ridiculous idea. Then we told them as much as we could in an hour about +the great love of Jesus Christ. + +I was in the middle of it, and thinking only of it and their souls, when +an old lady with fluffy white hair leaned forward and gazed at me with a +beautiful, earnest gaze. She did not speak; she just listened and gazed, +"drinking it all in." And then she raised a skeleton claw, and grabbed +her hair, and pointed to mine. "Are you a widow too," she asked, "that +you have no oil on yours?" After a few such experiences that beautiful +gaze loses its charm. It really means nothing more nor less than the +sweet expression sometimes observed in the eyes of a sorrowful animal. + +But her question had set the ball rolling again. "Oil! no oil! Can't you +even afford a halfpenny a month to buy good oil? It isn't your custom? +Why not? Don't any white Ammals ever use oil? What sort of oil do the +girls use? Do you _never_ use castor oil for the hair? Oh, castor oil is +excellent!" And they went into many details. The first thing they do +when a baby is born is to swing it head downwards, holding its feet, and +advise it not to sin; and the second thing is to feed it with castor +oil, and put castor oil in its eyes. "Do we do none of these things?" We +sang to them. They always like that, and sometimes it touches them: but +the Tamils are not easily touched, and could never be described as +unduly emotional. + +All through there were constant and various interruptions. Two bulls +sauntered in through the open door, and established themselves in their +accustomed places; then a cow followed, and somebody went off to tie the +animals up. Children came in and wanted attention, babies made their +usual noises. We rarely had five consecutive quiet minutes. + +When they seemed to be getting tired of us, we said the time was +passing, to which they agreed, and, with a word about hoping to come +again, to which they answered cordially, "Oh yes! Come to-morrow!" we +went out into the street, and finished up in the open air. There is a +tree at one end of the village; we stood under it and sang a chorus and +taught the children who had followed us from house to house to sing it, +and this attracted some passing grown-ups, who listened while we +witnessed unto Jesus, Who had saved us and given us His joy. Nothing +tells more than just this simple witness. To hear one of their own +people saying, with evident sincerity, "One thing I know, that whereas I +was blind now I see," makes them look at each other and nod their heads +sympathetically. This is something that appeals, something they can +appreciate; many a time it arrests attention when nothing else would. + +[Illustration: We were not able to get the photo of that special girl +in the blue seeley, but this girl is so like her that I put her here. +She is a Vellalar. The jewels worn by a girl of this class run into +thousands of rupees. They are part of the ordinary dress. This girl did +not know we were coming, she was "caught" just as she was. She had a +ball of pink oleander flowers in her hands and white flowers in her +hair.] + +We were thoroughly tired by this time, and could neither talk nor sing +any more. The crowd melted--all but the children, who never melt--one by +one going their respective ways, having heard, some of them, for the +first time. What difference will it make in their lives? Did they +understand it? None of them seemed specially interested, none of them +said anything interesting. The last question I heard was about +soap--"What sort of soap do you use to make your skin white?" Most of +them would far prefer to be told that secret than how to get a white +heart. + +Afternoon Number Two found us in the Village of the Temple, a +tumble-down little place, but a very citadel of pride and the arrogance +of ignorance. We did not know that at first, of course, but we very soon +found it out. There was the usual skirmish at the sight of a live white +woman; no one there had seen such a curiosity. But even curiosity could +not draw the Brahmans. They live in a single straggling street, and +would not let us in. "Go!" said a fat old Brahman disdainfully; "no +white man has ever trodden our street, and no white woman shall. As for +that low-caste child with you"--Victory looked up in her gentle way, and +he varied it to--"that child who eats with those low-caste people--she +shall not speak to one of our women. Go by the way you have come!" + +This was not encouraging. We salaamed and departed, and went to our +bandy left outside ("low-caste bandies" are not allowed to drive down +Brahman streets), and asked our Master to open another door. While we +were waiting, a tall, fine-looking Hindu came and said, "Will you come +to my house? I will show you the way." So we went. + +He led us to the Vellala quarter next to the Brahmans, and we found his +house was the great house of the place. The outer door opened into a +large square inner courtyard. A wide verandah, supported by pillars +quaintly carved, ran round it. The women's rooms, low and windowless, +opened on either side; these are the rooms we rejoice to get into, and +now we were led right in. + +But first I had to talk to the men. They were regular Caste Hindus; +courteous--for they have had no cause to fear the power of the +Gospel--yet keen and argumentative. One of them had evidently read a +good deal. He quoted from their classics; knew all about Mrs. Besant and +the latest pervert to her views; and was up in the bewildering tangle of +thought known as Hindu Philosophy. "Fog-wreaths of doubt, in blinding +eddies drifted"--that is what it really is, but it is very difficult to +prove it so. + +One truth struck him especially--Christianity is the only religion which +provides a way by which there is deliverance from sin _now_. There is a +certain system of philosophy which professes to provide deliverance in +the future, when the soul, having passed through the first three stages +of bliss, loses its identity and becomes absorbed in God; but there is +no way by which deliverance can be obtained here and now. "Sin shall not +have dominion over you"--there is no such line as this in all the +million stanzas of the Hindu classics. He admitted this freely, admitted +that this one tenet marked out Christianity as a unique religion; but he +did not go on further; he showed no desire to prove the truth of it. + +After this they let us go to the women, who had all this time been +watching us, and discussing us with interest. + +Once safely into their inner room, we sat down on the floor in the midst +of them, and began to make friends. There was a grandmother who had +heard that white people were not white all over, but piebald, so to +speak; might she examine me? There were several matronly women who +wanted to know what arrangements English parents made concerning their +daughters' marriages. There were the usual widows of a large Indian +household--one always looks at them with a special longing; and there +was a dear young girl, in a soft blue seeley (Tamil dress), her ears +clustered about with pearls, and her neck laden with five or six +necklets worth some hundreds of rupees. She was going to be married; and +beyond the usual gentle courtesy of a well-brought-up Tamil girl, +showed no interest in us. Almost all the women had questions to ask. On +the track it is different; they have already satisfied their lawful +curiosity concerning Missie Ammals; but here they have not had the +chance; and if we ignore their desires, we defeat our own. They may seem +to listen, but they are really occupied in wondering about us. We got +them to listen finally, and left them, cheered by warm invitations to +return. + +Then we thought of the poor proud Brahmans, and hoping that, perhaps, in +the interval they had inquired about us, and would let us in, we went to +them again. We could see the fair faces and slender forms of the younger +Brahman women standing in the shadow behind their verandah pillars, and +some of them looked as if they would like to let us in, but the street +had not relented; and a Brahman street is like a house--you cannot go in +unless you are allowed. + +There was one kind-faced, courtly old man, and he seemed to sympathise +with us, for he left the mocking group of men, and came to see us off; +and then, as if to divert us from the greater topic, he pointed to one +of the mountains, a spur of the God King's mountain, famous in all South +India, and volunteered to tell me its story. We were glad to make +friends with him even over so small a thing as a mountain; but he would +speak of nothing else, and when he left us we felt baffled and sorry, +and tired with the tiredness that comes when you cannot give your +message; and we sat down on a rock outside the Brahman street, to wait +till the Band Sisters gathered for the homeward walk. + +It was sunset time, and the sky was overcast by dull grey clouds; but +just over the Brahman quarter there was a rift in the grey, and the +pent-up gold shone through. It seemed as if God were pouring out His +beauty upon those Brahmans, trying to make them look up, and they would +not. One by one we saw them go to their different courtyards, where the +golden glow could not reach them, and we heard them shut their great +heavy doors, as if they were shutting Him out. + +In there it was dark; out here, out with God, it was light. The +after-glow, that loveliest glow of the East, was shining through the +rent of the clouds, and the red-tiled roofs and the scarlet flowers of +the Flame of the Forest, and every tint and colour which would respond +in any way, were aglow with the beauty of it. The Brahman quarter was +set in the deep green of shadowy trees; just behind it the mountains +rose outlined in mist, and out of the mist a waterfall gleamed white +against blue. + +We spent Afternoon Number Three in the Village of the Warrior, a lonely +little place, left all by itself on a great rough moorland--if you can +call a patch of bare land "moor" which is destitute of heather, and +grows palms and scrub in clumps instead. It took us rather a long time +to get to it, over very broken ground on a very hot day; but when we did +get there we found such a good opening that we forgot about our +feelings, and entered in rejoicing. There were some little children +playing at the entrance to the village, and they led us straight to +their own house, making friends in the most charming way as they +trotted along beside us. They told us their family history, and we told +them as much of ours as was necessary, and they introduced us to their +mothers as old acquaintances. The mothers were indulgent, and let us +have a room all to ourselves in the inner courtyard, where a dozen or +more children gathered and listened with refreshing zest. _They_ +understood, dear little things, though so often their elders did not. + +Then the mothers got interested, and sat about the door. The girls were +with me. (We usually divide into two parties; the elder and more +experienced Sisters go off in one direction, and the young convert-girls +come with me.) And before long, Jewel of Victory was telling out of a +full heart all about the great things God had done for her. She has a +very sweet way with the women, and they listened fascinated. Then the +others spoke, and still those women listened. They were more intelligent +than our audience of yesterday; and though they did not follow nearly +all, they listened splendidly to the story-part of our message. In the +meaning, as is often the case, their interest was simply nil. + +But we were sorry, and I think so were they, when a commotion outside +disturbed us, and we were sorrier when we knew the cause. The village +postman, who only visits these out-of-the-way places once a week, had +appeared with a letter for the head of the house. One of the men folk +had read it. It told of the death of the son in foreign parts--Madras, I +think--and the poor old mother's one desire was to see us out of the +room. She had not liked to turn us out; but, as the news spread, more +women gathered clamouring round the door; and the moment we left the +room empty, in they rushed, with the mother and the women who had +listened to us, and flinging themselves on the floor, cried the Tamil +cry of sorrow, full of a pathos of its own: "Ai-y[=o]! Ai-y[=o]! +Ai-Ai-y[=o]!" + +It was sad to leave them crying so, but at that moment we were certainly +better away. The children came with us to the well outside the village, +and we sat on its wall and went on with our talk. They would hardly let +us go, and begged us to come back and "teach them every day," not the +Gospel--do not imagine their little hearts craved for that--but reading +and writing and sums! As we drove off some of the villagers smiled and +salaamed, and the little children's last words followed us as far as we +could hear them: "Come back soon!" + +Sometimes, as now, when we come to a new place, we dream a dream, dream +that perhaps at last it may be possible to win souls peacefully. Perhaps +these courteous, kindly people will welcome the message we bring them +when they understand it better. Perhaps homes need not be broken up, +perhaps whole families will believe, or individual members believing may +still live in their own homes and witness there. Perhaps--perhaps--! And +snatches of verse float through our dream-- + + "Oh, might some sweet song Thy lips have taught us, + Some glad song, and sweet, + Guide amidst the mist, and through the darkness, + Lost ones to Thy feet!" + +It sounds so beautiful, so easy, singing souls to Jesus. And we dream +our dream. + +Till suddenly and with violence we are awakened. Someone--a mere girl, +or a lad, or even a little child--has believed, has confessed, wants to +be a Christian. And the whole Caste is roused, and the whole countryside +joins with the Caste; and the people we almost thought loved us, hate +us. And till we go to the next new place we never dream that dream +again. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Humdrum + + "A missionary's life is more ordinary than is + supposed. Plod rather than cleverness is often the + best missionary equipment." + _Rev. J. Heywood Horsburgh, China._ + + "Truly to understand the facts of work for Christ + in any land, we must strip it of all romance, and + of everything which is unreal." + _Miss S. S. Hewlett, India._ + + +THERE have been times of late when I have had to hold on to one text +with all my might: "It is required in stewards that a man be found +_faithful_." Praise God, it does not say "successful." + +One evening things came to a climax. We all spent a whole afternoon +without getting one good listener. We separated as usual, going two and +two to the different quarters of a big sleepy straggly village. Life and +I went to the potters. Life spoke most earnestly and well to an +uninterested group of women. After she had finished one of them pointed +to my hat (the only foreign thing about me which was visible--oh that I +could dispense with it!). "What is that?" she said. Not one bit did they +care to hear. One by one they went back to their work, and we were left +alone. + +We went to another quarter. It was just the same. At a rest-house by the +way I noticed a Brahman, and went to see if he would listen. He would if +I would talk "about politics or education, but not if it was about +religion." However, I did get a chance of pleading with him to consider +the question of his soul's salvation, and he took a book and said he +would read it at his leisure. And then he asked me how many persons I +had succeeded in joining to my Way since I began to try. It was exactly +the question, only asked in another form, which the devil had been +pressing on me all the afternoon. After this he told me politely that we +were knocking our heads against a rock; we might smash our heads, but we +never would affect the rock. + +"Rock! Rock! when wilt thou open?" It is an old cry; I cried it afresh. +But the Brahman only smiled, and then with a gesture expressing at once +his sense of his own condescension in speaking with me, and his utter +contempt for the faith I held, motioned to me to go. + +Outside in the road a number of Hindus were standing; some of them were +his retainers and friends. I heard them say, as I passed through their +midst, "Who will fall into the pit of the Christian Way!" And they +laughed, and the Brahman laughed. "As the filth of the world, the +offscouring of all things, unto this day." + +We walked along the road bordered with beautiful banyan trees. We sat +down under their shade, and waited for what would come. Some little +children followed us, but before we could get a single idea clearly into +their heads a man came and chased them away. "It is getting dark," he +said. "They are only little green things; they must not be out late." It +was broad daylight then, and would be for another hour. Some coolies +passing that way stopped to look at us; but before they had time to get +interested they too remarked that darkness was coming, and they must be +off, and off they went. + +We were left alone after that. Within five minutes' walk were at least +five hundred souls, redeemed, but they don't know it; redeemed, _but +they don't want to know it_. Sometimes they seem to want to know, but +however tenderly you tell it, the keen Hindu mind soon perceives the +drift of it all--Redemption must mean loss of Caste. One day last week I +was visiting in the Village of the Red Lake. Standing in one of its +courtyards you see the Western Ghauts rising straight up behind. The Red +Lake lies at the mountain foot; we call it Derwentwater, but there are +palms and bamboos, and there is no Friar's Crag. + +That afternoon I was bound for a house in the centre of the village, +when an old lady called me to come to her house, and I followed her +gladly. There were six or eight women all more or less willing to +listen; among them were two who were very old. Old people in India are +usually too attached to their own faith, or too utterly stupid and dull, +to care to hear about another; but this old lady had been stirred to +something almost like active thought by the recent death of a relative, +and she felt that she needed something more than she had to make her +ready for death. She was apparently devout. Ashes were marked on her +brow and arms, and she wore a very large rosary. It is worn to +accumulate merit. I did not refer to it as I talked, but in some dim way +she seemed to feel it did not fit with what I was saying, for, with +trembling hands, she took it off and threw it to a child. I hoped this +meant something definite, and tried to lead her to Jesus. But as soon as +she understood Who He was, she drew back. "I cannot be a disciple of +your Guru, here," she said; "would my relations bear such defilement?" +Being a Christian really meant sooner or later leaving her home and all +her people for ever. Can you wonder an old lady of perhaps seventy-five +stopped at that? + +The little children in the Village of the Warrior are not allowed to +learn. The men of the place have consulted and come to the decision. The +chill of it has struck the little ones, and they do not care to run the +chance of the scolding they would receive if they showed too much +interest in us. The mothers are as friendly as ever, but indifferent. +"We hear this is a religion which spoils our Caste," they say, and that +is the end of it. In the great house of the Temple Village they listened +well for some weeks. Then, as it gradually opened to them that there is +no Caste whatever in Christianity, their interest died. + +How much one would like to tell a different story! But a made-up story +is one thing and a story of facts is another. So far we have only found +two genuine earnest souls here. But if those two go on--! Praise God for +the joy on before! + +We went again to the potters' village and sat on the narrow verandah and +talked to a girl as she patted the pots into shape underneath where the +wheel had left an open place. She listened for awhile; then she said, +"If I come to your Way will you give me a new seeley and good curry +every day?" And back again we went to the very beginning of things, +while the old grandfather spinning his wheel chuckled at us for our +folly in wasting our time over potters. "As if _we_ would ever turn to +your religion!" he said. "Have you ever heard of a potter who changed +his Caste?" + +Caste and religion! They are so mixed up that we do not know how to +unmix them. His Caste to the potter meant his trade, the trade of his +clan for generations; it meant all the observances bound up with it; it +meant, in short, his life. It would never strike him that he could be a +Christian and a potter at the same time, and very probably he could not; +the feeling of the Caste would be against it. Then what else could he +be? He does not argue all this out; he does not care enough about the +matter to take the trouble to think at all. He has only one concern in +life--he lives to make pots and sell them, and make more and sell them, +and so eat and sleep in peace. + +But the girl had the look of more possibility; she asked questions and +seemed interested, and finally suggested we should wait till she had +finished her batch of pots, and then she would "tell us all her mind." +So we waited and watched the deft brown hands as they worked round the +gaping hole till it grew together and closed; and at last she had +finished. Then she drew us away from the group of curious children, and +told us if we would come in three days she would be prepared to join our +Way and come with us, for she had to work very hard at home, and her +food was poor and her seeley old, and she thought it would be worth +risking the wrath of her people to get all she knew we should give her +if she came; and this was all her mind. + +She had touched a great perplexity. How are we to live in India without +raising desires of this sort? It is true the Brahmans look down upon us, +and the higher Castes certainly do not look up, but to the greater +number of the people we seem rich and grand and desirable to cultivate. +The Ulterior-Object-Society is a fact in South India. We may banish +expensive-looking things from our tables, and all pictures and ornaments +from our walls, and confine ourselves to texts. This certainly helps; +there is less to distract the attention of the people when they come to +see us, and we have so many the fewer things to take care of--a very +great advantage--but it does not go far towards disillusioning them as +to what they imagine is our true position. We are still up above to +them; not on a level, not one of themselves. + +The houses we live in are airy and large, and they do not understand the +need of protection from the sun. The food we eat is abundant and good, +and to them it looks luxurious, for they live on rice and vegetable +curry, at a cost of twopence a day. Our walls may be bare, but they are +clean, and the texts aforesaid are not torn at the corners; so, whatever +we say, we are rich. + +Identification with the people whom we have come to win is the aim of +many a missionary, but the difficulty always is the same--climate and +customs are dead against it; how can we do it? George Bowen struck at +English life and became a true Indian, so far as he could, but even he +could not go all the way. No matter how far you may go, there is always +a distance you cannot cover--yards or inches it may be, but always that +fatal hiatus. We seem so undeniably up, far up above them in everything, +and we want to get to the lowest step down, low enough down to lift lost +souls up. + +[Illustration: "I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he +wrought a work on the wheels." The vessel the potters are making here is +worth about a halfpenny, but it is perfect of its kind. The moulder +never lifts his hand from it from the moment he puts a lump of shapeless +clay on the wheel till the moment he takes it off finished, so far as +the wheel can finish it. If it is "marred," it is "marred _in the hand_ +of the potter," and instantly he makes it again another vessel as it +seems good to him. He never wastes the clay.] + +On and on, if they will let us, time after time, by text and hymn and +story, we have to explain what things really mean before they are able +to understand even a fraction of the truth. The fact that this girl had +thought enough to get her ideas into shape was encouraging, and with +such slender cause for hope we still hoped. But when after some weeks' +visiting she began to see that the question was not one of curries and +seeleys but of inward invisible gifts, her interest died, and she was +"out" when we went, or too busy patting her pots to have time to listen +to us. + +Humdrum we have called the work, and humdrum it is. There is nothing +romantic about potters except in poetry, nor is there much of romance +about missions except on platforms and in books. Yet "though it's dull +at whiles," there is joy in the doing of it, there is joy in just +obeying. He said "Go, tell," and we have come and are telling, and we +meet Him as we "go and tell." + +But, dear friends, do not, we entreat you, expect to hear of us doing +great things, as an everyday matter of course. Our aim is great--it is +_India for Christ_! and before the gods in possession here, we sing +songs unto Him. But what we say to you is this: Do not expect every true +story to dovetail into some other true story and end with some +marvellous coincidence or miraculous conversion. Most days in real life +end exactly as they began, so far as visible results are concerned. +We do not find, as a rule, when we go to the houses--the literal little +mud houses, I mean, of literal heathendom--that anyone inside has been +praying we might come. I read a missionary story "founded on fact" the +other day, and the things that happened in that story on these lines +were most remarkable. They do not happen here. Practical missionary life +is an unexciting thing. It is not sparkling all over with incident. It +is very prosaic at times. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Correspondences + + "It is very pleasant when you are in England, and + you see souls being saved, and you see the + conviction of sin, and you see the power of the + Gospel to bring new life and new joy and purity to + hearts. But it is still more glorious amongst the + heathen to see the same things, to see the Lord + there working His own work of salvation, and to + see the souls convicted and the hearts broken, and + to see there the new life and the new joy coming + out in the faces of those who have found the Lord + Jesus." + _Rev. Barclay F. Buxton, Japan._ + + +BEFORE putting this chapter together, I have looked long at the +photograph which fronts it. The longer one looks the more pitiful it +seems. Perhaps one reads into it all that one knows of her, all one has +done for her, how one has failed--and this makes it sadder than it may +be to other eyes. And yet can it fail to be sad? Hood's lines reversed +describe her-- + + "All that is left of her + Now is not womanly." + +The day we took her photo she was returning from her morning worship at +the shrine. She had poured her libation over the idol, walked round and +round it, prostrated herself before it, gone through the prayers she had +learned off by heart, and now was on her way home. + +[Illustration: A Saivite ascetic. Siva represents the severer side of +Hinduism, the Powers of Nature which destroy. But as all disintegrated +things are reintegrated in some other form, the two Powers, Destruction +and Reconstruction, were united in the thought of the old Hindus, and +Siva represents the double Power. The Saivite form of Hinduism is older +than the Vaishnavite, and more widely spread over India. There are said +to be 30,000,000 symbols of the god Siva scattered about the land. +Saivites are instantly recognised by the mark of white ashes on their +foreheads, and sometimes on the breast and arms, and often a necklet of +berries is worn.] + +We had gone to her village to take photographs, and had just got the +street scene in the morning light. The crowd followed us, eager to see +more of the doings of the picture-catching box; and she, fearing the +defiling touch of the mixed Castes represented there, had climbed up on +a granite slab by the side of the road, and stood waiting till we +passed. + +There we saw her, and there we took her,--for, to our surprise, she did +not object,--and now here she is, to show with all the force of truth +how far from ideal the real may be. We looked at her as I look at her +now, stripped of all God meant her to have when He made her, deep in the +mire of the lowest form of idolatry, a devotee of Siva. She had been to +Benares and bathed in the sacred Ganges, and therefore she is holy +beyond the reach of doubt. She has no room for any sense of the need of +Christ. She pities our ignorance when we talk to her. Is she not a +devotee? Has she not been to Benares? + +Often and often we meet her in the high-caste houses of the place, where +she is always an honoured guest because of her wonderful sanctity. She +watches keenly then lest any of the younger members of the household +should incline to listen to us. + +One of her relatives is an English-educated lawyer, a bitter though +covert foe, who not long ago stirred up such opposition that we were +warned not to go near the place. Men had been hired "to fall upon us and +beat us." This because a girl, a connection of his, read her Bible +openly, instead of in secret as she had done before. He connected this +action on her part with a visit we had paid to the house, and so induced +certain of the baser sort to do this thing. We went, however, just the +same, as we had work we had promised to do, and saw the old gentleman +sitting on the verandah reading his English newspaper in the most +pacific fashion. He seemed surprised to see us as we passed with a +salaam; we saw nothing of the beaters, and returned with whole bones, to +the relief of the community at large. Only I remember one of our Band +was woefully disappointed: "I thought, perhaps, we were going to be +martyrs," she said. + +[Illustration: Street in the Red Lake Village. An ordinary typical +village scene, except that just then there were more people than usual +before the picture-catching box. The only way to keep them from crowding +round it was to show them something else: this explains the group on the +stones at the side.] + +And so we realise, as so often in India, the power of both extremes; the +one with all the force of his education, and the other with all the +force of her superstition, each uniting with the other in repelling the +coming of the Saviour both equally need. + +As one looks at the photograph, does it not help in the effort to +realise the utter hopelessness, from every human point of view, of +trying to win such a one, for example, to even care to think of Christ? +There is, over and above the natural apathy common to all, an immense +barrier of accumulated merit gained by pilgrimages, austerities, and +religious observances, and the soul is perfectly satisfied, and has no +desire whatever after God. It is just this self-satisfaction which makes +it so hopeless to try to do anything with it. + +And yet nothing is hopeless to God; "Set no borders to His strength," a +Japanese missionary said. We say it over and over again to ourselves, in +the face of some great hopelessness, like that photograph before us; and +sometimes, as if to assure us it is so, God lifts some such soul into +light. Just now we are rejoicing in a letter from the eastern side of +the district, telling us of the growth in the new life of one who only a +little while ago was a temple devotee. + +One has often longed to see Him work as He worked of old, healing the +sick by the word of His power, raising the dead. But when we see Him +gathering one--and such a one!--from among the heathen to give thanks +unto His holy Name and to triumph in His praise, one feels that indeed +it is a miracle of miracles, and that greater than a miracle wrought on +the body is a miracle wrought on the soul. But nothing I can write can +show you the miracle it was. In that particular case it was like seeing +a soul drawn out of the hand of the Ruler of Darkness. All salvation is +that in reality, but sometimes, as in her case, when the whole +environment of the soul has been strongly for evil in its most dangerous +phase, then it is more evidently so. + +Perhaps we should explain. We know that in its widest sense environment +simply means "all that is." We know that "all that is" includes the +existence of certain beings, described as "Powers" in Ephesians vi. 12. +Some of us are more or less unconscious of this part of our environment. +We have no conscious correspondence with it, but it is there. Others, +again, seek and find such correspondence, to their certain and awful +loss. + +Such a subject can hardly bear handling in language. Thank God we know +so little about it that we do not know how to speak of it accurately. +Neither, indeed, do we wish to intrude into those things which we have +not seen by any attempt at close definition; but we know there is this +unhallowed correspondence between men and demons, which in old days +drew down, as a lightning conductor, the flash of the wrath of God. + +Here in India it exists; we often almost touch it, but not quite. We +would not go where we knew we should see it, even if we might; so, +unless we happen upon it, which is rare, we never see it at all. A year +ago I saw it, and that one look made me realise, as no amount of +explanations ever could, how absolutely out of reach of all human +influence such souls are. _Nothing_ can reach them, nothing but the +might of the Holy Ghost. + +So I close with this one look. Will you pray for those to whom in the +moonless night, at the altar by the temple, there is the sudden coming +of that which they have sought--the "possession," the "afflatus," which +for ever after marks them out as those whose correspondences reach +beyond mortal ken. All devotees have not received this awful baptism, +but in this part of India many have. + +We were visiting in a high-caste house. The walls were decorated with +mythological devices, and even the old wood-carvings were full of +idolatrous symbols. The women were listening well, asking questions and +arguing, until one, an old lady, came in. Then they were silent. She sat +down and discussed us. We thought we would change the subject, and we +began to sing. She listened, as they always do, interrupting only to +say, "That's true! that's true!" Till suddenly--I cannot describe +what--something seemed to come over her, and she burst into a frenzy, +exclaiming, "Let me sing! let me sing!" And then she sang as I never +heard anyone sing before--the wildest, weirdest wail of a song all about +idolatry, its uselessness and folly, its sorrow and sin. + +So far I followed her, for I knew the poem well, but she soon turned off +into regions of language and thought unreached as yet by me. Here she +got madly excited, and, swaying herself to and fro, seemed lashing +herself into fury. Nearer and nearer she drew to us (we were on the +floor beside her); then she stretched out her arm with its clenched +fist, and swung it straight for my eye. Within a hair's-breadth she drew +back, and struck out for Victory's; but God helped her not to flinch. + +Then I cannot tell what happened, only her form dilated, and she seemed +as if she would spring upon us, but as if she were somehow held back. We +dare not move for fear of exciting her more. There we sat for I know not +how long, with this awful old woman's clenched fist circling round our +heads, or all but striking into our eyes, while without intermission she +crooned her song in that hollow hum that works upon the listener till +the nerve of the soul is drawn out, as it were, to its very farthest +stretch. It was quite dark by this time; only the yellow flicker of the +wind-blown flame of the lamp made uncertain lights and shadows round the +place where we were sitting, and an eerie influence fell on us all, +almost mesmeric in effect. I did not need the awestruck whispers round +me to tell me what it was. But oh! I felt, as I never felt before, the +reality of the presence of unseen powers, and I knew that the Actual +itself was in the room with me. + +At last she fell back exhausted, trembling in every limb. Her old head +hit the wall as she fell, but I knew we must not help her; it would be +pollution to her if we touched her. The people all round were too +frightened to move. So she fell and lay there quivering, her glittering +eyes still fixed on us; and she tried to speak, but could not. + +Softly we stole away, and we felt we had been very near where Satan's +seat is. + +Think of someone you love--as I did then--of someone whose hair is white +like hers; but the face you think of has peace in it, and God's light +lightens it. Then think of her as we saw her last--the old face torn +with the fury of hell, and for light the darkness thereof. + +Oh, friends, do you care enough? Do we care enough out here? God give us +hearts that can care! + + + + +CHAPTER V + +The Prey of the Terrible + + "I believe we are in the midst of a great battle. + We are not ourselves fighting, we are simply + accepting everything that comes; but the Powers of + Light are fighting against the Powers of Darkness, + and they will certainly prevail. The Holy Spirit + is working, but the people do not as yet know it + is the Spirit." + _Hester Needham, Sumatra._ + + +THE devil's favourite device just now is to move interested people to +far-away places. We have had several who seemed very near to the +Kingdom. Then suddenly they have disappeared. + +There was Wreath, of the Village of the Temple. She used to listen in +the shadow of the door while we sat on the outside verandah. Then she +got bolder, and openly asked to see Golden, and talk with her. One day, +unexpectedly, Golden was led to the Red Lake Village, and to her +surprise found Wreath there. She had been sent away from the Village of +the Temple, and was now with some other relations, under even stricter +guard. But God led Golden, all unknowingly, to go straight to the very +house where she was. So she heard again. + +Next time Golden went she could not see her alone, but somehow Wreath +got her to understand that if she went to a certain tree near the +women's bathing-place, at a certain time next week, she would try to +meet her there. Golden went, and they met. Wreath told her she believed +it all, but she could not then face breaking Caste and destroying her +family's name. They had been good to her, how could she disgrace them? +Still, she eagerly wanted to go on hearing, and we felt that if she did, +the love of God would win. So we were full of hope. + +Next time Golden went she could find no trace of her. She has never seen +her since. There is a rumour that she has been carried off over the +mountains, hundreds of miles away. + +In another village a bright, keen boy of seventeen listened one day when +we taught the women, and, becoming greatly interested, openly took the +Gospel's part when the village elders attacked it. After some weeks he +gathered courage to come and see the Iyer. He was a very intelligent +boy, well known all over the countryside, because he had studied the +Tamil classics, and also because of his connection with one of the chief +temples of the district. + +A fortnight after his visit here, our Band went to his village. They +heard that he was married and gone, where, no one would say. The +relations must have heard of his coming to us (of course he was urged to +tell them), and they rushed him through a marriage, and sent him off +post haste. So now there is another key turned, locking him into +Hinduism. + +In the Village of the Wind a young girl became known as an inquirer. Her +Caste passed the word along from village to village wherever its members +were found, and all these relations and connections were speedily +leagued in a compact to keep her from hearing more. When we went to see +her, we found she had been posted off somewhere else. When we went to +the somewhere else (always freely mentioned to us, with invitations to +go), we found she had been there, but had been forwarded elsewhere. For +weeks she was tossed about like this; then we traced her, and found her. +But she was thoroughly cowed, and dared not show the least interest in +us. It is often like that. Just at the point where the soul-poise is so +delicate that the lightest touch affects it, something, someone, pushes +it roughly, and it trembles a moment, then falls--on the wrong side. + +The reason for all this alertness of opposition is, that scattered about +the five thousand square miles we call our field, here and there seeds +are beginning to grow. Some of the sowers are in England now, and some +are in heaven--sowers and reapers, English and Tamil, rejoice together! +This is known everywhere, for the news spreads from town to town, and +then out to the villages, and the result is opposition. Sometimes the +little patch of ground which looked so hopeful is trampled, and the +young seedlings killed; sometimes they seem to be rooted up. When we go +to our Master and tell Him, He explains it: "An Enemy hath done this." +But as the measure of the Enemy's activity is in direct proportion to +the measure of God's working, we take it as a sign of encouragement, +however hindering it may be. Satan would not trouble to fight if he saw +nothing worth attacking; he does not seem to mind the spread of a head +knowledge of the Doctrine, or even a cordial appreciation of it. Often +we hear the people say how excellent it is, and how they never worship +idols now, but only the true God; and even a heathen mother will make +her child repeat its texts to you, and a father will tell you how it +tells him Bible stories; and if you are quite new to the work you put it +in the _Magazine_, and at home it sounds like conversion. All this goes +on most peacefully; there is not the slightest stir, till something +happens to show the people that the Doctrine is not just a Creed, but +contains a living Power. And then, and not till then, there is +opposition. + +This opposition is sufficiently strong in the case of a boy or young man +(older Caste men and women rarely "change their religion" in this part +of South India), but if a girl is in question, the Caste is touched at +its most sensitive point, and the feeling is simply intense. Men and +demons seem to conspire to hold such a one in the clutch of the +Terrible. + +There is a young girl in Cupid's Lake Village whose heart the Lord +opened some weeks ago. She is a gentle, timid girl, and devoted to her +mother. "Can it be right to break my mother's heart?" she used to ask us +pitifully. We urged her to try to win her mother, but the mother was +just furious. The moment she understood that her daughter wanted to +follow Jesus, or "join the Way," as she would express it, she gathered +the girl's books and burnt them, and forbade her ever to mention the +subject; and she went all round the villages trying to stop our work. + +At last things came to a crisis. The girl was told to do what she felt +would be sin against God. She refused. They tried force, sheer brute +force. She nerved herself for the leap in the dark, and tried to escape +to us. But in the dark night she lost the way, and had to run back to +her home. Next morning the village priest spread a story to the effect +that his god had appeared to him, told him of her attempt to escape, and +that she would try twice again, "but each time I will stand in the way +and turn her back," he said. + +This naturally startled the girl. "Is his god stronger than Jesus?" she +asked in real perplexity. We told her we thought the tale was concocted +to frighten her; the priest had seen her, and made up the rest. But +twice since then, driven by dire danger, that girl has tried to get to +us, and each time she has been turned back. And now she is kept in +rigorous guard, as her determination to be a Christian is well known to +all in the place. + +Do you say, "Tell her to stay at home and bear it patiently"? We do tell +her so, when we can see her, but we add, "till God makes a way of +escape"; and if you knew all there is to be known about a Hindu home, +and what may happen in it, you would not tell her otherwise. + +But supposing there is nothing more than negative difficulty to be +feared, have you ever tried in thought to change places with such a +girl? Have you ever considered how impossible it is for such a one to +grow? The simple grace of continuance is in danger of withering when all +help of every sort is absolutely cut off, and the soul is, to begin +with, not deeply rooted in God. Plants, even when they have life, need +water and sunshine and air. Babes need milk. + +You find it hard enough to grow, if one may judge from the constant +wails about "leanness," and yet you are surrounded by every possible +help to growth. You have a whole Bible, not just a scrap of it; and you +can read it all, and understand at least most of it. You have endless +good books, hymn-books, and spiritual papers; you have sermons every +week, numerous meetings for edification, and perhaps an annual +Convention. Now strip yourself of all this. Shut your Bible, and forget +as completely as if you had never known it all you ever read or heard, +except the main facts of the Gospel. Forget all those strengthening +verses, all those beautiful hymns, all those inspiring addresses. +Likewise, of course, entirely forget all the loving dealings of God with +yourself and with others--a Hindu has no such memories to help her. Then +go and live in a devil's den and develop saintliness. The truth is, even +you would find it difficult; but this Hindu girl's case is worse than +that, a million times worse. Think of the life, and then, if you can, +tell her she must be quite satisfied with it, that it is the will of +God. You could not say that it is His will! It is the will of the +Terrible, who holds on to his prey, and would rather rend it limb from +limb than ever let it go. + +We are often asked to tell converts' stories; and certainly they would +thrill, for the way of escape God opens sometimes is, like Peter's from +prison, miraculous; and truth is stranger than fiction, and far more +interesting. But we who work in the Terrible's lair, and know how he +fights to get back his prey, even after it has escaped from him, are +afraid to tell these stories too much, and feel that silence is safest, +and, strange as it may seem to some, for the present most glorifies God. + +For a certain connection has been observed between publicity and peril. +And we have learned by experience to fear any attempt to photograph +spiritual fruit. The old Greek artist turned away the face that held too +much for him to paint; and that turned-away face had power in it, they +say, to touch men's hearts. We turn these faces away from you; may the +very fact that we do it teach some at home to realise how much more lies +in each of them than we can say, how great a need there is to pray that +each may be kept safe. The names of one and another occur, because they +came in the letters so often that I could not cross them all out without +altering the character of the whole; they are part of one's very life. + +But as even a passing mention may mean danger, unless a counteracting +influence of real prayer protects them, we ask you to pray that the +tender protection of God may be folded round each one of them; and then +when we meet where no sin can creep into the telling, and no harm can +follow it, they will tell you their stories themselves, and God will +give you your share in the joy, comrades by prayer at home! But let us +press it on you now--pray, oh, pray for the converts! Pray that they may +grow in Christ. Pray that He may see of the travail of His soul, and be +satisfied with each of them. And pray that we may enter into that +travail of soul with Him. Nothing less is any good. Spiritual children +mean travail of soul--spiritual agony. I wonder who among those who read +this will realise what I mean. Some will, I think; so I write it. It is +a solemn thing to find oneself drawn out in prayer which knows no relief +till the soul it is burdened with is born. It is no less solemn +afterwards, until Christ is formed in them. Converts are a responsible +joy. + +And now we have told you a little of what is going on. There are days +when nothing seems to be done, and then again there are days when the +Terrible seems almost visible, as he gathers up his strength, and tears +and mauls his prey. And so it is true we have to fight a separate fight +for each soul. But another view of the case is a strength to us many a +time. "We are not ourselves fighting, but the Powers of Light are +fighting against the Powers of Darkness," and the coming of the victory +is only a question of time. "Shall the prey be taken from the Mighty or +the captives of the Terrible be delivered? But thus saith the Lord, +=Even the captives of the Mighty shall be taken away and the prey of the +Terrible shall be delivered=." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Missed Ends + + "If you could only know what one feels on finding + oneself . . . where the least ray of the Gospel has + not penetrated! If those friends who blame . . . + could see from afar what we see, and feel what we + feel, they would be the first to wonder that those + redeemed by Christ should be so backward in + devotion and know so little of the spirit of + self-sacrifice. They would be ashamed of the + hesitations that hinder us. . . . _We must remember + that it was not by interceding for the world in + glory that Jesus saved it. He gave Himself. Our + prayers for the evangelisation of the world are + but a bitter irony so long as we only give of our + superfluity, and draw back before the sacrifice of + ourselves._" + _M. Francois Coillard, Africa._ + + "Someone must go, and if no one else will go, he + who hears the call must go; I hear the call, for + indeed God has brought it before me on every side, + and go I must." + _Rev. Henry Watson Fox, India._ + + +THE tom-toms thumped straight on all night, and the darkness shuddered +round me like a living, feeling thing. I could not go to sleep, so I lay +awake and looked; and I saw, as it seemed, this: + +That I stood on a grassy sward, and at my feet a precipice broke sheer +down into infinite space. I looked, but saw no bottom; only cloud +shapes, black and furiously coiled, and great shadow-shrouded hollows, +and unfathomable depths. Back I drew, dizzy at the depth. + +Then I saw forms of people moving single file along the grass. They +were making for the edge. There was a woman with a baby in her arms and +another little child holding on to her dress. She was on the very verge. +Then I saw that she was blind. She lifted her foot for the next step +. . . it trod air. She was over, and the children over with her. Oh, +the cry as they went over! + +Then I saw more streams of people flowing from all quarters. All were +blind, stone blind; all made straight for the precipice edge. There were +shrieks as they suddenly knew themselves falling, and a tossing up of +helpless arms, catching, clutching at empty air. But some went over +quietly, and fell without a sound. + +Then I wondered, with a wonder that was simply agony, why no one stopped +them at the edge. I could not. I was glued to the ground, and I could +not call; though I strained and tried, only a whisper would come. + +Then I saw that along the edge there were sentries set at intervals. But +the intervals were far too great; there were wide, unguarded gaps +between. And over these gaps the people fell in their blindness, quite +unwarned; and the green grass seemed blood-red to me, and the gulf +yawned like the mouth of hell. + +Then I saw, like a little picture of peace, a group of people under some +trees, with their backs turned towards the gulf. They were making daisy +chains. Sometimes when a piercing shriek cut the quiet air and reached +them it disturbed them, and they thought it a rather vulgar noise. And +if one of their number started up and wanted to go and do something to +help, then all the others would pull that one down. "Why should you get +so excited about it? You must wait for a definite call to go! You +haven't finished your daisy chains yet. It would be really selfish," +they said, "to leave us to finish the work alone." + +There was another group. It was made up of people whose great desire was +to get more sentries out; but they found that very few wanted to go, and +sometimes there were no sentries set for miles and miles of the edge. + +Once a girl stood alone in her place, waving the people back; but her +mother and other relations called, and reminded her that her furlough +was due; she must not break the rules. And being tired and needing a +change, she had to go and rest for awhile; but no one was sent to guard +her gap, and over and over the people fell, like a waterfall of souls. + +Once a child caught at a tuft of grass that grew at the very brink of +the gulf; it clung convulsively, and it called--but nobody seemed to +hear. Then the roots of the grass gave way, and with a cry the child +went over, its two little hands still holding tight to the torn-off +bunch of grass. And the girl who longed to be back in her gap thought +she heard the little one cry, and she sprang up and wanted to go; at +which they reproved her, reminding her that no one is necessary +anywhere; the gap would be well taken care of, they knew. And then they +sang a hymn. + +Then through the hymn came another sound like the pain of a million +broken hearts wrung out in one full drop, one sob. And a horror of great +darkness was upon me, for I knew what it was--the Cry of the Blood. + +Then thundered a Voice, the Voice of the Lord: "=And He said, What hast +thou done? The voice of thy brothers' blood crieth unto Me from the +ground.=" + + . . . . . . . + +The tom-toms still beat heavily, the darkness still shuddered and +shivered about me; I heard the yells of the devil-dancers and the weird +wild shriek of the devil-possessed just outside the gate. + +What does it matter, after all? It has gone on for years; it will go on +for years. Why make such a fuss about it? + +God forgive us! God arouse us! Shame us out of our callousness! Shame us +out of our sin! + + * * * * * + +One afternoon, a few weeks after that night at the precipice edge, +Victory and I were visiting in the Red Lake Village, when we heard the +death-beat of the tom-tom and the shriek of the conch shell, and we knew +that another had gone beyond our reach. One can never get accustomed to +this. We stopped for a moment and listened. + +The women we were teaching broke in with eager explanations. "Oh, he was +such a great one! He had received the Initiation. There will be a grand +ceremonial, grander than ever you have!" Then they told us how this +great one had been initiated into the Hindu mysteries by his family +priest, and that the mystical benefits accruing from this initiation +were to be caused to revert to the priest. This Reverting of the +Initiation was to be one of the ceremonies. We watched the procession +pass down the street. They were going for water from a sacred stream +for the bathing of purification. When they return, said the women, the +ceremonies will begin. + +A little later we passed the house, and stood looking in through the +doorway. There was the usual large square courtyard, with the verandah +running round three sides. The verandah was full of women. We longed to +go in, but did not think they would let us. The courtyard was rather +confused; men were rushing about, putting up arches and decorating them; +servants were sweeping, and cooking, and shouting to one another; the +women were talking and laughing. And all the time from within the house +came the sound of the dirge for the dead, and the laugh and the wail +struck against each other, and jarred. No one noticed us for awhile, but +at last a woman saw us, and beckoned us to come. "We are all defiled +to-day; you may sit with us," they said; and yielding to the instincts +of their kindly Tamil nature, they crushed closer together to make room +for us beside them. How I did enjoy being squeezed up there among them. +But to appreciate that in the least you would have to work in a +caste-bound part of old India; you can have no idea, until you try, how +hard it is to refrain from touching those whom you love. + +The house door opened upon the verandah, and we could hear the moan of +the dirge. "There is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet." There was +no quietness, only the ceaseless moan, that kept rising into a wail; +there were tears in the sound of the wail, and I felt like a sort of +living harp with all its strings drawn tight. + +But the women outside cared nothing at all. It was strange to see how +callous they were. It was not their _own_ who had died, so they chatted +and laughed and watched the proceedings--the tying of the garlands round +the arches, the arrangement of offerings for the Brahmans. It was all +full of interest to them. We tried to turn their thoughts to the Powers +of the World to Come. But no. They did not care. + +Presently there was a stir. "The men are coming!" they said. "Run! there +is a shady corner under those palms on the far verandah! Run and hide! +They are here!" And, even as they spoke, in streamed the men, each with +his brass water-vessel poised on his head, and they saw us standing +there. We thought they would turn us out, and were quite prepared to go +at a sign from the head of the clan. But he was a friend of ours, and he +smiled as we salaamed, and pointed to a quiet corner, out of the way, +where we could see it all without being too much seen. + +To understand this, which to me was a surprise, one must remember that +by nature the Indian is most courteous, and if it were not for Caste +rules we should be allowed to come much closer to them than is possible +now. To-day they were all ceremonially unclean, so our presence was not +considered polluting. Also the Indian loves a function; sad or glad, it +matters little. Life is a bubble on the water; enjoy it while you may. +And they sympathised with what they thought was our desire to see the +show. This was human; they could understand it. So they let us stay; and +we stayed, hoping for a chance later on. + +Then the ceremonies began. They carried the dead man out and laid him in +the courtyard under the arch of palms. He was old and worn and thin. One +could see the fine old face, with the marks of the Hindu trident painted +down the forehead. He had been a most earnest Hindu; all the rites were +duly performed, and morning and night for many years he had marked those +marks on his brow. Had he ever once listened to the Truth? I do not +know. He must have heard about it, but he had not received it. He died, +they told us, "not knowing what lay on the other side." + +The water-bearers laid their vessels on the ground. Each had a leaf +across its mouth. The priest was crowned with a chaplet of flowers. Then +came the bathing. They threw up a shelter, and carried him there. It was +reverently done. There was a touch of refinement in the thought which +banished the women and children before the bathing began. Tamils bathe +in the open air, and always clothed, but always apart. And as the +women's verandah overlooked the screened enclosure, they were all +ordered off. They went and waited, silent now, awed by the presence of +the men. While the bathing was going on the priests chanted and muttered +incantations, and now and again a bell was rung, and incense waved, and +tapers lighted. Now they were causing that mysterious Something which +still hovered round the lifeless form to leave it and return to them, +and when the bathing was over they signified that all was done; the +Influence had departed, descended; the funeral ceremonies might proceed. + +And all this time, without a break, the dirge was being sung by the +mourners in the house. It was a sort of undernote to all the sounds +outside. Then the old man, robed in white and crowned and wreathed with +flowers, was carried round to the other side; and oh, the pitifulness of +it all! St. Paul must have been thinking of some such scene when he +wrote to the converts, "That ye sorrow not even as others which have no +hope." And I thought how strangely callous we were, how superficial our +sympathy. The Lord's command does not stir us, the sorrow of those we +neglect does not touch us; we think so much more of ourselves and our +own selfish pleasure than we think of the purpose for which we were +saved--and at such a tremendous cost! Oh for a baptism of reality and +obedience to sweep over us! Oh to be true to the hymns we sing and the +vows we make! _God make us true._ + +Forgive all this. It was burnt into me afresh that day as I sat there +watching the things they did and listening to what they said. We had +come too late for that old dead man, too late for most of the living +ones too. Can you wonder if at such solemn times one yields oneself +afresh and for ever to obey? + +Rice was prepared for the dead man's use, and balls of rice were ready +to be offered to his spirit after his cremation; for the Hindus think +that an intermediate body must be formed and nourished, which on the +thirteenth day after death is conducted to either heaven or hell, +according to the deeds done on earth. The ceremonies were all +characterised by a belief in some future state. The spirit was +somewhere--in the dark--so they tried to light the way for him. This +reminds me of one ceremony especially suggestive. All the little +grandchildren were brought, and lighted tapers given to them; then they +processioned round the bier, round and round many times, holding the +tapers steadily, and looking serious and impressed. + +Then the widow came out with a woman on either side supporting her. And +she walked round and round her husband, with the tears rolling down her +face, and she wailed the widow's wail, with her very heart in it. Why +had he gone away and left her desolate? His was the spirit of fragrance +like the scented sandal-wood; his was the arm of strength like the lock +that barred the door. Gone was the scent of the sandal, broken and open +the door; why had the bird flown and left but the empty cage? Gone! was +he gone? Was he really gone? Was it certain he was dead? He who had +tossed and turned on the softest bed they could make, must he lie on the +bed of his funeral pyre? Must he burn upon logs of wood? Say, was there +no way to reach him, no way to help him now? "I have searched for thee, +but I find thee not." And so the dirge moaned on. + +I could not hear all this then; Victory told it to me, and much more, +afterwards. "Last time I heard it," she said, "I was _inside_, wailing +too." + +As the poor widow went round and round she stopped each time she got to +the feet, and embraced them fervently. Sometimes she broke through all +restraint, and clasped him in her arms. + +[Illustration: A photo rarely possible. The dead woman lies in her bier; +the white on her eyes and brow is the mark of Siva's ashes. Some of the +mourners are so marked, as they are all Saivites. The fire is lighted +from the pot of fire to the right. Just before it is lighted, the chief +mourner takes a vessel of water, pierces a hole in it, walks round the +dead, letting the water trickle out, pierces another hole and repeats +the walk. After the third piercing and walk, he throws the pot backwards +over his shoulder, and as it smashes the water all splashes out. This is +to refresh the spirit if it should be thirsty while its body is being +burned.] + +After many ceremonies had been performed, the men all went away, and the +women were left to bid farewell to the form soon to be carried out. Then +the men came back and bore him across the courtyard, and paused under +the arch outside, while the women all rushed out, tearing their hair and +beating themselves and wailing wildly. As they were lifting the bier to +depart the cry was, "Stop! stop! Will he not speak?" And this, chanted +again and again, would have made the coldest care. Then when all was +over, and the long procession, headed by the tom-toms and conch shells, +had passed out of sight, the women pressed in again, and each first let +down her hair, and seized her nearest neighbour, and they all flung +themselves on the ground and knocked their heads against it, and then, +rising to a sitting posture, they held on to one another, swaying +backwards and forwards and chanting in time to the swaying, in chorus +and antiphone. All this, even to the hair-tearing and head-knocking, was +copied by the children who were present with terrible fidelity. + +We sat down among them. They took our hands and rocked us in the +orthodox way. But we did not wail and we did not undo our hair. We tried +to speak comforting words to those who were really in grief, but we +found it was not the time. A fortnight later we went again, and found +the house door open because we had been with them that day. + +But we could not help them then, so we rose and were going away, when, +held by the power of that dirge of theirs, I turned to look again. The +last rays of the afternoon sun were lighting up the courtyard, and +shining on the masses of black hair and grey. As I looked they got up +one by one, and put their disordered dress to rights, and shook out the +dust from their glossy hair, and did it up again. And one by one, +without farewell of any sort, they went away. An hour later we met +groups of them coming home from bathing. They would not touch us then. +Afterwards the chief mourners came out and bathed, and went all round +the village wailing. And the last thing I saw, as the sun set over the +hills and the place grew chill and dark, was the old widow, worn out +now, returning home in her wet things, wailing still. + +I write this under a sense of the solemnity of being "a servant . . . +separated unto the Gospel." I would not write one word lightly. But oh! +may I ask you to face it? Are we honest towards God? If we were, would +these people be left to die as they are being left to die? + +We feel for them. _But feelings will not save souls; it cost God Calvary +to win us._ + +_It will cost us as much as we may know of the fellowship of His +sufferings, if those for whom He died that day are ever to be won._ + + . . . . . . . + +I am writing in the midst of the sights and the sounds of life. There is +life in the group of women at the well; life in the voices, in the +splash of the water, in the cry of a child, in the call of the mother; +life in the flight of the parrots as they flock from tree to tree; life +in their chatter as they quarrel and scream; life, everywhere life. How +can I think out of all this, back into death again? + +But I want to, for you may live for many a year in India without being +allowed to see once what we have seen twice within two months, and it +cannot be for nothing that we saw it. We must be meant to show it to +you. + +[Illustration: This needs to be looked into. Gradually the middle +clears. The women are holding each other's hands preparatory to swaying +backwards and forwards as they chant the dirge for the dead. The lamp +(you see its top near the vessel on the right) was lighted as soon as +the old woman died, and placed at her head on the floor. So blindly they +show their sense of the darkness of death. The brass water vessel, with +the leaves laid across its mouth, was filled with the water of +purification. This was poured in a circle on the floor round the body. +The bits of grass are the sacred Kusa grass used in many religious +ceremonies.] + +The Picture-catching Missie and I were in the Village of the Tamarind +Tree, when for the second time I saw it. They are very friendly there, +and just as in the Red Lake Village they let us look behind the curtain, +so here again they pushed it back, and let us in, and went on with their +business, not minding us. We crouched up close together on the only +scrap of empty space, and watched. + +Everything was less intense; the dead was only a poor and very old widow +who had lived her life out, and was not wanted. There were no near +kindred, only relations by marriage; it was evident everyone went +through the form without emotion of any sort. + +The woman lay on a rough bier on the floor, and round her crowded a +dozen old women. At her head there was a brass vessel of water, a +lamp-stand, some uncooked rice, and some broken cocoanuts. Just before +we came in they had filled a little brass vessel from the larger one. +Now one of the old hags walked round the dead three times, pouring the +water out as she walked. Then another fed her--fed that poor dead mouth, +stuffed it in so roughly it made us sick and faint. There were other +things done hurriedly, carelessly; we could not follow them. The last +was the rubbing on of ashes--she had been a worshipper of Siva--also +they covered the closed eyes with ashes and patted them down flat. And +all the time the gabble of the women mocked at the silence of death. +There was no reverence, no sense of solemnity; the ceremonial so full +of symbol to its makers, the thinkers of Vedic times, was to them simply +a custom, a set of customs, to be followed and got through as quickly as +might be by heedless hands. And yet they faithfully carried out every +detail they knew, and they finished their heartless work and called to +the men to come. The men were waiting outside. They came in and carried +her out. + +It seemed impossible to think of a photograph then; it was most unlikely +they would let us take one, and we hardly felt in the spirit of +picture-catching. Yet we thought of you, and of how you certainly could +never see it unless we could show it to you; and we wanted to show it to +you, so we asked them if we might. Of course if there had been real +grief, as in the other I had seen, we could not have asked it, it would +have been intrusion; but here there was none--_that_ was the pathos of +it. And they were very friendly, so they put their burden on the ground, +and waited. + +There it is. To the right the barber stands with his fire-bowl hanging +from a chain; this is to light the funeral pyre. The smoke interfered +with the photo, but then it is true to life. To the left stands the man +with the shell ready to blow. At the back, with the sacred ashes rubbed +on forehead and breast and arms, stand the two nearest relatives, who +to-morrow will gather the ashes and throw them into the stream. + +The picture was caught. The man with the shell blew it, the man with the +fire came in front, the bearers lifted the bier; they went away with +their dead. + +[Illustration: These are three of the mourners, but they were only +mourning ceremonially; and so, released for the moment from their duty, +they quite enjoyed themselves.] + +Then the old women, who had been pressing through the open door, rushed +back in the usual way and began the usual rock and dirge. These +Comparison Songs are always full of soul. They have sprung into being in +times of deepest feeling, taken shape when hearts were as finely wrought +moulds which left their impress upon them. And to hear them chanted +without any soul is somehow a pitiful thing, a sort of profanation, like +the singing of sacred words for pay. + +The photograph was not easy to take, the space was so confined, the +movement so continuous, the commotion so confusing. _How_ it was taken I +know not; the women massed on the floor were not still for more than a +moment. In that moment it was done. Then we persuaded three of them to +risk the peril of being caught alone. They would not move farther than +the wall of the house, and as it was in a narrow street, again there +were difficulties. But the crowning perplexity was at the water-side. It +was windy, and our calls were blown away, so they did not hear what we +wanted them to do, and they splashed too vigorously. Their only idea +just then was to get themselves and their garments ceremonially clean, +defiled as they were by contact with the dead. + +But let those six whom you can partly see stand for the thousands upon +thousands whom you cannot see at all. Those thousands are standing in +water to-day from the North to the uttermost South, as the last act in +the drama which they have played in the presence of the dead. + + . . . . . . . + +The women have gone from the well. The parrots have flown to other +trees. The Tamils say the body is the sheath of the soul. I think of +that empty sheath I saw, and wonder where the soul has flown. It has +gone--but where? Has it gone home, like the women from the well? Has it +flown far, like the birds among the trees? It has gone, it has gone, +that is all we know. _It has gone._ + +Then I read these words from Conybeare and Howson's translation: "If the +tent which is my earthly house be destroyed I have a mansion built by +God . . . eternal in the heavens. And herein I groan with earnest +longings, desiring to cover my earthly raiment with the robes of my +heavenly mansion. . . . _And He who has prepared me for this very end is +God._" + +The dead man missed his End. That old dead woman missed it too. And the +millions around us still alive are missing their End to-day. "This very +End"--think of it--Mortality swallowed up in Life--Death only an +absence, Life for ever a presence--Present with the Lord who has +prepared us "for this very End." + +Can we enjoy it all by ourselves? Will there be no sense of +incompleteness if the many are outside, missing it all because they +missed their End? Will the glory make us glad if they are somewhere far +away from it and God? Will not heaven be almost an empty place to one +who has never tried to fill it? Yet there is room, oh so much room, for +those we are meant to bring in with us! + +And there is room, oh so much room, along the edge of the precipice. +There are gaps left all unguarded. Can it be that you are meant to guard +one of those gaps? If so, it will always remain as it is, a +falling-point for those rivers of souls, unless you come. + +Are these things truth or are they imagination? If they are +imagination--then let the paper on which they are written be burnt, +burnt till it curls up and the words fall into dust. But if they are +true--then what are we going to do? Not what are we going to say or +sing, or even feel or pray--_but what are we going to do?_ + +[Illustration: The ceremonial bathing. They are all old women, but the +very oldest old woman in India bathes most vigorously. After this +bathing is over, they are purified from the defilement contracted by +going to the house of the dead.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +"The Dust of the Actual" + + "This may be counted as our richest gain, to have + learned afresh one's utter impotency so completely + that the past axiom of service, '_I can no more + convert a soul than create a star_,' comes to be + an awful revelation, so that God alone may be + exalted in that day." + _Rev. Walter Searle, Africa._ + + +WE have just come back from a Pariah village. Now see it all with me. +Such a curious little collection of huts, thrown down anywhere; such +half-frightened, half-friendly faces; such a scurrying in of some and +out of others; and we wonder which house we had better make for. We stop +before one a shade cleaner than most, and larger and more open. + +"May we come in?" Chorus, "Come in! oh, come in!" and in we go. It is a +tiny, narrow slip of a room. At one end there is a fire burning on the +ground; the smoke finds its way out through the roof, and a pot of rice +set on three stones is bubbling cheerfully. No fear of defilement here. +They would not like us to touch their rice or to see them eating it, but +they do not mind our being in the room where it is being cooked. + +At the other end of the narrow slip there is a goat-pen, not very clean; +and down one side there is a raised mud place where the family +apparently sleep. This side and the two ends are roofed by palmyra +palm. It is dry and crackles at a touch, and you touch it every time you +stand up, so bits of it are constantly falling and helping to litter the +open space below. + +[Illustration: An ancient Pariah, but the baby in her arms is a son of +the Caste of Palmyra Climbers. Both faces--the old crone's and the baby +boy's--are very typical. The baby is a "Christian," I should explain, +and his parents are true Christians, otherwise the Pariah woman would +not have been allowed to touch him.] + +Five babies at different stages of refractoriness are sprawling about on +this strip of floor; they make noises all the time. Half a dozen +imbecile-looking old women crowd in through the low door, and stare and +exchange observations. Three young men with nothing particular to do +lounge at the far end of the platform near the goats. A bright girl, +with more jewellery on than is usual among Pariahs, is tending the fire +at the end near the door; she throws a stick or two on as we enter, and +hurries forward to get a mat. We sit down on the mat, and she sits +beside us; and the usual questions are asked and answered by way of +introduction. There is a not very clean old woman diligently devouring +betel; another with an enormous mouth, which she always holds wide open; +another with a very loud voice and a shock of unspeakable hair. But they +listen fairly well till a goat creates a diversion by making a remark, +and a baby--a jolly little scrap in its nice brown skin and a +bangle--yells, and everyone's attention concentrates upon it. + +The goat subsides, the baby is now in its mother's arms; so we go on +where we left off, and I watch the bright young girl, and notice that +she listens as one who understands. She looks rather superior; her +rose-coloured seeley is clean, and two large gold jewels are in each +ear; she has a little gold necklet round her throat, and silver bangles +and toe rings. All the others are hopelessly grubby and very +unenlightened, but they listen just as most people listen in church, +with a sort of patient expression. It is the proper thing to do. + +I am talking to them now, and till I am half-way through nobody says +anything, when suddenly the girl remarks, "We have ten fingers, not just +one!" which is so astonishing that I stop and wonder what she can be +thinking of. I was talking about the one sheep lost out of one hundred. +What has that got to do with one finger and ten? She goes on to explain, +"I have heard all this before. I have a sister who is a Christian, and +once I stayed with her, and I heard all about your religion, and I felt +in my heart it was good. But then I was married" ("tied," she said), +"and of course I forgot about it; but now I remember, and I say if ten +of our people will join and go over to your Way, that will be well, but +what would be the use of one going? What is the use of one finger moving +by itself? It takes ten to do the day's work." + +"If ten of you had cholera, and I brought you cholera medicine, would +you say, 'I won't take it unless nine others take it too'?" I replied. +She laughs and the others laugh, but a little uneasily. They hardly like +this reference to the dreaded cholera; death of the body is so much more +tremendous in prospect than death of the soul. "You would take it, and +then the others, seeing it do you good, would perhaps take it too"; and +we try to press home the point of the illustration. But a point pricks, +and pricking is uncomfortable. + +The three men begin to shuffle their feet and talk about other things; +the old mother-in-law proposes betel all round, and hands us some +grimy-looking leaves with a pressing invitation to partake. The various +onlookers make remarks, and the girl devotes herself to her baby. But +she is thinking; one can see old memories are stirred. At last with a +sigh she gets up, looks round the little indifferent group, goes over to +the fireplace, and blows up the fire. This means we had better say +salaam; so we say it and they say it, adding the usual "Go and come." + +It will be easier to help these people out of their low levels than it +will be to help their masters of the higher walks of life. But to do +anything genuine or radical among either set of people is never really +easy. + +"=It takes the Ideal to blow a hair's-breadth off the Dust of the +Actual.=" + +It takes more. It takes =God=. It takes =God= to do anything anywhere. +Yesterday we were visiting in one of the Caste villages, and one old +lady, who really seems to care for us, said she would greatly like to +take my hand in hers; "but," she explained, "this morning one of the +children of the place leaned over the edge of the tank to drink, and he +fell in and was drowned; so I have been to condole with his people, and +I have now returned from bathing, and do not feel equal to bathing +again." If she touched me she would have to bathe to get rid of the +defilement. Of course I assured her I quite understood, but as she sat +there within two inches of me, yet so carefully preserving inviolate +those two inches of clear space, I felt what a small thing this +caste-created distance was, the merest "Dust of the Actual" on the +surface of the system of her life; and yet, "to blow a hair's-breadth +of it off, nothing less is needed than the breath of the power of God." +"Come, O Breath, and breathe!" we cry. Nothing else will do. + +Something in our talk led to a question about the character of Jesus, +and, as we tried to describe a little of the loveliness of our dear Lord +to her, her dark eyes kindled. "How beautiful it is!" she said; "how +beautiful He must be!" She seemed "almost persuaded," but we knew it was +only almost, not quite; for she does not yet know her need of a Saviour, +she has no sense of sin. Sometimes, it is true, that comes later; but we +find that if the soul is to resist the tremendous opposing forces which +will instantly be brought to bear upon it if it turns in the least +towards Christ, there must be a _conviction_ wrought within it; nothing +so superficial as a _feeling_, be it ever so appreciative or hopeful or +loving, will stand that strain. + +So, though the eyes of this dear woman fill with tears as she hears of +the price of pain He paid, and though she gladly listens as we read and +talk with her and pray, yet we know the work has not gone deep, and we +make our "petitions deep" for her, and go on. + +In India men must work among men, and women among women, but sometimes, +in new places, as I have told before, we have to stop and talk with the +men before they will let us pass. For example, one afternoon I was +waylaid on my way to the women by the head of the household I was +visiting, a fine old man of the usual type, courteous but opposed. He +asked to look at my books. I had a Bible, a lyric book, and a book of +stanzas bearing upon the Truth, copied from the old Tamil classics. He +pounced upon this. Then he began to chant the stanzas in their +inimitable way, and at the sound several other old men drew round the +verandah, till soon a dozen or more were listening with that +appreciative expression they seem to reserve for their own beloved +poetry. + +After the reader had chanted through a dozen or more stanzas, he stopped +abruptly and asked me if I really cared for it. Of course I said I did +immensely, and only wished I knew more, for the Tamil classics are a +study in themselves, and these beautiful ancient verses I had copied out +were only gleanings from two large volumes, full of the wisdom of the +East. + +They were all thoroughly friendly now, and we got into conversation. One +of the group held that there are three co-eternal substances--God, the +Soul, and Sin. Sin is eternally bound up in the soul, as verdigris is +inherent in copper. It can be removed eventually by intense meditation +upon God, and by the performance of arduous works of merit. But these +exercises they all admitted were incompatible with the ordinary life of +most people, and generally impracticable. And so the fact is, the +verdigris of sin remains. + +I remember the delight with which I discovered that Isaiah i. 25 uses +this very illustration; for the word translated "dross" in English is +the colloquial word for verdigris in Tamil; so the verse reads, "I will +turn My hand to thee, and thoroughly purify thee, _so as to remove thy +verdigris_." + +Most of the others held a diametrically opposite view. So far from Soul +and Sin being co-eternal with God they are not really existent at all. +Both are illusory. There is only one existent entity. It is the Divine +Spirit, and it has neither personality nor any personal qualities. All +apparent separate existences are delusive. Meditation, of the same +absorbing type held necessary by the other, is the only way to reach the +stage of enlightenment which leads to reabsorption into the Divine +essence, in which we finally merge, and lose what appeared to be our +separate identity. We are lost in God, as a drop is lost in the ocean. + +Some of the men advocated a phase of truth which reminds one of +Calvinism gone mad, and others exactly opposite are extravagantly +Arminian. The Calvinists illustrate their belief by a single +illuminating word, _Cat-hold_, and the Arminians by another, +_Monkey-hold_. Could you find better illustrations? The cat takes up the +kitten and carries it in its mouth; the kitten is passive, the cat does +everything. But the little monkey holds on to its mother, and clings +with might and main. Those who have watched the "cat-hold" in the house, +and the "monkey-hold" out in the jungle, can appreciate the accuracy of +these two illustrations. + +But running through every form of Hinduism, however contradictory each +to the other may be, there is the underlying thought of pure and simple +Pantheism. And this explains many of the aforesaid contradictions, and +many of the incongruities which are constantly cropping up and +bewildering one who is trying to understand the Hindu trend of thought. +So, though those men all affirmed that there is only one God, they +admitted that they each worshipped several. They saw nothing +inconsistent in this. Just as the air is in everything, so God is in +everything, therefore in the various symbols. And as our King has divers +representative Viceroys and Governors to rule over his dominions in his +name, so the Supreme has these sub-deities, less in power and only +existing by force of Himself, and He, being all-pervasive, can be +worshipped under their forms. + +This argument they all unitedly pressed upon me that afternoon, and +though capital answers probably present themselves to your mind, you +might not find they satisfied the Hindu who argues along lines of logic +peculiar to the East, and subtle enough to mystify the practical Western +brain; and then--for we are conceited as well as practical--we are apt +to pity the poor Hindu for being so unlike ourselves; and if we are +wholly unsympathetic, we growl that there is nothing in the argument, +whereas there is a good deal in it, only we do not see it, because we +have never thought out the difficulty in question. Quite opposite, +sometimes we have to meet a type of mind like that of MacDonald's +student of Shakespeare, who "missed a plain point from his eyes being so +sharp that they looked through it without seeing it, having focussed +themselves beyond it." Assuredly there is much to learn before one can +hope to understand the winding of the thread of thought which must be +traced if one would follow the working of the Hindu mind. Let no one +with a facility for untying mental knots think that his gift would be +wasted in India! + +The word that struck those men that afternoon was 1 John v. 11 and 12: +"God hath given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that +hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not +life." I was longing to get to the women, but when they began to read +those verses and ask about the meaning, I could not go without trying to +tell them. Oh, how one needed at that moment Christ to become to us +Wisdom, for it is just here one may so easily make mistakes. Put the +truth of God's relation to the soul subjectively--"He that hath the Son +hath life"--before thoughtful Hindus such as these men were, and they +will be perfectly enchanted; for the Incarnation presents no difficulty +to them, as it would to a Mohammedan; and perhaps, to your sudden +surprise and joy, they will say, that is exactly what they are prepared +to believe. "Christ in me"--this is comprehensible. "The indwelling of +the Spirit of God"--this is analogous to their own phrase: "The +indwelling of the Deity in the lotus of the heart." But probably by +trading on words and expressions which are already part of the Hindu +terminology, and which suggest to them materialistic ideas, we may +seriously mislead and be misled. We need to understand not only what the +Hindu says, but also what his words mean to himself, a very different +thing. + +That talk ended in a promise from the men that they would arrange a +meeting of Hindus for the Iyer, if he would come and take it, which of +course he did. I should like to finish up by saying, "and several were +converted," but as yet that would not be true. These deep-rooted ancient +and strong philosophies are formidable enough, when rightly understood, +to make us feel how little we can do to overturn them; but they are +just as "Dust" in comparison with the force of the "Actual" entrenched +behind them. Only superficial Dust; and yet, as in every other case, +nothing but the Breath of God can blow this Dust away. + +[Illustration: Another widow. She was never a wife; and, moved by some +sort of pity, they let her keep one jewel in each ear. She is a +Vellalar; her people are wealthy landowners. She was ashamed of having +yielded to the weakness of letting us take her photo; and when we went +to show it to her, she would not look at it. She has no desire whatever +to hear; and she and the young girl on the step at her feet are resolute +in opposing the teaching.] + +We left the old men to their books and endless disquisitions, and went +on to the women's quarter. There we saw a young child-widow, very fair +and sweet and gentle, but quieter than a child should be; for she is a +widow accursed. Her mind is keen--she wants to learn; but why should a +widow learn, they say, why should her mind break bounds? She lives in a +tiny mud-built house, in a tiny mud-walled yard; she may not go out +beyond those walls, then why should she _think_ beyond? But she is +better off than most, for she lives with her mother, who loves her, and +her father makes a pet of her, and so she is sheltered more or less from +the cruel scourge of the tongue. + +There is another in the next courtyard; she is not sheltered so. She +lives with her mother-in-law, and the world has lashed her heart for +years; it is simply callous now. There she sits with her chin in her +hand, just hard. Years ago they married her, an innocent, playful little +child, to a man who died when she was nine years old. Then they tore her +jewels from her, all but two little ear-rings, which they left in pity +to her; and this poor little scrap of jewellery was her one little bit +of joy. She could not understand it at first, and when her pretty +coloured seeleys were taken away, and she had to wear the coarse white +cloth she hated so, she cried with impotent childish wrath; and then she +was punished, and called bitter names,--the very word _widow_ means +bitterness,--and gradually she understood that there was something +the matter with her. She was not like other little girls. She had +brought ill-fortune to the home. She was accursed. + +It is true that some are more gently dealt with, and many belong to +Castes where the yoke of Custom lies lighter; for these the point of the +curse is blunted, there is only a dull sense of wrong. But in all the +upper Castes the pressure is heavy, and there are those who feel +intensely, feel to the centre of their soul, the sting of the shame of +the curse. + +"It is fate," says the troubled mother; "who can escape his fate?" "It +is sin," says the mother-in-law; and the rest of the world agrees. +"'Where the bull goes, there goes its rope.' 'Deeds done in a former +birth, in this birth burn.'" + +Much of the working of the curse is hidden behind shut doors. I saw a +young widow last week whose mind is becoming deranged in consequence of +the severity of the penance she is compelled to perform. When, as they +put it, "the god of ill-fortune seizes her," that is, when she becomes +violent, she is quietly "removed to another place." No one sees what is +done to her there, but I know that part of the treatment consists in +scratching her head with thorns, and then rubbing raw lime juice +in--lime juice is like lemon juice, only more acid. When the paroxysm +passes she reappears, and does penance till the next fit comes. This has +been repeated three times within the last few months. + +I was visiting in a Hindu house for two years before I found out that +all that time a girl of seventeen was kept alone in an upper room. "Let +her weep," they said, quoting a proverb; "'though she weeps, will a +widow's sorrow pass?'" Once a day, after dark, she was brought +downstairs for a few minutes, and once a day, at noon, some coarse food +was taken up to her. She is allowed downstairs now, but only in the back +part of the house; she never thinks of resisting this decree--it, and +all it stands for, is her fate. Sometimes the glad girl-life reasserts +itself, and she plays and laughs with her sister-in-law's pretty baby +boy; but if she hears a man's voice she disappears upstairs. There are +proverbs in the language which tell why. + +I sat on the verandah of a well-to-do Hindu house one day, and talked to +the bright-looking women in their jewels and silks. And all the time, +though little I knew it, a widow was tied up in a sack in one of the +inner rooms. This wrong is a hidden wrong. + +I do not think that anyone would call the Hindus distinctively cruel; in +comparison with most other Asiatics their instincts are kind. A custom +so merciless as this custom, which punishes the innocent with so +grievous a punishment, does not seem to us to be natural to them. It +seems like a parasite custom, which has struck its roots deep into the +tree of Hindu social life, but is not part of it. Think of the power +which must have been exerted somewhere by someone before the disposition +of a nation could be changed. + +This custom as it stands is formidable enough. Many a man, Indian and +foreign, has fought it and failed. It is a huge and most rigorous system +of tyrannical oppression, a very pyramid to look at, old, immovable. +But there is Something greater behind it. It is only the effect of a +Cause--the Dust of the Actual. + +What can alter the custom? Strong writing or speaking, agitations, Acts +of Parliament? All these surely have their part. They raise the +question, stir the Dust--but blow it off? Oh no! nothing can touch the +conscience of the people, and utterly reverse their view of things, and +radically alter them, but =God=. + +Yes, it is true, we may make the most of what has been done by +Government, by missionaries and reformers, but there are times in the +heart histories of all who look far enough down to see what goes on +under the surface of things, when the sorrow takes shape in the +Prophet's cry, "We have not wrought any deliverance in the earth!" + +It is true. _We_ have not. We cannot even estimate the real weight of +the lightest speck of the Dust that has settled on the life of this +people. But we believe that our God, Who comprehended the dust of the +earth in a measure, comprehends to the uttermost the Dust of the Actual, +and we believe to see Him work, with Whom is strength and effectual +working. + +We believe to see, and believing even now we see; and when we see +anything, be it ever so little, when the Breath breathes, and even "a +hair's-breadth" of that Dust is blown away, then, with an intensity I +cannot describe, we feel the presence of the Lord our God among us, and +look up in the silence of joy and expectation for the coming of the Day +when all rule, and all authority and power, yea, the power of the very +Actual itself, shall be put down, that God may be all in all. + +So again and yet again we ask you to pray not less for the Reform +movement, and the Educational movement, and the Civilising movement of +India, but far more for the Movement of the Breath of God, and far more +for us His workers here, that we may abide in Him without Whom we can do +nothing. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Roots + + "It is not an easy thing in England to lead an old + man or woman to Christ, even though the only + 'root' which holds them from Him is love of the + world. As the Tamil proverb says, 'That which did + not bend at five will not be bent at fifty,' still + less at sixty or seventy. When a soul in India is + held down, not by one root only, but by a myriad + roots, who is sufficient to deliver it? Only He + who overturneth the mountains by the roots. 'This + kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.'" + _An Indian Missionary._ + + +"AMMA, you are getting old." + +"Yes (grunt), yes." + +"When we are old then death is near." + +"Yes (grunt), yes." + +"Then we must leave our bodies and go somewhere else." + +Three more grunts. + +"Amma, do you know where you are going?" + +Then the old woman wakes up a little, grunts a little more, "Who knows +where she is going?" she mumbles, and relapses into grunts. + +"I know where I am going," the girl answers. "Amma, don't you want to +know?" + +"Don't I want to know what?" + +"Where you are going." + +"Why do I want to know what?" + +The girl goes over it again. The old woman turns to her +daughter-in-law. "Is the rice ready?" she says. The girl tries again. +The old woman agrees we all must die. Death is near to the ancient; she +is ancient, therefore death is near to her, she must go somewhere after +death. It would be well to know where she is going. She does not know +where she is going. Then she gazes and grunts. + +[Illustration: Enlargement of one of the old dames seen in chapter vi. A +capital typical face. We have a number of these keen, interesting old +people, but very rarely find they have any desire to "change their +religion." They are "rooted."] + +The girl tries on different lines. Whom is the old woman looking to, to +help her when death comes? + +"God." + +"What God?" + +"The great God." And rousing herself to express herself she declares +that He is her constant meditation, therefore all is well. "Is the rice +ready?" + +"No." + +"Then give me some betel leaf," and she settles down to roll small +pieces of lime into little balls, and these balls she rolls up in a +betel leaf, with a bit of areca nut for taste, and this betel leaf she +puts into her mouth--all this very slowly, and with many inarticulate +sounds, which I have translated "grunts." And this is all she does. She +does not want to listen or talk, she only wants to scrunch betel, and +grunt. + +This is not a touching tale. It is only true. It happened this evening +exactly as I have told it, and the girl, a distant connection of the old +woman, who had come with me so delightedly, eager to tell the Good +Tidings, had to give it up. She had begun by speaking about the love of +Jesus, but that had fallen perfectly flat; so she had tried the more +startling form of address, with this result--grunts. + +I spent an afternoon not long ago with a more intelligent specimen. Here +she is, a fine sturdy old character, one of the three you saw before. +She was immensely interested with her photo, which I showed her, and she +could not understand at all how, in the one moment when she stood +against a wall, her face "had been caught on a piece of white paper." A +little explanation opened the way for the greater thing I had come +about. We were sitting on a mud verandah, opening on to a square +courtyard; two women pounding rice, two more grinding it, another +sweeping, a cow, some fowls, a great many children, and several babies, +made it exceedingly difficult to concentrate one's attention on +anything, and still more difficult to get the wandering brains of an old +woman to concentrate on a subject in which she had no interest. She had +been interested in the photograph, but that was different. + +The conversation ended by her remarking that it was getting dark, ought +I not to be going home? It was not getting dark yet, but it meant that +she had had enough, so I salaamed and went, hoping for a better chance +again. Next time we visited the Village of the Tamarind she was nowhere +to be seen; she had gone to her own village, she had only come here for +the funeral. Would she return, we asked? Not probable, they said, "she +had come and gone." "Come and gone." As they said it, one felt how true +it was. Come, for that one short afternoon within our reach; gone, out +of it now for ever. + +In that same village there is one who more than any other drew one's +heart out in affection and longing, but so far all in vain. + +I first saw her in the evening as we were returning home. She was +sitting on her verandah, giving orders to the servants as they stood in +the courtyard below. Then she turned and saw us. We were standing in the +street, looking through the open door. The old lady, in her white +garments, with her white hair, sat among a group of women in vivid +shades of red, behind her the dark wood of the pillar and door, and +above the carved verandah roof. + +The men were fresh from the fields, and stood with their rough-looking +husbandry implements slung across their shoulders; the oxen, great +meek-eyed beasts, were munching their straw and swishing their tails as +they stood in their places in the courtyard, where some little children +played. + +The paddy-birds, which are small white storks, were flying about from +frond to frond of the cocoanut palms that hung over the wall, and the +sunset light, striking slanting up, caught the underside of their wings, +and made them shine with a clear pale gold, gold birds in a darkness of +green. A broken mud wall ran round one end, and the sunset colour +painted it too till all the red in it glowed; and then it came softly +through the palms, and touched the white head with a sort of sheen, and +lit up the brow of the fine old face as, bending forward, she beckoned +to us. "Come in! come in!" she said. + +We soon made friends with her. She was a Saivite and we heard afterwards +had received the Initiation; the golden symbol of her god had been +branded upon her shoulder, and she was sworn to lifelong devotion to +Siva; but she had found that he was vain, and she never worshipped him, +she worshipped God alone, "and at night, when the household is sleeping, +I go up alone to an upper room, and stretch out my hands to the God of +all, and cry with a long, loud cry." Then she suddenly turned and faced +me full. "Tell me, is that enough?" she said. "Is it all I must do for +salvation? Say!" + +I did not feel she was ready for a plunge into the deep sea of full +knowledge yet, and I tried to persuade her to leave that question, +telling her that if she believed what we told her of Jesus our Lord, she +would soon know Him well enough to ask Him direct what she wanted to +know, and He Himself would explain to her all that it meant to follow +Him. But she was determined to hear it then, and, as she insisted, I +read her a little of what He says about it Himself. She knew quite +enough to understand and take in the force of the forceful words. She +would not consent to be led gently on. "No, I must know it now," she +said; and as verse by verse we read to her, her face settled +sorrowfully. "So far must I follow, so far?" she said. "_I cannot follow +so far._" + +It was too late for much talk then, but she promised to listen if we +would come and read to her. She could not read, but she seemed to know a +great deal about the Bible. + +For some weeks one of us went once a week; sometimes the men of the +house were in, and then we could not read to her, as they seemed to +object; but oftener no one was about, and she had her way, and we read. + +She told us her story one afternoon. She was the head of a famous old +house; her husband had died many years ago; she had brought up her +children successfully, and now they were settled in life. She had a +Christian relation, but she had never seen him; she thought he had a son +studying in a large school in England--Cambridge, I knew, when I heard +the name; the father is one of our true friends. + +All her sons are greatly opposed, but one of her little girls learnt for +a time, and so the mother heard the Truth, and, being convinced that it +was true, greatly desired to hear more. + +But the child was married, and went away, and she feared to ask the +Missie Ammal to come again, lest people should notice it and talk. So +the years passed emptily, "and oh, my heart was an empty place, a void +as empty as air!" And she stretched out her arms, and clasping her hands +she looked at the empty space between, and then at me with inquiring +eyes, to see if I understood. + +How well one understood! + + "I am an emptiness for Thee to fill, + My soul a cavern for Thy sea, . . . + I have done nought for Thee, am but a Want." + +She had never heard it, but she had said it. We do not often hear it +said, and when we do our whole heart goes out to meet the heart of the +one who says it; everything that is in us yearns with a yearning that +cannot be told, to bring her to Him Who said "Come." + +We were full of hope about her, and we wrote to her Christian relative, +and he wrote back with joy. It seemed so likely then that she would +decide for Christ. + +But one day, for the first time, she did not care to read. I remember +that day so well; it was the time of our monsoon, and the country was +one great marsh. We had promised to go that morning, but the night +before the rivers filled, and the pool between her and us was a lake. We +called the bandyman and explained the situation. He debated a little, +but at last--"Well, the bulls can swim," he said, and they swam. + +We need not have gone, she was "out." "Out," or "not at home to-day," is +a phrase not confined to Society circles where courtesy counts for more +than truth. "I am in, but I do not want to see you," would have been +true, but rude. + +This was the first chill, but she was in next time, and continued to be +in, until after a long talk we had, when again the question rose and had +to be faced, "Can I be a Christian _here_?" + +It was a quiet afternoon; we were alone, only the little grandchildren +were with her--innocent, fearless, merry little creatures, running to +her with their wants, and pulling at her hands and dress as babies do at +home. Their grandmother took no notice of them beyond an occasional pat +or two, but the childish things, with their bright brown eyes and little +fat, soft, clinging hands went into the photo one's memory took, and +helped one the better to understand and sympathise in the humanness of +the pretty home scene, that humanness which is so natural, and which God +meant to be. I think there is nothing in all our work which so rends and +tears at the heart-strings within us, as seeing the spiritual clash with +the natural, and to know that while Caste and bigotry reign it always +must be so. + +We had a good long talk. "I want to be a Christian," she said, and for a +moment I hoped great things, for she as the mistress of the house was +almost free to do as she chose. I thought of her influence over her sons +and their wives, and the little grandchildren; and I think my face +showed the hope I had, for she said, looking very direct at me, "By a +Christian I mean one who worships your God, and ceases to worship all +other gods; for He alone is the Living God, the Pervader of all and +Provider. This I fully believe and affirm, but I cannot break my Caste." + +"Would you continue to keep it in all ways?" + +"How could I possibly break my Caste?" + +"And continue to smear Siva's sign on your forehead?" + +"That is indeed part of my Caste." + +More especially part of it, I knew, since she had received the +Initiation. + +Then the disappointment got into my voice, and she felt it, and said, +"Oh, do not be grieved! These things are external. How can mere ashes +affect the internal, the real essential, the soul?" + +It was such a plausible argument, and we hear it over and over again; +for history repeats itself, there is nothing new under the sun. + +I reminded her that ashes were sacred to Siva. + +"I would not serve Siva," she answered me, "but the smearing of ashes on +one's brow is the custom of my Caste, and I cannot break my Caste." + +Then she looked at me very earnestly with her searching, beautiful, keen +old eyes, and she went over ground she knew I knew. She reminded me what +the requirements of her Caste had always been, that they must be +fulfilled by all who live in the house, and she told me in measured +words and slow that I knew she could not live at home if she broke the +laws of her Caste. But why make so much of trifling things? For matter +and spirit are distinct, and when the hands are raised in prayer, when +the lamp is lighted and wreathed with flowers, the outward observer may +mistake and think the action is pujah to Agni, but God who reads the +heart understands, and judges the thought and not the act. "Yes, my hand +may smear on Siva's ashes, while at the same moment my soul may commune +with God the Eternal, Who only is God." + +I turned to verse after verse to show her this sort of thing could never +be, how it would mock at the love of Christ and nullify His sacrifice. I +urged upon her that if she were true, and the central thought of her +life were towards God, all the outworkings would correspond, creed +fitting deed, and deed fitting creed without the least shade of +diversity. But faith and practice are not to be confused, each is +separate from the other; the two may unite or the one may be divorced +from the other without the integrity of either being affected: this is +the unwritten Hindu code which she and hers had ever held; and now, +after years of belief in it, to face round suddenly to its +opposite--this was more than she could do. She held, as it were, the +Truth in her hand, and turned it round and round and round, but she +always ended where she began; she would not, _could_ not, see it as +Truth, or perhaps more truly, would not accept it. It meant too much. + +There she sat, queen of her home. The sons were expected, and she had +been making preparations for their coming. Her little grandchildren +played about her, each one of them dear as the jewel of her eye. How +could she leave it all, how could she leave them all--home, all that it +stands for; children, all that they mean? + +Then she looked at me again, and I shall never forget the look. It +seemed as if she were looking me through and through, and forcing the +answer to come. She spoke in little short sentences, instinct with +intensity. "I _cannot_ live here and break my Caste. If I break it I +must go. I _cannot_ live here without keeping my customs. If I break +them I must go. You know all this. I ask you, then, tell me yes or no. +Can I live here and keep my Caste, and at the same time follow your God? +Tell me yes or no!" + +I did not tell her--how could I? But she read the answer in my eyes, and +she said, as she had said before, "I cannot follow so far--so far, _I +cannot follow so far_!" + +"Reverence for opinions and practice held sacred by his ancestors is +ingrained in every fibre of a Hindu's character, and is, so to speak, +bred in the very bone of his physical and moral constitution." So writes +Sir Monier Williams. It is absolutely true. + +Oh, friends, is it easy work? My heart is sore as I write, with the +soreness that filled it that day. I would have given anything to be able +truthfully to say "yes" to her question. But "across the will of nature +leads on the path of God" for them; and they have to follow so very far, +so very, very far! + +All trees have roots. To tear up a full-grown tree by the roots, and +transplant it bodily, is never a simple process. But in India we have a +tree with a double system of roots. The banyan tree drops roots from its +boughs. These bough roots in time run as deep underground as the +original root. And the tap root and its runners, and the branch roots +and theirs, get knotted and knit into each other, till the whole forms +one solid mass of roots, thousands of yards of a tangle of roots, +sinuous and strong. Conceive the uprooting of such a tree, like the +famous one of North India, for instance, which sheltered an army of +seven thousand men. You cannot conceive it; it could not be done, the +earthward hold is so strong. + +The old in India are like these trees; they are doubly, inextricably +rooted. There is the usual great tap root common to all human trees in +all lands--faith in the creed of the race; there are the usual running +roots too--devotion to family and home. All these hold the soul down. + +But in India we have more--we have the branch-rooted system of Caste; +Caste so intricate, so precise, that no Western lives who has traced it +through its ramifications back to the bough from which it dropped in the +olden days. + +This Caste, then, these holding laws, which most would rather die than +break, are like the branch roots of the banyan tree with their infinite +strength of grip. But the strangest thing to us is this: the people love +to have it so; they do not regard themselves as held, these roots are +their pride and joy. Take a child of four or five, ask it a question +concerning its Caste, and you will see how that baby tree has begun to +drop branch rootlets down. Sixty years afterwards look again, and every +rootlet has grown a tree, each again sending rootlets down; and so the +system spreads. + +But we look up from the banyan tree. God! what are these roots to Thee? +These Caste-root systems are nothing to Thee! India is not too hard for +Thee! O God, come! + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +The Classes and the Masses + + "We speak of work done against the force of + gravitation. If the magnitude of a force can be + estimated in any sense by the resistance which it + has to overcome, then verily there is no land + under the sun more calculated than India to + display the Grand Forces of God's Omnipotent + Grace. For here it has to face and overcome the + _combined resistances_ of the Caste system, + entrenched heathenism, and deeply subtle + philosophies. Praise God! it can and will be done. + Thou, who alone doest wondrous things, work on. + 'So will we sing and praise Thy power.'" + _Rev. T. Walker, India._ + + +PERHAPS it would help towards the better understanding of these letters +if we stopped and explained things a little. Some may have been +wondering, as they read, how it is that while the South Indian fields +are constantly quoted as among the most fruitful in the world, we seem +to be dealing with a class where fruit is very rare, and so subject to +blighting influences after it has appeared, that we hardly like to speak +of it till it is ripe and reaped and safe in the heavenly garner. I +think it will be easier to understand all this if we view Hindu Tamil +South India (with which alone this book deals) from the outside, and let +it fall into two divisions the Classes and the Masses. There is, of +course, the border line between, crossed over on either side by some who +belong to the Classes but are almost of the Masses, and by some who +belong to the Masses but are almost of the Classes. Broadly speaking, +however, there is a distinct difference between the two. As to their +attitude towards the Gospel, the Classes and the Masses unite; they are +wholly indifferent to it. + +In a paper read at the Student Volunteers' Conference in 1900, a South +Indian missionary summed up the matter in a comprehensive sentence: +"Shut in for millenniums by the gigantic wall of the Himalayas on the +North, and by the impassable ocean on the South, they have lived in +seclusion from the rest of the world, and have developed social +institutions and conceptions of the universe, and of right and wrong, +quite their own. Their own religion and traditionary customs are +accepted as sufficiently meeting their needs, and they are not conscious +of needing any teaching from foreigners. They will always listen +courteously to what we say, and this constitutes an open door for the +Gospel, but of conscious need and hungering for the Gospel there is +little or none. So long as it is only a matter of preaching, there are +in the world no more patient listeners than the Hindus. But as soon as a +case arises of one of their number abandoning the Caste customs and +traditionary worship, all their hostility is aroused, and the whole +community feels it a duty of patriotism to do its utmost to deprive that +individual of liberty of action, and to defend the vested rights of +Hinduism." + +For the true Hindu is fervently Hindu. His religion "may be described as +bound up in the bundle of his everyday existence." His intense belief in +it, and in his Caste, which is part of it, gives edge to the blade with +which he fights the entrance of a new religion to his home. This new +religion he conceives of as something inherently antagonistic to his +Caste, and as Caste is at every point connected with Hinduism, a thing +interwoven with it, as if Hinduism were the warp and Caste the woof of +the fabric of Indian life, we cannot say he is mistaken in regarding +Christianity as a foe to be fought if he would continue a Caste Hindu. +So far, in South Indian religious history, we have no example on a large +scale of anything approaching the Bramo Samaj of the North. In the more +conservative South there is almost no compromise with, and little +assimilation of, the doctrine which makes all men one in Christ. + +To return to the division--Classes and Masses--the Classes comprise +members of what are known as the higher Castes, and in speaking of towns +and villages where these dwell, and of converts from among them, the +prefix "Caste" is sometimes used. Among the Classes we find women of +much tenderness of feeling and a culture of their own, but their minds +are narrowed by the petty lives they live, lives in many instances +bounded by no wider horizon than thoughts concerning their husbands and +children and jewels and curries, and always their next-door neighbour's +squabbles and the gossip of the place. Much of this gossip deals with +matters which are not of an elevating character. It takes us years to +understand it, because most of the conversation is carried on in +allusion or innuendo. But it is understood by the children. One of our +converts told me that she often prays for power to forget the words she +heard, and the things she saw, and the games she played, when she was a +little child in her mother's room. + +[Illustration: This old man is the Hindu village schoolmaster. The boys +write on a strip of palm leaf with an iron style. These little lads come +to us every Sunday afternoon. Will some one remember them?] + +The young girls belonging to the higher Castes are kept in strict +seclusion. During these formative years they are shut up within the +courtyard walls to the dwarfing life within, and as a result they get +dwarfed, and lose in resourcefulness and independence of mind, and above +all in courage; and this tells terribly in our work, making it so +difficult to persuade such a one to think for herself or dare to decide +to believe. Such seclusion is not felt as imprisonment; a girl is +trained to regard it as the proper thing, and we never find any desire +among those so secluded to break bounds and rush out into the free, open +air. They do not feel it cramped as we should; it is their custom. + +It is this custom which makes work among girls exceedingly slow and +unresultful. They have to be reached one by one, and it takes many +months of teaching before the mind opens enough to understand that it +may be free. The reaction of the physical upon the mental is never more +clearly illustrated than in such cases. Sometimes it seems as if the +mind _could_ not go out beyond the cramping walls; but when it has, by +God's illumination, received light enough to see into the darkness of +the soul, and the glory that waits to shine in on it, conceive of the +tremendous upheaval, the shock of finding solid ground sink, as +gradually or suddenly the conviction comes upon such a one that if she +acts upon this new knowledge there is no place for her at home. She must +give everything up--_everything_! + +Do you wonder that few are found willing to "follow so far"? Do you +wonder that our hearts nearly break sometimes, as we realize the cost +for them? Do you wonder that, knowing how each is set as a target for +the archer who shoots at souls, we fear to say much about them, lest we +should set the targets clearer in his sight? + +The men and boys of the Classes live a more liberal life, and here you +find all varying shades of refinement. There is education, too, and a +great respect for learning, and reverence for their classic literature +and language, a language so ancient that we find certain Tamil words in +the Hebrew Scriptures, and so rich, that while "nearly all the +vernaculars of India have been greatly enriched from the Sanscrit, +Sanscrit has borrowed from Tamil." Almost every Caste village has its +own little school, and every town has many, where the boys are taught +reading, writing, poetry, and mental arithmetic. + +There is not much education among the Masses. Here and there a man +stands out who has fought his way through the ignorance of centuries, up +into the light of the knowledge of books. Such a man is greatly +respected by the whole community. The women have the same kindly nature +as the women of the Classes, and there is surprising responsiveness +sometimes, where one would least expect it. We have known a Tamil woman, +distinctly of the Masses, never secluded in her girlhood, but left to +bloom as a wild flower in the field, as sensitive in spirit as any lady +born. The people are rough and rustic in their ways, but there are +certain laws observed which show a spirit of refinement latent among +them; there are customs which compare favourably with the customs of the +masses at home. As a whole, they are like the masses of other lands, +with good points and bad points in strong relief, and just the same +souls to be saved. + +Converts from among the Masses, as a general rule, are able to live at +home. There is persecution, but they are not turned out of village, +street, or house. Often they come in groups, two or three families +together perhaps, or a whole village led by its headman comes over. +There is less of the single one-by-one conversion and confession, though +there is an increasing number of such, and they are the best we have. + +It is easy to understand how much more rapidly Christianity spreads +under such conditions than among those prevailing among the Classes; we +see it illustrated over and over again. For example, in a certain +high-caste Hindu town some miles distant from our station on the Eastern +side, a young man heard the Gospel preached at an open-air meeting; he +believed, and confessed in baptism, thus breaking Caste and becoming an +alien to his own people. He has never been able to live at home since, +and so there has been no witness borne, no chance to let the life show +out the love of God. The men of that household doubtless know something +of the truth; they know enough, at least, to make them responsible for +refusing it; but what can the women know? Only that the son of the house +has disgraced his house and name; only that he has destroyed his Caste +and broken his mother's heart. "Shame upon him," they cry with one +voice, "and curses on the cause of the shame, the 'Way' of Jesus +Christ!" It is useless to say they are merely women, and do not count; +they _do_ count. Their influence counts for a very great deal. +Theoretically, women in India are nothing where religion is concerned; +practically, they are the heart of the Hindu religion, as the men are +its sinew and brain. There has never been a convert in that town since +that young man was banished from it, out-casted by his Caste. + +But in a village only a few miles from that town a heathen lad believed, +and was baptised, and returned home, not so welcome as before, but not +considered too defiled to be reckoned a son of the household still. His +father is dead, his mother is a bitter opponent, but his brother has +come since, and within a stone's-throw another; and so it goes on: the +life has a chance to tell. Almost every time we have gone to that +village we have found some ready for baptism, and though none of the +mothers have been won, they witness to the change in the life of their +sons. "My boy's heart is as white as milk now," said one, who had stood +by and seen that boy tied up and flogged for Christ's sake. They rarely +"change their religion," these staunch old souls; "let me go where my +husband is; he would have none of it!" said one, and nothing seems to +move them; but they let their boys live at home, and perhaps, even yet, +the love will break down their resistance. They are giving it a chance. + +I think this one illustration explains more than many words would the +difference between work among the Classes and the Masses, and why it is +that one form of work is so much more fruitful than the other. + +The Masses must not be understood as a vast casteless Mass, out-casted +by the Classes, for the Caste system runs down to the very lowest +stratum, but their Caste rules allow of freer intercourse with others. +We may visit in their houses more freely, enter more freely into their +thoughts, share more freely in the interests of their lives. We are less +outside, as it were. But the main difference between the one set of +people and the other lies deeper; it is a difference underground. It +works out, however, into something all can see. Among the Masses, "mass +movements" are of common occurrence; among the Classes, with rare +exceptions, each one must come out alone. + +[Illustration: A village woman of the Shanar Caste. The photo shows the +baby's ears being prepared for the jewels her mother hopes will fill +them by and by. Holes are made first and filled with cotton wool, +graduated leaden weights are added till the lobes are long enough.] + +This is often forgotten by observers of the Indian Field from the home +side. There are parts of that field where the labourers seem to be +always binding up sheaves and singing harvest songs; and from other +parts come fewer songs, for the sheaves are fewer there, or it may be +there are none at all, only a few poor ears of corn, and they had to be +gathered one by one, and they do not show in the field. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +The Creed Chasm + + "I have had to deal in the same afternoon's work, + on the one hand with men of keen powers of + intellect, whose subtle reasoning made one look to + the foundations of one's own faith; and on the + other hand with ignorant crowds, whose conception + of sin was that of a cubit measure, and to whom + the terms 'faith' and 'love' were as absolutely + unknown as though they had been born and bred in + some undeveloped race of Anthropoids." + _Rev. T. Walker, India._ + + +IN writing about the Classes and the Masses of South India, one great +difference which does not exist at home should be explained. In England +a prince and a peasant may be divided by outward things--social +position, style of life, and the duty of life--but in all inward things +they may be one--one in faith, one in purpose, one in hope. The +difference which divides them is only accidental, external; and the +peasant, perhaps being in advance of the prince in these verities of +existence, may be regarded by the prince as nobler than himself: there +is no spiritual chasm between them. It is the same in the realm of +scholarship. All true Christians, however learned or however unlearned, +hold one and the same faith. But in India it is not so. The scholar +would smile at the faith of the simple villagers, he would even teach +them to believe that which he did not believe himself, holding that it +was more suitable for them, and he would marvel at your ignorance if +you confounded his creed with theirs; and yet in name both he and they +are Hindus. + +Sir Monier Williams explains the existence of this difference by +describing the receptivity and all-comprehensiveness of Hinduism. "It +has something to offer which is suited to all minds, its very strength +lies in its infinite adaptability to the infinite diversity of human +characters and human tendencies. It has its highly spiritual and +abstract side, suited to the metaphysical philosopher; its practical and +concrete side, suited to the man of affairs and the man of the world; +its aesthetic and ceremonial side, suited to the man of poetic feeling +and imagination; its quiescent and contemplative side, suited to the man +of peace and lover of seclusion. Nay, it holds out the right hand of +brotherhood to nature worshippers, demon worshippers, animal +worshippers, tree worshippers, fetich worshippers. It does not scruple +to permit the most grotesque forms of idolatry and the most degrading +varieties of superstition, and it is to this latter fact that yet +another remarkable peculiarity of Hinduism is mainly due--_namely, that +in no other System of the world is the chasm more vast which separates +the religion of the higher, cultured, and thoughtful Classes, from that +of the lower, uncultured, and unthinking Masses_." + +Naturally, therefore, work among them is different; one almost needs a +different vocabulary for each, and certainly one needs a different set +of ideas. I remember how, in one afternoon's work, we saw the two types +most perfectly. In thinking of it, it is as if one saw again the quiet +face of the old scholar against a background of confusion, the clear +calm features carved as in ivory, and set with a light upon it; chaotic +darkness behind. We were visiting his wife, when he came out from the +inner room, and asked if he might talk with us. Usually to such a +question I say no; we have come to the women, who are far the more +needy, the men can easily hear if they will. But he was such an old man, +I felt I could not refuse; so he began to tell me what he held as truth, +which was, in brief, that there are two sets of attachment, one outer, +one inner; that deliverance from these, and from Self, the Ego, which +regards itself as the doer, constitutes Holiness; that is, that one must +be completely disentangled and completely self-less. This attained, the +next is Bliss, which is progressive. First comes existence in the same +place as God. Second, nearness to God. Third, likeness to God. Fourth, +identity with God. Then he quoted from a classic beloved by all the old +Tamil school, stanza after stanza, to prove the truth of the above, +ending with one which Dr. Pope has thus translated-- + + "_Cling thou to that which He to Whom nought clings hath bid thee + cling, + Cling to that bond, to get thee free from every clinging thing._" + +He knew Sanscrit, and read me strange-sounding passages from a huge +ancient book, and then, in return for a booklet, he gave me one of Mrs. +Besant's translations from the _Bhagavad Gita_. + +The talk ended in my quoting what he could not deny was the true +heart-cry of one of his greatest poets. "I know nothing! nothing! I am +in darkness! Lord, is there no light for me?" And another, from the +poem he had quoted, which asks the question, "What is the use of +knowledge, mere knowledge, if one does not draw near to the All-knowing, +All-pure One?" And this led into what he would not listen to at first, a +little reading from the Book of books, before whose light even these +wonderful books pale as tapers in clear sunshine. The marvel of our +Bible never shows more marvellous than at such times, when you see it in +deed and in truth the Sword of the Spirit, and it _cuts_. + +The old man asked me to come again, and I did, as the Iyer was away. He +often got out of my depth, and I longed to know more; but I always found +the Bible had the very word he needed, if he would only take it. So far +as I know, he did not, and I left him--to quote his own words, though +not spoken of himself, alas!--"bewildered by numerous thoughts, meshed +in the web of delusion." + +As we left our old scholar, we came upon a thing wholly foolish and +brainless, animalism in force. It was the difference between the Classes +and the Masses once for all painted in glare. A huge procession was +tearing along the streets and roads, with all the usual uproar. They +stopped when they got to a big thorn bush, and then danced round it, +carrying their idols raised on platforms, and borne by two or three +dozen to each. We passed, singing as hard as ever we could "Victory to +Jesus' Name! Victory!" and when we got rather out of the stream, +stopped, and sang most vigorously, till quite a little crowd gathered, +and we had a chance to witness. + +It was dark, and the flaming torches lit up the wildest, most barbaric +bit of heathenism I have seen for a long time. The great black moving +mass seemed like some hellish sea which had burst its bounds, and the +hundreds of red-fire torches moving up and down upon it like lights in +infernal fishermen's boats, luring lost souls to their doom. + +As we waited and spoke to those who would hear, a sudden rush from the +centre of things warned us to go; but before we could get out of the +way, a rough lad with a thorn-branch torch stuck it right into the +bandy, and all but set fire to us. He ran on with a laugh, and another +followed with an idol, a hideous creature, red and white, which he also +pushed in upon us. Our bullocks trotted as fast as they could, and we +soon got out of it all, and looking back saw the great square of the +devil temple blazing with torches and firebrands, and heard the +drummings and clangings and yells which announced the arrival of the +procession. + +All that night the riotous drumming continued, and, as one lay awake and +listened, one pictured the old scholar sitting in the cool night air on +his verandah, reading his ancient palm-leaf books by the light of the +little lamp in the niche of his cottage wall. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Caste viewed as a Doer + + "It is matter for especial notice that in every + department of applied science we have to deal with + the unseen. All forces, whether in physics, + mechanics, or electricity, are invisible." + _Alexander Mackay, Africa._ + + +THE division of the Tamil people, over fifteen million strong, into +Classes and Masses, though convenient and simple, is far too simple to +be of value in giving an accurate idea of the matter as it is understood +from within. As we said, it is only an outside view of things. A study +of Caste from an Indian point of view is a study from which you rise +bewildered. + +What is Caste? What is electricity? Lord Kelvin said, on the occasion of +his jubilee, that he knew no more of electric and magnetic force . . . +than he knew and tried to teach his students of natural philosophy fifty +years ago in his first session as Professor. We know that electricity +exists, we are conscious of its presence in the phenomena of light, +heat, sound; but we do not know what it is. + +Nothing could more perfectly illustrate Caste. You cannot live long in a +conservative part of India, in close contact with its people, without +being conscious of its presence; if you come into conflict with it, it +manifests itself in a flash of opposition, hot rage of persecution, the +roar of the tumult of the crowd. But try to define it, and you find you +cannot do it. It is not merely birth, class, a code of rules, though it +includes all these. It is a force, an energy; there is spirit in it, +essence, hidden as the invisible essence which we call electricity. + +Look at what it does. A few months ago a boy of twelve resolved to be a +Christian. His clan, eight thousand strong, were enraged. There was a +riot in the streets; in one house the poison cup was ready. Better death +than loss of Caste. + +In another town a boy took his stand, and was baptised, thus crossing +the line that divides secret belief from open confession. His Caste men +got hold of him afterwards; next time he was seen he was a raving +lunatic. The Caste was avenged. + +It may be someone will wonder if these things are confined to one part +of the field, so I quote from another, working in a neighbouring field, +Tamil, but not "ours." + +She tells of a poor low-caste woman who learned in her home, and +believed. Her husband also believed, and both thought of becoming +Christians. The village soothsayer warned them that their father's god +would be angry; they did not heed him, but went on, and suddenly their +baby died. This was too much for their faith then, and they both went +back to idolatry. + +A few years afterwards their eldest child began to learn to read, and +the mother's faith revived. The soothsayer and her husband reminded her +of the infant's fate, but she was brave, and let her child learn. Then +her cow suddenly died. "Did we not tell you so?" they said, and for the +moment she was staggered; but she rallied, and only became more earnest +in faith. So the soothsayer threatened worse. + +[Illustration: Cooking in a house of the Shanar Caste, always the most +accessible of all Castes here, but this is a specially friendly house, +or we should not have been allowed to take the photo. The small girl who +is grinding curry stuff on the stone is the "Imp" of chapter xx.] + +Then a Caste meeting was called to determine what could be done with +this woman. The husband attended the meeting, and was treated to some +rice and curry; before he reached home he was taken violently ill, and +in three days he died. The relatives denounced the woman as the cause of +her husband's death, took her only son from her, and entreated her to +return to her father's gods before they should all be annihilated. They +gave her "two weeks to fast and mourn for her husband, then finding her +mind as firmly fixed on Christ as before, they sent her to Burmah." + +This happened recently. It is told without any effort to appeal to the +sympathies of anyone, simply as a fact; a witness, every line of it, to +the power of Caste as a Doer. But there is something in the tale, told +so terribly quietly, that makes one's heart burn with indignation at the +unrelenting cruelty which would hound a poor woman down, and send her, +bereft of all she loved, into exile, such as a foreign land would be to +one who knew only her own little village. And when you remember the +Caste was "low," which they took such infinite pains to guard, you can +judge, perhaps, what the hate would be, the concentration of scorn and +hate, if the Caste were higher or high. + +But look at Caste in another way, in its power in the commonplace phases +of life. For example, take a kitchen and cooking, and see how Caste +rules there. For cooking is not vulgar work, or _infra dig._ in any +sense, in India; all Caste women in good orthodox Hindu families +either do their own or superintend the doing of it by younger members of +the same family or servants of the same Caste. "We Europeans cannot +understand the extent to which culinary operations may be associated +with religion. The kitchen in every Indian household is a kind of +sanctuary or holy ground. . . . The mere glance of a man of inferior +Caste makes the greatest delicacies uneatable, and if such a glance +happens to fall on the family supplies during the cooking operations, +when the ceremonial purity of the water used is a matter of almost life +and death to every member of the household, the whole repast has to be +thrown away as if poisoned. The family is for that day dinnerless. Food +thus contaminated would, if eaten, communicate a taint to the souls as +well as bodies of the eaters, a taint which could only be removed by +long and painful expiation." Thus far Sir Monier Williams (quoted as a +greater authority than any mere missionary!). Think of the defilement +which would be contracted if a member of the household who had broken +Caste in baptism took any part in the cooking. It would never be +allowed. Such a woman could take no share in the family life. Her +presence, her shadow, above all her touch, would be simply pollution. +Therefore, and for many other reasons, her life at home is impossible, +and the Hindu, without arguing about it, regards it as impossible. It +does not enter into the scheme of life as laid down by the rules of his +Caste. He never, if he is orthodox, contemplates it for a moment as a +thing to be even desired. + +Cooking and kitchen work may seem small (though it would not be easy for +even the greatest to live without reference to it), so let us look out +on the world of trade, and see Caste again as a Doer there. If a +merchant becomes a Christian, no one will buy his goods; if he is a +weaver, no one will buy his cloth; if he is a dyer, no one will buy his +thread; if he is a jeweller, no one will employ him. If it is remembered +that every particular occupation in life represents a particular Caste, +it will be easily understood how matters are complicated where converts +from the great Trades Unions are concerned. Hence the need of Industrial +Missions, and the fact that they exist. + +A man wants to become a Christian, say, from the blacksmith or carpenter +Caste. As a Christian he loses his trade, and he has been trained to no +other. His forefathers worked in iron or wood, and he cannot attempt to +learn other work. Let the Christians employ him, you say. Some do; but +the question involves other questions far too involved for discussion +here. And even if we discussed it, we should probably end where we +began--facing a practical problem which no one can hope to solve while +Caste is what it is. + +Just now this system is in full operation in the case of a lad of the +brassworker Caste. He is a thoughtful boy, and he has come to the +conclusion that Christianity is the true religion; he would like to be a +Christian; if the conditions were a little easier he would be enrolled +as an inquirer to-morrow. But here is the difficulty. His father is not +strong, his mother and little sisters and brothers are his care; if he +were a Christian he could not support them; no one would sell him brass, +no one would buy the vessels he makes. He knows only his inherited +trade. He can make fine water-pots, lamps, vases, and vessels of all +sorts, nothing else. He is too old to learn any other trade; but +supposing such an arrangement could be made, who would support the +family in the meantime? Perhaps we might do it; we certainly could not +let them starve; but it would not do to tell him so, or to hold out +hopes of earthly help, till we know beyond a doubt that he is true. This +is what is holding him back. He reads over and over again, "He that +loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me," and then he +looks at his father and mother and the little children; and he reads the +verse again, and he looks at them again. It is too hard. + +It is easy enough to tell him that God would take care of them if he +obeys. We do tell him so, but can we wonder at the boy for hesitating to +take a step which will, so far as he can see, take house and food and +all they need from his mother and those little children? + +These are some of the things which make work in India what is simply +called difficult. We do not want to exaggerate. We know all lands have +their difficulties, but when being a Christian means all this, over and +above what it means elsewhere, then the bonds which bind souls are +visibly strengthened, and the work can never be described as other than +very difficult. + +Or take the power of Caste in another direction--its callous cruelty. I +give one illustration from last year's life. + +I was visiting in the house where the old lady lives upon whom the +afflatus fell. The first time we went there we saw a little lad of three +or four, who seemed to be suffering with his eyes. He lay in a swinging +bag hung from the roof, and cried piteously all the time we were there. +Now, two months afterwards, there he lay crying still, only his cries +were so weary he had hardly strength to cry. + +They lifted him out. I should not have known the child--the pretty face +drawn and full of pain, the little hands pressed over the burning eyes. +Only one who has had it knows the agony of ophthalmia. They told me he +had not slept, "not even the measure of a rape-seed," for three months. +Night and day he cried and cried; "but he does not make much noise now," +they added. He couldn't, poor little lad! + +I begged them to take him to the hospital, twenty-five miles away, but +they said to go to a hospital was against their Caste. The child lay +moaning so pitifully it wrung my heart, and I pleaded and pleaded with +them to let me take him if they would not. Even if his sight could not +be saved, something could be done to ease the pain, I knew. But no, he +might die away from home, and that would disgrace their Caste. + +"Then he is to suffer till he is blind or dead?" and I felt half wild +with the cold cruelty of it. + +"What can we do?" they asked; "can we destroy our Caste?" + +Oh, I did blaze out for a moment! I really could not help it. And then I +knelt down among them all, just broken with the pity of it, and prayed +with all my heart and soul that the Good Shepherd would come and gather +the lamb in His arms! + +I wonder if you can bear to read it? I can hardly bear to write it. But +you have not seen the little wasted hands pressed over the eyes, and +then falling helplessly, too tired to hold up any longer; and you have +not heard those weak little wails--and to think it need not have been! + +But we could do nothing. We were leaving the place next day, and even if +we could have helped him, they would not have let us. They had their own +doctor, they said; the case was in his hands. As we came away they +explained that one of the boy's distant relatives had died two years +ago, and that this was what prevented any of them leaving the house, as +some obscure Caste rule would be broken if they did; otherwise, +_perhaps_ they might have been able to take him somewhere for change of +treatment. So there that child must lie in his pain, one more little +living sacrifice on the altar of Caste. + +The last thing I heard them say as we left the house was, "Cry softly, +or we'll put more medicine in!" And the last thing I saw was the +tightening of the little hands over the poor shut eyes, as he tried to +stifle his sobs and "cry softly." _This told one what the "medicine" +meant to him._ One of the things they had put in was raw pepper mixed +with alum. + +Is not Caste a cruel thing? Those women were not heartless, but they +would rather see that baby die in torture by inches, than dim with one +breath the lustre of their brazen escutcheon of Caste! + +[Illustration: "I determined not to laugh!" That was what she said when +she saw it, and she was fairly satisfied with the result of her efforts. +The jewels are gold, the seeley a rich red. A woman of this type makes a +fine picture,--the strong intelligent face, the perfect arms and hands, +the glistening gold on the clear brown, and the graceful dress +harmonising so perfectly with the colour of eyes and hair. The one +deformity is the ear, cut so as to hold the jewels, which are so heavy +that one wonders the stretched lobes do not break.] + +This is one glimpse of one phase of a power which is only a name at +home. It is its weakest phase; for the hold of Caste upon the body is as +nothing to the hold it has upon the mind and soul. It yields to the +touch of pain sometimes, as our medical missionaries know; but it +tightens again too often when the need for relief is past. It is +unspeakably strong, unmercifully cruel, and yet it would seem as though +the very blood of the people ran red with it. _It is in them_, part of +their very being. + +This, then, is Caste viewed as a Doer. It does strange things, hard +things, things most cruel. It is, all who fight it are agreed, the +strongest foe to the Gospel of Christ on the Hindu fields of South +India. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +Petra + + "This work in India . . . is one of the most crucial + tests the Church of Christ has ever been put to. + The people you think to measure your forces + against are such as the giant races of Canaan are + nothing to." + _Bishop French, India and Arabia._ + + +IT was very hot, and we were tired, and the friendly voice calling "Come +in! come in! Oh, come and rest!" was a welcome sound, and we went in. + +She was a dear old friend of mine, the only real friend I have in that +ancient Hindu town. Her house is always open to us, the upper room +always empty--or said to be so--when we are needing a rest. But she is a +Hindu of the Hindus, and though so enlightened that for love's sake she +touches us freely, taking our hands in hers, and even kissing us, after +we go there is a general purification; every scrap of clothing worn +while we were in the house is carefully washed before sunset. + +She insisted now upon feeding us, called for plantains and sugar, broke +up the plantains, dabbed the pulp in the sugar, and commanded us to eat. +Then she sat down satisfied, and was photographed. + +This town, a little ancient Hindu town, is two hours journey from +Dohnavur. There are thirty-eight stone temples and shrines in and around +it, and five hundred altars. No one has counted the number of idols; +there are two hundred under a single tree near one of the smaller +shrines. Each of the larger temples has its attendant temple-women; +there are two hundred recognised Servants of the gods, and two hundred +annual festivals. + +Wonderful sums are being worked just now concerning the progress of +Christianity in India. A favourite sum is stated thus: the number of +Christians has increased during the last decade at a certain ratio. +Given the continuance of this uniform rate of increase, it will follow +that within a computable period India will be a Christian land. One flaw +in this method of calculation is that it takes for granted that +Brahmans, high-caste Hindus, and Mohammedans will be Christianised at +the same rate of progress as prevails at present among the depressed +classes. + +There are sums less frequently stated. Here in the heart of this Hindu +town they come with force; one such sum worked out carefully shows that, +according to the present rate of advance, it will be more than twenty +thousand years before the Hindu towns of this district are even +nominally Christian. Another still more startling gives us this result: +according to the laws which govern statistics, thirteen hundred thousand +years must pass before the Brahmans in this one South Indian district +are Christianised. And if the sum is worked so as to cover all India, +the result is quite as staggering to faith based on statistics. + +Praise God, this is not His arithmetic! It is a purely human invention. +We believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; we believe in +God, even God Who calleth the things that are not as though they were: +therefore these sums prove nothing. But if such sums are worked at all, +they ought to be worked on both sides, and not only on the side which +yields the most encouraging results. + +Two of us spent a morning in the Brahman street. In these old Hindu +towns the Brahman street is built round the temple, and in large towns +this street is a thoroughfare, and we are allowed in. The women stood in +the shadow of the cool little dark verandahs, and we stood out in the +sun and tried to make friends with them. Then some Mission College boys +saw us and felt ashamed that we should stand in that blazing heat, and +they offered us a verandah; but the women instantly cleared off, and the +men came, and the boys besought us under their breath to say nothing +about our religion. + +We spoke for a few minutes, throwing our whole soul into the chance. We +felt that our words were as feathers floating against rocks; but we +witnessed, and they listened till, as one of them remarked, it was time +to go for their noontide bathe, and we knew they wished us to go. We +went then, and found a wall at the head of the Brahman street, and we +stood in its shadow and tried again. Crowds of men and lads gathered +about us, but our College boys stood by our side and helped to quiet +them. "Now you see," they said to us, as they walked with us down the +outer street, "how quite impossible for us is Christianity." + +It is good sometimes to take time to take in the might of the foe we +fight. That evening two of us had a quiet few minutes under the temple +walls. Those great walls, reaching so high above us, stretching so far +beyond us, seemed a type of the wall Satan has built round these souls. + +We could touch this visible wall, press against it, feel its solid +strength. Run hard against it, and you would be hurt, you might fall +back bleeding; it would not have yielded one inch. + +And the other invisible wall? Oh, we can touch it too! Spirit-touch is a +real thing. And so is spirit-pain. But the wall, it still stands strong. + +It was moonlight. We had walked all round the great temple square, down +the silent Brahman streets, and we had stood in the pillared hall, and +looked across to the open door, and seen the light on the shrine. + +Now we were out in God's clean light, looking up at the mass of the +tower, as it rose pitch-black against the sky. And we felt how small we +were. + +Then the influences of the place began to take hold of us. It was not +only masonry; it was mystery. "The Sovereigns of this present Darkness" +were there. + +How futile all of earth seemed then, against those tremendous forces and +powers. What toy-swords seemed all weapons of the flesh. Praise God for +the Holy Ghost! + +While we were sitting there a Brahman came to see what we were doing, +and we told him some of our thoughts. He asked us then if we would care +to hear his. We told him, gladly. He pointed up to the temple tower. +"That is my first step to God." We listened, and he unfolded, thought by +thought, that strange old Vedic philosophy, which holds that God, being +omnipresent, reveals Himself in various ways, in visible forms in +incarnations, or in spirit. The visible-form method of revelation is +the lowest; it is only, as it were, the first of a series of steps which +lead up to the highest, intelligent adoration of and absorption into the +One Supreme Spirit. "We are only little children yet. We take this small +first step, it crumbles beneath us as we rise to the next, and so step +by step we rise from the visible to the invisible, from matter to +spirit--to God. But," he added courteously, "as my faith is good for me, +so, doubtless, you find yours for you." + +Next morning we went down to the river and had talks with the people who +passed on their way to the town. It was all so pretty in the early +morning light. Men were washing their bullocks, and children were +scampering in and out of the water. Farther downstream the women were +bathing their babies and polishing their brass water-vessels. Trees met +overhead, but the light broke through in places and made yellow patches +on the water. Out in one of those reaches of yellow a girl stood bending +to fill her vessel; she wore the common crimson of the South, but the +light struck it, and struck the shining brass as she swung it up under +her arm, and made her into a picture as she stood in her clinging wet +red things against the brown and green of water and wood. Everywhere we +looked there was something beautiful to look at, and all about us was +the sound of voices and laughter, and the musical splashing of water; +then, as we enjoyed it all, we saw this: + +Under an ancient tree fifteen men were walking slowly round and round, +following the course of the sun. Under the tree there were numbers of +idols, and piles of oleander and jessamin wreaths, brought fresh that +morning. The men were elderly, fine-looking men; they were wholly +engrossed in what they were doing. It was no foolish farce to them; it +was reality. + +There is something in the sight of this ordinary, evident dethronement +of our God which stirs one to one's inmost soul. We could not look at +it. + +Again and again we have gone to that town, but to-day those men go round +that tree, and to-day that town is a fort unwon. + +Petra, I have called it; the word stands for many a town walled in as +that one is. In Keith's _Evidence of Prophecy_ there is a map of Petra, +the old strong city of Edom, and in studying it a light fell upon +David's question concerning it, and his own triumphant answer, "Who will +lead me into the strong city? Who will bring me into Edom? Wilt not +Thou, O God?" for the map shows the mountains all round except at the +East, where they break into a single narrow passage, the one way in. +There was only one way in, but there _was_ that one way in! + +Here is a town walled up to heaven by walls of Caste and bigotry, but +there must be one way in. Here is a soul walled all round by utter +indifference and pride, but there must be one way in. + +"Who will lead me into the strong city? Who will bring me into Edom? +=Wilt not Thou, O God?=" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +Death by Disuse + + "There is a strong tendency to look upon the + Atonement of Christ as possessing some quality by + virtue of which God can excuse and overlook sin in + the Christian, a readiness to look upon sinning as + the inevitable accompaniment of human nature + 'until death do us part,' and to look upon + Christianity as a substitute for rather than a + cause of personal holiness of life." + _Rev. I. W. Charlton, India._ + + + "From many things I have heard I fancy many at + home think of the mission as a sort of little + heaven upon earth, but when one looks under the + surface there is much to sadden one. . . . Oh, + friends, much prayer is needed! Many of the agents + know apparently nothing about conversion. + + "You may not like my writing so plainly, but + sometimes it seems as if only the bright side were + given, and one feels that if God's praying people + at home understood things more as they really are + . . . more prayer for an outpouring of the Holy + Spirit on our agents and converts would ascend to + God. . . . We do long to see all our pastors and + agents really converted men, men of prayer and + faith, who, knowing that they themselves are + saved, long with a great longing to see the + heathen round them brought out of darkness into + His light, and the Christians who form their + congregations, earnest converted men and women." + _A. J. Carr, India._ + + + "Fifty added to the Church sounds fine at home, + but if only five of them are genuine what will it + profit in the Great Day?" + _David Livingstone, Africa._ + + + "Oh for the Fire to set the whole alight, and melt + us all into one mighty Holy-Ghost Church!" + _Minnie Apperson, China._ + + +THE lamps were being lighted, the drums beaten, the cymbals struck, and +the horns blown for evening pujah in all the larger temples and shrines +of the "Strong City," when we turned out of it, and, crossing the +stream that divides the two places, went to the Christian hamlet, which +by contrast at that moment seemed like a little corner of the garden of +the Lord. Behind was the heathenish clash and clang of every possible +discord, and here the steady ringing of the bell for evening service; +behind was all that ever was meant by the "mystery of iniquity," and +here the purity and peace of Christianity. This is how it struck me at +first; and even now, after a spell of work in the heart of heathendom, +Christendom, or the bit of it lying alongside, is beautiful by contrast. +There you have naked death, death unadorned, the corpse exhibited; here, +if there is a corpse, at least it is decently dressed. And yet that +evening it was forced upon me that death is death wherever found and +however carefully covered. + +[Illustration: "I do feel so shy!" she was just on the point of saying +to me, by the way of appeal to be released, when the camera clicked and +she was caught. Widows do not wear jewels, as a rule, among the Hindus +of the higher Castes, but Christians do as they like. She is a village +woman of fairly good position.] + +The first of the Christians to welcome us was a bright-looking +widow--this is her photograph. We soon made friends. She told us she had +been "born in the Way"; her grandfather joined it, and none of the +family had gone back, so she was sure that all was right. We were not so +sure, and we tried to find out if she knew the difference between +joining the Way and coming to Christ. This was only a poor little +country hamlet, but everywhere we have travelled, among educated and +uneducated alike, we have found much confusion of thought upon this +subject. + +"God knows my heart," she said, "God hears my prayers. If I see a bad +dream in the night, I pray to God, and putting a Bible under my head, I +sleep in perfect peace." Could anything be more conclusive? + +There were numbers of other proofs forthcoming: If your grandfather gave +six lamps to the church, value three and a half rupees each (the +lamps are hanging to-day, and bear witness to the fact); if your father +never failed to pay his yearly dues, besides regular Sunday collections +(his name is in the church report, and how much he gave is printed); if +you freely help the poor, and give them paddy on Christmas Day (quite a +sackful of it); if you never offer to demons (no, not when your children +are sick, and the other faithless Christians advise you); if you never +tie on the cylinder (a charm frequently though covertly worn by purely +nominal Christians); and finally, if you have been baptised and +confirmed, and "without a break join the Night-supper," surely no one +can reasonably doubt that you are a Christian of a very proper sort? As +to questions about change of heart, and chronic indulgence in sins, such +as lying--who in this wicked world lives without lying? And when it +pleases God to do it He will change your heart. + +We took the evening meeting for the villagers, who meanwhile had +gathered and were listening with approval. Privacy, as we understand it, +is a thing unknown in India. "That is right," they remarked cheerfully; +"give her plenty of good advice!" And we all trooped into the +prayer-room. + +Once in there, everyone put on a sort of church expression, and each one +took his or her accustomed seat in decorous silence. The little +school-children sat in rows in front on the mats with arms demurely +folded, and sparkling eyes fixed solemnly; the grown-up people sat on +their mats on either side behind, and we sat on ours facing them. We +began with a chorus, which the children picked up quickly and shouted +lustily, the grown-ups joining in with more reserve; and then we got to +work. + +Blessing spoke. She had once been a nominal Christian, and she knew +exactly where these people were, and how they looked at things. Her +heart was greatly moved as she spoke, and the tears were in her eyes, +for she knew none of these friends had the joy of conscious salvation, +and she told me afterwards she had thirst and hunger for them. But they +listened unimpressed. Then we had prayer and a quiet time; sometimes the +Spirit works most in quiet, and we rose expectantly; but there was no +sign of life. + +After the meeting was over they gathered round us again. They are always +so loving and friendly in these little villages; but they could not +understand what it was that troubled us. Were they not all _Christians_? + +Shortly afterwards they came, as their kindly custom is, to bring us +fruit and wreaths of flowers on New Year's Day. I missed my first friend +of that evening, and asked for her. "That widow you talked to?" said the +old catechist, "three days ago fever seized her, and"--He broke off and +looked up. Then I longed to hear how she had died, but no one could tell +me anything. Oh, the curtain of silence that covers the passing of +souls! + +We went soon afterwards to the village, sure that at last the people +would be stirred; for she had been a leader among the women, and her +call, even in this land of sudden calls, had been very sudden. But we +did not find it had affected anyone. They all referred to her in the +chastened tone adopted upon such occasions, and, sighing, reminded each +other that God was merciful, and she had always been, up to the measure +of her ability, a very good woman. + +We felt as if we were standing with each one of those people separately, +in the one little standing space we were sure of, before that curtain, +and we spoke with them as you speak with those whom you know you may +never see again on this side of it. But they looked at us, and wondered +what was the matter with us. Were they not _Christians_? Did they not +believe in God? Did they not pray regularly night and morning for +forgiveness, protection, and blessing? So they could not understand. + +Was it that the power to understand had been withered up within them? +Was the soul God gave them dead--"sentenced to death by disuse"? Dead +they are in apathy and ignorance and putrefying customs, and the false +security that comes from adherence to the Christian creed without vital +connection with Christ. These poor Christians are dead. + +"Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should +raise the dead?" Lord, it is not a thing incredible. Thou hast done it +before. Oh, do it again. Do it soon! + +I have told you how much we need your help for the work among the +heathen; but often we feel we need it almost as much for the work among +the Christians. Over and over again it is told, but still it is hardly +understood, that the Christians need to be converted; that the vast +majority are not converted; that statistics may mislead, and do not +stand for Eternity work; that many a pastor, catechist, teacher, has a +name to live, but is dead; that the Church is very dead as a +whole--thank God for every exception. We do not say this thoughtlessly; +the words are a grief to write. We humble ourselves that it is so, and +take to ourselves the blame. It is true that the corpse of the dead +Church is dressed, just as it is at home, only here it is even more +dressed; and because the spirit of the land is intensely religious, its +grave-clothes are vestments. But dressed death is still death. + +This will come as a shock to those who have read stories of this or that +native Christian, and generalising from these stories, picture the +Church as a company of saints. God has His saints in India,[1] men and +women hidden away in quiet places out of sight, and some few out in the +front; but the cry of our hearts is for more. So we tell you the truth +about things as they are, though we know it will not be acceptable, for +the best is the thing that is best liked at home; so the best is most +frequently written. + +This may seem to cross out what was said before, about the darker side +of the truth being often told. It does not cross it out: read through +the magazines and reports, and you will find truth-revealing sentences, +which show facts to those who have eyes to see; but though this is so, +all will admit that the sanguine view, as it is called, is by far the +most in evidence, for the sanguine man is by far the most popular +writer, and so is more pressed to write. "People will read what is +buoyant and bright; the more of that sort we have the better," wrote a +Mission secretary out in the field not long ago, to a missionary who did +not feel free to write in quite that way. Those who, to quote another +secretary, "are afraid of writing at all, for fear of telling +lies"--excuse the energetic language; I am quoting, not +inventing--naturally write much less, and so the best gets known. + +This is nobody's fault exactly. The home authorities print for the most +part what is sent to them. They even call attention sometimes to the +less cheerful view of things; and if, yielding occasionally to the +pressure which is brought to bear upon them by a public which loves to +hear what it likes, they take the sting out of some strong paragraph by +adding an editorial "Nevertheless," is it very astonishing? + +Do you think we are writing like this because we are discouraged? No, we +are not discouraged, except when sometimes we fear lest you should grow +weary in prayer before the answer comes. This India is God's India. This +work is His. Oh, join with us then, as we join with all our dear Indian +brothers and sisters who are alive in the Lord, in waiting upon Him in +that intensest form of waiting _which waits on till the answer comes_; +join with us as we pray to the mighty God of revivals, "O Lord, revive +Thy work! Revive Thy work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the +years make known!" + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] See Appendix, p. 303. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +What Happened + + "Some years ago England was stirred through and + through by revelations which were made as to the + 'Bitter Cry' of wronged womanhood. In India the + bitter cry is far more bitter, but it is stifled + and smothered by the cruel gag of Caste. Orthodox + Hindus would rather see their girls betrayed, + tortured, murdered, than suffer them to break + through the trammels of Caste." + _Rev. T. Walker, India._ + + +THERE is another ancient town near Dohnavur, and in that town another +temple, and round the temple the usual Brahman square. In one of the +streets of this square we saw the girl whose face looks out at you. It +struck us as a typical face, not beautiful as many are, but +characteristic in the latent power of eyes and brow, a face full of +possibilities. + +[Illustration: Here is one who might be a queen. What she _may_ be is +very different. She is a Brahman girl; all her people are Hindus. She +has never even felt a desire, or seen any one in her town who felt a +desire, to "fall into the pit of Christianity."] + +We were rarely able to get anything we specially wanted, but we got +this. I look at it now, and wonder how it will develop as the soul +behind it shapes and grows. That child is enfolded in influences which +ward off the touch of the grace of life. + +We saw numbers of women that day, but only at the distance of a street +breadth; they would not come nearer, for the town is still a Petra to +us, we are waiting to be led in. + +But if we were able to get in enough to take a photograph, surely we +were "in" enough to preach the Gospel? Why not stop and there speak +of more important matters? What was to hinder _then_? + +Only this: in that town they have heard of converts coming out, and +breaking Caste in baptism, and they have made a law that we (with whom +they know some of these converts are) shall never be allowed to speak to +any of their women. That hindered us there. But even supposing we had +been free to speak, as we trust we shall be soon, and supposing she had +wanted to hear, the barriers which lie between such a child and +confession of Christ are so many and so great that when, as now, one +wants to tell you about them, one hardly knows how to do it. Words seem +like little feeble shadows of some grim rock, like little feeble shadows +of the grasses growing on it, rather than of _it_, in its solidity; or, +to revert to the old thought, all one can say is just pointing to the +Dust as evidence of the Actual. + +"What is to hinder high-caste women from being baptised, and living as +Christians in their own homes?" The question was asked by an Englishman, +a winter visitor, who, being interested in Missions, was gathering +impressions. We told him no high-caste woman would be allowed to live as +an open Christian in her own home; and we told him of some who, only +because they were suspected of inclining towards Christianity, had been +caused to disappear. "What do you suppose happened to them?" he asked, +and we told him. + +We were talking in the pleasant drawing-room of an Indian Hotel. Our +friend smiled, and assured us we must be mistaken. We were under the +English Government; such things could not be possible. We looked round +the quiet room, with its air of English comfort and English safety; we +looked at the quiet faces, faces that had never looked at fear, and we +hardly wondered that they could not understand. + +Then in a moment, even as they talked, we were far away in another room, +looking at other faces, faces unquiet, very full of fear. We knew that +all round us, for streets and streets, there were only the foes of our +Lord; we knew that a cry that was raised for help would be drowned long +before it could escape through those many streets to the great English +house outside. There were policemen, you say. But policemen in India are +not as at home. _Policemen can be bribed._ + +And now we are looking in again. There is a very dark inner room, no +window, one small door; the walls are solid, so is the door. If you +cried in there, who would hear? + +And now we are listening--someone is speaking: "Once there was one; she +cared for your God. She was buried into the wall in there, and that was +the end of her." . . . + +But we are back in the drawing-room, hearing them tell us these things +could never be. . . . Three years passed, and a girl came for refuge to +us. She loved her people well; she would never have come to us had they +let her live as a Christian at home. But no, "Rather than that she shall +burn," they said. We were doubtful about her age, and we feared we +should have to give her up if the case came on in the courts. And if we +had to give her up? We looked at the gentle, trustful face, and we could +not bear the thought; and yet, according to our friends, the Government +made all safe. + +About that time a paper came to the house; names, dates, means of +identification, all were given. This was the story in brief. A young +Brahman girl in another South Indian town wanted to be a Christian, and +confessed Christ at home. She earnestly wished to be baptised, but she +was too young then, and waited, learning steadily and continuing +faithful, though everything was done that could be done to turn her from +her purpose. She was betrothed against her will to her cousin, and +forbidden to have anything to do with the Christians. "She was never +allowed to go out alone, and was practically a prisoner." + +For three years that child held on, witnessing steadfastly at home, and +letting it be clearly known that she was and would be a Christian. A +Hindu ceremony of importance in the family was held in her grandfather's +house, and she refused to go. This brought things to a crisis. Her +people appointed a council of five to investigate the matter. "She +maintained a glorious witness before them all," says the missionary; +"declared boldly that she was a Christian, and intended to join us; and +when challenged about the Bible, she held it out, and read it to the +assembled people." + +For a time it seemed as if she had won the day, but fresh attempts were +made upon her constancy by certain religious bigots of the town. They +offered her jewels--that failed; tried to get her to turn Mussulman, +that being less disgraceful than to be a Christian; and last and worst, +tried to stain that white soul black--but, thank God! still they failed. + +At last the waiting time was over; she was of age to be baptised, and +she wrote to tell her missionary friend about it. He sent her books to +read, and promised to let her know within two days what he could arrange +to do. "Her letter was dated from her grandfather's house," the +missionary writes, "to which she said she had been sent, and put in a +room alone. On the following day, hearing a rumour of her death, I went +to N.'s house, and there found her body, outside the door. I caused it +to be seized by the police, and the post-mortem has revealed the fact +that the poor child was poisoned by arsenic. Bribes have been freely +used and atrocious lies have been told, and the net result of all the +police inquiries, so far, is that no charge can be brought against +anyone." + +Last year we met one of the missionaries from this Mission, on the +hills, and we asked him if anyone had been convicted. He said no one had +been convicted, "the Caste had seen to that." + +Here, then, is a statement of facts, divested of all emotion or +sensationalism. A child is shut up in a room alone, and poisoned; when +she is dead, her body is thrown outside the door. It was found. _There +have been bodies which have not been found_; but we are under the +British Government--nothing can have happened to them! + +The British Government does much, but it cannot do everything. It is +notorious in India that false witnesses can be bought at so much a head, +according to the nature of witness required. Bribery and corruption are +not mere names here, but facts, most difficult for any straightforward +official to trace and track and deal with. We know, and everyone knows, +that the White Man's Government, though strong enough to win and rule +this million-peopled Empire, is weak as a white child when it stands +outside the door of an Indian house, and wants to know what has gone on +inside, or proposes to regulate what shall go on. It cannot do it. The +thought is vain. + +"Why not have her put under surveillance?" asked a friend, a military +man, about a certain girl who wanted to be a Christian; as if such +surveillance were practicable, or ever could be, under such conditions +as obtain in high-caste Hindu and Mohammedan circles, except in places +directly under the eye of Government. We know there are houses where, at +an hour's notice, any kind and any strength of poison can be prepared +and administered: quick poison to kill within a few minutes; slow +poisons that undermine the constitution, and do their work so safely +that no one can find it out; brain poisons, worse than either, and +perhaps more commonly used, as they are as effective and much less +dangerous. But we could not prove what we know, and knowledge without +proof is, legally speaking, valueless. + +And yet we know these things, we have heard "a cry of tears," we have +heard "a cry of blood"-- + + "Tears and blood have a cry that pierces heaven + Through all its hallelujah swells of mirth; + God hears their cry, and though He tarry, yet + He doth not forget." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +"Simply Murdered" + + "'Agonia'--that word so often on St. Paul's lips, + what did it mean? Did it not just mean the + thousand wearinesses . . . and deeper, the + strivings, the travailings, the bitter + disappointments, the 'deaths oft' of a + missionary's life?" + _Rev. Robert Stewart, China._ + + +THERE are worse things than martyrdom. There are some who are "simply +murdered." There is one who belongs to a Caste which more than any other +is considered tolerant and safe. Men converts from this Caste can live +at home, and if a husband and wife believe, they may continue living in +their own house, among the heathen. And yet this is what happened to a +girl because it was known that she wanted to be a Christian. + +First persecution. Treasure, as her name may be translated, had learnt +as a child in the little mission school, and when we went to her village +she responded, and took her stand. She refused to take part in a Hindu +ceremony. She was beaten, at first slightly, then severely. This failed, +so they sent her out of our reach to a heathen village miles away. This +also failed, and she was brought home, and for some months went steadily +on, reading and learning when she could, and all the time brightly +witnessing. She was a joy to us. + +She was very anxious to come out and be baptised, but her age was the +difficulty. When a convert comes, the first thing to be done is to let +the police authorities know. They send a constable, who takes down the +convert's deposition, which is then forwarded to headquarters. One of +the first questions concerns age. In some cases a medical certificate is +demanded, and the girl's fate turns on that; if we can get one for over +sixteen we are safe from prosecution in the Criminal Courts, but +eighteen is the safest age, as the Civil Courts, if the case were to +proceed, would force us to give her up if she were under eighteen. The +difficulty of proving the age, unless the girl is evidently well over +it, is very serious. The medical certificate usually takes off a year +from what we have every reason to believe is the true age. + +One other proof remains--the horoscope. This is a Hindu document written +on a palm leaf at the birth of the child; but it is always carefully +kept by the head of the family, and so, as a rule, unobtainable. When a +case comes on in Court a false horoscope may be produced by the +relatives; this was done in a recent case tried in our Courts, so we +cannot count upon that. In this girl's case we got the Government +registers searched for birth-records of her village, but all such +registers we found had been destroyed; none were kept of births sixteen +years back. So, though she believed herself to be, and we believed her +to be, and the Christians who had known her all her life were sure she +was, "about sixteen," we knew it could not be proved. She was a very +slight girl, delicate and small for her age. This was against her, and +there were other reasons against her coming just then. She had to wait. + +I shall never forget the day I had to tell her so. She could not +understand it. She knew that all the higher Castes had threatened to +combine, and back up her father in a lawsuit, if she became a Christian; +but she thought it would be quite enough if she stood up before the +judge, and said she knew she was of age, and she wanted to come to us. +"I will not be afraid of the people," she pleaded, "I will stand up +straight before them all, and speak without any fear!" + +I remember how the tears filled her eyes as I explained things; it was +so hard for her to understand that we had no power whatever to protect +her. It would be worse for her if she came and had to be given up. She +was fully sensible of this, but "Would God let them take me away? Would +He not take care of me?" she asked. + +I suppose it is right to obey the laws. They are, on whole, righteous +laws, made in the defence of these very girls. It would never do if +anyone could decoy away a mere child from her parents or natural +guardians. But the unrighteous thing, as it seems to us, is that the +whole burden of proof lies upon us, and that in these country villages +no facilities such as Government registers of birth are to be had, by +which we could hope legally to prove a point about which we are morally +sure. We feel that as the burden of proof rests upon us, surely +facilities should be obtainable by which we could find out a girl's age +before she comes, so that we might know whether or not we might legally +protect her. Still more strongly we feel it is strange justice which +decrees that though a child of twelve may be legally held competent to +undertake the responsibilities of wifehood, six years more must pass +before she may be legally held free to obey her conscience. Free! She is +never legally free! A widow may be legally free; a wife in India, never! +Hardly a single Caste wife in all this Empire would be found in the +little band of open Christians to-day, if the missionary concerned had +not risked more than can be told here, and put God's law before man's. +But oh, the number who have been turned back! + +One stops, forces the words down--they come too hot and fast. There are +reasons. As I write, a young wife dear to us is lying bruised and +unconscious on the floor of the inner room of a Hindu house. Her +husband, encouraged by her own mother, set himself to make her conform +to a certain Caste custom. It was idolatrous. She refused. He beat her +then, blow upon blow, till she fell senseless. They brought her round +and began again. There is no satisfactory redress. She is his wife. She +is not free to be a Christian. He knows it. Her relations know it. She +knows it, poor child. + +O God, forgive us if we are too hot, too sore at heart, for easy +pleasantness! And, God, raise up in India Christian statesmen who will +inquire into this matter, and refuse to be blindfolded and deceived. His +laws and ours clash somewhere; the question is, where? + +To return to Treasure, we left her waiting to come. A Christian teacher +lived next door, and Treasure used to slip in sometimes, as the two +courtyards adjoined. We had put up a text on the wall for her: "Fear +not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art +Mine." This was her special text, and she looked at it now; and then she +grew braver, and promised to be patient and try to win her mother, who +was bitterly opposed. + +But oh, how I remember the wistfulness of her face as I went out; and +one's very heart can feel again the stab of pain, like a knife cutting +deep, as I left her--to her fate. + +You have seen a tree standing stark and bare, a bleak black thing, on a +sunny day against a sky of blue. You have looked at it, fascinated by +the silent horror of it, a distorted cinder, not a tree, and someone +tells you it was struck in the last great thunderstorm. + +Next time we saw Treasure she was like that. What happened between, so +far as it is known, was this. They tried to persuade her, they tried to +coerce her; she witnessed to Jesus, and never faltered, though once they +dragged her out of the house by her hair, and holding her down against +the wall, struck her hard with a leather strap. One of the Christians +saw it, and heard the poor tortured child cry out, "I do not fear! I do +not fear! It will only send me to Jesus!" + +Then they tried threats. "We will take you out to the lake at night, and +cut you in little pieces, and throw you into it." She fully believed +them, but even so, we hear she did not flinch. + +Then they did their worst to her. + +It was a Sunday morning. The Saturday evening before she had managed to +see the teacher. She told her hurriedly how one had come, "a bridegroom" +she called him, a student from a Mission College; he was telling her +all sorts of things--that Christianity was an exploded religion; and how +a great and learned woman (Mrs. Besant) had exposed the missionaries and +their ways, so that no thinking people had any excuse for being deceived +by them. + +Then she added earnestly, "It is the devil. Do pray for me. They want me +to marry him secretly! Oh, I must go to the Missie Ammal!" And if we had +only known, we would have risked anything, any breach of the law of the +land, to save her from a breach of the law of heaven! For all this talk, +between an Indian girl of good repute and her prospective husband, is +utterly foreign to what is considered right in Old India. It in itself +meant danger. But we knew nothing, and next day, all that Sunday, she +was shut up, and no one knows what happened to her. On Monday she was +seen again; but changed, so utterly changed! + +We heard nothing of this till the following Wednesday. The Christians +were honestly concerned, but the Tamil is ever casual, and they saw no +reason for distressing us with bad news sooner than could be helped. + +As soon as we heard, I sent two of the Sisters who knew her best, to try +and see her if possible. They managed to see her for two or three +minutes, but found her hopelessly hard. Every bit of care was gone. She +laughed in a queer, strained way, they said. It was no use my trying to +see her. But I determined to see her. I cannot go over it all again, it +is like tearing the skin off a wound; so the letter written at the time +may tell the rest of it. + +"On Saturday I went. I went straight to the teacher's house, and sent +off the bandy at once, and by God's special arrangement got in +unnoticed. For hours we sat in the little inner room, waiting; we could +hear her voice in the courtyard outside--a hard, changed voice. The +teacher tried to get her in, but no, she would not come. Oh, how we held +on to God! I could not bear to go till I had seen her. + +"At last we had to go. The cart came back for us, thus proclaiming where +we were, and the last human chance was gone. And then, just then, like +one walking in a dream, Treasure wandered in and stood, startled. + +"She did not know we were there. We were kneeling with our backs to the +door. I turned and saw her. + +"I cannot write about the next five minutes; I thought I realised +something of what Satan could do in this land, but I knew nothing about +it. Oh, when will Jesus come and end it all? + +"Just once it seemed as if the spell were broken. My arms were round +her, though she had shrunk away at first, and tried to push me from her; +she was quiet now, and seemed to understand a little how one cared. She +knelt down with me, and covered her eyes as if in prayer, while I poured +out my soul for her, and then we were all very still, and the Lord +seemed very near. But she rose, unmoved, and looked at us. We were all +quite broken down, and she smiled in a strange, hard, foolish way--that +was all. + +"The cause no one knows. There are only two possible explanations. One is +poison. There is some sort of mind-bewildering medicine which it is +known is given in such cases. This is the view held by the Christians +on the spot. One of them says her cousin was dealt with in this way. He +was keen to be a Christian, and was shut up for a day, and came +out--dead. Dead, she means, to all which before had been life to him. + +"The other, and worse, is sin. Has she been forced into some sin which +to one so enlightened as she is must mean an awful darkness, the hiding +of God's face? + +"I cannot tell you how bright this dear child was. Up till that Saturday +evening her faith never wavered; she was a living sign to all the town +that the Lord is God. The heathen are triumphant now." + +I have told you plainly what has happened. God's Truth needs no +painting. I leave it with you. Do you believe it is perfectly true? Then +what are you going to do? + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Wanted, Volunteers + + "We have a great and imposing War Office, but a + very small army. . . . While vast continents are + shrouded in almost utter darkness, and hundreds of + millions suffer the horrors of heathenism or of + Islam, the burden of proof lies upon you to show + that the circumstances in which God has placed you + were meant by Him to keep you out of the foreign + mission field." + _Ion Keith Falconer, Arabia._ + + +IN one of the addresses delivered at the International Student +Missionary Conference, London, in January 1900, a South Indian +missionary spoke of the Brahman race as "the brain of India." "Their +numbers are comparatively small--between ten and fifteen millions--but +though numerically few--only five per cent. of the Hindu +population--they hold all that population in the hollow of their hand. +They occupy every position of influence in the land. They are the +statesmen and politicians, the judges, magistrates, Government +officials, and clerks of every grade. If there is any position +conferring influence over their fellow-men, it will be held by a +Brahman. Moreover, they are a sacred Caste, admitted by the people to be +gods upon earth--a rank supposed to have been attained by worth +maintained through many transmigrations." + +[Illustration: A typical Brahman face. It is keener than the photo +shows, and has the cynical expression so many Brahman faces have. Such a +man is hard to win.] + +Among the Petras of this district is a little old-fashioned country +town, held in strength by the Brahmans. No convert has ever come from +that town, and the town boasts that none ever shall. None of the houses +are open yet to teaching, or even visiting, but we are making friends, +and hope for an entrance soon. We spent a morning out in the street; +they had no objection to that, and as the free young Brahmans gathered +round us, or stood for a moment against a wall to be "caught," it was +difficult, even for us who knew it, to realise how bound they were. +"Bound, who should conquer; slaves, who should be kings." Bound, body +and soul, in a bondage perfectly incomprehensible to the English mind. + +Afterwards, when we saw the photographs, we recalled one and another +who, while they were young students like these, dared to desire to +escape from their bondage; but back they were dragged, and the chains +were riveted faster than ever, and every link was tested again, and +hammered down hard. + +We wanted to be sure of our facts about each of them, that these facts +may further answer that smile which assures us things are not as we +imagine; so the Iyer wrote to a brother missionary who had known these +lads well, and asked him to tell what happened to each of them. This +morning the answer to that letter came, and was handed to me with "I +hardly like to give it to you, but it tells the truth about what goes +on." These boys were students in our C.M.S. College. + +The first one mentioned in the letter is a young Brahman who confessed +Christ in baptism, and bravely withstood the tremendous opposition +raised by his friends, who came in crowds for many weeks, and tried by +every argument to persuade him to return to Hinduism; but he preached +Christ to them. They brought his young wife, and she tore her hair and +wailed, and besought him not to condemn her to the shame of a widow's +life. This was the hardest of all to withstand; he turned to the +missionary and said, "Oh my father, take her away! She is tearing out my +heart!" + +[Illustration: A typical Brahman student. The marks on the forehead are +made of bright red, yellow, and white paste, and represents the +footprint of the god Vishnu. These Brahmans are Vaishnavites.] + +Then came the baptism day of another Brahman student, his friend, who +previous to this had been seized by his relatives, shut up and starved, +and then fed with poisoned food; but the poison was not strong enough to +kill, and he had escaped, and was now safe and ready for baptism. + +It was remembered afterwards how the friend of the newly baptised stood +and rejoiced, and praised God. Then, the baptism over, fearing no danger +in open day, he went to the tank to bathe. He was never seen again. + +What happened exactly no one knows. It is thought that men hired to +watch him seized their opportunity, and carried him off. What they did +then has never been told. Contradictory reports about the boy have +reached the missionaries. One, that he is still holding on, another that +he is now a priest in one of the great Saivite temples of South India. +Which is true, God knows. + +But we are under the English Government. Could nothing be done? One of +his near relatives is the present Judge of the High Court of one of our +Indian cities. And among the crowd of Brahmans who came during those +weeks, there were influential men, graduates of colleges, members of the +legal profession--a favourite profession in India. And yet this thing +was done. + +There was another; the means used to get hold of him cannot be written +here. That is the difficulty which fronts us when we try to tell the +truth as it really is. It simply cannot be told. The Dust may be +shown--or a little of it; the whole of the Actual, never. + +There were others near the Kingdom, but it is the same story over again. +They were all spirited away from the college; the missionary writes, +"_it makes one's heart sick to think of them, and the hellish means +invented to turn them from Christ_." These are not the words of +sentimental imagination. They are the words of a man who gives evidence +as a witness. But even a witness may _feel_. + +He tells us of one, a bright, happy fellow, he says he was, whose +friends made no objection to his returning home after his baptism, and +he returned, thinking he would be able to live as a Christian with his +wife. They drugged his food, then what they did has to be covered with +silence again. . . . They did their worst. . . . When he awoke from that +nightmare of sin, he sought out his missionary friend. Some of the +Hindus even, "ashamed of the vile means used" to entice him and destroy +him, would have wished him to be received again as a Christian, but his +spirit was broken. He said he could not disgrace the cause of Christ by +coming back; he would go away where he would not be known. He left his +wife, and went. He has never been heard of since. + +Our comrade tells of another, and again, in telling it, we have to leave +it half untold. This one was eager to confess Christ in baptism; he was +a student at college then, and very keen. His father knew of his son's +desire, and he did what few Hindu fathers would do, _he turned his home +into a hell, in order to ruin his boy_. The infernal plot succeeded. God +only knows how far the soul is responsible when the mind is dazed and +then inflamed by those fearful drugs. But we do know that the soul He +meant should rise and shine, sinks, weighted down by the unspeakable +shame of some awful memory darkened, as by some dark dye that has +stained it through and through. + +I think of others as I write: one was a boy we knew well, a splendid, +earnest lad, keen to witness for Christ. He told us one evening how he +had been delivered from those who were plotting his destruction. For +several months after his decision to be a Christian, he lived at home +and tried to win his people; but they were incensed against him for even +thinking of breaking Caste, and would not listen to him. Still he +waited, and witnessed to them, not fearing anything. Then one day, +suddenly some men rushed into the room where he was sitting, seized and +bound and gagged him. They forced something into his mouth as he lay on +the floor at their mercy; he feared it was a drug, but it was only some +disgusting stuff which, to a Hindu, meant unutterable defilement. Then +they left him bound alone, and at night he managed to escape. A few +months after he told us this, we heard he had been seized again, and +this time "drugged and done for." + +In South India baptism does not prevent the Caste from using every +possible means to get the convert back; once back, certain ceremonies +are performed, after which he is regarded as purified, and reinstated in +his Caste. The policy of the whole Caste confederation is this: get him +back unbaptised if you can, but anyhow _get him back_. Two Brahman lads +belonging to different parts of this district decided for Christ, went +through all that is involved in open confession, and were baptised. One +of the two was sent North for safety; his people traced him, followed +him, turned up unexpectedly at a wayside station in Central India, and +forced him back to his home in the South. Once there, they took their +own measures to keep him. The other lad was sent to Madras. The Brahmans +found out where he was, broke into the house at night, overpowered the +boy's protectors, and carried him off. They too did what seemed good to +them there, and they too succeeded. No one outside could interfere. The +Caste guards its own concerns. + +"O Lord Jesus Christ!" wrote one, a Hindu still, "who knowest us to be +placed in such danger that it is as if we were within some magical +circle drawn round us, and Satan standing with his wand without, keeping +us in terror, break the spell of Satan, and set us free to serve Thee!" + +All this may be easy reading to those who are far away from the place +where it happened. Distance has a way of softening too distinct an +outline; but it is not easy to write, it comes so close to us. Why write +it, then? We write it because it seems to us it should be more fully +known, so that men and women who know our God, and the secret of how to +lay hold upon Him, should lay hold, and hold on for the winning of the +Castes for Christ. + +[Illustration: Another Brahman, much duller than the last. This and the +two preceding photographs are perfect as a study of three types of +Brahmanhood as we have it in Southern India--keen, thoughtful, dull.] + +Surely the very hardness of an enterprise, the very fact that it is what +a soldier would call a forlorn hope, is in itself a call and a claim +stronger than any put forth by something easier. The soldier does not +give in because the hope is "forlorn." It is a _hope_, be it ever so +desperate. He volunteers for it, and win or not, he fights. + +There is that in this enterprise which may mark it out as "forlorn." For +ages the race has broken one of nature's laws with blind persistency, +and the result is a certain lack of moral fibre, grit, "tone." No +separate individual is responsible for this, harsh judgments are +entirely out of place; but the fact remains that it is so, and it must +be taken into account in dealing with the Brahmans and several of the +upper Castes of India. Side by side with this element of weakness there +is, in apparent contradiction, that stubborn element of strength known +as the Caste spirit. This spirit is seen in all I have shown you of what +happens when a convert comes. It is as if all the million wills of the +million Caste men and women were condensed into one single Will, a +concentration of essence of Will not comparable with anything known at +home. + +Look at this face--it is a photographed fact. Does it not show you an +absence of that "something" which nerves to endurance, stimulates to +dare? Then listen to this:--A Christian man lies dead. The way to the +cemetery lies through the Brahman street, in the chief town of this +District; there is no other way. The Brahman street is a thoroughfare, +it cannot be closed to traffic, but the Brahmans refuse point blank to +allow that dead man to be carried through. The Bishop expostulates. No; +he was a Christian, he shall not be carried through. Time is passing. In +the Tropics the dead must be buried quickly. The Bishop appeals to the +Collector (Representative of Government here). The Collector gives an +order. The Brahmans refuse to obey. He orders out a company of soldiers. +The Brahmans mass on the housetops and stone the soldiers. The order is +given to fire. Then, and not till then, the Christians may carry out +their dead; and later on the Brahmans carry out theirs. This happened +some years ago, and outwardly times have changed since then in that +particular town. But the spirit that it shows is in possession to this +day, and as small things show great, so this street scene shows the +presence of that "something" which intensifies the difficulty of winning +the Castes for Christ. Each unit is weak in itself, but in combination, +strong. + +"A forlorn hope" we have called the attempt to do what we are told to +do. The word is a misnomer; with our Captain as our Leader no hope is +ever "forlorn"! But our Leader calls for men, men like the brave of old +who jeopardised their lives unto the death in the high places of the +field, in the day that they came to the help of the Lord, to the help of +the Lord against the mighty. A jeopardised life may be lost. + +Christ our Captain is calling for volunteers; here are the terms: +"Whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel's the same +shall find it." The teachers' life may seem "lost" who lives for his +college boys; the student's life may seem "lost" who spends hour after +hour through the long hot days in quiet talks in the house. Be it so, +for it may mean that. But the life lost for His Name's sake, the same +shall be found again. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +If it is so very important. . . ? + + "Let us for a moment imagine what would have + happened on the Galilean hillside, when our Lord + fed the five thousand, if the Apostles had acted + as some act now. The twelve would be going + backwards, helping the first rank over and over + again, and leaving the back rows unsupplied. Let + us suppose one of them, say Andrew, venturing to + say to his brother Simon Peter, 'Ought we all to + be feeding the front row? Ought we not to divide, + and some of us go to the back rows?' Then suppose + Peter replying, 'Oh no; don't you see these front + people are so hungry? They have not had half + enough yet; besides, they are nearest to us, so we + are more responsible for them.' Then, if Andrew + resumes his appeal, suppose Peter going on to say, + 'Very well; you are quite right. You go and feed + all those back rows; but I can't spare anyone + else. I and the other ten of us have more than we + can do here.' + + "Once more, suppose Andrew persuades Philip to go + with him; then, perhaps, Matthew will cry out and + say, 'Why, they're all going to those farther + rows! Is no one to be left to these needy people + in front?' + + "Let me ask the members of Congress, Do you + recognise these sentences at all?" + _Eugene Stock, at Shrewsbury Church Congress._ + + +IT was only a common thing. A girl, very ill, and in terrible pain, who +turned to us for help. We could do nothing for her. Her people resorted +to heathen rites. They prepared her to meet the fierce god they thought +was waiting to snatch her away. + +We went again and again, but she suffered so that one could not say +much, it did not seem any use. The last time we went, the crisis had +passed; she would live, they told us with joy. They were eager to +listen to us now. "Tell us all about your Way!" clamoured the women, +speaking together, and very loud. "Tell us the news from beginning to +end!" But, alas! they could take in very little. One whole new Truth was +too much for them. "Never mind," they consoled us, "come every day, and +then what you say will take hold of our hearts." And I had to tell them +we were leaving that evening, and could not come "every day." + +[Illustration: Is not the contrast good? The old woman so intelligent, +the baby so inane. She made a picture sitting there, in her crimson +edged seeley, with her dark old face showing up against the darker wall. +She is one of the many we have missed by coming so slowly and so late. +"How can I change now?" she says.] + +The girl turned her patient face towards us. She had smiled at the Name +of Jesus, and it seemed as if down in the depths of her weakness she had +listened when we spoke before, and tried to understand. Now she looked +puzzled and troubled, and the women all asked, "Why?" + +There, in that crowded, hot little room, a sense of the unequal +distribution of the Bread of Life came over us. The front rows of the +Five Thousand are getting the loaves and the fishes over and over again, +till it seems as though they have to be bribed and besought to accept +them, while the back rows are almost forgotten. _Is it that we are so +busy with the front rows, which we can see, that we have no time for the +back rows out of sight?_ But is it fair? Is it what Jesus our Master +intended? _Can it be really called fair?_ + +The women looked very reproachful. Then one of them said, looking up at +me, "You say this is very important. If it is so very important, why did +you not come before? You say you will come back again if you can, but +how can we be sure that nothing will happen to stop you? We are, some of +us, very old; we may die before you come back. This going away is not +good." And again and again she repeated, "_If it is so very important, +why did you not come before?_" + +Don't think that the question meant more than it did. It was only a +human expression of wonder; it was not a real desire after God. But the +force of the question was stronger far than the poor old questioner +knew; it appealed to our very hearts. + +The people saw we were greatly moved, and they pressed closer round us +to comfort us, and one dear old grandmother put her arms round me, and +stroked my face with her wrinkled old hand, and said, "Don't be +troubled; we will worship your God. We will worship Him just as we +worship our own. _Now_, will you go away glad?" + +The dear old woman was really in earnest, she wanted so much to comfort +us. But her voice seemed to mingle with voices from the homeland; and +another--we heard another--the Voice I had heard on the +precipice-edge--the voice of our brothers', our sisters' blood calling +unto God from the ground. + +Friends, are these women real to you? Look at this photo of one of them. +Surely it was not just a happy chance which brought out the detail so +perfectly. Look at the thoughtful, fine old face. Can you look at it and +say, "Yes, I am on my way to the Light, and you are on your way to the +Dark. At least, this is what I profess to believe. And I am sorry for +you, but this is all I can do for you; I can be very sorry for you. I +know that this will not show you the way from the Dark, where you are, +to the Light, where I am. To show you the way I must go to you, or, +perhaps, send you one whom I want for myself, or do without something I +wish to have; and this, of course, is impossible. It might be done if I +loved God enough--_but I love myself better than God or you_." + +[Illustration: A Brahman widow, the only Brahman woman who would let us +take her photo. Brahman women wear their seeleys fastened in a peculiar +way, and never cut their ears. Brahman widows are always shaven, and +wear no jewels. This one is a muscular character, strong and resolute, +an ordinary looking woman, but there must be an under-the-surface life +which does not show. A widow's fate is described in one word here, +"_accursed_."] + +You would not say such a thing, I know, but "Whoso hath this world's +good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his compassion +from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +The Call Intensified + + "Sometimes the men and boys will not go away and + let us talk to the women; in such cases I find + silent prayer the best refuge. In other places the + people welcome you, but will listen to anything + but the Doctrine of Jesus Christ; and this is + harder to bear than anything else I know." + _Anna Gordon, China._ + + "Let the people that are at home not care only to + hear about successes; we must train them that they + take an interest in the struggle." + _Rev. A. Schreiber, Sumatra and India._ + + "It is a fight making its demands upon physical, + mental, and spiritual powers, and there are many + adversaries. The dead weight of heathenism, the + little appreciation of one's object and purpose, + and the actual, vigorous opposition of the powers + of darkness, make it a real fight, and only men of + grit, of courage, devotion, and infinite patience + and perseverance, will win. + + "_Have I painted a discouraging picture? Am I + frightening good men who might have volunteered + and done well? I think not. I think the right sort + of men, those who ought to volunteer, will be + attracted rather than repelled by the + difficulties._" + _Rev. J. Lampard, India._ + + +WE got this photograph that day in December which we spent in the +friendly Brahman street. "There is not another woman in the town who +would stand for you like that!" said the men, as she came forward, and, +without a thought of posing, stood against the wall for a moment, and +looked at the camera straight. Most of the women were afraid even to +glance at it, but she was not afraid. She would not stay to talk to us, +however, but marched off with the same resolute air. For Brahman widows +as a whole are by no means an approachable race. Sometimes we find one +who will open out to us, and let us tell her of the Comfort wherewith we +are comforted; but oftener we find them hard, or hardening rapidly. + +[Illustration: There is nothing to say about it except what is said in +the chapter. There is nothing much to look at in a Brahman street. But +that single simple street scene represents forces which control two +hundred and seven million minds.] + +It is too soon to write about any of those who have listened during the +past few months, but we put this photo in to remind you to remember +those who are freer than most women in India to follow the Lord Jesus +Christ, if only they would let His love have a chance of drawing them. +We have been to the various towns in this and the upper curve of the +mountains, but we have not reached the lower curve towns, or half of the +many villages scattered close under the mountains, and, except when we +went out in camp, we have not of course touched those farther afield. + +There are only five working afternoons in a week, for Saturday is given +up to other things, and Sunday belongs to the Christians; and when any +interest is shown, we return again to the same village, which delays us, +but is certainly worth while. Then there are interruptions--sometimes on +the Hindu side; festivals, for instance, when no woman has time to hear; +and on ours, and on the weather's, so to speak, when great heat or great +rain make outdoor work impossible. Theoretically, itinerating is +delightfully rapid; but practically, as every itinerating missionary +knows, it is quite slow. There are other things to be done; those +already brought in have to be taught and trained and mothered, and +much time has to be spent in waiting upon God for more; so that, looking +back, we seem to have done very little for the thousands about us, and +now we must return to the eastern side of the district, for some of the +boy converts are there at school, and there may be fruit to gather in +after last year's sowing. + +But I look up from my writing and see a stretch of mountain range thirty +miles long, and this range stretches unbroken for a thousand miles to +the North. I know how little is being done on the plains below, and I +wonder when God's people will awake, and understand that there is yet +very much land to be possessed, and arise and possess it. Look down this +mountain strip with me; there are towns where work is being done, but it +needs supervision, and the missionaries are too few to do it thoroughly. +There are towns and numbers of villages where nothing is even attempted, +except that once in two years, if possible, the Men's Itinerant Band +comes round; but that does not reach the women well, and even if it did, +how much would you know of Jesus if you only heard a parable or a +miracle or a few facts from His life or a few points of His doctrine +_once in two years_? I do not want to write touching appeals, or to draw +one worker from anywhere else,--it would be a joy to know that God used +these letters to help to send someone to China, or anywhere where He has +need of His workers,--but I cannot help wondering, as I look round this +bit of the field, how it is that the workers are still so few. + +We have found the people in the towns and villages willing to let us do +what we call "verandah work" when they will not let us into their +houses. Verandah work, like open-air preaching, is unsatisfactory as +regards the women, but it is better than nothing. + +We spent an afternoon in the street this photo shows. It is a +thoroughfare, and so we were not forbidden; but even so, we always ask +permission before we walk down it. Such an ordinary, commonplace street +it looks to you; there is no architectural grandeur to awe the beholder, +and impress him with the majesty of Brahmanhood; and yet that street, +and every street like it, is a very Petra to us, for it is walled round +by walls higher and stronger than the temple walls round which it is +built; walls built, as it seems, of some crystal rock, imperceptible +till you come up to it, and even then not visible, only recognisable as +something you cannot get through. + +Our first day there was encouraging. We began at the far end of the +street, and after some persuasion the men agreed to move to one side, +and let us have the other for any women who would come. Nothing +particular happened, but we count a day good if we get a single good +chance to speak in quietness to the women. + +Next time we went it was not so good. They had heard in the meantime all +about us, and that we had girls from the higher Castes with us, and this +was terrible in their eyes. For the Brahman, from his lofty position of +absolute supremacy, holds in very small account the souls of those he +calls low-caste; but if any from the middle distance (he would not +describe them as near himself, only dangerously nearer than the others) +"fall into the pit of the Christian religion," he thinks it is time to +begin to take care that the Power which took such effect on them should +not have a chance to perform upon him, and, above all, upon his +womankind. So that day we were politely informed that no one had time to +listen, and, when some women wanted to come, a muscular widow chased +them off. We looked longingly back at those dear Brahman women, but +appeal was useless, so we went. + +In one of the other Castes, the Caste represented by this row of men, we +found more friendliness; they let us sit on one end of the narrow +verandah fronts, and quite a number of women clustered about on the +other. They were greatly afraid of defilement there, and would not come +too close. And they had the strangest ideas about us. They were sure we +had a powder which, if they inhaled it, would compel them to be +Christians. They had heard that we went round "calling children," that +is, beckoning them, and drawing them to follow after us, and that we +were paid so much a head for converts. It takes a whole afternoon +sometimes simply to disabuse their minds of such misconceptions. + +I heard this commercial aspect of things explained by one who apparently +knew. A kindly old Brahman woman had allowed us to sit on her doorstep +out of the sun, and bit by bit we had worked our way to the end of the +verandah, which was a little more shaded, where a girl was sitting alone +who seemed to want to hear. The old woman sat down behind us, and then +an old man came up, and the two began to talk. Said the old woman to the +old man, "She is trying to make us join her Way." (I had carefully +abstained from any such expression.) The old man agreed that such was +my probable object. "What will she get if we join? Do you know?" "Oh +yes; do I not know! For one of us a thousand rupees, and for a Vellalar +five hundred. She even gets something for a low-caste child, but she +gets a whole thousand for one of us!" + +[Illustration: A Shepherd-Caste house of the better sort. We would give +a great deal to get into this house, but so far it is closed. You can +see straight through to the back courtyard where the women are, where we +may not go. The old man is typical of his class, a thoughtful man of +refinement of mind, but wholly indifferent to the teaching.] + +They were both very interested in this conversation, and so indeed was +I, and I thought I would further enlighten them, when the old woman got +up in a hurry and hobbled into the house. After that, whenever we +passed, she used to shake her head at us, and say, "Chee, chee!" No +persuasions could ever induce her to let us sit on her doorstep again. +We were clearly after that thousand rupees, and she would have none of +us. + +In the same village there was a little Brahman child who often tried to +speak to us, but never was allowed. One day she risked capture and its +consequences, and ran across the narrow stream which divides the Brahman +street from the village, and spoke to one of our Band in a hurried +little whisper. "Oh, I do want to hear about Jesus!" And she told how +she had learnt at school in her own town, and then she had been sent to +her mother-in-law's house in this jungle village, "that one," pointing +to a house where they never had smiles for us; but her mother-in-law +objected to the preaching, and had threatened to throw her down the well +if she listened to us. Just then a hard voice called her, and she flew. +Next time we went to that village she was shut up somewhere inside. + +Often as one passes one sees shy faces looking out from behind the +little pillars which support the verandahs, and one longs to get +nearer. But it does not do to make any advance unless one is sure of +one's ground. It only results in a sudden startled scurrying into the +house, and you cannot follow them there. To try to do so would be more +than rude--it would be considered pollution. + +Only yesterday we were trying to get to the women who live in the great +house of the village behind the bungalow. This photo shows you the door +we stood facing for ten minutes or more, first waiting, and then +pleading with the old mother-in-law to let us in to the little dark room +in which you may see a woman's form hiding behind the door. + +But we could not go to them, and they could not come to us. There were +only two narrow rooms between, but the second of the two had brass +water-vessels in it. If we had gone in, those vessels and the water in +them would have been defiled. The women were not allowed to come out, +the mother-in-law saw well to that; never was one more vigilant. She +stood like a great fat hen at the door, with her white widow's skirts +outspread like wings, and guarded her chickens effectually. "Go! go by +the way you have come!" was all she had to say to us. + +The friendly old man of the house was out. A friendly young man came in +with some rice, and began to measure it. He invited us to sit down, +which we did, and he measured the rice in little iron tumblers, counting +aloud as he did so in a sing-song chant. He was pleased that we should +watch him, and it was interesting to watch, for he did it exactly as the +verse describes, pressing the rice down, shaking the iron measure, +heaping up the rice till it was running over, and yet counting this +abundant tumblerful only as one; then he handed the basketful of rice +to a child who stood waiting, and asked what he could do for us. We told +him how much we wanted to see the women of the house, but he did not +relish the idea of tackling the vigorous old mother-in-law, so we gave +up the attempt, and went out. As we passed the wall at the back which +encloses the women's quarters, we saw a girl look over the wall as if +she wanted to speak to us, but she was instantly pulled back by that +tyrannical dame, and a dog came jumping over, barking most furiously, +which set a dozen more yelping all about us, and so escorted we retired. + +This house is in the Village of the Merchant, not five minutes from our +gate, but the women in it are far enough from any chance of hearing. The +men let us in that day to take the photograph, and we hoped thereby to +make friends; but though there are six families living there (for the +house is large; the photograph only shows one end of the verandah which +runs down its whole length), we have never been once allowed to speak to +one of the women; the mother-in-law of all the six takes care we never +get the chance. One of the children, a dear little girl, follows us +outside sometimes, but she is only seven, and not very courageous; so, +though she evidently picks up some of the choruses we sing, she is +afraid of being seen listening, and never gets much at a time. + +These are some of the practical difficulties in the way of reaching the +women. There are others. Suppose you do get in, or, what is more +probable in pioneer work, suppose you get a verandah, even then it is +not plain sailing by any means. For, first of all, it is dangerously +hot. The sun beats down on the street or courtyard to within a foot or +two of the stone ledge you are sitting upon, and strikes up. Reflected +glare means fever, so you try to edge a little farther out of it without +disturbing anyone's feelings, explaining minutely why you are doing it, +lest they should think your design is to covertly touch them; and then, +their confidence won so far, you begin perhaps with the wordless book, +or a lyric set to an Indian tune, or a picture of some parable--never of +our Lord--or, oftener still, we find the best way is to open our Bibles, +for they all respect a Sacred Book, and read something from it which we +know they will understand. We generally find one or two women about the +verandahs, and two or three more come within a few minutes, and seeing +this, two or three more. But getting them and keeping them are two +different things. It is not easy to hold people to hear what they have +no special desire to hear. But we are helped; we are not alone. It is +always a strength to remember that. + +Once fairly launched, interruptions begin. You are in the middle of a +miracle, perhaps, and by this time a dozen women have gathered, and +rejoice your heart by listening well, when a man from the opposite side +of the street saunters over and asks may he put a question, or asks it +forthwith. He has heard that our Book says, that if you have faith you +can lift a mountain into the sea. Now, there is a mountain, and he +points to the pillar out on the plain, standing straight up for five +thousand feet, a column of solid rock. There is sea on the other side, +he says; cast it in, and we will believe! And the women laugh. But one +more intelligent turns to you, "Does your Book really say that?" she +asks, "then why can't you do it, and let us see?" And the man strikes in +with another remark, and a woman at the edge moves off, and you wish the +man would go. + +Perhaps he does, or perhaps you are able to detach him from the visible, +and get him and those women too to listen to some bit of witnessing to +the Power that moves the invisible, and you are in its very heart when +another objection is started: "You say there is only one true God, but +we have heard that you worship three!" or, "Can your God keep you from +sin?" And you try, God helping you, to answer so as to avoid discussion, +and perhaps to your joy succeed, and some are listening intently again, +when a woman interrupts with a question about your relations which you +answered before, but she came late, and wants to hear it all over again. +You satisfy her as far as you can, and then, feeling how fast the +precious minutes are passing, you try, oh so earnestly, to buy them up +and fill them with eternity work, when suddenly the whole community +concentrates itself upon your Tamil sister. Who is she? You had waived +the question at the outset, knowing what would sequel it, but they renew +the charge. If she is a "born Christian," they exclaim, and draw away +for fear of defilement--"Low-caste, low-caste!" and the word runs round +contemptuously. If she is a convert, they ask questions about her +relations (they have probably been guessing among themselves about her +Caste for the last ten minutes); if she does not answer them, they let +their imagination run riot; if she does, they break out in indignation, +"Left your own mother! Broken your Caste!" and they call her by names +not sweet to the ear, and perhaps rise up in a body, and refuse to have +anything more to do with such a disgraceful person. + +Or perhaps you are trying to persuade some of them to learn to read, +knowing that, if you can succeed, there will be so much more chance of +teaching them, but they assure you it is not the custom for women in +that village to read, which unhappily is true; or it may be you are +telling them, as you tell those you may never see again, of the Love +that is loving them, and in the middle of the telling a baby howls, and +all the attention goes off upon it; or somebody wants to go into the +house, and a way has to be made for her, with much gathering together +and confusion; or a dog comes yelping round the corner, with a stone at +its heels, and a pack of small boys in full chase after it; or the men +call out it is time to be going; or the women suggest it is time to be +cooking; or someone says or does something upsetting, and the group +breaks up in a moment, and each unit makes for its separate hole, and +stands in it, looking out; and you look up at those dark little +doorways, and feel you would give anything they could ask, if only they +would let you in, and let you sit down beside them in one of those +rooms, and tell them the end of the story they interrupted; but they +will not do that. Oh, it makes one sorrowful to be so near to anyone, +and yet so very far, as one sometimes is from these women. You look at +them, as they stand in their doorways, within reach, but out of reach, +as out of reach as if they were thousands of miles away. . . . + +Just as I wrote those words a Brahman woman came to the door and looked +in. Then she walked in and sat down, but did not speak. Can you think +how one's heart bounds even at such a little thing as that? Brahman +women do not come to see us every day. She pulled out a book of +palm-leaf slips, and we read it. It told how she was one of a family of +seven, all born deaf and dumb; how hand in hand they had set off to walk +to Benares to drown themselves in the Ganges; how a Sepoy had stopped +them and taken them to an English Collector; how he had provided for the +seven for a year, then let them go; how they had scattered and wandered +about, visiting various holy places, supported by the virtuous wherever +they went; and how the bearer would be glad to receive whatever we would +give her. . . . She has gone, a poor deaf and dumb and wholly heathen +woman; we could not persuade her to stay and rest. She is married, she +told us by signs; her husband is deaf and dumb, and she has one blind +child. She sat on the floor beside us for a few minutes and asked +questions--the usual ones, about me, all by signs; but nothing we could +sign could in any way make her understand anything about our God. And +yet she seems to know something at least about her own. She pointed to +her mouth, and then up, and then down and round, to show the winding of +a river, and signed clearly enough how she went from holy river to holy +river, and worshipped by each, and she pointed up and clasped her hands. +There we were, just as I had been writing, so near to her, yet so far +from her. + +But the greatest difficulty of all in reaching the women is that they +have no desire to be reached. Sometimes, as on that afternoon when the +child came and wanted to hear, we find one who has desire, but the +greater number have none; and except in the more advanced towns and +villages, where they are allowed to learn with a Bible-woman, they have +hardly a chance to hear enough to make them want to hear more. + +Then, as if to make the case doubly hard (and this law applies to every +woman, of whatever Caste), she is, in the eyes of the law, the property +of her husband; and though a Christian cannot by law compel his Hindu +wife to live with him, a Hindu husband can compel his Christian wife to +live with him; so that no married woman is ever legally free to be a +Christian, for if the husband demanded her back, she could not be +protected, but would have to be given up to a life which no English +woman could bear to contemplate. She may say she is a Christian; he +cares nought for what she says. God help the woman thus forced back! + +But, believing a higher Power will step in than the power of this most +unjust law, we would risk any penalty and receive such a wife should she +come. Only, in dealing with the difficulties and barriers which lie +between an Indian woman and life as a free Christian, it is useless to +shut one's eyes to this last and least comprehensible of all +difficulties, "an English law, imported into India, and enforced with +imprisonment," an obsolete English law! + +We have no Brahman women converts in our Tamil Mission. We hear of a +few in Travancore; we know of more in the North, where the Brahmans are +more numerous and less exclusive; but there is not a single _bona fide_ +Brahman convert woman or child in the whole of this District. There was +one, a very old woman; but she died two years ago. We may comfort +ourselves with the thought that surely some of those who have heard have +become secret believers. But will a true believer remain secret always? +We may trust that many a dear little child died young, loving Jesus, and +went to Him. But what about those who have not died young? I know that a +brighter view may be taken, and if the sadder has been emphasised in +these letters, it is only because we feel you know less about it. + +For more has been written about the successes than about the failures, +and it seems to us that it is more important that you should know about +the reverses than about the successes of the war. We shall have all +eternity to celebrate the victories, but we have only the few hours +before sunset in which to win them. We are not winning them as we +should, because the fact of the reverses is so little realised, and the +needed reinforcements are not forthcoming, as they would be if the +position were thoroughly understood. Reinforcements of men and women are +needed, but, far above all, reinforcements of prayer. And so we have +tried to tell you the truth--the uninteresting, unromantic truth--about +the heathen as we find them, the work as it is. More workers are needed. +No words can tell how much they are needed, how much they are _wanted_ +here. But we will never try to allure anyone to think of coming by +painting coloured pictures, when the facts are in black and white. What +if black and white will never attract like colours? We care not for it; +our business is to tell the truth. The work is not a pretty thing, to be +looked at and admired. It is a fight. And battlefields are not +beautiful. + +But if one is truly called of God, all the difficulties and +discouragements only intensify the Call. If things were easier there +would be less need. The greater the need, the clearer the Call rings +through one, the deeper the conviction grows: _it was God's Call_. And +as one obeys it, there is the joy of obedience, quite apart from the joy +of success. There is joy in being with Jesus in a place where His +friends are few; and sometimes, when one would least expect it, coming +home tired out and disheartened after a day in an opposing or +indifferent town, suddenly--how, you can hardly tell--such a wave of the +joy of Jesus flows over you and through you, that you are stilled with +the sense of utter joy. Then, when you see Him winning souls, or hear of +your comrades' victories, oh! all that is within you sings, "I have more +than an overweight of joy!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +"Attracted by the Influence" + + "It seems to have been a mistake to imagine that + the Divine Majesty on high was too exalted to take + any notice of our mean affairs. The great minds + among us are remarkable for the attention they + bestow upon minutiae . . . 'a sparrow cannot fall to + the ground without your Father.'" + _David Livingstone, Africa._ + + +WE have now left Dohnavur, on the West, and returned to our old +battlefield on the East. The evening after our arrival one of those +special things happened, though only a little thing some will say--a +little child was brought. + +[Illustration: This is not Pearl-eyes. Pearl-eyes is tinier, and has +more sparkle; but the Caste is the same, and as we have not got +Pearl-eyes, we put this small girl here.] + +There is a temple in the Hindu village near us. We have often tried to +reach the temple women, poor slaves of the Brahmans. We have often seen +the little girls, some of them bought as infants from their mothers, and +trained to the terrible life. In one of the Mission day schools there is +a child who was sold by her "Christian" mother to these Servants of the +gods; but though this is known it cannot be proved, and the child has no +wish to leave the life, and she cannot be taken by force. + +Sometimes we see the little girls playing in the courtyards of the +houses near the temple, gracious little maidens, winsome in their ways, +almost always more refined in manner than ordinary children, and +often beautiful. One longs to help the little things, but no hand of +ours can stretch over the wall and lift even one child out. + +Among the little temple girls in the Great Lake Village was a tiny girl +called Pearl-eyes, of whom we knew nothing; but God must have some +purpose for her, for He sent His Angel to the house one afternoon, and +the Angel found little Pearl-eyes, and he took her by the hand and led +her out, across the stream, and through the wood, to a Christian woman's +house in our village. Next morning she brought her to us. This is what +really happened, I think; there is no other way to account for it. No +one remembers such a thing happening here before. + +I was sitting reading in the verandah when I saw them come. The woman +was looking surprised. She did not know about the Angel, I expect, and +she could not understand it at all. The little child was chattering +away, lifting up a bright little face as she talked. When she saw me she +ran straight up to me, and climbed on my knee without the least fear, +and told me all about herself at once. I took her to the Iyer, and he +sent for the Pastor, who sent a messenger to the Village of the Lake, to +say the child was here, and to inquire into the truth of her story. + +"My name is Pearl-eyes," the child began, "and I want to stay here +always. I have come to stay." And she told us how her mother had sold +her when she was a baby to the Servants of the gods. She was not happy +with them. They did not love her. Nobody loved her. She wanted to live +with us. + +But why had she run away now? She hardly seemed to know, and looked +puzzled at our questions. The only thing she was sure about was that she +had "run and come," and that she "wanted to stay." Then the Ammal came +in, and she went through exactly the same story with her. + +We felt, if this proved to be fact, that we could surely keep her; the +Government would be on our side in such a matter. Only the great +difficulty might be to prove it. + +Meanwhile we gave her a doll, and her little heart was at rest. She did +not seem to have a fear. With the prettiest, most confiding little +gesture, she sat down at our feet and began to play with it. + +We watched her wonderingly. She was perfectly at home with us. She ran +out, gathered leaves and flowers, and came back with them. These were +carefully arranged in rows on the floor. Then another expedition, and in +again with three pebbles for hearthstones, a shell for a cooking pot, +bits of straw for firewood, a stick for a match, and sand for rice. + +She went through all the minutiae of Tamil cookery with the greatest +seriousness. Then we, together with her doll, were invited to partake. +The little thing walked straight into our hearts, and we felt we would +risk anything to keep her. + +Our messenger returned. The story was true. The women from whose house +she had come were certainly temple women. But would they admit it to us, +and, above all, would they admit they had obtained her illegally?--a +fact easy to deny. Almost upon this they came; and to the Iyer's +question, "Who are you?" one said, "We are Servants of the gods!" I +heard an instructive aside, "Why did you tell them?" "Oh, never mind," +said the one who had answered, "they don't understand!" But we had +understood, and we were thankful for the first point gained. + +They stood and stared and called the child, but she would not go, and we +would not force her. Then they went away, and we were left for an hour +in that curious quiet which comes before a storm. Our poor little girl +was frightened. "Oh, if they come again, hide me!" she begged. One saw +it was almost too much for her, high-spirited child though she is. + +The next was worse. A great crowd gathered on the verandah, and an +evil-faced woman, who seemed to have some sort of power over Pearl-eyes, +fiercely demanded her back. When we refused to make her go, the +evil-faced woman, whose very glance sent a tremble through the little +one, declared that Pearl-eyes must say out loud that she would not go +with her, "Out loud so that all should hear." But the poor little thing +was dumb with fear. She just stood and looked, and shivered. We could +not persuade her to say a word. + +Star was hovering near. She had been through it all herself before, and +her face was anxious, and our hearts were, I know. It is impossible to +describe such a half-hour's life to you; it has to be lived through to +be understood. The clamour and excitement, and the feeling of how much +hangs on the word of a child who does not properly understand what she +is accepting or refusing. The tension is terrible. + +I dared not go near her lest they should think I was bewitching her. Any +movement on my part towards her would have been the signal for a rush +on theirs; but I signed to Star to take her away for a moment. The +bewilderment on the poor little face was frightening me. One more look +up at that woman, one more pull at the strained cord, and to their +question, "Will you come?" she might as likely say yes as no. + +Star carried her off. Once out of reach of those eyes, the words came +fast enough. Star told me she clung to her and sobbed, "Oh, if I say no, +she will catch me and punish me dreadfully afterwards! She will! I know +she will!" And she showed cuts in the soft brown skin where she had been +punished before; but Star soothed her and brought her back, and she +stood--such a little girl--before them all. "I won't! I won't!" she +cried, and she turned and ran back with Star. And the crowd went off, +and I was glad to see the last of that fearful face, with its evil, +cruel eyes. + +But they said they would write to the mother, who had given her to them. +We noted this--the second point we should have to prove if they lodged a +suit against us--and any day the mother may come and complicate matters +by working on the child's affections. Also, we have heard of a plot to +decoy her away, should we be for a moment off guard; so we are very much +on the watch, and we never let her out of our sight. + +By this time--it is five days since she came--it seems impossible to +think of having ever been without her. Apart from her story, which would +touch anyone, there is her little personality, which is very +interesting. She plays all day long with her precious dolls, talking to +them, telling them everything we tell her. Yesterday it was a Bible +story, to-day a new chorus. She insisted on her best-beloved infant +coming to church with her, and it had to have its collection too. +Everything is most realistic. + +Tamil children usually hang their dolls up by their limbs to a nail in +the wall, or stow them away on a shelf, but this mite has imagination +and much sympathy. + +In thinking over it, as, bit by bit, her little story came to light, we +have been struck by the touches that tell how God cares. The time of her +coming told of care. Some months earlier, the temple woman who kept her +had burnt her little fingers across, as a punishment for some childish +fault, and Pearl-eyes ran away. She knew what she wanted--her mother; +she knew that her mother lived in a town twenty miles to the East. It +was a long way for a little girl to walk, "but some kind people found me +on the road, and they were going to the same town, and they let me go +with them, so I was not afraid, only I was very tired when we got there. +It took three days to walk. I did not know where my mother lived in the +town, and it was a very big town, but I described my mother to the +people in the streets, and at last I found my mother." For just a little +while there was something of the mother-love, "my mother cried." But the +temple woman had traced her and followed her, and the mother gave her +up. + +Then comes a blank in the story; she only remembers she was lonely, and +she "felt a mother-want about the world," and wandered wearily-- + + "As restless as a nest-deserted bird + Grown chill through something being away, though what + It knows not." + +Then comes a bit of life distinct in every detail, and told with +terribly unchildish horror. She heard them whisper together about her; +they did not know that she understood. She was to be "married to the +god," "tied to a stone." Terrified, she flew to the temple, slipped past +the Brahmans, crossed the court, stood before the god in the dim +half-darkness of the shrine, clasped her hands,--she showed us +how,--prayed to it, pleaded, "Let me die! Oh, let me die!" Barely seven +years old, and she prayed, "Oh, let me die!" + +She tried to run away again; if she had come to our village then, she +could not have been saved. We were in Dohnavur, and there was no one +here who could have protected her against the temple people. So God kept +her from coming then. + +About that time, one afternoon one of our Tamil Sisters, whom we had +left behind to hold the fort, passed through the Great Lake Village, and +the temple women called the child, and said, "See! It is she! The +child-stealing Ammal! Run!" It was only said to frighten her, but it did +a different work. One day, _the day after we returned_, the thought +suddenly came to her, "I will go and look for that child-stealing +Ammal"; and she wandered away in the twilight and came to our village, +and stood alone in front of the church, and no one knew. + +There one of our Christian women, Servant of Jesus by name, found her +some time afterwards, a very small and desolate mite, with tumbled hair +and troubled eyes, for she could not find the one she sought, that +child-stealing Ammal she wanted so much, and she was frightened, all +alone in the gathering dark by this big, big church; and very big it +must have looked to so tiny a thing as she. + +Servant of Jesus thought at first of taking the little one back to her +home, but mercifully it was late (another touch of the hand of God), and +so instead she took her straight to her own little house, which +satisfied Pearl-eyes perfectly. But she would not touch the curry and +rice the kind woman offered her. She drew herself up to her full small +height and said, with the greatest dignity, "Am I not a Vellala child? +May you ask me to break my Caste?" + +So Servant of Jesus gave her some sugar, that being ceremonially safe, +and Pearl-eyes ate it hungrily, and then went off to sleep. + +Next morning, again the woman's first thought was to take her to her own +people. But the child was so insistent that she wanted the +child-catching Ammal, that Servant of Jesus, thinking I was the Ammal +she meant (for this is one of my various names), brought her to me, as I +have said, and oh, I am glad she did! + +Nothing escapes those clear brown eyes. That morning, in the midst of +the confusion, one of the temple women called out that the child was a +wicked thief. This is an ordinary charge. They think it will compel +submission. "We will make out a case, and send the police to drag you +off to gaol!" they yell; and sometimes there is risk of serious trouble, +for a case can be made out cheaply in India. But this did not promise to +be serious, so we inquired the stolen sum. It came to fourpence +halfpenny, which we paid for the sake of peace, though she told them +where the money was, and we found out later that she had told the truth. + +I never thought she would remember it--the excitements of the day +crowded it out of my mind--but weeks afterwards, when I was teaching her +the text, "Not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold," +and explaining how much Jesus had paid for us, she interrupted me with +the remark, "Oh yes, I understand! I know how much you paid for +me--fourpence halfpenny!" + +And now to turn from small-seeming things to large. Ragland, Tamil +missionary, is writing to a friend in 1847. He is trying to express +astronomically the value of a soul. He asks, "How does the astronomer +correct the knowledge of the stars which simple vision brings him? +First, having discovered that the little dot of light is thousands of +miles distant, and having discerned by the telescope that it subtends at +the eye a sensible angle, and having measured that angle, a simple +calculation shows him the size of the object to be greater perhaps than +that of the huge ball which he calls his earth." Then, "Take the soul of +one of the poorest, lowest Pariahs of India, and form it by imagination +into, or suppose it represented by, a sphere. Place this at the +extremity of a line which is to represent time. Extend this line and +move off your sphere, farther and farther _ad infinitum_, and what has +become of your sphere? Why, there it is, just as before. . . . It is +still what it was, and this even after thousands of years. In short, the +disc appears undiminished, though viewed from an almost infinite +distance. _Oh, what an angle of the mind ought that poor soul to +subtend!_" + +The letter goes on to suggest another parallel between things +astronomical and things spiritual. He supposes an objector admits the +size as proved, but demurs as to the importance of these heavenly +bodies. "They are, perhaps, only unsubstantial froth, mere puffs of air, +vapoury nothings." But the astronomer knows their mass and weight, as +well as their size: "Long observation has taught him that planets in the +neighbourhood of one given heavenly body have been turned out of their +course, how, and by what, he is at first quite at a loss to tell but he +has guessed and reasoned, has found cause for suspecting the planet. He +watches, observes, and compares; and after a long sifting of evidence, +he brings it in guilty of the disturbance. If it be so, it must have a +power to disturb, a power to attract; and if so, it is not a mere shell, +much less a mere vapour. It has mass and it has weight, and he +calculates and determines from the disturbances what that weight is. +Just so with the Pariah's soul. Oh, what a disturbance has it created! +What a celestial body has it drawn out from its celestial sphere! Not a +star, not the whole visible heavens, not the heaven of heavens itself, +but Him Who fills heaven and earth, by Whom all things were created. +_Him did that Pariah's soul attract from heaven even to earth to save +it. Oh that we would thence learn, and learning, lay to heart the weight +and the value of that one soul._" + +And just as the majesty of the glory of the Lord is shown forth nowhere +more majestically than in the chapter which tells us how He feeds His +flock like a shepherd, and gathers the lambs with His arm, and carries +them in His bosom, so nowhere, I think, do we see the glory of our God +more than in chapters of life which show Him bending down from the +circle of the earth, yea rather, coming down all the way to help it, +"attracted by the influence" of the need of a little child. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +The Elf + + "You remember what I said once, that you could + not, perhaps, put a whole crown on the head of + Jesus--that is, bring a whole country to be + His--but you might put one little jewel in His + crown." + _Bishop French, India and Arabia._ + + +PEARL-EYES, otherwise the Elf, because it exactly describes her, was +very good for the first few weeks, after which we began to know her. She +is not a convert in any sense of the term. She is just a very wilful, +truthful, exasperating, fascinating little Oriental. + +When she is, as she expresses it, "moved to sin," nobody of her own +colour can manage her. "You are only _me_ grown up," is her attitude +towards them all. She is always ready to repent, but, as Pearl +sorrowfully says, "before her tears are dry, she goes and sins again," +and then, quite unabashed, she will trot up to you as if nothing had +happened and expect to be lavishly petted. + +I never saw anyone except the Elf look interesting when naughty. She +does look interesting. She is a rather light brown, and any emotion +makes the brown lighter; her long lashes droop over her eyes in the most +pathetic manner, and when she looks up appealingly she might be an +innocent martyr about to die for her faith. + +We have two other small girls with us; the Imp--but her name is a libel, +she reformed some months ago--and Tangles, who ties herself into knots +whenever she makes a remark. These three have many an argument (for +Indian children delight in discussion), and sometimes the things that +are brought to me would shock the orthodox. This is the last, brought +yesterday: + +"Obedience is not so important as love. Orpah was very obedient. Her +mother-in-law said, 'Go, return,' and she did as she was told. But Ruth +was not obedient at all. Four times her mother-in-law said, 'Go,' and +yet she would not go. But God blessed Ruth much more than Orpah, because +she loved her mother-in-law. So obedience is not so important as love." +Only the day before I had been labouring to explain the absolute +necessity for the cultivation of the grace of obedience; but now it was +proved a secondary matter, for Ruth was certainly disobedient, but good +and greatly blessed. + +The Elf's chief delinquencies at present, however, spring from a rooted +aversion to her share in the family housework (ten minutes' rubbing up +of brass water-vessels); an appetite for slate pencils--she would nibble +them by the inch if we would let her--"they are so nice to eat," she +says; and, most fruitful of all in sad consequences, a love of being +first. + +As regards sin No. 1, I hope it will soon be a thing of the past, for +she has just made a valuable discovery: "Satan doesn't come very close +to me if I sing all the time I'm rubbing the brasses. He runs away when +he hears me sing, so I sing very loud, and that keeps him away. Satan +doesn't like hymns." And I quite agree, and strongly advise her to +persevere. + +Sin No. 2 is likely to pass, as she hates the nasty medicine we give her +to correct her depraved proclivities; but No. 3 is more serious. It +opens the door, or, as she once expressed it, it "calls so many other +sins to come,"--quarrelling, pride, and several varieties of temper, +come at the "call" of this sin No. 3. + +She is a born leader in her very small way, and she has not learned yet, +that before we can lead we must be willing to be led. "I will choose the +game," she remarks "and all of you must do as I tell you." Sometimes +they do, for her directions, though decisive, are given with a certain +grace that wins obedience; but sometimes they do not, and then the Elf +is offended, and walks off. + +But she is the life of the game, and they chase her and propitiate her; +and she generally condescends to return, for solitary dignity is dull. +If any of the seniors happen to see it, it is checked as much as +possible, but oftener we hear of it in that very informing prayer, which +is to her quite the event of the evening; for she takes to the outward +forms of religion with great avidity, and the evening prayer especially +is a deep delight to her. She counts up all her numerous shortcomings +carefully and perfectly truthfully, as they appear to her, and with +equal accuracy her blessings large and small. She sometimes includes her +good deeds in the list, lest, I suppose, they should be forgotten in the +record of the day. All the self-righteousness latent in human nature +comes out, or used to, in her earlier days, in the evening revelations. +Here is a specimen, taken at random from the first month's sheaf. She +and the Imp had come to my room for their devotions, preternaturally +pious, both of them, though quite unregenerate. It was the Elf's turn to +begin. She settled herself circumspectly, sighed deeply, and then began. + +First came the day's sins, counted on the fingers of the right hand, +beginning with the fourth finger. "Once," and down went the little +finger on the palm, "I was cross with L." (L. being the Imp, nine and a +half to the Elf's seven and a half, but most submissive as a rule.) "I +was cross because she did not do as I told her. That was wrong of me; +but it was wrong of her too, so it was only half a sin. Twice," and the +third finger was folded down, "when I did not do my work well. That was +quite all my fault. Three times," and down went the middle finger, "when +I caught a quarrel with those naughty little children; they were stupid +little children, and they would not play my game, so I spoiled unity. +But they came running after me, and they said, 'Please forgive us,' so I +forgave them. That was very good of me, and I also forgave L.; so that +is three bad things and two good things to-day." + +I stopped her, and expatiated on the sin of pride, but her mind was full +of the business in hand. + +"Then there were four blessings--no, five; but I can't remember the +fifth. The Ammal gave me a box for my doll, and you gave me some sweets; +and I found some nice rags in your waste-paper basket"--grubbing in +rag-bags and waste-paper baskets is one of the joys of life; rags are so +useful when you have a large family of dolls who are always wearing out +their clothes--"and I have some cakes in my own box now. There are four +blessings. But I forget the fifth." + +I advised her to leave it, and begin, for the Imp was patiently waiting +her turn. She, good child, suggested the missing fifth must be the +soap--the Ammal had given each of them a piece the size of a walnut. +Yes, that was it apparently, for the Elf, contented, began-- + +"O loving Lord Jesus! I have done three wrong things to-day" (then +followed the details and prayer for forgiveness). "Lord, give L. grace +to do what I want her to do; and when she does not do it, Lord, give me +grace to be patient with her. I thank Thee for causing me to forgive +those little children who would not play the game I liked. Oh make them +good, and make me also good; and next time we play together give me +grace to play patiently with them. And oh, forgive all the bad things I +have done to-day; and I thank Thee very much for all the good things I +have done, for I did them by Thy grace." Praise for mercies followed in +order: the cardboard box, the lump of sugar-candy, the spoils from the +waste-paper basket, those sticky honey-cakes--which, to my disquietude, +I then understood were secreted in her seeley box--and that precious bit +of soap. Then--and this is never omitted--a fervently expressed desire +for safe preservation for herself and her friends from "the bites of +snakes and scorpions, and all other noxious creatures, through the +darkness of the night, and when I wake may I find myself at Thy holy +feet. Amen." + +No matter how sleepy she is, these last phrases, which are quite of her +own devising, are always included in the tail-end of her prayer. She +would not feel at all safe on her mat, spread on the ground out of doors +in hot weather, unless she had so fortified herself from all attacks of +the reptile world. And when, one day, we discovered a nest of some few +dozen scorpions within six yards of her mat, not one of which had ever +disturbed her or any of her "friends," we really did feel that funny +little prayer had power in it after all. + +You cannot interrupt in the middle of those rather confusing +confessions, she is far too much engaged to be disturbed, but when the +communication is fairly over, and she cuddles on your knee for the +kissing and caressing she so much appreciates, you have a chance of +explaining things a little. + +She listened seriously that evening, I remember, then, slipping down off +my knee, she added as a sort of postscript, very reverently, "O Lord +Jesus, I prayed it wrong. I was naughtier than L., much naughtier. But +indeed Thou wilt remember that she was naughty first. . . . Oh, that's +not it! It was not L., it was me! And I was impatient with those little +children. But . . . but they caused impatience within me." Then getting +hopelessly mixed up between self-condemnation and self-justification, +she gave it up, adding, however, "Next time we play together, give +_them_ more grace to play patiently with me," which was so far +satisfactory, as at first she had scouted the idea that there could be +any need of patience on the other side. + +Sometimes she brings me perplexities not new to most of us. "This +morning I prayed with great desire, 'Lord, keep me to-day from being +naughty at all,' and I was naughty an hour afterwards; I looked at the +clock and saw. How was it I was naughty when I wanted to be good? The +naughtiness jumped up inside me, so"--(illustrating its supposed action +within), "and it came running out. So what is the use of praying?" + +Once the difficulty was rather opposite. + +"Can you be good without God's grace?" + +I told her I certainly could not. + +"Well, I can!" she answered delightedly. "I want to pray now." + +"Now? It is eight o'clock now. Haven't you had prayer long ago?" (We all +get up at six o'clock.) + +"No. That's just what I meant. I skipped my prayer this morning, and so +of course I got no grace; but I have been helping the elder Sisters. +Wasn't that right?" + +"Yes, quite right." + +"And yet I hadn't got any grace! But I suppose," she added reflectively, +"it was the grace over from yesterday that did it." + +As a rule she is not distinguished for very deep penitence, but at one +time she had what she called "a true sense of sin" which fluctuated +rather, but was always hailed, when it appeared in force, as a sign of +better things. After a day of mixed goodness and badness the Elf prayed +most devoutly, "I thank Thee for giving me a sense of sin to-day. O God, +keep me from being at all naughty to-morrow. But if I am naughty, Lord, +give me a true sense of sin!" + +[Illustration: We value this photo exceedingly, it was so hard to get. +We were in a big heathen village when we saw this Ugly Duckling, in fact +she was one of the most tiresome of the "rabbits" mentioned in Chapter +I. She saw us, and darted off and climbed a wall and made faces at us in +a truly delightful manner. We thought we would take her, and tried. As +well try to pick up quicksilver; she would not be caught. The deed was +finally done when she had not the least idea of it, and the camera gave +a triumphant click as it snapped her unawares. "What do they want her +for?" inquired a grown-up bystander, who had observed our little game. +"Look at her hair," said another, "they never saw hair like that in +England, that's what they want her for!"] + +Professor Drummond speaks of our whole life as a long-drawn breath of +mystery, between the two great wonders--the first awakening and the last +sleep. I often think of that as I listen to the little children talking +to each other and to us. They are always wondering about something. One +day it was, "Do fishes love Jesus?" followed by "What is a soul?" The +conclusion was, "It's the thing we love Jesus with." When they first +come to us they invariably think that mountains grow like trees: "Stones +are young mountains, aren't they? and hills are middle-aged mountains." +Later on, every printed thing on a wall is a text. We were in a railway +station, on our way to the hills: "Look! oh, what numbers and numbers of +texts! But what queer pictures to have on texts!" One was specially +perplexing; it was a well-known advertisement, and the picture showed a +monkey smoking a cigar. What could that depraved animal have to do with +_a text_? When we got to the hills the first amazement was the sight of +the fashionable ladies wearing veils. "Don't they like to look at God's +beautiful world? Do they like it better _spotty_?" + +Tangles has another name; it is the "Ugly Duckling," and it is extremely +descriptive; but Ugly Duckling or not, she is of an inquiring turn of +mind, and one Saturday afternoon, after standing under a tree for fully +five minutes lost in thought, she came to me with a question: "What are +the birds saying to each other?" I looked at the Ugly Duckling, and she +twisted herself into a note of interrogation, in the ridiculous way she +has, but her face was full of anxiety for enlightenment about the +language of the sparrows. "There," she said, pointing vigorously to the +astonished birds, which instantly flew away, "that little sparrow and +this one are making quite different noises. What are they saying? I +do want to know so much!" + +As I imagined the birds in question had just been having supper, I told +her what I thought they were probably saying. Next day, in the sermon, +there was something about the praise all creation offers to God, and I +saw Tangles knotting her hands together and going into the queerest +contortions in appreciation of the one bit of the sermon she could +understand. + +The Imp's questions were various. "What is that?"--pointing to a +busy-bee clock--"is it an English kind of insect? Don't its legs get +tired going round? Oh! is it dead now?" (when it stopped). "Who made +Satan?" was an early one. "Why doesn't God kill him immediately, and +stamp on him?" One day I was trying to find and touch her heart by +telling her how very sorry Jesus is when we are naughty. She seemed +subdued, then--"Amma, where was the Queen's spirit after she died and +before they buried her, _and what did they give it to eat_?" + +"Did you see Lot's wife?" was a question which tickled the Bishop when, +on his last visitation, he gave himself up to an hour's catechising upon +his tour in the Holy Land. They were disappointed that he had to confess +he had not. "Oh, I suppose the salt has melted," was the Elf's comment +upon this. + +Tangles is distinctly inclined to peace. The Elf, I grieve to say, is +not. Yesterday she announced a quarrel: "I feel cross!" Tangles objected +to quarrel. "I do feel cross!" and the Elf apparently showed +corroborative symptoms. Then Tangles looked at her straight: "I'm not +going to quarrel. The devil has arrived in the middle of the afternoon +to interrupt our unity, and I won't let him!" which so touched the Elf +that she embraced her on the spot; and then, in detailing it all in her +prayer in the evening, this incorrigible little sinner added, with real +emotion, "Lord, I am not good. I spoiled unity with L." (the Imp), "and +Thou didst feel obliged to remove her to a boarding-school. Now do help +me not to spoil unity with P." (who is Tangles), "lest Thou shouldst +feel obliged to remove her also to a boarding-school,"--a view of the +Imp's promotion which had not struck me before. + +Tangles and she belong to the same Caste, and Tangles has the character +of that Caste as fully developed as the Elf, and can hold her own +effectually. Also she is a little older and taller, and being the Elf's +"elder sister," is, therefore, entitled to a certain measure of respect. +All those small things tend to the discipline of the Elf, who is very +small for her age, and who would have preferred a junior, of a meek and +mild disposition, and whose constant prayer is this: "O Lord, bring +another little girl out of the lion's mouth, but, O Lord, please let her +be a _very little girl_!" Shortly after this prayer began, a very little +girl was brought; but she was a vulgar infant, and greatly tried the +Elf, and she was, for various reasons, promptly returned to her parents. +After this episode the prayer varied somewhat: "Lord, let her be a +_suitable_ child, and give me grace to love her from my heart when she +comes." + +The conversation of these young creatures is often very illuminating, +and always most miscellaneous. The Elf's mind especially is a sort of +small curiosity shop, and displays many assortments. The Elf, Tangles, +and little Delight (Delight is a youthful Christian) are curled up on +the warm red sand with their three little heads close together. The Elf +is telling a story. I listen, and hear a marvellous muddle of the +_Uganda Boys_ and _Cyril of North Africa_. "He was only six years old, +and he stood up and said, 'What you are going to do, do quickly! I am +not afraid. I am going to the Golden City!' And they showed him the +sword and the fire, and he said, 'Do it quickly!' and they chopped off +his arm, and said, 'Will you deny Jesus?' and he said, 'No!' and they +chopped off his other arm,"--and so on through all the various limbs in +most vivid detail,--"and then they threw him on the fire, and burnt him +till he was ashes; and he sang praises to Jesus!" + +The Elf leans to the tragic. Tangles' mother had a difference of opinion +with a friend. The friend snatched at her opponent's ear jewels, and +tore the ear. Life with a torn ear was intolerable, so Tangles' mother +walked three times round the well, repeated three times, "My blood be on +your head!" and sprang in. She rose three times, each time said the same +words, and then sank. All this Tangles confided to the Elf, who +concocted a game based upon the incident--which, however, we ruthlessly +squashed. They are tossing pebbles now, according to rules of their own, +and talking vigorously. "The Ammal told me all the people in England are +white, and I asked her what they did without servants, and she said they +had white servants, _white servants_!!" and the note of exclamation is +intense. The others are equally astonished. White people as servants! +The two ideas clash. They have never seen a white servant. In all their +extensive acquaintance with white people they have only seen +missionaries (who are truly their servants, though they hardly realise +it yet), and occasionally Government officials, whose mastership is very +much in evidence. So they are puzzled. They get out of the difficulty, +however. "At the beginning of the beginning of England, black people +must have gone to be the white people's servants, and they gradually +grew white." Yes, that's it apparently; they faded. + +The conversation springs higher. "Do you know what lightning is? I'll +tell you. I watched it one whole evening, and I think it's just a little +bit of heaven's light coming through and going back again." This sounds +probable, and great interest is aroused. They are discussing the sheet +lightning which plays about the sky in the evening before rain. "Of +course it isn't much of heaven's light, only a little tiny bit getting +out and running down here to show us what it is like inside. One night I +shut my eyes, and it ran in and out, in and out, oh so fast! Even if I +shut my eyes I saw it running inside my eyes." + +"Did you get caned in school to-day?" + +"No, not exactly caned," and an explanation follows. "I was standing +beside a very naughty little girl, and the teacher meant to cane her, +but the cane fell on me by mistake. I wanted to cry, because it hurt, +but I thought it would be silly to cry when it hurt me quite by mistake. +So I didn't cry one tear!" + +The Elf hit upon a capital expedient for escaping castigation (which is +never very severe). "I found this cane myself. It was lying on the +ground in the compound, and I am going to take it to the teacher." +Chorus of "Why?" "Because," and the Elf looked elfish, "if I give it to +him with my own hands, how will he cane my hands with it? His heart will +not be hard enough to cane me with the cane I gave him!" and the little +scamp looks round for applause. Chorus of admiring "Oh!" + +Then they begin again, the Elf as usual chief informant. "I know +something!" Chorus, "What?" "A beautiful doll is waiting for me in a +box, and I'm going to have it at Ki-rismas!" "What sort of a doll?" is +the eager inquiry. "I don't know exactly, but God sent it, of course, so +I think it must be something like an angel." Chorus, delightedly, "Ah!" +"Yes, if it came from God, then of course it came from heaven, and +heaven is the place all the angels come from, and they are white and +shining, so I think it will be white and shining like an angel." The +doll in question is a negress with a woolly head and a scarlet-striped +pinafore. It had not struck me as angelic. It is an experiment in dolls. +Will it "take"? Ki-rismas came at last, and the heavenly doll with it, +but it did not "take." Grievous were the tears and sobs, and the +bitterest wail of all was, "I thought God would have sent me a nicer +doll!" We changed it for a "nicer doll," for the poor Elf was not +wicked, only broken-hearted, and Star, who is supposed to be much too +old for dolls, begged for the despised black beauty; because, as the Elf +maliciously remarked as she hugged her white dolly contentedly, "That +black thing has a curly head, just like Star's!" + +The habit of praying about everything is characteristic of the Elf, and +more than once her uninstructed little soul has grieved over the strange +way our prayers are sometimes answered. One day she came rushing in full +of excitement. "Oh, may I go and be examined? The Government Missie +Ammal is going to examine our school! Please let me go!" The Government +Missie Ammal, a great celebrity who only comes round once a year, was +staying with us, and I asked her if the child might have the joy of +being examined even though she had not had nearly her year at school. +She agreed, for the sake of the little one's delight--for an Indian +child likes nothing better than a fuss of any kind--to let her come into +the examination room, and take her examination informally. We knew she +was sure of a pass. An hour or two afterwards a scout came flying over +to tell us the awful news. The Elf had failed, utterly failed, and she +was so ashamed she wouldn't come back, "wouldn't come back any more." I +went for her, and found her a little heap of sobs and tears, outside the +schoolroom. I gathered her up in my arms and carried her home, and tried +to comfort her, but she was crushed. "I asked God so earnestly to let me +pass, and I didn't pass! And I thought He had listened, but now I know +He didn't listen at all!" + +I was puzzled too, though for a different reason. I knew she should +easily have passed, and I could only conclude her wild excitement had +made her nervous, for with many tears she told me, "I did not know one +answer! not even one!" And again she came back to the first and sorest, +"Oh, I did think God was listening, and He wasn't listening at all!" + +At last I got her quieted, and explained, by means of a rupee and an +anna, how sometimes God gives us something better than we ask for; we +ask for an anna, and He gives us a rupee. A rupee holds sixteen annas. +She grew interested: "Then my passing that examination was the anna. But +what is the rupee?" Now the Elf, as you may have observed, is not +weighted with over much humility, so I told her I thought the rupee must +be humility. She considered a while, then sliding off my knee, she knelt +down and said, with the utmost gravity and purpose, "O God! I did not +want that kind of answer, but I do want it now. Give me the rupee of +humility!" Then springing up with eyes dancing with mischief, "Next time +I fall into pride you will say, 'Oh, where is that rupee?'" + +When the school examinations were over, and the Missie Ammal came back +to rest, I asked her about the Elf. "She really did very badly, seemed +to know nothing of her subjects; should not have gone in, poor mite!" It +suddenly struck me to ask what class she had gone into. "The first," +said the Missie Ammal. "But she is in the infants'!" Then we understood. +The Elf had only been at school for a few months, and had just finished +the infant standard book, and had been moved into the first a day or two +before, as the teacher felt she was well able to clear the first course +in the next six months and take her examination in the following year, +two years' work in one. But it was not intended she should go in for +the Government examination, which requires a certain time to be spent in +preparation; so when, in the confusion of the arrangement of the +classes, she stood with her little class-fellows of two days only, the +mistake was not noticed. No wonder the poor Elf failed! We never told +her the reason, not desiring to raise fresh questions upon the +mysterious ways of Providence in her busy little brain; and to this day, +when she is betrayed into pride, she shakes her head solemnly at +herself, and remembers the rupee. + +She has lately been staying with the Missie Ammals, "my very particular +friends," as she calls them, at the C.E.Z. House, in Palamcottah. She +returned to us full of matter, and charged with a new idea. "I am no +more going to spend my pocket money upon vanities. I am going to save it +all up, and buy a _Gee-lit Bible_." This gilt-edged treasure is a +fruitful source of conversation. It will take about six years at the +rate of one farthing a week to save enough to buy exactly the kind she +desires. "I don't want a _common_ Bible. It must be _gee-lit_, with +shining _gee-lit_ all down the leaves on the outside, and the name on +the back all _gee-lit_ too. That's the kind of Bible I want!" Just as I +wrote that, she trotted in and poured three half-annas in small change +upon the table. "That's all I've got, and it's six weeks' savings. Six +years is a long, long time!" She confided to me that she found "the +flesh wanted to persuade" her to spend these three half-annas on cakes. +"It is the flesh, isn't it, that feeling you get inside, that says +'sweets and cakes! sweets and cakes!' in a very loud voice? I listened +to it for a little, and then I wanted those sweets and cakes! So I said +to myself, If I buy them they will all be gone in an hour, but if I buy +that Gee-lit Bible it will last for years and years. So I would not +listen any more to my flesh." Then a sudden thought struck her, and she +added impressively, "But when _you_ give me sweets and cakes, that is +different; the feeling that likes them is not 'flesh' then. It is only +'flesh' when I'm tempted to spend my Gee-lit Bible money on them." This +was a point I was intended thoroughly to understand. Sweets and cakes +were not to be confused with "flesh" except where a Gee-lit Bible was +concerned. She seemed relieved when I agreed with her that such things +might perhaps sometimes be innocently enjoyed, and with a sudden and +rather startling change of subject inquired, "Do they _never_ have +holidays in hell?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +Deified Devilry + + "Next to the sacrificers, they (the temple women) + are the most important persons about the temple. + That a temple intended as a place of worship, and + attended by hundreds of simple-hearted men and + women, should be so polluted, and that in the name + of religion, is almost beyond belief; and that + Indian boys should grow up to manhood, accustomed + to see immorality shielded in these temples with a + divine cloak, makes our hearts grow sick and + faint." + _Mrs. Fuller, India._ + + +EXCUSE the title of this chapter. I can write no other. Sometimes the +broad smooth levels of life are crossed by a black-edged jagged crack, +rent, as it seems, by an outburst of the fiery force below. We find +ourselves suddenly close upon it; it opens right at our very feet. + +Two girls came to see us to-day; sisters, but tuned to different keys. +One was ordinary enough, a bright girl with plenty of jewels and a +merry, contented face. The other was finer grained; you looked at her as +you would look at the covers of a book, wondering what was inside. Both +were married; neither had children. This was the only sorrow the younger +had ever had, and it did not seem to weigh heavily. + +The elder looked as if she had forgotten how to smile. Sometimes, when +the other laughed, her eyes would light for a moment, but the shadow in +them deepened almost before the light had come; great soft brown eyes, +full of the dumb look that animals have when they are suffering. + +I knew her story, and understood. She was betrothed as a baby of four to +a lad considerably older; a lovable boy, they say he was, generous and +frank. The two of course belonged to the same Caste, the Vellalar, and +were thoroughly well brought up. + +In South India no ceremony of importance is considered complete without +the presence of "the Servants of the gods." These are girls and women +belonging to the temple (that is, belonging to the priests of the +temple), who, as they are never married, "except to the god who never +dies," can never become widows. Hence the auspiciousness of their +presence at betrothals, marriages, feasts of all sorts, and even +funerals. + +But this set of Vellalars had as a clan risen above the popular +superstition, and the demoralising presence of these women was not +allowed to profane either the betrothal or marriage of any child of the +family. So the boy and girl grew up as unsullied as Hindus ever are. +They knew of what happened in other homes, but their clan was a large +one, and they found their society in it, and did not come across others +much. + +Shortly before his marriage the boy went to worship in the great temple +near the sea. He had heard of its sanctity all his life, and as a little +lad had often gone with his parents on pilgrimage there, but now he went +to worship. He took his offering and went. He went again and again. All +that he saw there was religion, all that he did was religious. Could +there be harm in it? + +He was married; his little bride went with him trustfully. She knew more +of him than most Indian brides know of their husbands. She had heard he +was loving, and she thought he would be kind to her. + +A year or two passed, and the child's face had a look in it which even +the careless saw, but she never spoke about anything to give them the +clue to it. She went to stay in her father's house for a few weeks, and +they saw the change, but she would not speak even to them. + +Then things got worse. The girl grew thin, and the neighbours talked, +and the father heard and understood; and, to save a scandal, he took +them away from the town where they lived, and made every effort to give +them another start in a place where they were not known. But the coils +of that snake of deified sin had twisted round the boy, body and soul; +he could not escape from it. + +They moved again to another town; it followed him there, for a temple +was there, and a temple means _that_. + +Then the devil of cruelty seized upon him; he would drink, a disgraceful +thing in his Caste, and then hold his little wife down on the floor, and +stuff a bit of cloth into her mouth, and beat her, and kick her, and +trample upon her, and tear the jewels out of her ears. The neighbours +saw it, and told. + +Then he refused to bring money to her, and she slowly starved, quite +silent still, till at last hunger broke down her resolute will, and she +begged the neighbours for rice. And he did more, but it cannot be told. +How often one stops in writing home-letters. _The whole truth can never +be told._ + +She is only a girl yet, in years at least; in suffering, oh, how old she +is! Not half is known, for she never speaks; loyal and true to him +through it all. We only know what the neighbours know, and what her +silent dark eyes tell, and the little thin face and hands. + +She was very weary and ill to-day, but she would not own it, brave +little soul! I could see that neuralgia was racking her head, and every +limb trembled when she stood up; but what made it so pathetic to me was +the silence with which she bore it all. I have only seen her once +before, and now she is going far away with her husband to another town, +and I may not see her again. She was too tired to listen much, and she +knows so little, not nearly enough to rest her soul upon. She cannot +read, so it is useless to write to her. She is going away quite out of +our reach; thank God, not out of His. + +We watched them drive off in the bullock cart, a servant walking behind. +The little pale face of the elder girl looked out at the open end of the +cart; she salaamed as they drove away. Such a sweet face in its silent +strength, so wondrously gentle, yet so strong, strong to endure. + +Do you wonder I call this sort of thing a look deep down into hell? Do +you wonder we burn as we think of such things going on in the Name of +God? For they think of their god as God. In His Name the temples are +built and endowed, and provided with "Servants" to do devil's work. Yes, +sin is deified here. + +And the shame of shames is that some Englishmen patronise and in measure +support the iniquity. They attend entertainments at which these girls +are present to sing and dance, and see nothing disgraceful in so doing. +As lately as 1893, when the Indian Social Reformers of this Presidency +petitioned two notable Englishmen to discountenance "this pernicious +practice" (the institution of Slaves of the gods) "by declining to +attend any entertainment at which they are invited to be present," these +two distinguished men, representatives of our Queen, refused to take +action in the matter. Surely this is a strange misuse of our position as +rulers of India.[2] + + * * * * * + +There are so many needs everywhere that I hardly like to speak of our +own, but we do need someone to work among these temple women and girls. +There is practically nothing being done for them; because it is +impossible for any of us to work among them and others at the same time. +The nearest Home to which we could send such a one is four hundred miles +away. Someone is needed, old enough to have had experience of this kind +of work, and yet young enough to learn the language. + +Many of these Slaves of the gods were bought, or in some other way +obtained, when they were little innocent girls, and they cannot be held +responsible for the terrible life to which they are doomed by the law of +the Hindu religion. Many of them have hardened past any desire to be +other than they are; but sometimes we see the face of a girl who looks +as if she might have desire, if only she had a chance to know there is +something better for her. + +Can it be that, out of the many at home, God has one, or better, two, +who can come with Him to this South Indian District to do what must +always be awful work, along the course of that crack? If she comes, or +if they come, let them come in the power of the Holy Ghost, baptised +with the love that endures! + +This, then, is one look into Hinduism, this ghastly whitened sepulchre, +within which are dead men's bones. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[2] For details, see _The Wrongs of Indian Womanhood_, by Mrs. Fuller. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +Behind the Door + + "When any person is known to be considering the + new Religion, all his relations and acquaintances + rise _en masse_; _so that to get a new convert is + like pulling out the eye-tooth of a live tiger_." + _Adoniram Judson, Burmah._ + + +EVERY missionary who has despaired of hitting upon an illustration vivid +enough to show you what the work is really like among Mohammedans and +Caste Hindus will appreciate this simile. After our return from Dohnavur +we found that the long-closed villages of this eastern countryside had +opened again, and the people were willing to allow us to teach the girls +and women. For two months this lasted, and then three boys, belonging to +three different Castes, became known as inquirers. Instantly the news +spread through all the villages. It was in vain we told them we +(women-workers) had never once even seen the boys, had in no way +influenced them; the people held to it that, personally responsible or +not, the book we taught to the girls was the same those boys had read +(an undeniable fact); that its poison entered through the eyes, ascended +to the brain, descended to the heart, and then drew the reader out of +his Caste and his religion; and that therefore we could not be tolerated +in the streets or in the houses any more, and so we were turned out. + +[Illustration: "It took me such a long time to learn to draw nicely," +said Victory when she saw this photo; "I used to go to the Brahman +street every morning and practise it there." A design is drawn with a +piece of chalk on the ground in front of every house each morning during +part of December and January, in memory of a goddess who used to amuse +herself by drawing these patterns and planting flowers in them. All +sorts of geometrical designs are drawn by the women and children, and +the regular morning drawing is part of the day's work.] + +In one village where many of the relations of one of these three lads +live, the tiger growled considerably. One furious old dame called us +"Child-snatchers and Powder-mongers," and white snakes of the cobra +species, and a particular genus of lizard, which when stamped upon +merely wriggles, and cannot be persuaded to die (this applied to our +persistence in evil), and a great many other things. The women stood out +in the street in defiant groups and would not let us near enough to +explain. The men sat on the verandah fronts and smiled, blandly superior +to the childish nonsense the women talked, but they did not interfere. + +Villages like this--and Old India is made up of such villages--are far +removed from the influence of the few enlightened centres which exist. +Madras is only a name to them, distant four hundred miles or so, a place +where Caste notions are very lax and people are mixed up and jumbled +together in a most unbecoming way. + +Education, or "Learning," as they call it, they consider an excellent +thing for boys who want to come to the front and earn money and grow +rich. But for girls, what possible use is it? Can they pass examinations +and get into Government employ? If you answered this question you would +only disgust them. Then there is a latent feeling common enough in these +old Caste families, that it is rather _infra dig._ for their women to +know too much. It may be all very well for those who have no pretensions +to greatness, they may need a ladder by which to climb up the social +scale, but we who are already at the top, what do we want with it? +"Have not our daughters got their _Caste_?" This feeling is passing away +in the towns, but the villages hold out longer. + +In that particular village we had some dear little girls who were +getting very keen, and it was so hard to move out, and leave the field +to the devil as undisputed victor thereon, and I sent one of our workers +to try again. She is a plucky little soul, but even she had to beat a +retreat. They will have none of us. + +We went on that day to a village where they had listened splendidly only +a week before. They had no time, it was the busy season. Then to a town, +farther on, but it was quite impracticable. So we went to our friend the +dear old Evangelist there, the blind old man. He and his wife are lights +in that dark town. It is so refreshing to spend half an hour with two +genuine good old Christians after a tug of war with the heathen; they +have no idea they are helping you, but they are, and you return home +ever so much the happier for the sight of them. + +As we came home we were almost mobbed. In the old days mobs there were +of common occurrence. It is a rough market town, and the people, after +the first converts came, used to hoot us through the streets, and throw +handfuls of sand at us, and shower ashes on our hair. In theory I like +this very much, but in practice not at all. The yellings of the crowd, +men chiefly, are not polite; the yelpings of the dogs, set on by +sympathetic spectators; the sickening blaze of the sun and the reflected +glare from the houses; the blinding dust in your eyes, and the queer +feel of ashes down your neck; above all, the sense that this sort of +thing does no manner of good--for it is not persecution (nothing so +heroic), and it will not end in martyrdom (no such honours come our +way)--all this row, and all these feelings, one on the top of the other, +combine to make mobbing less interesting than might be expected. You +hold on, and look up for patience and good nature and such like common +graces, and you pray that you may not be down with fever to-morrow--for +fever has a way of stopping work--and you get out of it all, as quickly +as you can, without showing undue hurry. And then, though little they +know it, you go and get a fresh baptism of love for them all. + +But how delighted one would be to go through such unromantic trifles +every hour of every day, if only at the end one could get into the +hearts and the homes of the people. As it is, just now, our grief is +that we cannot. We know of several who want us, and we are shut out from +them. + +One is a young wife, who saw us one day by the waterside, and asked us +to come and teach her. For doing this she was publicly beaten that +evening in the open street, by a man, before men; so, for fear of what +they would do to her, we dare not go near the house. Another is a widow +who has spent all her fortune in building a rest-house for the Brahmans, +and who has not found Rest. She listened once, too earnestly; she has +not been allowed to listen again. Oh, how that tiger bites! + +Next door to her is a child we have prayed for for three years. She was +a loving, clinging child when I knew her then, little Gold, with the +earnest eyes. That last day I saw her, she put her hands into mine, +caring nothing for defilement; "Are we not one Caste?" she said. I did +not know it was the last time I should see her; that the next time when +I spoke to her I should only see her shadow in the dark; and one wishes +now one had known--how much one would have said! But the house was open +then, and all the houses were. Then the first girl convert, after +bravely witnessing at home, took her stand as a Christian. Her Caste +people burned down the little Mission school--a boys' school--and +chalked up their sentiments on the charred walls. They burned down the +Bible-woman's house and a school sixteen miles away; and the countryside +closed, every town and village in it, as if the whole were a single +door, with the devil on the other side of it. + +But some of the girls behind the door managed to send us messages. Gold +was one of these. She wanted so much to see us again, she begged us to +come and try. We tried; we met the mother outside, and asked her to let +us come. She is a hard old woman, with eyes like bits of black ice, set +deep in her head. She froze us, and refused. + +Afterwards we heard what the child's punishment was. They took her down +to the water, and led her in. She stood trembling, waist deep, not +knowing what they meant to do. Then they held her head under the water +till she made some sign to show she would give in. They released her +then, rubbed ashes on her brow, sign of recantation, and they led her +back sobbing--poor little girl. She is not made of martyr stuff; she was +only miserable. For some months we saw nothing of her. We used to go to +the next house and persuade the people to let us sing to them. We sang +for Gold; but we never knew if she heard. + +One evening, as two of us came home late from work, a woman passed us +and said hurriedly to me, "Come, come quickly, and alone. It is Gold who +calls you! Come!" I followed her to the house. "I am Gold's married +sister," she explained. "Sit down outside in the verandah near the door +and wait till the child comes out." Then she went in, and I sat still +and waited. + +Those minutes were like heart-beats. What was happening inside? But +apparently the mother was away, for soon the door opened softly, and a +shadow flitted out, and I knew it must be Gold. She dropped on her knees +on the little narrow verandah on the other side of the door and crept +along to its farther end, and then I could only distinguish a dark shape +in the dark. For perhaps five minutes no one came except the sister, who +stood at the door and watched. And for those five minutes one was free +to speak as freely as one could speak to a shape which one could barely +see, and which showed no sign, and spoke no word. Five whole minutes! +How one valued every moment of them! Then a man came and sat down on the +verandah. He must have been a relative, for he did not mean to go. I +wished he would. It was impossible to talk past him to her, without +letting him know she was there; so one had to talk to him, but for her, +and even this could not last long. Dusk here soon is dark; we had to go. +As we went, we looked back and saw him still keeping his unconscious +guard over the child in her hiding-place. + +There are no secrets in India. It was known that we had been there, and +that stern old mother punished her child; but how, we never knew. + +If any blame us for going at all, let it be remembered that one of +Christ's little ones was thirsty, and she held out her hand for a cup of +cold water. We could not have left that hand empty, I think. + +After that we heard nothing for a year; then an old man whom we had +helped, and who hoped we intended to help him more, came one evening to +tell us he meant to set Gold free. It was all to be secretly done, and +it was to be done that night. We told him we could have nothing to do +with his plan, and we explained to him why. "But," he objected, "what +folly is this? I thought you Christians helped poor girls, and this one +certainly wants to come. She is of age. This is the time. If you wait +you will never get her at all." We knew this was more than probable; to +refuse his help was like turning the key and locking her body and soul +into prison--an awful thought to me, as I remembered Treasure. But there +was nothing else to be done; and afterwards, when we heard who he was, +and what his real intentions were, we were thankful we had done it. He +looked at us curiously as he went, as if our view of things struck him +as strange; and he begged us never to breathe a word of what he had +said. We never did, but it somehow oozed out, and soon after that he +sickened and very suddenly died. His body was burnt within two hours. +Post-mortems are rare in India. + +Another year passed in silence as to Gold. How often we went down the +street and looked across at her home, with its door almost always shut, +and that icy-eyed mother on guard. We used to see her going about, never +far from the house. When we saw her we salaamed; then she would glare at +us grimly, and turn her back on us. Once the whole family went to a +festival; but the girl of course was bundled in and out of a covered +cart, and seen by no one, not even the next-door neighbours. There was +talk of a marriage for her. Most girls of her Caste are married much +younger; but to our relief this fell through, and once one of us saw her +for a moment, and she still seemed to care to hear, though she was far +too cowed by this time to show it. + +Then we heard a rumour that a girl from the Lake Village had been seen +by some of our Christians in a wood near a village five miles distant. +These Christians are very out-and-out and keen about converts, and they +managed to discover that the girl in the wood had some thought of being +a Christian, and that her being there had some connection with this, so +they told us at once. The description fitted Gold. But we could not +account for a girl of her Caste being seen in a wood; she was always +kept in seclusion. At last we found out the truth. She had shown some +sign of a lingering love for Christ, and her mother had taken her to a +famous Brahman ascetic who lived in that wood; and there together, +mother and daughter stayed in a hut near the hermit's hut, and for three +days he had devoted himself to confuse and confound her, and finally he +succeeded, and reported her convinced. + +[Illustration: This is the tangible brass-bossed door outside of which +we so often stand on the stone step and knock, and hear voices from +within call, "Everyone is out." The hand-marks are the hand-prints of +the Power that keeps the door shut. Once a year, every door and the +lintel of every window, and sometimes the walls, are marked like this. +That evening, just before dark, the god comes round, they say, and looks +for his mark on the door, and, seeing it, blesses all in the house. If +there is no mark he leaves a curse. This is the devil's South Indian +parody on the Passover.] + +We heard all this, and sorrowed, and wondered how it was done. We never +heard all, but we heard one delusion they practised upon her, appealing +as they so often do to the Oriental imagination, which finds such solid +satisfaction in the supernatural. Nothing is so convincing as a vision +or a dream; so a vision appeared before her, an incarnation, they told +her, of Siva, in the form of Christ. Siva and Christ, then, were one, as +they had so often assured her, one identity under two names. Hinduism is +crammed with incarnations; this presented no difficulty. Like the old +monk, the bewildered child looked for the print of the nails and the +spear. Yes, they were there, marked in hands and foot and side. It must +be hard to distrust one's own mother. Gold still trusted hers. "Listen!" +said the mother, and the vision spoke. "If the speech of the Christians +is true, I will return within twenty-four days; if the speech of the +Hindus is true, I will not return." Then hour by hour for those +twenty-four days they wove their webs about her, webs of wonderful +sophistry which have entangled keener brains than hers. She was +entangled. The twenty-four days did their work. She yielded her will on +the twenty-fifth. So the mother and the Brahman won. + +These letters are written, as you know, with a definite purpose. We try +to show you what goes on behind the door, the very door of the +photograph, type of all the doors, that seeing behind you may understand +how fiercely the tiger bites. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +"Pan, Pan is Dead" + + "If there is one thing that refreshes my soul + above all others, it is that I shall behold the + Redeemer gloriously triumphant at the winding up + of all things." + _Henry Martyn, N. India._ + + +"PARTLY founded upon a well-known tradition, mentioned by Plutarch, +according to which, at the hour of the Saviour's Agony, a cry of, 'Great +Pan is dead,' swept across the waves in the hearing of certain mariners, +and the oracles ceased." So reads the head-note to one of Elizabeth +Barrett Browning's poems. We look up a classical dictionary, and find +the legend there. "This was readily believed by the Emperor, and the +astrologers were consulted, but they were unable to explain the meaning +of so supernatural a voice." + +Pan, and with him all the false gods of the old world, die in the day of +the death of our Saviour,--this according to the poem-- + + "Gods, we vainly do adjure you,-- + Ye return nor voice nor sign! + Not a votary could secure you + Even a grave for your Divine; + Not a grave, to show thereby, + Here these grey old gods do lie. + Pan, Pan is dead." + +And yet--is he dead? quite dead? + + . . . . . . . + +Night, moonless and hot. Our camp is pitched on the west bank of the +river; we are asleep. Suddenly there is what sounds like an explosion +just outside. Then another and another,--such a bursting bang,--then a +s-s-swish, and I am out of bed, standing out on the sand; and for a +moment I am sure the kitchen tent is on fire. Then it dawns on me, in +the slow way things dawn in the middle of the night: it is only +fireworks being let off by the festival people--only fireworks! + +But I stand and look, and in the darkness everything seems much bigger +than it is and much more awful. There is the gleaming of water, lit by +the fires of the crowd on the eastern bank of the river. There are +torches waving uncertainly in and out of the vast black mass--black even +in the black of night--where the people are. There is the sudden burst +and s-s-swish of the rockets as they rush up into the night, and fall in +showers of colours on the black mass and the water; and there is the +hoarse roar of many voices, mingled with the bleat of many goats. I +stand and look, and know what is going on. They are killing those +goats--thirty thousand of them--killing them now. + +Is Pan dead? . . . + +Morning, blazing sun, relentless sun, showing up all that is going on. +We are crossing the river-bed in our cart. "Don't look!" says my +comrade, and I look the other way. Then we separate. She goes among the +crowds in the river bed, where the sun is hottest and the air most +polluted and the scenes on every side most sickening, and I go up the +bank among the people. We have each a Tamil Sister with us, and farther +down the stream another little group of three is at work. In all seven, +to tens of thousands. But we hope more will come later on. + +We have arranged to meet at the cart at about ten o'clock. The bandy-man +is directed to work his way up to a big banyan tree near the temple. He +struggles up through a tangle of carts, and finds a slanting +standing-ground on the edge of the shade of the tree. + +All the way up the bank they are killing and skinning their goats. You +look to the right, and put your hands over your eyes. You look to the +left, and do it again. You look straight in front, and see an extended +skinned victim hung from the branch of a tree. Every hanging rootlet of +the great banyan tree is hung with horrors--all dead, most mercifully, +but horrible still. + +We had thought the killing over, or we should hardly have ventured to +come; but these who are busy are late arrivals. One tells oneself over +and over again that a headless creature cannot possibly feel, but it +looks as if it felt . . . it goes on moving. We look away, and we go on, +trying to get out of it,--but thirty thousand goats! It takes a long +time to get out of it. + +We see groups of little children watching the process delightedly. There +is no intentional cruelty, for the god will not accept the sacrifice +unless the head is severed by a single stroke--a great relief to me. But +it is most disgusting and demoralising. And to think that these children +are being taught to connect it with religion! + +With me is one who used to enjoy it all. She tells me how she twisted +the fowls' heads off with her own hands. I look at the fine little brown +hands, such loving little hands, and I can hardly believe it. +"You--_you_ do such a thing!" I say. And she says, "Yes; when the day +came round to sacrifice to our family divinity, my little brother held +the goat's head while my father struck it off, and I twisted the +chickens' heads. It was my pleasure!" + +We go up along the bank; still those crowds, and those goats killed or +being killed. We cannot get away from them. + +At last we reach a tree partly unoccupied, but it is leafless, alas! On +one side of it a family party is cheerfully feeding behind a shelter of +mats. A little lower down some Pariahs are haggling over less polite +portions of the goat's economy. They wrap up the stringy things in +leaves and tuck them into a fold of their seeleys. At our feet a small +boy plays with the head. We sit down in the band of shade cast by the +trunk of the tree, and, grateful for so much shelter, invite the +passers-by to listen while we sing. Some listen. An old hag who is +chaperoning a bright young wife draws the girl towards us, and sits +down. She has never heard a word of our Doctrine before, and neither has +the girl. Then some boys come, full of mischief and fun, and threaten an +upset. So we pick out the rowdiest of them and suggest he should keep +order, which he does with great alacrity, swinging a switch most +vigorously at anyone likely to interfere with the welfare of the +meeting. + +My little companion speaks to them, as only one who was once where they +are ever can. I listen to her, and long for the flow at her command. "Do +you not do this and this?" she says, naming the very things they do; +"and don't you say so and so?" They stare, and then, "Oh, she was once +one of us! What is her Caste? When did she come? Where are her father +and mother? What is her village? Is she not married? Why is she not? And +where are her jewels?" Above all, everyone asks it at once, "What is her +Caste?" And they guess it, and probably guess right. + +You can have no idea, unless you have worked among them, how difficult +it is to get a heathen woman to listen with full attention for ten +consecutive minutes. They are easily distracted, and to-day there are so +many things to distract them, they don't listen very well. They are +tired, too, they say; the wild, rough night has done its work. Yesterday +it was different; we got good listeners. + +Being women, and alone in such a crowd of idolaters, we do not attempt +an open-air meeting, but just sit quietly where we can, and talk to any +we can persuade to sit down beside us. Hindus are safer far than +Mohammedans; they are very seldom rude; but to-day we know enough of +what is going on to make us keep clear of all men, if we can. They would +not say anything much to us, but they might say a good deal to each +other which is better left unsaid. + +By the time we have gathered, and held, and then had to let go, three or +four of such little groups, it is breakfast time, and we want our +breakfast badly. So we press through the crowd, diving under mat sheds +and among unspeakable messes, heaps of skins on either side, and one +hardly knows what under every foot of innocent-looking sand; for the +people bury the debris lightly, throwing a handful of sand on the +worst, and the sun does the rest of the sanitation. It is rather +horrible. + +At last we reach the cart, tilted sideways on the bank, and get through +our breakfast somehow, and rest for a few blissful minutes, in most +uncomfortable positions, before plunging again into that sea of sun and +sand and animals, human and otherwise; and then we part, arranging to +meet when we cannot go on any more. + +Is Pan dead? . . . + +Noon, and hotter, far hotter, than ever. Oh, how the people throng and +push, and kill and eat, and bury remains! How can they enjoy it so? What +can be the pleasure in it? + +We find our way back to that ribbon of shade. It is a narrower ribbon +now, because the sun, riding overhead, throws the shadow of a single +bough, instead of the broader trunk. But such as it is, we are glad of +it, and again we gather little groups, and talk to them, and sing. + +Some beautiful girls pass us close, the only girls to be seen anywhere. +Only little children and wives come here; no good unmarried girls. One +of the group is dressed in white, but most are in vivid purples and +crimsons. The girl in white has a weary look, the work of the night +again. But most of the sisterhood are indoors; in the evening we shall +see more of them, scattered among the people, doing their terrible +master's work. These pass us without speaking, and mingle in the crowd. + +After an hour in the band of shade, we slowly climb the bank again, and +find ourselves among the potters, hundreds and hundreds of them. Every +family buys a pot, and perhaps two or three of different sizes; so the +potters drive a brisk trade to-day, and have no leisure to listen to us. + +It is getting very much hotter now, for the burning sand and the +thousands of fires radiate heat-waves up through the air, heated already +stiflingly. We think of our comrades down in the river bed, reeking with +odours of killing and cooking, a combination of abominations unimagined +by me before. + +We look down upon a collection of cart tops. The palm-woven mat covers +are massed in brown patches all over the sand, and the moving crowds are +between. We do not see the others. Have they found it as difficult as we +find it, we wonder, to get any disengaged enough to want to listen? At +last we reach the long stone aisle leading to the temple. On either side +there are lines of booths, open to the air but shaded from the sun, and +we persuade a friendly stall-keeper to let us creep into her shelter. +She is cooking cakes on the ground. She lets us into an empty corner, +facing the passing crowds, and one or two, and then two or three, and so +on till we have quite a group, stop as they pass, and squat down in the +shade and listen for a little. Then an old lady, with a keen old face, +buys a Gospel portion at half price, and folds it carefully in a corner +of her seeley. Two or three others buy Gospels, and all of them want +tracts. The shop-woman gets a bit restive at this rivalry of wares. We +spend our farthings, proceeds of our sales, on her cakes, and she is +mollified. But some new attraction in the gallery leading to the temple +disperses our little audience, to collect it round itself. The old +woman explains that the Gospel she has bought is for her grandson, a +scholar, she tells us, aged five, and moves off to see the new show, and +we move off with her. + +There, in the first stall, between the double row of pillars, a man is +standing on a form, whirling a sort of crackling rattle high above his +head. In the next, another is yelling to call attention to his clocks. +There they are, ranged tier upon tier, regular "English" busy-bee +clocks, ticking away, as a small child remarks, as if they were alive. +Then come sweet-stalls, clothes-stalls, lamp-stalls, fruit-stalls, +book-stalls, stalls of pottery, and brass vessels, and jewellery, and +basket work, and cutlery, and bangles in wheelbarrow loads, and +medicines, and mats, and money boxes, and anything and everything of +every description obtainable here. In each stall is a stall-keeper. +Occasionally one, like the clock-stall man, exerts himself to sell his +goods; more often he lazes in true Oriental fashion, and sells or not as +fortune decides for him, equally satisfied with either decree. How +Indian shopkeepers live at all is always a puzzle to me. They hardly +ever seem to do anything but _moon_. + +On and on, in disorderly but perfectly good-natured streams, the people +are passing up to the temple, or coming down from worship there. All who +come down have their foreheads smeared with white ashes. Even here there +are goats; they are being pulled, poor reluctant beasts, right to the +steps of the shrine, there to be dedicated to the god within. Then they +will be dragged, still reluctant, round the temple walls outside, then +decapitated. + +I watch a baby tug a goat by a rope tied round its neck. The goat has +horns, and I expect every moment to see the baby gored. But it never +seems to enter into the goat's head to do anything so aggressive. It +tugs, however, and the baby tugs, till a grown-up comes to the baby's +assistance, and all three struggle up to the shrine. + +We are standing now in an empty stall, just a little out of the crush. +Next door is an assortment of small Tamil booklets in marvellous +colours, orange and green predominating. There is an empty barrel rolled +into the corner, and we sit down on it, and begin to read from our Book. +This causes a diversion in the flow of the stream, and we get another +chance. + +But it grows hotter and hotter, and we get so thirsty, and long for a +drink of cocoanut water. It is always safe to drink that. No cocoanuts +are available, though, and we have no money. Then a man selling native +butter-milk comes working his way in and out of the press, and we become +conscious that of all things in the world the thing we yearn for most is +a drink of butter-milk. The man stops in front of our stall, pours out a +cupful of that precious liquid, and seeing the thirst in our eyes, I +suppose, beseeches us to drink. We explain our penniless plight. "Buy +our books, and we'll buy your butter-milk," but he does not want our +books. Then we wish we had not squandered our farthings on those +impossible cakes. The butter-milk man proposes he should trust us for +the money; he is sure to come across us again. He is a kind-hearted man; +but debt is a sin; it is not likely we shall see him again. The +butter-milk man considers. He is poor, but we are thirsty. To give +drink to the thirsty is an act of merit. Acts of merit come in useful, +both in this world and the next. He pours out a cupful of butter-milk +(he had poured the first one back when we showed our empty hands). We +hesitate; he is poor, but we are so very thirsty. The next stall-keeper +reads our hearts, throws a halfpenny to the butter-milk man. "There!" he +says, "drink to the limit of your capacity!" and we drink. It is a +comical feeling, to be beholden to a seller of small Tamil literature of +questionable description; but we really are past drawing nice +distinctions. Never was butter-milk so good; we get through three brass +tumbler-fuls between us, and feel life worth living again. We give the +good bookseller plenty of books to cover his halfpenny, and to gratify +us he accepts them; but as he does not really require them, doubtless +the merit he has acquired is counted as undiminished, and we part most +excellent friends. + +And now the crowd streaming up to the temple gets denser every moment. +Every conceivable phase of devotion is represented here, every +conceivable type of worshipper too. Some are reverent, some are rampant, +some are earnest, some are careless, awestruck, excited, but more +usually perfectly frivolous; on and on they stream. + +I leave my Tamil Sister safely with two others at the cart. But the +comrade whom I am to meet again at that same cart some time to-day has +not turned up. So I go off alone for another try, drawn by the sight of +that stream, and I let myself drift along with it, and am caught in it +and carried up--up, till I am within the temple wall, one of a stream +of men and women streaming up to the shrine. We reach it at last. It is +dark; I can just see an iron grating set in darkness, with a light +somewhere behind, and there, standing on the very steps of Satan's seat, +there is a single minute's chance to witness for Christ. The people are +all on their faces in the dust and the crush, and for that single minute +they listen, amazed at hearing any such voice in here; but it would not +do to stay, and, before they have time to make up their minds what to +make of it, I am caught in another stream flowing round to the right, +and find myself in a quieter place, a sort of eddy on the outer edge of +the whirlpool, where the worship is less intense, and very many women +are sitting gossiping. + +There, sitting on the ground beside one of the smaller shrines which +cluster round the greater, I have such a chance as I never expected to +get; for the women and children are so astonished to see a white face in +here that they throw all restraint to the winds, and crowd round me, +asking questions about how I got in. For Indian temples are sacred to +Indians; no alien may pass within the walls to the centre of the shrine; +moreover, we never go to the temples to see the parts that are open to +view, because we know the stumbling-block such sight-seeing is to the +Hindus. All this the women know, for everything a missionary does or +does not do is observed by these observant people, and commented on in +private. Now, as they gather round me, I tell them why I have come (how +I got in I cannot explain, unless it was, as the women declared, that, +being in a seeley, one was not conspicuous), and they take me into +confidence, and tell me the truth about themselves, which is the last +thing they usually tell, and strikes me as strange; and they listen +splendidly, and would listen as long as I would stay. But it is not wise +to stay too long, and I get into the stream again, which all this time +has been pouring round the inner block of the temple, and am carried +round with it as it pours back and out. + +And as I pass out, still in that stream, I notice that the temple area +is crowded with all kinds of merchandise, stalls of all sorts, just as +outside. Vendors of everything, from mud pots up to jewels, are roaming +over the place crying their wares, as if they had been in a market; and +right in the middle of them the worship goes on at the different shrines +and before the different idols. There it is, market and temple, as in +the days of our Lord; neither seems to interfere with the other. No one +seems to see anything incongruous in the sight of a man prostrated +before a stone set at the back of a heap of glass bangles. And when +someone drops suddenly, and sometimes reverently, in front of a stall of +coils of oily cakes, no one sees anything extraordinary in it; they know +there is a god somewhere on the other side of the cakes. + +On and out, through the aisle with its hundred pillars, all stone--stone +paving, pillars, roof; on and out, into the glare and the sight of the +goats again. But one hardly sees them now, for between them and one's +eyes seem to come the things one saw inside--those men and women, +hundreds of them, worshipping that which is not God. + +Is Pan dead? . . . + +Pan is dead! Oh, Pan is dead! For, clearer than the sight of that +idolatrous crowd, I saw this--I had seen it inside those temple +walls:--a pile of old, dead gods. They were bundled away in a corner, +behind the central shrine--stone gods, mere headless stumps; wooden gods +with limbs lopped off; clay gods, mere lumps of mud; mutilated and +neglected, worn-out old gods. Oh, the worship once offered to those +broken, battered things! No one worships them now! For full five minutes +I had sat and looked at them-- + + "Gods bereaved, gods belated, + With your purples rent asunder! + Gods discrowned and desecrated, + Disinherited of thunder!" + +There were withered wreaths lying at the feet of some of the idols near; +there were fresh wreaths round the necks of others. There were no +wreaths in this corner of dead gods. I looked, and looked, and looked +again. Oh, there was prophecy in it! + +And as I came out among the living people, the sight of that graveyard +of dead gods was ever with me, and the triumph-song God's prophetess +sang, sang itself through and through me--Pan is dead! _Quite dead!_ + + "'Twas the hour when One in Sion + Hung for love's sake on a cross; + When His brow was chill with dying, + And His soul was faint with loss; + When His priestly blood dropped downward, + And His kingly eyes looked throneward-- + Then, Pan was dead. + + "By the love He stood alone in, + His sole Godhead rose complete, + And the false gods fell down moaning, + Each from off his golden seat; + All the false gods with a cry + Rendered up their deity-- + Pan, Pan was dead." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +"Married to the God" + + "One thing one notices very much as a + 'freshman'--that is, the unconscious influence + which Christianity has over a nation. Go to the + most depraved wretch you can find in England, and + he has probably got a conscience, if only one can + get at it. _But here the result of heathenism + seems to be to destroy men's consciences. They + never feel sin as such._" + _Rev. E. S. Carr, India._ + + "I have heard people say they enjoyed hearing + about missions. I often wonder if they would enjoy + watching a shipwreck." + _Mrs. Robert Stewart, China._ + + +LEAVE this chapter if you want "something interesting to read"; hold +your finger in the flame of a candle if you want to know what it is like +to write it. If you do this, then you will know something of the burning +at heart every missionary goes through who has to see the sort of thing +I have to write about. Such things do not make interesting reading. Fire +is an uncompromising thing, its characteristic is that it burns; and one +writes with a hot heart sometimes. There are things like flames of fire. +But perhaps one cares too much; it is only about a little girl. + +I was coming home from work a few evenings ago when I met two men and a +child. They were Caste men in flowing white scarves--dignified, educated +men. But the child? She glanced up at me, smiled, and salaamed. Then I +remembered her; I had seen her before in her own home. These men +belonged to her village. What were they doing with her? + +Then a sudden fear shot through me, and I looked at the men, and they +laughed. "We are taking her to the temple there," and they pointed +across through the trees, "to marry her to the god." + +It all passed in a moment. One of them caught her hand, and they went +on. I stood looking after them--just looking. The child turned once and +waved her little hand to me. Then the trees came between. + +The men's faces haunted me all night. I slept, and saw them in my +dreams; I woke, and saw them in the dark. And that little girl--oh, poor +little girl!--always I saw her, one hand in theirs, and the other waving +to me! + +And now it is over, the diabolical farce is over, and she is "tied," as +their idiom has it, "tied to the stone." Oh, she is tied indeed, tied +with ropes Satan twisted in his cruellest hour in hell! + +We had to drive through the village a night or two later, and it was all +ablaze. There was a crowd, and it broke to let our bullock carts pass, +then it closed round two palanquins. + +There were many men there, and girls. In the palanquins were two idols, +god and goddess, out on view. It was their wedding night. We saw it all +as we passed: the gorgeous decorations, gaudy tinsels, flowers fading in +the heat and glare; saw, long after we had passed, the gleaming of the +coloured lights, as they moved among the trees; heard for a mile and +more along the road the sound of that heathen revelry; and every thud +of the tom-tom was a thud upon one's heart. Our little girl was there, +as one "married" to that god. + +I had seen her only once before. She belonged to an interesting +high-caste village, one of those so lately closed; and because there +they have a story about the magic powder which, say what we will, they +imagine I dust upon children's faces, I had not gone often lest it +should shut the doors. But that last time I went, this child came up to +me, and, with all the confidingness of a child, asked me to take her +home with me. "Do let me come!" she said. + +There were eyes upon me in a moment and heads shaken knowingly, and +there were whispers at once among the women. The magic dust had been at +work! I had "drawn" the little girl's heart to myself. Who could doubt +it now? And one mother gathered her child in her arms and disappeared +into the house. So I had to answer carefully, so that everyone could +hear. Of course I knew they would not give her to me, and I thought no +more of it. + +I was talking to her grandmother then, a very remarkable old lady. She +could repeat page after page from their beloved classics, and rather +than let me sing Christian stanzas to her and explain them, she +preferred to sing Hindu stanzas to me and explain them. "Consider the +age of our great Religion, consider its literature--millions of stanzas! +What can you have to compare with it? These ignorant people about us do +not appreciate things. They know nothing of the classics; as for the +language, the depths of Tamil are beyond them--is it not a shoreless +sea?" And so she held the conversation. + +[Illustration: This is vile enough to look at, but nothing to the +reality. If the outer form is this, what must the soul within it be? Yet +this is a "holy Brahman;" and if we sat down on that stone verandah he +would shuffle past the pillar lest we should defile him. Look at the +shadowy shapes behind; they might be spirits of darkness. It is he, and +such as he, who have power over little temple flowers.] + +It was just at this point the child reappeared, and, standing by the +verandah upon which we were sitting, her little head on a level with our +feet, she joined in the stanza her grandmother was chanting, and, to my +astonishment, continued through the next and the next, while I listened +wondering. Then jumping up and down, first on one foot, then on the +other, with her little face full of delight at my evident surprise, she +told me she was learning much poetry now; and then, with the merriest +little laugh, she ran off again to play. + +And _this_ was the child. All that brightness, all that intelligence, +"married to a god." + +_Now_ I understood the question she had asked me. She was an orphan, as +we afterwards heard, living in charge of an old aunt, who had some +connection with the temple. She must have heard her future being +discussed, and not understanding it, and being frightened, had wondered +if she might come to us. But they had taken their own way of reconciling +her to it; a few sweets, a cake or two, and a promise of more, a vision +of the gay time the magic word marriage conjures up, and the child was +content to go with them, to be led to the temple--and left there. + +But her people were so thoroughly refined and nice, so educated +too,--could it be, _can_ it be, possibly true? Yes, it is true; this is +Hinduism--not in theory of course, but in practice. Think of it; it is +done to-day. + +A moment ago I looked up from my writing and saw the little Elf running +towards me, charmed to find me all alone, and quite at leisure for +her. And now I watch her as she runs, dancing gleefully down the path, +turning again--for she knows I am watching--to throw kisses to me. And I +think of her and her childish ways, naughty ways so often, too, but in +their very naughtiness only childish and small, and I shiver as I think +of her, and a thousand thousand as small as she, being trained to be +devil's toys. They brought one here a few days ago to act as decoy to +get the Elf back. She was a beautiful child of five. Think of the shame +of it! + +We are told to modify things, not to write too vividly, never to harrow +sensitive hearts. Friends, we cannot modify truth, we cannot write half +vividly enough; and as for harrowing hearts, oh that we could do it! +That we could tear them up, that they might pour out like water! that we +could see hands lifted up towards God for the life of these young +children! Oh, to care, and oh for power to make others care, not less +but far, far more! care till our eyes do fail with tears for the +destruction of the daughters of our people! + +This photo is from death in life; a carcass, moving, breathing, +sinning--such a one sits by that child to-day. + +I saw him once. There is a monastery near the temple. He is "the holiest +man in it"; the people worship him. The day I saw him they had wreathed +him with fresh-cut flowers; white flowers crowned that hideous head, +hung round his neck and down his breast; a servant in front carried +flowers. Was there ever such desecration? That vileness crowned with +flowers! + +I knew something about the man. His life is simply unthinkable. Talk of +beasts in human shape! It is slandering the good animals to compare bad +men to beasts. Safer far a tiger's den than that man's monastery. + +But he is a temple saint, wise in the wisdom of his creed; earthly, +sensual, devilish. Look at him till you feel as if you had seen him. Let +the photo do its work. It is loathsome--yes, _but true_. + +Now, put a flower in his hand--a human flower this time. Now put beside +him, if you can, a little girl--your own little girl--and leave her +there--_yes, leave her there in his hand_. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +Skirting the Abyss + + "The first thing for us all is to _see_ and _feel_ + the great need, and to create a sentiment among + Christian people on this subject. One of the + characteristics of this great system is its + secrecy--its subtlety. So few _know_ of the evils + of child-marriage, it is so hidden away in the + secluded lives and prison homes of the people. And + those of us who enter beyond these veils, and go + down into these homes, are so apt to feel that it + is a case of the inevitable, and nothing can be + done." + _Mrs. Lee, India._ + + +I HAVE been to the Great Lake Village to-day trying again to find out +something about our little girl. I went to the Hindu school near the +temple. The schoolmaster is a friend of ours, one of the honourable men +of the village from which they took that flower. He was drilling the +little Brahman boys as they stood in a row chanting the poem they were +learning off by heart; but he made them stop when he saw us coming, and +called us in. + +I asked him about the child. It was true. She was in the temple, +"married to the stone." Yes, it was true they had taken her there that +day. + +I asked if the family were poor; but he said, "Do not for a moment think +that poverty was the cause. Certainly not. Our village is not poor!" And +he looked quite offended at the thought. I knew the village was rich +enough, but had thought perhaps that particular family might be poor, +and so tempted to sell the little one; but he exclaimed with great +warmth, Certainly not. The child was a relative of his own; there was no +question of poverty! + +We had left the school, and were talking out in the street facing the +temple house. I looked at it, he looked at it. "From hence a passage +broad, smooth, easy, inoffensive, down to hell"; he knew it well. "Yes, +she is a relative of my own," he continued, and explained minutely the +degree of relationship. "Her grandmother, whom you doubtless remember, +is not like the ignorant women of these parts. She has learning." And +again he repeated, as if desirous of thoroughly convincing me as to the +satisfactory nature of the transaction, "Certainly she was not sold. She +is a relative of my own." + +A relative of his own! And he could teach his school outside those +walls, and know what was going on inside, and never raise a finger to +stop it, educated Hindu though he is. I could not understand it. + +He seemed quite concerned at my concern, but explained that for +generations one of that particular household had always been devoted to +the gods. The practice could not be defended; it was the custom. That +was all. "Our custom." + +A stone's-throw from his door is another child who is living a strangely +unnatural life, which strikes no one as unnatural because it is "our +custom." She is quite a little girl, and as playful as a kitten. Her +soft round arms and little dimpled hands looked fit for no harder work +than play, but she was pounding rice when I saw her, and looked tired, +and as if she wanted her mother. + +While I was with her a very old man hobbled in. He was crippled, and +leaned full weight with both hands on his stick. He seemed asthmatic +too, and coughed and panted woefully. A withered, decrepit old ghoul. +The child stood up when he came in and touched her neck where the +marriage symbol lay. Then I knew he was her husband. + + "What, + No blush at the avowal--you dared to buy + A girl of age beseems your grand-daughter, like ox or ass? + _Are flesh and blood ware? are heart and soul a chattel?_" + +Yes! like chattels they are sold to the highest bidder. In that auction +Caste comes first, then wealth and position. And the chattel is bought, +the bit of breathing flesh and blood is converted into property; and the +living, throbbing heart of the child may be trampled and stamped down +under foot in the mire and the mud of that market-place, for all anyone +cares. + +It is not long since a young wife came for refuge to our house. Three +times she had tried to kill herself; at last she fled to us. Her husband +came. "Get up, slave," he said, as she crouched on the floor. She would +not stir or speak. Then he got her own people to come, and then it was +as if a pent-up torrent was bursting out of an over full heart. "You +gave me to him. You gave me to him." The words came over and over again; +she reminded them in a passion of reproach how, knowing what his +character was, they had handed her over to him. But we could hardly +follow her, the words poured forth with such fierce emotion, as with +streaming eyes, and hands that showed everything in gestures, she +besought them not to force her back. They promised, and believing them, +she returned with them. The other day when I passed the house someone +said, "Beautiful is there. He keeps her locked up in the back room now." +So they had broken their word to her, and given her back, body and soul, +to the power of a man whose cruelty is so well known that even the +heathen call him a "demon." What must he be to his wife? + +And if that poor wife, nerved by the misery of her life, dared all, and +appealed to the Government, the law would do as her people did--force +her back again to him, to fulfil a contract she never made. Is it not a +shame? Oh, when will the day come when this merchandise in children's +souls shall cease? We know that many husbands are kind, and many wives +perfectly content, but sometimes we see those who are not, and there is +no redress. + +Another of our children sold by auction in the Village of the Lake is +one who used to be such a pretty little thing, with a tangle of curls, +and mischievous, merry brown eyes. But that was five years ago. Then a +fiend in a man's shape saw her, and offered inducements to her parents +which ended in his marrying her. She was nine years old. + +One year afterwards she was sent to her husband's home. His motives in +marrying her were wholly evil, but the child knew something of right and +wrong, and she resisted him. Then he dragged her into an inner room, and +he held her down, and smothered her shrieks, and pressed a plantain +into her mouth. It was poisoned. She knew it, and did not swallow it +all. But what she was forced to take made her ill, and she lay for days +so dizzy and sick that when her husband kicked her as she lay she did +not care. At last she escaped, and ran to her mother's house. But the +law was on her owner's side; what could she prove of all this, poor +child? And she had to go back to him. After that he succeeded in his +devil's work, and to-day that child is dead to all sense of sin. + +Oh, there are worse things far than seeing a little child die! It is +worse to see it change. To see the innocence pass from the eyes, and the +childishness grow into wickedness, and to know, without being able to +stop it, just what is going on. + +I am thinking of one such now. She was four years old when I first began +to visit in her grandmother's house. She is six now--only six--but her +demoralisation is almost complete. It is as if you saw a hand pull a +rosebud on its stem, crumple and crush it, rub the pink loveliness into +pulp, drop it then--and you pick it up. But it is not a rosebud now. Oh, +these things, the knowledge of them, is as a fire shut up in one's +bones! shut up, for one cannot let it all out--it must stay in and burn. + + . . . . . . . + +Those who know nothing of the facts will be sure to criticise. "It is +not an unknown thing for persons to act as critics, even though +supremely ignorant of the subject criticised." But those who know the +truth of these things well know that we have understated it, carefully +toned it down perforce, because it cannot be written in full. It could +neither be published nor read. + +It cannot be written or published or read, but oh, it has to be lived! +_And what you may not even hear, must be endured by little girls._ There +are child-wives in India to-day, of twelve, ten, nine, and even eight +years old. "Oh, you mean betrothed! Another instance of missionary +exaggeration!" We mean married. + +"But of course the law interferes!" Perhaps you have heard of the law +which makes wifehood illegal under twelve. With reference to this law +the Hon. Manomoham Ghose of the High Court of Calcutta writes:--"If the +Government thinks that the country is not yet prepared for such +legislation" (by which he means drastic legislation) "as I suggest, I +can only express my regret that by introducing the present Bill it has +indefinitely postponed the introduction of a substantial measure of +reform, which is urgently called for." + +There are men and women in India to whom many a day is a nightmare, and +this fair land an Inferno, because of what they know of the wrong that +is going on. For that is the dreadful part of it. It is not like the +burning alive of the widows, it is not a horror passed. It is going on +steadily day and night. Sunlight, moonlight, and darkness pass, the one +changing into the other; but all the time they are passing, this Wrong +holds the hours with firm and strong hands, and uses them for its +purpose--the murder of little girls. Meanwhile, what can be done by you +and by me to hasten the day of its ending? Those who know can tell what +they know, or so much as will bear the telling; and those who do not +know can believe it is true, and if they have influence anywhere, use +it; and all can care and pray! Praying alone is not enough, but oh for +more real praying! We are playing at praying, and caring, and coming; +playing at doing--if doing costs--playing at everything but play. We are +earnest enough about that. God open our eyes and convict us of our +insincerity! burn out the superficial in us, make us intensely in +earnest! And may God quicken our sympathy, and touch our heart, and +nerve our arm for what will prove a desperate fight against "leagued +fiends" in bad men's shapes, who do the devil's work to-day, branding on +little innocent souls the very brand of hell. + +I have told of one--that little child who is now as evil-minded as a +little child can be; she is only one of so many. Let a medical +missionary speak. + +"A few days ago we had a little child-wife here as a patient. She was +ten or eleven, I think, just a scrap of a creature, playing with a doll, +and yet degraded unmentionably in mind. . . . But oh, to think of the +hundreds of little girls! . . . It makes me feel literally sick. We do +what we can. . . . But what can we do? What a drop in the ocean it is!" + +Where the dotted lines come, there was written what cannot be printed. +But it had to be lived through, every bit of it, by a "scrap of a +creature of ten or eleven." + +Another--these are from a friend who, even in writing a private letter, +cannot say one-tenth of the thing she really means. + +"A few days ago the little mother (a child of thirteen) was crying +bitterly in the ward. 'Why are you crying?' 'Because he says I am too +old for him now; he will get another wife, he says.' 'He' was her +husband, 'quite a lad,' who had come to the hospital to see her." + +The end of that story which cannot be told is being lived through this +very day by that little wife of thirteen. And remember that thirteen in +India means barely eleven at home. + +"She was fourteen years old," they said, "but such a tiny thing, she +looked about nine years old in size and development. . . . The little +mother was so hurt, she can never be well again all her life. The husband +then married again . . . as the child was ruined in health. . . ." +And, as before, the dots must cover all the long-drawn-out misery of +that little child who "looked about nine." + +"There is an old, old man living near here, with a little wife of ten or +eleven. . . . Our present cook's little girl, nine years old, has lately +been married to a man who already has had two wives." In each of these +cases, as in each I have mentioned, marriage means marriage, not just +betrothal, as so many fondly imagine. Only to-day I heard of one who +died in what the nurse who attended her described as "simple agony." She +had been married a week before. She was barely twelve years old. + +We do not say this is universal. There are many exceptions; but we do +say the workings of this custom should be exposed and not suppressed. +Question our facts; we can prove them. To-day as I write it, to-day as +you read it, hundreds and thousands of little wives are going through +what we have described. But "described" is not the word to +use--indicated, I should say, with the faintest wash of sepia where the +thing meant is pitch black. + +Think of it, then--do not try to escape from the thought--English women +know too little, care too little--too little by far. Think of it. Stop +and think of it. If it is "trying" to think of it, and you would prefer +to turn the page over, and get to something nicer to read, _what must it +be to live through it_? What must it be to those little girls, so +little, so pitifully little, and unequal to it all? What must it be to +these childish things to live on through it day by day, with, in some +cases, nothing to hope for till kindly death comes and opens the door, +the one dread door of escape they know, and the tortured little body +dies? And someone says, "The girl is dead, take the corpse out to the +burning-ground." Then they take it up, gently perhaps. But oh, the +relief of remembering it! It does not matter now. Nothing matters any +more. Little dead wives cannot feel. + + . . . . . . . + +I wonder whether it touches you? I know I cannot tell it well. But oh, +one lives through it all with them!--I have stopped writing again and +again, and felt I could not go on. + +Mother, happy mother! When you tuck up your little girl in her cot, and +feel her arms cling round your neck and her kisses on your cheek, will +you think of these other little girls? Will you try to conceive what you +would feel _if your little girl were here_? + +Oh, you clasp her tight, so tight in your arms! The thought is a +scorpion's sting in your soul. You would kill her, smother her dead in +your arms, before you would give her to--_that_. + +Turn the light down, and come away. Thank God she is safe in her little +cot, she will wake up to-morrow safe. Now think for a moment steadily of +those who are somebody's little girls, just as dear to them and sweet, +needing as much the tenderest care as this your own little girl. + +Think of them. Try to think of them as if they were your very own. They +are just like your own, in so many ways--only their future is different. + +Oh, dear mothers, do you care? Do you care very much, I ask? + + . . . . . . . + +We passed the temple on our way home from the Village of the Lake. The +great gate was open, and the Brahmans and their friends were lounging in +and out, or sitting in the porch talking and laughing together. They +were talking about us as we passed. They were quite aware of our object +in coming, and were pleased that we had failed. + +Government officials, English-speaking graduates, educated Hindus like +our old friend the schoolmaster, all would admit in private that to take +a child to the temple and "marry her" there was wrong. But very few have +much desire to right the shameful wrong. + +There are thousands of recognised Slaves of the gods in this Presidency. +Under other names they exist all over India. There are thousands of +little child-wives; fewer here than elsewhere, we know, but many +everywhere. I do not for a moment suggest that all child-wives are +cruelly handled, any more than I would have it thought that all little +girls are available for the service of the gods. Nor would I have it +supposed that we see down this hell-crack every day. We may live for +years in the country and know very little about it. The medical +workers--God help them!--are those who are most frequently forced to +look down, and I, not being a medical, know infinitely less of its +depths than they. But this I do know, and do mean, and I mean it with an +intensity I know not how to express, _that this custom of infant +marriage and child marriage, whether to gods or men, is an infamous +custom; that it holds possibilities of wrong, such unutterable wrong, +that descriptive words concerning it can only "skirt the abyss," and +that in the name of all that is just and all that is merciful it should +be swept out of the land without a day's delay_. + +We look to our Indian brothers. India is so immense that a voice crying +in the North is hardly heard in the South. Thank God for the one or two +voices crying in the wilderness. But many voices are needed, not only +one or two. Let the many voices cry! Every man with a heart and a voice +to cry, should cry. Then all the cries crying over the land will force +the deaf ears to hear, and force the dull brains to think and the hands +of the law to act, and something at last will be done. + +But "crying" is not nearly enough. We look to you, brothers of India, to +=do=. Get convictions upon this subject which will compel you to =do=. +Many can talk and many can write, and more will do both, as the years +pass, but the crux is contained in the =doing=. + +God alone can strengthen you for it. He who set His face as a flint, can +make you steadfast and brave enough to set your faces as flints, till +the bands of wickedness are loosed, and the heavy burdens are undone, +and every yoke is broken, and the oppressed go free. + +It will cost. It is bound to cost. Every battle of the warrior is with +confused noise and garments rolled in blood. It is only sham battles +that cost something less than blood. Everything worth anything _costs +blood_. "Reproach hath broken My heart." A broken heart bleeds. Is it +the reproach of the battle you fear? This fear will conquer you until +you hear the voice of your God saying, "Fear ye not the reproach of men, +neither be afraid of their revilings. . . . Who art thou that thou +shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and the son of man that +shall be made as grass, and forgettest the Lord thy Maker?" + +This book is meant for our comrades at home, but it may come back to +India, and so we have spoken straight from our hearts to our Indian +brothers here. Oh, brothers, rise, and in God's Name fight; in His power +fight till you win, for these, your own land's little girls, who never +can fight for themselves! + +And now we look to you at home. Will all who pity the little wives pray +for the men of India? Pray for those who are honestly striving to rid +the land of this shameful curse. Pray that they may be nerved for the +fight by the power of God's right arm. Pray for all the irresolute. "A +sound of battle is in the land, . . . the Lord hath opened His armoury." +"Cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood." Pray for +resolution and the courage of conviction. It is needed. + +And to this end pray that the Spirit of Life may come upon our Mission +Colleges, and mightily energise the Missionary Educational Movement, +that Hindu students may be won to out-and-out allegiance to Christ while +they are students, before they become entangled in the social mesh of +Hinduism. And pray, we earnestly plead with you, that the Christian +students may meet God at college, and come out strong to fight this +fiend which trades in "slaves and souls of men"--and in the souls of +little girls. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +From a Hindu Point of View + + "The Lord preserve us from innovations foreign to + the true principles of the Protestant Church, and + foreign to the principles of the C.M.S. Pictures, + crosses, and banners, with processions, would do + great harm. The Mohammedan natives would say, + 'Wah! you worship idols as the Hindus do, and have + taziyas (processions) as well as the Mohammedans!' + And our Christians would mourn over such things." + _Rev. C. B. Leupolt, India._ + + +I AM sitting in the north-west corner of the verandah of a little +mission bungalow, on the outskirts of a town sixteen miles south of our +Eastern headquarters. This is the town where they set fire to the +schoolroom when Victory came. So far does Caste feeling fly. As you sit +in the corner of this verandah you see a little temple fitted between +two whitewashed pillars, roughly built and rudely decorated, but in this +early morning light it looks like a picture set in a frame. It is just +outside the compound, so near that you see it in all its detail of +colour; the sun striking across it touches the colours and makes them +beautiful. + +There is the usual striped wall, red and white; the red is a fine +terra-cotta, the colour of the sand. The central block, the shrine +itself, has inlays of green, red, and blue; there is more terra-cotta in +the roof, some yellow too, and white. Beyond on either side there are +houses, and beyond the houses, trees and sky. + +It is all very pretty and peaceful. Smoke is curling up in the still air +from some early lighted fire out of doors; there are voices of people +going and coming, softened by distance. There is the musical jingle of +bullock bells here in the compound and out on the road, and there is the +twitter of birds. + +In front of that temple there are three altars, and in front of the +altars a pillar. I can see it from where I am sitting now, rough grey +stone. Upon it, there is what I thought at first was a sun-dial, and I +wondered what it was doing there. Then I saw it had not a dial plate; +only a strong cross-bar of wood, and the index finger, so to speak, was +longer than one would expect, a sharp wooden spike. As I was wondering +what it was a passer-by explained it. It is not a sun-dial, it is an +impaling instrument. On that spike they used to impale alive goats and +kids and fowls as offerings to the god Siva and his two wives, the +deities to whose honour the three altars stand before the little shrine. +The pillar on which stands this infernal spike has three circles scored +into it, sign of the three divinities. + +"The impaling has stopped," say the people, greatly amused at one's +horror and distress, for at first I thought perhaps they still did it. +"Now we do not impale alive; the Government has stopped it." Thank God +for that! But oh, let all lovers of God's creatures pray for and hasten +the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ! Government may step in and stop the +public clubbing to death of buffaloes, and the impaling of goats and +fowls in sacrifice, but it cannot stop the private cruelty, and the +still wider-spread indifference on the part of those who are not +themselves cruel; only the coming of Christ the Compassionate can do +that. + + . . . . . . . + +There was the sound of voices just then, as I wrote, many voices, coming +nearer, shrill women's voices, cutting through one's thoughts, and I +went out to see what was going on. + +On the other side of the road, opposite our gate, there is a huge old +double tree, the sacred fig tree of India, intertwined with another--a +religious symbol to this symbol-loving people. Underneath is a stone +platform, and on it the hideous elephant-god. On the same side is a +little house. A group of women were gathered under the shade near the +house, evidently waiting for something or someone. They were delighted +to talk. + +We spent half an hour under the tree, and they listened; but we were +interrupted by some well-dressed Government officials with their coats, +sashes, and badges, and one not strictly Governmental got up in a +marvellous fashion, and they joined the group and monopolised the +conversation. I waited, hoping they would soon go away, and I listened +to what they were saying. + +"Yes! she actually appeared! She was a goddess." ("A goddess! Oh!" from +the women.) "She came forward, moving without walking, and she stood as +a tree stands, and she stretched out her arms and blessed the people, +and vanished." + +A woman pointed to me. "Like her? Was she like her?" + +"Like her!" and the Government official was a little contemptuous. "Did +I not say she was a goddess? Is this Missie Ammal a goddess? Is she not +a mere woman like yourselves, only white?" + +"_She_ also came from the bungalow," objected the woman rather feebly, +feeling public opinion against her. + +"You oyster!" said the official politely, "because a Missie Ammal comes +from the bungalow, does it prove that the goddess was a Missie Ammal?" +The other women agreed with him, and snubbed the ignoramus, who retired +from the controversy. + +The story was repeated with variations, such a mixture of the probable +with the improbable, not to say impossible, that one got tangled up in +it before he had got half through. + +Just then an ancient Christian appeared on the scene and quavered in, in +the middle of the marvel, with words to the effect that our God was the +true God, and they ought to have faith in Him. It was not exactly _a +propos_ of anything they were discussing, but he seemed to think it the +right thing to say, and they accepted it as a customary remark, and went +on with their conversation. I asked the old worthy if he knew anything +about the story, and at first he denied it indignantly as savouring too +much of idolatry to be connected with the bungalow, but finally admitted +that once in the dim past he had heard that an Ammal in the bungalow, +who was ill and disturbed by the tom-toms at night, got up and went out +and tried to speak to the people. And the men, listening now to the old +man, threw in a word which illumined the whole, "It was a great +festival." I remembered that impaling stake, and understood it all. And +in a flash I saw it--the poor live beast--and heard its cries. They +would wring her heart as she heard them in the pauses of the tom-tom. +She was ill, but she got up and struggled out, and tried to stop it, I +am sure--tried, and failed. + +Seven thousand miles away these things may seem trivial. Here, with that +grey stone pillar full in view, they are real. + +I came back to the present. The women were still there, and more people +were gathering. Something was going to happen. Then a sudden burst of +tom-toms, and a banging and clanging of all manner of noise-producers, +and then a bullock coach drove up, a great gilded thing. It stopped in +front of the little house; someone got out; the people shouted, "Guru! +Great Guru! Lord Guru!" with wild enthusiasm. + +The Guru was not poor. He had two carts laden with luggage--one item, a +green parrot in a cage. Close to the cage a small boy was thundering +away on a tom-tom, but it did not disturb the parrot. The people seemed +to think this display of wealth demanded an apology. "It is not his, it +belongs to his followers; he, being what he is, requires none of these +things," they said. + +I had to go then, and we started soon afterwards on our day's round, and +I do not know what happened next; but I had never had the chance of a +talk with a celebrity of this description, and in the evening, on my +homeward way, I stopped before the little house and asked if I might see +him, the famous Guru of one of the greatest of South Indian Castes. + +The Government officials of the morning were there, but the officialism +was gone. No coats and sashes and badges now, only the simple national +dress, a scarf of white muslin. The one who in the morning had been an +illustration of the possible effect of the mixture of East and West, +stood in a dignity he had not then, a fine manly form. + +The door was open, and they were sentry, for their Guru was resting, +they said. "Then he is very human, just like yourselves?" But the +strong, sensible faces looked almost frightened at the words. "Hush," +they answered all in a breath, "no such thoughts may be even thought +here. He is not just like us." And as if to divert us from the +expression of such sentiments, they moved a little from the door, and +said, "You may look, if you do not speak," and knowing such looks are +not often allowed, I looked with interest, and saw all there was to see. + +The Guru was in the far corner resting; a rich purple silk, with gold +interwoven in borders and bands, was flung over his ascetic's dress. At +the far end, too, was a sort of altar, covered with red cloth, and on it +were numerous brass candlesticks and vessels, and on a little shelf +above, a row of little divinities, some brass ornaments, and flowers. + +To the left of this altar there was a high-backed chair covered by a +deer skin; there were pictures of gods and goddesses round the room, +especially near the altar, and there were the usual censers, rosaries, +and musical instruments, and there was the parrot. + +The Government official pointed in, and said, with an air of pride in +the whole, and a certainty of sympathy too, "There, you see how closely +it resembles your churches; there is not so much difference between you +and us after all!" + +Not so much difference! There is a very great difference, I told him; +and I asked him where he had seen a Christian church like this. He +mentioned two. One was a Roman Catholic chapel, the other an English +church. + +What could I say? They bear our name; how could he understand the +divisions that rend us asunder?--Romanists, Ritualists, and +Protestants--are we not all called Christians? + +I looked again, and I could not help being struck with the resemblance. +The altar with its brasses and flowers and candlesticks, and the little +shelf above; the pictures on the walls; the chair, so like a Bishop's +chair of state; the whole air of the place heavy with incense, was +redolent of Rome. + +He went on to explain, while I stood there ashamed. "Look, have you not +got that?" and he pointed to the altar-like erection, with the red cloth +and the flowers. + +"We have nothing of the sort in our church. Come and see; we have only a +table," I said; but he laughed and declared he had seen it in other +churches, and it was just like ours, "only yours has a cross above it, +and ours has images; but you bow to your cross, so it must represent a +divinity," and, without waiting for any reply, he pointed next to the +pictures. + +"They are very like yours, I think," he said, only yours show your God +on a cross, stretched out and dying--so"--And he stretched out his +arms, and dropped his head, and said something which cannot be +translated; and I could not look or listen, but broke in earnestly: + +"Indeed, we have no such pictures--at least we here have not; but even +if some show such a picture, do they ever call it a picture of God? They +only say it is a picture of"--But he interrupted impatiently: + +"Do not I know what they say?" And then, with a touch of scorn at what +he thought was an empty excuse on my part, he added, "We also say the +same" (which is true; no intelligent Hindu admits that he worships idols +or pictures; he worships what these things represent). "Your people show +your symbols," he continued, in the tone of one who is sure of his +ground, "exactly as we show ours. I have seen your God on a great sheet +at night; it was shown by means of a magic lamp; and sometimes you make +it of wood or brass, as we make ours of stone. The name may change and +the manner of making, but the thing's essence is the same." + +"The Mohammedans do not show their God's symbol; but we do, and so do +the Christians. Therefore between us and the Christians there is more in +common than between the Mohammedans and us." This was another Hindu's +contribution to the argument. + +The chair now served as a text. "When your Bishop comes round your +churches, does he not sit in a chair like that, himself apart from the +people? And in like manner our Guru sits. There is much similarity. Also +do not your Christians stand"--and he imitated the peculiarly +deferential attitude adopted on such occasions by some--"just in the +fashion that we stand? And do not your people feel themselves blessed +by the presence of the Great? Oh, there is much similarity!" + +I explained that all this, though foolish, was not intended for more +than respect, and our Bishops did not desire it; at which he smiled. +Then he went on to expatiate upon what he had seen in some of our +churches (probably while on duty as Government servant): the display, as +it seemed to him, so like this; the pomp, as he thought it, so fine, +like this; the bowing and prostrating, and even on the part of those who +did not do these things, the evident participation in the whole grand +show. And the other men, who apparently had looked in through the open +windows and doors, agreed with him. + +He is not the first who has been stumbled in the same way; and I +remembered, as he talked, what a Mohammedan woman said to a friend of +mine about one of our English churches, seen through her husband's eyes. +"You have idols in your church," she said, "to which you bow in +worship." She referred to the things on or above the Communion table. My +friend explained the things were not idols. "Then why do your people bow +to them?" Was there nothing in the question? + +Often we wonder whether the rapid but insidious increase of ritual in +India is understood at home. In England it is bad enough, but in a +heathen and Mohammedan land it is, if possible, worse; and the worst is, +the spirit of it, or the spirit of tolerance toward it, which is on the +increase even in missionary circles. Some of our Tamil people attend the +English service in these "advanced" churches after their own service is +over, and thus become familiarised with and gradually acclimatised to +an ecclesiastical atmosphere foreign to them as members of a Protestant +Society. + +I remember spending a Sunday afternoon with a worthy pastor and his +wife, stationed in the place where the church is in which the "idols are +worshipped" according to the Mohammedans. When the bell rang for evening +service he began to shuffle rather as if he wanted me to go. But he was +too polite to say so, and the reason never struck me till his son came +in with an English Bible and Prayer-Book. The old man put up his hand to +his mouth in the apologetic manner of the Tamils. "We do not notice the +foolish parts of the service. We like to hear the English. For the sake +of the English we go." + +"He did not turn to the East, but he did not keep quite straight; he +just half turned." This from a pastor's wife, about one whom she had +been observing during an ordination ceremony in the English cathedral. +"_He just half turned._" It describes the nebulous attitude of mind of +many a one to-day. India has not our historical background. It has no +_Foxe's Book of Martyrs_ yet. Perhaps that is why its people are so +indifferent upon points which seem of importance to us. They have not +had to fight for their freedom, in the sense at least our forefathers +fought; there is no Puritan blood in their veins; and so they are +willing to follow the lead of almost anyone, provided that lead is given +steadily and persistently; which surely should make those in authority +careful as to those in whose hands that lead is placed. + +But the natural instinct of the converted idolater is dead against +complexity in worship, and for simplicity. He does not want something +as like his own old religion as possible, but as different as possible +from it; and so we have good building material ready to hand, and a +foundation ready laid. "But let every man take heed how he buildeth +thereupon." + +I hope this does not sound unkind. We give those who hold different +views full credit for sincerity, and a right to their own opinions; but +convictions are convictions, and, without judging others who differ, +these are ours, and we want those at home who are with us in these +things to unite to help to stem the tide that has already risen in India +far higher than perhaps they know. Brave men are needed, men with a +fuller development of spiritual vertebrae than is common in these +easy-going days, and we need such men in our Native Church. God create +them; they are not the product of theological colleges. And may God save +His Missions in India from wasting His time, and money, and men, on the +cultivation of what may evolve into something of no more use to creation +than a new genus of jelly-fish. + +The Government official and his friends were still talking among +themselves: "Do we not know what the Christians do? Have we not ears? +Have we not eyes? They do it in their way, we do it in ours. The thing +itself is really the same. Yes, their religion is just like ours." + +They could not see the vital difference between even the most vitiated +forms of Christianity and their own Hinduism; there were so many +resemblances, and these filled their mental vision at the moment. One +could hardly wonder they could not. + +They turned to me again, and with all the vigour of language at my +command I told them that neither we nor those with us ever went to any +church where we had reason to think there would be an exhibition of +ecclesiastical paraphernalia. We did not believe it was in accordance +with the simplicity of the Gospel; and I told them how simple the Truth +really was, but they would not believe me. Those sights they had seen +had struck them much as they struck the convert who described the +Confirmation service thus: "We went up and knelt down before a stick" +(the Bishop's pastoral staff). They had observed the immense attention +paid to all these sacred trifles, and naturally they appeared to them as +essential to the whole; part of it, nearly all of it, in fact; and even +where the service was in the vernacular, their attention had been +entirely diverted from the thing heard by the things seen. + +Then I thought of the description of a primitive Christianity service as +given in 1 Corinthians. There the idea evidently was that if an outsider +came in, or looked in, as Hindus and Mohammedans so often look in here, +he should understand what was going on; and being convicted of his sin +and need, should be "convinced"; "and so, falling down on his face, he +will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth." Compare the +effect produced upon the minds of these Hindu men by what they saw of +our services, with the effect intended to be produced by the Holy Ghost. +Can we say we have improved upon His pattern? + +Oh for a return to the simplicity and power of the Gospel of Christ! +Then we should not roll stumbling-blocks like these in our Indian +brother's way. Oh for a return to the days of the beginning of the Acts +of the Apostles, to obscurity, and poverty, and suffering, and shame, +and the utter absence of all earthly glory, and the winning of souls of +a different make to the type thought sufficiently spiritual now! Oh for +more of the signs of Apostleship--scars, and the cross--the real +cross--the reproach of Christ the Crucified,--no mitre here, but there +the crown! + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +Though ye know Him not + + "I have known cases of young ministers dissuaded + from facing the missionary call by those who posed + as friends of Foreign Missions, and yet presumed + to argue: 'Your spiritual power and intellectual + attainments are needed by the Church at home; they + would be wasted in the Foreign Field.' 'Spiritual + power wasted' in a land like India! Where is it so + sorely needed as in a continent where Satan has + constructed his strongest fortresses and displayed + the choicest masterpieces of his skill? + 'Intellectual ability wasted' among a people whose + scholars smile inwardly at the ignorance of the + average Western! Brothers, _if God is calling + you_, be not deterred by flimsy subterfuges such + as these. You will need the power of God the Holy + Ghost to make you an efficient missionary. You + will find your reputation for scholarship put to + the severest test in India. Here is ample scope + alike for men of approved spiritual power and for + intellectual giants. And so I repeat, _if God is + calling you_, buckle on your sword, come to the + fight, and win your spurs among the cultured sons + of India." + _Rev. T. Walker, India._ + + +THE sensation you experience is curious when you rise from the study of +Sir Monier William's _Brahmanism and Hinduism_ and go out to your work, +and meet in that work someone who seems to be quoting that same book, +not in paragraphs only, but in pages. He is talking Tamil, and the book +is written in English; that is all the difference. He was standing by +the wayside when I saw him: we got into conversation. + +At first he reminded me of a sea anemone, with all its tentacles drawn +inside, but gradually one by one they came out, and I saw what he really +was; and I think the great Christian scholar, who laboured so hard to +understand and translate into words the intricacies and mysteries of +Indian thought, would have felt a little repaid had he known how his +work would help in the practical business of a missionary's life. Part +of our business is to meet the mind with which we are dealing half-way +with quick comprehension. It is in this Sir Monier Williams helps. + +When once this man felt himself understood, his whole attitude changed. +At first, expecting, I suppose, that he was being mistaken for "an +ignorant heathen" and worshipper of stocks and stones, he hardly took +the trouble to do more than answer, as he thought, a fool according to +his folly. The tentacles were all _in_ then. + +But that passed soon, and he pointed to the shed behind him, where two +or three life-size idol horses stood and said how childish he knew it +was, foolish and vain. But then, what else could be done? Idols are not +objects of worship, and never were intended so to be; their only use is +to help the uninitiated to worship Something. If nothing were shown +them, they would worship nothing; and a non-worshipping human being is +an animal, not a man. + +He went on to answer the objections to this means of quickening +intelligent worship by explaining how, in higher and purer ways, the +thinkers of Hinduism had tried to make the unthinking think. "Look at +our temples," he said. "There is a central shrine, with only one light +in it. The darkness of the shrine symbolises the darkness of the world, +of life and death and being. For life is a darkness, a whirlpool of dark +waters. We stand on its edge, but we do not understand it. It is dark, +but light there must be; one great light. So we show this certainty by +the symbol of the one light in the shrine, in the very heart of our +temples." + +This led on to quotations from his own books, questioning the validity +of such lights, which he finished the moment one began them, and this +again led to our Lord's words,--how strong they sounded, and how +direct--"_I am the Light of the World_." But he could not accept them in +their simplicity, and here it was that the book I had been reading came +in so helpfully. He spoke rapidly and eagerly, and such a mixture of +Sanscrit and Tamil that if I had not had the clue I am not sure I could +have followed him, and to have misunderstood him then might have driven +all the tentacles in, and made it harder for the next one whom the +Spirit may send to win his confidence. + +He told me that, after much study of many religions, he held the eternal +existence of one, Brahma. The human spirit, he said, is not really +distinct from the Divine Spirit, but identical with it; the apparent +distinction arises from our illusory view of things: there is absolutely +no distinction in spirit. Mind is distinct, he admitted, and body is +distinct, but spirit is identical; so that, "in a definitely defined +sense, I am God, God is I. The so-called two are one, in all essentials +of being." And he touched himself and said, "I am Brahma. I myself, my +real I, am God." + +It sounds terribly irreverent, but he did not for a moment mean it so. +Go back to Gen. ii. 7, and try to define the meaning of the words, "the +breath of life," and you will, if you think enough, find yourself in a +position to understand how the Hindu, without revelation, ends as he +does in delusion. + +But, intertwined with this central fibre of his faith, there were +strands of a strange philosophy; he held strongly the doctrine of +Illusion, by which the one impersonal Spirit, "in the illusion which +overspreads it, is to the external world what yarn is to cloth, what +milk is to curds, what clay is to a jar, but only in that illusion," +that is, "he is not the actual material cause of the world, as clay of a +jar, but the illusory material cause, as a rope might be of a snake"; +and the spirit of man "is that Spirit, personalised and limited by the +power of illusion; and the life of every living spirit is nothing but an +infinitesimal arc of the one endless circle of infinite existence." + +Of course there are answers to this sort of reasoning which are +perfectly convincing to the Western, but they fail to appeal to the +Eastern mind. You suggest a practical test as to the reality or +otherwise of this "Illusion"--touch something, run a pin into yourself, +do anything to prove to yourself your own actuality, and he has his +answer ready. Though theoretically he holds that there is one, and only +one, Spirit, he "virtually believes in three conditions of being--the +real, the practical, and the illusory; for while he affirms that the +one Spirit, Brahma, alone has a real existence, he allows a practical +separate existence to human spirits, to the world, and to the personal +God or gods, as well as an illusory existence. Hence every object is to +be dealt with practically, as if it were really what it appears to be." + +This is only the end of a long and very confusing argument, which I +expect I did not half understand, and he concluded it by quoting a +stanza, thus translated by Dr. Pope, from an ancient Tamil classic-- + + "O Being hard to reach, + O Splendour infinite, unknown, in sooth + I know not what to do!" + +"He is far away from me," he said, "a distant God to reach," and when I +quoted from St. Augustine, "To Him who is everywhere, men come not by +travelling, but by loving," and showed him the words, which in Tamil are +splendidly negative, "He is NOT far from every one of us," he eluded the +comfort and went back to the old question, "What is Truth? How can one +prove what is Truth?" + +There is an Indian story of a queen who "proved the truth by tasting the +food." The story tells how her husband, who dearly loved her, and whom +she dearly loved, lost his kingdom, wandered away with his queen into +the forest, left her there as she slept, hoping she would fare better +without him, and followed her long afterwards to her father's court, +deformed, disguised, a servant among servants, a _cook_. Then her +maidens came to her, told her of the wonderful cooking, magical in +manner, marvellous in flavour and in fragrance. They are sure it is the +long-lost king come back to her, and they bid her believe and rejoice. +But the queen fears it may not be true. She must prove it, she must +taste the food. They bring her some. _She tastes, and knows._ And the +story ends in joy. "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good." "If any +man will do His Will, he shall know." + +We got closer in thought after this. For the Oriental, a story is an +illuminating thing. "I have sought for the way of truth," he said, "and +sought for the way of light and life. Behind me, as I look, there is +darkness. Before me there is only the Unknown." And then, with an +earnestness I cannot describe, he said, "I worship Him I know not, _the +Unknown God_." "Whom, therefore, ye worship, though ye know Him not, Him +declare I unto you." One could only press home God's own answer to his +words. + +One other verse held him in its power before I went: "I am the Way, the +Truth, and the Life." With those two verses I left him. + +It was evening, and he stood in the shadow, looking into it. There was a +tangle of undergrowth, and a heavy grove of palms. It was all dark as +you looked in. Behind was the shrine of the demon steeds, the god and +his wife who ride out at night to chase evil spirits away. Near by was +an old tree, also in shade, with an idol under it. It was all in shadow, +and full of shadowy nothings, all dark. + +But just outside, when I went, there was light; the soft light of the +after-glow, which comes soon after the sun has set, as a sign that there +is a sun somewhere, and shining. And I thought of his very last words to +me, but I cannot describe the earnestness of them, "_I worship the +Unknown God_." + +Friends, who worship a God whom you _know_, whose joy in life is to know +Him, will you remember and pray for that one, who to-day is seeking, I +think in truth, to find the Unknown God? + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +How Long? + + "I shivered as if standing in the neighbourhood of + hell." + _Henry Martyn, India._ + + +I HAVE come home from vainly trying to help another child. She had heard +of the children's Saviour, and I think she would have come to Him, but +they suffered her not. She was, when I first saw her, sweet and +innocent, with eyes full of light, great glancing, dancing eyes, which +grew wistful for a moment sometimes, and then filled with a laugh again. +She told me her mother lived very near, and asked me to come and see +her; so I went. + +The mother startled me. Such a face, or such a want of a face. One was +looking at what had once been a face, but was now a strange spoiled +thing, with strange hard eyes, so unlike the child's. There was no other +feature fully shaped; it was one dreadful blank. She listened that day, +with almost eagerness. She understood so quickly, too, one felt she must +have heard before. But she told us nothing about herself, and we only +knew that there was something very wrong. Her surroundings told us +that. + +Before we went again we heard who she was; a relative of one of our most +honoured pastors, himself a convert years ago. Then a great longing +possessed us to try to save her from a life for which she had not been +trained, and especially we longed to save her little girl, and we went +to try. This time the mother welcomed us, and told us how our words had +brought back things she had heard when she was young. "But now it is all +different, for I am different," and she told us her story. . . . "So I +took poison, but it acted not as I intended. _It only destroyed my +face_," and she touched the poor remnant with her hand, and went on with +her terrible tale. There were people listening outside, and she spoke in +a hoarse whisper. We could hardly believe she meant what she said, as +she told of the fate proposed for her child. And oh, how we besought her +then and there to give up the life, and let us help her, and that dear +little one. She seemed moved. Something awoke within her and strove. +Tears filled those hard eyes and rolled down her cheeks as we pleaded +with her, in the name of all that was motherly, not to doom her little +innocent girl, not to push her with her own hands down to hell. At last +she yielded, promised that if in one week's time we would come again she +would give her up to us, and as for herself, she would think of it, and +perhaps she also would give up the life; she hated it, she said. + +There was another girl there, a fair, quiet girl of fifteen. She was ill +and very suffering, and we tried for her too; but there seemed no hope. +"Take the little one; you are not too late for her," the mother said, +and we went with the promise, "One more week and she is yours." + +The week passed, and every day we prayed for that little one. Then when +the time came, we went. Hope and fear alternated within us. One felt +sick with dread lest anything had happened to break the mother's word, +and yet one hoped. The house door was open. The people in the street +smiled as we stopped our bandy, got out, and went in. I remembered their +smiles afterwards, and understood. The mother was there: in a corner, +crouching in pain, was the girl; on the floor asleep, _drugged_, lay the +child with her little arms stretched out. The mother's eyes were hard. + +It was no use. Outside in the street the people sat on their verandahs +and laughed. "Offer twenty thousand rupees, and see if her mother will +give her to you!" shouted one. Inside we sat beside that mother, not +knowing what to say. + +The child stirred in her sleep, and turned. "Will you go?" said the +mother very roughly in her ear. She opened listless, senseless eyes. She +had no wish to go. "She wanted to come last week," we said. The mother +hardened, and pushed the child, and rolled her over with her foot. "_She +will not go now_," she said. + +Oh, it did seem pitiful! One of those pitiful, pitiful things which +never grow less pitiful because they are common everywhere. That +_little_ girl, and this! + +We took the mother's hands in ours, and pleaded once again. And then +words failed us. They sometimes do. There are things that stifle words. + +At last they asked us to go. The girl in the corner would not +speak--could not, perhaps she only moaned; we passed her and went out. +The mother followed us, half sorry for us,--there is something of the +woman left in her,--half sullen, with a lowering sullenness. "You will +never see her again," she said, and she named the town, one of the +Sodoms of this Province, to which the child was soon to be sent; and +then, just a little ashamed of her broken promise, she added, "I would +have let her go, but _he_ would not, no, never; and she does not belong +to me now, so what could I do?" We did not ask her who "he" was. We +knew. Nor did we ask the price he had paid. We knew; fifty rupees, about +three pounds, was the price paid down for a younger child bought for the +same purpose not long ago. This one's price might be a little higher. +That is all. + +We stood by the bullock cart ready to get in. The people were watching. +The mother had gone back into the house. Then a great wave of longing +for that child swept over us again. We turned and looked at the little +form as it lay on the floor, dead, as it seemed, to all outward things. +Oh that it had been dead! And we pleaded once more with all our heart, +and once more failed. + +We drove away. We could see them crowding to look after us, and we shut +our eyes to shut out the sight of their smiles. The bullock bells +jingled too gladly, it seemed, and we shut our ears to shut out the +sound. And then we shut ourselves in with God, who knew all about it, +and cared. How long, O God, how long? + +And now we have heard that she has gone, and we know, from watching +what happened before, just what will happen now. How day by day they +will sear that child's soul with red-hot irons, till it does not feel or +care any more. And a child's seared soul is an awful thing. + +Forgive us for words which may hurt and shock; we are telling the day's +life-story. Hurt or not, shocked or not, should you not know the truth? +How can you pray as you ought if you only know fragments of truth? Truth +is a loaf; you may cut it up nicely, like thin bread and butter, with +all the crusts carefully trimmed. No one objects to it then. Or you can +cut it as it comes, crust and all. + +Think of that child to-night as you gather your children about you, and +look in their innocent faces and their clear, frank eyes. Our very last +news of her was that she had been in some way influenced to spread a lie +about the place, first sign of the searing begun. I think of her as I +saw her that first day, bright as a bird; and then of her as I saw her +last, drugged on the floor; I think of her as she must be now, bright +again, but with a different brightness--not the little girl I +knew--never to be quite that little girl again. + +Oh, comrades, do you wonder that we care? Do you wonder that we plead +with you to care? Do you wonder that we have no words sometimes, and +fall back into silence, or break out into words wrung from one more +gifted with expression, who knew what it was to feel! + +With such words, then, we close; looking back once more at that child on +the floor, with the hands stretched out and the heavy eyes shut--and we +know what it was they saw when they opened from that sleep-- + + "My God! can such things be? + Hast Thou not said that whatsoe'er is done + Unto Thy weakest and Thy humblest one, + Is even done to Thee? + + . . . . . . . + + Hoarse, horrible; and strong, + Rises to heaven that agonising cry, + Filling the arches of the hollow sky, + HOW LONG, O GOD, HOW LONG?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +What do we count them worth? + + "If we are simply to pray to the extent of a + simple and pleasant and enjoyable exercise, and + know nothing of watching in prayer, and of + weariness in prayer, we shall not draw down the + blessing that we may. We shall not sustain our + missionaries who are overwhelmed with the + appalling darkness of heathenism. . . . We must + serve God even to the point of suffering, and each + one ask himself, In what degree, in what point am + I extending, by personal suffering, by personal + self-denial, to the point of pain, the kingdom of + Christ? . . . It is ever true that what costs little + is worth little." + _Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, China._ + + +SHE picked up her water-vessel, and stood surveying us somewhat +curiously. The ways of Picture-catching Missie Ammals were beyond her. +Afterwards she sat down comfortably and talked. That was a year ago. + +Then in the evening she and all her neighbours gathered in the market +square for the open-air meeting. Shining of Life spoke for the first +time. "I was a Hindu a year ago. I worshipped the gods you worship. Did +they hear me when I prayed? No! They are dead gods. God is the living +God! Come to the living God!" + +One after the other the boys all witnessed that evening. Their clear +boyish voices rang out round the ring. And some listened, and some +laughed. + +[Illustration: She picked up her water-vessel, and stood surveying us +somewhat curiously.] + +Behind us there was a little demon temple. It had a verandah barred down +with heavy bars. Within these bars you could see the form of an idol. +Beside us there was a shrine. Someone had put our lanterns on the top of +this pyramid shrine. Before us there was the mass of dark faces. Behind +us, then, black walls, black bars, a black shape; before us the black +meeting, black losing itself in black. Around us light, light shining +into the black. That was as it was a year ago. Now we are back at +Dohnavur, and almost the first place we went to was this village, where +we had taken the light and set it up in the heart of the dark. An +earnest young schoolmaster had been sent to keep that light burning +there, and we went expectantly. Had the light spread? We went straight +to our old friend's house. She was as friendly as ever in her queer, +rough, country way, but her heart had not been set alight. "Tell me what +is the good of your Way? Will it fill the cavity within me?" and she +struck herself a resounding smack in the region where food is supposed +to go. "Will it stock my paddy-pots, or nourish my bulls, or cause my +palms to bear good juice? If it will not do all these good things, what +is the use of it?" + +"If it is so important, why did you not come before?" The dear old woman +who asked that lived here, and we searched through the labyrinthic +courtyards to find her, but failed. The girl who listened in her pain is +well now, but she says the desire she had has cooled. We found two or +three who seem lighting up; may God's wind blow the flame to a blaze! +But we came back feeling that we must learn more of the power of prayer +ourselves if these cold souls are to catch fire. We remembered how, when +we were children, we caught the sunlight, and focussed it, and set bits +of paper on fire; and we longed that our prayers might be a lens to +focus the Love-light of our God, and set their souls on fire. + +Just one little bit of encouragement may be told by way of cheer. +Blessing went off one day to see if the Village of the Warrior were more +friendlily inclined, and Golden went to the Petra where they vowed they +would never let us in. Before Blessing entered the village she knelt +down under a banyan tree, and, remembering Abraham's servant, prayed for +a sign to strengthen her faith that God would work in the place. While +she prayed a child came and looked at her; then seeing her pray, she +said, "Has that Missie Ammal sent you who came here more than a year +ago?" Blessing said "Yes." Then the child repeated the chorus we had +taught the children that first day. "None of us forget," she said; and +told Blessing how the parents had agreed to allow us to teach if ever we +should return. The village had been opened. He goeth before. + +Golden's experience was equally strengthening to our faith. In the very +street where they held a public demonstration to cleanse the road +defiled by our "low-caste" presence, twenty houses have opened, where +she is a welcome visitor. But all this is only for Love's sake, they +say. They do not yet want Christ; so let us focus the light! + +Then there is need for the fire of God to burn the cords that hold souls +down. There is one with whom the Spirit strove last year when we were +here. But a cord of sin was twined round her soul. She has a wicked +brother-in-law, and a still more wicked sister, and together they +plotted so evil a plot that, heathen though she is, she recoiled, and +indignantly refused. So they quietly drugged her food, and did as they +chose with her. And now the knot she did not tie, and which she wholly +detested at first, seems doubly knotted by her own will. Oh, to know +better how to use the burning-glass of prayer! + +There may be a certain amount of sentiment, theoretically at least, in +breaking up new ground. The unknown holds possibilities, and it allures +one on. But in retracing the track there is nothing whatever of this. +The broad daylight of bare truth shows you everything just as it is. +Will you look once more at things just as they are, though it is not an +interesting look. + +A courtyard where the women have often heard. May we come in? Oh yes, +come in! But with us in comes an old fakeer of a specially villainous +type. His body is plastered all over with mud; he has nothing on but +mud. His hair is matted and powdered with ashes, his face is daubed with +vermilion and yellow, his wicked old eyes squint viciously, and he shows +all his teeth, crimson with betel, and snarls his various wants. The +women say "Chee!" Then he rolls in the dust, and squirms, and wriggles, +and howls; and he pours out such unclean vials of wrath that the women, +coerced, give him all he demands, and he rolls off elsewhere. + +Now may we read to the women? No! Many salaams, but they have no time. +Last night there was a royal row between two friends in adjoining +courtyards, and family histories were laid bare, and pedigrees +discovered. They are discussing these things to-day, and having heard it +all before, they have no time to read. + +Another courtyard, more refined; here the fakeer's opposite, a dignified +ascetic, sits in silent meditation. "We know it all! You told us +before!" But the women are friendly, and we go in; and after a long and +earnest talk the white-haired grandmother touches her rosary. "This is +my ladder to heaven." The berries are fine and set in chased gold, but +they are only solidified tears, tears shed in wrath by their god, they +say, which resolved themselves into these berries. How can tears make +ladders to heaven? She does not know. She does not care. And a laugh +runs round, but one's heart does not laugh. Such ladders are dangerous. + +Another house; here the men are kind, and freely let us in and out. The +Way, they say, is very good; they have heard the Iyer preach. But one +day there is a stir in the house. One of the sons is very ill. He has +been suffering for some time; now he is suddenly getting worse, and +suspicions are aroused. Then the women whisper the truth: the father and +he are at daggers drawn, and the father is slowly poisoning him--small +doses of strychnine are doing the work. The stir is not very violent, +but quite sufficient to make an excuse for not wanting to listen well. +This sort of thing throws us back upon God. Lord, teach us to pray! +Teach us the real secret of fiery fervency in prayer. We know so little +of it. Lord, teach us to pray! + +"_Oh, Amma! Amma! do not pray! Your prayers are troubling me!_" + +We all looked up in astonishment. We had just had our Band Prayer +Meeting, when a woman came rushing into the room, and began to exclaim +like this. She was the mother of one of our girls, of whom I told you +once before. She is still in the Terrible's den. Now the mother was all +excitement, and poured out a curious story. + +"When you went away last year I prayed. I prayed and prayed, and prayed +again to my god to dispel your work. My daughter's heart was impressed +with your words. I cried to my god to wash the words out. Has he washed +them out? Oh no! And I prayed for a bridegroom, and one came; and the +cart was ready to take her away, and a hindrance occurred; the marriage +fell through. And I wept till my eyes well-nigh dissolved. And again +another bridegroom came, and again an obstacle occurred. And yet again +did a bridegroom come, and yet again an obstacle; and I cannot get my +daughter 'tied,' and the neighbours mock, and my Caste is +disgraced"--and the poor old mother cried, just sobbed in her shame and +confusion of face. "Then I went to my god again, and said, 'What more +can I offer you? Have I not given you all I have? And you reject my +prayer!' Then in a dream my god appeared, and he said, '_Tell the +Christians not to pray. I can do nothing against their prayers. Their +prayers are hindering me!_' And so, I beseech you, stop your prayers for +fourteen days--only fourteen days--till I get my daughter tied!" + +"And after she is tied?" we asked. "Oh, then she may freely follow your +God! I will hinder her no more!" + +Poor old mother! All lies are allowed where such things are concerned. +We knew the proposed bridegroom came from a place three hundred miles +distant, and the idea was to carry the poor girl off by force, as soon +as she was "tied." We have been praying night and day to God to hinder +this. And He is hindering! But there is need to go on. That mother is a +devotee. She has received the afflatus. Sometimes at night it falls upon +her, and she dances the wild, wicked dance, and tries to seize the girl, +who shrinks into the farthest corner of the little house; and she dances +round her, and chants the chant which even in daylight has power in it, +but which at night appeals unspeakably. Once the girl almost gave way, +and then in her desperation, hardly knowing the sin of it, ran to the +place where poison was kept, drank enough to kill two, straight off, +then lay down on the floor to die. Better die than do what they wanted +her to do, she thought. But they found out what she had done, and +drastic means were immediately used, and the poison only made her ill, +and caused her days of violent pain. So there is need for the hindering +prayer. Lord, teach us how to pray! + +Is India crammed with the horrible? "Picturesque," they call it, who +have "done it" in a month or two, and written a book to describe it. And +the most picturesque part, they agree, is connected with the temples. + +India ends off in a pointed rock; you can stand at the very point of the +rock, with only ocean before you, and almost all Asia behind. A temple +is set at the end of the point, as if claiming the land for its own. We +took our convert boys and girls to the Cape for the Christmas holidays, +and one morning some of us spent an hour under an old wall near the +temple, which wall, being full of hermit crabs, is very interesting. We +were watching the entertaining ways of these degenerate creatures when, +through the soft sea sounds, we heard the sound of a Brahman's voice, +and looking up, saw this: + +A little group of five, sitting between the rocks and the sea, giving a +touch of life to the scene, and making the picture perfect. There were +two men, a woman, a child, and the priest. They were all marked with the +V-shaped Vishnu mark. The priest twined the sacred Kusa grass round the +fingers of his right hand, and gave each a handful of grass, and they +did as he had done. Then they strewed the grass on the sand, to purify +it from taint of earth, and then they began. The priest chanted names of +God, then stopped, and drew signs on the sand. They followed him +exactly. Then they bathed, bowing to the East between each dip, and +worshipping; then returned and repeated it all. But before repeating it, +they carefully painted the marks on their foreheads, using white and red +pigment, and consulting a small English hand mirror--the one incongruous +bit of West in this East, but symbolical of the times. The child +followed it all, as a child will, in its pretty way. She was a dainty +little thing in a crimson seeley and many gold jewels. The elder woman +was dressed in dark green; the colouring was a joy to the eye, crimson +and green, and the brown of the rock, against the blue of the sea. + +It was one of those exquisite mornings we often have in the Tropics, +when everything everywhere shows you God; shines the word out like a +word illumined; sings it out in the Universe Song; and here in this +South niche of Nature's cathedral, under the sky's transparency, these +five, in the only way they knew, acknowledged the Presence of one great +God, and worshipped Him. There was nothing revolting here, no hint of +repulsive idolatry. They worshipped the Unseen. Very stately the +Sanscrit sounded in which they chanted their adoration. "King of +Immensity! King of Eternity! Boundless, Endless, Infinite One!" It might +have been the echo of some ancient Christian hymn. It might have been, +but it was not. + +They are not worshipping God the Lord. _They might be, but they are +not._ Whose is the responsibility? Is it partly yours and mine? The +beauty of the scene has passed from us; the blue of the blue sky is +blotted out-- + + "Only like souls I see the folk thereunder, + Bound who should conquer, slaves who should be kings; + Hearing their one hope with an empty wonder, + Sadly contented with a show of things. + + Then with a rush the intolerable craving + Shivers throughout me like a trumpet call: + Oh to save these! To perish for their saving, + Die for their life, be offered for them all!" + +The picture is made of souls--souls to be saved. "Oh to save these! To +perish for their saving!" That is what the picture says. Picture! There +is no picture. In the place where it was, there is simply a pain--God's +world, and God dishonoured in it! Oh to see these people as souls! +Refined or vulgar, beautiful or horrible, or just dull, oh to see them +"only as souls," and to yearn over them, and pray for them as souls who +must live eternally somewhere, and for whom each of us, in our measure, +is responsible to God. Do you say we are not responsible for those +particular souls? Who said that sort of thing first? "Where we disavow +being keeper to our brother we're his Cain." If we are not responsible, +why do we take the responsibility of appealing to them in impassioned +poetry? + + "Let every kindred, every tribe, + On this terrestrial ball, + To Him all majesty ascribe, + And crown Him Lord of all!" + +What is the point of telling people to do a certain thing if we have no +concern in whether they do it or not? The angels and the martyrs and the +saints, to whom we appealed before, have crowned Him long ago. Our +singing to them on the subject will make no difference either way; but +when we turn to every kindred and tribe, the case alters. How can they +crown Him Lord of all when they do not know about Him? Why do they not +know about Him? Because we have not told them. It is true that many whom +we have told heard "their one hope with an empty wonder"; but, on the +other hand, it is true that the everlasting song rises fuller to-day +because of those who, out in this dark heathendom, heard, and responded, +and crowned Him King. + +But singing hymns from a distance will never save souls. By God's grace, +coming and giving and praying will. Are we prepared for this? Or would +we rather sing? Searcher of hearts, turn Thy search-light upon us! Are +we coming, giving, praying _till it hurts_? Are we praying, yea +agonising in prayer? or is prayer but "a pleasant exercise"--a holy +relief for our feelings? + +We have sat together under the wall by the Southern sea. We have looked +at the five as they worshipped Another, and not our God. Now let this +little South window be like a little clear pane of glass, through which +you may look up far to the North, over the border countries and the +mountains to Tibet, over Tibet and away through the vastness of Central +Asia, on to China, Mongolia, Manchuria; and even then you have only seen +a few of the great dark Northern lands, which wait and wait--for you. + +And this is only Asia, only a part of Asia. God looks down on all the +world; and for every one of the millions who have never crowned Him +King, Christ wore the crown of thorns. What do we count these millions +worth? Do we count them worth the rearrangement of our day, that we may +have more time to pray? Do we count them worth the laying down of a +single ambition, the loosening of our hold on a single child or friend? +Do we count them worth the yielding up of anything we care for very +much? Let us be still for a moment and think. Christ counted souls worth +Calvary. _What do we count them worth?_ + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +Two Safe + + "God has given me the hunger and thirst for souls; + will He leave me unsatisfied? No verily." + _James Gilmour, Mongolia._ + + + "That one soul has been brought to Christ in the + midst of such hostile influences is so entirely + and marvellously the Holy Spirit's work, that I am + sometimes overjoyed to have been in any degree + instrumental in effecting the emancipation of + one." + _Robert Noble, India._ + + +TWO of our boys are safe. They left us very suddenly. We can hardly +realise they are gone. The younger one was our special boy, the first of +the boys to come, a very dear lad. I think of him as I saw him the last +evening we all spent together, standing out on a wave-washed rock, the +wind in his hair and his face wet with spray, rejoicing in it all. Not +another boy dare go and stand in the midst of that seething foam, but +the spice of danger drew him. He was such a thorough boy! + +The call to leave his home for Christ came to him in an open-air meeting +held in his village two years ago. Then there was bitterest shame to +endure. His father and mother, aghast and distressed, did all they could +to prevent the disgrace incurred by his open confession of Christ. He +was an only son, heir to considerable property, so the matter was most +serious. The father loved him dearly; but he nerved himself to flog the +boy, and twice he was tied up and flogged. But they say he never +wavered; only his mother's tears he found hardest to withstand. + +Weeks passed of steadfast confession, and then it came to the place of +choice between Christ and home. He chose Christ, and early one morning +left all to follow Him. Do you think it was easy? He was a loving boy. +Could it have been easy to stab his mother's heart? + +When the household woke that morning he was on his way to us. The father +gathered his clansmen, and they came in a crowd to the bungalow. + +They sat on the floor in a circle, with the boy in their midst, and they +pleaded. I remember the throb of that moment now. A single pulse seemed +to beat in the room, so tense was the tension, until he spoke out +bravely. "I will not go back," he said. + +They promised everything--a house, lands, his inheritance to be given at +once, a wife "with a rich dowry of jewels"--all a Tamil boy most desires +they offered him. And they promised him freedom to worship God; "only +come back and save your Caste, and do not break your mother's heart and +disgrace your family." + +Day after day they came, sometimes singly, sometimes in groups, but the +mother never came. They described her in heart-moving language. She +neither ate nor slept, they said, but sat with her hair undone, and wept +and wailed the death-wail for her son. + +At last they gave up coming, and we were relieved, for the +long-continued strain was severe; and though he never wavered, we knew +the boy felt it. We used to hear him praying for his people, pouring out +his heart when he thought no one was near, sobbing sometimes as he named +their names. The entreaty in the tone would make our eyes wet. If only +he could have lived at home and been a Christian there! But we knew what +had happened to others, and we dare not send him back. + +Then a year or so afterward we all went to the water together, and he +and three others were baptised. The first to go down into the water was +the elder boy, Shining of Victory. Shining of Life was second. A few +weeks of bright life--those happy days by the sea--and then in the same +order, and called by the same messenger--the swift Indian messenger, +cholera--they both went down into the other water, and crossed over to +the other side. + +Shining of Life was well in the morning, dead in the evening. When first +the pain seized him he was startled. Then, understanding, he lay down in +peace. The heathen crowded in. They could not be kept out. They taunted +him as he lay. "This is your reward for breaking your Caste!" they said. +The agony of cholera was on him. He could not say much, but he pointed +up, "Do not trouble me; this is the way by which I am going to Jesus," +and he tried to sing a line from one of our choruses, "My Strength and +my Redeemer, my Refuge--Jesus!" + +His parents had been sent for as soon as it was known that he was ill. +They hurried over, the poor despairing mother crying aloud imploringly +to the gods who did not hear. He pointed up again; he was almost past +speech then, but he tried to say "Jesus" and "Come." + +Then, while the heathen stood and mocked, and the mother beat her breast +and wailed, and the father, silent in his grief, just stood and looked +at his son, the boy passed quietly away. They hardly believed him dead. + +Oh, we miss him so much! And our hearts ache for his people, for they +mourn as those who have no hope. But God knows why He took him; we know +it is all right. + +Every memory of him is good. When the first sharp strain was over we +found what a thorough boy he was, and in that week by the sea all the +life and fun in him came out, and he revelled in the bathing and +boating, and threw his whole heart into the holiday. We had many hopes +for him; he was so full of promise and the energy of life. + +And now it is all over for both. Was it worth the pain it cost? Such a +short time to witness, was it worth while? + +It is true it was very short. Most of the little space between their +coming and their going was filled with preparation for a future of +service here. And yet in that little time each of the two found one +other boy who, perhaps, would never have been found if the cost had been +counted too great. And I think, if you could ask them now, they would +tell you Jesus' welcome made it far more than worth while. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +Three Objections + + "May I have grace to live above every human + motive; simply with God and to God, and not + swayed, especially in missionary work, by the + opinions of people not acquainted with the state + of things, whose judgment may be contrary to my + own." + _Henry Martyn, India._ + + +THESE letters have been put together to help our comrades at home to +realise something of the nature of the forces ranged against us, that +they may bring the Superhuman to bear upon the superhuman, and pray with +an intelligence and intensity impossible to uninformed faith. We have +long enough under-estimated the might of the Actual. We need more of +Abraham's type of faith, which, without being weakened, considered the +facts, and then, looking unto the promise, wavered not, but waxed +strong. Ignorant faith does not help us much. Some years ago, when the +first girl-convert came, friends wrote rejoicing that now the wall of +Caste must give way; they expected soon to hear it had. As if a grain of +dust falling from one of the bricks in that wall would in anywise shake +the wall itself! Such faith is kind, but there it ends. It talks of what +it knows not. + +Then, as to the people themselves, there are certain fallacies which die +hard. We read, the other day, in a home paper, that it was a well-known +fact that "Indian women never smile." We were surprised to hear it. We +had not noticed it. Perhaps, if they were one and all so abnormally +depressed, we should find them less unwilling to welcome the Glad +Tidings. Again, we read that you can distinguish between heathen and +Christian by the wonderful light on the Christians' faces, as compared +with "the sad expression on the faces of the poor benighted heathen." It +is true that some Christians are really illuminated, but, as a whole, +the heathen are so remarkably cheerful that the difference is not so +defined as one might think. Then, again, we read in descriptive articles +on India that the weary, hopeless longing of the people is most +touching. But we find that our chief difficulty is to get them to +believe that there is anything to long for. Rather we would describe +them as those who think they have need of nothing, knowing not that they +have need of everything. And again and again we read thrilling +descriptions of India's women standing with their hands stretched out +towards God. They may do this in visions; in reality they do not. And it +is the utter absence of all this sort of thing which makes your help a +necessity to us. + +But none of you can pray in the way we want you to pray, unless the mind +is convinced that the thing concerning which such prayer is asked is +wholly just and right; and it seems to us that many of those who have +followed the Story of this War may have doubts about the right of +it--the right, for example, of converts leaving their homes for Christ's +sake and His Gospel's. All will be in sympathy with us when we try to +save little children, but perhaps some are out of sympathy when we do +what results in sorrow and misunderstanding--"not peace, but a sword." +So we purpose now to gather up into three, some of the many objections +which are often urged upon those engaged in this sort of work, because +we feel that they ought to be faced and answered if possible, lest we +lose someone's prevailing prayer. + +The first set of objections may be condensed into a question as to the +right or otherwise of our "forcing our religion" upon those who do not +want it. We are reminded that the work is most discouraging, conversions +are rare, and when they occur they seem to create the greatest +confusion. It is evident enough that neither we nor our Gospel are +desired; and no wonder, when the conditions of discipleship involve so +much. "_We_ should not like strangers to come and interfere with our +religion," write the friends who object, "and draw our children away +from us; we should greatly resent it. No wonder the Hindus do!" And one +reader of the letters wrote that she wondered how the girls who came out +ever could be happy for a moment after having done such a wrong and +heartless thing as to disobey their parents. "They richly deserve all +they suffer," she wrote. "It is a perfect shame and disgrace for a girl +to desert her own people!" + +One turns from the reading of the letter, and looks at the faces of +those who have done it; and knowing how they need every bit of +prayer-help one can win for them, one feels it will be worth while +trying to show those who blame them why they do it, and how it is they +cannot do otherwise if they would be true to Christ. + +This objection as to the right or wrong of the work as a whole, leads to +another relating to baptism. It is a serious thing to think of families +divided upon questions of religion; surely it would be better that a +convert should live a consistent Christian life at home, even without +baptism, than that she should break up the peace of the household by +leaving her home altogether? Or, having been baptised, should she not +return home and live there as a Christian? + +Lastly--and this comes in letters from those who, more than any, are in +sympathy with us--why not devote our energies to work of a more fruitful +character? We are reminded of the mass-movement type of work, in which +"nations are born in a day"; and often, too, of the nominal Christians +who sorely need more enlightenment. Why not work along the line of least +resistance, where conversion to God does not of necessity mean fire and +sword, and where in a week we could win more souls than in years of this +unresultful work? + +We frankly admit that these objections and proposals are naturally +reasonable, and that what they state is perfectly true. It is true that +work among high-caste Hindus all over India (as among Moslems all over +the world) is very difficult. It is true that open confession of Christ +creates disastrous division in families. It is true there is other work +to be done. + +Especially we feel the force of the second objection raised. We fully +recognise that the right thing is for the convert to live among her own +people, and let her light shine in her own home; and we deplore the +terrible wrench involved in what is known as "coming out." To a people +so tenacious of custom as the Indians are, to a nature so affectionate +as the Indian nature is, this cutting across of all home ties is a very +cruel thing. + +And now, only that we may not miss your prayer, we set ourselves to try +to answer you. And, first of all, let us grasp this fact: it is not +fair, nor is it wise, to compare work, and success in work, between one +set of people and another, because the conditions under which that work +is carried on are different, and the unseen forces brought to bear +against it differ in character and in power. There is sometimes more +"result" written down in a single column of a religious weekly than is +to be found in the 646 pages of one of the noblest missionary books of +modern days, _On the Threshold of Central Africa_. Or take two typical +opposite lives, Moody's and Gilmour's. Moody saw more soul-winning in a +day than Gilmour in his twenty-one years. It was not that the _men_ +differed. Both knew the Baptism of Power, both lived in Christ and +loved. But these are extremes in comparison; take two, both +missionaries, twin brothers in spirit, Brainerd of North America and +Henry Martyn of India. Brainerd saw many coming to Jesus; Martyn hardly +one. Each was a pioneer missionary, each was a flame of fire. "Now let +me burn out for God," wrote Henry Martyn, and he did it. But the +conditions under which each worked varied as widely spiritually as they +varied climatically. Can we compare their work, or measure it by its +visible results? _Did God?_ Let us leave off comparing this with +that--we do not know enough to compare. Let us leave off weighing +eternal things and balancing souls in earthly scales. Only God's scales +are sufficiently sensitive for such delicate work as that. + +We take up the objections one by one. First, "_Why do you go where you +are not wanted?_" + +We go because we believe our Master told us to go. He said, "all the +world," and "every creature." Our marching orders are very familiar. "Go +ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." "All the +world" means everywhere in it, "every creature" means everyone in it. +These orders are so explicit that there is no room to question what they +mean. + +All missionaries in all ages have so understood these words "all" and +"every." Nearly seven hundred years ago the first missionary to the +Moslems found no welcome, only a prison; but he never doubted he was +sent to them. "_God wills it_," he said, and went again. They stoned him +then, and he died--died, but never doubted he was sent. + +Our Master Himself went not only to the common people, who heard Him +gladly, but to the priestly and political classes, who had no desire for +the truth. "Ye will not come to Me that ye might have life," He said, +and yet He gave them the chance to come by going to them. The words, "If +any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink," were spoken to an +audience which was not thirsting for the Gospel. + +St. Paul would willingly have spent his strength preaching the Word in +Asia, especially in Galatia, where the people loved him well; but he was +under orders, and he went to Europe, to Philippi, where he was put in +prison; to Thessalonica, where the opposition was so strong that he had +to flee away by night; to Athens, where he was the butt of the +philosophers. But God gave souls in each of these places; only a few in +comparison to the great indifferent crowd, but he would tell you those +few were worth going for. You would not have had him miss a Lydia, a +Damaris? Above all, you would not have had him disobey his Lord's +command? + +So whether our message is welcomed or not, the fact remains we must go +to all; and the worse they are and the harder they are, the more evident +is it that, wanted or not, it is _needed_ by them. + +M. Coillard was robbed by the people he had travelled far to find. "You +see we made no mistake," he writes, "in bringing the Gospel to the +Zambesi." + +The second objection is, "_Why break up families by insisting on baptism +as a_ sine qua non _of discipleship?_" + +And again we answer, Because we believe our Master tells us to. He said, +"Baptising them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the +Holy Ghost." What right have we, His servants, to stop short of full +obedience? Did He not know the conditions of high-caste Hindu life in +India when He gave this command? Was He ignorant of the breaking up of +families which obedience to it would involve? "Suppose ye that I am come +to give peace on earth? I tell you nay, but rather division." And then +come words which we have seen lived out literally in the case of every +high-caste convert who has come. "For from henceforth there shall be +five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. +The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the +father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the +mother; the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the +daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." These are truly _awful_ +verses; no one knows better than the missionary how awful they are. +There are times when we can hardly bear the pain caused by the sight of +this division. But are we more tender than the Tender One? Is our +sympathy truer than His? Can we look up into His eyes and say, "It costs +them too much, Lord; it costs us too much, to fully obey Thee in this"? + +But granted the command holds, why should not the baptised convert +return home and live there? Because he is not wanted there, _as a +Christian_. Exceptions to this rule are rare (we are speaking of Caste +Hindus), and can usually be explained by some extenuating circumstance. + +The high-caste woman who said to us, "I cannot live here and break my +Caste; if I break it I must go," spoke the truth. Keeping Caste includes +within itself the observance of certain customs which by their very +nature are idolatrous. Breaking Caste means breaking through these +customs; and one who habitually disregarded and disobeyed rules, +considered binding and authoritative by all the rest of the household, +would not be tolerated in an orthodox Hindu home. It is not a question +of persecution or death, or of wanting or not wanting to be there; it is +a question _of not being wanted there_, unless, indeed, she will +compromise. Compromise is the one open door back into the old home, and +God only knows what it costs when the choice is made and that one door +is shut. + +This ever-recurring reiteration of the power and the bondage of Caste +may seem almost wearisome, but the word, and what lies behind it, is the +one great answer to a thousand questions, and so it comes again and +again. In Southern India especially, and still more so in this little +fraction of it, and in the adjoining kingdoms of Travancore and Cochin, +Caste feeling is so strong that sometimes it is said that Caste is the +religion of South India. But everywhere all over India it is, to every +orthodox Hindu, part of his very self. Get his Caste out of him? Can +you? You would have to drain him of his life-blood first. + +It is the strength of this Caste spirit which in South India causes it +to take the form of a determination to get the convert back. Promises +are given that they may live as Christians at home. "We will send you in +a bandy to church every Sunday!"--promises given to be broken. If the +convert is a boy, he may possibly reappear. If a girl--I was going to +say _never_; but I remember hearing of one who did reappear, after +seventeen years imprisonment--a wreck. Send them back, do you say? Think +of the dotted lines in some chapters you have read; ponder the things +they cover; then send them back if you can. + +The third objection divides into two halves. The first half is, "_Why do +you not go to the Christians?_" To which we answer, we do, and for +exactly the same reason as that which we have given twice before, +because our Master told us to do so. Our marching orders are threefold, +one order concerning each form of service touched by the three +objections. The third order touches this, "Teaching them to observe all +things whatsoever I have commanded you." So we go, and try to teach them +the "all things"; and some of them learn them, and go to teach others, +and so the message of a full Gospel spreads, and the Bride gets ready +for the Bridegroom. + +The second half of this last objection is, "_Why not do easier work?_ +There are so many who are more accessible, why not go to them?" And +there does seem to be point in the suggestion that if there are open +doors, it might be better to enter into them, rather than keep on +knocking at closed ones. + +We do seek to enter the so-called open doors, but we never find they are +so very wide open when it is known that we bring nothing tangible with +us. Spiritual things are not considered anything by most. Still, work +among such is infinitely easier, and many, comparatively speaking, are +doing it. + +The larger number here are working among the Christians, the next larger +number among the Masses, and the fewest always, everywhere, among the +Classes, where conversion involves such terrible conflicts with the Evil +One, that all that is human in one faints and fails as it confronts the +cost of every victory. + +But real conversion anywhere costs. By conversion we mean something more +than reformation; _that_ raises fewer storms. The kind of work, however, +which more than any other seems to fascinate friends at home is what is +known as the "mass movement," and though we have touched upon it +before, perhaps we had better explain more fully what it really is. This +movement, or rather the visible result thereof, is often dilated upon +most rapturously. I quote from a Winter Visitor: "Christian churches +counted by the thousand, their members by the million; whole districts +are Christian, entire communities are transformed." And we look at one +another, and ask each other, "Where?" + +But to that question certain would answer joyously, "Here!" There are +missions in India where the avowed policy is to baptise people "at the +outset, not on evidence of what is popularly called conversion. . . . We +baptise them 'unto' the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and not because we +have reason to believe that they have received the Spirit's +baptism,"--we quote a leader in the movement, and he goes on to say, if +it is insisted "that we should wait until this change (conversion) is +effected before baptising them, we reply that in most cases we would +have to wait for a long time, and often see the poor creatures die +without the change." + +Of course every effort is made by revival services and camp meetings to +bring these baptised Christians to a true knowledge of Christ, and it is +considered that this policy yields more fruit than the other, which puts +conversion first and baptism second. It is certainly richer in +"results," for among the depressed classes and certain of the middle +Castes, among whom alone the scheme can be carried out, there is no +doubt that many are found ready to embrace Christianity, as the phrase +goes, sometimes genuinely feeling it is the true religion, and desiring +to understand it, sometimes for what they can get. + +It must be admitted--for we want to state the case fairly--that a mass +movement gives one a splendid chance to preach Christ, and teach His +Gospel day by day. And the power in it does lay hold of some; we have +earnest men and women working and winning others to-day, fruit of the +mass movement of many years ago. + +But on the whole, we fear it, and do not encourage it here. The dead +weight of heathenism is heavy enough, but when you pile on the top of +that the incubus of a dead Christianity--for a nominal thing is +dead--then you are terribly weighted down and handicapped, as you try to +go forward to break up new ground. + +So, though we sympathise with everything that tends towards life and +light in India, and rejoice with our brothers who bind sheaves, +believing that though all is not genuine corn, some is, yet we feel +compelled to give ourselves mainly to work of a character which, by its +very nature, can never be popular, and possibly never successful from a +statistical point of view, never, till the King comes, Whose Coming is +our hope. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +"Show me Thy Glory!" + + "Yesterday I was called to see a patient, a young + woman who had been suffering terribly for three + days. It was the saddest case I ever saw in my + life. . . . I had to leave her to die. . . . The + experience was such a terrible one that, old and + accustomed surgeon as I am, I have been quite + upset by it ever since. As long as I live the + memory of that scene will cling to me." + _A Chinese Missionary._ + + "If we refuse to be corns of wheat falling into + the ground and dying; if we will neither sacrifice + prospects nor risk character and property and + health, nor, when we are called, relinquish home + and break family ties, for Christ's sake and His + Gospel, then we shall abide alone." + _Thomas Gajetan Ragland, India._ + + "Not mere pity for dead souls, but a passion for + the Glory of God, is what we need to hold us on to + Victory." + _Miss Lilias Trotter, Africa._ + + +WE are all familiar with the facts and figures which stand for so much +more than we realise. We can repeat glibly enough that there are nearly +one thousand, five hundred million people in the world, and that of +these nearly one thousand million are heathen or Mohammedan. Perhaps we +can divide this unthinkable mass into comprehensible figures. We can +tell everyone who is interested in hearing it, that of this one thousand +million, two hundred million are Mohammedans; two hundred million more +are Hindus; four hundred and thirty million are Buddhists and +Confucianists; and more than one hundred and fifty million are Pagans. + +But have we ever stopped and let the awfulness of these statements bear +down upon us? Do we take in, that we are talking about immortal souls? + +We quote someone's computation that every day ninety-six thousand people +die without Christ. Have we ever for one hour sat and thought about it? +Have we thought of it for half an hour, for a quarter of an hour, for +five unbroken minutes? I go further, and I ask you, have you ever sat +still for one whole minute and counted by the ticking of your watch, +while soul after soul passes out alone into eternity? + +. . . I have done it. It is awful. At the lowest computation, sixty-six +for whom Christ died have died since I wrote "eternity." + +"Oh my God! my God! Men are perishing, and I take no heed!" . . . + +Sixty-six more have gone. Oh, how can one keep so calm? Death seems +racing with the minute hand of my watch. I feel like stopping that +terrible run of the minute hand. Round and round it goes, and every time +it goes round, sixty-six people die. + +I have just heard of the dying of one of the sixty-six. We knew her +well. She was a widow; she had no protectors, and an unprotected widow +in India stands in a dangerous place. We knew it, and tried to persuade +her to take refuge in Jesus. She listened, almost decided, then drew +back; afterwards we found out why. You have seen the picture of a man +sucked under sea by an octopus; it was like that. You have imagined the +death-struggle; it was like that. But it all went on under the surface +of the water, there was nothing seen above, till perhaps a bubble rose +slowly and broke; it was like that. One day, in the broad noontide, a +woman suddenly fell in the street. Someone carried her into a house, but +she was dead, and those who saw that body saw the marks of the struggle +upon it. The village life flowed on as before; only a few who knew her +knew she had murdered her body to cover the murder of her soul. We had +come too late for her. + +Last week I stood in a house where another of those sixty-six had +passed. Crouching on the floor, with her knees drawn up and her head on +her knees, a woman began to tell me about it. "She was my younger +sister. My mother gave us to two brothers"--and she stopped. I knew who +the brothers were. I had seen them yesterday--two handsome high-caste +Hindus. We had visited their wives, little knowing. The woman said no +more; she could not. She just shuddered and hid her face in her hands. A +neighbour finished the story. Something went wrong with the girl. They +called in the barber's wife--the only woman's doctor known in these +parts. She did her business ignorantly. The girl died in fearful pain. +Hindu women are inured to sickening sights, but this girl's death was so +terrible that the elder sister has never recovered from the shock of +seeing it. There she sits, they tell me, all day long, crouching on the +floor, mute. + +All do not pass like that; some pass very quietly, there are no bands in +their death; and some are innocent children--thank God for the comfort +of that! But it must never be forgotten that the heathen sin against +the light they have; their lives witness against them. They know they +sin, and they fear death. An Indian Christian doctor, practising in one +of our Hindu towns, told me that he could not speak of what he had seen +and heard at the deathbeds of some of his patients. + +A girl came in a moment ago, and I told her what I was doing. Then I +showed her the diagram of the Wedge; the great black disc for +heathendom, and the narrow white slit for the converts won. She looked +at it amazed. Then she slowly traced her finger round the disc, and she +pointed to the narrow slit, and her tears came dropping down on it. "Oh, +what must Jesus feel!" she said. "_Oh, what must Jesus feel!_" She is +only a common village girl, she has been a Christian only a year; but it +touched her to the quick to see that great black blot. + +I know there are those who care at home, but do all who care, care +deeply enough? Do they feel as Jesus feels? And if they do, are they +giving their own? They are helping to send out others, perhaps; but are +they giving their own? + +_Oh, are they truly giving themselves?_ There must be more giving of +ourselves if that wedge is to be widened in the disc. Some who care are +young, and life is all before them, and the question that presses now is +this: Where is that life to be spent? Some are too old to come, but they +have those whom they might send, if only they would strip themselves for +Jesus' sake. + +Mothers and fathers, have you sympathy with Jesus? Are you willing to be +lonely for a few brief years, that all through eternal ages He may have +more over whom to rejoice, and you with Him? He may be coming very soon, +and the little interval that remains, holds our last chance certainly to +suffer for His sake, and possibly our last to win jewels for His crown. +Oh, the unworked jewel-mines of heathendom! Oh, the joy His own are +missing if they lose this one last chance! + +Sometimes we think that if the need were more clearly seen, something +more would be done. Means would be devised; two or three like-minded +would live together, so as to save expenses, and set a child free who +must otherwise stay for the sake of one of the three. Workers abroad can +live together, sinking self and its likes and dislikes for the sake of +the Cause that stands first. But if such an innovation is impossible at +home, something else will be planned, by which more will be spared, when +those who love our God love Him well enough to put His interests first. +"Worthy is the Lamb to receive!" Oh, we say it, and we pray it! Do we +act as if we meant it? Fathers and mothers, is He not worthy? Givers, +who have given your All, have you not found Him worthy? + +"Bare figures overwhelmed me," said one, as he told how he had been led +to come out; "I was fairly staggered as I read that twenty-eight +thousand a day in India alone, go to their death without Christ. And I +questioned, Do we believe it? Do we really believe it? What narcotic has +Satan injected into our systems that this awful, woeful, tremendous fact +does not startle us out of our lethargy, our frightful neglect of human +souls?" + +There is a river flowing through this District. It rises in the Western +Ghauts, and flows for the greater part of the year a placid, shallow +stream. But when the monsoon rains overflow the watersheds, it fills +with a sudden, magnificent rush; you can hear it a mile away. + +Out in the sandy river bed a number of high stone platforms are built, +which are used by travellers as resting-places when the river is low. +Some years ago a party of labourers, being belated, decided to sleep on +one of these platforms; for though the rainy season was due, the river +was very low. But in the night the river rose. It swept them on their +hold on the stone. It whirled them down in the dark to the sea. + +Suppose that, knowing, as they did not, that the rain had begun to fall +on the hills, and the river was sure to fill, you had chanced to pass +when those labourers were settling down for the night, would you, +_could_ you, have passed on content without an effort to tell them so? +Would you, _could_ you have gone to bed and slept in perfect +tranquillity while those men and women whom you had seen were out in the +river bed? + +If you had, the thunder of the river would have wakened you, and for +ever your very heart would have been cold with a chill chiller than +river water, cold at the thought of those you dared to leave to drown! + +You cannot see them, you say. You can. God has given eyes to the mind. +_Think_, and you will see. Then listen. It is God Who speaks. "If thou +forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are +ready to be slain; if thou sayest, 'Behold we knew it not,' doth not He +that pondereth the heart consider it, and He that keepeth thy soul, doth +not He know it? and shall not He render to every man according to his +works?" + +Oh, by the thought of the many who are drawn unto death, and the many +that are ready to be slain, by the thought of the sorrow of Jesus Who +loves them, consider these things! + +But all are not called to come! We know it. We do not forget it. But is +it a fact so forgotten at home that a missionary need press it? What is +forgotten surely is that the field is the world. + +You would not denude England! Would England be denuded? Would a single +seat on the Bishop's bench, or a single parish or mission hall, be left +permanently empty, if the man who fills it now moved out to the place +which no one fills--that gap on the precipice edge? + +But suppose it were left empty, would it be so dreadful after all? Would +there not be one true Christian left to point the way to Christ? And if +the worst came to the worst, would there not still be the Bible, and +ability to read? Need anyone die unsaved, unless set upon +self-destruction? If only Christians in England knew how to draw +supplies direct from God, if only those who cannot come would take up +the responsibility of the unconverted around them, why should not a +parish here and there be left empty for awhile? Surely we should not +deliberately leave so very many to starve to death, because those who +have the Bread of Life have a strong desire for sweets. Oh, the +spiritual confectionery consumed every year in England! God open our +eyes to see if we are doing what He meant, and what He means should +continue! But some men are too valuable to be thrown away on the mission +field; they are such successful workers, pastors, evangelists, leaders +of thought. They could not possibly be spared. Think of the waste of +burying brain in unproductive sand! Apparently it is so, but is it +really so? Does God view it like that? Where should we have been to-day +if He had thought Jesus too valuable to be thrown away upon us? Was not +each hour of those thirty-three years worth more than a lifetime of +ours? + +What is God's definition of that golden word "success"? He looks at +Roman Catholic Europe, and Roman and heathen South America, and +Mohammedan and heathen Africa and Asia, and many a forgotten place in +many a great land. And then He looks at us, and I wonder what He thinks. +Ragland, Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, after years of +brain-burying waste, wrote that He was teaching him that "_of all plans +for securing success the most certain is Christ's own, becoming a corn +of wheat, falling into the ground and dying_." If coming abroad means +that for anyone, is it too much to ask? It was what our dear Lord did. + +This brings us to another plea. I find it in the verse that carves out +with two strokes the whole result of two lives. "If any man's work +abide. . . . If any man's work shall be burned." The net result of one +man's work is gold, silver, precious stones; the net result of another +man's work is wood, hay, stubble. Which is worth the spending of a +life? + +An earnest worker in her special line of work is looking back at it from +the place where things show truest, and she says, "God help us all! What +is the good done by any such work as mine? 'If any man build upon this +foundation . . . wood, hay, stubble. . . . If any man's work shall be +burned he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by +fire!' An infinitude of pains and labour, and all to disappear like the +stubble and the hay." + +Success--what is it worth? + + "I was flushed with praise, + But pausing just a moment to draw breath, + I could not choose but murmur to myself, + 'Is this all? All that's done? and all that's gained? + If this, then, be success, 'tis dismaller + Than any failure.'" + +So transparent a thing is the glamour of success to clear-seeing +poet-eyes, and should it dazzle the Christian to whom nothing is of any +worth but the thing that endures? Should arguments based upon +comparisons between the apparent success of work at home as +distinguished from work abroad influence us in any way? Is it not very +solemn, this calm, clear setting forth of a truth which touches each of +us? "_Every man's work shall be made manifest, for the Day shall declare +it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every +man's work of what sort it is._" And as we realise the perishableness of +all work, however apparently successful, except the one work done in the +one way God means, oh, does it not stir us up to seek with an intensity +of purpose which will not be denied, to find out what that one work is? +The same thought comes out in the verse which tells us that the very +things we are to do are prepared before, and we are "created in Christ +Jesus" to do them. If this is so, then will the doing of anything else +seem worth while, when we look back and see life as God sees it? + +It may be that the things prepared are lying close at our hand at home, +but it may be they are abroad. If they are at home there will be settled +peace in the doing of them there; but if they are abroad, and we will +not come and do them?--Oh, then our very prayers will fall as fall the +withered leaves, when the wind that stirred them falls, yea more so, for +the withered leaves have a work to do, but the prayers which are stirred +up by some passing breeze of emotion do nothing, _nothing_ for eternity. +God will not hear our prayers for the heathen if He means us to be out +among them instead of at home praying for them, or if He means us to +give up some son or daughter, and we prefer to pray. + +Lord save us from hypocrisy and sham! "Shrivel the falsehood" from us if +we say we love Thee but obey Thee not! Are we staying at home, and +praying for missions when Thou hast said to us "Go"? Are we holding back +something of which Thou hast said, "Loose it, and let it go"? Lord, are +we utterly through and through true? Lord God of truthfulness, save us +from sham! Make us perfectly true! + +I turn to you, brothers and sisters at home! Do you know that if God is +calling you, and you refuse to obey you will hardly know how to bear +what will happen afterwards? Sooner or later you will know, yea burn +through every part of your being, with the knowledge that you +disobeyed, and lost your chance, lost it for ever. For that is the awful +part. It is rarely given to one to go back and pick up the chance he +knowingly dropped. The express of one's life has shot past the points, +and one cannot go back; the lines diverge. + +"Some of us almost shudder now to think how nearly we stayed at home," a +missionary writes. "Do not, I beseech you, let this great matter drift. +Do not walk in uncertainty. Do not be turned aside. You will be +eternally the poorer if you do." + +It may be you are not clear as to what is God's will for you. You are in +doubt, you are honest, but a thousand questions perplex you. Will you go +to God about it, and get the answer direct? + +If you are puzzled about things which a straightforward missionary can +explain, will you buy a copy of _Do Not Say_, and read it alone with +God? Let me emphasise that word "alone." "Arise, go forth into the +plain, and I will there talk with thee." "There was a Voice . . . when +they stood and had let down their wings." + +Oh, by the thought of the Day that is coming, when the fire shall try +all we are doing, and only the true shall stand, I plead for an honest +facing of the question before it is too late! + +But this is not our strongest plea. We could pile them up, plea upon +plea, and not exhaust the number which press and urge one to write. We +pass them all, and go to the place where the strongest waits: God's +Glory is being given to another. This is the most solemn plea, the +supreme imperative call. "Not mere pity for dead souls, but a passion +for the Glory of God, is what we need to hold us through to victory." + +"I am the Lord, that is My Name, and My Glory will I not give to +another, neither My praise to graven images." But the men He made to +glorify Him take His Glory from Him, give it to another; _that_, the sin +of it, the shame, calls with a low, deep under-call through all the +other calls. God's Glory is being given to another. Do we love Him +enough to care? Or do we measure our private cost, if these distant +souls are to be won, and, finding it considerable, cease to think or +care? "Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold and +see"--="They took Jesus and led Him away. And He, bearing His cross, +went forth into a place called the place of a skull . . . where they +crucified Him." . . . "Herein is love." . . . "God so loved the world." +. . .= Have we petrified past feeling? Can we stand and measure now? "I +know that only the Spirit, Who counted every drop that fell from the +torn brow of Christ as dearer than all the jewelled gates of Paradise, +can lift the Church out of her appreciation of the world, the world as +it appeals to her own selfish lusts, into an appreciation of the world +as it appeals to the heart of God." O Spirit, come and lift us into this +love, inspire us by this love. Let us look at the vision of the Glory of +our God with eyes that have looked at His love! + +We would not base a single plea on anything weaker than solid fact. +Sentiment will not stand the strain of the real tug of war; but is it +fact, or is it not, that Jesus counted you and me, and the other people +in the world, actually worth dying for? If it is true, then do we love +Him well enough to care with the whole strength of our being, that +to-day, almost all over the world, His Glory is being given to another? +If this does not move us, is it because we do not love Him very much, or +is it that we have never prayed with honest desire, as Moses prayed, "I +beseech Thee, show me Thy Glory"? He only saw a little of it. "Behold +there is a place by Me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: and it shall +come to pass, while My Glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift +of the rock, and will cover thee with My hand while I pass by." And the +Glory of the Lord passed, and Moses was aware of something of it as it +passed, but "My face shall not be seen," And yet that little was enough +to mark him out as one who lived for one purpose, shone in the light of +it, burned with the fire of it--he was jealous for the Glory of his God. + +And we--"We beheld His Glory, the Glory as of the only begotten of the +Father, full of grace and truth"; and we--we have seen "the light of the +knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." + +"While My Glory passeth by I will . . . cover thee . . . My face shall +not be seen." "But we all with open face, reflecting, as in a mirror, +the Glory of the Lord, are changed"--Are we? Do we? Do we know anything +at all about it? Have we ever apprehended this for which we are +apprehended of Christ Jesus? Have we seen the Heavenly Vision that +breaks us down, and humbles us to hear the Voice of the Lord ask, "Who +will go for Us?" and strengthens us to answer, "Here am I, send me," and +holds us on to obey if we hear Him saying "=Go="? + +"I beseech Thee, show me Thy Glory!" Shall we pray it, meaning it now, +to the very uttermost? The uttermost may hold hard things, but, easy or +hard, there is no other way to reach the place where our lives can +receive an impetus which will make them tell for eternity. The motive +power is the love of Christ. Not our love for Him only, but His very +love itself. It was the mighty, resistless flow of that glorious love +that made the first missionary pour himself forth on the sacrifice and +service. And the joy of it rings through triumphantly, "Yea, and if I be +poured forth . . . I joy and rejoice with you all!" + +Yes, God's Glory is our plea, highest, strongest, most impelling and +enduring of all pleas. But oh, by the thought of the myriads who are +passing, by the thought of the Coming of the Lord, by the infinite +realities of life and death, heaven and hell, by our Saviour's cross and +Passion, we plead with all those who love Him, but who have not +considered these things yet, consider them now! + +Let Him show us the vision of the Glory, and bring us to the very end of +self, let Him touch our lips with the live coal, and set us on fire to +burn for Him, yea, burn with consuming love for Him, and a purpose none +can turn us from, and a passion like a pure white flame, "a passion for +the Glory of God!" + +Oh, may this passion consume us! burn the self out of us, burn the love +into us--for God's Glory we ask it, Amen. + +"Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and +wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing . . . Blessing, +and honour, and glory, and power be unto Him." + + + + +APPENDIX + +Some Indian Saints + + +THERE was one--he has joined the company of Indian saints in glory +now--the poet of the Mission, and our friend,--one so true in all his +ways that a Hindu lad observing him with critical schoolboy eyes, saw in +him, as in a mirror, something of the holiness of God, and, won by that +look, became a Christian and a winner of souls. Some of the noblest +converts of our Mission are the direct result of that Tamil poet's life. +There is another; he is old, and all through his many years he has been +known as the one-word man, the man of changeless truth. He is a village +pastor, whom all the people love. Go into his cottage any time, any day, +and you will find one and another with him, and you will see the old +man, with his loving face and almost quite blind eyes, bending patiently +to catch every word of the story they are telling, and then you will +hear him advising and comforting, as a father would his child. For miles +round that countryside the people know him, and he is honoured by Hindus +and by Christians as India honours saints. + +I remember once seeing the poet and the pastor together. They belonged +to widely different castes, but that was forgotten now. The two old +white heads were bent over the same letter--a letter telling of the +defection of a young convert each had loved as a son, and they were +weeping over him. It was the ancient East living its life before us: "O +my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O +Absalom my son, my son!" But what made it a thing to remember in this +land of Caste divisions, even among Christians, was the overflowing of +the love that made those two men one. + +There are others. Money, the place it holds in a man's affections, is +supposed to be a fair test of character. We could tell of a lawyer who +is losing money to-day rather than touch unrighteous gains; of a doctor +who gives to his church _till he feels_, and travels any distance to +help the poor who cannot pay; of a peasant who risks a certain amount of +injury to his palms rather than climb them on Sunday; and in many an +old-world town and village, dotted about on the wide red plain, we have +simple, humble, holy people, of whom the world knows nothing--pastors in +lonely out-stations, teachers, and workers, and just ordinary +Christians--who do the day's work, and shine as they do it. We think of +such men and women when we hear the critic's cry, and we wish he could +know them as they are. + +It is these men and women who ask us to tell it out clearly how sorely +our Indian Church needs your prayers. They have no desire to hide +things. They speak straighter than we do, and far more strongly, and +they believe, as we do, that if you know more you will pray more. + + + LONDON: MORGAN AND SCOTT + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Obvious punctuation errors repaired. + +Page 146 was missing in the 1905 edition. 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