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diff --git a/29427.txt b/29427.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c309775 --- /dev/null +++ b/29427.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8383 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Lotus Buds, by Amy 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: Lotus Buds + + +Author: Amy Carmichael + + + +Release Date: July 16, 2009 [eBook #29427] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOTUS BUDS*** + + +E-text prepared by the Bookworm, Emmy, and the Project Gutenberg Online +Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from digital material +generously made available by Internet Archive/American Libraries +(http://www.archive.org/details/americana) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 29427-h.htm or 29427-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29427/29427-h/29427-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29427/29427-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive/American Libraries. See + http://www.archive.org/details/lotusbuds00carmiala + + + + + +LOTUS BUDS + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration: The Great Rock. (_Page 338._)] + + +LOTUS BUDS + +by + +AMY WILSON-CARMICHAEL + +Keswick Missionary C.E.Z.M.S. + +Author of +"Things As They Are"; "Overweights of Joy"; +"The Beginning of a Story," Etc. + +With Fifty Half-Tone Illustrations +from Photos Specially Taken for This Work + + + + + + + +Morgan and Scott Ld. +12 Paternoster Buildings +London MCMXII + +Copyright, Morgan & Scott Ld., 1909 + +First Edition, _Quarto_ (_Fifty Photogravure + Illustrations_) 2,000 _Nov., 1909_ +Edition De Luxe (_Fifty Photogravures on Japon + Vellum_) 250 _Nov., 1909_ +Octavo Edition (_Fifty Half-tone Engravings_) 5,250 _July, 1912_ + + + + +_TO THOSE WHO CARE_ + + + DOHNAVUR, TINNEVELLY DISTRICT, + SOUTH INDIA + + _Christmas, 1909._ + + Each for himself, we live our lives apart, + Heirs of an age that turns us all to stone; + Yet ever Nature, thrust from out the heart, + Comes back to claim her own. + + Still we have something left of that fair seed + God gave for birthright; still the sound of tears + Hurts us, and children in their helpless need + Still call to listening ears. + + OWEN SEAMAN. + _From_ "In a Good Cause." + + + + +_FOREWORD TO THE PRESENT EDITION_ + + +_WHEN first "Things as they are" trod the untrodden way, it walked as a +small child walks when for the first time it ventures forth upon young, +uncertain feet. It has to walk; it does not know why: it only knows +there is no choice about it. But there is an eager looking for an +outstretched hand, and an instant gratefulness always, for even a +finger. A whole hand given without reserve is something never +forgotten._ + +_It was only a child after all, and it had not anticipated having to +find its way alone among strangers. It had thought of nothing further +than a very short walk among familiar faces. If it had understood +beforehand how far it would have to walk, I doubt if it would have had +the courage to start; for it was not naturally brave. But once on its +way it could not turn back; and thanks to those kindly outstretched +hands, it grew a little less afraid, and it went on._ + +_Then another small wayfarer followed. It also was very easily +discouraged; an unfriendly push would have knocked it over at once. But +nobody seemed to want to push so unpretentious a thing, so it gained +courage and went on._ + +_And now a more grown-up looking traveller (though indeed its looks +belie it) has started on its way; more diffident, if the truth must be +told, than even its predecessors. For it thought within itself--Perhaps +there will be no welcoming hands held out this time; hands may grow +tired of such kind offices. But it has not been so. And now the sense of +gratefulness cannot longer be repressed._ + +_All of which means that I want to thank sincerely those kings of the +Book World--Reviewers--and those dwellers in that world who are my +Readers, for their insight and the sympathy to which I owe so much._ + +_Once I read of a soldier who wrote a letter home from the midst of a +battle, on a crumpled piece of paper laid upon a cannon ball. His home +people he knew would overlook the appearance of the paper and the lack +of various things expected in a letter written in a quiet room upon a +study table. And he knew he could trust them not to bring too fine a +criticism to bear upon the unstudied words hot from the battle's heart._ + +_I have thought sometimes that these books were not unlike that +soldier's letter; and those who read them seem to me very like his home +people, for they have been so generous in the kindness of their +welcome._ + + _Amy Wilson-Carmichael._ + _Dohnavur,_ + _Tinnevelly District_ + _S. India._ + + _Feb. 19, 1912._ + + + + +THE WRITER TO THE READER + + +THE photographs (except two) were taken by Mr. Penn, of Ootacamund, +whose work is known to all who care to possess good photographs of the +South Indian hills. The babies were a new experience to him, and +something of a trial, I fear, after the mountains, which can be trusted +to sit still. + +The book has been written for lovers of children. Those who find such +young life tiresome will find the story dull, and the kindest thing it +can ask of them is not to read it at all. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. LOTUS BUDS 1 + II. OPPOSITES 5 + III. THE SCAMP 15 + IV. THE PHOTOGRAPHS 23 + V. TARA AND EVU 31 + VI. PRINCIPALITIES, POWERS, RULERS 41 + VII. HOW THE CHILDREN COME 51 + VIII. OTHERS 61 + IX. OLD DEVAI 67 + X. FAILURES? 75 + XI. GOD HEARD: GOD ANSWERED 85 + XII. TO WHAT PURPOSE? 95 + XIII. A STORY OF COMFORT 103 + XIV. PICKLES AND PUCK 113 + XV. THE HOWLER 121 + XVI. THE NEYOOR NURSERY 129 + XVII. IN THE COMPOUND AND NEAR IT 141 + XVIII. FROM THE TEMPLE OF THE ROCK 153 + XIX. YOSEPU 159 + XX. THE MENAGERIE 169 + XXI. MORE ANIMALS 183 + XXII. THE PARROT HOUSE 191 + XXIII. THE BEAR GARDEN 201 + XXIV. THE ACCALS 213 + XXV. THE LITTLE ACCALS 227 + XXVI. THE GLORY OF THE USUAL 235 + XXVII. THE SECRET TRAFFIC 245 + XXVIII. BLUE BOOK EVIDENCE 253 + XXIX. "VERY COMMON IN THOSE PARTS" 261 + XXX. ON THE SIDE OF THE OPPRESSORS THERE WAS POWER 269 + XXXI. AND THERE WAS NONE TO SAVE 279 + XXXII. THE POWER BEHIND THE WORK 291 + XXXIII. IF THIS WERE ALL 301 + XXXIV. "TO CONTINUE THE SUCCESSION" 309 + XXXV. WHAT IF SHE MISSES HER CHANCE? 321 + XXXVI. "THY SWEET ORIGINAL JOY" 331 + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + PAGE + THE GREAT ROCK _Frontispiece_ + LOTUS FLOWERS 3 + "GOD'S FIRE" 8 + "AIYO! DID YOU THINK I WOULD HAVE DONE IT?" 12 + CHELLALU WATCHING THE PICTURE-CATCHER 18 + "OH, IT'S A JOKE!" 20 + "THAT THING AGAIN!" 25 + PYARIE AND VINEETHA 26 + "DISGUSTING!" 28 + "LOOK AT THE POSE!" 30 + TARA 33 + STURDY AND STOLID, AND LITTLE VEERA 63 + PEBBLES 66 + LATHA (FIREFLY) BLOWING BUBBLES 72 + SEELA, MALA, AND NULLINIE 105 + THE COTTAGE NURSERY 108 + "PICKLES" AND HER FRIENDS 115 + THE DOHNAVUR COUNTRY IN FLOOD 124 + PAKIUM AND NAVEENA 126 + ON THE ROAD TO NEYOOR 131 + ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF NAGERCOIL 132 + THE NEYOOR NURSERY 136 + THE OLD NURSERY (THE "ROOM OF JOY") 143 + THE COURTYARD 144 + A COMING-DAY FEAST 146 + THE RED LAKE 148 + AT THE DOOR OF THE TEMPLE 150 + THE WATER CARRIERS 161 + THE BELOVED TINGALU 164 + TWO VIEWS OF LIFE 171 + MORE ANIMALS: DEPRESSED 185 + TUBBING 188 + RED LAKE, AND HILL AS SEEN FROM THE TARAHA NURSERY 193 + CHILDREN WADING 196 + CHILDREN WADING 197 + ESLI, AND LITTLE KOHILA 198 + PREETHA AWARE OF A FOE 200 + JULLANIE AMONG THE GRASSES 203 + ARULAI AND RUKMA, WITH NAVEENA 210 + PONNAMAL, PREETHA, AND TARA 215 + SELLAMUTTU AND SUSEELA 216 + SUHINIE, AND HER BABY, SUNUNDA 218 + THREE CONVERT WORKERS: SUNDOSHIE, SUHINIE, AND JEYANIE 220 + SEWING-CLASS IN THE COURTYARD 222 + THREE LITTLE ACCALS 229 + PREENA AND PREEYA 230 + AFTER HER BOTTLE 237 + NORTH LAKE AND HILLS 238 + FROM THE ROCK, DOHNAVUR 338 + THE PLACE OF BAPTISM 340 + + + +CHAPTER I + +Lotus Buds + +[Illustration: LOTUS FLOWERS. + +From that same pool, afterwards gathered by permission and given to +us.] + + + + +LOTUS BUDS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +Lotus Buds + + +NEAR an ancient temple in Southern India is a large calm, beautiful +pool, enclosed by stone walls, broken here and there by wide spaces +fitted with steps leading down to the water's edge; and almost within +reach of the hand of one standing on the lowest step are pink Lotus +lilies floating serenely on the quiet water or standing up from it in a +certain proud loveliness all their own. + +We were travelling to the neighbouring town when we came upon this pool. +We could not pass it with only a glance, so we stopped our bullock-carts +and unpacked ourselves--we were four or five to a cart--and we climbed +down the broken, time-worn steps and gazed and gazed till the beauty +entered into us. + +Who can describe that harmony of colour, a Lotus-pool in blossom in +clear shining after rain! The grey old walls, the brown water, the dark +green of the Lotus leaves, the delicate pink of the flowers; overhead, +infinite crystalline blue; and beyond the old walls, palms. + +With us was a young Indian friend. "I will gather some of the lilies for +you," he said, with the quick Indian desire to give pleasure; but some +one interposed: "They must not be gathered by us. The pool belongs to +the Temple." + +It was as if a stone had been flung straight at a mirror. There was a +sense of crash and the shattering of some bright image. The Lotus-pool +was a Temple pool; its flowers are Temple flowers. The little buds that +float and open on the water, lifting young innocent faces up to the +light as it smiles down upon them and fills them through with almost a +tremor of joyousness, these Lotus buds are sacred things--sacred to +whom? + +For a single moment that thought had its way, but only for a moment. It +flashed and was gone, for the thought was a false thought: it could not +stand against this--"All souls are Mine." + +All souls are His, all flowers. An alien power has possessed them, +counted them his for so many generations, that we have almost acquiesced +in the shameful confiscation. But neither souls nor flowers are his who +did not make them. They were never truly his. They belong to the Lord of +all the earth, the Creator, the Redeemer. The little Lotus buds are +His--His and not another's. The children of the temples of South India +are His--His and not another's. + +So now we go forth with the Owner Himself to claim His own possession. +There is hope in the thought, and confidence and the purest inspiration. +And, stirred to the very depths, as we are and must be many a time when +we see the tender Lotus buds gathered by a hand that has no right to +them, and crushed underfoot; bewildered and sore troubled, as the heart +cannot help being sometimes, when the mystery of the apparent victory of +evil over good is overwhelming: even so there will be always a hush, a +rest, a repose of spirit, as we stand by the Lotus-pools of life and +seek in His Name to gather His flowers. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Opposites + + +BALA is nearly four. There are so many much younger things in the +nursery, that Bala feels almost grown up: four will be quite grown up; +it will be nice to be four. Bala takes life seriously, she has always +done so; she thinks it would be monotonous to have too many frivolous +babies. But Bala's eyes can sparkle as no other eyes ever do; and her +mirth is something by itself, like a little hidden fountain in the heart +of a wood, with the sweetness of surprise in it and very pure delight. + +When Bala came to us first she was between one and two, an age when most +babies have a good deal to say. Bala said nothing. She was like a book +with all its leaves uncut; and some who saw her, forgetting that uncut +books are sometimes interesting, concluded she was dull. "Quite a +prosaic child," they said; but Bala did not care. There are some babies, +like some grown-up people, who show all they have to show upon first +acquaintance and to all. Others cover the depths within, and open only +to their own. Bala is one of these; and even with her own she has +seasons of reserve. + +Her first remark, however, shown rather than said, was not romantic. She +was too old for a bottle, and she seemed to feel sore over this. But +she noted the time the infants were fed, and followed the nurses about +while they were preparing the meal; and when they sat down to give it, +each to her respective baby, Bala would choose the one of most uncertain +appetite, and sit down beside it and wait. There was an expression on +her face at such times which suggested a hymn, set it humming in one's +head in fact, in spite of all efforts to escape it. More than once we +have caught ourselves singing it, and pulled up sharply: "Even me! Even +me! Let some droppings fall on me." + +[Illustration: "God's Fire." + +Taken on the bank of the Red Lake, near Dohnavur.] + +Most of our family remind us very early that they trace their descent to +the mother of us all. Bala, on the contrary, was good: so we almost +forgot she was human, and began to expect too much of her; but she got +tired of this after a while, and one day suddenly sinned. The surprise +acted like "hypo," and fixed the photograph. + +The place was the old nursery, which has one uncomfortably dark corner +in it. Something had offended Bala; she marched straight into that +corner and stamped. We can see her--poor little girl--as she rumpled her +curls with both her hands, and flashed on the world a withering glance. +"Scorn to be scorned by those I scorn" was written large all over the +indignant little face. + +After this shock we were prepared for anything, but nothing special +happened; only when the demands made upon her are unreasonable, then +Bala retires into herself and turns upon all foolish insistence a face +that is a blank. If this point is passed, the dark eyes can flash. But +such revealings are rare. + +When Bala was something under three, she was very tender-hearted. One +evening, after the first rains had flooded the pools and revived the +mosquitoes, the nursery wall was the scene of many executions; and Bala +could not bear it. "Sittie, don't kill the poor puchies!" she said +pitifully; and Sittie, much touched, stopped to comfort and +explain. The other babies were delighting in the slaughter, pointing out +with glee each detested "puchie"; but Bala is not like the other babies. +Later, the ferocious instinct common to most young animals asserted +itself in a relish for the horrible, which rather contradicted the +mosquito incident. Bala visibly gloats over the gory head of Goliath, +and intensely admires David as he operates upon it. Her favourite part +of the story about his encounter with the lion is the suggestive +sentence, "I caught him by the beard"; and Bala loves to show you +exactly how he did it. But then that is different from seeing it done; +and after all it is only a story, and it happened long ago. + +I have told how the ignorant once called Bala prosaic. Bala knows +nothing of poetry, but is full of the little seeds of that strange and +wonderful plant; and the time to get to know her is when the evening sky +is a golden blaze, or glows with that mystic glory which wakens +something within us and makes it stir and speak. + +"God has not lighted His fire to-night," she said wistfully one evening +when the West was colourless; but when that fire is lighted she stands +and gazes satisfied. "What does God do when His fire goes out?" was a +question on one such evening, as the mountains darkened in the passing +of the after-glow; and then: "Why does He not light it every night?" + +"Amma! I have looked into Heaven!" she said suddenly to me after a long +silence. "I have seen quite in, and I know what it is like." "What is it +like? Can you tell me?" and the child's voice answered dreamily: "It was +shining, very shining." Then with animation, in broken but vivid Tamil: +"Oh, it was beautiful! all a garden like our garden, only bigger, and +there were flowers and flowers and flowers!"--here words failed to +describe the number, and a comprehensive sweep of the hand served +instead. "And our dolls can walk there. They never can down here, poor +things! And Jesus plays with our babies there" (the dear little sisters +who have gone to the nursery out of sight, but are unforgotten by the +children). "He plays with Indraneela--lovely games." + +"What games, Bala?" I asked, wondering greatly what she would say. There +was a long, thoughtful pause, and Bala looked at me with grave, +contented eyes:-- + +"New games," she said simply. + +Bala's opposite is Chellalu. We never made any mistake about her. We +never thought her good. Not that she is impossibly bad. She was created +for play and for laughter, and very happy babies are not often very +wicked; but she is so irrepressible, so hopelessly given up to fun, that +her kindergarten teacher, Rukma, smiles a rueful smile at the mention of +her name. For to Chellalu the most unreasonable thing you can ask is +implicit obedience, which unfortunately is preferred by us to any amount +of fun. She will learn to obey, we are not afraid about that; but more +than any of our children, her attitude towards this demand has been one +of protest and surprise. She thinks it unfair of grown-up people to take +advantage of their size in the arbitrary way they do. And when, +disgusted with life's dispensations, she condescends to expostulate, her +"Ba-a-a-a" is a thing to affright. But this is the wrong side of +Chellalu, and not for ever in evidence. The right side is not so +depressing. + +It is a brilliant morning in late November. The world, all washed and +cooled by the rains, has not had time to get hot and tired, and the air +has that crystal quality which is the charm of this season in South +India. Every wrinkle on the brown trunks of the trees in the compound, +every twig and leaf, stands out with a special distinctness of its own, +and the mountains in the distance glisten as if made of precious +stones. + +Suddenly, all unconscious of affinity or contrast, a little person in +scarlet comes dancing into the picture, which opens to receive her, for +she belongs to it. Her hands are full of Gloriosa lilies, fiery red, +terra-cotta, yellow, delicate old-rose and green--such a mingling of +colour, but nothing discordant--and the child, waving her spoils above +her head, sings at the top of her voice something intended to be the +chorus of a kindergarten song:-- + + Oh, the delight of the glorious light! + The joy of the shining blue! + Beautiful flowers! wonderful flowers! + Oh, I should like to be you! + +"But, Chellalu, where did you get them?" for the lilies in the garden +are supposed to be safe from attack. Chellalu looks up with frank, brown +eyes. "For you!" she says briefly in Tamil; but there is a wealth of +forgiveness in the tone as she offers her armful of flowers. Chellalu +wonders at grown-up hearts which can harbour unworthy suspicions about +blameless little children. As if she would have picked them! + +"But, Chellalu, where did you get them?" and still looking grieved and +surprised and forgiving, Chellalu explains that yesterday evening the +elder sisters went for a walk in the fields, and brought home so many +lilies, that after all just claims were met there were still some +over--an expressive gesture shows the heap--so Chellalu thought of her +Ammal (mother) and went and picked out the best for her. Then by way of +emphasis the story is attempted in English: "Very good? Yesh. Naughty? +No. Kindergarten room want flowers? No. I" (patting herself approvingly) +"very good; yesh." With Chellalu, speech is a mere adjunct to +conversation, a sort of footnote to a page of illustration. The +illustration is the thing that speaks. So now both Tamil and English are +illuminated by vivid gesture of hands, feet, the whole body indeed; +curls and even eyelashes play their part, and the final impression +produced upon her questioner is one of complete contrition for ever +having so misjudged a thing so virtuous. + +[Illustration: "AIYO!" + +(Fingers and toes curled in grieved surprise.) + +"Did you think I would have done it?"] + +But Chellalu wastes no sympathy upon herself. She is accustomed to be +believed; and perfectly happy in her mind, casts a keen glance round, +for who knows what new delights may be somewhere within reach! +"Ah!"--the deep-breathed sigh of content--is always a danger signal +where this innocent child is concerned. I turn in time to avert +disaster, and Chellalu, finding life dull with me, departs. + +Then the little scarlet figure with its crown of careless curls scampers +across the sunny space, and dives into the shadow of a tree. There it +stays. Something arresting has happened--some skurry of squirrel up the +trunk, or dart of lizard, or hurried scramble of insect, under cover out +of reach of those terrible eyes. Or better still, something is "playing +dead," and the child, fascinated, is waiting for it to resurrect. And +then the song about the lilies begins again, only it is all a jumble +this time; for Chellalu sings just as it comes, untrammelled by thoughts +about sequence or sense, and when she forgets the words she calmly makes +them up. And I cannot help thinking that Chellalu is very like her song; +here is an intelligible bit, a line or two in order, then a cheerful +tumble up, and an irresponsible conclusion. The tune too seems in +character--"Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing"; the swinging +old Jacobite air had fitted itself to a nursery song about the brave +fire-lilies, and something in its abandon to the happy mood of the +moment seems to express the child. + +It is not easy to express her. "If you had to describe Chellalu, how +would you do it?" I asked my colleague this morning, hoping for +illumination. "I would not attempt it! Who would?" she answered +helpfully. + +"Chellalu! Oh, you need ten pairs of eyes and ten pairs of hands, and +even then you could never be sure you had her"--this was her nurse's +earliest description. She was six months old then, she is three and +three-quarters now; but she is what she was, "only more so." + +Before Chellalu had a single tooth she had developed mother-ways, and +would comfort distressed babies by thrusting into their open mouths +whatever was most convenient. At first this was her own small thumb, +which she had once found good herself; but she soon discovered that +infants can bite, and after that she offered rattle-handles. Later, she +used to stagger from one hammock to another and swing them. And often, +before she understood the perfect art of balance, she would find +herself, to her surprise, on the floor, as the hammock in its rebound +knocked her over. She felt this ungrateful of the baby inside; but she +seemed to reflect that it was young and knew no better, for she never +retaliated, but picked herself up and began again. These hammocks, which +are our South Indian cradles, are long strips of white cotton hung from +the roof, and they make delightful swings. Chellalu learned this early, +and her nurse's life was a burden to her because of the discovery. + +"She could walk before she could stand"--this is another nursery +description, and truer than it sounds. Certainly no one ever saw +Chellalu learning to walk. She was a baby one day, rapid in unexpected +motion, but only on all fours; the next day--or so it seems, looking +back--she was everywhere on her two feet. "Now there will be no place +where she won't be!" groaned the family, the first time she was seen +walking about with an air of having done it all her life. And appalling +visions rose of Chellalu standing on the wall of the well looking down, +or sitting in the bucket left by some careless water-drawer just on the +edge of the wall, or trying to descend by the rope. + +Before this date such diversions as the classic Pattycake had been much +in favour. Chellalu's Attai (the word here and hereafter signifies Mrs. +Walker, "Mother's elder sister") had taught it to her; and whenever and +wherever Chellalu saw her Attai, she immediately began to perform "Prick +it and nick it" with great enthusiasm. But after she could walk, +Chellalu would have nothing more to do with such childish things. "Show +us Edward Rajah!" the older children would say; and instead of standing +up with a regal dignity and crowning her curls with the appropriate +gesture, Chellalu would merely look surprised. They had forgotten. She +was not a baby now. Such trifles are for babies. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +The Scamp + + +"PAT-A-CAKE is a thing of the past, but the stage from the highest point +of view is still distinctly attractive"; so decided Chellalu, and +resolved to devote herself thenceforth to this new and engrossing +pursuit. She chose the scene of her first public performance without +consulting us. It was the open floor of the church, on a Sunday morning, +in the midst of a large congregation. This was how it happened. + +Chellalu's Attai, who in those days was unaware of all the painful +surprises in store, had taken her to morning service, and allowed her to +sit beside her on the mat at the back of the church. All through the +first part of the service Chellalu was good; and as the sermon began, +she was forgotten. In our church we sit on the floor, men on one side, +women and children on the other. A broad aisle is left between, and the +Iyer (Mr. Walker), refusing to be boxed up in the usual manner, walks up +and down as he preaches. This interested Chellalu. + +That morning the sermon was to children, and the subject was "Girdles." +The East of this ancient India is the East to which the prophet spoke by +parable and picture; and, following that time-worn path, the preacher +pictured the parable of Jeremiah's linen girdle: the attention of the +people was riveted upon him, and no one noticed what was happening on +the mat at the end of the church. Only we, up at the front with all the +other children, saw, without being able to stop it, the dreadful +pantomime. For Chellalu, wholly absorbed and pleased with this +unexpected delight, first stood on the mat and acted the girdle picture; +then, growing bolder, advanced out into the open aisle, and, following +the preacher's gestures, reproduced them all exactly. It was a moment of +tension; but if ever a child had a good angel in attendance, Chellalu +has, for something always stops her before the bitter end. I forget what +stopped her then; something invisible, and so, doubtless, the angel. But +we did not breathe freely till we had her safe at home. + +[Illustration: CHELLALU, WATCHING THE PICTURE-CATCHER WITH SOME +SUSPICION. + +"Whatever is he doing with that black box?"] + +Chellalu's visible angel is the gentle Esli, a young convert-helper, of +a meek and lowly disposition. At first sight nothing seems more +unsuitable, for Chellalu needs a firm hand. But firmness without wisdom +would have been disastrous; so as we had not the perfect combination, we +chose the less dangerous virtue, and gave the nursery scamp to the +gentlest of us all. Sometimes, to tell the whole unromantic truth, we +have been afraid less Esli was spilling emotion in vain upon this +graceless soul; and we have suggested an exchange of angels--but somehow +it has never come to pass. Once we almost did it. For a noise past all +bounds called us down to the nursery, and we found the cause of it in a +huddled heap in the corner. "Chellalu! what is the matter?" Only the +softest of soft sobs, heard in the silence that followed our advent, and +one round shoulder heaved, and the curly head went down on the arm in an +attitude of woe. Now this is not Chellalu's way at all. Soft sobbing is +not in her line; and I turned to the twenty-nine children now prancing +about in unholy glee, and they shouted the explanation: "Oh, she is Esli +Accal! She was very exceedingly naughty. She would not come when Accal +called; she raced round the room so fast that Accal could not catch +her, and then she jumped out of her cumasu" (the single small garment +worn), "and ran out into the garden! And Esli Accal sat down in a corner +and cried. And Chellalu is Esli Accal!" + +But the pet opportunity in those glad days was when some freak of manner +in friend or visitor suggested a new game. We used to wish, sometimes, +that these kind people understood how much pleasure they were giving to +the artless babe who was studying them with such interest, while they, +all unconscious of their real use, imagined probably she was thinking of +nothing more serious than sweets. After an hour in the bungalow, +Chellalu would wander off, apparently because she was tired of us, but +really because she was full of a new and original idea, and wanted an +audience. Once she puzzled the nursery community who had not been +visiting the bungalow, by mincing about on pointed toes, with shoulders +shrugged like a dancing master in caricature. The babies thought this a +very nice game, and for weeks they played it industriously. + +Chellalu talked late--she has long ago made up for lost time--but she +was never at a loss for an answer to a question which could be answered +by action. "Who is in the nursery now?" we asked her one afternoon when +she had escaped before the tea-bell, that trumpet of jubilee to the +nursery, had rung. She smiled and sat down slowly, and then sighed. +Another sigh, and she proceeded to perform her toilet. When the small +hands went up to the head with an action of decorously swinging the back +hair up and coiling it into a loose knot, and when a spasmodic shake +suggested it must be done over again, there was no doubt as to who was +in charge. No one but the excellent Pakium, one of our earlier workers, +ever did things quite like this. No one else was so ponderous. No one +sighed in that middle-aged manner, no one but Pakium. We never could +blame Pakium for Chellalu's escape. As well blame a mature cat for the +escapades of her kitten. Chellalu, watching for a clue as to her fate, +would sigh again profoundly. It was never easy to return her. + +[Illustration: "OH, IT'S A JOKE!"] + +We were not sorry when this phase passed into something safer for +herself, though perhaps not so charming to the public. Chellalu at two +and three-quarters had surgical ambitions. Medical work she considered +slow. She liked operations. Her first, so far as we know, was performed +upon the unwilling eye of a smaller and weaker sister. "Lie down!" she +had commanded, and the patient had lain down. "Open your eyes!" At this +point the victim realised what she was in for, and her howls brought +deliverance; but not before Chellalu had the agitated baby's head in a +firm grip between her knees, and holding the screwed-up eye wide open +with one hand, was proceeding to drop in "medicine" with the other. +Mercifully the medicine was water. + +Thwarted in this direction, Chellalu applied herself to bandaging. She +would persuade someone to lend her a finger or a toe; the owner was +assured it was sore--very sore. She would then proceed to bandage it to +the best of her ability. But all this was mere play. What Chellalu's +soul yearned for was a real knife, or even only a needle, provided it +would prick and cause red blood to flow. Oh to be allowed to operate +properly, as grown-up people do! Chellalu had seen them do it--had seen +thorns extracted from little bare feet, and small sores dressed; and it +had deeply interested her. The difficulty was, no one would offer a +limb. She walked up and down the nursery one morning with a bit of an +old milk tin, very jagged and sharp and inviting, and secreted in her +curls was a long, bright darning needle; but though she took so much +trouble to prepare, no one would give her a chance to perform, and +Chellalu was disgusted. Someone who did not know her suggested she +should perform on herself. This disgusted her still more. Do doctors +perform on themselves! + +Chellalu's latest phase introduces the kindergarten. For an educational +comrade, perceiving our defects in this direction, furnished a +kindergarten for us, and gave us a kind push-off into these pleasant +waters; so the little boat sails gaily, and the children at least are +content. + +Chellalu has never been so keen about this institution as the other +babies are. "Do you like the kindergarten?" some one asked her the other +day; and she answered with her usual decision: "Yesh. No." We thought +she was talking at random, and tested her by questions about things +which we knew she liked or disliked. But she was never caught. "Well, +then, don't you like the kindergarten?" "Yesh. No." It was evident she +knew what she meant, and said it exactly. Bits of it she likes, other +bits she thinks might be improved. The trouble is that she has an +objection to sitting in the same place for more than a minute at +longest. Other babies, steady, mature things of five, are already +evolving quite orderly sentences in English--the language in which the +kindergarten is partly taught--and we feel they are getting on. Chellalu +never stops long enough to evolve anything, and yet she seems to be +doing a little. From the first week she has talked all she knew in +unabashed fashion. "Good morning very much" was an early production; and +it was followed by many oddments forgotten now, but comical in effect at +the time, which perhaps may explain the otherwise inexplicable fact that +she sometimes learns something. + +One only of those early dashes into the unexplored land is remembered, +because it enriched us with a new synonym. It was at afternoon tea that +a sympathetic Sittie (the word means "Mother's younger sister"), knowing +that Chellalu had received something thoroughly well earned, asked her +in English: "What did Ammal give you this morning?" Chellalu caught at +the one familiar word in this sentence (for the babies learn the names +of the flowers in the garden before they are troubled with lesser +matters), and she answered brightly: "Morning-glory!" So Morning-glory +has become to us an _alias_ for smacks. + +This same Morning-glory is the subject of one of the kindergarten songs. +For after searching through two or three hundred pages of nursery +rhymes, and interviewing many proper kindergarten songs, we found few +that belonged to the Indian babies' world; and so we had to make them +for ourselves. These songs are about the flowers and the birds and other +simple things, and are twittered by the tiniest with at least some +intelligence, which at present is as much as we can wish. All the babies +sing to the flowers, but it is Chellalu who gives them surprises. One +day we saw her standing under a bamboo arch, covered with her favourite +Morning-glory. She had two smaller babies with her, one on either side. +"Amma! _Look!_" she called; but italics are inadequate to express the +emphasis. "LOOK, Morning--glory--kissing--'chother," and she pointed +with eagerness to the nestling little clusters of lilac, growing, as +their pretty manner is, close to each other. Then, seizing each of the +babies in a fervent and somewhat embarrassing embrace, she hugged and +kissed them both; and finally wheeling round on the flowers, addressed +them impressively: "For--all--loving--little--Indian--children--want-- +to--be--like--you." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +The Photographs + + +[Illustration: "THAT THING AGAIN!" (_Page 28._)] + +I DO not know how they will strike the critical public, but the photos +are so much better than we dared to expect, that we are grateful and +almost satisfied. Of course, they are insipid as compared with the +lively originals; but the difficulty was to get them of any truthful +sort whatsoever, for the babies regarded the photographer--the kindest +and mildest of men--with the gravest suspicion: and the moment he +appeared, little faces, all animation before, would stiffen into +shyness, and the light would slip out of them, and the naturalness, so +that all the camera saw, and therefore all it could show, was a +succession of blanks. + +Then, too, when our artist friend was with us we were in the grasp of an +epidemic of cholera. Morning and evening, and sometimes into the night, +we were tending the sick and dying in the village; and in the interval +between we had little heart for photographs. But the visit of a real +photographer is a rare event in Dohnavur, and we forced ourselves to try +to take advantage of it. Remembering our difficulties, we wonder we got +anything at all; and we hope that stranger eyes will be kind. + +[Illustration: PYARIE AND VINEETHA. + +"Do smile, you little Turk!"] + +Often when we looked at the pretty little reversed picture in the camera, +with its delicate colouring and the grace of movement, we have wished +that we could send it as we saw it, all living and true. The photos were +taken in the open air; underfoot was soft terra-cotta-coloured sand; +overhead, the cloudless blue. In such a setting the baby pictures look +their brightest, something very different from these dull copies in +sepia. An Oriental scene in print always looks sorry for itself, and +quite apologetic. It knows it is almost a farce, and very flat and poor. + +Then there were difficulties connected with character. Our photographer +was more accustomed to the dignified ways of mountains than to the +extremely restless habit of children; and he never could understand why +they would not sit for him as the mountains sat, and let him focus them +comfortably. The babies looked at things from an opposite point of view, +and strongly objected to delays and leisureliness of every description. +Sometimes when the focussing process promised to be much prolonged, we +put a child we did not wish to photograph in the place of one upon whom +we had designs, and then at the last moment exchanged her. But the baby +thus beguiled seemed to divine our purpose; and, resenting such +ensnarements, would promptly wriggle out of focus. It was like trying to +observe some active animalculae under a high power. The microscope is +perfect, the creatures are entrapped in a drop of water on the slide; +but the game is not won by any means. Sometimes, after spoiling more +plates than was convenient, our artist almost gave up in despair; but he +never quite gave up, and we owe what we have to his infinite patience. + +Pyarie was the most troublesome of these small sitters, though she was +old enough to know better. My mother was with us when she came to us, a +tiny babe and very delicate. She had loved her and helped to nurse +her, and so we wanted a happy photograph for her sake; but nothing was +further from Pyarie's intentions, and instead of smiling, she scowled. +Our first attempt was in the compound, where a bullock-bandy stood. +Pyarie and Vineetha, a little girl of about the same age, were very +pleased to climb over the pole and untwist the rope and play see-saw; +but when the objectionable camera appeared, they stared at it with +aversion, and no amount of coaxing would persuade Pyarie to smile. +"Can't you do something to improve her expression?" inquired the +photographer, emerging from his black hood; then someone said in +desperation: "_Do_ smile, you little Turk!" Vineetha, about whose +expression we were not concerned, obediently smiled; but Pyarie looked +thunderclouds, and turned her head away. She was caught before she +turned, poor dear, so that photograph was a failure. + +Once again our kind friend tried. This time he gave her a doll. Pyarie +is most motherly. She is usually tender and loving with dolls, and we +hoped for a sweet expression. But in this we were disappointed. She +accepted the doll--a beautiful thing, with a good constitution and +imperturbable temper; and she looked it straight in the face--a rag face +painted--smiling as we wanted her to smile. Then she smote it, and she +scolded it, and called for a stick and whacked it, and called for a +bigger stick and repeated the performance. Finally she stopped, laid the +doll upon the step, sat down on it, and smiled. But she was hopelessly +out of focus by this time, and it was weary work getting her in. She +smiled during the process in a perfectly exasperating manner, but the +moment all was ready she suddenly wriggled out; and when invited to go +in again, she shook her head decidedly, and pointing to the camera with +its glaring glass eye, covered at that moment with its cloth, she +remarked, "Naughty! Naughty!" and we had to give her up. + +[Illustration: "DISGUSTING!" SHE REMARKED IN EXPLICIT YOUNG TAMIL, AND +LOOKED DISGUSTED.] + +"Perhaps she would be happier in someone's arms," next suggested the +long-suffering artist; and so one morning, just after her bath, she was +caught up, sweet and smiling, and played with till the peals of merry +laughter assured us of an easy victory. But the camera was no sooner +seen stalking round to the nursery, than suspicions filled Pyarie's +breast. That thing again! And the photograph taken under such +circumstances is left to speak for itself. Why did it follow her +everywhere? Life, haunted by a camera, was not worth living--in which +sentiment some of us heartily concur. + +Once an attempt was made when Pyarie and two other little girls were +busily playing on the doorstep. Pyarie soon perceived and expressed her +opinion about the fraud--for the camera's stealthy approach could not be +kept from the children. "Disgusting!" she remarked in explicit young +Tamil, and looked disgusted. The photograph which resulted was perfect +in detail of little rounded limb and curly head, but it was lamentable +as regards expression; so once more our persevering friend tried to +catch her unawares. He showed us the result at breakfast in the shape of +a negative which we recognised as Pyarie. He seemed very pleased. "Look +at the pose!" he said. There was pose certainly, but where was the +smile? Pyarie's one idea had evidently been to ward off something or +someone; and our artist explained it by saying that in despair of +getting her quiet for one second, he had directed his servant to climb +an almost overhanging tree, and the child apparently thought he was +going to tumble on the top of her, and objected. "I got another of her +smiling beautifully, but the plate is cracked," we were told, after the +table had admired the pose. That is a way plates have. The one you most +want cracks. + +Poor little Pyarie; we sometimes fear lest her "pose" should be too +true of her. She takes life hardly, and often protests. "_I_ want a +birthday!"--this was only yesterday, when everyone was rejoicing over a +birthday jubilation. Pyarie alone was sorrowful. She stood by her poor +little lonely self, with her head thrown back and her mouth wide open, +and her tears ran into her open mouth as she wailed: "Aiyo! Aiyo! (Alas! +Alas!) _I_ want a birthday!" + +[Illustration: "'LOOK AT THE POSE!' + +He said. There was pose, certainly, but where was the smile?" (_Page +28._)] + +But she is such a loving child, so loyal to her own and so unselfish to +all younger things, that we hope for her more than we fear. And yet +underneath there is a fear; and we ask those who can understand to +remember this little one sometimes, for the world is not always kind to +its poor little foolish Pyaries. + +I am writing in the afternoon, and two little people are playing on the +floor. One has a picture-book, and the other is looking eagerly as she +turns the pages and questions: "What is it? What is it?" I notice it is +always Pyarie who asks the question, and Vineetha who answers it: "It is +a cow. It is a cat." "Why don't you let Vineetha ask you what it is?" I +suggest; but Pyarie continues as before: "What is it? What is it?" +varied by "What colour is it? What shape is it? Who made it?" and the +mischief in her eyes (would that our artist could have caught it!) +explains the game. It is decidedly better to be teacher than scholar, +because suitable questions can cover all ignorance. Pyarie has not been +to the kindergarten of late, and has reason to fear Vineetha is somewhat +ahead of her; so she ignores my proposals, and continues her safe +questions. We sometimes think we shall one night be heard talking in our +sleep, and the burden of our conversation will be always--"What is it? +What colour is it? What shape is it? Who made it?" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Tara and Evu + + +[Illustration: TARA.] + +OUR nurseries are full of contrasts, but perhaps the two who are most +unlike are the little Tara and Evu, aged, at the hour of writing, three +years and two and a half. I am hammering at my typewriter, when clear +through its metallic monotony comes in distinct double treble, "Amma! +Tala!" "Amma! Evu!" They always announce each other in this order, and +with much emphasis. If it is impossible to stop, I give them a few toys, +and they sit down on the mat exactly opposite my table and play +contentedly. This lasts for a short five minutes; then a whimper from +Tara makes me look up, and I see Evu, with a face of more mischief than +malice, holding all the toys--Tara's share and her own--in a tight +armful, while Tara points at her with a grieved expression which does +not touch Evu in the least. A word, however, sets things right. Evu +beams upon Tara, and pours the whole armful into her lap. Tara smiles +forgivingly, and returns Evu's share. Evu repentantly thrusts them back. +Tara's heart overflows, and she hugs Evu. Evu wriggles out of this +embrace, and they play for another five minutes or so without further +misadventure. + +Only once I remember Evu sinned beyond forgiveness. The occasion was +Pyarie's rag-doll of smiling countenance, which had been badly +neglected by the family. But Tara felt for it and loved it. She was +small at the time, and the doll was large, and Tara must have got tired +of carrying it; but she would not tell it so, and for one whole morning +she staggered about with the cumbersome beauty tilted over her shoulder, +which gave her the appearance of an unbalanced but very affectionate +parent. + +This was too much for Evu, to whom the comic appeals much more than the +sentimental. She watched her opportunity, and pounced upon the doll. +Tara gave chase; but Evu's fat legs can carry her faster than one would +suppose, and Tara's wails rose to a shriek when across half the garden's +width she saw that ruthless sinner swing her treasure round by one arm +and then deliberately jump on it. It was hours before Tara recovered. + +Such a breach of the peace is happily rare; for the two are a pretty +illustration of the mutual attraction of opposites. At this moment they +are playing ball. This is the manner of the game: Tara sits in a high +chair and throws the ball as far as she can. Evu dashes after it like an +excited kitten, and kitten-wise badly wants to tumble over and worry it; +for it is made of bits of wool, which, as every sensible baby knows, +were only put in to be pulled out. She resists the temptation, however, +and presents the ball to Tara with a somewhat inconsequent "Tankou!" +"Tankou!" returns Tara politely, and tosses the ball again. This time +Evu sits down with her back to Tara, and proceeds to investigate the +ball. It is perfectly fascinating. The ends are all loose and quite +easily pulled out. Evu forgets all about Tara in her keen desire to see +to the far end of this delight. "Evu!" comes from the chair in accents +of dignified surprise. "Tala!" exclaims Evu abashed, and hurries up with +the ball. "Tankou!" she says as before, and Tara responds "Tankou!" This +is an integral part of the game. If either forgets it, the other +corrects her by remarking inquiringly, "Tankou?" whereupon the echo +replies in a tone of apology, "Tankou!" + +Both these babies are devout, as most things Indian are. But Evu cannot +sit still long enough to be promoted to go to church; and perhaps this +is the reason why in religious matters Tara takes the lead, for she does +go to church. In secularities it is always Evu who initiates, and Tara +admiringly follows. The ball game was exceptional only because Evu +prefers the _role_ of kitten to that of queen. + +This little characteristic is shown in common ways. The two are sitting +on your knee entirely comfortable and content. The prayer-bell rings. +Down struggles Tara. "To prayers I must go!" she says with decision in +Tamil. "Evu too," urges Evu, also in Tamil. "Tum!" says Tara in superior +English, and waits. Evu "tums," and they hastily depart. + +Or it is the time for evening hymns and good-night kisses. We have sung +through the chief favourites, ending always with, "Jesus, tender +Shepherd." "Now sing, 'Oh, luvvly lily g'oing in our garden!'" This from +Tara. Echo from Evu: "Yes; 'Oh, luvvly lily g'oing in our garden!'" You +point out to the garden: "It is dark, there are no lovely lilies to be +seen; besides, that is not exactly a hymn; shall we have 'Jesus, tender +Shepherd,' again, and say good-night?" But this is not at all +satisfactory. Tara looks a little hurt. "Tender Shepperd, _no_! Oh, +luvvly lily!" Evu wonders if we are making excuses. Perhaps we have +forgotten the tune, and she starts it:-- + + Oh, lovely lily, + Growing in our garden, + Who made a dress so fair + For you to wear? + Who made you straight and tall + To give pleasure to us all? + Oh, lovely lily, + Who did it all? + + Oh, little children, + Playing in our garden, + God made this dress so fair + For us to wear. + God made us straight and tall + To give pleasure to you all. + Oh, little children, + God did it all. + +Then Tara smiles all round, and you are given to understand you have +earned your good-night kisses. Evidently to Tara at least there is a +sense of incompleteness somewhere if the lovely lilies are excluded from +the family devotions. + +To Tara and to Evu, as to most babies, the garden is a pleasant place. +But when they grow up and make gardens, they will not fill them with +forbidden joys as we do. One of the temptations of life is furnished by +inconsiderate ferns, which hold their curly infant fronds just within +reach. Then there are crotons, with bright leaves aggressively yellow +and delightful, and there are "tunflowers"; and the babies think us +greedy in our attitude towards all these things. The croton was +especially alluring; and one day Tara was found tiptoe on a low wall, +reaching up with both hands, eagerly pulling bits of leaf off. She was +brought to me to be judged; and I said: "Poor leaves! Shall we try to +put them on again?" And hand in hand we went to the garden, and Tara +tried. But the pulled-off bits would not fit on again; and Tara's face +was full of serious thought, though she said nothing. Next day she was +found on the same low wall, reaching up tiptoe in the same sinful way to +the shining yellow leaves overhead. Quite suddenly she stopped, put her +hands behind her back, and never again was she known to pick croton +leaves to pieces. + +The same plan prevailed with the ferns. The poor little crumples of +silver and green moved her to pity, and she left them to uncurl in peace +when once she had tried and sadly failed to help them. But the +sunflowers' feelings did not affect her in quite the same way. The kind +we have in abundance is that little dwarf variety with a thin stalk, and +a cheerful face which smiles up at you even after you behead it, and +does not seem to mind. Tara was convinced such treatment did not hurt +them. They would stop smiling if it did. But one day she suddenly +seemed to feel a pang of compunction, for she looked at the little +useless heads and sighed. I had suggested their being fitted on again, +as with the croton leaves and ferns. But this idea had failed; and what +worked the change I know not, for Tara never told. But "tunflowers" now +are left in peace so far as she is concerned; and she is learning to +pick the free grasses and wild-flowers, which happily grow for +everybody, and to make sure their stalks are long enough to go into +water, which is the last thing untutored babies seem to think important. + +There is much to be done for all our children, but perhaps for Tara +especially, if she is to grow up strong in soul to fight the battles of +life. We felt this more than ever on the day of our last return from the +hills, after nearly seven weeks' absence. On the evening when we left +them, we had gone round the nurseries after the little ones had fallen +asleep, and said goodbye to each of them without their knowing it; but +when we came to Tara's mat, and kissed the little sleeping face, she +stirred and said, "Amma!" in her sleep; and we stole away fearing she +should wake and understand. Now in the early morning we were home again, +and all the children who were up were on the verandah to welcome us, +each in her own way. It was Tara's way which troubled us. + +At first most of the babies were shy, for six weeks are like six years +to the very young; but soon there was a general rush and a thoroughly +cheerful chatter. Tara did not join in it. She stood outside the little +dancing dazzle of delight--the confusion of little animated coloured +dots is rather like the shake of a kaleidoscope--and she just looked and +looked. Then, as we drew her close, the little hands felt and stroked +one's face as if the evidence of eye and ear were not enough to make her +sure beyond a doubt that her own had come back to her; and then, as the +assurance broke, she clung with a little cry of joy, and suddenly burst +into tears. + +If only we could hold her safe and sheltered in our arms for ever! How +the longing swept through one at that moment: for the winds of the world +are cold. But it cannot be, it should not be, for such love would be +weak indeed. Rather do we long to brace the gentle nature so that its +very sensitiveness may change to a tender power, and the fountain of +sweet waters refresh many a desert place. But who is sufficient for even +this? Handle the little soul carelessly, harden rather than brace, +misinterpret the broken expression, misunderstand the signs--and the +sweet waters turn to bitterness. God save us from such mistake! + +We covet prayer for our children. We want to know that around them all +is thrown that mysterious veil of protection which is woven out of +prayer. We need prayer, too, for ourselves, that our love may be brave +and wise. + +Evu's disposition is different. It would not be easy to imagine Evu +overcome by her feelings as Tara was at that hour of our return. One +cannot imagine a kitten shedding tears of joy; and Evu is a kitten, a +dear little Persian kitten, with nothing worse than mischief at present +to account for. Of that there is no lack. "Oh, it is Evu!" we say, and +everyone knows what to expect when "it is Evu." Evu's chief sentiment +that morning, so far as she expressed it, was rather one of wonder at +our ignorant audacity. "You vanished in the night when we were all +asleep, and now you suddenly drop from the skies before we are properly +awake, and expect us all to begin again exactly where we left off. How +little you know of babies!" Doubtless this sentence was somewhat beyond +her in language; but Evu is not dependent on language, and she conveyed +the sense of it to us. She backed out of reach of kisses, and stood with +a small finger upraised; much as a kitten might raise its paw in mock +protest to its mother. She soon made friends, however, and proved +herself an affectionate kitten, though wholly unemotional. + +When Tara is naughty, as she is at times, like most people of only +three, a reproachful look brings her spirits down to the lowest depths +of distress. Evu is more inclined to hold up that funny little warning +first finger, and shake it straight in your face. This, at two and a +half, is terrible presumption; but the brown eyes are so innocent, you +cannot be too shocked. Sometimes, however, the case is worse, and Evu +tries to sulk. She sits down solemnly on the ground, and throws her four +fat limbs about in a dreadful recklessness, supposed to strike the +grown-up offender dumb with awe and penitence. Sometimes she even tries +to put out her lower lip, but it was not made a suitable shape, for it +smiles in spite of itself; and then there is a sudden spring; and two +little arms are round your neck, and you are being told, if you know how +to listen, what a very tiresome thing it is to feel obliged to sin. +Then, with the comforting sense of irresponsible kittenhood fully +restored, Evu discovers some new diversion, and you find yourself weakly +wishing kittens need not grow into cats. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Principalities, Powers, Rulers + + +IT may seem a quick transition from nursery to battle-field; but rightly +to understand this story, it must be remembered that our nursery is set +in the midst of the battle-field. It is a little sheltered place, where +no sound of war disturbs the babies at their play, and the flowers bloom +like the babies in happy unconsciousness of battles, and make a garden +for us and fill it full of peace; but underlying the babies' caresses +and the sweetness of the flowers there is always a sense of conflict +just over, or soon coming on. We "let the elastic go" in the nursery. We +are happy, light-hearted children with our children; sometimes we even +wonder at ourselves; and then remember that the happiness of the moment +is a pure, bright gift, not meant to be examined, but just enjoyed, and +we enjoy it as if there were no battles in the world or any sadness any +more. + +And yet this book comes hot from the fight. It is not a retrospect +written in the calm after-years, when the outline of things has grown +indistinct and the sharpness of life is blurred. There is nothing +mellowed about a battle-field. Even as I write these words, the post +comes in and brings two letters. One tells of a child of twelve in whom +the first faint desires have awakened to lead a different life. "She is +a Temple girl. Pray that she may have grace to hold on; and that if she +does, we may be guided through the difficult legal complications. Poor +little girl! It makes one sick to think of her spoiled young life!" The +other is a Tamil letter, about another child who is in earnest, so far +as the writer can ascertain, to escape from the life planned out for +her. She learned about Jesus at school, and responded in her simple way; +but was suddenly taken from school, and shut up in the back part of the +house and not allowed to learn any more. "Like a little dove fluttering +in a cage, so she seemed to me. But she is a timid dove, and the house +is full of wickedness. How will she hold out against it? By God's grace +I was allowed to see her for one moment alone. I gave her a little +Gospel. She kissed it with her eyes" (touched her eyes with it), "and +hid it in her dress." + +Only a little while ago we traced a bright young Brahman girl to a +certain Temple house, and by means of one of our workers we made friends +with her. The child, a little widow, was ill, and was sent to the +municipal hospital for medicine. It was there our worker met her, and +the child whispered her story in a few hurried words. She had been +kidnapped (she had not time to tell how), and shut up in the Temple +house, and told she must obey the rules of the house and it was useless +to protest. "If we could help you," she was asked, "would you like to +come to us?" The child hesitated--the very name "Christian" was +abhorrent to her--but after a moment's doubt she nodded, and then +slipped away. Our worker never saw her again. The conversation must have +been noticed by the child's escort, and reported. She was sent off to +another town, and all attempts to trace her failed. + +And the god to whom these young child-lives are dedicated? In South +India all the greater symbols of deity are secluded in the innermost +shrine, the heart of the Temple. In our part of the country the +approach to the shrine is always frequented by Brahman priests, who +would never allow the foreigner near, even if he wished to go near. +"Far, far! remove thyself far!" would be the immediate command, did any +polluting presence presume to draw near the shrine. There are idols by +the roadside, and these are open to all; but they are lesser creations. +The Great, as the people call that which the Temple contains, is +something apart. It is to these--The Great--that little children are +dedicated; the whole Temple system is worked in their name. + +"Have you ever seen the god to whom your little ones would have been +given?" is a question we are often asked; and until a few days ago we +always answered, "Never." But now we have seen it, seen it unexpectedly +and unintentionally, as we waited for an opportunity to talk to the +crowds of people who had assembled to see it being ceremonially bathed. +We cannot account for our being allowed to see it, except by the fact +that the Brahmans had withdrawn for the moment, and we being, as our +custom is, in Indian dress, were not noticed in the crowd. + +Near the place where the idol was being bathed, with much pomp by the +priests, was a little rest-house, where we had waited till some child +told us all was over. Then we came out and mingled with the throng, not +fearing they would misunderstand our motive. While we talked with them, +the Brahmans, who had been bathing in the river after the water had been +sanctified by the god, began to stream up the steps and pass through the +crowd, which opened respectfully and made a wide avenue within itself: +for well the smallest child in that crowd understood that no touch might +defile those Brahmans as they walked, wringing out their dripping +garments and their long black hair. + +How we searched the faces as they passed!--sensual, cynical, cold faces, +faces of utter carelessness, faces full of pride and aloofness. But +there were some so different--earnest faces, keen faces, faces sensitive +and spiritual. Oh, the pathos of it all! How our hearts went out to +these, whose eager wistfulness marked them out as truly religious and +sincere! How we longed that they should hear the word, "Come unto Me, +and I will give you rest"! They passed, men young and old, women and +children, and very many widows; and then suddenly two palanquins which +had been standing near were carried down to the awning where the idol +had been bathed; and before we realised what was happening, they passed +us. In the first was the disk, the symbol of the god; in the second, the +god itself. + +"We wrestle not against flesh and blood; but against principalities, +against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, +against spiritual wickedness in high places"--this was the word that +flashed through us then. That small, insignificant, painted, and +bejewelled image, in its gaudy little palanquin, was not only that. It +was the visible representative of Powers. + +We thought of a merry child in our nursery who was dedicated at birth to +this particular Power. By some glad chance that little girl was the +first to run up to us in welcome upon our return home in the evening. We +thought of her with thankfulness which cannot be expressed; but the +sorrow of other children bound to this same god swept over us as we +stood gazing after the palanquins, till they became a coloured blur in +the shimmering sunshine. There was one such, a bright little child of +eight, who was in attendance upon an old blind woman belonging to that +Temple. "Yes," she had answered to our distressed questions, "she is my +adopted daughter. Should I not have a daughter to wait upon me and +succeed me? How can I serve the god, being blind?" We thought of +another, only six, who was to be given to the service "when she was a +suitable age." Her parents were half-proud and half-ashamed of their +intention; and when they knew we were aware of it, they denied it, and +we found it impossible to do anything. + +We turned to the people about us. They were laughing and chatting, and +the women were showing each other the pretty glass bangles and necklets +they had bought at the fair. Glorious sunshine filled the world, the +whole bright scene sparkled with life and colour, and all about us was a +"lucid paradise of air." But "only as souls we saw the folk thereunder," +and our spirit was stirred within us. There is something very solemn in +such a scene--something that must be experienced to be understood. The +pitiful triviality, the sense of tremendous forces at work among these +trivialities; the people, these crowds of people, absorbed in the +interests of the moment--and Eternity so near; all this and much more +presses hard upon the spirit till one understands the old Hebrew word: +"The burden which the prophet did see." + +Does this sound intolerant and narrow, as if no good existed outside our +own little pale? Surely it is not so. We are not ignorant of the lofty +and the noble contained in the ancient Hindu books; we are not of those +who cannot recognise any truth or any beauty unless it is labelled with +our label. We know God has not left Himself without witnesses anywhere. +But we know--for the Spirit of Truth Himself has inspired the +description--how desolate is the condition of those who are without +Christ. We dare not water down the force of such a description till the +words mean practically nothing. We form no hard, presumptuous creed as +to how the God of all the earth will deal with these masses of mankind +who have missed the knowledge of Him here; we know He will do right. +But we know, with a knowledge which is burnt into us, how very many of +the units live who compose these masses. We know what they are missing +to-day, through not knowing our blessed Saviour as a personal, living +Friend; and we know what it means to the thoughtful mind to face an +unknown to-morrow. + +A Hindu in a town in the northern part of our district lay dying. He +knew that death was near, and he was in great distress. His friends +tried to comfort him by reminding him of the gods, and by quoting +stanzas from the sacred books; but all in vain. Nothing brought him any +comfort, and he cried aloud in his anguish of soul. + +Then to one of the watchers came the remembrance of how, as a little +lad, he had seen a Christian die. In his desperation at the failure of +all attempts to comfort the dying man, he thought of this one little, +far-back memory; and though he could hardly dare to hope there would be +much help in it, he told it to his friend. The Christian was Ragland, +the missionary. He was living in a little house outside the town, when a +sudden haemorrhage surprised him, and he had no time to prepare for +death. He just threw himself upon his bed, and looking up, exclaimed, +"Jesus!" and passed in perfect peace. Outside the window was a little +Hindu boy, unobserved by any in the house. He had climbed up to the +window, and, leaning in, watched all that happened, heard the one word +"Jesus," saw the quick and peaceful passing; and then slipped away +unnoticed. + +The dying Hindu listened as his friend described it to him. And this +little faint ray was the only ray of comfort that lightened the dark way +for him. + +Compare that experience with this:-- + +The missionary to whom this tale was told by the Hindu who had tried to +console his dying friend, was himself smitten with dangerous illness, +and lay in the dim borderland, unable to think or frame a prayer. Then +like the melody of long familiar music, without effort, without strain, +came the calming words of the old prayer: "Lighten our darkness, we +beseech Thee, O Lord; and by Thy great mercy defend us from all perils +and dangers of this night; for the love of Thine only Son, our Saviour, +Jesus Christ." + +Could any two scenes present a more moving contrast? Could any contrast +contain a more persuasive call? + +As we went in and out among the crowd, there were many who turned away +uninterested; but some listened, and some sat down by the wayside to +read aloud, in the sing-song chant of the East, the little booklets or +Gospels we gave them. We, who are constantly among these people, feel +our need of a fresh touch, as we speak with them and see them day by +day. We need renewed compassions, renewed earnestness. It is easy to +grow accustomed to things, easy to get cool. We pray not only for those +at home, who as yet are not awake to feel the eloquence and the +piteousness of the great "voiceless silence" of these lands, but we pray +for ourselves with ever deepening intensity:-- + + Oh for a love, for a burning love, like the fervent flame of fire! + Oh for a love, for a yearning love, that will never, never tire! + Lord, in my need I appeal unto Thee; + Oh, give me my heart's desire! + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +How the Children Come + + +THEY come in many ways through the help of many friends. We have told +before[A] how our first two babies came to us through two pastors, one +in the north, the other in the south of our district. Since then many +Indian pastors and workers, and several warm-hearted Christian +apothecaries and nurses in Government service, have become interested; +with the result that little children who must otherwise have perished +have been saved. + +One little babe, who has since become one of our very dearest, was +redeemed from Temple life by the wife of a leading pastor, who was +wonderfully brought to the very place where the little child was waiting +for the arrival of the Temple people. We have seldom known a more +definite leading. "I being in the way, the Lord led me," was surely true +of that friend that day, and of other Indian sisters who helped her. +Later, when she came to stay with us, she told us about it. "When first +I heard of this new work, I was not in sympathy with it. I even talked +against it to others. But when I saw that little babe, so innocent and +helpless, and so beautiful too, then all my heart went out to it. And +now----" Tears filled her eyes. She could not finish her sentence. Nor +was there any need; the loving Indian heart had been won. + +My mother was with us when this baby came; and she adopted her as her +own from the first, and always had the little basket in which the baby +slept put by her bedside. When the mosquitoes began to be troublesome, +the basket was slipped under her own mosquito net, lest the little pink +blossom should be disturbed. But the baby did not thrive at first; and +the pink, instead of passing into buff, began to fade into something too +near ivory for our peace of mind. It was then the friend who had saved +the little one came to stay with us; and she proposed taking her and her +nurse out to her country village, in hopes of getting a foster-mother +for her there. So my mother, the pastor's wife, the baby, and her nurse, +went out to the Good News Village, and stayed in the pastor's hospitable +home. The hope which had drawn them there was not fulfilled; but the +memory of that visit is fresh and fragrant. We read of alienation +between Indian Christians and missionaries. We are told there cannot be +much mutual affection and contact. We often wonder why it should be so, +and are glad we know by experience so little of the difficulty, that we +cannot understand it. We have found India friendly, and her Christians +are our friends. In these matters each can only speak from personal +experience. Ours has been happy. There may be unkindness and +misunderstanding in India, as in England; but nowhere could there be +warmer love, more tender affection. + +All sorts of people help us in this work of saving the children. Once it +was a convert-schoolboy who saw a widow with a baby in her arms. +Noticing the bright large eyes, and what he described as the "blossoming +countenance of the child," he got into conversation with the mother, and +learned that she had been greatly tempted by Temple women in the town, +who had admired the baby and wanted to get it. "If I give her to them, +she will never be a widow," was the allurement there. The bitterness of +widowhood had entered into her soul, and poisoned the very mother-love +within her; and yet there was something of it left, for she did not want +her babe to be a widow. The boy, with the leisureliness of the East, +dropped the matter there; and only in a casual fashion, a week or so +later, mentioned in a letter that he had seen this pretty child, and +that probably, the mother would end in yielding to the temptation to +give her to the Temple--"but it may be by the grace of God that you will +be able to save her." We sent at once to try to find the mother; but she +had wandered off, and no one knew her home. However, the boy was stirred +to prayer, and we prayed here; and a search through towns and villages +resulted at last in the mother being traced and the child being saved. + +Christian women have helped us. One such, sitting on her verandah after +her morning's work, heard two women in the adjoining verandah discuss +the case of a widow who had come from Travancore with a bright little +baby-girl, whom she had vowed she would give to one of our largest +temples. The Christian woman had heard of the Dohnavur nurseries, and at +once she longed to save this little child, but hardly knew how to do it. +She feared to tell the two women she had overheard their conversation, +so in the simplicity of her heart she prayed that the widow might be +detained and kept from offering her gift till our worker, old Devai, +could come; and she wrote to old Devai. + +Happily Devai was at home when the letter reached her; otherwise days +would have been lost, for her wanderings are many. She went at once, and +found the mother most reasonable. Her idea had been to acquire merit for +herself, and an assured future for her child, by giving it to the gods; +but when the matter was opened to her, she was willing to give it to us +instead. In her case, as in the other, our natural instinct would have +been to try to make some provision by which the mothers could keep their +babies; but it would not have been possible. The cruel law of widowhood +had begun to do its work in them. The Temple people's inducements would +have proved too much for them. The children would not have been safe. + +Once it was a man-servant who saved a lovely child. He heard an aside in +the market which put him on the track. The case was very usual. The +parents were dead, and the grandmother was in difficulties. For the +parents' sake she wanted to keep the dear little babe; but she was old, +and had no relatives to whose care she could commit it. Mercifully we +were the first to hear about this little one; for even as a baby she was +so winning that Temple people would have done much to get her, and the +old grandmother would almost certainly have been beguiled into giving +her to them. How often it has been so! "She will be brought up carefully +according to her caste. All that is beautiful will be hers, jewels and +silk raiment." The hook concealed within the shining bait is forgotten. +The old grandmother feels she is doing her best for the child, and the +little life passes out of her world. + +"It is a dear little thing, and the man (its grandfather) seemed really +fond of it. He said he would not part with it; but its parents are both +dead, and he did not know what might happen to it if he died." This from +the letter of a fellow-missionary, who saved the little one and sent her +out to us, is descriptive of many. "Not the measure of a rape-seed of +sleep does she give me. I have done my best for her since her mother +died, but her noise is most vexatious." This was a father's account of +the matter only a week or two ago. "Have you no women relations?" we +asked him. "Numerous are my womenfolk, but they are all cumbered with +children: how can they help me?" + +Given these circumstances of difficulty, and the strong under-pull of +Temple influence--is it wonderful that many an orphaned babe finds her +way to the Temple house? For in the South the child of the kind we are +seeking to save is never offered to us because there is no other place +where she is wanted. Everywhere there are those who are searching for +such children; and each little one saved represents a counter-search, +and somewhere, earnest prayer. The mystery of our work, as we have said +before, is the oftentimes apparent victory of wrong over right. We are +silent before it. God reigns; God knows. But sometimes the +interpositions are such that our hearts are cheered, and we go on in +fresh courage and hope. + +Among our earliest friends were some of the London Missionary Society +workers of South Travancore. One of these friends interested her +Biblewomen; and when, one morning, one of these Biblewomen passed a +woman with a child in her arms on the road leading to a well-known +Temple, she was ready to understand the leading, and made friends with +the mother. She found that even then she was on her way to a Temple +house. A few minutes later and she would not have passed her on the +road. + +There was something to account for this directness of leading. At that +time we had our branch nursery at Neyoor, in South Travancore, ten miles +from the place where the Biblewoman met the mother. On that same +morning, Ponnamal, who was in charge there, felt impelled to go to the +upper room to pray for a little child in danger. She remained in prayer +till the assurance of the answer was given, and then returned to her +work. That evening a bandy drove up to the nursery, and she saw the +explanation of the pressure and the answer to the prayer. A little +child was lifted out of the bandy, and laid in her arms. She stood with +her nurses about her, and together they worshipped God. + +This prayer-pressure has been often our experience when special help is +needed to effect the salvation of some little unknown child. It was our +Prayer-day, July 6, 1907. Three of us were burdened with a burden that +could not be lightened till we met and prayed for a child in peril. We +had no knowledge of any special child, though, of course, we knew of +many in danger. When we prayed for the many, the impression came the +more strongly that we were meant to concentrate upon one. Who, or where, +we did not know. + +Five days later, a letter reached us from a friend in the Wesleyan +Mission, working in a city five hundred miles distant. The letter was +written on the 8th:-- + +"On the morning of the 6th, a woman who knows our Biblewomen well, told +them of a little Brahman baby in great danger; so J. and two others went +at once and spent the greater part of the morning trying to save the +child. It was in the house of a so-called Temple woman, who had adopted +it, and she had taken every care of it. For some reason she wanted to go +away, and could not take it with her. Two or three women of her own kind +were there and wanted it. One had money in her hand for it. But J. had +already got the baby into her arms, and reasoned and persuaded until the +woman at last consented. They at once brought it here. Had the friendly +woman not told J., the baby would now be in the hands of the second +Temple woman. I visited the woman afterwards. She had two grown girls in +the room with her, the elder such a sweet girl. She told me openly it +was all according to custom, and that God had arranged their lives on +those lines, and they could not do otherwise. It is terribly sad, and +such houses abound." + +Happenings of this sort--if the word "happen" is not irreverent in such +a connection--have a curiously quieting effect upon us. We are very +happy; but there is a feeling of awe which finds expression in words +which, at first reading, may not sound appropriate; but we write for +those who will understand:-- + + Oh, fix Thy chair of grace, that all my powers + May also fix their reverence . . . + Scatter, or bind, or bend them all to Thee! + Though elements change and Heaven move, + Let not Thy higher court remove, + But keep a standing Majesty in me. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[A] "Overweights of Joy." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Others + + + +[Illustration: STURDY AND STOLID, AND LITTLE VEERA + +--whose story, however, is different.] + +WE have some children who were not in Temple danger, but who could not +have grown up good if we had not taken them. "If peril to the soul is of +importance," wrote the pastor who sent us two little girls, "then it is +important you should take them": so we took them. These little ones were +in "peril to the soul," because their nominal Christian mother had, +after her husband's death, married a Hindu, against the rules of her +religion and his. The children were under the worst influence; and both +were winning little things, who might have drifted anywhere. We have +found it impossible to refuse such little ones, even though danger of +the Temple kind may not be probable. + +Such a child, for example, is the little girl the Moslem is ready to +adopt and convert to the faith. Our first redeemed from this captivity +(literally slavery under the name of adoption) was a cheerful little +person of six, with the sturdy air the camera caught, and a manner all +her own. An American missionary in an adjoining district heard of her +and her little sister, and wrote to know if we would take them if he +could save them. We could not say No; so he tried, and succeeded in +getting the elder child; the little one had been already "adopted," and +he could not get her. "The whole affair was the most astonishing thing I +have ever seen in India," he wrote when he sent the little girl. The +child upon arrival made friends with another, and confided to her in a +burst of confidence: "Ah, she was a jewel, my own little sister--not +like me, not dark of skin, but 'fair' and tender; and the great man in +the turban saw her and desired her, and he took her away; and she cried +and cried and cried, because she was only such a very little girl." + +"The business was being discussed out in the open street"--the writer +was another missionary--"the pastor heard of it from a Christian who was +passing, and saw the cluster of Muhammadans round the mother and her +children. It was touch-and-go with the child." These two, Sturdy and +Stolid, side by side in the photograph, are in all ways quite unlike the +typical Temple child; but the danger from which they were delivered is +as real, and perhaps in its way as grave. + +One of the sweetest of our little girls, a child with a spiritual +expression which strikes all who see her, came to us through a young +catechist who heard of her and persuaded her people to let her come to +Dohnavur. She is an orphan; and being "fair" and very gentle, needed a +mother's care. Her nearest relatives had families of their own, and were +not anxious for this addition to their already numerous daughters; and +the little girl, feeling herself unwanted, was fretting sadly. Then an +offer came to the relations--not made expressly in words, but +implied--by which they would be relieved of the responsibility of the +little niece's future. All would not have been straight for the child, +however, and they hesitated. The temptation was great; and in the end it +is probable they would have yielded, had not the catechist heard of it, +and influenced them to turn from temptation. It was the evening of our +Prayer-day when the little Pearl came; and when we saw the sweet little +face, with the wistful, questioning eyes like the eyes of a little +frightened dog taken away alone among strangers, and when we heard the +story, and knew what the child's fate might have been, then we welcomed +her as another Prayer-day gift. We do not look for gratitude in this +work; who does? But sometimes it comes of itself; and the grateful love +of a child, like the grateful love of a little affectionate animal +lifted out of its terror and comforted, is something sweet and tender +and very good to know. The Pearl says little; but her soft brown eyes +look up into ours with a trustful expression of peaceful happiness; and +as she slips her little hand into ours and gives it a tight squeeze, we +know what her heart is saying, and we are content. + +Two more of these "others" are the two in the photograph who are playing +a pebble game. Their parents died leaving them in the care of an aunt, a +perfectly heartless woman whose record was not of the best. She starved +the children, though she was not poor; and then punished them severely +when, faint with hunger, they took food from a kindly woman of another +caste. Finally she gave them to a neighbour, telling her to dispose of +them as she liked. + +About this time our head worker, Ponnamal, was travelling in search of a +child of whom we had heard in a town near Palamcottah. She could not +find the child, and, tired and discouraged, turned into the large Church +Missionary Society hall, where a meeting was being held to welcome our +new Bishop. As Ponnamal was late, she sat at the back, and could not +hear what was going on; so she gave herself up to prayer for the little +child whom she had not found, and asked that her three days' journey +might not be all in vain. + +[Illustration: PEBBLES.] + +As she prayed in silence thus, another woman came in and sat down at the +back near Ponnamal. When Ponnamal looked up, she saw it was a friend she +had not met for years. She began to tell her about her search for the +child; and this led on to telling about the children in general, and the +work we were trying to do. The other had known nothing of it all before; +but as she listened, a light broke on her face, and she eagerly told +Ponnamal how that same morning she had come across a Hindu woman in +charge of two little girls. The Tamils when they meet, however casually, +have a useful habit of exchanging confidences. The woman had told +Ponnamal's friend what her errand was. Ponnamal's talk about children in +danger recalled the conversation of the morning. In a few hours more +Ponnamal was upon the track of the Hindu woman and her two little +charges. It ended in the two little girls being saved. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Old Devai + + +SHE has been called "Old Devai" ever since we knew her, twelve years +ago; and she is still active in mind and body. "As I was then, even so +is my strength now for war, both to go out and to come in," she would +tell you with a courageous toss of the old grey head. Her spirit at +least is untired. + +We knew her first as a woman of character. One Sunday, in our Tamil +church, a sermon was preached upon the love of the Father as compared +with the love of the world. That Sunday Devai went home and acted upon +the teaching in such fashion that she had to suffer from the scourge of +the tongue in her own particular world. But she went on her way, unmoved +by adverse criticism. Some years later, when we were in perplexity as to +how to set about our search for children in danger of being given to +temples, old Devai offered to help. She was peculiarly suitable, both in +age and in position, for this most delicate work; and we accepted her +offer with thanksgiving. Since then she has travelled far, and followed +many a clue discovered in strange ways and in strange company. Perhaps +no one in South India knows as much as Devai knows about the secret +system by which the Temple altars are supplied with little living +victims; but she has no idea of how to put her knowledge into shape and +express it in paragraph form. We learn most from her when she least +knows she is saying anything interesting. + +When first we began the work, our great difficulty was, as it is still, +to get upon the track of the children before the Temple women heard of +them. Once they were known to be available, Temple scouts appeared +mysteriously alert; and it is doubly difficult to get a little child +after negotiations have been opened with the subtle Temple scout. How +often old Devai has come to us sick at heart after a long, fruitless +search and effort to save some little child who, perhaps, only an hour +before her arrival was carried off in triumph by the Temple people! "I +pursued after the bandy, and I saw it in the distance; but swiftly went +their bullocks, and I could not overtake it. At last they stopped to +rest, and I came to where they were. But they smiled at me and said: +'Did you ever hear of such a thing as you ask in foolishness? Is it the +custom to give up a child, once it is ours?'" Sometimes a new story is +invented on the spot. "Did you not know it was my sister's child; and I, +her only sister, having no child of my own, have adopted this one as my +own? Would you ask me to give up my own child, the apple of my eye?" +Oftener, however, the clue fails, and all Devai knows is that the little +one is nowhere to be found. Once she traced it straight to a Temple +house, won her way in, and pleaded with tears, offering all compensation +for expenses incurred (travelling and other) if only the Temple woman +would let her take the child. But no: "If it dies, that matters little; +but disgrace is not to be contemplated." When all else fails, we +earnestly ask that the little one in danger may be taken quickly out of +that polluted atmosphere up into purer air; and it is startling to note +how solemnly the answer to that prayer has come in very many instances. + +The clue for which we are always on the watch is often like a fine silk +thread leading down into dark places where we cannot see it, can hardly +feel it; it is so thin a thread. Sometimes, when we thought we held it +securely, we have lost it in the dark. + +Sometimes it seems as if the Evil One, whose interest in these little +ones may be greater than we know, lays a false clue across our path, and +bewilders us by causing us to spend time and strength in what appears to +be a wholly useless fashion. Once old Devai was lured far out of our own +district in search of two children who did not even exist. She had taken +all precautions to verify the information given, but a false address had +baffled her; and we can only conclude that, for some reason unknown to +us, but well known to those whom we oppose, they were permitted on that +occasion to gain an advantage over us. We made it a rule, after that +will-of-the-wisp experience, that any address out of our own district +must be verified; and that the nearest missionary thereto, or +responsible Indian Christian, must be approached, before further steps +are taken. This rule has saved many a fruitless journey; but also we +cannot help knowing it has sometimes occasioned delays which have had +sad results. For distances are great in India. Devai herself lives two +days' journey from us, and her address is uncertain, as she sets off at +a moment's notice for any place where she has reason to think a child in +danger may be saved. Then, too, missionaries and responsible Indian +Christians are not everywhere. So that sometimes it is a case of +choosing the lesser of two evils, and choosing immediately. + +[Illustration: LATHA (FIREFLY) BLOWING BUBBLES.] + +Once in the night a knock came to Devai's door. A man stood outside, a +Hindu known to her. "A little girl has just been taken to the Temple of +A., where the great festival is being held. If you go at once you may +perhaps get her." The place named was out of our jurisdiction; but in +such cases Devai knows rules are only made to be broken. Off she went on +foot, got a bandy _en route_, reached the town before the festival was +over, found the house to which she had been directed--a little shut-up +house, doors and windows all closed--managed, how we never knew, to get +in, found a young woman, a Temple woman from Travancore, with a little +child asleep on the mat beside her, persuaded her to slip out of the +house with the child without wakening anyone, crept out of the town and +fled away into the night, thankful for the blessed covering darkness. +The child was being kept in that house till the Temple woman to whom she +was to be given produced the stipulated "Joy-gift," after which she +would become Temple property. Some delay in its being given had caused +that night's retention in the little shut-up house. The child, a most +lovable little girl, had been kidnapped and disguised; and the matter +was so skilfully managed, that we have never been able to discover even +the name of her own town. We only know she must have been well brought +up, for she was from the first a refined little thing with very dainty +ways. She and her little special friend are sitting on the steps looking +at Latha (Firefly), who is blowing bubbles. The other little one has a +similar but different history. Her father brought her to us himself, +fearing lest she should be kidnapped by one related to her who much +wanted to have her. "I, being a man, cannot be always with the child," +he said, "and I fear for her." + +On another occasion the clue was found through Devai's happening to +overhear the conversation of two men in a wood in the early morning. One +said to the other something about someone having taken "It" somewhere; +and Devai, whose scent is keen where little "Its" are concerned, made +friends with the men, and got the information she wanted from them. +Careful work resulted in a little child's salvation; but Devai hardly +dared believe it safe until she reached Dohnavur. When that occurred we +were all at church; for special services were being held in week-day +evenings, and old Devai had to possess her soul in patience till we came +out of church. Then there was a rush round to the nursery, and an eager +showing of the "It." I shall never forget the pang of disappointment and +apprehension. Several little ones had been sent to us who could not +possibly live; and the nurses had got overborne, and we dreaded another +strain for them. It was a tiny thing, three pounds and three-quarters of +pale brown skin and bone. Its face was a criss-cross of wrinkles, and it +looked any age. But "Man looketh upon the outward appearance" would have +been assuredly quoted to us, regardless of context, had we ventured upon +a remark to old Devai, who poured forth the story of its salvation in +vivid sentences. Next evening the old grannie of the compound told us +the baby could not live till morning. She laid it on a mat and regarded +it critically, felt its pulses (both wrists), examined minutely its eyes +and the bridge of its nose: "No, not till morning. Better have the grave +prepared, for early morning will be an inconvenient hour for digging." +Others confirmed her diagnosis, and sorrowfully the order was given and +the grave was dug. + +But the baby lived till morning; and though for two years it needed a +nurse to itself, and over and over again all but left us, this baby has +grown one of our healthiest; and now when old Devai comes to see us she +looks at it, and then to Heaven, and sighs with gratitude. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Failures? + + +BUT sometimes old Devai brings us little ones who do not come to stay. +Failures, the world would call them. Twice lately this has happened, and +each time unexpectedly; for the babies had stories which seemed to imply +a promise of future usefulness. Surely such a deliverance must have been +wrought for something special, we say to ourselves, and refuse to fear. + +One dear little fat "fair" baby was brought to us as a surprise, for we +had not heard of her. It had seemed so improbable that Devai could get +her, that she had not written to us to ask us to pray her through the +battle, as she usually does. The sound of the bullock-bells' jingle one +moonlight night woke us to welcome the baby. She had travelled fifty +miles in the shaky bullock-cart, and she was only a few days old; but +she seemed healthy, and we had no fears. "Ah, the Lord our God gave her +to me, or never could I have got her! Her mother had determined to give +her to the Temple; and when I went to persuade her, she hid the baby in +an earthen vessel lest my eyes should see her. But earthen pots cannot +hide from the eyes of the Lord. And here she is!" The details, fished +out of Devai by dint of many questions, made it clear that in very +truth the Lord, to whom all souls belong, had worked on behalf of this +little one; moving even Hindu hearts, as His brave old servant pleaded, +making it possible to break through caste and custom, those prison walls +of most cruel convention, till even the Hindus said: "Let the Christian +have the babe!" We do not know why she was taken. She never seemed to +sicken, but just left us; perhaps she was needed somewhere else, and +Dohnavur was the way there. + +The other meant even more to us, for she was our first from Benares, the +heart of this great Hinduism; and her very presence seemed such a +splendid pledge of ultimate victory. + +This little one was saved through a friend, a Wesleyan missionary, who +had interested her Indian workers in the children. The baby's mother was +a pilgrim from Benares, and her baby had been born in the South. A +Temple woman had seen it and was eager to get it, for it was a child of +promise. Our friend's worker heard of this, and interposed. The mother +consented to give her baby to us. It was not a case in which we dare +have persuaded her to keep it; for such babies are greatly coveted, and +the mother was already predisposed to give her child to the gods. + +When we heard of this little one, old Devai was with us. She had only +just arrived after a journey of two days with a little girl, but she +knew the perils of delay too well to risk them now. "Let me go! I will +have some coffee, and immediately start!" So off she went for five more +days of wearisome bullock-cart and train. But her face beamed when she +returned and laid a six-weeks-old baby in our arms--a baby fair to look +upon. We gathered round her at once, and she lay and smiled at us all. +Hardly ever have we had so sweet a babe. But the smiling little mouth +was too pale a pink, and the beautiful eyes were too bright. She had +only been with us a month when we were startled by the other-world look +on the baby's face. We had seen it before; we recognised it, and our +hearts sank within us. That evening, as she lay in her white cradle, the +waxy hands folded in an unchildlike calm, she looked as if the angel of +Death had passed her as she slept, and touched her as he passed. + +She stayed with us for another month, and was nursed day and night till +more and more she became endeared to us; and then once more we heard the +word that cannot be refused, and we let her go. We laid passion-flowers +about her as she lay asleep. The smile that had left her little face had +come back now. "She came with a smile, and she went with a smile," said +one who loved her dearly; and the flowers of mystery and glory spoke to +us, as we stood and looked. "Who for the joy that was set before Him +. . . endured." The scent of the violet passion-flower will always carry +its message to us. "Let us be worthy of the grief God sends." + +And oh that such experiences may make us more earnest, more self-less in +our service for these little ones! Someone has expressed this thought +very tenderly and simply:-- + + Because of one small low-laid head, all crowned + With golden hair, + For evermore all fair young brows to me + A halo wear. + I kiss them reverently. Alas, I know + The pain I bear! + + Because of dear but close-shut holy eyes + Of heaven's own blue, + All little eyes do fill my own with tears, + Whate'er their hue. + And, motherly, I gaze their innocent, + Clear depths into. + + Because of little pallid lips, which once + My name did call, + No childish voice in vain appeal upon + My ears doth fall. + I count it all my joy their joys to share, + And sorrows small. + + Because of little dimpled hands + Which folded lie, + All little hands henceforth to me do have + A pleading cry. + I clasp them, as they were small wandering birds, + Lured home to fly. + + Because of little death-cold feet, for earth's + Rough roads unmeet, + I'd journey leagues to save from sin and harm + Such little feet. + And count the lowliest service done for them + So sacred--sweet. + +But grief is almost too poignant a word for what is so stingless as this. +And yet God the Father, who gives the love, understands and knows how +much may lie behind two words and two dates. "Given . . . Taken . . ." +Only indeed we do bless Him when the cup holds no bitterness of fear or +of regret. There is nothing ever to fear for the little folded lambs. If +only the veil of blinding sense might drop from our eyes when the door +opens to our cherished little children, should we have the heart to toil +so hard to keep that bright door shut? Would it not seem almost selfish +to try? But the case is different when the child is not lifted lovingly +to fair lands out of sight, but snatched back, dragged back down into +the darkness from which we had hoped it had escaped. This work for the +children, which seems so strangely full of trial of its own (as it is +surely still more full of its own particular joy), has held this +bitterness for us, and yet the bitter has changed to sweet; and even now +in our "twilight of short knowledge" we can understand a little, and +where we cannot we are content to wait. + +Four years ago, after much correspondence and effort, a little girl was +saved from Temple service in connection with a famous Temple of the +South from which few have ever been saved. She had been dedicated by her +father, and her mother had consented. Devai got a paper signed by them +giving her up to us instead. But shortly after she left the town, the +father regretted the step he had taken, and followed Devai, unknown to +her. Alas, the child had not been with us an hour before she was carried +off. + +For two years we heard nothing of her. Old Devai, who was broken-hearted +about the matter, tried to find what had been done with her, but it was +kept secret. She almost gave up in despair. + +At last information reached her that the child was in the same town; and +that her father having died of cholera, the mother and another little +daughter were in a certain house well known to her. She went immediately +and found the older child had not been given to the gods. Something of +her pleadings had lingered in the father's memory, and he had refused to +give her up. But the mother was otherwise minded, and intended to give +both children to the Temple. Devai had been guided to go at the critical +time of decision. The mother was persuaded, and Devai returned with two +sheaves instead of one--and even that one she had hardly dared to +expect. Once more we were called to hold our gifts with light hands. The +younger of the welcome little two was one of ten who died during an +epidemic at Neyoor. The elder one is with us still--a bright, +intelligent child. + +The only other one whom we have been compelled to give up in this most +hurting way was saved through friends on the hills, who, before they +sent the little child to us, believed all safe as to claims upon her +afterwards. She was a pretty child of five, and we grew to love her very +much; for her ways were sweet and gentle and very affectionate. Lala, +Lola, and Leela were a dear little trio, all about the same age, and all +rather specially interesting children. + +But the father gave trouble. He was not a good man, and we knew it was +not love for his little daughter which prompted his action. He demanded +her back, and our friends had to telegraph to us to send her home. It +was not an easy thing to do; and we packed her little belongings feeling +as if we were moving blindly in a grievous dream, out of which we must +surely awaken. + +There was some delay about a bandy, but at last it was ready and +standing at the door. We lifted the little girl into it, put a doll and +a packet of sweets in her hands, and gave our last charges to those who +were taking her up to the hills, workers upon whom we could depend to do +anything that could yet be done to win her back again. Then the bandy +drove away. + +But we went back to our room and asked for a great and good thing to be +done. We thought of little Lala, with her gentle nature which had so +soon responded to loving influence, and we knew her very gentleness +would be her danger now; for how could such a little child, naturally so +yielding in disposition, withstand the call that would come, and the +pressure that had broken far stronger wills? So we asked that she might +either be returned to us soon or taken away from the evil to come. A +week passed and our workers returned without her; they evidently felt +the case quite hopeless. But the next letter we had from our friends +told us the child was safe. + +She had left us in perfect health, but pneumonia set in upon her return +to the colder air of the hills. She had been only a few days ill, and +died very suddenly--died without anyone near her to comfort her with +soothing words about the One to whom she was going. Even in the gladness +that she was safe now, there was the pitiful thought of her loneliness +through the dark valley; and we seemed to see the little wistful face, +and felt she would be so frightened and shy and bewildered; and we +longed to know something about those last hours. But one of the heathen +women who had been about her at the last told what she knew, and our +friends wrote what they heard. "She said she was Jesus' child, and did +not seem afraid. And she said that she saw three Shining Ones come into +the room where she was lying, and she was comforted." Oh, need we ever +fear? Little Lala had been with us for so short a time that we had not +been able to teach her much; and so far as any of us know, she had heard +nothing of the ministry of angels. We had hardly dared to hope she +understood enough about our Lord Himself to rest her little heart upon +Him. But we do not know everything. Little innocent child that she was, +she was carried by the angels from the evil to come. + +Old Devai keeps a brave heart. When she comes to see us, she cheers +herself by nursing the cheerful little people she brought to us, small +and wailing and not very hopeful. She is full of reminiscences on these +occasions. "Ah," she will say, addressing an astonished two-year-old, +"the devil and all his imps fought for you, my child!" This is +unfamiliar language to the baby; but Devai knows nothing of our modern +ideas of education, and considers crude fact advisable at any age. "Yes, +he fought for you, my child. I was sitting on the verandah of the house +wherein you lay, and I was preaching the Gospel of the grace of God to +the women, when five devils appeared. Yea, five were they, one older and +four younger. Men were they in outward shape, but within them were the +devils. I had nearly persuaded the women to let me have you, my child; +and till they fully consented, I was filling up the interval with +speech, for no man shall shut my mouth. And the women listened well, and +my heart burned within me--for it was life to me to see them +listening--when lo! those devils came--yea, five, one older and four +younger--sent by their master to confound me. And they rose up against +me and turned me out, and told the women folk not to listen; and you--I +should never get you, said they; and so it appeared, for with such is +might, and their master waxes furious when he knows his time is short. +But the Lord on high is mightier than a million million devils, and what +are five to Him? He rose up for me against them and discomfited +them"--Devai does not go into secular particulars--"and so you were +delivered from the mouth of the lion, my child!" + +We are not anxious that our babies should know too much ancient history. +Enough for them that they are in the fold-- + + I am Jesus' little lamb, + Happy all day long I am; + He will keep me safe from harm, + For I'm His lamb-- + +is enough theology for two-year-olds; but Devai's visits are not so +frequent as to make a deep impression, and the baby thus addressed, +after a long and unsympathetic stare, usually scrambles off her knee and +returns unscathed to her own world. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +God Heard: God Answered + + +OLD Devai, with her vivid conversation about the one old devil and four +younger, does not suggest a conciliatory attitude towards the people of +her land. And it may be possible so to misinterpret the spirit of this +book as to see in it only something unappreciative and therefore unkind. +So it shall now be written down in sincerity and earnestness that +nothing of the sort is intended. The thing we fight is not India or +Indian, in essence or development. It is something alien to the old life +of the people. It is not allowed in the Vedas (ancient sacred books). It +is like a parasite which has settled upon the bough of some noble +forest-tree--on it, but not of it. The parasite has gripped the bough +with strong and interlacing roots; but it is not the bough. + +We think of the real India as we see it in the thinker--the seeker after +the unknown God, with his wistful eyes. "The Lord beholding him loved +him," and we cannot help loving as we look. And there is the Indian +woman hidden away from the noise of crowds, patient in her motherhood, +loyal to the light she has. We see the spirit of the old land there; +and it wins us and holds us, and makes it a joy to be here to live for +India. + +The true India is sensitive and very gentle. There is a wisdom in its +ways, none the less wise because it is not the wisdom of the West. This +spirit which traffics in children is callous and fierce as a ravening +beast; and its wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, +sensual, devilish. . . . And this spirit, alien to the land, has settled +upon it, and made itself at home in it, and so become a part of it that +nothing but the touch of God will ever get it out. We want that touch of +God: "Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke." That is why we write. + +For we write for those who believe in prayer--not in the emasculated +modern sense, but in the old Hebrew sense, deep as the other is shallow. +We believe there is some connection between knowing and caring and +praying, and what happens afterwards. Otherwise we should leave the +darkness to cover the things that belong to the dark. We should be for +ever dumb about them, if it were not that we know an evil covered up is +not an evil conquered. So we do the thing from which we shrink with +strong recoil; we stand on the edge of the pit, and look down and tell +what we have seen, urged by the longing within us that the Christians of +England should pray. + +"Only pray?" does someone ask? Prayer of the sort we mean never stops +with praying. "Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it," is the prayer's +solemn afterword; but the prayer we ask is no trifle. Lines from an +American poet upon what it costs to make true poetry, come with +suggestion here:-- + + Deem not the framing of a deathless lay + The pastime of a drowsy summer day. + But gather all thy powers, and wreck them on the verse + That thou dost weave. . . . + The secret wouldst thou know + To touch the heart or fire the blood at will? + Let thine eyes overflow, + Let thy lips quiver with the passionate thrill. + +"Arise, cry out in the night; in the beginning of the night watches pour +out thine heart like water before the Lord; lift up thine hands towards +Him for the life of thy young children!" + +The story of the children is the story of answered prayer. If any of us +were tempted to doubt whether, after all, prayer is a genuine +transaction, and answers to prayer no figment of the imagination--but +something as real as the tangible things about us--we have only to look +at some of our children. It would require more faith to believe that +what we call the Answer came by chance or by the action of some +unintelligible combination of controlling influences, than to accept the +statement in its simplicity--God heard: God answered. + +In October, 1908, we were told of two children whose mother had recently +died. They were with their father in a town some distance from Dohnavur; +but the source from which our information came was so unreliable that we +hardly knew whether to believe it, and we prayed rather a tentative +prayer: "If the children exist, save them." For three months we heard +nothing; then a rumour drifted across to us that the elder of the two +had died in a Temple house. The younger, six months old, was still with +her father. On Christmas Eve our informant arrived in the compound with +his usual unexpectedness. The father was near, but would not come nearer +because the following day being Friday (a day of ill-omen), he did not +wish to discuss matters concerning the child; he would come on Saturday. +On Saturday he came, carrying a dear little babe with brilliant eyes. +She almost sprang from him into our arms, and we saw she was mad with +thirst. She was fed and put to sleep, and hardly daring yet to rejoice +(for the matter was not settled with the father), we took him aside and +discussed the case with him. There were difficulties. A Temple woman had +offered a large sum for the child, and had also promised to bequeath +her property to her. He had heard, however, that we had little children +who had all but been given to Temples, and he had come to reconnoitre +rather than to decide. + +The position was explained to him. But the Temple meant to him +everything that was worshipful. How could anything that was wrong be +sanctioned by the gods? The child's mother had been a devout Hindu; and +as we went deeper and deeper into things with him, it was evident he +became more and more reluctant to leave the little one with us. "Her +mother would have felt it shame and eternal dishonour." We were in the +little prayer-room, a flowery little summer-house in the garden, when +this talk took place. On either side are the nurseries, and playing on +the wide verandahs were happy, healthy babes; their merry shouts filled +the spaces in the conversation. Sometimes a little toddling thing would +find her way across to the prayer-room, and break in upon the talk with +affectionate caresses. To our eyes everything looked so happy, so +incomparably better than anything the Temple house could offer, that it +was difficult to adjust one's mental vision so as to understand that of +the Hindu beside us, to whose thought all the happiness was as nothing, +because these babes would be brought up without caste. In the Temple +house caste is kept most carefully. If a Temple woman breaks the rules +of her community she is out-casted, excommunicated. "You do not keep +caste! you do not keep caste!" the father repeated over and over again +in utter dismay. It was nothing to him that the babes were well and +strong, and as happy as the day was long; nothing to him that +cleanliness reigned, so far as constant supervision could ensure it, +through every corner of the compound. We did not profess to keep caste; +we welcomed every little child in danger of being given to Temples, +irrespective altogether of her caste. All castes were welcome to us, for +all were dear to our Lord. This was beyond him; and he declared he would +never have brought his child to us, had he understood it before. "Let +her die rather! There is no disgrace in death." As he talked and +expounded his views, he argued himself further and further away from us +in spirit, until he became disgusted with himself for ever having +considered giving the baby to us. All this time the baby lay asleep; and +as we looked at the little face and noted the "mother-want," the +appealing expression of pitiful weariness even in sleep, it was all we +could do to turn away and face the almost inevitable result of the +conversation. Once the father, a splendid looking man, tall and +dignified, rose and stood erect in sudden indignation. "Where is the +babe? I will take her away and do as I will with her. She is my child!" +We persuaded him to wait awhile as she was asleep, and we went away to +pray. Together we waited upon God, whose touch turns hard rocks into +standing water, and flint-stone into a springing well, beseeching Him to +deal with that father's heart, and make it melt and yield. And as we +waited it seemed as if an answer of peace were distinctly given to us, +and we rose from our knees at rest. But just at that moment the father +went to where his baby slept in her cradle, and he took her up and +walked away in a white heat of wrath. + +The little one was in an exhausted condition, for she had not had +suitable food for at least three days. It was the time of our +land-winds, which are raw and cold to South Indian people; and it seemed +that the answer of peace must mean peace after death of cold and +starvation. It would soon be over, we knew; twenty-four hours, more or +less, and those great wistful eyes would close, and the last cry would +be cried. But even twenty-four hours seemed long to think of a child in +distress, and her being so little did not make it easier to think of her +dying like that. So on Sunday morning I shut myself up in my room asking +for quick relief for her, or--but this seemed almost asking too +much--that she might be given back to us. And as I prayed, a knock came +at the door, and a voice called joyously, "Oh, Amma! Amma! Come! The +father stands outside the church; he has brought the baby back!" + +But the child was almost in collapse. Without a word he dropped the +cold, limp little body into our arms, and prostrated himself till his +forehead touched the dust. We had not time to think of him, we hardly +noted his extraordinary submission, for all our thought was for the +babe. There was no pulse to be felt, only those far too brilliant eyes +looked alive. We worked with restoratives for hours, and at last the +little limbs warmed and the pulse came back. But it was a bounding, +unnatural pulse, and the restlessness which supervened confirmed the +tale of the brilliant eyes--the little babe had been drugged. + +From that day on till our Prayer-day, January 6th, it was one long, +unremitting fight with death. We wrote to our medical comrade in Neyoor, +and described the symptoms, which were all bad. He could give us little +hope. Gradually the brilliance passed from the eyes, and they became +what the Tamils call "dead." The film formed after which none of us had +ever seen recovery. Then we gathered round the little cot in the room we +call Tranquillity, and we gave the babe her Christian name Vimala, the +Spotless One; for we thought that very soon she would be without spot +and blameless, another little innocent in that happy band of innocents +who see His Face. + +On the evening of the 5th, friends of our own Mission who were with us +seemed to lay hold for the life of the child with such fresh earnestness +and faith, that we ourselves were strengthened. Next morning we believed +we saw a change in the little deathlike face, and that evening we were +sure the child's life was coming back to her. + +It was not till then we thought of the father, who, after signing a +paper made out for him by our pastor, who is always ready to help us, +had returned to his own town. When we heard all that had occurred we saw +how our God had worked for us. It was not fear of his baby's death that +had moved the man to return to us. "What is the death of a babe? Let her +die across my shoulders!" He was not afraid of the law. After all +persuasions had failed, we had tried threats: the thing he purposed to +do was illegal. The Collector (chief magistrate) would do justice. "What +care I for your Collector? How can he find me if I choose to lose +myself? How can you prove anything against me?" And in that he spoke the +truth. There are ways by which the intention of the law concerning +little children can be most easily and successfully circumvented. Our +pleadings had not touched him. "Is she not my child? Was her mother not +my wife? Who has the right to come between this child of mine and me her +father?" And so saying he had departed without the slightest intention +of coming back again. But a Power with which he did not reckon had him +in sight; and a Hand was laid upon him, and it bent him like a reed. We +hope some ray of a purer light than he had ever experienced found its +way into his darkened soul, and revealed to him the sin of his +intention. But we only know that he left his child and went back to his +own town. God had heard: God had answered. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +To what Purpose? + + +AMONG the closest of our little children's friends is one whose name I +may not give, lest her work should be hindered; for in this work of +saving the little ones, though we have the sympathy of many, we +naturally have to meet the covert opposition of very many more, and it +is not well to give too explicit information as to the centres of +supply. This dear friend's help has been invaluable. From the first she +has stood by us, interesting her friends, Indian and English, in the +children, and stirring them into practical co-operation. Then, when the +babies have been saved and had to be cared for and sent off, she made +nothing of the trouble, and above all she has never been discouraged. +Sometimes things have been difficult. Some have doubted, and many have +criticised, and even the kindest have lost heart. This friend has never +lost heart. + +For not all the chapters of the Temple children's story can be written +down and printed for everyone to read. We think of the unwritten +chapters, and remember how often when the pressure was greatest the +thought of that undiscouraged comrade has been strength and inspiration. +No one except those who, in weakness and inexperience, have tried to do +something not attempted before can understand how the heart prizes +sympathy just at the difficult times, and how such brave and steadfast +comradeship is a thing that can never be forgotten. + +Among the babies saved through this friend's influence was one with a +short but typical story. + +The little mite was seen first in her mother's arms, and the mother was +standing by the wayside, as if waiting. Something in her attitude and +appearance drew the attention of an Indian Christian, whom our friend +had interested in the work, and she got into conversation with the +mother, who told her that her husband had died a fortnight before the +baby's birth, and she, being poor though of good caste, was much +exercised about the little one's future. How could she marry her +properly? She had come to the conclusion that her best plan would be to +give her to the Temple. So she was even then waiting till someone from a +Temple house would come and take her little girl. + +The news that such a child is to be had soon becomes known to those who +are on the watch, and it is improbable that the mother would have had +long to wait. The Christian persuaded her to give up the idea, and the +little babe was saved and sent to us. On the journey to Dohnavur a +Temple woman chanced to get into the carriage where the little baby +slept in its basket. There was nothing to tell who she was; and like the +other women in the carriage, she was greatly interested in its story. +But presently it became evident that her interest was more than +superficial. She looked well at the baby and was quiet for a time; then +she said to the Christian who was bringing it to us: "I see it is going +to be an intelligent child. Let me have it; I will pay you." The +Christian of course refused, and asked her how she knew it was going to +be intelligent. "Look at its nose," said the Temple woman. "See, here is +money!" and she offered it. "Let me have the baby! You can tell your +Missie Ammal it died in the train!" + +Sometimes our babies have to run greater risks than this in their +journeys south to us. The distances which have to be covered by train +and bullock-cart are great, and the travelling tedious. And there are +many delays and opportunities for difficulties to arise; so that when we +know a baby is on its way to us we feel we want to wrap it round in +prayer, so that, thus invisibly enveloped, it will be protected and +carried safely all the way. Once a little child, travelling to us from a +place as distant, counting by time, as Rome is from London, was observed +by some Brahman men, who happened to be at the far end of the long +third-class carriage. Our worker, who was alone with the child, noticed +the whispering and glances toward her little charge, and wrapped it +closer in its shawl, and, as she said, "looked out of the window as if +she were not at all afraid, and prayed much in her heart." Presently a +station was reached. The language spoken there was not her vernacular, +but she understood enough to know something was being said about the +baby. Then an official appeared, and there was a cry quite +understandable to her: "A Brahman baby! That Christian there is +kidnapping a Brahman baby!" The official stopped at the carriage door. +She was pushed towards him amidst a confused chatter, a crowd gathered +at the door in a moment, and someone shouted in Tamil, above the excited +clamour on the platform: "Pull her out! A Christian with a Brahman +baby!" + +"Then did my heart tremble! I held the baby tight in my arms. The man in +clothes said, 'Show it to me!' And he looked at its hands and he looked +at its feet, and he said: 'This is no child of yours!' But as I began to +explain to him, the train moved, and he banged the door; and I praised +God!" + +India is a land where strange things can be accomplished with the +greatest ease. As all went well it is idle to imagine what might have +been; but we knew enough to be thankful. + +Among the unwritten chapters is one which touches a problem. There are +some little children--often the most valuable to the Temple women--who +cannot live with us, but can live with them, because the baby in the +Temple house is nursed by a foster-mother for the sake of merit, and +thus it is given its best chance of life; whereas with us it is +impossible to get foster-mothers. Indian children of the castes approved +for the service are not, as a class, as robust as others; the secluded +lives of their mothers, and the rigid rules pertaining to widows +(girl-children born after the mother becomes a widow are, as has been +seen, in special danger), partly account for this; and in other cases +there are other reasons. Whatever the cause, however, the effect is +manifest. The baby is seldom the little bundle of content of our English +nurseries. It may become so later on, if all goes well. Often it lives +upon its birth-strength for four months, or less, and then slips away. +We have often hesitated about taking such babies; and then we have found +that by refusing one who is likely to die we have discouraged those who +were willing to help us, and the next baby in danger has been taken +straight to the house where its welcome was assured. So we have hardly +ever dared to refuse, and we have taken little fragile things whose days +we knew were numbered unless a foster-mother could be found, for it +seemed to us that death with us was better than life with the Temple +people; and also we have not dared to risk losing the next, who might be +healthy. "One dies, one lives," say the Temple women in their wisdom, +and take all who are suitable in caste and in appearance. "She will be +'fair,'" or, "She will be intelligent," settles the matter for them. +They give the baby a chance: should we do less? + +One night I woke suddenly with the feeling of someone near, and saw, +standing beside my bed out on the verandah, the friend who has sent us +so many little ones. She had something wrapped in a shawl in her arms, +and as she moved the shawl a thin cry smote me with a fear, for a baby +who has come to stay does not cry like that. + +It was a dear little baby, one of the type the Temple women prize, and +will take so much trouble to rear. The little head was finely formed, +and the tiny face, in its minute perfection of feature, looked as if +some fairy had shaped it out of a cream rose-petal. Alas, there was that +look we know so well and fear so much--that look of not belonging to us, +the elsewhere, other-world look. But we could not do this work at all, +we would not have the heart to do it, if we did not hope. So we go on +hoping. + +The baby filled the next half-hour, for a thing so small can be hungry +and say so; and together we heated the water and made the food, till, +satisfied at length that her little charge was comfortable, our friend +lay down to rest. "Jesus therefore being weary with His journey, sat +thus on the well." There is something in the utter weariness after a +long, hot journey, ending with seven hours in a bullock-cart over rough +tracks by night, which always recalls that word of human tiredness. How +I wished that the morning were not so near as I saw my friend asleep at +last! A few hours later she was on her homeward way, and we were left +with our hopes and our fears, and the baby. + +For three weeks we hoped against fear, till there was no room left for +any more hope, or for anything but prayer that the child might cease to +suffer. And after a month of struggle for life, the tiny, tossing thing +lay still. + +"To what purpose is this waste?" Was it strange that the question came +again to ourselves, and to others too? Our dear friend's toilsome +travelling--a journey equal in expenditure of time to one from London +to Vienna and back again, and very much more exhausting, the faithful +nurse's patience, the little baby's pain! And all the love that had +grown through the weeks, and all the efforts that had failed, the very +train ticket and bandy fare--was it all as water spilt on the ground? +Was it waste? + +We knew in our hearts it was not. The dear little babe was safe; and it +might be that our having taken her, though she was so very delicate, +would result in another, a healthy child, being saved, who, if she had +been refused, would never have been brought. This hope comforted us; and +we prayed definitely for its fulfilment, and it was fulfilled. For +shortly after that little seed had been sown in death, information came +from the same source through which she had been saved, that another +child was in danger of being adopted by Temple women; and this +information would not have been given to our friend had the first child +been refused. Nundinie we called this little gift: the name means +Happiness. + +Sometimes in moments of depression and disappointment we go for change +of air and scene to the Premalia nursery; and the baby Nundinie, +otherwise Dimples, of whom more afterwards, comes running up to us with +her welcoming smile and outstretched arms; while others, with stories as +full of comfort, tumble about us, and cuddle, and nestle, and pat us +into shape. Then we take courage again, and ask forgiveness for our +fears. It is true our problems are not always solved, and perhaps more +difficult days are before; but we will not be afraid. Sometimes a sudden +light falls on the way, and we look up and still it shines: and what can +we do but "follow the Gleam"? + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A Story of Comfort + + +[Illustration: SEELA IS THE BABY IN THE MIDDLE. + +She slipped into the picture at the last moment, and so was caught +unawares. Mala is to the right; Nullinie to the left. (This little one's +left hand and foot are partially paralyzed through drugging in +infancy.)] + +AMONG the stories of comfort is one that belongs to our merry little +Seela. She is bigger now than when the despairing photographer broke +thirteen plates in the vain attempt to catch her; but she is still most +elusive and alluring, a veritable baby, though over two years old. Some +months ago, the Iyer measured her, and told her she was thirty-two +inches of mischief. For weeks afterwards, when asked her name, she +always replied with gravity, "Terty-two inses of mistef." + +All who have to do with babies know how different they can be in +disposition and habits. There is the shop-window baby, who shows all her +innocent wares at once to everyone kind enough to look. She is a +charming baby. And there is the little wild bird of the wood, who will +answer your whistle politely, if you know how to whistle her note; but +she will not trust herself near you till she is sure of you. Seela is +that sort of baby. We have watched her when she has been approached by +some unfamiliar presence, and seen her summon all her baby dignity to +keep her from breaking into tears of overwhelming shyness. Give her time +to observe you from under long, drooping lashes; give her time to make +sure--then the mischief will sparkle out, and something of the real +child. But only something, never all, till you become a relation; with +those who are only acquaintances Seela, like Bala, has many reserves. + +Seela's joy is to be considered old and allowed to go to the +kindergarten. She takes her place with the bigger babies, and tries to +do all she sees them do. Sometimes a visitor looks in, and then Seela, +naturally, will do nothing; but if the visitor is wise and takes no +notice, she will presently be rewarded by seeing the eager little face +light up again, and the fat hands busily at work. Seela is not supposed +to be learning very seriously; but she seems to know nearly as much as +some of the older children, and her quaint attempts at English are much +appreciated. Seela has her faults. She likes to have her own way, and +once was observed to slap severely an offender almost twice her own +size; but on the whole she is a peaceful little person, beloved by all +the other babies, both senior and junior. Her great ambition is to +follow Chellalu into all possible places of mischief. Anything Chellalu +can do Seela will attempt; and as she is more brave than steady on her +little feet, she has many a narrow escape. Her latest escapade was to +follow her reckless leader in an attempt to walk round the top of the +back of a large armchair, the cane rim of which is a slippery slant, two +inches wide. + +On the morning of her arrival, not liking to leave her even for a few +minutes, I carried her to the early tea-table, when she saw the Iyer and +smiled her first smile to him. From that day on she has been his loyal +little friend. At first his various absences from home perplexed her. +She would toddle off to his room and hunt everywhere for him, even under +his desk and behind his waste-paper basket, and then she returned to the +dining-room with a puzzled little face. "Iyer is not!" "Where is he, +Seela?" "Gone to Heaven!" was her invariable reply. When he returned +from that distant sphere she never displayed the least surprise. That is +not our babies' way. She calmly accepted him as a returned possession; +stood by his chair waiting for the invitation, "Climb up"; climbed up as +if he had never been away--and settled down to bliss. + +Part of this bliss consists in being supplied with morsels of toast and +biscuit and occasional sips of tea. Sometimes there is that delicious +luxury, a spoonful of the unmelted sugar at the bottom of the cup. For +Seela is a baby after all, and does not profess to be like grown-up +people who do not appreciate nice things to eat, being, of course, +entirely superior to food; but, excitable little damsel as she is in all +other matters, her table manners are most correct, and she shows her +appreciation of kind attentions in characteristic fashion. A smile, so +quick under the black lashes that only one on the look-out for it would +see it, a sudden confiding little nestle closer to the giver--these are +her only signs of pleasure; and if no notice is taken of her, she sits +in silent patience. Sometimes, if politeness be mistaken for +indifference, a shadow creeps into her eyes, a sort of pained surprise +at the obtuseness of the great; but she rarely makes any remark, and +never points or asks, as the irrepressible Chellalu does in spite of all +our admonitions. If, however, Seela is being attended to and fed at +judicious intervals, and she knows the intention is to feed her +comfortably, then her attitude is different. She feels a reminder will +be acceptable; and as soon as she has disposed of a piece of biscuit, +she quietly holds up an empty little hand, and glances fearlessly up to +the face that looks down with a smile upon her. This little silent, +empty hand, held up so quietly, has often spoken to us of things +unknown to our little girl; and as if to enforce the lesson, the other +babies, to our amusement, apparently noticing the gratifying result of +Seela's upturned hand, began to hold up their little hands with the same +silent expectancy, till all round the table small hands were raised in +perfect silence, by hopeful infants of observant habits and strong +faith. + +[Illustration: THE COTTAGE NURSERY.] + +Mala, the rather stolid-looking little girl to the right of the +photograph, is Seela's elder sister. She is not so square-faced as the +photograph shows her, and she is much more interesting. This little one +seems to us to have in some special sense the grace of God upon her; for +her nursery life is so happy and blameless and unselfish, that we rarely +have to wish her different in anything. Her coming, with little Seela's, +is one of the very gladdest of our Overweights of Joy. + +We heard of the little sisters through a mission schoolmaster, +who--knowing that they had been left motherless, and that a Hindu of +good position had obtained something equivalent to powers of +guardianship, and thus empowered had placed them with a Temple +woman--was most anxious to save them, and wrote to us; and, as he +expressed it, "also earnestly and importunately prayed the benign +British Government to intervene." + +The Collector to whom the petition was sent was a friend of ours. He +knew about the nursery work, and was ready to do all he could; but he +did not want a disturbance with the Caste and Temple people, and so +advised us to try to get the children privately. We sent our wisest +woman-worker, Ponnamal, to the town, and she saw the principal people +concerned; but they entirely refused to give up the children. The man +who had adopted them had got his authority from the local Indian +sub-magistrate; and contended that as the Government had given them to +him, no one had any right to take them from him; "and even if the +Government itself ordered me to give them up, I never will. I will never +let them go." This in Tamil is even more explicit: "The hold by which I +hold them I will never let go." Ponnamal returned, weary in mind and in +body, after three days of travelling and effort; she had caught a +glimpse of the baby, and the little face haunted her. The elder child +was reported very miserable, and she had seen nothing of her. The +guardian, of course, had not dealt with her direct; but she heard he had +taken legal advice, and was sure of his position. There was nothing +hopeful to report. Once again we tried, but in vain. By this time a new +bond had been formed, for the guardian had become attached to little +Seela, and spent his time, so we heard, in playing with her. He let it +be known that nothing would ever make him give her up. "She is in my +hand, and my hand will never let go." + +Then suddenly news came that he was dead. The baby had sickened with +cholera. He had nursed her and contracted the disease. In two days he +had died. He had been compelled to let go. + +Then the feeling of all concerned changed completely. It hardly needed +the Collector's order, given with the utmost promptitude, to cause the +Temple woman to give the children up. To the Indian mind, quick to see +the finger of God in such an event, the thing was self-evident. An +unseen Power was at work here. Who were they that they should withstand +it? A telegram told us the children were safe, and next day we had them +here. + +The baby was happy at once; but the elder little one, then a child of +about three and a half, was very sorrowful. She was so pitifully +frightened, too, that at first we could do nothing with her; and there +was a look in her eyes that alarmed us, it was so distraught and +unchildlike. "My mother did her best for them," wrote the kind +schoolmaster to whose house the children had been taken when the Temple +woman gave them up; "but the elder one has fever. She is always +muttering to herself, and can neither stand nor sit." She could stand +and sit now, only there was the "muttering," and the terrible look of +bewilderment worse than pain. For days it was a question with us as to +whether she would ever recover perfectly. That first night we had to +give her bromide, and she woke very miserable. Next day she stood by the +door waiting for her mother, as it seemed; for under her breath she was +constantly whispering, "Amma! Amma!" ("Mother! Mother!") She never cried +aloud, only sobbed quietly every now and then. She would not let us +touch her, but shrank away terrified if we tried to pet her. All through +the third day she sat by the door. This was better than the weary +standing, but pitiful enough. On the morning of the fourth day she sat +down again for a long watch; but once when her little hand went up to +brush away a tear, we saw there was a toy in it, and that gave us hope. +That night she went to bed with a doll, an empty tin, and a ball in her +arms; and the next day she let us play with her in a quiet, reserved +fashion. Next morning she woke happy. + +The babies teach us much, and sometimes their unconscious lessons +illuminate the deeper experiences of life. One such illumination is +connected in my mind with the little trellised verandah, shown in the +photograph, of the cottage used as a nursery when Mala and Seela came to +us. + +It was the hour between lights, and five babies under two years old were +waiting for their supper--Seela, Tara, and Evu (always a hungry baby), +Ruhinie, usually irrepressible, but now in very low spirits, and a tiny +thing with a face like a pansy--all five thinking longingly of supper. +These five had to wait till the fresh milk came in, as their food was +special; that evening the cows had wandered home with more than their +usual leisureliness from their pasture out in the jungle, and so the +milk was late. + +The babies, who do not understand the weary ways of cows, disapproved of +having to wait, and were fractious. To add to their depression, the boy +whose duty it was to light the lamps and lanterns had been detained, and +the trellised verandah was dark. So the five fretful babies made remarks +to each other, and threw their toys about in that exasperated fashion +which tells you the limits of patience have been passed; and the most +distressed began to whimper. + +At this point a lantern was brought and set behind me, so that its light +fell upon the discarded toys, miscellaneous but beloved--a china head +long parted from its body, one whole new doll, a tin with little stones +in it, a matchbox, and other sundries. If anything will comfort them, +their toys will, I thought, as I directed their attention to the tin +with its pleasant rattling pebbles, and the other scattered treasures on +the mat. But the babies looked disgusted. Toys were a mockery at that +moment. Evu seized the china head and flung it as far as ever she could. +Tara sat stolid, with two fingers in her mouth. Seela turned away, +evidently deeply hurt in her feelings, and the other two cried. Not one +of them would find consolation in toys. + +Then the pansy-faced baby, Prasie, pointed out to the bushes, where +something dangerous, she was quite sure, was moving; and she wailed a +wail of such infectious misery that all the babies howled. And one +rolled over near the lantern which was on the floor behind me, and for +safety's sake I moved it, and its light fell on my face. In a moment all +five babies were tumbling over me with little exclamations of delight, +and they nestled on my lap, caressing and content. + +Are there not evenings when our toys have no power to please or soothe? +There is not any rest in them or any comfort. Then the One whom we love +better than all His dearest gifts comes and moves the lantern for us, so +that our toys are in the shadow but His face is in the light. And He +makes His face to shine upon us and gives us peace. + +"For Thou, O Lord my God, art above all things best; . . . Thou alone +most sufficient and most full; Thou alone most sweet and most +comfortable. + +"Thou alone most fair and most loving; Thou alone most noble and most +glorious above all things; in whom all things are at once and perfectly +good, and ever have been and shall be. + +"And therefore whatever Thou bestowest upon me beside Thyself, or +whatever Thou revealest or promisest concerning Thyself, so long as I do +not see or fully enjoy Thee, is too little, and fails to satisfy me. + +"Because, indeed, my heart cannot truly rest nor be entirely contented +unless it rest in Thee, and rise above all Thy gifts and all things +created. + +"When shall I fully recollect myself in Thee, that through the love of +Thee I may not feel myself but Thee alone, above all feeling and measure +in a manner not known to all?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +Pickles and Puck + + +[Illustration: "PICKLES" AND HER FRIENDS. + +"Pickles" sits with her thumb in her mouth, distrustful of +photographers.] + +"AMMA! Amma!" then in baby Tamil, "Salala has come!" And one of the most +enticing of the little interruptions to a steady hour's work scrambles +over the raised doorstep, tripping and tumbling in her eagerness to get +in. Now she is staggering happily about the room on fat, uncertain feet. +Upsets are nothing to Sarala. She shakes herself, rubs a bumped head, +smiles if you smile down at her, and picks herself up with a sturdy +independence that promises something for her future. She has travelled +to-day, stopping only to visit her Prema Sittie, a long way across the +field all by herself. She has braved tumbles and captures, for her nurse +may any minute discover her flight; and even now, safe in port, she +keeps a wary eye on the door which opens on the nursery side of the +compound. If she thinks I am about to suggest her departure, she +immediately engages me in some interest of her own. She has ways and +wiles unknown to any baby but herself; and if all seems likely to fail, +she sits down on the floor, and first puts out her lower lip as far as +it will go, and then springs up, climbs over you, clings with all four +limbs at once, and buries her curly tangle deep into your neck. But if +the case is hopeless, she sits down on the floor again and digs her +small fists into her eyes, in silent indignation and despair. Then +comes a howl impossible to smother, and at last such bitter bursts of +woe as nothing short of dire necessity can force you to provoke. This is +Sarala, one of the most affectionate, most wilful, most winsome of all +the babies. She is truthful. She has just this moment pulled a +drawing-pin out of its place, which happened to be within reach, and her +solemn "Aiyo!" (Alas!) "Look, Amma!" shows she feels she has sinned, but +wants to confess. Life will have many a battle for this baby; but surely +if she is truthful and loving, and we are loving and wise, the Lord who +has redeemed her will carry her through. + +Her first great battle royal was with the new Sittie,[B] who immediately +upon arrival loved the babies. The battle was about Sarala's evening +meal, which she refused to take from the new Sittie because she had +offended her small majesty a few minutes before by allowing another baby +to share the lap of which Sarala wished to have complete possession; and +the baby had crawled off disgusted with the ways of such a Sittie. + +As a rule we avoid collisions at bedtime. The day should end peacefully +for babies; but the contest once begun had to be carried through, for +Sarala is not a baby to whom it is wise to give in where a conflict of +wills is concerned. Next morning it was evident she remembered all about +it. When the new Sittie (now called Prema Sittie by the children)[C] +came to the nursery, Sarala hurried off and would have nothing to do +with her. From the distance of the garden she would catch sight of her +advancing form, and retreat round a corner. Sometimes if Prema Sittie +sat down on the floor and fondled another baby, Sarala would crawl up +from behind, put her arms round her neck, and even begin to sit down on +her knee; but if her Sittie made the first advance, she was instantly +repelled. This continued for a fortnight; and as Sarala was only a year +and eight months old at the time, a fortnight's memory rather astonished +us. In the end she forgot, and now there are no more devoted friends +than Prema Sittie and Sarala. + +But it was the other Sittie, Piria Sittie by name,[D] who first made +Sarala's acquaintance. She and I went to Neyoor together when the branch +nursery was there; and as the new nursery was almost ready for the +babies, we lightened the immense undertaking of removal by carting off +whatever we could of furniture and infants. Sarala has eyes which can +smile bewitchingly, and a voice which can coo with delicious affection; +but those sweet eyes can look stormy, and cooing is a sound remote from +Sarala's powers in opposite directions; so we wondered, as we packed her +into the bandy, what would happen that night. If we had known Sarala +better we should not have wondered. All this child wants to make her +good is someone to hold on to. She woke frequently during the night, for +we were not entirely comfortable, wedged sideways and close as herrings +in a barrel. But all she did when she awoke was to push a soft little +arm round either one or other of us, and cuddle as close as she possibly +could; the least movement on our part, however, she deeply resented and +feared. A limpet on a rock is nothing to this baby. Her very toes can +cling. + +Sarala's private name is Pickles. Her twin in mischief is Puck, and she, +too, is fond of paying visits to the bungalow. But she always comes as a +surprise; she never announces herself. You are busy with your back to +the door when that curious feeling, a sense of not being quite alone, +comes over you, and you turn and see an elfish thing, very still and +small and shy, but with eyes so comical that Puck is the only possible +name by which she could be called. Seen unexpectedly, playing among the +flowers in a fragment of green garment washed to the softness of a +tulip leaf, you feel she only needs a pair of small wings and a wand to +be entirely in character. + +Puck has none of Pickles' faults, and a good many of her virtues. She is +a most good-tempered little person, loving to be loved, but equally +delighted that others should share the petting. She gives up to +everybody, and smiles her way through life; such a comical little mouth +it is, to match the comical eyes. All she ever asks with insistence is +somewhere to play. Bereft of room to play, Puck might become +disagreeable, though a disagreeable Puck is something unimaginable. +Yesterday it was needful to keep her in the shade; and as a special +policeman-nurse could not be told off to keep watch over her, she was +tied by a long string to the nursery door. At first she was sorely +distressed; but presently the comic side struck her, and she sat down +and began to tie herself up more securely. If they do such things at all +they should do them better, she seemed to think. And this is Puck all +through. She will find the laugh hidden in things, if she can. Sometimes +in her eagerness to make everybody as happy as she is herself she gets +into serious trouble. She was hardly able to walk when she was +discovered comforting a crying infant by taking a bottle of milk from an +older babe (who, according to her thinking, had had enough) and giving +it to the younger one who seemed to need it more. What the older baby +said is not recorded. + +Puck in trouble is a pitiful sight. She tries not to give in to feelings +of depression. She screws her smiling lips tight, twists her face into a +pucker, and shuts her eyes till you only see two slits marked by the +curly eyelashes. But if her emotions are too much for her she gives +herself up to them thoroughly. There is no whining or whimpering or +sulking; she wails with a wail that rivals Pickles' howl. "What an awful +child!" remarked a visitor one morning, in a very shocked tone, as she +went the round of the nurseries and came upon Puck on the floor +abandoned to grief. We wondered if our friend knew how much more awful +most babies are, and we wished the usually charming Puck had chosen some +other moment to disgrace herself and us. But no, there she sat, her two +small fists crushed over her mouth--for we insist that when the babes +feel obliged to cry, they shall smother the sound thereof as much as may +be--and the visitor retired, feeling, doubtless, thankful the awful +child was not hers. But Puck's griefs are of short duration. Ten minutes +later she was climbing the chain from which the swing hangs, trying to +fit her little toes into the links, and laughing, with the tears still +wet on her cheeks, because the chain shook so that she could not climb +it properly, though she tried it valiantly, hand over head, like a +dancing bear on a pole. Puck's Guardian Angel, like Chellalu's, must be +ever in attendance. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[B] Miss Lucy Ross. + +[C] "Prema" means _Beloved_. + +[D] Miss Mabel Wade, who joined us November 15, 1907. "Piria," like +"Prema," means _Beloved_. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +The Howler + + +PICKLES and Puck at their worst and both together are nothing to the +Howler in her separate capacity. We called her the Howler because she +howled. + +We heard of her first through our good Pakium, who, during a pilgrimage +round the district, paid a visit to the family of which she was the +youngest member. "She lay in her cradle asleep"--Pakium kindled over +it--"like an innocent little flower, and she once opened her eyes--such +eyes!--and smiled up in my face. Oh, like a flower is the babe!" And +much speech followed, till we pictured a tender, flower-like baby, all +sweetness and smiles. + +Her story was such as to suggest fears, though on the surface things +looked safe. Her grandfather, a fine old man, head of the house, was +sheltering the baby and her mother and three other children; for the +son-in-law had "gone to Colombo," which in this case meant he desired to +be free from the responsibilities of wife and family. He had left no +address, and had not written after his departure. So the old man had the +five on his hands. A Temple woman belonging to a famous South-country +Temple, knowing the circumstances, had made a flattering offer for the +baby, then just three months old. The grandfather had refused; but the +grandmother was religious, and she felt the pinch of the extra five, and +secretly influenced her daughter, so that it was probable the Temple +woman would win if she waited long enough. And Temple women know how to +wait. + +[Illustration: THE DOHNAVUR COUNTRY IN FLOOD.] + +A year passed quietly. We had friends on the watch, and they kept us +informed of what was going on. The idea of dedication was becoming +gradually familiar to the grandfather, and he was ill and times were +hard. But still we could do nothing, for to himself and his whole clan +adoption by Christians was a far more unpleasant alternative than +Temple-dedication. After all, the Temple people never break caste. + +Once a message reached us: "Send at once, for the Temple women are about +to get the baby"; and we sent, but in vain. A few weeks later a similar +message reached us; and again the long journey was made, and again there +was the disappointing return empty-handed. It seemed useless to try any +more. + +About that time a comrade in North Africa, Miss Lilias Trotter, sent us +her new little booklet, "The Glory of the Impossible." As we read the +first few paragraphs and roughly translated them for our Tamil +fellow-workers, such a hope was created within us that we laid hold with +fresh faith and a sort of quiet, confident joy. And yet, when we wrote +to our friends who were watching, their answer was most discouraging. +The only bright word in the letter was the word "Impossible." + +"Far up in the Alpine hollows, year by year, God works one of His +marvels. The snow-patches lie there, frozen into ice at their edges from +the strife of sunny days and frosty nights; and through that ice-crust +come, unscathed, flowers in full bloom. + +"Back in the days of the bygone summer the little soldanella plant +spread its leaves wide and flat on the ground to drink in the +sun-rays; and it kept them stored in the root through the winter. Then +spring came and stirred its pulses even below the snow-shroud. And as it +sprouted, warmth was given out in such strange measure that it thawed a +little dome of the snow above its head. Higher and higher it grew, and +always above it rose the bell of air till the flower-bud formed safely +within it; and at last the icy covering of the air-bell gave way and let +the blossom through into the sunshine, the crystalline texture of its +mauve petals sparkling like the snow itself, as if it bore the traces of +the fight through which it had come. + +"And the fragile things ring an echo in our hearts that none of the +jewel-like flowers nestled in the warm turf on the slopes below could +waken. We love to see the impossible done, and so does God." + +These were the sentences which we read together. To the South Indian +imagination Alpine snow is something quite inconceivable; but the +picture on the cover and snow-scene photographs helped, and the Indian +mind is ever quick to apprehend the spiritual, so the booklet did its +work. + +We have two seasons here, the wet and the dry. The dry is subdivided +into hot, hotter, and hottest; but the wet stands alone. It is a time +when the country round Dohnavur is swamp or lake according to the level +of the ground; and we do not expect visitors--the heavy bullock-carts +sink in the mud and make the way too difficult. If a letter had come +just then asking us to send for the baby, we should certainly have tried +to go; but no letter came, and it was then, when everything said, +"Impossible," that suddenly all resistance gave way and the grandfather +said: "Let her go to the Christians." + +[Illustration: PAKIUM AND NAVEENA.] + +We were sitting round the dinner-table one wet evening, thinking of +nothing more exciting than the flying and creeping creatures which +insisted upon drowning themselves in our soup, when the jingle of +bullock-bells made us look at each other incredulously; and then, +without waiting to wonder who it was, we all ran out and met Rukma +running in from the wet darkness. "It's it! it's it!" she cried, and +danced into the dining-room, decorum thrown to the pools in the +compound. "Look at it!" and we saw a bundle in her arms. And it howled. + +From that day on for nearly a week it continued consistently to howl. We +called the little thing Naveena, for the name means "new"; and it was +our nearest approach to Soldanella, which we should have called her if +we did not keep to Indian names for our babies. New and fresh as that +little flower of joy, so was our new little gift to us, a new token for +good. But flowers and howlers--the words draw their little skirts aside +and refuse to touch each other. From certain points of view, in this +case as so often, the sublime and the ridiculous were much too close +together. The very crows made remarks about the baby when she wakened +the morning with her howls. Mercifully for the family's nerves she fell +asleep at noon; but as soon as she woke she began again, and went on +till both she and we were exhausted. There were no tears, the big dark +eyes were only entirely defiant; and the baby stood straight up with her +hands behind her back and her mouth open--that was all. But we knew it +meant pure misery, though expressed so very aggressively; and we coaxed +and petted when she would allow us, and won her confidence at last, and +then she stopped. + +It took months to tame the little thing. She had been allowed to do +exactly as she liked; for she was her grandfather's pet, and no one +might cross her will. We had to go very gently; but eventually she +understood and became a dear little girl, reserved but very +affectionate, and scampish to such a degree that Chellalu, discerning a +congenial spirit, decided to adopt her as "her friend." + +This fact was announced to us at the babies' Bible-class, when the word +"friend," which was new to the babies, was being explained. It has four +syllables in Tamil, and the babies love four-syllabled words. They were +rolling this juicy morsel under their tongues with sounds of +appreciation, when Chellalu pointed across to Naveena, and with an air +of possession remarked, "_She_ is my friend." The other babies nodded +their heads, "Yes, Naveena is Chellalu's friend!" Naveena looked +flattered and very pleased. + +These friends in a kindergarten class are rather terrible. They are +always separated--as the Tamil would say, if one sits north the other +sits south--but even so there are means of communication. This morning, +passing the door of the kindergarten room, I looked in and saw something +not included in the time-table. We have a little yellow bellflower here +which grows in great profusion; and some vandal taught the babies to +blow it up like a little balloon, and then snap it on the forehead. The +crack it makes is delightful. We do not like this game, and try to teach +the babies to respect the pretty flowers; but there are so many sins in +the world, that we do not make another by actually forbidding it; we +trust to time and sense and good feeling to help us. So it comes to pass +that the worst scamps indulge in this game without feeling too guilty; +and now I saw Chellalu with a handful of the flowers, cracking them at +intervals, to the distraction of the teacher and the delight of all the +class. One other was cracking flowers too. It was Naveena, and there was +a method in her cracks. When Rukma turned to Chellalu, Naveena cracked +her flower. When she turned to Naveena, then Chellalu cracked hers. How +they had eluded the search which precedes admission to the kindergarten +nobody knew; but there they were, each with a goodly handful of bells. +At a word from Rukma, however, they handed them over to her with an +indulgent smile, and even offered to search the other babies in case +they had secreted any; and as I left the room the lesson continued as +before, but the friends' intention was evident: they had hoped to be +turned out together. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +The Neyoor Nursery + + "The roads are rugged, the precipices steep; there + may be feelings of dizziness on the heights, gusts + of wind, peals of thunder, nights of awful gloom. + Fear them not! + + "There are also the joys of sunlight, flowers such + as are not in the plain, the purest of air, + restful nooks, and the stars smile thence like the + eyes of God."--PERE DIDON (_translated by Rev. + Arthur G. Nash_). + + +[Illustration: ON THE ROAD TO NEYOOR.] + +AND now for a chapter of history. We had not been long at the new work +before we discovered difficulties unimagined before, and impossible to +describe in detail. Some of these concerned the health of the younger +children; and eventually it seemed best to move the infants' nursery to +within reach of medical help, and keep the bigger babies and elder +children, whose protection was another grave anxiety, with us at +Dohnavur. + +Shortly before that time we had been brought into touch with the medical +missionaries at Neyoor, in South Travancore. The senior missionary, Dr. +Fells, was about to retire; but his successor, Dr. Bentall, cordially +agreed to let us rent a little house in the village and fill it with +babies, though he knew such a houseful might materially add to the +fulness of his already overflowing day. He, and afterwards Dr. Davidson +(now the only survivor at Neyoor of that kind trio of doctors), seemed +to think nothing a trouble if only it helped a friend. So the little +house was taken and the babies installed. + +[Illustration: ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF NAGERCOIL, WHERE WE STOPPED TO REST.] + +The first day, September 25, 1905, is a day to be remembered. I had gone +on before to prepare the house, and for a day and a half waited in +uncertainty as to what had happened to the little party which was to +have followed close behind. I had left one baby ill. She was the first +child sent to us from the Canarese country; and I thought of the friends +who had sent her, newly interested and stirred to seek these little +ones, and of what it would mean of discouragement to them if she were +taken, and my heart held on for her. + +At last the carts appeared in sight. It was the windy season, and six +carts had been overturned on the road, so they had travelled slowly. +Then a wheel came off one of their carts and an accident was narrowly +averted. This had caused the delay. The baby about whom I had feared had +recovered in time to be sent on. She was soon quite well, and has +continued well from that day to this. + +How familiar the road between Dohnavur and Neyoor became to us, as the +months passed and frequent journeys were made with little new babies! +Sometimes those journeys were very wearisome. There was great heat, or a +dust-laden wind filled the bandy to suffocation and blew out the +spirit-lamp when we stopped to prepare the babies' food. How glad we +used to be when, in the early evening, the white gleam of the stretch of +water outside Nagercoil appeared in sight! We used to stop and bathe the +babies, and feed them under some convenient trees, and then go on to our +friends with whom we were to spend the night, trusting that the soothing +effect of the bathe and food would not pass off until after our arrival. +Those friends, our comrades of the L.M.S., like the Medicals at +Neyoor, seemed made of kindness. How often their welcome has rested us +after the long day! + +Next morning we tried to start early, so as to arrive at Neyoor before +the sun shone in fever-threatening strength straight in through the open +end of the cart. This plan, however, proved too difficult, so we found +it better to travel slowly straight on from Dohnavur to Neyoor. In this +way we missed the blazing sun; but we also missed the refreshment of our +friends at Nagercoil, and arrived more or less tired out, after a +journey which, because of slow progress and frequent stops, was equal in +time to one from London to Marseilles. But the welcome at the nursery +made up for everything. + +How vividly the photograph recalls it! The house opened upon the main +street of the village, and there was nearly always a watcher on the +look-out for us. Sometimes it was Isaac, our good man-of-all-work, who +never failed Ponnamal through the two years he was with us. Then we +would hear a call, and Ponnamal (we used to call her the Princess, but +dignity gives place to something more human at such moments) would come +flying down the path with a face which made words superfluous. Then +there was the scramble out of the bandy, and the handing down of babies +and exclamations about them; and all the nurses seemed to be kissing us +at once and making their amazed babies kiss us, and everything was for +one happy moment bewilderingly delightful. + +Then there was the run round the cradles in which smaller babies were +sleeping, and an eager comparing of notes as to the improvement of each. +And if there were no improvement, how well one remembers the smothered +sense of disappointment--smothered in public at least, lest the nurses +should be discouraged. Then came a cup of tea on the mat in the little +front room, where four white hammock-cradles hung, one in each corner; +while Ponnamal sat beside me with three babies on her knee and two or +three more somewhere near her. The babies used to study me in their wise +and serious fashion, and then make careful advances. And so we would +make friends. + +Ponnamal had always much to tell about the exhaustless kindness of the +doctors and their wives and the lady superintendent of the hospital. And +the chief Tamil medical Evangelist had been true to his name, which +means Blessedness. Once, in much distress of mind, we sent a little babe +to the nursery, hardly daring to hope for her. When she arrived, the +doctors were both away on tour, and the medical Evangelist was in +charge. He attended to her at once, and by God's grace upon his work was +able to relieve the little child, who has prospered ever since. + +But I must leave unrecorded many acts of helpfulness. In those early +days of doubt and difficulty, almost forgotten by us now, we beckoned to +our "partners which were in the other ship," and their Master and ours +will not forget how they held out willing hands and helped us. + +It was not always plain sailing, even at Neyoor. "You are fighting Satan +at a point upon which he is very sensitive; he will not leave you long +in peace," wrote an experienced friend. On Palm Sunday, 1907, our first +little band of young girls, fruit of this special work, confessed Christ +in baptism, and we stood by the shining reach of water, and tasted of a +joy so pure and thrilling that nothing of earth may be likened to it. A +fortnight later we were ordered to the hills, and then the trouble came. + +The immediate cause was overcrowding. Why did we overcrowd? + +Friends at home to whom the facts about Temple service were new, were +stirred to earnest prayer. Out here fellow-missionaries helped us to +save the children. God heard the prayer and blessed the work, and +children began to come. Soon our one little room became too full. We had +babies in the bungalow and on our verandah, babies everywhere. Then +money came to build two more rooms, but they were soon too full. At +Neyoor the pressure was worse, for we could only rent two small houses; +and though we put up mat shelters, and the children lived as much as +possible in the open air, it was difficult to manage. But how could we +refuse the little children? The Temple women were ready to take them if +we had refused. Their houses are never too full. There was no other +nursery to which they could be sent. Little children who had passed the +troublesome infant stage could sometimes find a home elsewhere; but only +the Temple houses were open at all times to babies. Could we have +written to the friend who had saved a little child: "Hand her back to +the Temple. It is the will of our Father that this little one should +perish"? Should we have done it? We dare not do it. We prayed that help +would be sent to build new nurseries, and we went on and did our best; +but it was difficult. + +We had just reached the hills in early April, and were forbidden to +return, when news reached us of a fatal epidemic of dysentery which had +broken out in the Neyoor nursery. Unseasonable rains had fallen and +driven the babies indoors; this increased the overcrowding. The doctors +were away. Letters telling us about the disaster had been lost--how, we +never knew--so that the second which reached us, taking it for granted +we had the first, gave no details, only the names of the smitten +babes--nineteen of them, and five dead. Then trouble followed trouble. +"While he was yet speaking, there came also another." Some evil men who +had sought to injure us before, caused us infinite anxiety. And for a +time that cannot be counted in days or in weeks it was like living +through a nightmare, when everything happens in painful confusion and +the sense of oppression is complete. + +[Illustration: THE NEYOOR NURSERY.] + +Out of the maelstrom came a letter from Ponnamal. "We are being +comforted," she wrote. "You will be longing to come to us, but oh, do +not come! If you were here all your strength would be given to fighting +this battle with death, and you would have no strength left for prayer. +God wanted to have one of us free to pray; and so He has taken you up to +the mountain, as He took Moses when the people were fighting down in the +plain." This was the true inward meaning of it all, and I knew it. But +Ponnamal is far from strong, and I feared for her; and to stay away with +the babies ill--it was the very hardest thing I had ever been asked to +do. + +When the trouble passed there were ten in heaven. One, a little child of +two, had been saved so wonderfully from Temple dedication that we had +looked forward to a future of special blessing for her; and another was +a very lovely babe, dear to the missionary who, after much toil and many +disappointments, had been comforted by saving her. Each of the ten had +cost someone much. But this is an earthly point of view. They had cost +Him most who had taken them, and he is only an owner in name who has no +right to do as he will with his own. + +The other side, the purely human side, pressed heavily just then. The +doctors had most kindly at once ordered a mission room, vacated at that +season, to be lent to the nursery, and another little house was taken +for the month. How Ponnamal kept all four houses going in an orderly +fashion, how she kept her nurses together through that time of almost +panic, and how she herself, frail and delicate as she is, kept up till +all was over, we cannot understand from any point of view but the +Divine. She only broke down once. It was when her dearest child, our +merry, beautiful little Heart's Joy, who, having more strength than +most, had battled longer and almost recovered, suddenly sank. The +visible cause was that a special nutrient, which, being costly, we +stocked in small quantities, ran short, and the fresh supply reached the +nursery just too late. "If only it had come yesterday!" moaned Ponnamal, +and we with her when we heard of the series of contretemps which had +delayed its arrival. The torture of second causes is as the blackness of +darkness, but the Lord gave deliverance from it; for just as she had to +part with all that was left her of our little Heart's Joy, a letter came +from Dr. Davidson which was God's own blessed comfort to a heart almost +broken. She never refers to that letter without the quick tears +starting. "I could let my little treasure go after I read that letter. +It strengthened me." + +While all this was going on in Neyoor, Chellalu, then just two years +old, was very ill in Dohnavur. Mr. and Mrs. Walker were still there, and +they nursed her night and day; but at last a letter came, evidently +meant to prepare me for fresh sorrow. "Every little lamb belongs to the +Good Shepherd, not to us," the letter said, and told of a temperature +106 deg. and rising. The child, all spirit and frolic, had little reserve +strength, and there was not much cause for hope. But we were spared this +parting. Chellalu is with us still. + +The sky was clearing again and we were beginning to breathe freely, when +the worst that had ever touched us in all our years of work came +suddenly upon us. How small things that affect the body appear when the +point of attack wheels round to the soul! The death of all the babies +seemed as nothing compared with the falling away of one soul. But God is +the God of the waves and the billows, and they are still His when they +come over us; and again and again we have proved that the overwhelming +thing does not overwhelm. Once more by His interposition deliverance +came. We were cast down, but not destroyed. + +A time of calm succeeded this storm. Money came to build nurseries at +Dohnavur, and buy more of the special nutrients we so much required. The +Neyoor remnant picked up, and the nurses took heart again. I went out to +them as soon as I could after our return from the hills, and found those +who were left well and strong. "They shall see His face" had been the +text in _Daily Light_, the evening the news reached me of the little +procession heavenwards. I looked at the ten names written in the margin +of my book; and, recalling the story of each, could be glad they have +seen the face of the One who loves them best. Lower down on the page +come the words, "We shall be satisfied." We thought of our babies +satisfied so soon; and then we knelt together and said, "Even so, +Father: for so it seemeth good in Thy sight." + +Pretty pictures all in colours and bright sunshine tempt one to linger +over that visit. I can see the white hammocks slung from the trees in +the nursery compound, and happy baby-faces looking out of them. And +another shows me one who had been like a sister to Ponnamal, lightening +her load whenever she could; sitting with two dear babies in her arms, +and another clinging round her neck. "She comes and helps us often in +the mornings when we are very busy," said Ponnamal about the doctor's +wife, as I noticed the babies' affection for her and her sweet, kind +ways with them. "Sometimes when I am feeling down and home-sick, she +comes in like this and plays with the babies, and cheers us all up." The +Indian woman is very home-loving. Only devotion to the children could +have kept the nurses and Ponnamal so long in exile for their sake; and +there were times when even Ponnamal's brave heart sank. Then these +love-touches helped. + +When the time came for the nursery party to leave Neyoor and return to +Dohnavur, after two and a half years in that hospitable mission, we were +sorry to part. Days like the days we had passed through test the stuff +of which souls are made, and they prove what we call friendship. After +the fire has spent itself, the fine gold shines out purified, and there +is something solemn in its light. We had grown close to our friends in +Neyoor; but the cloud had moved, so far as we could read the sign, and +it seemed right to return. The missionaries were away when the day came, +but the Christians surrounded Ponnamal with tokens of goodwill. "The +nursery has been like a little light in our midst," they said; and this +word cheered her more than all other words. And so farewelled, they +arrived home, all glad and warm with the glow that comes when hearts +meet each other and each finds the other kind. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +In the Compound and Near it + + +[Illustration: THE OLD NURSERY. THE "ROOM OF JOY."] + +"NOW I know why God put you in Dohnavur when He wanted this work done. +He hid you from the eyes of the world for the little children's sake. He +knew this work could never have been done by the road-side, so He hid +you." + +The speaker was a Christian friend from Palamcottah, an Indian lawyer +who, for the first time, had come out to see us. He had found our +approaches appalling, and had wondered at first why we lived in such an +out-of-the-way place, three or four miles from the nearest road, and +twenty-four from civilisation. When he saw the children he understood. +Later, he helped us in an attempt to save two little ones in danger, and +insisted not only upon paying his own and our worker's expenses, but in +sending us a gift for the nurseries. With the gift came a letter full of +loving, Indian sympathy; and again he added as before: "The Lord hid you +in that quiet place for the little children's sake." Sometimes when the +inconveniences of jungle life press upon us, we remember our friend's +words: "This work could never have been done by the road-side, so He hid +you." + +We have children with us who would not have been safe for a day had we +lived near a large town or near a railway. The stretch of open country +between us and Palamcottah (the Church Missionary Society centre of the +Tinnevelly district), to cover which, by bullock-cart, takes as long as +to travel from London to Brussels, is not considered very safe for +solitary Indian travellers, as the robber clan frequent it, and this is +an added protection for the children. Several times, to our knowledge, +unwelcome visitors have been deterred from making a raid upon us, by the +rumour of the robbers on the road. We are also most mercifully quite out +of the beat of the ordinary exploiter of missions; few except the really +keen care for such a journey; so that we get on with our work +uninterrupted by anything but the occasional arrival of welcome friends +and comrades. These, when they visit us for the first time, are usually +much astonished to find something almost civilised out in the wilds, and +they walk round with an air of surprise, and quite inspiring +appreciation, being kindly pleased with little, because they had looked +for less. + +[Illustration: THE COURTYARD.] + +The compound in which the nurseries are built is a field, bounded on +three sides by fields, and on the fourth by the bungalow compound. The +Western Ghauts with their foothills make it a beautiful place. + +The buildings are not beautiful. With us, as elsewhere, doubtless, even +the break of a gable in the straight, barn-like roof makes a difference +in the estimate, and we have never had a margin for luxuries. But the +walls are coloured a soft terra-cotta, the roofs are a dull red; while +the porches (hidden by the palm trunks in the photograph) are a mass of +greenery and bloom; and the garden at the moment of writing is rejoicing +in over a hundred lilies, brilliant yellow and flame colour, each head +with its many flowers rising separate and radiant in the sunshine. Then +we have oleanders, crimson and pink and white, and little young hibiscus +trees, crimson and rose and cream. The arches in the new nursery +garden are covered with the lilac of morning-glory; and the Prayer-room +in the middle of the garden is a mass of violet passion-flower, the +pretty pink antigone, and starry jessamine. The very hedges at this +season are out in yellow flower, and a trellis round the nursery kitchen +is a delight of colour; so though our buildings are simple, we think the +lines have fallen unto us in pleasant places. + +The first picture shows the old nursery, used now for the kindergarten. +It opens off the courtyard shown in the second photo. This courtyard +serves as an open-air room, a bright little place which is filled with +merrier children than the sober photograph shows. Tamils old and young +move when they laugh or even smile; in fact they wriggle. Being still, +with them, meant being seriously subdued; and so, where time-exposures +were required, we had to choose between solemn photos, or no photos at +all. + +Opening off the courtyard on the opposite side to the kindergarten is a +room used as a store-room and Bible-class room combined. It was so very +uncomfortable that last Christmas, as a surprise for the children, we +divided the room into two halves with a curtain between. Their half is +made pretty with pictures and texts, painted in blue on pale brown wood. +The children call this part of the room the Tabernacle. The part beyond +the curtain is the court of the Gentiles. + +The Coming-Day Feasts are a feature of Dohnavur life. Now that there are +so many feasts to celebrate, we find it more convenient to combine; and +the photograph overleaf shows as much as it can of one such happy feast. +The children who are being feted are distinguished from the others by +having flowers in their hair. No Indian feast is complete without +flowers. Jessamine is the favourite, but the prettiest wreaths are made +of pink oleander; and sometimes a girl will surprise us with a new and +lovely combination, as of brown flowering grasses and yellow Tecoma +bells. + +[Illustration: A COMING-DAY FEAST.] + +Opposite the kindergarten room is the first of the two new +nurseries--the lively Parrot-house. This nursery, really the Taraha +(Star, called after its English giver, whose name means "star") is the +abode of the middle-aged babies, aged between two years and four. Most +of these attend the kindergarten, and are very proud of the fact. + +The Premalia nursery (Abode of Love), given by two friends in memory of +a mother translated, lies beyond the Taraha. Here the tiny infants live, +and we call it the Menagerie. This nursery, like the other, looks out on +the glorious mountains. If beautiful things can make babies good, ours +should be very good. + +On the eastern side of the field we have lately built two small +sick-rooms, used oftener as overflow nurseries. These little rooms have +names meaning "peace" and "tranquillity"; and those of us who have lived +in them with our babies, sick or well, find the names appropriate. In +the foreground there is a garden, in the background the mountain; and to +give purpose to it all, the foreground is full of life. A new nursery +now being built is a welcome gift from Australia; and a new field with a +noble tree, in whose shade a hundred children could play, is the gift of +a friend who stayed with us for one bright week last year. + +All this is a later development, unthought of when our artist friend was +with us. We have often wished for him since the nurseries filled. When +he was with us our choice of subject was very limited: now, wherever we +look we see pictures, which to be properly caught ask for colour +photography. + +The story of these buildings is the story of the Ravens, so old and yet +so new. When first the work began, we had only one mud-floored room for +nursery, kitchen, bedroom, and everything else that was needed. We +hardly knew ourselves whereunto things would grow, and feared to run +before the Lord by even a prayer for buildings. And yet we could not go +on as we were. The birds were soon too many for the nest, and we needed +more nests. No one knew of our need; for visitors at that time were few +at Dohnavur, and we told no one. But money began to come. We ventured on +a single room without a verandah or even foundations--built of sun-dried +bricks as inexpensively as possible. But it was a palace to us. While we +were building it, more little children came. We felt we should need more +room, but had not more money; so we told the builders to wait for a day +while we gave ourselves to prayer about the matter. Was the work going +to grow much more? We were fearful of making mistakes. Were we right to +incur fresh responsibility?--for buildings need to be kept in condition, +and the cheaper they are the more care they need. No one at home was +responsible for us. No one had authorised this new work. It would not be +fair to saddle those on whom the burden might eventually fall with +responsibilities for which they were not responsible. And yet surely the +work of saving these little children had been given to us to do? Someone +was responsible. Surely, unless we were utterly wrong and had mistaken +the Shepherd's Voice, surely He was responsible! He could not mean us to +search for the lambs for whom only the wolves had been searching, and +then leave them out in the open, found but unfolded, or packed so close +in the little fold that they could not grow as little lambs should? + +We rolled the burden off that day as to the ultimate responsibility, and +we asked definitely for all that was needed to build another room. + +Three days later a registered letter came from a bank in Madras. It +contained an anonymous gift of one hundred rupees, and was marked, "For +a new nursery." The date showed that it had been posted in Madras on the +day of our waiting upon God for guidance as to His wishes. A few days +later, the same amount, with the same direction as to its use, was sent +to us from the same bank. The giver, as we knew long afterwards, was a +fellow-missionary in Tinnevelly, whose order to send these sums to us +was given before even we ourselves had fully understood the meaning of +the leading. The second room was built on to the first, and the children +called it the Room of Joy. + +[Illustration: THE RED LAKE. + +Water Palms, with Mountains in the background.] + +There are no secrets in India. The Hindu masons were amazed at what they +at once recognised as the hand of the Lord upon the work, and they +spread the story everywhere. Later, when they built the nursery where +poor little Mala stood and mourned, they understood why they had to stop +before the verandah was built. Only enough was in hand to build the bare +room; but to their eyes, as to ours, a verandah was much needed, and +they were content to wait till what was required for one came. In this +land of blazing sunshine and drenching monsoon a house without a +verandah is hardly habitable, and a small square room without one has a +Manx-cat appearance. + +The story of the rooms has been repeated in the story of the work ever +since. "Do not thank us. It is only a belated tenth," wrote a +fellow-missionary not long ago, as she sent a gift for the nurseries. +Belated tenths have reached us sometimes when they have been like +visible ravens flying straight from the blue above. All the long +journeys in search of the children, all the expenses connected with +their salvation, all that has been required to provide nurses and food +(including the special nourishment without which the more delicate could +not live at all), all that is now being needed for their education--all +has come and is coming as the ravens came to Elijah. The work has +been a revelation of how many hearts are sensitive and obedient to +the touch of the Spirit; for sometimes help has reached us in such a way +and in such form that we could not but stand and worship, awestruck by +the token of the nearness of our God. There is many a spot marked in +garden or in field or in the busy nursery or our own quiet room, where, +with the open letter in our hand--the letter of relief from a pressure +unknown even to the nearest fellow-worker--we have knelt in spirit with +Jacob and said: "Surely the Lord is in this place!" and almost added, so +dense are we in unilluminated moments, "and I knew it not." + +Framed between red roofs and foliage, there are far blue glimpses of +mountains shown in this lakeside photograph. We do not see the water +from the compound. It lies on the other side of the boundary fields and +hedges; but we see the mountains with perfect distinctness of outline, +scarped with bare crags, which in the early morning are sometimes pink, +and in the evening, purple. But the time to see the mountains in their +glory is when the south-west monsoon is flinging its masses of cloud +across to us. Then the mountains, waking from the lazy sleep of the +long, hot months, catch the clouds on their pointed fangs, toss them +back and harry them, wrap themselves up in robes of them, and go to +sleep again. + +The road that skirts the Red Lake leads through two ancient Hindu towns, +from both of which we have children saved, in each case as by a miracle. +In the first of these old towns there is a Temple surrounded by a mighty +wall. + +There are two large gates and one small side door in the wall; and, +passing in through the small side door, one sees another wall almost as +strong as the first, and realises something of the power that built it. +The Temple is in the centre of the large enclosure. It is a single tower +opening off the inner court. In the outer court a pillared hall is used +as stable for the Temple elephant, and two camels lounge in the roughly +kept garden in front. This Temple, with its double walls, its massive, +splendidly-carved doors and expensive animal life, is somewhat of a +surprise to the visitor, who hardly expects to see so much in a little +old country town on the borders of the wilds. But Hinduism has not lost +hold of this old remote India yet. There are some who think that the +country town is the place to see it in strength. + +[Illustration: AT THE DOOR OF THE TEMPLE.] + +It was early in August, three years ago, that we heard of a baby girl in +that town, devoted from birth to the god. We set wheels in motion, and +waited. A month passed and nothing was done. We could not go ourselves +and attempt to persuade the mother to change the vow she had made, as +any movement on our part would only have riveted the links that fettered +the child to the god. We had to be quiet and wait. At last, one evening +in September, a Hindu arrived in the town with whom our friends who were +on the watch had intimate connection. He, too, knew about the child; and +he knew a way unknown to our friends by which the mother might be +influenced, and he consented to try. His arrival just at that juncture +appeared to us, who were waiting in daily expectation of an answer of +deliverance, as the evident beginning of that answer; thus our faith was +quickened and we waited in keen hope. Two days later, after dark, there +was a rush from the nursery to the bungalow. "The baby has come!" +Another moment, and we were in the nursery. A woman--one of our +friends--was standing with what looked like a parcel wrapped in a cloth +hidden under her arm. Even then, though all was safe, she was trembling; +and outside, two men, her relations, stood on guard. She opened the +white cloth, and inside was the baby. + +The men assured us that all was right. The mother had been convinced +of the wrongness of dedicating the little babe, and would give us no +trouble. But a day or two later, she came and demanded it back. She +could not stand the derision of her friends, who told her she had sinned +far more in giving her child to those who would break its caste than she +ever could have done had she given it to the Temple. We pacified her +with difficulty, and were thankful when the little thing was safe in the +Neyoor nursery. For in those days, before we learned how best to protect +our children, we were often glad to have some place even more out of +reach than Dohnavur. + +The second of these old towns is famous for its rock, and its Temple +built into the rock. Looking down from above one can see inside the +courtyard as into an open well. Connected with this Temple, some years +ago, there was a beautiful young Temple woman, who had been given as a +child--as all Temple women must be--to the service of the gods. She had +no choice as regarded herself--probably the idea of choice never entered +her mind--but for her babe she determined to choose; and yet she knew of +no way of deliverance. + +But there was a way of deliverance, and if it had only been for this one +child's sake, and for the sake of the relief it must have been to that +fear-haunted mother, we are glad with a gladness too deep for words that +the nursery was here. For the mother heard of it. There were lions in +the path. She quietly avoided them, and through others who were willing +to help she sent her child to us. She herself would not come. She waited +a mile or so from the bungalow till the matter was concluded, then +returned to her home alone. + +A week later she appeared suddenly at the bungalow. It was only to make +sure the little one was safe and well, and in order to sign a paper +saying she was wholly given to us. This done she disappeared again, +refusing speech with anyone, and for months we heard nothing of her. +Then cholera swept our countryside, and we heard she had taken it and +died. We leave her to God her Creator, who alone knows all the story of +her life: we only know enough to make us very silent. And through the +quiet we hear as it were a voice that chants a fragment from an old +hymn: "We believe that THOU shalt come to be our Judge." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +From the Temple of the Rock + + +ANOTHER little girl who came from that same Temple of the Rock has a +story very different from the other, and far more typical. + +It was on a blazing day in June, when the very air, tired of being hot, +leaned heavily upon us, and we felt unequal to contest, that a cough +outside my open door announced a visitor. "Come in!" Another cough, and +I looked out and saw a shuffling form disappear round the corner of the +house. I called again, and the figure turned. It was a man who had +helped us before, but about whose _bona-fides_ we had doubts; so we +asked without much hopefulness what he had to tell us. He said he had +reason to believe a certain Temple woman known to him had a child she +meant to dedicate to the god of a Temple a day's journey distant. Then +he paused. "Do you know where she is now?" "She is on her way to the +Temple." "It would be well if she came here instead." "If that is the +Animal's desire it may be possible to bring her." "Has she gone far? +Could you overtake her?" "She is waiting outside your gate." + +At such a moment it is wise to show no surprise and no anxiety. All the +burning eagerness must be covered up with coolness. But in the hour that +intervened before the woman "at the gate" could be persuaded to come +further, we quieted ourselves in the Lord our God and held on for the +little child. + +At last the shuffling step and the sound of voices told us they had +come--two women, the man, and a child. The child was a baby of something +under two, a sad-looking little thing, with great, dark, pathetic eyes +looking out from under limp brown curls. She was very pale and fragile; +and when the woman who carried her set her down upon the floor and +propped her against the wall, she leaned against it listlessly, with her +little chin in her tiny hand, in a sorrowful, grown-up fashion. I longed +to take her and nestle her comfortably; but, of course, took no notice +of her. Any sign of pity or sympathy would have been misunderstood by +the women. All through the interminable talk upon which her fate +depended, that child sat wearily patient, making no demands upon anyone; +only the little head drooped, and the mouth grew pitiful in its complete +despondency. + +The ways of the East are devious. The fact that the child had been +brought to us did not indicate a decision to give her to us instead of +to the Temple. The woman and the man who had persuaded them to come had +much to say to one another, and there was much we had to explain. A +child given to Temple service is not in all cases entirely cut off from +her people. If the Temple woman's hold on her is sure, her relations are +sometimes allowed to visit her; so far as friendly intercourse goes she +is not lost to them. But with us things are different. For the child's +own sake we have to refuse all intercourse whatever. Once given to us, +she is lost to them as if they had never had her. We adopt the little +one altogether or not at all. + +It is a delicate thing to explain all this so clearly that there can be +no misunderstanding about it, without so infuriating the relations that +they will have nothing more to do with us. Naturally their view-point is +entirely different from ours, and they cannot appreciate our reasons. +At such a time we lean upon the Invisible, and count upon that +supernatural help which alone is sufficient for us; we count also upon +the prayers of those who know what it is to pray through all opposing +forces, till the battle is won by faith which is the victory. + +It was strange to watch the women as the talk went on. The _woman_ +within them had died, there was nothing of it left to which we could +appeal; everything about them was perverted, unnatural. I looked at the +insensitive faces and then at the sensitive face of the child, and +entered deeper than ever into the mercifulness of God's denunciations of +sin. + +Once towards the close of what had been a time of some tension, the +leader of the two women suddenly sprang up, snatched at the tired baby, +and flung out of the room with her. She had been gradually hardening; +and I had felt rather than seen the shutting down of the prison-house +gates upon that little soul, and had, as a last resource, appealed to +the sense, not wholly atrophied, the sense that recognises the +supernatural. God is, I told them briefly; God takes cognisance of what +we are and do: God will repay: some time, somewhere, God will punish +sin. The arrow struck through to the mark. Startled, indignant, +overwhelmed by the sweep of an awful conviction, with a passionate cry +she rushed away; and we lived through one breathless moment, but the +next saw the child dropped into our arms, safe at last. + +Facts about any matter of importance are usually other than at first +stated; but we have reason to believe that in this instance our +shuffling friend spoke the truth. The women were really on their way to +the Temple when he waylaid them. The wonder was that they allowed +themselves to be persuaded by him to come to us. But if nothing happened +except what we might naturally expect would happen in this work, we +might as well give it up at once. If we did not expect our Jericho +walls to fall down flat, it would be foolish indeed to continue marching +round them. + +It was a relief when the women left the compound, after signing a paper +committing the child to us. There is defilement in the mere thought of +evil, but such close contact with it is a thing by itself. The sense of +contamination lasted for days; and yet would that we could go through it +every day if the result might be the same! For the child woke up to a +new life, and became what a child should be. At first it was very +pitiful. She would sit hour after hour as she had sat through that first +hour, with her chin in hand, her eyes cast down, and the little mouth +pathetic. We found that, in accordance with a custom prevailing in the +coterie of Temple women belonging to the Temple of the Rock, she had +been lent by her mother to another woman when she was an infant, the +other lending her baby in exchange. This exchange had worked sadly; for +the little one had asked for something which had not been given her, and +her two years had left her starved of love and experienced in +loneliness. But when she came to us everything changed; for love and +happiness took her hands and led her back to baby ways, and taught her +how to laugh and play: and now there is nothing left to remind us of +those two first years but a certain droop of the little mouth when she +feels for the moment desolate, or wants some extra petting. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +Yosepu + + + +[Illustration: THE WATER CARRIERS.] + +NO description of the compound would be complete without mention of +Yosepu, friend of the babies. + +This photograph shows the Indian equivalent of pumps and water-pipes. We +have neither; so all the water required for a family of about a hundred +has to be drawn from the well and carried to the kitchens and nurseries. +The elder girls, who would otherwise help with the work, according to +South Indian custom, are already fully employed with the babies. So at +present the men do it all. They also buy the grain and other +food-stuffs, look after the cows and vegetable garden--a necessity for +those who dwell far from markets--and in all other possible masculine +ways are of service to the family. + +Chief of these men is Yosepu, whose seamed and wrinkled and most +expressive face I wish we had photographed, instead of this not very +interesting string of solemnities. + +Yosepu is not like a man, he is more like a dear dog. He has the ways of +our dog-friends, their patience and fidelity, their gratefulness for +pats. + +He came to us in a wrecked condition, thin and weak and rather queer. He +had been beaten by his Hindu brother for becoming a Christian, and it +had been too much for him. The first time we saw him, a few minutes +after his arrival, he was standing leaning against a post with folded +hands and upturned eyes and a general expression of resignation which +went to our hearts. We found afterwards he was not feeling resigned so +much as hungry, and he was better after food. + +For a week he slept, ate, and meditated. Sometimes he would hover round +us, if such a verb is admissible for his seriousness of gait. He would +wait till we noticed him, then sigh and extend his hand. He wanted us to +feel his pulse--both pulses. This ceremony always refreshed him, and he +would return to his corner of the verandah and meditate till his next +meal came. + +Sometimes, however, more attention was required. He would linger after +his pulses were felt, and we knew he was not satisfied. One day a happy +thought struck us. The Tamil loves scent. The very babies sniff our +hands if we happen to be using scented soap, and tell each other +rapturously what they think about that "chope." Scent is the one thing +they cannot resist. A tin of sweets on our table may be untouched for +days, few babies being wicked enough to venture upon it in our absence; +but a bottle of scent is irresistible, and scented "chope" on our +washing-stands has a way of growing thin. The baby will emerge from our +bathrooms rubbing suspiciously clean hands, and in her innocence will +invite us to smell them. Then we know why our "chope" disappears. So now +that Yosepu needed something to lift him over the trials of life, we +remembered the gift of a good Scottish friend, and tried the effect of +eau-de-Cologne. It worked most wonderfully. Yosepu held out his two +hands joined close lest a single drop should spill, and then he stood +and sniffed. It would have made a perfect advertisement--the big brown +man with his hands folded over his nose, and an expression of absolute +bliss upon every visible feature. Now, when Yosepu is down-hearted, we +always try eau-de-Cologne. + +His first move towards being of use was when some of our children had +small-pox and were put up in a half-finished room which was being built. +"It has walls and it has a roof, therefore it is suitable," was Yosepu's +opinion; and he offered to nurse the children. One evening we heard a +terrible noise; it was like three cracked violins gone mad, all playing +different tunes at the same time. It was only Yosepu singing hymns to +the children. "For spiritual instruction is a thing to be desired, and +there is nothing so edifying as music." + +After this he announced his intention of becoming a water-carrier. +"Water is a pure thing and a necessity. The young children demand much +water if their bodies are to be"--here followed Scriptural quotations +meant in deepest reverence. "I will be responsible for the baths of all +the babes." And from that time Yosepu has been responsible. Solemnly +from dawn to dusk, with breathing spaces for meals and meditation, he +stalks across from nurseries to well and from well to nurseries. He is a +man of few smiles; but he is the cause of many, and we all feel grateful +to Yosepu for his goodness to us. Often on melancholy days he comes and +comforts us. + +It was so one anxious day before we went to the hills, when we were +trying to plan for the safety of our family. We can only take a limited +number of converts with us, and no babies; the difficulty is then which +to take, which to hide, and which to leave in the nurseries. We were in +the midst of this perplexity when Yosepu arrived. He stood in silence, +and then sighed, as his cheerful custom is. We made the usual inquiries +as to his health, physical and spiritual. Both soul and body (his +invariable order, never body and soul) were well, he said; his pulse did +not need to be felt to-day: no, there was something weightier upon his +mind. There are times when it is like extracting a tooth to get a +straight answer from Yosepu, for he resents directness in speech; he +thinks it barbarous. At last it came. "Aiyo! Aiyo!" (Alas! Alas!) "My +sun has set; but who am I, that I should complain or assault the decrees +of Providence? But Amma! remember the word of truth: 'Then shall ye +bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to the grave.'" And he slowly +unwound his wisp of a turban, held it in his folded hands, and shook +down his lanky, jet-black locks with a pathos that was almost sublime. + +[Illustration: THE BELOVED TINGALU.] + +It took time to pierce to the meaning of it: the children were being +scattered--the reason must be that we felt the bath-water carrying too +much for his powers through the hot weeks. It was not so! He was strong +to draw and to bear. The babies should never be deprived of their baths! +But to-day as he went to the well he had heard what broke his heart; and +he laid his hand upon the injured organ, and sighed with a sigh that +assured us his lungs at least were sound. "_Tingalu_ is to go away! The +apple of my eye! that golden child who smiles upon me, and says, 'Oh, +elder brother, good morning!' You are not going to leave her with me! +Therefore spake I the word of truth concerning my grey hairs." Then +quoting the text again, he turned and walked away. + +Once the beloved Tingalu was slightly indisposed. She has not often the +privilege of being ill, and so, when the opportunity offers, she does +the invalid thoroughly; it would be a pity, Tingalu thinks, to be +anything but correct. But Yosepu was much concerned. He appeared in the +early morning with his usual cough and sigh. "Amma! Tingalu is ill!" +"She will soon be better, Yosepu; she is having medicine." "What sort of +medicine, Amma?" and Yosepu mentioned the kind he thought suitable. +"That is exactly what she has had; you will see her playing about +to-morrow." "But no smile is on her face to-day; I fear for the +babe." (Tingalu never smiles when ill. Invalids should not smile.) +Yosepu suggested another medicine to supplement the first, and departed. + +Next morning he came again, anxious and cast down in countenance. I had +to keep him waiting; and when I came out, he was standing beside my +verandah steps, head on one side, eyes shut, hands folded as if in +prayer. "Well, Yosepu, what is it?" "Amma! the light of your eyes +revives me!" "Well, tell me the trouble." "All yesterday I saw you not; +it was a starless night to me!" This is merely the preface. "But, +Yosepu, what is wrong?" "Tingalu, that golden child with a voice like a +bird, she lies on her mat. I am concerned about the babe," (Tingalu, +turned four, is as hardy as a gipsy), "I fear for her delicate interior. +Those ignorant children" (the convert nurses would have been pleased if +they had heard him) "know nothing at all. It may be they will feed her +with curry and rice this morning. That would be dangerous. Amma! Let her +have bread and milk, _and I will pay for it_!" + +Yosepu came a few days ago with a request for a doll. "Who for?" "For +myself." "But are you going to play with it?" Yosepu acknowledged he +was, and he wished it to have genuine hair, a pink silk frock, and eyes +that would open and shut. We had not anything so elaborate to give him, +and he had to be contented with a black china head and painted eyes; but +he was pleased, and took it away carefully rolled up in his turban, which +serves conveniently for head-gear, towel, scarf, and duster. When and +where he plays with the doll no one knows, but he assures us he does; +and we have mentally reserved the first pink silk, with eyes that will +open and shut, that a benevolent public sends to us, for Yosepu. . . . +The words were hardly written when a shadow fell across the paper, and +the unconscious subject of this chapter remarked as I looked up: "1 +Corinthians vii. 31." "Do you want anything, Yosepu?" "Amma! 1 +Corinthians vii. 31." "Well, Yosepu?" "As it is written in that chapter, +and that verse: 'The fashion of this world passeth away.' Amma, if +within the next two months a visitor comes to Dohnavur carrying a +picture-catching box, I desire that you arrange for the catching of my +picture. This, Amma, is my desire." + +The Western mind is very dense; and for a moment I could not see the +connection between the text and the photograph. Yosepu is never +impatient. He squatted down beside me, dropped his turban round his +neck, held his left foot with his left hand, and emphasised his +explanation with his right. + +"Amma, the wise know that life is uncertain. I am a frail mortal. You, +who are as mother and as father to this unworthy worm, would feel an +emptiness within you if I were to depart." "But, Yosepu, I hope you are +not going to depart." This was exactly what Yosepu had anticipated. He +smiled, then he sighed. "Amma! did I not say it before? 1 Corinthians +vii. 31: 'The fashion of this world passeth away.' Therefore I said, Let +me have my picture caught, so that when I depart you may hang it on your +wall and still remember me." + +Yosepu's latest freak has been to take a holiday. "My internal +arrangements are disturbed; composure of mind will only be obtained by a +month's respite from secularities." Yosepu had once announced his +intention of offering himself to the National Missionary Society, and we +thought he now referred to becoming an ascetic for a month and wandering +round the country, begging-bowl in hand; for he solemnly declared as he +stroked his bony frame: "The Lord will provide." But his intention was a +real holiday. He would go and see the brother who had beaten him, and +forgive him. We suggested the brother might beat him again. He smiled at +our want of faith, and went for his holiday. A month was the time agreed +upon, but within three days he was back. He could not stay away, he +explained, with a shame-faced air of affection. "Within me pulled the +strings of love; pulled, yea, pulled till I returned." Faithful, quaint, +and wholly original Yosepu! He calls himself our servant, but we think +of him as our friend. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +The Menagerie + + Fate which foresaw + How frivolous a baby man would be-- + + +[Illustration: TWO VIEWS OF LIFE.] + +THE event of the week, from a Tamil point of view, is the midday Sunday +service; so we take care of the nurseries during that hour, and send all +grown-up life to church. In the Premalia nursery the babies range from a +few days old to eighteen months, and sometimes two years. There is a +baby for every mood, as one beloved of the babies says; and the babies +seem to know it. We have a lively time there on Sundays; for by noon the +morning sleep is over, and nineteen or twenty babies are waking up one +after the other or all together. And most of them want something, and +want it at once. + +These babies are of various dispositions and colour--nut-brown, biscuit, +and buff; and there are two who, taken together, suggest +chocolate-cream. Chocolate is a dear child, very good-tempered and easy +to manage. Cream is a scamp. We see in her another Chellalu, and watch +with mingled feelings her vigorous development. + +Chocolate has another name. It is Beetle. This does not sound +appreciative, but Beetle is beloved. The name was discovered by her +affectionate Piria Sittie, who came upon her one morning lying on her +back in the swinging cot, kicking her four limbs in the air in the +agitated manner of that insect unexpectedly upset. But no beetle ever +smiled as ours does. + +Cream, whose real name is Nundinie, oftener called Dimples, because she +dimples so when she laughs, is a baby of character. She early discovered +her way to the bungalow, and scorning assistance or superintendence +found her way over as soon as she could walk. Afternoon tea is never a +sombre meal, for the middle-aged babies attend it in relays of four or +five; and Dimples and her special chum, Lulla, like to arrive in good +time for the full enjoyment of the function. Dimples sits down properly +in a high chair close beside her Attai, who, according to her view of +matters, was created to help her to sugar. Lulla, so as to be even +nearer that exhaustless delight, insists upon her Attai's knee; and +tapping her face with her very small fingers, immediately points to the +sugar bowl. + +These preliminaries over, Dimples sets herself to pay for her seat. She +smiles upon her Attai first, then upon all the company. If the Iyer is +present, she notices him kindly: there is nothing in all nature so +patronising as a baby. If in the mood, she will imitate her friends like +her predecessor Scamp No. 1; or folding her fat arms will regard us all +with a quizzical expression more comical than play. Her latest invention +is drill. She stands straight up in her chair, and goes through certain +actions intended to represent as much as she knows of that interesting +exercise. We are kept anxious lest she should overbalance; but she is a +wary babe, and always suddenly sits down when she gets to the edge of a +tumble. Sometimes, however, when these diversions are in progress, we +have wished that the family could see how very much more entertaining +she is in her own nursery. There, from the beginning of the day till +the sad moment when it ends, she seems to be engaged in entertaining +somebody. Sometimes it is one of the Accals, those good elder sisters to +whom the babies owe so much. Dimples thinks she looks tired. Tired +people must be cheered, so Dimples devotes herself to her. Sometimes it +is another baby who is dull. Dull babies are anomalies. Dimples feels +responsible till the dull baby revives. Or it is just her own happy +little self who is being entertained. If ever a baby enjoyed a game for +its own sweet sake, it is Dimples. + +But one thing she does not enjoy, and that is being put to bed at night. +Our babies are anointed with oil, according to the custom of the East, +before being put to sleep; but the moment Dimples sees the oil-bottle in +her nurse's hand, she knows her fate is sealed and protests with all her +might. Once she contrived to seize the bottle, pull out the cork, and +spill the oil before she was discovered. She seemed to argue that as she +was invariably oiled before being put to bed, the best way to avoid ever +being put to bed would be to get rid of the oil. Another evening she +succeeded in diverting her nurse into a long search for the cork, +thereby delaying the fatal last moment; it was finally found in her +mouth. When, in spite of all efforts to wriggle out of reach, she is +captured, anointed, and put in her hammock, Dimples knows she must not +get out; but her wails are so lamentable that it is difficult to +restrain ourselves from throwing discipline to the winds, and if by any +chance we do, her smiles are simply ravishing. But we hear about it +afterwards. + +If Dimples is asleep when we take charge of the nursery, we find things +fairly quiet and almost flat. But she usually wakens early, and always +in a good temper. It is instructive to see the way she scrambles out of +her hammock before she is quite awake, and her sleepy stagger across +the room is often interrupted by a tumble. Dimples does not mind +tumbles. If her curly head has been rather badly knocked, she looks +reproachfully at the floor, rubs her head, and gets up again. By the +time she reaches us she is wide awake and most engaging. + +In C. F. Holder's _Life of Agassiz_ we are told that the great scientist +"could not bear with superficial study: a man should give his whole life +to the object he had undertaken to investigate. He felt that desultory, +isolated, spasmodic working avails nothing, but curses with narrowness +and mediocrity." This is exactly the view of one of our babies, already +introduced, the little wise Lulla, who always knows her own mind and +sticks to her intentions, unbeguiled by any blandishments. + +This baby is a tiny thing, with a round, small head, covered with soft, +small curls; and this head is very full of thoughts. Her face, which she +rarely shows to a stranger, is like a doll in its delicate daintiness; +but the mouth is very resolute, and the eyes very grave. Her hands and +feet are sea-shell things of a pretty pinky brown, and her ways are the +ways of a sea-anemone in a pool among the rocks. + +Lulla, because of her anemone ways, is sometimes unkindly called +"Huffs." She does not understand that there are days when those who love +her most have little time to give to her. Lulla naturally argues that +where there is a will there is a way, and desultory, isolated, spasmodic +affection is worth little; so next time her friend appears, she explains +all this to her by means of a single gesture: she draws her tentacles +in. + +But it is when Lulla has undertaken to investigate a tin of sweets that +she most suggests Agassiz. The tin has a lid which fits tightly, and +Lulla's fingers are very small and not very strong. The tin, moreover, +is on the window-sill just out of reach, though she stands on tip-toe +and stretches a little eager hand as far as it will go. Then it is you +see persistence. Lulla finds another baby, leads her to the window and +points up to the tin. The other baby tries. They both try together; if +this fails, Lulla finds a taller one, and at last successful, sits down +with the tin held tightly in both hands, and turns it over and shakes +it. This process seems to inspire fresh hope and energy; for she sets to +work round the lid, which is one of the fitting-in sort, and carefully +presses and pulls. Naturally this does nothing, and she shakes the tin +again. The joyful sound of rattling sweets stimulates to fresh attempts +upon the lid. She tugs and pulls, and thumps the refractory thing on the +floor. By this time the other babies, attracted by the hopeful rattle, +have gathered round and are watching operations; some offer to help, but +all such offers are declined. This oyster is Lulla's. She has undertaken +to force it. Agassiz and his fishes are on her side. She will not give +it up. But she is not getting on; and she sits still for a moment, +knitting her brow, and frowning a little puzzled frown at the refractory +tin. + +Suddenly her forehead smooths, the anxious brown eyes smile, Lulla has +thought a new good thought. The babies struggle up and offer to help +Lulla up, but she shakes her head. She seems to feel if she herself +unaided, of her own free will, hands her problem over to her Ammal or +her Sittie, only so she may achieve her purpose without loss of +self-respect. + +Lulla's beloved nurse is a motherly woman, older than most of our +workers. Her name is Annamai. When the nurses return from church, each +makes straight for her baby; and the babies always respond with a +cordial and pretty affection. But Lulla welcoming Annamai is something +more than pretty. The big white-robed figure no sooner appears in the +garden than the tiny Lulla is all a-quiver with excitement. But it is a +quiet excitement; and if you take any notice, the tentacles suddenly +draw in, and the little face is as wax. If no one seems to notice, then +Lulla lets herself go. She all but dances in her eagerness, while +Annamai is slowly sailing up the walk; and when she reaches the +verandah, Lulla can wait no longer; one spring and she is in her arms, +nestling, cuddling, burying her curls in her neck; then looking up +confidentially, little Lulla begins to talk; everything we have done and +said is being whispered into Annamai's ear. It does not matter that +Lulla cannot yet speak any language known to men; she can make Annamai +understand, and that is all she cares. Once we remember watching her, as +she took the remnant of a sweet we had given her, out of her mouth and +poked it into Annamai's. Could love do more? + +Dimples and Lulla are quite inseparable. Lulla is to Dimples what Tara +is to Evu. She immensely admires her vigorous little junior, and tries +to copy her whenever possible. One delicious game seems to have been +suggested by the arches in the garden. Dimples and Lulla stand on all +fours close together. Then they lean over till their heads touch the +ground, and look through the arch. If you are on the babies' level (that +is on the floor), you will enjoy this game. + +Another Sunday morning entertainment is kissing. Dimples advances upon +Lulla. Lulla falls upon Dimples. Then Dimples hugs Lulla, nearly chokes +her, almost certainly overturns her. The two roll over and over like +kittens. Dimples seizes Lulla by her curls and vehemently kisses face, +neck, and anything else she can get at; and then backs off, propelling +herself on two feet and one hand, in which position she looks like a +puppy on three paws. Lulla smooths her ruffled curls and person +generally, regards Dimples with gravity, and, if in an affectionate +humour herself, leads the attack upon Dimples, and the programme is +repeated. + +But the joy of the hour is to spin in the hammocks. These contrivances +being hung from the roof swing freely, and the special excitement is to +hold on with both hands, and run round so that the hammock twists into a +knot and spins when released, with the baby inside it, in a giddy waltz +till the coil untwists itself. This looks dangerous, and when the game +was first invented we rather demurred. But we are wiser now, and we let +them spin. Lulla especially enjoys this madness. It is startling to see +the tiny thing whirl like a reckless young teetotum. But if you weakly +interfere, Lulla thinks you want to learn the art, and goes at it with +even madder zest, till her very curls are dizzy. + +Dimples and Lulla in disgrace are a piteous spectacle. Dimples opens her +mouth till it is almost square, and the most plaintive wail proceeds +from it for about a minute and a half. Then she stops, looks sadly on +the world, surprised and hurt at its unkindness to her, and then +suddenly she discovers something interesting to do; and hastily rubbing +her knuckles into her eyes to clear them as quickly as maybe of tears, +she scrambles on to her feet, and forgets her injuries. Once she had +been very naughty, and had to be smacked. It is never easy to smack +Dimples, and fortunately she seldom requires it; but hard things have to +be done, so that morning the fat little hands, to their surprise, knew +the feel of chastening pats. "She daren't laugh, and she wouldn't cry"; +this description, her Piria Sittie's, is the best I can offer of that +baby's attitude. The thing could not possibly be a joke, but if meant +otherwise, it was an indignity far past tears. + +Lulla is quite different. She drops on the floor, if admonished, as if +her limbs had suddenly become paralysed, and takes absolutely no notice +of the offending disciplinarian. She simply ignores her, and gazes +mutely beyond her. The offence is not one for explanation, and if +invited to repent, her aloofness of demeanour is perfectly withering. +But take her up in your arms, and she buries her curls in your neck, and +coos her apologies (or is it forgiveness?) in your ear, and loves you +all the better for the momentary breach. + +Our babies are often parables. Lulla stands for the Single Eye. How +often we have watched her and learned the lesson from her! She sees +someone to whom she wants to go at what must seem to her an immense +distance. And the distance is filled with obstacles, some of them quite +enormous. But Lulla never stops to consider possibilities. Difficulties +are simply things to be climbed over. She looks at the goal and makes +straight for it. Her only care is to reach it. Sometimes at afternoon +tea, when she is sitting on someone's lap, facing an empty, +uninteresting plate, she sees another plate three chairs distant, and +upon that plate there is a biscuit or some other sweet attraction. Upon +such occasions Lulla all but plunges into space between the chairs, in +her singleness of purpose. Having reached the lap nearest that plate, +she turns and smiles at her late entertainer just to make sure she is +not offended. But even if she knew she would be, Lulla would not +hesitate. Curly head foremost, eyes on the goal: that is Lulla. + +We have a custom at Dohnavur which perplexes the sober-minded. We call +most of our possessions by names other than their own. These names are +entirely private. We have to keep to this rule of privacy, otherwise we +get shocks. "O Lord, look upon our beloved Puppy, and make her tooth +come through; and bless Alice (in Wonderland), whose inside has gone +wrong," was the petition offered in all seriousness, which finally moved +us to prudence. We do not feel responsible for these names, for they +come of themselves, and we see them when they come. That is all we have +to do with them. Besides the Beetle and the Sea-anemone we have a dear +Cockatoo, who screws her nose and her whole face up into a delightful +pucker when she either laughs or cries, and then suddenly unscrews it in +the middle of either emotion and looks entirely demure. This is the +little Vimala, who, under God, owes her life to her Piria Sittie's +splendid nursing. This baby has always got a private little secret of +joy hidden away somewhere inside. We surprise her sometimes, sitting +alone on the floor talking to herself about it; and then she tells us +bits of it--as much as she thinks we can understand. But most of it is +still hidden away, her own private little secret. And there is an Owlet, +a Coney, a Froglet, and a Cheshire Cat, a Teddy-bear, a Spider, a +Ratlet, and a Rosebud. We are aware that this list is rather mixed; but +to be too critical would end in being nothing, so we are a Menagerie. + +The Rosebud is like her name, small and sweet. When she wants to kiss +her friends, which is whenever she sees them, her mouth is like the pink +point of a moss-rose bud just coming through the moss. George Macdonald, +perfect interpreter of babies, must have had our Preethie's double in +his mind when he wrote:-- + + Whence that three-cornered smile of bliss? + Three angels gave me at once a kiss. + How did you come to us, you dear? + God thought of you, and so I am here. + +The Owlet is twin to that quaint little bird, so its name flew to her +and stayed. This babe has round eyes with long curling lashes. When she +is good, these round eyes beam, and every one forgets that anything so +fascinating can ever be other than good. When she is naughty the case is +exactly reversed. This baby's proper name is Lullitha, which means +Playfulness, and illustrates a side of her character undiscovered by the +visitor who only sees the Owlet sitting on her perch with serious, +watchful, unblinking eyes, regarding the intruder. But most babies are +complex characters, and are not known in an hour. + +The Teddy-bear is a fine child with perfect lungs, a benevolent smile, +and an appetite. Her ruling passion at present is devotion to her food. +She feels unjustly treated because we do not see our way to feed her +lavishly at her own five meal-times and also at the meal-times of all +the other babies in the nursery. + +On Sunday morning, when we are in charge, we hear her views upon this +subject expressed in a manner wholly her own. She has just drained her +own bottle, and is indignantly explaining that it is not nearly enough, +when another bottle arrives for another baby, and this is too much for +Teddy's equanimity. We all know how hard it is to keep up under the +shock of adversity. Teddy does not attempt to keep up; she invariably +topples over. But the way she does this is instructive. She sits stiff +and straight for one brief moment, her milky mouth wide open, her hands +outstretched in despairing appeal; then she clasps her head with her +hands in a tragic fashion, absurd in a very fat infant, sways backwards +and forwards two or three times till the desperate rock ends suddenly, +as the poor Teddy-bear overbalances and bursts with a mighty burst. But +the storm is too furious to last, and she soon subsides with a gusty sob +and a short snort. + +Poor little injured Teddy-bear! If it were not for her splendid health +we might believe her oft-repeated tale of private starvation. "They only +feed me when you are here to see! Other times they give me nothing at +all!" She tells us this frequently in her own particular language, but +the sturdy limbs belie it. This babe in matters of affection and +mischief is as strenuous and original as she is about the one supreme +affair pertaining to her elastic receptacle--to quote a Tamil friend's +polite reference to the cavity within us--and many more edifying scenes +might have been shown from her eventful life. But undoubtedly the +predominating note at the present hour is her insatiable hunger, and +when her name is mentioned in the nursery there is a smile and a new +tale about her amazing appetite. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +More Animals + + +[Illustration: MORE ANIMALS: DEPRESSED. + +Nurses: Karuna to left (the Duckling of "Things as They Are"); and +Annamai, to right, Lulla's beloved.] + +IN full contrast to Teddy-bear is that floppy child, the Coney. In +Hart's _Animals of the Bible_, there is a picture of this baby, only the +fore-paws should be raised in piteous appeal to be taken up. The Coney +is really a pretty child with pathetic eyes and a grateful smile; but +she was long in learning to walk, and felt aggrieved when we +remonstrated. Her feet, she considered, were created to be ornamental +rather than useful, and no amount of coaxing backed up with massage +could persuade her otherwise. So she was left behind in the march; and +when her contemporaries departed for the middle-aged babies' nursery, +she stayed behind with the infants. And the infants had no pity. They +regarded her as a sort of hassock, large and soft and good to jump on. +More than once we have come into the nursery and found the big, meek +child of three kneeling resignedly under a window upon which an +adventurous eighteen-months wished to climb; and often we have found her +prostrate and patient under the dancing feet of Dimples. + +However, the Coney can walk now. This triumph was effected with the help +of an Indianised go-cart, which did what all our persuasions had +entirely failed to do. But the process was not pleasant. The poor Coney +would stand mournfully holding the handle of her instrument of torture, +longing with a yearning unspeakable to sit down and give it up for ever. +Someone would pass, and hope would rise in her heart. She would be +carried now, carried out of sight of that detested go-cart. But no, the +callous-hearted only urged her to proceed. She would howl then with a +howl that told of bitter disappointment. Sometimes she would sit down +flat and regard the thing with a blighting glance, the hatred of a +gentle nature roused to unwonted vehemence. Always her wails accompanied +the rumbling of its wheels. + +"The Conies are but a feeble folk, yet they make their houses in the +rocks." One day in deep depression of spirits the Coney arrived at the +kindergarten. She sat down before the threshold, which is three inches +high, and climbed carefully over it. She found herself in a new world, +where babies were doing wonderful things and enjoying all they did. The +Coney decided to join a class, and was offered beads to thread. Life +with beautiful beads to thread became worth living, and it may be in the +course of time that the tortoise will overtake the hare. In any case we +find much cheer in the conclusion of the verse, for if our Coney builds +in the Rock her being rather feeble will not matter very much. + +Those who possess that friend of our youth, _Alice_, as illustrated by +Sir John Tenniel, may find the photograph twice reproduced of our fat +Cheshire Cat. This baby is remarkable for two things: she smiles and she +vanishes. The time to see the vanishing conducted with more celerity +than Alice ever saw it, is when the babies' warning call is sounded +across the verandah and a visitor appears in the too near horizon. This +baby then vanishes round the nearest corner. There is nothing left of +her, not even a smile. In fact, the chief contrast between her and the +cat among the foliage is that with our Cat the smile goes first. + +Sunday morning, to return to the beginning, is full of possible +misadventure. Sometimes the babies seem to agree among themselves that +it would be well to be good. Then their admiring Sittie and Ammal have +nothing to do but enjoy them. But sometimes it is otherwise. First one +baby pulls her sister's hair, and the other retaliates, till the two get +entangled in each other's curls. Piria Sittie flies to the rescue, +disentangles the combatants and persuades them to make friends. +Meanwhile three restless spirits in bodies to match have crept out +through the open door (it is too hot if we shut the doors), and we find +them comfortably ensconced in forbidden places. The Beetle is a quiet +child. She retires to a corner and looks devout. Presently a sound as of +scraping draws our attention to her. "Beetle! Open your mouth!" Beetle +opens her mouth. It is packed with whitewash off the wall. Then a scared +cry rings through the nursery, and all the babies, imagining awful +things imminent, tumble one on top of the other in a wild rush into +refuge. It is only a large grasshopper which has startled the Cheshire +Cat, whose great eyes are always on the look-out for possible causes of +panic. The grasshopper is banished to the garden and the Cheshire Cat +smiles all over her face. Peace restored, Dimples and the Owlet remember +a dead lizard they found in a corner of the verandah, and set off to +recover it. These two walk exactly like mechanical toys; and as they +strut along hand in hand, or one after the other, they look like +something wound up and going, in a Christmas shop window. Presently they +return with the lizard. Its tail is loose, and they sit down to pull it +off. This is not a nice game, and something else is suggested. Dimple's +mouth grows suddenly square; she wants that lizard's tail. + +Then a dear little child called Muff (because she ought to be called +Huff if the name had not been already appropriated), who has been +solemnly munching a watch, decides it is time to demand more individual +attention. She objects to the presence of another baby on her Sittie's +lap. Why should two babies share one lap? The thing is self-evidently +wrong. One lap, one baby, should be the rule in all properly conducted +nurseries. Muff broods over this in silence, then slides off the crowded +lap and sits down disconsolate, alone. Tears come, big sad tears, as +Muff meditates; and it takes time to explain matters and comfort, +without giving in to the one-lap-one-baby theory. + +[Illustration: TUBBING.] + +We have several helpful babies. Dimples has been discovered paying +required attentions to things smaller than herself; and the Wax Doll +pats the Rosebud if she thinks it will reassure her, when (as rarely +happens) that pet of the family is left stranded on a mat. But Puck is +the most inventive. It was one happy Sunday morning that we came upon +her feeding the Ratlet on her own account. The Ratlet was making +ungrateful remarks; and we hurried across to her and saw that Puck, +under the impression doubtless that any hole would do, was pouring the +milk in a steady stream down the poor infant's nose. Puck smiled up +peacefully. She was sure we would be pleased with her. But the Ratlet +continued eloquent for very many minutes. + +Sometimes (but this is an old story now) our difficulties were increased +by the Spider's habit of whimpering, which had a depressing effect upon +the family. This poor baby was a weak little bag of bones when first she +came to us. The bag was made of shrivelled skin of a dusty brown colour. +Her hair was the colour of her skin, and hung about her head like +tattered shreds of a spider's web. She sat in a bunch and never smiled. +Something about her suggested a spider. Her Tamil name is Chrysanthemum, +which by the change of one letter becomes Spider. So we called her +Spider. + +At first we were not anxious about her; for such little children pick +up quickly if they are healthy to begin with, as we believed she was. +But she did not respond to the good food and care, and only grew thinner +and more miserable as the weeks passed, till she looked like the first +picture in a series of advertisements of some marvellous patent food, +and we wondered if she would ever grow like the fat and flourishing last +baby of the series. For two months this state of things continued; she +grew more wizened every day; and the uncanny spider-limbs and attitude +gave her the air of not being a human baby at all, but a terrible little +specimen which ought not to be on view but should be hidden safely away +in some private medical place--on a shelf in a bottle of spirits of +wine. + +We are asked sometimes if such tiny things can suffer other than +physically. We have reason to think they can. As all else failed, we +took a little girl from school for whom the Spider had an affection, and +let her love her all day long; and almost at once there was a change in +the sad little face of the Spider. She had been cared for by an old +grandfather after her mother's death, and it seemed as if she had +fretted for him and needed someone all to herself to make up for what +she was missing. + +This little girl, the Cod-fish by name, was devoted to the Spider. She +nestled her and played with her--or attempted to, I should say, for at +first the Spider almost resented any attempts to play. "She doesn't know +how to smile!" said the Cod-fish disconsolately after a week's petting +and loving had resulted only in fewer whimpers, but not as yet in +smiles. A few days later she came to us, and announced with much +emotion: "She has smiled three times!" Next day the record rose to +seven; after that we left off counting. + +The Spider is fat and bonnie now. Her skin is a clear and creamy brown, +and her hair has lost its dustiness; but she still likes to sit crumpled +up, and a small alcove in the kitchen is her favourite haven when tired +of the world. Seen unexpectedly in there, bunched in a tight knot, her +dark, keen little eyes peering out of the light-coloured little face, +she still suggests a spider. But it is a cheerful Spider, which makes +all the difference. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +The Parrot House + + +[Illustration: RED LAKE AND HILL. + +As seen (without the water) from the Taraha Nursery.] + +THE time to see the Taraha nursery at its best is between late evening +and early morning, and again about noon. It is perfectly peaceful then. +Thirty mats are spread upon the floor. Thirty babies are strewn upon the +mats. All the thirty are asleep. A sleeping baby is good. Thirty babies +all good at once is something we cannot promise at any other hour. + +Shading your lantern, and walking carefully so as not to tread on more +scattered limbs than may be, you wander round the nursery and meditate +upon the beautiful ways of childhood. There is something so touching in +sleeping innocence, and you are touched. Here two chubby babies are +lying locked in each other's arms. You have to look twice before you see +which limbs belong to which. There another is hugging a doll minus its +head. Next to her a baby sleeps pillowed on another, and the other does +not mind. In the middle of the floor, far from her mat, a sturdy +three-year-old sprawls content. You pick her up gently and lay her on +her mat. With an expression of determined resolution the baby rolls off +again; and if you attempt another remove, an ominous pucker of the +forehead warns you to desist. You wonder if the babies are quite as +good as they seem. One of the dear, fat, devoted little pair you +noticed at first, stirs, disentangles herself from her neighbour, and +gives her a slight kick. There is a smothered, sleepy howl, and the kick +is returned. "Water!" wails the first fat baby. "Water!" wails the +second. You get water, give it, pat both fat babies till they go to +sleep, and then cautiously retire. It would be a pity if all the babies +were to waken thirsty and kick each other. At the door you turn and look +back. Graceful babies, clumsy babies, babies who lie extended like young +pokers, babies curled like kittens. All sorts of babies, good, bad, and +middling, but all blessedly asleep. + + Sleep, baby, sleep! + Thy father guards his sheep, + Thy mother shakes the dreamland-tree + Down fall the little dreams for thee, + Sleep, baby, sleep! + + Sleep, baby, sleep! + Our Saviour loves His sheep. + He is the Lamb of God on high, + Who for our sakes came down to die. + Sleep, baby, sleep! + +The pretty German lullaby rises unbidden, and is pushed away by the +quick, sad thoughts that will not listen to it. For under all the +laughter and nursery frolic and happiness, we cannot but remember why +these little ones are here. Round about the compound in a great triangle +there are three Temple towers. They are out of sight though near us, but +we cannot forget they are there. They stand for that which deprives +these children of their birthright. Oh for the day when those Temple +towers will fall and the reign of righteousness begin! There was a time +when it seemed impossible to desire that the fire should be allowed to +touch the stately and beautiful things of the world. Now there is +something that satisfies as nothing else could in the vision of that +purifying fire; and the promise that stands out like a light in the +darkness is that which tells that the Son of Man shall send forth His +angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom, all things that +offend. + +In the tiny babies' nursery many a crooning Indian lullaby is sung +to the babies in their swinging white cradles; but in the Taraha +nursery we sing sweet old hymns, in Tamil and English, and then all +sensible people are supposed to go to sleep. But one evening after +the singing, two little tots settled down for a talk. Said one lying +comfortably on her back with her two hands clasped behind her head: +"Who takes care of us at night when we all go to sleep?" Said the +other in a mixture of Tamil and English: "Jesus-tender-Shepherd takes +care of us--Jesus-loves-me-this-I-know." The first baby rolled over upon +her small sister with a crow of derision. "It is not! It is Accal! I +woke one night and saw her!" The other baby insisted she was making a +mistake. "Accal sleeps, all people sleep; they lie down like us and go +to sleep. Only Jesus stays awake, and never, never goes to sleep." +"Never, never?" questioned the first, and was quiet for a minute +considering the matter; then with a sceptical little laugh, "Did you +ever wake up and see Him?" + +If the babies were always in a state of calm repose, the Taraha's pet +name, Parrot-house, would be inappropriate: but for nearly ten hours of +the day they are awake and talkative. Talk, however, is a mild word by +which to describe their powers of conversation. Sometimes we wonder if +they never tire of chattering, and then we remember they have only +lately learned to talk. They have not had time to tire. + +[Illustration: CHILDREN WADING] + +Once we listened, hoping that the trailing clouds of glory so recently +departed had left some trace of illumination in this their first +expression in earth's language of their feelings and emotions. But we +found them very mundane. Most of the conversation concerned their +"saman," a comprehensive Indian word used by people with limited +vocabularies to express all manner of things to play with. Their "saman" +was various. Dolls, of course, and the remnants of dolls; tins and the +lids thereof; bits of everything which could break; corks, stones, +seeds, half cocoa-nut shells; rags of many ages and colours; scraped +down morsels of brick; withered flowers and leaves; sticks of all sorts +and sizes; English Christmas cards, sometimes with much domestic +information on the back; unauthorised sundries from the +kindergarten--delivered up with a smile intended to assure you that they +were only being kept for Sittie; and puchies. Puchies are insects. We +have one baby who collects puchies. "Look!" she said, one morning before +prayers, "Deah little five puchies!" and she opened her hand and five +red and black beetles crawled slowly out, to the delight of the devout, +who scrambled up from their orderly rows with shrieks of appreciation. + +But if the babies' conversation was unenlightening, their chosen +avocations are not uninteresting. They are always busy about something, +and, from their point of view, something important. There are, of +course, some among the thirty who are unimaginative and unenterprising. +These sit in the sand and play. Others have more to do. Life to them is +full of the unknown. The unknown is full of possibilities. The great +thing is to experiment. Nothing is too insignificant to explore, and all +five senses are useful to the thoroughly competent baby. + +They knew, of course, all the flowers, and the discovery of anything +fresh was always followed by a scene which suggested a colony of +small and active ants hauling some large object to their nest; for the +nearest grown-up person was invariably hailed, and pulled, and pushed, +and hurried along till the "new flower" was reached. Then, if the object +was incautious enough to stoop down to examine it, the ants, ant-wise, +would envelope it, climbing, swarming all over it, till there was +nothing to be seen but ants. + +[Illustration: CHILDREN WADING.] + +They knew the habits of caterpillars, and especially they had knowledge +about the wonderful silver chrysalis which pins itself to the pointed +leaves of the oleander. They knew what was packed up inside, and some +with wide-open eyes had watched the miracle slowly evolving as the +butterfly unpacked itself, and sunned its crumpled velvet wings, till +the crumples smoothed, and the wings dried, and the butterfly fluttered +away. They knew, too, the less approachable ways of the wild bees, and +where they hive, and what happens if they are disturbed; and they knew +the private feelings of calves, and which likes to be treated as a +brother and which resents such liberties. Crows they knew intimately, +and squirrels a little; for infants fallen from their nests have often +been taken care of, much against their foolish wills, until old enough +to look after themselves. Their namesakes, the parrots, they knew very +well; and the dainty little sunbirds that flash from flower to flower +like little living jewels in the sunlight; and the clever tailor-bird, +which sews its own nest, knotting its thread like a grown-up human +being; and the wise leaf-insect that can hardly be found till it moves; +and the great, green, frisky grasshopper that seems to invite a chase. + +We found they knew, alas, too much about the misuse of everything +growing in the field! The tamarind fruit makes condiment, but eaten raw +it gives fever; and the babies think we are wrong here, and they are +fond of forgetting our rules. Many kinds of grasses are very good to +eat; and here again we are mistaken, for we know not the flavour of +grasses. Seeds may be useful to plant; but those who think their use +ends there, are short-sighted and ignorant people. Upon these and other +matters the babies feel we have much to learn. + +[Illustration: ESLI AND LITTLE KOHILA. + +Taken a year earlier.] + +One weird joy has been theirs, and they never will forget it. For one +whole blissful afternoon they followed the snake-charmer about at a +respectful distance; and they cannot understand why we are not anxious +they should dance as he danced, and pipe as he piped, round the hopeful +holes they discover in the red mud walls. + +Other things they had learned to do, not wholly innocent. They must have +made friends with the masons who built their new nursery, and persuaded +them to do their work in a sympathetic spirit; for they knew the weak +points hidden from our eyes, and how pleasant it is to scoop mortar out +of cracks between the bricks of the floor. They had learned how most of +their toys were made, and how a doll could be most easily dissected, and +the particular taste of its inside. They knew, too, the lusciousness of +divers sorts of sand--this last, however, being a mixture of crime and +disease, and treated as such, is not a popular sin. Finally, to our +lasting disgrace, they had learned, after a series of thoughtful +experiments, how best to obey a command and yet elude its intention; +thus on a wet day, when they were commanded not to go out, their Sittie +found them lying full length in a long row on the edge of the verandah, +their heads protruding so as to catch the lovely drip from the roof. And +all these things they had carefully learned in spite of a certain amount +of supervision; and, being entirely unsuspicious, they will take you +into their confidence and let you share the forbidden fruit, if you are +so inclined. + +But, after all, perfection of goodness would make us more anxious than +even these enormities; we should fear our babies were growing too +good--a fear not pressing at present. The Parrot-house only overwhelms +when the birds begin to sing. Then indeed all who can, flee far away, +for the babies once started are difficult to stop. They are sure you +like it as much as they do, and are anxious to oblige you when you visit +their world. So they sing with the greatest earnestness, and as they +invariably hang on to every available part of you, and punctuate their +melodies with kisses and embraces, escape is not always practicable. + +The Taraha nursery was our first substantial building. It is built upon +foundations raised well off the ground, and has a wide verandah. When +first it was opened and the children were invited to take possession, +they did so most completely. One quaint little person of barely three, +called Kohila, whose small, repressed face in the photograph gives no +hint of character, used to stalk up and down the verandah with an air of +proprietorship which left no doubt in any mind as to her opinion on the +subject. Another (sharing the swinging cot with Kohila in the photo) sat +on the top step and smiled encouragingly to visitors. It was nice to be +smiled at, but there was something very condescending in the smile. +Another stood guard over the plants, which grew in pots much bigger than +herself all the way down the verandah. If any presumed to touch them, +she would dart out upon them with an indignant chirrup. For days after +the great event--the opening of the Taraha--small parties waited on +visitors, formed in procession before and behind, and escorted them +round, explaining all mysteries, and insisting upon due admiration. +Everything had to be interviewed, from teaspoons to pots of fern. This +concluded, the guests were politely dismissed, and departed, let us +hope, properly penetrated with a sense of the kindness of the babies. + +There have always been some who object to visitors. One of these showed +her objection, not by crying and running away, as undignified babies do, +but by sitting exactly where she was when she first caught sight of the +intruder, and staring straight into space with a very stony stare. A +sensitive visitor could hardly have had the temerity to pass her, but +normal visitors are not sensitive. Sometimes they attempted to make +friends. This was too much. One fat arm would be slowly raised till it +covered the baby's eyes, and in this position she would sit like a small +petrifaction, till the horror had withdrawn. + +[Illustration: PREETHA AWARE OF A FOE. + +Tara on the left: the Coney on the right.] + +This baby, Preetha by name, has in most matters a way of her own. One of +her little peculiarities is a strong preference for solo music as +compared with concert. She listens attentively to others' performances, +then disappears. If followed, she will be found alone in a corner, with +her face to the wall and her back to the world; and if she thinks +herself unobserved, you will be regaled with a solo. This experience is +interesting to the musical. It is never twice alike. Sometimes it is a +succession of sounds, like a tune that has lost its way; sometimes, a +recognisable version of the chorus lately learned. At other times she +delivers her soul in a series of short groans and grunts, beating time +with her podgy hands. If she perceives through the back of her head that +someone is looking or listening, she stops at once; and no persuasions +can ever produce that special rehearsal again. Of late this baby, being +now nearly three, has awakened to a sense of life's responsibilities, +and she evidently wishes to prepare to meet them suitably. Yesterday +evening she came to me with an exceedingly serious face, pointed in the +direction of the kindergarten room, and then tapping herself, remarked: +"Amma! I kindergarten." No more was said; but we know we shall soon see +her solemnly waddling into the schoolroom, and we wonder what will +happen. Will she continue to insist upon a corner to herself? + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +The Bear Garden + + +[Illustration: JULLANIE AMONG THE GRASSES.] + +"THE fruit of the lotus--a capsule--ripens below the surface of the +water. When the seeds are ripe and leave the berry, a small bubble of +air attached to them brings them to the surface, and the seeds are +carried wherever the wind and waves take them until the bubble bursts; +when the seed, being heavier than water, sinks to the bottom, and then +begins to grow to form a new plant, which may be at some distance from +the parent one. In this simple way the lotus plant is enabled to +spread." So says our botany book; and the thought of the lotus seed in +its little air-boat floating away over the water to be sown, perhaps, +far from the parent plant, is full of suggestion, and leads us straight +to the Bear-garden. + +A lotus-pool, a bear-garden--the connection is not obvious. _Alice_ in +her wanderings never wandered into bewilderment more profound than such +a mixture of ideas. But this is the way we get to it: We have called +these little children Lotus-buds--for such they are in their youngness +and innocence; and the underlying thought runs deeper, as those who have +read the first chapter know--but the Lotus-buds must grow into flowers +and must be sown as living seeds, perhaps far away from the happy place +they knew when they were buds. The little air-boat will come for them. +The breath of the Spirit that bloweth where it listeth will carry them +where it will, and we want them to be ready to be sown wherever the +pools of the world are barren of lotus flowers. And this brings us +straight to the newest of our beginnings in Dohnavur--the Kindergarten. + +An ideal kindergarten is a place where the teachers train the scholars, +and we hope to have that in time; at present the case is opposite, and +that is why it has its name, the name that conflicts with the +lotus-pool--the Bear-garden. + +In this peaceful room Classes B, C, and D have taken their young +teachers in hand--Rukma, Preena, and Sanda. Of these Rukma (Radiance) +has the clearest ideas about discipline; Preena (the Elf) knows best how +to coax; and Sanda, excellent Mouse that she is, has the gift of +patience. These three (who after all are only school-girls, continuing +their own education with their Prema Sittie) are attempting to instruct +the babies on the lines of organised play; but the babies feel they have +much to teach their teachers, and this is how they do it:-- + +Prema Sittie goes into the room when the kindergarten is in progress, +and from three classes at once babies come springing towards her with +squeals of joy, and they clasp her knees and look up with eyes full of +affection and confidence in their welcome. "Go back to your place!" she +says, and tries to look severe; with a chuckle the children obey, and +she looks round and takes notes. + +Chellalu is lying full-length on the bench, with a look of supreme +content on her face, and her two feet against the wall. Pyarie has +turned her back to the picture that is being shown, and is tying a +handkerchief round her head. Ruhinie, an India-rubber-ball sort of baby, +has suddenly bounced up from her seat, and is starting a chorus, of +which she is fond, at the top of her not very gentle voice; and Komala, +a perfect sprite, is tickling the child who sits next to her. "Sittie!" +exclaims the distracted teacher, "they won't learn anything!" Or if she +happens to be the Mouse, she is calmly engaged with the one good child +in her class. + +The next group is stringing beads on pieces of wire. "Look, look!" and +an eager babe holds out her wire for admiration, and probably spills her +beads in her effort to secure attention. If she does, there is a general +scramble, beads rolling loose on the floor being quite irresistible. One +wicked baby sits by herself and strings her beads on her curls. + +A few minutes later it is mat-plaiting; and the agile little fingers are +diligently weaving pieces of blue and yellow material, bits over from +their elder sisters' garments, beautifully unconscious that they are +supposed to be working the colours alternately. Sometimes in the gayest +way they exclaim: "Sittie! It's wrong! it's wrong!" Occasionally there +is a howl from a child who has been pinched by another, or whose +neighbour has helped herself to her beads. Sittie crosses the room +hurriedly. "What's the matter?" With tears rolling down her cheeks the +victim points to her oppressor. "May you do that?" is the invariable +English question. It is answered by a shake of the head, the tiniest +baby understanding that particular remark. The injured baby smiles. A +reproof, or at worst a pat on the fat arm next to hers, satisfies her +sense of justice, and she is content. + +When an English lesson begins, those afflicted with delicate nerves are +happier elsewhere. One class has a toy farmyard, another a set of +tea-things, the third a doll which every member of the class is aching +to embrace. The teachers and children alike are inclined to talk with +emphasis; and if you stand between the three classes you hear queer +answers to queerer questions, and wonder if the babies at Babel were +anything like so bewildering. + +But this vision of the kindergarten is hardly a fortnight old; for +Classes B, C, and D are of recent development, and are made up of some +heedless characters, as Chellalu and Pyarie, who could not keep up with +class A, and a few more young things from the nursery who were wilder +than wild rabbits from the wood when we began. Also it should be stated +that from the babies' point of view white people are only playthings. +"They were very good before you came!" is the unflattering remark +frequently addressed to us; and as we discreetly retire, the babies do +seem to become suddenly beautifully docile. But even so they might be +better, as an unconscious comedy over-seen this morning proves. I was in +the porch outside the door, when Rukma, pointing to a blackboard on +which were written sundry words, told Chellalu to show her "cat," and I +looked in interested to know if Chellalu really knew anything of +reading. Chellalu brandished the pointer, then turned to Rukma with a +confidential smile, "Cat? Where is it, Accal? Is it at the top or at the +bottom?" Rukma, who has a keen sense of the comic, seemed to find it +difficult to look as she felt she ought. Chellalu caught the twinkle in +her eye, and throwing herself heartily into the spirit of the game, +which was evidently intended to be a kindergarten version of Hunt the +Mouse through the Wood, she searched the blackboard for cat. Then to +Rukma: "Accal! dear Accal! Tell _me_, and I'll tell _you_!" + +There is nothing that helps us so much to be good as to be believed in +and thought better than we are; and the converse is true, so we do not +want to be always suspecting Chellalu of sin; but this last was entirely +too artless, and this was apparently Rukma's view, for she sent Chellalu +back to her seat and called up another baby, who, fairly radiating +virtue, immediately found the cat. + +The next room--which Class A (the first to be formed) has to itself--is +a haven of peace after the Bear-garden. It is a pleasant room like the +other, pretty with pictures and with flowers. And the little bright +faces make it a happy place, for this class, though serious-minded, is +exceedingly cheerful. There is the demure little Tingalu, the good child +of the kindergarten, its hope and stay in troublous hours, and the +quaint little trio, Jeya, Jullanie, and Sella--this last is called +Cock-robin by the family, for she has eyes and manners which remind us +of the bird, and she hardly ever walks, she hops. Mala and Bala are in +the class, and a lively scamp called Puvai. + +The kindergarten is worked in English, helped out with Tamil when +occasion requires. This plan, adopted for reasons pertaining to the +future of the children, is resulting in something so comical that we +shall be sorry when the first six months are over and the babies grow +correct. At present they talk with delightful abandon impossible to +reproduce, but very entertaining to those who know both languages. They +tack Tamil terminations to English verbs, and English nouns make +subjects for Tamil predicates. They turn their sentences upside down and +inside out, and any way in fact which occurs to them at the moment, only +insisting upon one thing: you must be made to understand. They apply +everything they learn as immediately as possible, and woe to the unwary +flounderer in the realm of natural science who offers an explanation of +any phenomena of nature other than that taught in the kindergarten. The +learned baby regards you with a tender sort of pity. Poor thing, you are +very ignorant; but you will know better in time--if only you will come +to the kindergarten, the source of the fountain of knowledge. + +The ease and the quickness with which a new word is appropriated +constantly surprises us. As for example: one morning two babies wandered +round the Prayer-room, and, discovering passion-flowers within reach, +eagerly begged for them in Tamil. One of the two pushed the other aside +and wanted all the flowers. "Greedy! greedy!" I said reprovingly, in +English. "Greedy _mine_!" was the immediate rejoinder, and the little +hand was held out with more certainty than ever now that the name of the +flower was known. "Greedy _my_ flower! _Mine!_" + +But some of the quaintest experiences are when the eloquent baby, +determined to express herself in English, falls back upon scraps of +kindergarten rhyme and delivers it in all seriousness. On the evening +before my birthday I was banished from my room, and the children +decorated it exactly as they pleased. When I returned I was implored not +to look at anything, as it was not intended to be seen till next +morning. Next morning the babies came in procession with their elders, +and while I was occupied with them out on the verandah, Chellalu and her +friend Naveena, discovering something unusual in my room, escaped from +the ranks and went off to examine the mystery. I found them a moment +later gazing in astonished joy at the glories there revealed. "Who did +it all?" gasped Chellalu, whose intention, let us hope, was perfectly +reverent. "God did it all!" + +The one kindergarten class taught entirely in Tamil is the Scripture +lesson, illustrated whenever possible by pictures; and being always +taught about sacred things in Tamil, the babies have no doubt about the +language in use in Bible days. But sometimes a little mind is puzzled, +as an instructive aside revealed a day or two ago. For their teacher had +told them in English, not as a Scripture lesson, but just as a story, +about Peter and John and the lame man. The picture was before them, and +they understood and followed keenly; but one little girl whispered to +another, who happened to be the well-informed Cock-robin: "Did Peter and +John talk English or Tamil?" "Tamil, of course!" returned Cock-robin, +without a moment's hesitation. + +The Scripture lessons are usually given by Arulai, whose delight is +Bible teaching. "So that as much as lieth in you you will apply yourself +wholly to this one thing, and draw all your cares and studies this way," +is a word that always comes to mind when one thinks of Arulai and her +Bible. She much enjoys taking the babies, believing that the impressions +created upon the mind of a little child are practically indelible. + +Sometimes these impressions are expressed in vigorous fashion. Once the +subject of the class was the Good Samaritan. The babies were greatly +exercised over the scandalous behaviour of the priest and the Levite. +"Punish them! Let them have whippings!" they demanded. Arulai explained +further. But one baby got up from her seat and walked solemnly to the +picture. "Take care what you are doing!" she remarked impressively in +Tamil, shaking her finger at the two retreating backs. "Naughty! +naughty!"--this was in English--"take care!" + +One of the favourite pictures shows Abraham and Isaac on the way to the +mount of sacrifice. This story was told one morning with much reverence +and feeling, and the babies were impressed. There were tears in Bala's +eyes as she gazed at the picture, but she brushed them away hurriedly +and hoped no one had noticed. Only Chellalu appeared perfectly +unconcerned. She had business of her own on hand, and the story, it +seemed, had not touched her. The babies are searched before they come to +school, and all toys, bits of string, old tins, and sundries are removed +from their persons. But there are ways of evading inquisitors. Chellalu +knows these ways. She now produced a long wisp of red tape from +somewhere--she did not tell us where--and proceeded to tie her feet +together. This accomplished, she curled herself up on the bench like a +caterpillar on a leaf, and to all appearances went to sleep. Why was she +not awakened and compelled to behave properly? asks the reader, duly +shocked. Perhaps because on that rather special morning the teacher +preferred her asleep. + +[Illustration: ARULAI AND RUKMA, WITH NAVEENA.] + +The story finished, the children were questioned, and they answered with +unwonted gravity. "What did Isaac say to his father as they walked alone +together?" An awed little voice had begun the required answer, when +Chellalu suddenly uncurled, sat up, and said in clear, decided Tamil: +"He said, 'Father! do not kill me!' _Yesh!_ that was what he said." + +When first the babies heard about Heaven, they all wanted to go at once, +and with difficulty were restrained from praying to be taken there +immediately. There was one naughty child who, when she was given +medicine, invariably announced, "I will not stay in this village: I am +going to Heaven! I am going now!" But they soon grew wiser. It was our +excitable, merry little Jullanie who summed up all desires with most +simplicity: "Lord Jesus, please take me there or anywhere anytime; only +wherever I am, please stay there too!" Some of the babies are carnal: +"When I go to that village (Heaven), I shall go for a ride on the +cherubim's wings. I will make them take me to all sorts of places, just +wherever I want to go." + +The latest pronouncement, however, was for the moment the most +perplexing. "Come-anda-look-ata-well!" said Chellalu yesterday evening, +the sentence in a single long word. The well is being dug in the +Menagerie garden and is surrounded by a trellis, beyond which the babies +may not pass, unless taken by one of ourselves. As we drew near to the +well, Chellalu pointed to it and said: "Amma! That is the way to +Heaven!" This speech, which was in Tamil, considerably surprised me, as +naturally we think of Heaven above the bright blue sky. The yawning gulf +of the unfinished well suggested something different. + +But Chellalu was positive. "It is the way to Heaven. _I_ may not go +there, but _you_ may! Yesh! _you_ may go to Heaven, Amma, but _I_ may +not!" She had nothing more to say; and we wondered how she could +possibly have arrived at so extraordinary a conclusion, till we +remembered that it had been explained to the babies that any baby +falling in would probably be drowned and die, and so until it was +finished and made safe no baby must go near it. Chellalu had evidently +argued that as to die meant going to Heaven, the well must be the way to +Heaven; and as only grown-up people might go near it, they, and they +alone apparently, were allowed to go to Heaven. + +These babies are nothing if not practical. Arulai had been teaching the +story of the Unmerciful Servant; and to bring it down to nursery life, +supposed the case of a baby who snatched at other babies' toys, and was +unfair and selfish. Such a baby, if not reformed, would grow up and be +like the Unmerciful Servant. The babies looked upon the back of the +offender as shown in the picture. "Bad man! Nasty man!" they said to +each other, pointing to him with aversion. And Arulai closed the class +with a short prayer that none of the babies might ever be like the +Unmerciful Servant. + +The prayer over, the babies rushed to the table where their toys were +put during the Scripture lesson. Pyarie got there first, and, gathering +all she could reach, she swept them into her lap and was darting off +with them, when a word from Arulai recalled her. For a moment there was +a struggle. Then she ran up to Tingalu, the child she had chiefly +defrauded, poured all her treasures into her lap, and then sprang into +Arulai's arms with the eager question: "Acca! Acca! Am I not a +_Merciful_ Servant?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +The Accals + + "This sacred work demands not lukewarm, selfish, + slack souls, but hearts more finely tempered than + steel, wills purer and harder than the + diamond."--PERE DIDON. + + +[Illustration: PONNAMAL, WITH PREETHA ON HER KNEE, AND TARA BESIDE HER.] + +THE Accals, without whom this work in all its various branches could not +be undertaken, are a band of Indian sisters (the word Accal means older +sister) who live for the service of the children. First among the Accals +is Ponnamal (Golden). With the quick affection of the East the children +find another word for Gold and call her doubly Golden Sister. + +Sometimes we are asked if we ever find an Indian fellow-worker whom we +can thoroughly trust. The ungenerous question would make us as indignant +as it would if it were asked about our own relations, were it not that +we know it is asked in ignorance by those who have never had the +opportunity of experiencing, or have missed the happiness of enjoying, +true friendship with the people of this land. Those who have known that +happiness, know the limitless loyalty and the tender, wonderful love +that is lavished on the one who feels so unworthy of it all. If there is +distance and want of sympathy between those who are called to be workers +together with the great Master, is not something wrong? Simple, +effortless intimacy, that closeness of touch which is friendship indeed, +is surely possible. But rather we would put it otherwise, and say that +without it service together, of the only sort we would care to know, is +perfectly impossible. + +[Illustration: SELLAMUTTU AND SUSEELA.] + +In our work all along we have had this joy to the full. God in His +goodness gave us from the first those who responded at once to the +confidence we offered them. In India the ideal of a consecrated life is +a life with no reserves--which seeks for nothing, understands nothing, +cares for nothing but to be poured forth upon the sacrifice and service. +Pierce through the various incrustations which have over-laid this pure +ideal, give no heed to the effect of Western influence and example, and +you come upon this feeling, however expressed or unexpressed, at the +very back of all--the instinct that recognises and responds to the call +to sacrifice, and does not understand its absence in the lives of those +who profess to follow the Crucified. Who, to whom this ideal is indeed +"The Gleam," that draws and ever draws the soul to passionate +allegiance, can fail to find in the Indian nature at its truest and +finest that kinship of spirit which knits hearts together? "And it came +to pass when he had made an end of speaking, that the soul of Jonathan +was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own +soul": this tells it all. The spring of heart to heart that we call +affinity, the knitting no hand can ever afterward unravel--these +experiences have been granted to us all through our work together, and +we thank God for it. + +Ponnamal's work lies chiefly among the convert-nurses and the babies. +She has charge of the nurseries and of the food arrangements, so +intricate and difficult to the mere lay mind; she trains her workers to +thoroughness and earnestness, and by force of example seems to create an +atmosphere of cheerful unselfishness that is very inspiring. How often +we have sent a young convert, tempted to self-centredness and +depression, to Ponnamal, and seen her return to her ordinary work braced +and bright and sensible. We are all faulty and weak at times, and +every nursery, like every life, has its occasional lapses; but on the +whole it is not too much to say that the nurseries are happy places, and +Ponnamal's influence goes through them all like a fresh wind. And this +in spite of very poor health. For Ponnamal, who was the leader of our +itinerating band, broke down hopelessly, and thought her use in life had +passed--till the babies came and brought her back to activity again. And +the joy of the Lord, we have often proved, is strength for body as well +as soul. + +Sellamuttu, who comes next to Ponnamal, is the "Pearl" of previous +records, and she has been a pearl to us through all our years together. +She is special Accal to the household of children above the baby-age--a +healthy, high-spirited crow of most diverse dispositions; and she is +loved by one and all with a love which is tempered with great respect, +for she is "all pure justice," as a little girl remarked feelingly not +long ago, after being rather sharply reproved for exceeding naughtiness: +"within my heart wrath burned like a fire; but my mouth could not open +to reply, for inside me a voice said, 'It is true, entirely true; Accal +is perfectly just.'" + +This Accal, however, is most tender in her affections, and among the +babies she has some particular specials. One of these is the +solemn-faced morsel of the photograph, to save whom she travelled, +counting by time, as far as from London to Moscow and back; and the baby +arrived as happy and well as when the friends at "Moscow" sent her off +with prayers and blessings and kindness. But the photograph was a shock. +"Aiyo!" she said, quite upset to see her delight so misrepresented, +"that is not Suseela! There is no smile, no pleasure in her face!" We +comforted her by the assurance that any one who understood babies and +their ways would consider the camera responsible for the expression. +And at least the baby was obedient. Had she not told her to make a +salaam, and had not the little hand gone up in serious salute? A +perfectly obedient baby is Sellamuttu's ideal, and she was satisfied. + +[Illustration: TO THE RIGHT, SUHINIE, AND HER BABY SUNUNDA] + +Both these sisters came to us at some loss to themselves, for both could +have lived at home at ease if they had been so inclined. Ponnamal lost +all her little fortune by joining us. She could, perhaps, have recovered +it by going to law, but she did not feel it right to do so, and she +suffered herself to be defrauded. "How could I teach others to be +unworldly if I myself did what to them would appear worldly-minded?" +That was all she ever said by way of explanation. + +Next to Ponnamal and Sellamuttu come the motherly-hearted Gnanamal and +Annamai. They came to us when we were in circumstances of peculiar +difficulty. The work was just beginning, and we had not enough +trustworthy helpers; so, wearied with disturbed nights, we were almost +at the end of our strength. "Send us help!" we prayed, and went on each +trying to do the work of three. It was one hot, tiring afternoon, when +we longed to forget everything and rest for half an hour, but could not, +because there was so much to do, that a bright, capable face appeared at +the door of our room, and Annamai, Lulla's beloved, came in and said: +"God sent me, and my relative" (naming a mission catechist) "brought me. +And so I have come!" + +And Gnanamal--we were in dire straits, for a dear little babe had +suffered at the hands of one who thought first of herself and second of +her charge, and the most careful tending was needed if the baby was to +survive--it was then Gnanamal came and took charge of the delicate +child, and became the comfort and help she has ever continued to be. +When there is serious illness, and night-nursing is required, Gnanamal +is always ready to volunteer; though to her, as to most of us in India, +night work is not what the flesh would choose. Then in the morning, +when we go to relieve her, we find her bright as ever, as if she had +slept comfortably all the time. We think this sort of help worth +gratitude. + +The convert-workers, dear as dear children, but, thank God, dependable +as comrades, come next in age to the head Accals. Arulai Tara (known to +some as "Star") is what her name suggests, something steadfast, +something shining, something burning with a pure devotion which kindles +other fires. We cannot imagine our children without their beloved +Arulai. Then there is Sundoshie (Joy), to the left next Suhinie in the +photo, a young wife for whom poison was prepared three times, and whose +escape from death at the hand of husband and mother-in-law was one of +those quiet miracles which God is ever working in this land of cruelty +in dark places. And Suhinie (Gladness), whose story of deliverance has +been told before;[E] and Esli, the gift of a fellow-missionary, a most +faithful girl; and others younger, but developing in character and +trustworthiness. All these young converts need much care, but the care +of genuine converts is very fruitful work; and one interesting part of +it is the fitting of each to her niche, or of fitting the niche to her. +Discernment of spirit is needed for this, for misfits means waste energy +and great discomfort; and energy is too good a thing to waste, and +comfort too pleasant a thing to spoil. So those who are responsible for +this part of the work would be grateful for the remembrance of any who +know how much depends upon it. + +Among the recognised "fits" in our family is "the Accal who loves the +unlovable babies." This is Suhinie. We tried her once with the Taraha +children; but the terrible activity of these young people was altogether +too much for the slowly moving machinery of poor Suhinie's brain, and +she was perfectly overwhelmed and very miserable. For Suhinie hates +hurry and sudden shocks of any sort, and the babies of maturer years +discovered this immediately; and Suhinie, waddling forlornly after the +babies, looked like a highly respectable duck in charge of a flock of +impertinent robins. + +[Illustration: THREE CONVERT WORKERS.] + +It was quite a misfit, and Suhinie's worst came to the top, and we +speedily moved her back again to the Premalia nursery. + +For there you see Suhinie in her true sphere. Give her a poor, puny +babe, who will never, if she can help it, let her Accal have an +undisturbed hour; give her the most impossible, most troublesome baby in +the nursery, and then you will see Suhinie's best. We discovered this +when Ponnamal was in charge of the Neyoor nursery. Ponnamal had one +small infant so cross that nobody wanted her. She would cry half the +night, a snarly, snappy cry, that would not stop unless she was rocked, +and began again as soon as the rocking was stopped. Ponnamal gave her to +Suhinie. + +"Night after night till two in the morning she would sing to that +fractious child"--this was Ponnamal's story to me when next I went to +Neyoor. "She never seemed to tire; hymn after hymn she would sing, on +and on and on. I never saw her impatient with it; she just loved it from +the first." And a curious thing began to happen: the baby grew like her +Accal. This likeness was not caught in the photograph, but is +nevertheless so observable that visitors have often asked if the little +one were her own child. + +This baby, Sununda by name, is greatly attached to Suhinie. As she is +over two years old now, she has been promoted to the Taraha, and being +an extremely wilful little person, she sometimes gets into trouble. One +day I was called to remonstrate, and a little "morning glory" was +required, and I put her in a corner to think about it. Another sinner +had to be dealt with, and when I returned Sununda was nowhere to be +found. I searched all over the Taraha and in the garden, and finally +found her in the Premalia cuddled close to Suhinie. "She has told me all +about it," said Suhinie, who was nursing another edition of difficult +infancy; and she looked down on the curly head with eyes of brooding +affection, like a tender turtle-dove upon her nestling. Then the roguish +brown eyes smiled up at me with an expression of perfect confidence that +I would understand and sympathise with the desire to share the troubles +of this strange, sad life with so beloved an Accal. + +The question of discipline is sometimes rather difficult with so many +dispositions, each requiring different dealing. We try, of course, to +fit the penalty to the crime, so that the child's sense of justice will +work on our side; and in this we always find there is a wonderful +unconscious co-operation on the part of the merest baby. But the older +children used to be rather a problem. Some had come to us after their +wills had become developed and their characters partly formed. Most of +them were with us of their own free will, and could have walked off any +day, for they knew where they would be welcome. Discipline under these +circumstances is not entirely easy. But three years ago something of +Revival Power swept through all our family. It was not the Great Revival +for which we wait, but it was something most blessed in effect and +abiding in result; and ever since then the tone has been higher and the +life deeper, so that there is something to which we can appeal confident +of a quick response. But children will be scampish; and once their +earnestness of desire to be good was put to unexpected and somewhat +drastic proof. + +At that time the mild Esli had charge of the sewing-class, and the class +had got into bad ways; carelessness and chattering prevailed, so Esli +came in despair to me, and I talked to the erring children. They were +sorry, made no excuses, and promised to be different in future. I left +them repentant and thoroughly ashamed of themselves, and went to other +duties. + +[Illustration: SEWING-CLASS IN THE COURTYARD.] + +Shortly afterwards Arulai found them in a state of great depression. +They told her they had promised to be good at the sewing-class, but were +afraid they would forget. Arulai's ideas are usually most original, and +she sympathised with the children, but told them there was no need for +them ever to forget. They asked eagerly what could be done to help them +to remember. They had prayed, but even so had doubts. Was there anything +to be done besides praying? Arulai said there was, and she expounded +certain verses from the Book of Proverbs. "Sometimes the best way to +make a mark upon the mind is to make a mark upon the body," she +suggested, and asked the children if they would like this done. The +children hesitated. They were aware that Arulai's "marks" were likely to +be emphatic, for Arulai never does things by halves. But their devotion +to her and belief in her overcame all fears; and being genuinely anxious +to reform, they one and all consented. So she sent a small girl off to +look for a cane; and presently one was produced, "thin and nice and +suitable," as I was afterwards informed. The younger children were +invited to take the cane and look at it, and consider well how it would +feel. This they did obediently, but still stuck undauntedly to their +determination, in fact, were keen to go through with it. Then Arulai +explained that when the King said, "Chasten thy son while there is hope, +and let not thy soul spare for his crying," he must have been thinking +of a very little boy who had not the sense to know what was good for +him. They had sense. The mark on the body would be waste punishment if +it were not received willingly and gratefully; so if any child cried or +pulled her hand away, she would stop. Then the children all stood up and +held out their hands--what a moment for a photograph! Arulai's "mark +upon the body" was a genuine affair, but the class received it with +fortitude and gratitude. + +When I heard this history, an hour or so after its occurrence, I rather +demurred. The children had appeared to be sincerely sorry when I spoke +to them, and if so, why proceed to extremities? But Arulai answered with +wisdom and much assurance: "They have been talked to before and have +been sorry, but they forgot and did it again. This time they will not +forget." And neither did they. As long as that class continued, its +behaviour was exemplary; and "the mark upon the mind," to judge by their +demeanour, remained as fresh as it must have been on that memorable day +when the "mark" upon the body effected its creation. The story ought to +end here; but most stories have a sequel, and this has two. + +The first occurred a few weeks later. A little girl, one of the +sewing-class, had slipped into the habit of careless disobedience, +followed too often by sulks. If we happened to come across her just when +the thunder-clouds were gathering, we could usually divert her attention +and avert the threatened trouble; but if we did not happen to meet her +just at the right moment, she would plunge straight into the most +outrageous naughtiness with a sort of purposeful directness that was +difficult to deal with. Knowing the child well, we often let her choose +her own punishments; and she did this so conscientiously that at last, +as she herself mournfully remarked, "they were all used up," and there +was nothing left but the most ancient--and perhaps in some cases most +efficacious, which, the circumstances being what they were, I was +naturally reluctant to try. But the child, trained to be perfectly +honest with herself, apparently thought the thing over, and calmly made +up her mind to accept the inevitable; for when, anxious she should not +misunderstand, I began to explain matters to her, I was met by this +somewhat astonishing response: "Yes, Amma, I know. I know you have tried +everything else" (she said this almost sympathetically, as if +appreciating my dilemma), "and so you have to do it. I do not like it at +all, but Arulai Accal says it is no use unless I take it willingly, so +Amma, please give me a good caning." (The idiom is the same in Tamil as +in English, but there is a stronger word which she now proceeded to use +with great deliberation.) "Yes, Amma, a _hot_ caning--with my full mind +I am willing. And I will not cry. Or if I do cry" (this was added in a +serious, reflecting sort of way), "let not your soul spare for my +crying!" + +The second is less abnormal. Esli, whose placid soul had been sadly +stirred at the time of the infliction of the "mark," was so impressed by +its salutary effect that she conceived a new respect for the methods of +King Solomon. The application of "morning glory" is a privilege +reserved, as a rule, for ourselves; but one day, being doubtless hard +pressed, Esli produced a stick--a very feeble one--and calling up the +leader of all rebels, addressed herself to her. Chellalu, as might have +been expected, was taken by surprise; and for one short moment Esli was +permitted to follow the ways of the King. But only for a moment: for, +suddenly apprehending the gravity of the situation, and realising that +such precedent should not pass unchallenged, Chellalu, with a quick +wriggle, stood forth free, seized the stick with a joyous shout, snapped +it in two, and flourished round the room: then stopping before her +afflicted Accal, she solemnly handed her one of the pieces, and with a +bound and a scamper like a triumphant puppy, was off to the very end of +her world with the other half of that stick. + +When the Elf came to us on March 6, 1901, and we began to know some of +the secrets of the Temple, we tried to save several little children, +but we failed. The thought of those first children with whom we came +into touch, but for whom all our efforts were unavailing, is +unforgettable. We see them still, little children--lost. But we partly +understand why we had to wait so long; we had not the workers then to +help us to take care of them. We had only some of the older Accals, who +could not have done it alone. These convert-girls, who now help us so +much, were in Hindu homes; some of them had not even heard of Christ, +whose love alone makes this work possible. For India is not England in +its view of such work. There is absolutely nothing attractive about it. +It is not "honourable work," like preaching and teaching. No money would +have drawn these workers to us. Work which has no clear ending, but +drifts on into the night if babies are young or troublesome--such work +makes demands upon devotion and practical unselfishness which appeal to +none but those who are prepared to love with the tireless love of the +mother. "I do not want people who come to me under certain reservations. +In battle you need soldiers who fear nothing." So wrote the heroic Pere +Didon; and, though it may sound presumptuous to do so, we say the same. +We want as comrades those who come to us without reservations. But such +workers have to be prepared, and such preparation takes time. "Tarry ye +the Lord's leisure," is a word that unfolds as we go on. + +Yet we find that the work, though so demanding, is full of +compensations. The convert in her loneliness is welcomed into a family +where little children need her and will soon love her dearly. The +uncomforted places in her heart become healed, for the touch of a little +child is very healing. If she is willing to forget herself and live for +that little child, something new springs up within her; she does not +understand it, but those who watch her know that all is well. Sometimes +long afterwards she reads her own heart's story and opens it to us. "I +was torn with longing for my home. I dreamed night after night about it, +and I used to waken just wild to run back. And yet I knew if I had, it +would have been destruction to my soul. And then the baby came, and you +put her into my arms, and she grew into my heart, and she took away all +that feeling, till I forgot I ever had it." This was the story of one, a +young wife, for whom the natural joys of home can never be. But if there +is selfishness or slackness or a weak desire to drift along in easiness, +taking all and giving nothing, things are otherwise. For such the +nurseries hold nothing but noise and interruptions. We ask to be spared +from such as these. Or if they come, may they be inspired by the +constraining love of Christ and "The Glory of the Usual." + +FOOTNOTE: + +[E] _Overweights of Joy_, ch. xxiii. Suhinie left the nursery for a few +hours' rest at noon on February 2, 1910. She fell asleep, to awaken in +heaven. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +The Little Accals + + But Thou didst reckon, when at first + Thy word our hearts and hands did crave, + What it would come to at the worst + To save. + Perpetual knockings at Thy door, + Tears sullying Thy transparent rooms. + + +[Illustration: THREE LITTLE ACCALS.] + +THESE lines come with insistence as I look at the little Accals, who +follow in order after the Accals, convert children, most of them, now +growing up to helpfulness. If part of the story of one such young girl +is told, it may help those to whom such tales are unfamiliar to +understand and to care. + +December 16, 1903, was spent by three of us in a rest-house on the +outskirts of a Hindu town. We were on our way to Dohnavur from Madras, +where we had seen Mr. and Mrs. Walker off for England. The two days' +journey had left us somewhat weary; and yet we were strong in hope that +day, for we knew there was special thought for us on board ship and at +home, and something special was being asked as a birthday gift of joy. +Arulai (Star) and Preena (the Elf), the two who were with me, were full +of expectation. The day had often been marked by that joy of joys, a +lost sheep found; and as we looked out at the heathen town with its +many people so unconscious of our thoughts about them, we wondered where +we should find the one our thoughts had singled from among the crowd, +and we went out to look for her. + +[Illustration: PREENA AND PREEYA + +(To left and right) getting ready for a Coming-Day Feast.] + +Up and down the long white streets we looked for her; on the little +narrow verandahs, in the courtyards of the houses, in their dark inner +rooms when we were invited within, out again into the sunshine--but we +could not find her. That evening I remember, though we did not say so to +each other, we felt a little disappointed. We had not met one who even +remotely cared for the things we had come to bring. + +No one had responded. There was not, so far as we knew it, even a little +blade to point to, much less a sheaf to lay at His feet. After nightfall +a woman came to see us. But she was a Christian, and beyond trying to +cheer her to more earnest service among the heathen, there was nothing +to be done for her. She left us, she told us afterwards, warmed to hope; +and she talked to a child next morning, a little relative of her own, +whose heart the Lord opened. + +For three months we heard nothing; then unexpectedly a letter came. "The +child is much in earnest, and she has made up her mind to join your +Starry Cluster" (a name given by the people to our band, which at that +time was itinerating in the district), "so I purpose sending her at +once." The parents, for reasons of their own, agreed to the arrangement, +and the little girl came to Dohnavur. It was wonderful to watch her +learning. She is not intellectually brilliant, but the soul awakened at +once, and there was that tenderness of response which refreshes the +heart of the teacher. She seemed to come straight to our Lord Jesus and +know Him as her Saviour, child though she was; and soon the longing to +win others possessed her, and a younger child, who was her special +charge among the nursery children, was influenced so gently and so +willingly, that we do not know the time when, led by her little +Accal, she too came to the Lover of children. + +But one day, suddenly, trouble came. The parents appeared in the +Dohnavur compound and claimed their daughter; and we had no legal right +to refuse her, for she was under age. We shall never forget the hour +they came. They had haunted the neighbourhood, as we afterwards heard, +and prowled about outside the compound, watching for an opportunity to +carry the child off without our knowledge. But she was always with the +other children, so that plan failed. When first she heard they had come, +she fled to the bungalow. "My parents have come! My father is strong! +Oh, hide me! hide me!" she besought us. "I cannot resist him! I cannot!" +and she cried and clung to us. But when we went out to meet them, she +was perfectly quiet; and no one would have known from her manner as she +stood before them, and answered their questions, without a tremble in +her voice, how frightened she had been before. + +"What is this talk about being a Christian?" the father demanded +stormily. "What can an infant know about such matters? Are you wiser +than your fathers, that their religion is not good enough for you?" And +scathing mockery followed, harder to bear than abuse. "Come! Say salaam +to the Missie Ammal, and bring your jewels" (she had taken them off), +"and let us go home together." The child stood absolutely still, looking +up with brave eyes; and to our astonishment said, as though it were the +only thing to be said: "But I am a Christian. I cannot go home." + +We had not thought of her saying this. We had, indeed, encouraged her as +we had encouraged ourselves, to rest in our God, who is unto us a God of +deliverances; but we had not suggested any line of resistance, and were +not prepared for the calm refusal which so quietly took it for granted +that she had no power to refuse. + +The father was evidently nonplussed. He knew his little daughter, a +timid child, whose translated name, Fawn, seems to express her exactly, +and he gazed down upon her in silence for one surprised moment, then +burst out in wrath and indignant revilings. "Snake! nurtured in the +bosom only to turn and sting! Vile, filthy, disgusting insect, born to +disgrace her caste!" And they cursed her as she stood. + +Then their mood changed, and they tried pleadings, much more difficult +to resist. The father reminded her of his pilgrimage to a famous Temple +at her birth: "He had named her before the gods." Her mother touched on +tenderer memories, till we could feel the quiver of soul, and feared for +the little Fawn. Then they promised her liberty at home. She should read +her Bible, pray to the true God, "for all gods are one." I saw Fawn shut +her eyes for a moment. What she saw in that moment she told me +afterwards: a fire lighted on the floor, a Bible tossed into it, two +schoolboy brothers (whose leanings towards Christianity had been +discovered) pushed into an inner room, the sound of blows and cries. +"And after that my brothers did not want to be Christians any more." +Poor little timid Fawn! We hardly wonder as we look at her that she +shrank and shut her eyes. I have seen a child of twelve held down by a +powerful arm and beaten across the bare shoulders with a cocoa-nut shell +fastened to the end of a stick; I have seen her wrists twisted almost to +dislocation--seen it, and been unable to help. I think of the child, now +our happy Gladness, lover of the unlovable babies; and I for one cannot +wonder at the little Fawn's fear. But aloud she only said: "Forgive me, +I cannot go home." + +The father grew impatient. "Get your jewels and let us be gone!" Fawn +ran into the house, brought her jewels, and handed them to her father. +He counted them over--pretty little chains and bangles, and then he eyed +her curiously. A child to give up her jewels like this--he found it +unaccountable. And then he began to argue, but Fawn answered him with +clearness and simplicity, and he could not perplex her. She knew Whom +she believed. + +At last they rose to go, cursing the day she was born with a curse that +sounded horrible. But their younger daughter, whom they had brought with +them, threw herself upon the ground, tearing her hair, beating her +breast, shrieking and rolling and flinging the dust about like a mad +thing. "I will not go without my sister! I will not go! I will not go!" +And she clung to Fawn, and wept and bewailed till we hardly dared to +hope the child would be able to withstand her. For a moment the parents +stood and waited. We, too, stood in tension of spirit. "They have told +her to do it," whispered Fawn, and stood firm. Then the father stooped, +snatched up the younger child, and departed, followed by the mother. + +All this time two of our number had been waiting upon God in a quiet +place out of sight. One of the two went after the parents, hoping for a +chance to explain matters to the mother. As she drew near she heard the +wife say in an undertone to her husband: "Leave them for to-day. Wait +till to-night. You have carried off the younger in your arms against her +will. What hinders you doing the same to the elder?" And that night we +prayed that the Wall of Fire might be round us, and slept in peace. + +As a dream when one awaketh, so was the memory of that afternoon when we +awoke next morning. And as a dream so the parents passed out of sight, +for they left before the dawn. But weeks afterwards we heard what had +happened that night. They had lodged in the Hindu village outside our +gate. There has never been a Christian there, and the people have never +responded in any way. It is a little shut-in place of darkness on the +borders of the light. But when the parents proposed a raid upon the +bungalow that night they would not rise to it. "No, we have no feud with +the bungalow. We will not do it." The nearest white face was a day's +journey distant, and a woman alone, white or brown, does not count for +much in Hindu eyes. But the Wall of Fire was around us, and so we were +safe. + +If the story could stop here, how easy life would be! One fight, one +fling to the lions, and then the palm and crown. But it is not so. The +perils of reaction are greater for the convert than the first great +strain of facing the alternative, "Diana or Christ." Home-sickness +comes, wave upon wave, and all but sweeps the soul away; feelings and +longings asleep in the child awake in the girl, and draw her and woo +her, and blind her too often to all that yielding means. She forgets the +under-side of the life she has forsaken; she remembers only the +alluring; and all that is natural pleads within her, and will not let +her rest. "Across the will of Nature leads on the path of God," is +sternly true for the convert in a Hindu or Moslem land. + +And so we write this unfinished story in faith that some one reading it +will remember the young girl-converts as well as the little children. +Fawn has been kept steadfast, but she still needs prayer. These last +five years have held anxious hours for those who love her, and to us, as +to all who have to do with converts. "Perpetual knockings at Thy door, +tears sullying Thy transparent rooms," are words that go deep and touch +the heart of things. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +The Glory of the Usual + + +[Illustration: AFTER HER BOTTLE.] + +"AND all things were done in such excellent methods, and I cannot tell +how, but things in the doing of them seemed to cast a smile"--is a +beautiful sentence from Bunyan's _Holy War_, which has been with us ever +since we began the Nursery work. Lately we found its complement in a +modern book of sermons, _The Unlighted Lustre_, by G. H. Morrison. "No +matter how stirring your life be, it will be a failure if you have never +been wakened to the glory of the usual. There is no happiness like the +old and common happiness, sunshine and love and duty and the laughter of +children. . . . There are no duties that so enrich as dull duties." + +The ancient voice and the new voice sing to the same sweet tune; and we +in our little measure are learning to sing it too. + +As we have said, India is a land where the secular does not appeal. When +we were an Itinerating Band, we had many offers from Christian girls and +women to join us, as many in one month as we now have in five years. +Sometimes it has seemed to us that we were set to learn and to teach a +new and difficult lesson, the sacredness of the commonplace. Day by day +we learn to rub out a little more of the clear chalked line that someone +has ruled on life's black-board; the Secular and the Spiritual may not +be divided now. The enlightening of a dark soul or the lighting of a +kitchen fire, it matters not which it is, if only we are obedient to the +heavenly vision, and work with a pure intention to the glory of our God. + +[Illustration: NORTH LAKE AND HILLS.] + +The nursery kitchen is a pleasant little place. We hardly ever enter it +without remembering and appreciating John Bunyan's pretty thought, for +there things in the doing of them seem to cast a smile. Ponnamal, who, +as we said, superintends the more delicate food-making work, has trained +two of her helpers to carefulness; and these two--one a motherly older +woman with a most comfortable face, the other the convert, Joy--look up +with such a welcome that you feel it good to be there. Scrubbing away at +endless pots and pans and milk vessels is a younger convent-girl, who, +when she first came to us, disapproved of such exertion. She liked to +sit on the floor with her Bible on her lap and a far-away look of +content on her face until the dinner-bell rang. Now she scrubs with a +sense of responsibility. + +All the younger converts have regular teaching, for they have much to +learn, and all, older and younger, have daily classes and meetings; +above all, it is planned that each has her quiet time undisturbed. But +it is early understood that to be happy each must contribute her share +to the happiness of the family; and one of the first lessons the young +convert has to learn is to honour the "Grey Angel," Drudgery, and not to +call her bad names. + +The kitchen has an outlook dear to the Tamil heart. A trellis covered +with pink antigone surrounds it, but a window is cut in the trellis so +that the kitchen may command the bungalow. "While I stirred the milk I +saw everything you did on your verandah," remarked one of the workers +lately, in tones of appreciation. The opposite outlook is the mountain +shown in the photograph; only instead of water we have the +kitchen-garden with its tropical-looking plantains and creeping marrows. +"And the warm melon lay like a little sun on the tawny sand," is a line +for an Eastern garden when the great marrows ripen suddenly. + +The kitchen thus favoured without, is adorned within, according to the +taste of its owners, with those very interesting pictures published by +the makers of infant foods. "How do you choose them?" we asked one day. +"The truest and the prettiest," was the satisfactory answer. Our +Dohnavur text, which hangs in every nursery, looks down upon the +workers, and, as they put it, "keeps them sweet in heart": "Love never +faileth." + +When first we began to cultivate babies we were very ignorant, and we +asked advice of all who seemed competent to give it. The advice was most +perplexing. Each mother was sure the food that had suited her baby was +the best of all foods, and regarded all others as doubtful, if not bad. +One whom we greatly respected told us Indian babies would be sure to get +on anyhow, as it was their own land. And one seriously suggested +rice-water as a suitable nourishment. Naturally we began with the +time-honoured milk and barley-water, and some throve upon it. But we +found each baby had to be studied separately. There was no universal +(artificial) food. We could write a tractlet on foods, and if we did we +would call it "Don't," for the first sentence in it would be, "Don't +change the food if you can help it." This tractlet would certainly close +with a word of thanks to those kind people, the milk-food manufacturers, +who have helped us to build up healthy children; for feelings of +personal gratitude come when help of this kind is given. + +The nursery kitchen is a room full of reminders of help. "I have +commanded the ravens," is a word of strength to us. Once we were very +low. A little child had died under trying circumstances. One of the +milk-sellers, instead of using the vessel sent him, poured his milk +into an unclean copper vessel, and it was poisoned. He remembered that +it would not be taken unless brought in the proper vessel, so at the +last moment he corrected his mistake, but the correction was fatal, for +there was no warning. The milk was sterilized as usual and given to the +child. She was a healthy baby, and her nurse remembers how she smiled +and welcomed her bottle, taking it in her little hands in her happy +eagerness. A few hours later she was dead. + +At such times the heart seems foolishly weak, and things which would not +trouble it otherwise have power to make it sore. We were four days' +journey from the nursery at the time, and had the added anxiety about +the other babies, to whom we feared the poisoned milk might have been +given, and we dreaded what the next post might bring. Just at that +moment it was suggested, with kindest intentions, that perhaps we were +on the wrong track, the work seemed so difficult and wasteful. + +It was mail-day. The mail as usual brought a pile of letters, and the +top envelope contained a bill for foods ordered from England some weeks +before. It came to more than I had expected, in spite of the kindness of +several firms in giving a liberal discount; and for a moment the +rice-water talk (to give it a name which covers all that type of talk) +came back to me with hurt in it: "To what purpose is this waste?" But +with it came another word: "Take this child away (away from the terrible +Temple) and nurse it for Me." And with the pile of letters before me, +and the bill for food in my hand, I asked that enough might be found in +those letters to pay it. It did not occur to me at the moment that the +prayer was rather illogical. I only knew it would be comforting, and +like a little word of peace, if such an assurance might even then come +that we were not off the lines. + +Letter after letter was empty. Not empty of kindness, but quite empty +of cheques. The last envelope looked thin and not at all hopeful. +Cheques are usually inside reliable-looking covers. I opened it. There +was nothing but a piece of unknown writing. But the writing was to ask +if we happened to have a need which a sum named in the letter would +meet. This sum exactly covered the bill for the foods. When the cheque +eventually reached me it was for more than the letter had mentioned, and +covered all carriage and duty expenses, which were unknown to me at the +time the first letter came, and to which of course I had not referred in +my reply. Thus almost visibly and audibly has the Lord, from whose hands +we received this charge to keep, confirmed His word to us, strengthening +us when we were weak, and comforting us when we were sad with that +innermost sense of His tenderness which braces while it soothes. + +Surely we who know Him thus should love the Lord because He hath heard +our voice and our supplication. Every advertisement on the walls of the +little nursery kitchen is like an illuminated text with a story hidden +away in it:-- + + When Thou dost favour any action, + It runs, it flies; + All things concur to give it a perfection. + +The nursery kitchen, we were amused to discover, has a sphere of +influence all its own. Our discovery was on this wise:-- + +One wet evening we were caught in a downpour as we were crossing from +the Taraha nursery to the bungalow, and we took shelter in the +kindergarten room, which reverts to the Lola-and-Leela tribe when the +kindergarten babies depart. The tribe do not often possess their Sittie +and their Ammal both together and all to themselves, now that the +juniors are so numerous, and they welcomed us with acclamations. "Finish +spreading your mats," we said to them, as they seemed inclined to let +our advent interrupt the order of the evening; and we watched them +unroll their mats, which hung round the wall in neat rolls swung by +cords from the roof, and spread them in rows along the wall. Beside each +mat was what looked like a mummy, and beside each mummy was a matchbox +and a small bundle of rags. + +Presently the mummies were unswathed, and proved to be dolls in more or +less good condition. Each was carefully laid upon a morsel of sheet, and +covered with another sheet folded over in the neatest fashion. "If we +teach them to be particular when they are young, they will be tidy when +they are old," we were informed. It was pleasant to hear our own remarks +so accurately repeated. + +The matchboxes were next unpacked; each contained a bit of match, a +small pointed shell, a pebble (preferably black), and a couple of minute +cockles. "I suppose you don't know what all these are?" said Lola, +affably. "That," pointing to the match, "is a spoon; and this," taking +the pointed shell up carefully, "is a bottle. This is the 'rubber,' of +course," and the black pebble was indicated; "and these" (setting the +cockle-shells on a piece of white paper on the floor) "are bowls of +water, one for the bottle and the other for the rubber." We suggested +one bowl of water would hold both bottle and rubber; but Lola's entirely +mischievous eyes looked quite shocked and reproving. "Two bowls are +better," was the serious reply; "it is very important to be clean." +"What does your child have?" we inquired respectfully. "Barley-water and +milk, two-and-a-half ounces every two hours--that's five tablespoonfuls, +you know." "And Leela's?" "Oh, Leela's child is delicate. She has to +have Benger. Two ounces every two hours; and it has to be a long time +digested." "Do all your children have their food every two hours?" Lola +looked surprised, and Leela giggled: how very ignorant we seemed to be! +"No, only the tiny ones; our babies are very young. After they get older +they have more at a time and not so often. That child there," pointing +to another mat, "has Condensed, as we haven't enough cow's milk for them +all. It suits her very well. She has six ounces at a time; once before +she goes to sleep, and then none till she wakens in the morning. She's a +very healthy child." "How do you know the time?" we asked, prepared for +anything now. "Oh, we have watches. This is mine," and a toy from a +Christmas cracker was produced; "Leela's watch is different" (it was +indeed different--a mere figment of the imagination), "but she can look +at mine when she wants to." "Why does your child sleep with Leela's?" +(All the other infants had separate sleeping arrangements.) Lola looked +shy, and Leela looked shyer. These little matters of affection were not +intended for public discussion. + +By this time the rain had cleared, so we prepared to depart, and the +further entertainments provided for us by the cheerful tribe that +evening do not belong to this story. We escaped finally, damp with much +laughter in a humid atmosphere. "Come every evening!" shouted the tribe, +as at last we disappeared, and we felt much inclined to accept the +invitation. + +The kitchen is a busy place in the morning, and again in the evening, +when the fresh milk is carried to it in shining aluminium vessels to be +sterilized or otherwise dealt with. But even in the busiest hours there +is almost sure to be a baby set in an upturned stool, in which she sits +holding on to the front legs in proud consciousness of being able to sit +up. Or an older one will be clinging to the garments of the busy +workers, or perched beside them on a stool. Once we found Tara and Evu +seated on the window-sill. Ponnamal was making foods at the table under +the window, and the little bare feet were tucked in between bowls and +jugs of milk. "But, indeed, they are quite clean," explained Ponnamal, +without waiting for remark from us, for she knew what we were thinking +of her table decorations. "We dusted the sand off their little feet +before we lifted them up." The babies said nothing, but looked +doubtfully up at us, as if not very sure of our intentions. But +Ponnamal's eyes were so appealing, and the little buff things in blue +with a trellis of pink flowers for background made such a pretty +picture, that we had not the heart to spoil it. Then the little faces +smiled gratefully upon us, and everybody smiled. The kitchen is a happy +place of innocent surprises. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +The Secret Traffic + + "Sir, to leave things out of a book because they + will not be believed, is meanness."--DR. JOHNSON. + + +WHEN first, upon March 7, 1901, we heard from the lips of a little child +the story of her life in a Temple house, we were startled and +distressed, and penetrated with the conviction that such a story ought +to be impossible in a land ruled by a Christian Power. The subject was +new to us; we knew nothing of the magnitude of what may be called "The +Secret Traffic of India"--a traffic in little children, mere infants +oftentimes, for wrong purposes; and we did not appreciate, as we do now, +the delicacy and difficulty of the position from a Government point of +view, or the quiet might of the forces upon the other side. And though +with added knowledge comes an added sense of responsibility, and a fear +of all careless appeal to those whose burden is already so heavy, yet +with every fresh discovery the conviction deepens that something should +be done--and done, if possible, soon--to save at least this generation +of children, or some of them, from destruction. + +"It is useless to move without a body of evidence at your back," said a +friend in the Civil Service to us at the close of a long conversation. +"If you can get the children, of course they themselves will furnish the +best evidence; but, anyhow, collect facts." And this was the beginning +of a Note-book, into which we entered whatever we could learn about the +Temple children, and in which we kept letters relating to them. + +By Temple children throughout this book we mean children dedicated to +gods, or in danger of being so dedicated. Dedication to gods implies a +form of marriage which makes ordinary marriage impossible. The child is +regarded as belonging to the gods. In Southern India, where religious +feeling runs strong, and the great Temples are the centres of Hindu +influence, this that I have called "The Traffic" is worked upon +religious lines; and so in trying to save the children we have to +contend with the perverted religious sense. Something of the same kind +exists in other parts of India, and the traffic under another name is +common in provinces where Temple service as we have it in the South is +unknown. Again, in areas where, owing to the action of the native +Government, Temple service, as such, is not recognised, so that children +in danger of wrong cannot, strictly speaking, be called Temple children, +there is yet need of legislation which shall touch all houses where +little children are being brought up for the same purpose; so that the +subject is immense and involved, and the thought of it suggests a net +thrown over millions of square miles of territory, so finely woven as to +be almost invisible, but so strong in its mesh that in no place yet has +it ever given way. And the net is alive: it can feel and it can hold. + +But all through this book we have kept to the South--to the area where +the evil is distinctly and recognisably religious. Others elsewhere have +told their own story; ours, though in touch with theirs (in that its +whole motive is to save the little children), is yet different in +manner, in that it is avowedly Christian. India is a land where +generalisations are deceptive. So we have kept to the South. + +We ourselves became only very gradually aware of what was happening +about us. As fact after fact came to light, we were forced to certain +conclusions which we could not doubt were correct. But at first we were +almost alone in these conclusions, because it was impossible to take +others with us in our tedious underground hunt after facts. So the +question was often asked: "But do the children really exist?" + +I have said we were almost alone, not quite. Members of the Indian Civil +Service, who are much among the people, knew something of the custom of +child-dedication, but found themselves unable to touch it. Hindu +Reformers, of course, knew; and two or three veteran missionaries had +come into contact with it and had grieved over their helplessness to do +anything. One of these had written a pamphlet on the subject twenty +years before our Nursery work began. He sent it to me with a sorrowful +word written across it, "Result? Nil." But we do not often meet our +civilian friends, for they are busy, and so are we; and the few +missionaries whose inspiring sympathy helped us through those earlier +years were in places far from us, and so were all the Reformers. So +perhaps it was not wonderful that, beset by doubting letters from home +and a certain amount of not unnatural incredulity in India, we sometimes +almost wondered if we ourselves were dreaming. "Well, if they do exist, +I hope you will be able to find them!"--varied by, "Well, if you do find +them, they will be a proof of their own existence!"--were two of the +most encouraging remarks of those early days. + +From the beginning of this work, as stated before, we have tried to +collect facts about the traffic and the customs connected with it. Notes +were kept of conversations with Hindus and others, and these notes were +compared with what evidence we were able to gather from trustworthy +sources. These brief notes of various kinds we offer in their +simplicity. We have made no attempt to tabulate or put into shape the +information thus acquired, believing that the notes of conversations +taken down at the time, and the quotations from letters copied as they +stand, will do their work more directly than anything more elaborate +would. Where there is a difference of detail it is because the customs +differ slightly in different places. No names are given, for obvious +reasons; but the letters were written by men of standing, living in +widely scattered districts in the South. The evidence contained in them +was carefully sifted, and in many cases corroborated by personal +investigation, before being considered evidence: so that we believe +these chapters may be accepted as fact. Dated quotations from the +_Madras Mail_ are sufficient to prove that we are not writing ancient +history:-- + +_January 2, 1909._--"The following resolution was put from the chair and +carried unanimously: 'The Conference (consisting of Hindu Social +Reformers) cordially supports the movement started to better the +condition of unprotected children in general, and appreciates +particularly the agitation started to protect girls and young women from +being dedicated to Temples.'" + +_May 8, 1909._--"Once more we have an illustration from Mysore of the +fact that the Government of a Native State are able to tread boldly on +ground which the British Government in India are unable to approach. At +various times, in these columns and elsewhere, has the cry raised +against the employment of servants of the gods in Hindu Temples been +uttered; but, as far as the Government are concerned, it has fallen, if +not on deaf ears, on ears stopped to appeals of this kind, which demand +action that can be interpreted as a breach of that religious neutrality +which is one of the cardinal principles of British rule in India. The +agitation against it is not the agitation of the European whose +susceptibility is offended at a state of things that he finds hard to +reconcile with the reverence and purity of Divine worship; but it is the +outcry of the reverent Hindu against one of the corrupt and degrading +practices that, in the course of centuries, have crept into his +religion. In this particular instance the Mysore Government cannot be +accused of acting hastily. As long ago as February, 1892, they issued a +circular order describing the legitimate services to be performed in +Temples by Temple women. In 1899, the Muzrai Superintendent, Rai Bahadur +A. Sreenivasa Charlu, directed that the Temple women borne on the +Nanjangud Temple establishment should not be allowed to perform _tafe_ +(or dancing) service in the Temple; but that the allowances payable to +them should be continued for their lifetime, and that at their death the +vacancies should not be filled up. Against this order the Temple women +concerned memorialised H.H. the Maharajah as long ago as 1905, and the +order disposing of it has only just been issued. In the course of the +latter the Government say:-- + +"'From the Shastraic authorities quoted by the two Agamiks employed in +the Muzrai Secretariat, it is observed that the services to be performed +by Temple women form part and parcel of the worship of the god in Hindu +Temples, and that singing and dancing in the presence of the deity are +also prescribed. It is, however, observed that in the case of Temple +women personal purity and rectitude of conduct and a vow of celibacy +were considered essential. But the high ideals entertained in ancient +days have now degenerated. . . . The Government now observe that whatever +may have been the original object of the institution of Temple women in +Temples, the state in which these Temple servants are now found fully +justifies the action taken by them in excluding the Temple women from +every kind of service in sacred institutions like Temples. Further, the +absence of the services of these women in certain important Temples in +the State has become established for nearly fifteen years past, and the +public have become accustomed to the idea of doing without such +services.' + +"The exclusion of Temple women from Temple services obtains in Mysore in +the case of a few large Temples whose _Tasdik Pattis_ have been revised. +But the time has come, the Government think, for its general +application, and they therefore direct that the policy enunciated in the +abstract given above should be extended to all Muzrai Temples in the +State. It is to be hoped that the good example thus set will bear fruit +elsewhere, where the Temple women evil is more notorious than it was in +Temples of Mysore." + +A copy of the Government document to which this cutting relates lies +before me. It is bravely and clearly worded, and its intention is +evident. The high-minded Hindu--and there are such, let it not be +forgotten--revolts from the degradation and pollution of this travesty +of religion, and will abolish it where he can. _But let it be remembered +that, good as this law is, it does not and it cannot touch the great +Secret Traffic itself. That will go on behind the law, and behind the +next that is made, and the next, unless measures are devised to ensure +its being thoroughly enforced._ + +Cuttings from newspapers, quotations, evidence--it is not interesting +reading, and yet we look to our friends to go through to the end with +us. Let us pause for a moment here and remember the purpose of it all; +and may the thought of some little, loved child make an atmosphere for +these chapters! + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +Blue Book Evidence + + "The precipitous sides of difficult questions."--E. B. B. + + +OUR first evidence consists of abridged extracts from the Census Report +for 1901. After explaining the different names by which Temple women are +known in different parts of the Madras Presidency, the Report continues: +"The servants of the gods, who subsist by dancing and music and the +practice of 'the oldest profession in the world,' are partly recruited +by admissions and even purchases from other classes. . . . The rise of +the Caste and its euphemistic name seem to date from the ninth and +tenth centuries, during which much activity prevailed in South India +in the matter of building Temples and elaborating the services held in +them. . . . The duties then, as now, were to fan the idol with Tibetan +ox-tails, to carry the sacred light, and to sing and dance before the +god when he is carried in procession. Inscriptions show that in A.D. +1004 the great Temple of the Chola king at Tanjore had attached to it +four hundred women of the Temple, who lived in free quarters in the four +streets round it, and were allowed tax-free land out of its endowments. +Other Temples had similar arrangements. . . . At the present day they +form a regular Caste, having its own laws of inheritance, its own +customs and rules of etiquette, and its own councils to see that all +these are followed, and they hold a position which is perhaps without a +parallel in any other country. . . . + +"The daughters of the Caste who are brought up to follow the Caste +profession are carefully taught dancing and singing, the art of dressing +well, . . . and their success in keeping up their clientele is largely +due to the contrast which they thus present to the ordinary Hindu +housewife, whose ideas are bounded by the day's dinners and babies." + +Closely allied to this Caste is that formed by the Temple musicians, who +with the Temple woman are "now practically the sole repository of Indian +music, the system of which is probably one of the oldest in the world." +In certain districts the Report states that a custom obtains among +certain castes, under which a family which has no sons must dedicate one +of its daughters to Temple service. The daughter selected is taken to a +Temple and married there to a god, the marriage symbol being put on her +as in a real marriage. Henceforth she belongs to the god. + +Writing in 1904, a member of the Indian Civil Service says: "I heard of +a case of dedication (three girls) at A. at the beginning of this year, +but I could not get any evidence. The cases very rarely indeed come up +officially, as nearly every Hindu is interested in keeping them dark." +We, too, have had the same difficulty, and the evidence we now submit is +doubly valuable because of its source. It is very rarely that we have +found it possible to get behind the scenes sufficiently to obtain +reliable information from those most concerned in this traffic. + +The head priest of one of our Temples admitted to a friend who was +watching for opportunities to get information for us that the "marriage +to the god is effected privately by the Temple priest at the Temple +woman's house, with the usual marriage-symbol ceremony. To avoid the +Penal Code (which forbids the marriage of children to gods) a nominal +bridegroom is sometimes brought for the wedding day to become the +nominal husband. This Caste is recruited by secret adoption." + +A Temple woman's son, now living the ordinary life apart from his clan, +explains the very early marriage thus: "If not married, they will not be +considered worthy of honour. Before the children reach the age of ten +they must be married. . . . They become the property of the Temple +priests and worshippers who go to the Temple to chant the sacred songs." + +A Temple woman herself told a friend of ours: "The child is dressed like +a bride, and taken with another girl of the same community, dressed like +a boy in the garb of a bridegroom. They both go to the Temple and +worship the idol. This ceremony is common, and performed openly in the +streets." In a later letter from the same friend further details are +given: "The child, who should be about eight or nine years old, goes as +if to worship the idol in the Temple. There the marriage symbol is +hidden in a garland, and the garland is put over the idol, after which +it is taken to the child's home and put round her neck." After this she +is considered married to the god. + +A young Temple woman in a town near Dohnavur told us she had been given +to the Temple when she was five years old. Her home was in the north +country, but she did not remember it. She had, of course, understood +nothing of the meaning of the ceremony of marriage. She only remembered +the pretty flowers and general rejoicing and pleasure. Afterwards, when +she began to understand, she was not happy, but she gradually got +accustomed to it. Her adopted relations were all the friends she had. +She was fond of them and they of her. Her "husband" was one of the +Temple priests. + +A Hindu woman known to us left home with her little daughter and +wandered about as an ascetic. She went to a famous Temple, where it is +the custom for such as desire to become ascetics to enter the life by +conforming to certain ceremonies ordained by the priests. She shaved her +head, took off her jewels, wore a Saivite necklet of berries, and was +known as a devotee. She had little knowledge of the life before she +entered it, and only gradually became aware of the character borne by +most of her fellow-devotees. When she knew, she fled from them and +returned to her own village and the secular life, finding it better than +the religious. + +In telling us about it she said: "I expected whiteness, I found +blackness." She told us that she constantly came into contact with +Temple women, none of whom had chosen the life as she and her +fellow-ascetics had chosen theirs. "Always the one who is to dance +before the gods is given to the life when she is very young. Otherwise +she could not be properly trained. Many babies are brought by their +parents and given to Temple women for the sake of merit. It is very +meritorious to give a child to the gods. Often the parents are poor but +of good Caste. Always suitable compensation and a 'joy gift' is given by +the Temple women to the parents. It is an understood custom, and ensures +that the child is a gift, not a loan. The amount depends upon the age +and beauty of the child. If the child is old enough to miss her mother, +she is very carefully watched until she has forgotten her. Sometimes she +is shut up in the back part of the house, and punished if she runs out +into the street. The punishment is severe enough to frighten the child. +Sometimes it is branding with a hot iron upon a place which does not +show, as under the arm; sometimes nipping with the nail till the skin +breaks; sometimes a whipping. After the child is reconciled to her new +life, occasionally her people are allowed to come if they wish; and in +special circumstances she pays a visit to her old home. But this is +rare. If she has been adopted as an infant, she knows nothing of her +own relations, but thinks of her adopted mother as her own mother. As +soon as she can understand she is taught all evil and trained to think +it is good." + +As to her education, the movements of the dance are taught very early, +and the flexible little limbs are rendered more flexible by a system of +massage. In all ways the natural grace of the child is cultivated and +developed, but always along lines which lead far away from the freedom +and innocence of childhood. As it is important she should learn a great +deal of poetry, she is taught to read (and with this object in view she +is sometimes sent to the mission school, if there is one near her home). +The poetry is almost entirely of a debased character; and so most +insidiously, by story and allusion, the child's mind is familiarised +with sin; and before she knows how to refuse the evil and choose the +good, the instinct which would have been her guide is tampered with and +perverted, till the poor little mind, thus bewildered and deceived, is +incapable of choice. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +"Very Common in those Parts" + + "The dark enigma of permitted wrong."--F. R. H. + + +THE mixture of secrecy and openness described by the Temple woman is +confirmed by Hindus well acquainted with Temple affairs. "All the Temple +women are married to the gods. In former times the marriages were +conducted upon a grand scale, but now they are clandestinely performed +in the Temple, with the connivance of the priest, and with freedom to +deny it if questioned. Some ceremonies are performed in the Temple, the +rest at home. Sometimes the marriage symbol is blessed by the priest, +and taken home to the child to be worn by her. In all these cases the +priest himself has to tie it round her neck. The previous arrangements +for the marriage are made by the priests with the guardians of the child +who is to be initiated into the order of Temple women. + +"The ceremony of tying on the marriage symbol is never in our district +performed in public. None but intimate friends know about it. There is a +secret understanding between the priests and the Temple women concerned. +When the time arrives for the marriage symbol to be tied on, after the +usual ceremonies the priest hands over the symbol hidden in a garland of +flowers. + +"Of course, there is music on the occasion. When outsiders ask what all +the noise is about, the people who know do not say the real thing. They +say it is a birthday or other festival day. The symbol is tied on when +the child is between five and eleven, after which it is considered +unholy to perform the marriage ceremony. The symbol is at first hidden +from the gaze of the public. Later it is shown publicly, but not while +the girl is still young." + +This tallies exactly with our own experience. More than once an eager +child in her simplicity has shown me the marriage symbol, a small gold +ornament tied round her neck, or hanging on a fine gold chain; but the +Temple woman in whose charge she was has always reproved her sharply, +and made her cover it up under her other jewels, or under the folds of +her dress. + +The reason for this secrecy, which, however, is not universal, is, as is +inferred in the evidence of the head priest, because it is known to the +Temple authorities that what they are doing is illegal; though, as a +matter of fact, as will be seen later, prosecutions are rare, and +convictions rarer still. + +The Caste is recruited, as the Blue Book states, by "admissions and even +purchases from other classes." On this point a Brahman says: "When the +Temple woman has no child, she adopts a girl or girls, and the children +become servants of the gods. Sometimes children are found who, on +account of a vow made by their parents, become devotees of the gods." +Another Brahman, an orthodox Hindu, writes: "In some districts people +vow that they will dedicate one of their children to the Temple if they +are blessed with a family. Temple women often adopt orphans, to whom +they bequeath their possessions. In most cases the orphans are bought." + +The position of the Temple woman has been a perplexity to many. The +Census Report touches the question: "It is one of the many +inconsistencies of the Hindu religion, that though their profession is +repeatedly vehemently condemned in the Shastras (sacred books), it has +always received the countenance of the Church." Their duties are all +religious. A well-informed Hindu correspondent thus enumerates them: +"First they are to be one of the twenty-one persons who are in charge of +the key of the outer door of the Temple; second, to open the outer door +daily; third, to burn camphor, and go round the idol when worship is +being performed; fourth, to honour public meetings with their presence; +fifth, to mount the car and stand near the god during car-festivals." +The orthodox Hindu quoted before remarks on the "high honour," as the +Temple child is taught to consider it, the marriage to the god confers +upon her. + +We have purposely confined ourselves almost entirely to official and +Hindu evidence so far, but cannot forbear to add to this last word the +confirmatory experience of our own Temple children worker: "When I try +to persuade the Hindus to let us have their little ones instead of +giving them to the Temples they say: 'But to give them to Temples is +honour and glory and merit to us for ever; to give them to you is +dishonour and shame and demerit. So why should we give them to you?'" + +We have said that convictions are rare. This is because of the great +difficulty in obtaining such evidence as is required by the law as it +stands at present. One case may be quoted as typical. A few years ago, +in one of our country towns, a father gave his child in marriage to the +idol "with some pomp," as the report before us says. He was prosecuted, +but the prosecution failed, for the priest and the parents united in +denying the fact of the marriage; and the evidence for the defence was +so skilfully cooked that it was found impossible to prove an offence +against the Penal Code. + +Once, deeply stirred over the case of a little girl of six who was about +to be married to a god as her elder sisters had been a few months +previously, we wrote to a magistrate of wide experience and proved +sympathy with the work. His letter speaks for itself:-- + +"I have been waiting some little time before answering your letter, +because I wanted time to think over your problem. As far as I can make +out, there is no way in the world of preventing a woman marrying her own +daughter to the gods at any age; but you can prosecute her if she does. +If you could get her into prison for marrying the elder girls, the +younger might be safe; but I don't think you can do anything directly +for her. She is not being 'unlawfully detained'; and even if she were, +all you could do would be to get her returned to her parents and +guardians, which would be worse than useless. + +"The question is whether you can hope to get a conviction in the other +case. + +"I don't see how you can. You can say in court that you saw the little +girls with their marriage symbol on, and that they said they had been +married to the god. The little girls will deny it all, and say they +never set eyes on you before. Moreover, I don't think the ordinary Court +would be satisfied without some other evidence of the fact of +dedication; and considering how everyone would work against you, I think +you would find it extraordinarily hard. The local police would be worse +than useless." + +To every man his work: it appears to us that expert knowledge is +required, and ample means and leisure, if the expenditure involved is to +result in anything worth while; and a careful study of all available +information regarding prosecutions, convictions, and, I may add, +sentences, has convinced us, at least, of the futility of such attempts +from a missionary point of view: for even if convictions were certain, +_as long as the law hands the child back to its guardians after their +unfitness to guard it from the worst that can befall it has been +proved_, so long do we feel unable to rejoice exceedingly over even the +six months' rigorous imprisonment, which in more than one case has been +the legal interpretation of the phrase "up to a term of ten years," +which is the penalty attached to this offence in the Indian Penal Code. + +In this connection it may be well to quote a paragraph from the _Indian +Social Reformer_:-- + +"The Public Prosecutor at Madras applied for admission of a revision +petition against the order of the Sessions Judge, made in the following +circumstances:-- + +"One, S., a priest, was convicted by the first-class subdivisional +magistrate of having performed the ceremony of dedicating a young girl +in the Temple of N., and thereby committing an offence punishable under +Section 372 of the Penal Code. He accordingly sentenced him to six +months' rigorous imprisonment. On appeal, the Sessions Judge reduced the +sentence to two months, on the ground that the rite complained against +was a very common one in those parts. The Public Prosecutor based his +petition on the ground that it had been held in a previous case 'that +such a dedication was an offence, and that it was highly desirable that +the interests of minors should be properly protected.' This protection, +it was submitted, could only be vouchsafed by making offending people +understand that they would render themselves liable to heavy punishment. +The present sentence would not have a deterrent effect, and he +accordingly applied for an enhancement of the same. His lordship +admitted the petition, and directed notice to the accused." + +It is something to know the six months' sentence was confirmed. But is +not the fact that a Sessions Judge should commute such a sentence, on +the ground that the offence was "very common," enough to suggest a doubt +as to the deterrent effect of even this punishment? + + + + +NOTE + + +During the last few months the Secretary of State for India has +addressed official inquiries to the Government of India regarding the +dedication of children to Hindu gods, and the measures necessary for the +protection of such children. + +If the anticipated change in the law is to result in more than a Bill on +paper--a blind, behind which things will go on as before only more out +of sight--it is, we believe, needful to ensure: + + 1st. Protection for all children found to be in + moral danger, whether or not they are or may be + dedicated to gods. + + 2nd. That, irrespective of nationality or + religion, whoever has worked for and won the + deliverance of the child should be allowed to act + as guardian to it. + + 3rd. That such a Bill shall be most thoroughly + enforced. + +_February, 1912._ + + To face p. 268. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +On the Side of the Oppressors there was Power + + +I HAVE been looking over my note-book, in which there are some hundreds +of letters, clippings from newspapers, and records of conversations +bearing upon the Temple children. It is difficult to know which to +choose to complete the picture already outlined in the preceding +chapters. A mere case record would be wearisome; and indeed the very +word "case" sounds curiously inappropriate when one thinks of the +nurseries and their little inhabitants; or looks up to see mischievous +eyes watching a chance to stop the uninteresting writing; or feels, +suddenly, soft arms round one's neck, as a baby, strayed from her own +domain, climbs unexpectedly up from behind and makes dashes at the +typewriter keyboard. Such little living interruptions are too frequent +to allow of these chapters being anything but human. + +The newspaper clippings are usually concerned with public movements, +resolutions, petitions, and the like. There is one startling little +paragraph from a London paper, dated July 7, 1906; the ignorance of the +subject so flippantly dealt with is its only apology. No one could have +written so had he understood. The occasion was the memorial addressed to +the Governor in Council by workers for the children in the Bombay +Presidency:-- + +"Society must be very select in Poona. There has been a custom there for +young ladies to be married to selected gods. You would have thought that +to be the bride of a god was a good enough marriage for anyone. But it +is not good enough for Poona." It is time that such writing became +impossible for any Englishman. + +In India the feeling of the best men, whether Hindu or Christian, is +strongly against the dedication of little children to Temples, and some +of the newspapers of the land speak out and say so in unmistakable +language. The _Indian Times_ speaks of the little ones being "steeped +deep from their childhood" in all that is most wrong. A Hindu, writing +in the _Epiphany_, puts the matter clearly when he says: "Finally, one +can hardly conceive of anything more debasing than to dedicate innocent +little girls to gods in the name of religion, and then leave them with +the Temple priests"; and another writer in the same paper asks a +question which those who say that Hinduism is good enough for India +might do well to ponder: "If this is not a Hindu practice, how can it +take place in a Temple and no priest stop it, though all know? . . . In +London religion makes wickedness go away; but in Bombay religion brings +wickedness, and Government has to try to make it go away." This immense +contrast of fact and of ideal contains our answer to all who would put +sin in India on a level with sin in England. + +Christian writers naturally, whether in the _Christian Patriot_ of the +South or the _Bombay Guardian_ of the West, have no doubt about the +existence of the evil or the need for its removal. They, too, connect it +distinctly with religion, and recognise its tremendous influence. + +But we turn from the printed page, and go straight to the houses where +the little children live. The witnesses now are missionaries or trusted +Indian workers. + +"There were thirteen little children in the houses connected with the +Temple last time I visited them. I saw the little baby--such a dear, +fat, laughing little thing. It was impossible to get it, and I see no +hope of getting any of the other children." + +"When I was visiting in S. a woman came to talk to me with her three +little children. Two of them were girls, very pretty, 'fair' little +children. 'What work does your husband do?' I asked; and she answered, +'I am married to the god.' Then I knew who she was, and that her +children were in danger. I have tried since to get them, but in vain. +Everyone says that Temple women never give up their little girls. These +two were dedicated at their birth. This is only one instance. We have +many Temple women reading with us, and many of the little children +attend our schools." + +"There are not scores but hundreds of these children in the villages of +this district. Here certain families, living ordinary lives in their own +villages, dedicate one of their children as a matter of course to the +gods. They always choose the prettiest. It is a recognised custom, and +no one thinks anything of it. The child so dedicated lives with her +parents afterwards as if nothing had happened, only she may not be +married in the real way. She belongs to the god and his priests and +worshippers." + +"The house was very orderly and nice. I sat on the verandah and talked +to the women, who were all well educated and so attractive with their +pretty dress and jewels. They seemed bright, but, of course, would not +show me their real feelings, and I could only hold surface conversation +with them." + +We are often asked if the Temple houses are inside the walls which +surround all the great Temples in this part of the country. They are +usually in the streets outside. Most of the Brahman Temples are +surrounded by a square of streets, and the houses are in the square or +near it. There is nothing to distinguish them from other houses in the +street. It is only when you go inside that you feel the difference. An +hour on the shady verandah of one of these houses is very revealing. You +see the children run up to welcome a tall, fine-looking man, who pats +their heads in the kindest way, and as he passes you recognise him. Next +time you see him in the glory of his office, you wish you could forget +where you saw him last. + +Sometimes we are asked who the children are. How do the Temple women get +them in the first instance? + +We have already answered this question by quotations from the Census +Report, and by statements of Hindus well acquainted with the subject. It +should be added that often the Temple woman having daughters of her own +dedicates them, and as a rule it is only when she has none that she +adopts other little ones. A few extracts from letters and notes from +conversations are subjoined, as they show how the system of adoption +works:-- + +"We are in trouble over a little girl, the daughter of wealthy parents, +who have dedicated her to the gods and refuse to change their mind. The +child was ill some time ago, and they vowed then that if she recovered +they would dedicate her." + +"The poor woman's husband was very ill, and the mother vowed her little +girl as an offering if he recovered. He did recover, and so the child +has been given." + +"It is the custom of the Caste to dedicate the eldest girl of a certain +chosen family, and nothing will turn them from it. One child must be +given in each generation." + +"She is of good caste, but very poor. Her husband died two months before +the baby was born, and as it was a girl she was much troubled as to its +future, for she knew she would never have enough money to marry it +suitably. A Temple woman heard of the baby, and at once offered to adopt +it. She persuaded the mother by saying: 'You see, if it is married to +the gods, it will never be a widow like you. It will always be well +cared for and have honour, and be a sign of good fortune to our +people--unlike you!' (It is considered a sign of good omen to see a +Temple woman the first thing in the morning; but the sight of a widow at +any time is a thing to be avoided.) The poor mother could not resist +this, and she has been persuaded." + +"The mother is a poor, delicate widow, with several boys as well as this +baby girl. She cannot support them all properly, and her relatives do +not seem inclined to help her. The Temple women have heard of her, and +they sent a woman to negotiate. The mother knew that we would take the +little one rather than that she should be forced to give it up to Temple +women; but she said when we talked with her: 'It cannot be wrong to give +it to the holy gods! This is our religion; and it may be wrong to you, +but it is not wrong to us.' So she refused to give us the baby, and +seems inclined to go away with it. It is like that constantly. The thing +cannot be wrong because it is religious!" + +"I heard of two little orphan girls whose guardian, an uncle, had +married again, and did not want to have the marriage expenses of his two +little nieces to see to. So at the last great festival he brought the +children and dedicated them to the Saivite Temple, and the Temple women +heard about it before I did, and at once secured them. I went as soon as +I could to see if we could not get them, but she would not listen to us. +She said they were her sister's children, and that she had adopted them +out of love for her dead sister." + +A lawyer was consulted as to this case, but it was impossible to trace +the uncle or to prove that the children were not related to the Temple +woman. Above all, it was impossible to prove that she meant to do +anything illegal. So nothing could be done. + +As a rule the Temple woman receives little beyond bare sustenance from +the Temple itself. In some Temples when the little child is formally +dedicated, she (or her guardian) receives two pounds, and her funeral +expenses are promised. But though there is little stated remuneration, +the Temple woman is not poor. Poverty may come. If she breaks the law of +her caste, or offends against the etiquette of that caste, she is +immediately excommunicated, and then she may become very poor. Or if she +has spent her money freely, or not invested it wisely, her old age may +be cheerless enough. But we have not found any lack of money among the +Sisterhood. No offer of compensation for all expenses connected with a +child has ever drawn them to part with her. They offer large sums for +little ones who will be useful to them. We have several times known as +much as an offer of one hundred rupees made and accepted in cases where +the little child (in each case a mere infant) was one of special +promise. A letter, which incidentally mentions the easy circumstances in +which many are, may be of interest:-- + +"K. is a little girl in our mission school. Her mother is a favourite +Temple woman high up in the profession. She dances while the other women +sing, and sometimes she gets as much as three or four hundred rupees for +her dancing. She is well educated, can recite the 'Ramayana' (Indian +epic), and knows a little English. She spends some time in her own +house, but is often away visiting other Temples. Just now she is away, +and little K. is with her. . . . Humanly speaking, she will never let her +go." + +The education of the mission school is appreciated because it makes the +bright little child still brighter; and we, who know the home life of +these children, are glad when they are given one brief opportunity to +learn what may help them in the difficult days to come. We have known of +some little ones who, influenced by outside teaching, tried to escape +the life they began to feel was wrong, but in each case they were +overborne, for on the side of the oppressors there was power. I was in a +Temple house lately, and noticed the doors--the massive iron-bossed +doors are a feature of all well-built Hindu houses of the South. How +could a little child shut up in such a room, with its door shut, if need +be, to the outside inquisitive world--how could she resist the strength +that would force the garland round her neck? She might tear it off if +she dared, but the little golden symbol had been hidden under the +flowers, and the priest had blessed it; the deed was done--she was +married to the god. And only those who have seen the effect of a few +weeks of such a life upon a child, who has struggled in vain against it, +can understand how cowed she may become, how completely every particle +of courage and independence of spirit may be caused to disappear; and +how what we had known as a bright, sparkling child, full of the +fearless, confiding ways of a child, may become distrustful and +constrained, quite incapable of taking a stand on her own account, or of +responding to any effort we might be able to make from outside. It is as +if the child's spirit were broken, and those who know what she has gone +through cannot wonder if it is. + +And then comes something we dread more: the life begins to attract. The +sense of revolt passes as the will weakens; the persistent, steady +pressure tells. And when we see her next, perhaps only three months +later, the child has passed the boundary, and belongs to us no more. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +And there was None to Save + + Thou canst conceive our highest and our lowest + Pulses of nobleness and aches of shame. + + FREDERIC W. H. MYERS. + + +IN speaking of these matters I have tried to keep far from that which is +only sentiment, and have resolutely banished all imagination. I would +that the writing could be as cold in tone as the criticism of those who +consider everything other than polished ice almost amusing--to judge by +the way they handle it, dismissing it with an airy grace and a hurting +adjective. Would they be quite so cool, we wonder, if the little wronged +girl were their own? But we do not write for such as these. The thought +of the cold eyes would freeze the thoughts before they formed. We write +for the earnest-hearted, who are not ashamed to confess they care. And +yet we write with reserve even though we write for them, because nothing +else is possible. And this crushing back of the full tide makes its +fulness almost oppressive. It is as though a flame leaped from the page +and scorched the brain that searched for words quite commonplace and +quiet. + +The finished product of the Temple system of education is something so +distorted that it cannot be described. But it should never be forgotten +that the thing from which we recoil did not choose to be fashioned so. +It was as wax--a little, tender, innocent child--in the hands of a +wicked power when the fashioning process began. Let us deal gently with +those who least deserve our blame, and reserve our condemnation for +those responsible for the creation of the Temple woman. Is it fair that +a helpless child, who has never once been given the choice of any other +life, should be held responsible afterwards for living the life to which +alone she has been trained? Is it fair to call her by a name which +belongs by right to one who is different, in that her life is +self-chosen? No word can cut too keenly at the root of this iniquity; +but let us deal gently with the mishandled flower. Let hard words be +restrained where the woman is concerned. Let it be remembered she is not +responsible for being what she is. + +In a Canadian book of songs there is a powerful little poem about an +artist who painted one who was beautiful but not good. He hid all trace +of what was; he painted a babe at her breast. + + I painted her as she might have been + If the Worst had been the Best. + +And a connoisseur came and looked at the picture. To him it spoke of +holiest things; he thought it a Madonna:-- + + So I painted a halo round her hair, + And I sold her and took my fee; + And she hangs in the church of St. Hilaire, + Where you and all may see. + +Sometimes as we have looked at the face of one whose training was not +complete we have seen as the artist saw: we have seen her "as she might +have been if the worst had been the best." There was no halo round her +hair, only its travesty--something that told of crowned and glorified +sin; and yet we could catch more than a glimpse of the perfect "might +have been." So we say, let blame fall lightly on the one who least +deserves it. Perhaps if our ears were not so full of the sounds of the +world, we should hear a tenderer judgment pronounced than man's is +likely to be: "Unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing. . . . For there +was none to save her." + +Our work at Dohnavur is entirely among the little children who are +innocent of wrong. We rarely touch these lives which have been stained +and spoiled; but we could not forbear to write a word of clear +explanation about them, lest any should mistake the matter and confuse +things that differ. + + * * * * * + +We leave the subject with relief. Few who have followed us so far know +how much it has cost to lead the way into these polluted places. Not +that we would make much of any personal cost; but that we would have it +known that nothing save a pressure which could not be resisted could +force us to touch pitch. And yet why should we shrink from it when the +purpose which compels is the saving of the children? Brave words written +by a brave woman come and help us to do it:-- + +"This I say emphatically, that the evil which we have grappled with to +save one of our own dear ones does not sully. It is the evil that we +read about in novels and newspapers for our own amusement; it is the +evil we weakly give way to in our lives; above all, it is the destroying +evil that we have refused so much as to know about in our absorbing care +for our own alabaster skin; it is that evil which defiles a woman. But +the evil that we have grappled with in a life and death struggle to save +a soul for whom Christ died does not sully; it clothes from head to foot +with the white robe, it crowns with the golden crown." + + * * * * * + +There remains only one thing more to show. It was evening in an Indian +town at a time of festival. The great pillared courts of the Temple were +filled with worshippers and pilgrims from all over the Tamil country and +from as far north as Benares. Men who eagerly grasped at anything +printed in Sanscrit and knew nothing of our vernacular were scattered in +little groups among the crowd, and we had freedom to go to them and give +them what we could, and talk to the many others who would listen. +Outside the moonlight was shining on the dark pile of the Temple tower, +and upon the palms planted along the wall, which rises in its solid +strength 30 feet high and encloses the whole Temple precincts. There +were very few people out in the moonlight. It was too quiet there for +them, too pure in its silvery whiteness. Inside the hall, with its +great-doored rooms and recesses, there were earth-lights in abundance, +flaring torches, smoking lamps and lanterns. And there was noise--the +noise of words and of wailing Indian music. For up near the closed doors +which open on the shrine within which the idol sat surrounded by a +thousand lights, there was a band of musicians playing upon stringed +instruments; sometimes they broke out excitedly and banged their drums +and made their conch-shells blare. + +Suddenly there was a tumultuous rush of every produceable sound; +tom-tom, conch-shell, cymbal, flute, stringed instruments and bells +burst into chorus together. The idol was going to be carried out from +his innermost shrine behind the lights; and as the great doors moved +slowly, the excitement became intense, the thrill of it quivered through +all the hall and sent a tremor through the crowd out to the street. But +we passed out and away, and turned into a quiet courtyard known to us +and talked to the women there. + +There were three, one the grandmother of the house, one her daughter, +and another a friend. The grandmother and her daughter were Temple +women, the eldest grandchild had been dedicated only a few months +before. There were three more children, one Mungie, a lovable child of +six, one a pretty three-year-old with a mop of beautiful curls, the +youngest a baby just then asleep in its hammock; a little foot dangled +out of the hammock, which was hung from a rafter in the verandah roof. +We had come to talk to the grandmother and mother about the dear little +six-year-old child, and hoped to find their heart. + +But we seemed to talk to stone, hard as the stone of the Temple tower +that rose above the roofs, black against the purity of the moonlit sky. +It was a bitter half-hour. Some hours are like stabs to remember, or +like the pitiless pressing down of an iron on living flesh. At last we +could bear it no longer, and rose to go. As we left we heard the +grandmother turn to her daughter's friend and say: "Though she heap gold +on the floor as high as Mungie's neck, I would never let her go to those +degraded Christians!" + +Once again it was festival in the white light of the full moon, and once +again we went to the same old Hindu town; for moonlight nights are times +of opportunity, and the cool of evening brings strength for more than +can be attempted in the heat of the day. And this time an adopted mother +spoke words that ate like acid into steel as we listened. + +Her adopted child is a slip of a girl, slim and light, with the ways of +a shy thing of the woods. She made me think of a harebell growing all by +itself in a rocky place, with stubbly grass about and a wide sky +overhead. She was small and very sweet, and she slid on to my knee and +whispered her lessons in my ear in the softest of little voices. She had +gone to school for nearly a year, and liked to tell me all she knew. "Do +you go to school now?" I asked her. She hung her head and did not +answer. "Don't you go?" I repeated. She just breathed "No," and the +little head dropped lower. "Why not?" I whispered as softly. The child +hesitated. Some dim apprehension that the reason would not seem good to +me troubled her, perhaps, for she would not answer. "Tell the Ammal, +silly child!" said her foster-mother, who was standing near. "Tell her +you are learning to dance and sing and get ready for the gods!" "I am +learning to dance and sing and get ready for the gods," repeated the +child obediently, lifting large, clear eyes to my face for a moment as +if to read what was written there. A group of men stood near us. I +turned to them. "Is it right to give this little child to a life like +that?" I asked them then. They smiled a tolerant, kindly smile. +"Certainly no one would call it right, but it is our custom," and they +passed on. There was no sense of the pity of it:-- + + Poor little life that toddles half an hour, + Crowned with a flower or two, and then an end! + +We had come to the town an hour or two earlier, and had seen, walking +through the throng round the Temple, two bright young girls in white. No +girls of their age, except Temple girls, would have been out at that +hour of the evening, and we followed them home. They stopped when they +reached the house where little Mungie lived, and then, turning, saw us +and salaamed. One of the two was Mungie's elder sister. Little Mungie +ran out to meet her sister, and, seeing us, eagerly asked for a book. So +we stood in the open moonlight, and the little one tried to spell out +the words of a text to show us she had not forgotten all she had +learned, even though she, too, had been taken from school, and had to +learn pages of poetry and the Temple dances and songs. + +The girls were jewelled and crowned with flowers, and they looked like +flowers themselves; flowers in moonlight have a mystery about them not +perceived in common day, but the mystery here was something wholly +sorrowful. Everything about the children--they were hardly more than +children--showed care and refinement of taste. There was no violent +clash of colour; the only vivid colour note was the rich red of a silk +underskirt that showed where the clinging folds of the white +gold-embroidered _sari_ were draped a little at the side. The effect was +very dainty, and the girls' manners were modest and gentle. No one who +did not know what the pretty dress meant that night would have dreamed +it was but the mesh of a net made of white and gold. + +But with all their pleasant manners it was evident the two girls looked +upon us with a distinct aloofness. They glanced at us much as a +brilliant bird of the air might be supposed to regard poultry, fowls of +the cooped-up yard. Then they melted into the shadow of an archway +behind the moonlit space, and we went on to another street and came upon +little Sellamal, the harebell child; and, sitting down on the verandah +which opens off the street, we heard her lessons as we have told, and +got into conversation with her adopted mother. + +We found her interested in listening to what we had to say about +dedicating children to the service of the gods. She was extremely +intelligent, and spoke Tamil such as one reads in books set for +examination. It was easy to talk with her, for she saw the point of +everything at once, and did not need to have truth broken up small and +crumbled down and illustrated in half a dozen different ways before it +could be understood. But the half-amused smile on the clever face told +us how she regarded all we were saying. What was life and death +earnestness to us was a game of words to her; a play the more to be +enjoyed because, drawn by the sight of two Missie Ammals sitting +together on the verandah, quite a little crowd had gathered, and were +listening appreciatively. + +"That is your way of looking at it; now listen to my way. Each land in +all the world has its own customs and religion. Each has that which is +best for it. Change, and you invite confusion and much unpleasantness. +Also by changing you express your ignorance and pride. Why should the +child presume to greater wisdom than its father? And now listen to me! +I will show you the matter from our side!" ("Yes, venerable mother, +continue!" interposed the crowd encouragingly.) "You seem to feel it a +sad thing that little Sellamal should be trained as we are training her. +You seem to feel it wrong, and almost, perhaps, disgrace. But if you +could see my eldest daughter the centre of a thousand Brahmans and +high-caste Hindus! If you could see every eye in that ring fixed upon +her, upon her alone! If you could see the absorption--hardly do they +dare to breathe lest they should miss a point of her beauty! Ah, you +would know, could you see it all, upon whose side the glory lies and +upon whose the shame! Compare that moment of exaltation with the +grovelling life of your Christians! Low-minded, flesh-devouring, +Christians, discerning not the difference between clean and unclean! +Bah! And you would have my little Sellamal leave all this for that!" + +"But afterwards? What comes afterwards?" + +"What know I? What care I? That is a matter for the gods." + +The child Sellamal listened to this, glancing from face to face with +wistful, wondering eyes; and as I looked down upon her she looked up at +me, and I looked deep into those eyes--such innocent eyes. Then +something seemed to move the child, and she held up her face for a kiss. + +This is only one Temple town. There are many such in the South. These +things are not easy to look at for long. We turn away with burning eyes, +and only for the children's sake could we ever look again. For their +sake look again. + +It was early evening in a home of rest on the hills. A medical +missionary, a woman of wide experience, was talking to a younger woman +about the Temple children. She had lived for some time, unknowingly, +next door to a Temple house in an Indian city. Night after night she +said she was wakened by the cries of children--frightened cries, +indignant cries, sometimes sharp cries as of pain. She inquired in the +morning, but was always told the children had been punished for some +naughtiness. "They were only being beaten." She was not satisfied, and +tried to find out more through the police. But she feared the police +were bribed to tell nothing, for she found out nothing through them. +Later, by means of her medical work, she came full upon the truth. . . . +"Why leave spaces with dotted lines? Why not write the whole fact?" +wrote one who did not know what she asked. Once more we repeat it, to +write the whole fact is impossible. + +It is true this is not universal; in our part of the country it is not +general, for the Temple child is considered of too much value to be +lightly injured. But it is true beyond a doubt that inhumanity which may +not be described is possible at any time in any Temple house. + +Out in the garden little groups of missionaries walked together and +talked. From a room near came the sound of a hymn. It was peaceful and +beautiful everywhere, and the gold of sunset filled the air, and made +the garden a glory land of radiant wonderful colour. But for one woman +at least the world turned black. Only the thought of the children nerved +her to go on. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +The Power behind the Work + + "To Him difficulties are as nothing, and + improbabilities of less than no account."--_Story + of the China Inland Mission._ + + +THE Power behind the work is the interposition of God in answer to +prayer. + +Recently--so recently that it would be unwise to go into detail--we were +in trouble about a little girl of ten or eleven, who, though not a +Temple child, was exposed to imminent danger, and sorely needed +deliverance. I happened to be alone at Dohnavur at the time, and did not +know what to answer to the child's urgent message: "If I can escape to +you" (this meant if she braved capture and its consequences, and fled +across the fields alone at night), "can you protect me from my people?" +To say "Yes" might have had fatal results. To say "No" seemed too +impossible. The circumstances were such that great care was needed to +avoid being entangled in legal complications; and as the Collector +(Chief Magistrate) for our part of the district happened just then to be +in our neighbourhood, I wrote asking for an appointment. Early next +morning we met by the roadside. I had been up most of the night, and was +tired and anxious; and I shall never forget the comfort that came +through the quiet sympathy with which one who was quite a stranger to +us all listened to the story, not as if it were a mere missionary +trifle, but something worthy his attention. But nothing could be done. +It was not a case where we had any ground for appeal to the law; and any +attempt upon our part to help the child could only have resulted in more +trouble afterwards, for we should certainly have had to give her up if +she came to us. + +As the inevitableness of this conclusion became more and more evident to +me, it seemed as if a great strong wall were rising foot by foot between +me and that little girl--a wall like the walls that enclose the Temples +here, very high, very massive. But even Temple walls have doors, and I +could not see any door in this wall. Nothing could bring that child to +us but a Power enthroned above the wall, which could stoop and lift her +over it. I do not remember what led to the question about what we +expected would happen; but I remember that with that wall full in view I +could only answer, "The interposition of God." Nothing else, nothing +less, could do anything for that child. + +Her case was complicated, if I may express it so, by the fact that +though she knew very little--she had only had a few weeks' teaching and +could not read--she had believed all we told her most simply and +literally, and witnessed to her own people, whose reply to her had been: +"You will see who is stronger, your God or ours! Do you think your Lord +Jesus can deliver you from our hand, or prevent us from doing as we +choose with you? We shall see!" And the case of an older girl who had +been, as those who knew her best believed, drugged and then bent to her +people's will, was quoted: "Did your Lord Jesus deliver her? Where is +she to-day? And you think He will deliver you!" "But He will not let you +hurt me," the child had answered fearlessly, though her strength was +weakened even then by thirty hours without food; and, remembering one of +the Bible stories she had heard during those weeks, she added, "I am +Daniel, and you are the lions"--and she told them how the angel was sent +to shut the lions' mouths. But she knew so little after all, and the +bravest can be overborne, and she was only a little girl; so our hearts +ached for her as we sent her the message: "You must not try to come to +us. We cannot protect you. But Jesus is with you. He will not fail you. +He says, 'Fear thou not, for I am with thee.'" That night they shut her +up with a demon-possessed woman, that the terror of it might shake her +faith in Christ. Next day they hinted that worse would happen soon. Our +fear was lest her faith should fail before deliverance came. + +Three and a half months of such tension as we have rarely known passed +over us. Often during that time, when one thing after another happened +contrariwise, as it appeared, and each event as it occurred seemed to +add another foot to the wall that still grew higher, help to faith came +to us through unexpected sources like voices blown on the winds. + +Once it was something Lieut. Shackleton is reported to have said to +Reuter's correspondent concerning his expedition to the South Pole: +"Over and over again there were times when no mortal leadership could +have availed us. It was during those times that we learned that some +Power beyond our own guided our footsteps." And the illustrations which +followed of Divine interposition were such that one at least who read, +took courage; for the God of the great Ice-fields is the God of the +Tropics. + +Once it was a passage opened by chance in a friend's book--Pastor +Agnorum. The subject of the paragraph is the schoolboy's attitude +towards games: "Glimpses of his mind are sometimes given us, as on that +day at Risingham when you refused to play in your boys' house-match, +unless the other house excluded from their team a half-back who was +under attainder through a recent row. They declined, and you stood out +of it. The hush in the field when your orphaned team, in defiance of the +odds, scored and again scored! Their supporters, in chaste awe at the +marvel, could hardly shout: it was more like a sob: a judgment had so +manifestly defended the right. The cricket professional, a man naturally +devout, looked at me with eyes that confessed an interposition, and all +came away quiet as a crowd from a cemetery. It was not a game of +football we had looked at, it was a Mystery Play: we had been edified, +and we hid it in our hearts." + +And once, on the darkest day of all, it was the brave old family motto, +on a letter which came by post: "Dieu defend le droit." It was something +to be reminded that, in spite of appearances to the contrary, the +kingdom is the Lord's, and He is Governor among the people. + +"Eyes that confessed an interposition." The phrase was illuminated for +us when God in very truth interposed in such fashion that every one saw +it was His Hand, for no other hand could have done it. Then we, too, +looked at each other with eyes that confessed an interposition. We had +seen that which we should never forget; and until the time comes when it +may be more fully told to the glory of our God, we have hid it in our +hearts. + +The reason we have outlined the story is to lead to a word we want to +write very earnestly; it is this: Friends who care for the children, and +believe this work on their behalf is something God intends should be +done, "pray as if on that alone hung the issue of the day." More than we +know depends upon our holding on in prayer. + +All through those months there was prayer for that child in India and in +England. The matter was so urgent that we made it widely known, and some +at least of those who heard gave themselves up to prayer; not to the +mere easy prayer which costs little and does less, but to that waiting +upon God which does not rest till it knows it has obtained access, +knows that it has the petition that it desires of Him. This sort of +prayer costs. + +But to us down in the thick of the battle, it was strength to think of +that prayer. We were very weary with hope deferred; for it was as if all +the human hope in us were torn out of us, and tossed and buffeted every +way till there was nothing left of it but an aching place where it had +been. God works by means, as we all admit; and so every fresh +development in a Court case in which the child was involved, every turn +of affairs, where her relatives were concerned (and these turns were +frequent), every little movement which seemed to promise something, was +eagerly watched in the expectation that in it lay the interposition for +which we waited. But it seemed as if our hopes were raised only to be +dashed lower than ever, till we were cast upon the bare word of our God. +It was given to us then as perhaps never before to penetrate to the +innermost spring of consolation contained in those very old words: "I +should utterly have fainted, but that I believe verily to see the +goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Oh, tarry thou the +Lord's leisure: be strong, and He shall comfort thine heart; and put +thou thy trust in the Lord." + +This Divine Interposition has been very inspiring. We feel afresh the +force of the question: "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" And we ask +those whose hearts are with us to pray for more such manifestations of +the Power that has not passed with the ages. Lord, teach us to pray! + +For it has never been with us, "Come, see, and conquer," as if victory +were an easy thing and a common. We have known what it is to toil for +the salvation of some little life, and we have known the bitterness of +defeat. We have had to stand on the shore of a dark and boundless sea, +and watch that little white life swept off as by a great black wave. We +have watched it drift further and further out on those desolate waters, +till suddenly something from underneath caught it and sucked it down. +And our very soul has gone out in the cry, "Would God I had died for +thee!" and we too have gone "to the chamber over the gate" where we +could be alone with our grief and our God--O little child, loved and +lost, would God I had died for thee! + +Should we forget these things? Should we bury them away lest they hurt +some sensitive soul? Rather, could we forget them if we would, and dare +we hide away the knowledge lest somewhere someone should be hurt? For it +is not as if that black wave's work were a thing of the past: it has +gone on for centuries unchecked: it is going on to-day. + +Several months have passed since the chapters which precede this were +written. We are now, with some of our converts who needed rest and +change, in a place under the mountains a day's journey from Dohnavur. It +is one of the holy places of the South; for the northern tributary of +the chief river of this district falls over the cliffs at this point in +a double leap of one hundred and eighty feet, and the waters are so +disposed over a great rounded shoulder of rock that many people can +bathe below in a long single file. To this fall thousands of pilgrims +come from all parts of India, believing that such bathing is meritorious +and cleanses away all sin. And as they are far from their own homes, and +in measure out on holiday, we find them more than usually accessible and +friendly. This morning I was on my way home after talk with the women, +and was turning for a moment to look back upon the beautiful sorrowful +scene--the flashing waterfall, the passing crowd of pilgrims, the +radiance of sunshine on water, wood, and rock, when a Brahman, fresh +from bathing, followed my look, and glancing at the New Testament and +bag of Gospels in my hand, smiled indulgently and asked if we seriously +thought these books and their teaching would ever materially influence +India. "Look at that crowd," and he pointed to the people, his own caste +people chiefly. "Have we been influenced?" + +Then he told me the story of the Falls, how ages ago a god, pitying the +sins and the sufferings of the people, bathed on the ledge where the +waters leap, and thereafter those waters were efficacious to the +cleansing of sin from the one who believingly bathes. To the one who +believes not, nothing happens beyond the cleansing of his body and its +invigoration. "Even to you," he added, in his friendliness, "virtue of a +sort is allowed; for do you not experience a certain exhilaration and a +buoyancy of spirit and a pleasure beyond anything obtainable elsewhere +[which is perfectly true]? This is due to the benevolence of our god, +whose merits extend even to you." + +He was an educated man; he had studied in a mission school, and +afterwards in a Government college. He had read English books, and parts +of our Bible were familiar to him. He assured me he found no more +difficulty in accepting this legend than we did in accepting the story +of our Saviour's incarnation. And then, standing in the Temple porch +with its carved stone pillars, almost within touch of the great door +that opens behind into the shrine, he led the way into the Higher +Hinduism--that mysterious land which lies all around us in India, but is +so seldom shown to us. And I listened till in turn he was persuaded to +listen, and we read together from the Gospel which transcends in its +simplicity the profoundest reach of Hindu thought: "In the beginning was +the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." We did not +pause till we came to the end of the paragraph. I could see how it +appealed, for deep calleth unto deep; but he rose again up and up, and +that unknown part of one's being which is more akin to the East than to +the West, followed him and understood--when the door behind us creaked, +and a sudden blast of turbulent music sprang out upon us, deafening us +for a moment, and he said, "It is the morning worship. The priests and +the Servants of the gods are worshipping within." It was like a fall +from far-away heights to the very floor of things. + +Then he told me how in the town three miles distant, the Benares of the +South, the service of the gods was conducted with more elaborate +ceremonial. "I could arrange for you to see it if you wished." I +explained why I could not wish to see it, and asked him about the +Servants of the gods, and about the little children. "Certainly there +are little children. The Servants of the gods adopt them to continue the +succession. How else could it be continued?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +If this were All + + +AN hour earlier three of us had stood together by the pool at the foot +of the Falls, and watched the people bathe. At the edge of the rock an +old grandmother had dealt valiantly with an indignant baby of two, whom, +despite its struggles, she bathed after prolonged preparation of divers +anointings, by holding it grimly, kicking and slippery though it was, +under what must have seemed to it a terrible hurrying horror. When at +last that baby emerged, it was too crushed in spirit to cry. + +Beyond this little domestic scene was a group of half-reluctant women, +longing and yet fearing to venture under the plunging waters; and beyond +them again were the bathers, crowding but never jostling each other, on +the narrow ledge upon and over which the Falls descend. Some were +standing upright, with bowed heads, under the strong chastisement of the +nearer heavier fall; some bent under it, as if overwhelmed with the +thundering thud of its waters. Some were further on, where the white +furies lash like living whips, and scourge and sting and scurry; and +there the pilgrims were hardly visible, for the waters swept over them +like a veil, and they looked in their weirdness and muteness like martyr +ghosts. Further still some were carefully climbing the steps cut into +the cliff, or standing as high as they could go upon an unguarded +projection of rock, with eyes shut and folded hands, entirely oblivious +apparently to the fact that showers of spray enveloped them, and the +deep pool lay below. + +I had never seen anything quite like this: it was such a strange +commingling of the beautiful and sorrowful. The women--"fair"-skinned +Brahman women they chanced to be--were in their usual graceful raiment +of silk or cotton, all shades of soft reds, crimson, purple, blue, +lightened with yellow and orange, which in the water looked like dull +fire. Their golden and silver jewels gleamed in the sunlight, and their +long black hair hung round faces like the faces one sees in pictures. +The men wore their ordinary white, and the ascetics the salmon-tinted +saffron of their profession. + +Then, as if to add an ethereal touch to it all, a rainbow spanned the +Falls at that moment, and we saw the pilgrims through it or arched by it +as they stood, some at either end of the bow where the colours painted +the rock and the spray, and some in the space between. The sun struck +the forest hanging on the steeps above, and it became a vivid thing in +quick delight of greenness. It was something which, once seen, could +hardly be forgotten. The triumphant stream of white set deep in the +heart of a great horseshoe of rock and woods; the delicate, exquisite +pleasure of colour; and the people in their un-self-consciousness, +bathing and worshipping just as they wished, with for background rock +and spray, and for a halo rainbow. To one who looked with sympathy the +picture was a parable. You could not but see visions: you could not but +dream dreams. + +Then from the quiet heights crept a colony of monkeys, their chatter +drowned in the roar of the Falls. On they came, wise and quaint, like +the half-heard whispers of old-time jokes. And they bathed in the mimic +pools above, as it seemed in imitation of the pilgrims, holding comical +little heads under the light trickles. + +And below the scene changed as a company of widows came and entered the +Falls. They were all Brahmans and all old, and they shivered in their +poor scanty garments of coarse white. Most of them were frail with long +fasting and penance, and they prayed as they stood in the water or +crouched under its weight. Such a one had sat on the stone under the +special fall which, as the friend who had taken me observed with more +forcefulness than sentiment, "comes down like a sack of potatoes." I had +tried to stand it for a minute, but it pelted and pounded me so that +less than a minute was enough, and I moved to make room for a Brahman +widow who was bathing with me. And then she sat down on the stone, and +the waters beat very heavily on the old grey head; but she sat on in her +patience, her hands covering her face, and she prayed without one +moment's intermission. How little she knew of the other prayer that rose +beside hers through the rushing water--it was the first time I at least +had ever prayed in a waterfall--"Oh, send forth Thy light and Thy truth; +let them lead her!" She struggled up at last and caught my hand; then, +steadying herself with an effort, she felt for the iron rod that +protects the ledge, and blinded by the driving spray and benumbed by the +beat of the water, she stumbled slowly out. But the wistful face had a +look of content upon it, and her only concern was to finish the +ceremonial out in the sunshine--she had brought her little offerings of +a few flowers with her--and so, much as I longed to follow her and tell +her of the cleansing of which this was only a type, it could not have +been then. Oh, the rest it is at such a time to remember that the Lord +is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. + +Below the pool, in the broad bed of the stream and on its banks, all was +animation and happy simple life. Here the women were drying their +garments, without taking them off, in a clever fashion of their own. +There some were washing them in the stream. Children played about as +they willed. But in and among the throng, anywhere, everywhere, we saw +worshippers, standing or sitting facing the east, alone or in company, +chanting names for the deity, or adoring and meditating in silence. +Doubtless some were formal enough, but some were certainly sincere; and +we felt if this were all there is to know in Hinduism, the time must +soon come when a people so prepared would recognise in the Saviour and +Lover of their souls, Him for whom they had been seeking so long, "if +haply they might feel after Him and find Him." + +But this is not all there is to know. Back out of sight behind the +simple joyousness of life, to which the wholesome waters and the +sparkling air and the beauty everywhere so graciously ministered, behind +that wonderful wealth of thought as revealed in the Higher Hinduism +which is born surely of nothing less than a longing after God--behind +all this what do we find? Glory of mountain and waterfall, charm and +delight of rainbow in spray; but what lies behind the coloured veil? +What symbols are carved into the cliff? Whose name and power do they +represent? + +This book touches one of the hidden things; would that we could forget +it! Sometimes, through these days as we sat on the rocks by the +waterside, in the unobtrusive fashion of the Indian religious teacher, +who makes no noise but waits for those who care to come, we have almost +forgotten in the happiness of human touch with the people, the lovable +women and children more especially, that anything dark and wicked and +sad lay so very near. And then, suddenly as we have told, we have been +reminded of it. We may not forgot it if we would. It is true that the +thing we mean is disowned by the spiritual few, but to the multitude it +is part of their religion. "Of course, Temple women must adopt young +children; and they must be carefully trained, or they will not be meet +for the service of the gods." So said the Brahman who only a moment +before had led me into the mystic land, deep within which he loves to +dwell: what does the training mean? + +A fortnight ago the friend to whom the child is dear took me to see the +little girl described in a letter from an Indian sister as "a little +dove in a cage." I did not find that she minded her cage. The bars have +been gilded, the golden glitter has dazzled the child. She thinks her +cage a pretty place, and she does not beat against its bars as she did +in the earlier days of her captivity. As we talked with her we +understood the change. When first she was taken from school the woman to +whose training her mother has committed her gave her polluting poetry to +read and learn, and she shrank from it, and would slip her Bible over +the open page and read it instead. But gradually the poetry seemed less +impossible; the atmosphere in which those vile stories grew and +flourished was all about her; as she breathed it day by day she became +accustomed to it; the sense of being stifled passed. The process of +mental acclimatisation is not yet completed, the lovely little face is +still pure and strangely innocent in its expression; but there is a +change, and it breaks the heart of the friend who loves her to see it. +"I must learn my poetry. They will be angry if I do not learn it. What +can I do?" And again, "Oh, the stories do not mean anything," said with +a downward glance, as if the child-conscience still protested. But this +was a fortnight ago. It is worse with that little girl to-day; there is +less inward revolt; and to-morrow how will it be with her? + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +"To Continue the Succession" + + +FOR to-morrow holds no hope for these children so far as our power to +save them to-day is concerned. It will be remembered that we felt we +could do more for them by working quietly on our own lines than by +appealing to the law; but lately, fearing lest we were possibly doing +the law an injustice by taking it for granted that it was powerless to +help us, we carefully gathered all the evidence we could about three +typical children: one a child in moral danger, though not in actual +Temple danger; another the adopted child of a Temple woman; the third a +Temple woman's own child: and we submitted this evidence to a keen +Indian Christian barrister, and asked for his advice. + +L., the first child he deals with, the little "dove in the cage," is in +charge of a woman of bad character, by the consent and arrangement of +her mother. The mother speaks English as well as an Englishwoman, and +her eldest son is studying for his degree in a Government college. +Although Temple service is not intended, the proposed life is such that +a similar course of training as that to which the Temple child is +subjected, is now being carried on. This is the barrister's reply to my +letter:-- + +"I have carefully perused the statements of the probable witnesses. L.'s +mother is not a Temple woman, and the foster-mother also is not a Temple +woman. The law of adoption relating to Temple women does not apply to +them. The foster-mother, therefore, can have no legal claim to the +child. But the mother has absolute control over the bringing-up of the +child, and it would not be possible in the present state of the law to +do anything for the child now." + +S. This is the little one who whispered her texts to me in the +moonlight, and whose foster-mother told her to tell me she was being +trained for the Service of the gods. She is evidently destined to be a +Temple woman. "The first question for consideration is how the old woman +is related to her. If she is the adopted mother, or if she could +successfully plead adoption of the child, the Civil Courts will be +powerless to help. If we can get some reliable evidence that the child +has not been adopted" (this is impossible) "we may be able to induce the +British Courts to interfere on her behalf and say she shall not be +devoted to Temple service until she attains her majority; but it would +not be possible to induce the Courts to hand the child over to the +Mission." + +K., the little girl whose own mother is a Temple woman. She has been +taught dancing, which to our mind was conclusive proof of her mother's +intentions. To make sure we asked the question, to which the following +is the reply: "No children of [good] Hindu parents are taught dancing. +Even the lowest caste woman thinks it beneath her dignity to dance, +excepting professional devil-dancers, who are generally old women, +mostly widows, of an hysterical temperament. When young children of +women of doubtful character are taught dancing, it means they are going +to be married to the idol. When children of Temple women are taught +dancing the presumption is all the greater. But the difficulty in the +case of K. is to get one who has higher claims to guardianship than the +mother. In the case of a Temple woman's child there is no one. + +"It is this which makes it impossible for the well-wishers of the +children to interfere. . . . The law punishes only the offence committed +and not the intent to commit, or even the preparation, unless it amounts +to an attempt under the Penal Code." + + * * * * * + +Bluebeards are not an institution in England; but if they were, and if +one of the order were known to possess a cupboardful of pendent heads, +would Englishmen sit quiet while he whetted his butcher's knife quite +calmly on his doorstep? Would they say as he sat there in untroubled +assurance of safety, feeling the edge of the blade with his thumb, and +muttering almost audibly the name of his intended victim, "We have no +right to interfere, he is only sharpening his knife; an intent to +commit, or even the preparation for crime, is not punishable by law, +unless it amounts to an attempt, and he has not 'attempted' yet." +Surely, if such intent were not punishable it very soon would be. It +would be found possible--who can doubt it?--to frame a new law, or amend +the old one, so as to deal with Bluebeards. And a Committee of Vigilance +would be appointed to ensure its effectual working. + +Of course, the simile is absurdly inadequate, and breaks down at several +important points, and the circumstances are vastly more difficult in +India than they ever could be in England, just because India is India; +but will it not at least be admitted that the law meant in kindness to +the innocent is fatal to our purpose?--which is to save the children +while they are still innocent. + + * * * * * + +We do not want to ask for anything unreasonable, but it seems to us that +the law concerning adoption requires revision. In Mayne's _Hindu Law and +Usage_ it is stated that among Temple women it is customary in Madras +and Pondicherry and in Western India to adopt girls to follow their +adopted mother's profession: and the girls so adopted succeed to their +property; no particular ceremonies are necessary, recognition alone +being sufficient. In Calcutta and Bombay such adoptions have been held +illegal, but in the Madras Presidency they are held to be legal. In a +case where the validity of such adoption was questioned, the Madras High +Court affirmed it, and it has now, "by a series of decisions, adopted +the rule . . . which limits the illegality of adoption to cases where +they involve the commission of an offence under the Criminal Code." +This, as we have said, makes it entirely impossible to save the child +through the law before her training is complete; and after it is +complete it is too late to save her. Train a child from infancy to look +upon a certain line of life as the one and only line for her, make the +prospect attractive, and surround her with every possible unholy +influence; in short, bend the twig and keep it bent for the greater part +of sixteen years, or even only six--is there much room for doubt as to +how it will grow? An heir to the property may be required; but with the +facts of life before us, can we be content to allow the adoption of a +child by a Temple woman to be so legalised that even if it can be proved +to a moral certainty that her intention is to "continue the succession," +nothing can be done? + +Then as to the guardianship: again we do not want to ask too much, but +surely if it can be shown that no one else has moved to save the child +(which argues that no one else has cared much about her salvation) we +should not be disqualified for guardianship on the sole ground that we +are not related? In such a case the relatives are the last people with +whom she would be safe. An order may go forth from that nebulous and +distant Impersonality, the British Government, to the effect that a +certain child is not to be dedicated to gods during her minority. But +far away in their villages the people smile at a simplicity which can +imagine that commands can eventually affect purposes. They may delay the +fulfilment of such purpose; but India can afford to wait. + +_We would have the law so amended, that whoever has been in earnest +enough about the matter to try to save the child from destruction, +should be given the right to protect her, if in spite of the odds +against him he has honestly fought through a case and won._ + +"Is it not a sad thing," writes the Indian barrister--we quote his words +because they seem to us worthy of notice at home--"that a Christian +Government is unable to legislate to save the children of Temple women? +I am sorry my opinion has made you sad. Giving my opinion as a lawyer, I +could not take an optimistic view of the matter. _The law as it stands +at present is against reform in matters of this kind._ Even should a +good judge take a strong view of the matter, the High Court will stick +to the very letter of the law." + +So that, as things are, it comes to this: We must stand aside and watch +the cup of poison being prepared--so openly prepared that everyone knows +for which child it is being mixed. We must stand and wait and do +nothing. We must see the little girl led up to the cup and persuaded to +taste it. We must watch her gradually growing to like it, for it is +flavoured and sweet. We must not beckon to her before she has drunk of +it and say, "Come to us and we will tell you what is in that cup, and +keep you safely from those who would make you drink it"; for "any +attempt to induce the child to come to you, or any assistance given to +help her to escape to you, would render you liable to prosecution for +kidnapping--a criminal offence under the Penal Code." Any one of us +would gladly go to prison if it would save the child; but the trouble +is, it would not: for the law could only return her to her lawful +guardians from whose hold we unlawfully detached her. We, not they, +would be in the wrong; they did nothing unlawful in only preparing the +cup. Does someone say that we put the case unfairly--that the law does +not forbid us to warn the child, it only forbids us to snatch her away +when the cup is merely being offered her? But remember, in our part of +India at least, these cups are not given in public. The preparation is +public enough, the bare tasting is public too; but the cup in its +fulness is given in private, and once given, the poison works with +stealthy but startling rapidity. Warn the child before she has drunk of +it, and she does not understand you. Warn her after she has drunk, and +the poison holds her from heeding. + +Besides, to be very practical, what is the use of warning if we may only +warn? Suppose our one isolated word weighs with the child against the +word of mother or adopted mother, and all who stand for home to her; +suppose she says (she would very rarely have the courage for any such +proposal, but suppose she does say it): "May I come to you? and will you +show me the way, for it is such a long way and I do not know how to find +it? I should be so frightened, alone in the night" (the only time escape +would be possible), "for I know they would run after me, and they can +run faster than I!" What may we say to her? What may I say to the +Harebell supposing she asks me this question? She is only six, and there +are six long miles over broken country between her home and ours. We +could not find it ourselves in the dark. But supposing she dared it all, +and an angel were sent to guide her, have we any right to protect her? +None whatever. If there are parents, or a parent, they or she have the +right of parentage; if an adopted mother, the right of adoption.[F] + +We know that the law is framed to protect the good, and the rights of +parentage cannot be too carefully guarded; but to one who has not a +legal mind, but only sees a little girl in danger of her life, and has +to stand with hands tied by a law intended to deal with totally +different matters, it seems strange that things should be so. This is +not the moment (if ever there is such a moment) to choose, for +deliberate lawlessness; but there are times when the temptation is +strong to break the law in the hope that, once broken, it may be +amended. Only those who have had to go through it know what it is to +stand and see that cup of poison being prepared for an unsuspicious +child. + +The last sentence in the barrister's letter begins with "I despair." The +sentence is too pungent in its outspoken candour to copy into a book +which may come back to India: "I despair": then unto Thee we turn, O +Lord our God; for now, Lord, what is our hope? truly our hope is even in +Thee: oh, help us against the enemy; for vain is the help of man. Hath +God forgotten to be gracious? Will the Lord absent Himself for ever? O +God, wherefore art Thou absent from us for so long? Look upon the +Covenant, for all the earth is full of darkness and cruel habitations. +Surely Thou hast seen it, for Thou beholdest ungodliness and wrong. The +wicked boasteth of his heart's desire. He sitteth in the lurking-places +of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent. He +saith in his heart, "God hath forgotten: He hideth His face; He will +never see it." Arise, O Lord God, lift up Thine hand! Up, Lord, +disappoint him, and cast him down; deliver the children! Show Thy +marvellous lovingkindness, Thou that art the Saviour of them which put +their trust in Thee, from such as resist Thy right hand. Thy voice is +mighty in operation: the voice of the Lord is a glorious voice. We wait +for Thy lovingkindness, O God: be merciful unto the children: O God, be +merciful unto the children, for our soul trusteth in Thee, and we call +unto the Most High God, even unto the God that shall perform the cause +which we have in hand. For Thou hast looked down from Thy sanctuary; out +of heaven did the Lord behold the earth, that He might hear the +mournings of such as are in captivity, and deliver the children +appointed to death. Arise, O God, maintain Thine own cause! Our hope is +in Thee, Who helpeth them to right that suffer wrong. The Lord looseth +the prisoners. God is unto us a God of deliverances. Power belongeth +unto Thee. Our soul hangeth upon Thee: Thou shalt show us wonderful +things in Thy righteousness, O God of our salvation, Thou that art the +hope of all the ends of the earth. And all men that see it shall say, +This hath God done; for they shall perceive that it is His work. He +shall deliver the children's souls from falsehood and wrong; for God is +our King of old; the help that is done upon earth He doeth it Himself. +Sure I am, the Lord will avenge the poor, and maintain the cause of the +helpless. Why art thou so heavy, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted +within me? Oh, put thy trust in God; for I will yet praise Him which is +the help of my countenance and my God! + +Are there any prayers like the old psalms in their intense sincerity? In +the times when our heart is wounded within us we turn to these ancient +human cries, and we find what we want in them. + +Let us pray for the children of this generation being trained now "to +continue the succession," whom nothing less than a Divine interposition +can save. The hunters on these mountains dig pits to ensnare the poor +wild beasts, and they cover them warily with leaves and grass: this +sentence about the succession is just such a pit, with words for leaves +and grass. Let us pray for miracles to happen where individual children +are concerned, that the little feet in their ignorance may be hindered +from running across those pits, for the fall is into miry clay, and the +sides of the pit are slippery and very steep. + +More and more as we go on, and learn our utter inability to move a +single pebble by ourselves, and the mighty power of God to upturn +mountains with a touch, we realise how infinitely important it is to +know how to pray. There is the restful prayer of committal to which the +immediate answer is peace. We could not live without this sort of +prayer; we should be crushed and overborne, and give up broken-hearted +if it were not for that peace. But the Apostle speaks of another prayer +that is wrestle, conflict, "agony." And if these little children are to +be delivered and protected after their deliverance, and trained that if +the Lord tarry and life's fierce battle has to be fought--and for them +it may be very fierce--all that will be attempted against them shall +fall harmless at their feet like arrows turned to feather-down; then +some of us must be strong to meet the powers that will combat every inch +of the field with us, and some of us must learn deeper things than we +know yet about the solemn secret of prevailing prayer. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[F] To-day (February 16, 1912) as I go through proofs of the second +edition, I hear by post of a young girl in a distant city who lately +escaped to a missionary, and asked for what he could not give +her--protection. She had to return to her own home. In her despair, she +drowned herself. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +What if she misses her Chance? + + "Who would be planted chooseth not the soil + Or here or there, . . . + Lord even so + I ask one prayer, + The which if it be granted + It skills not where + Thou plantest me, only I would be planted." + + T. E. BROWN. + + +TWO pictures of two evenings rise as I write. One is of an English +fireside in a country house. The lamps have been lighted, and the +curtains drawn. The air is full of the undefined scent of +chrysanthemums, and the stronger sweetness of hyacinths comes from a +stand in the window. Curled up in a roomy arm-chair by the fire sits a +girl with a kitten asleep on her lap. She is reading a missionary book. + +The other this: a white carved cupola in the centre of a piece of water +enclosed by white walls. People are sitting on the walls and pressing +close about them in their thousands. A gorgeous barge is floating slowly +round the shrine. There is very little moon, but the whole place is +alight; sometimes the water is ablaze with ruby and amber; this fades, +and a weird blue-green shimmers across the barge, and electric lamps at +the corners of the square lend brilliancy to the scene. The barge is +covered with crimson trappings, and hundreds of wreaths of white +oleander hang curtain-wise round what is within--the god and goddess +decked with jewels and smothered in flowers. Round and round the barge +is poled, and in the coloured light all that is gaudy and tawdry is +toned, and becomes only oriental and impressive; and the white shrine in +the centre reflected in the calm coloured water appears in its +alternating dimness, and shining more like a fairy creation than common +handiwork. + +We who were at the festival, three of us laden with packets of marked +Gospels, met sometimes as we wandered about unobserved, losing ourselves +in the crowd, that we might the more quietly continue that for which we +were there; and in one such chance meeting we spoke of the English girl +by the fireside, and longed to show her what we saw; and to show it with +such earnestness that she would be drawn to inquire where her Master had +most need of her. But no earnestness of writing can do much after all. +It is true the eye affects the heart, and we would show what we have +seen in the hope that even the second-hand sight might do something; but +words are clumsy, and cannot discover to another that poignant thing the +eye has power to transmit to the heart. And it is well that it is so, +for something stronger and more consuming than human emotion can ever be +must operate upon the heart if the life is to be moved to purpose. "A +moving story" is worth little if it only moves the feelings. How far out +of its selfish track does it move the life into ways of sacrifice? That +is the question that matters. What if it cost? Did not Calvary cost? +Away with the cold, calculating love that talks to itself about cost! +God give us a pure passion of love that knows nothing of hesitation and +grudging, and measuring, nothing of compromise! What if it seem +impossible to face all that surrender may mean? Is there not provision +for the impossible? "In the Old Testament we find that in almost every +case of people being clothed with the Spirit it was for things which +were impossible to them. To be filled with the Spirit means readiness +for Him to take us out of our present sphere and put us anywhere away +from our own choice into His choice for us." These words hold a message +alike for us as we meet and pass in that Indian crowd, and for the girl +by the fireside at home who wants to know her Lord's will that she may +do it, and whose heart's prayer is: "May Thy grace, O Lord, make that +possible to me which is impossible by nature." + +Let us have done with limitations, let us be simply sincere. How ashamed +we shall be by and by of our insincerities:-- + + Thy vows are on me, oh to serve Thee truly, + Pants, pants my soul to perfectly obey! + Burn, burn, O Fire, O Wind, now winnow throughly! + Constrain, inspire to follow all the way! + Oh that in me + Thou, my Lord, may see + Of the travail of Thy soul, + And be satisfied. + +We had only a few hours to spend in the town of the Floating Festival; +and being anxious to discover how things were among the Temple +community, I spent the first hour in their quarter, a block of +substantial buildings each in its own compound, near the Temple. I saw +the house from which two of our dearest children came, delivered by a +miracle; it looked like a fortress with its wall all round, and upstairs +balcony barred by a trellis. The street door was locked as the women +were at the Festival. In another of less dignified appearance I saw a +pretty woman of about twenty, dressed in pale blue and gold, evidently +just ready to go out. One of those abandoned beings whose function it is +to secure little children "to continue the succession" was in the house, +and so nothing could be attempted but the most casual conversation. All +the other houses in the block were locked as the women were out; but I +saw a new house outside, built in best Indian style, and finely +finished. It had been built for, and given as a free gift, to a noted +Temple woman. + +These houses would open, in the missionary sense of the word, but not in +an afternoon. It would take time and careful endeavour to win an +entrance. Such a worker would need to be one whom no disappointment +could discourage, a woman to whom the word had been spoken, "Go, love, +. . . according to the love of the Lord." When will such a worker come? + +As I left the Temple quarter, I met my two companions who had been at +work elsewhere, and we walked together to the place of festival. +Tripping gaily along in front was a little maid with flowers in her +hair. It was easy to know who she was, there was something in the very +step that marked the light-footed Temple child. Poor little +all-unconscious illustration of India's need of God! + +Later on we saw the same illustration again, lighted up like a great +transparency, the focus for a thousand eyes. For on the dais of the +barge, in the place of honour nearest the idols, stood three women and a +child. The women were swathed in fold upon fold of rich violet silk, +sprinkled all over with tinsel and gold; they were crowned with white +flowers, wreathed round a golden ornament like a full moon set in their +dark hair; and the effect of the whole, seen in the luminous flush of +colour thrown upon them from the shore, was as if the night sky +sparkling with stars had come down and robed them where they stood. Then +when it paled, and sheet-lightning played, as it seemed, across water +and barge and shrine, the effect was wholly mysterious. The three +swaying forms--for they swayed keeping time to the music that never +ceased--resembled one's idea of goddesses rather than familiar +womenkind. To the Indian mind it was beautiful, bewilderingly beautiful; +and the simple country-folk around drew deep breaths of admiration as +they passed. + +The little girl looked more human. She too was in violet silk and +spangles and gold, and her little head was wreathed with flowers. It may +have been her first Floating Festival, for she gazed about her with eyes +full of guileless wonder, and the woman beside whom she stood laid a +light, protecting hand upon her shoulder. + +That little child! How the sight of her held us in pity as the barge +sailed slowly round. She was so near to us at times that we could almost +have touched her when the barge came near the wall; and yet she was +utterly remote, miles of space might have lain between; it was as if we +and she belonged to different planets. And yet our little ones who might +have been as she, were so close--we could almost feel their loving +little arms round our necks at that moment--this child, how far away she +was! Had one of us set foot on the place where she stood, the friendly +thousands about us would have changed in a second into indignant furies, +and so long as the memory of such impiety remained no white face would +have been welcome at the Floating Festival. + +We stood by the wall awhile and watched; the sorrow of it all sank into +us. There in the holiest place of all, according to their thinking, +close to the emblems of deity, they had set this grievous perversion of +the holy and the pure. Right on the topmost pinnacle of everything known +as religious there they had enthroned it, and robed it in starlight and +crowned it as queens are crowned. "Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of +holiness!" "One thing have I desired of the Lord . . . to behold the fair +beauty of the Lord"--such words open chasms of contrast. God pity them; +like those of old, they know not what they do. + +We came away, our books all sold and our strength of voice spent out, +for everywhere people had listened; and as we came home, strong +thanksgiving filled our hearts, thanks and praise unspeakable for the +little lives safe in our nursery, for the two especially who but for +God's interposition might have been on that barge--and oh, from the +ground of our heart we were grateful that He had not let us miss His +will concerning these little children. We thought of those special two +with their dear little innocent ways. We could not think of them on the +barge. We could not bear to think of it--again and again we thanked God, +with humble adoring thanksgiving, that He kept us from missing our +chance. + +But the mere thinking of that intolerable thought brought us back upon +another thought. What of that girl by the fireside? What if she misses +her chance? We know, for letters confess it, that many a life has missed +its chance. What of the woman, strong and keen, with pent-up energies +waiting for she knows not what? What of the girl by the fireside +crushing down the sense of an Under-call that will not let her rest? The +work to which that Call would lead her will not be anything great: it +will only mean little humble everyday doings wherever she is sent. But +if the Call is a true Call from heaven, it will change to a song as she +obeys; and through all the afterward of life, through all the loneliness +that may come, through all the disillusions when her "dreams of fair +romance which no day brings" slip away from her--and the usual and +commonplace are all about her--then and for ever that song of the Lord +will sing itself through the quiet places of her soul, and she will be +sure--with the sureness that is just pure peace--that she is where her +Master meant her to be. + +Not that we would write as if obedience must always mean service in the +foreign field. We know it is not so: we know it may be quite the +opposite; but shall we not be forgiven if we sometimes wonder how it is +that with so much earnest Church life at home, with so many evangelistic +campaigns, and conventions, there is so poor an output so far as these +lands abroad are concerned? Can it be that so many are meant to stay at +home? We would never urge any individual friend to come, far less would +we plead for numbers, however great the need; we would only say this: +Will the girl by the fireside, if such a one reads this book, lay the +book aside, and spend an hour alone with her Lord? Will she, if she is +in doubt about His will, wait upon Him to show it to her? Will she ask +Him to fit her to obey? "And this I wish to do, this I desire; +whatsoever is wanting in me, do Thou, I beseech Thee, vouchsafe to +supply." + +Forgive if we seem to intrude upon holy ground, but sometimes we see in +imagination some great gathering of God's people, and we hear them +singing hymns; and sometimes the beautiful words change into others not +beautiful, but only insistent:-- + + The Lord our God arouse us! We are sleeping, + Dreaming we wake, while through the heavy night + Hardly perceived, the foe moves on unchallenged, + Glad of the dream that doth delay the fight. + O Christ our Captain, lead us out to battle! + Shame on the sloth of soldiers of the light! + + * * * * * + + Good Shepherd, Jesus, pitiful and tender, + To whom the least of straying lambs is known, + Grant us Thy love that wearieth not, nor faileth; + Grant us to seek Thy wayward sheep that roam + Far on the fell, until we find and fold them + Safe in the love of Thee, their own true home. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +"Thy Sweet Original Joy" + + Beacons of hope, ye appear! + Languor is not in your heart, + Weakness is not in your word, + Weariness not on your brow. + + +WITHIN the last few months a friend, a lover of books, sent me _The +Trial and Death of Socrates_, translated into English by F. J. Church. +Opening it for the first time, I came upon this passage:-- + +_Socrates:_ "Does a man who is in training, and who is in earnest about +it, attend to the praise and blame of all men, or of the one man who is +doctor or trainer?" + +_Crito:_ "He attends only to the opinion of the one man." + +_Socrates:_ "Then he ought to fear the blame and welcome the praise of +the one man, not the many?" + +_Crito:_ "Clearly." + +And Socrates sums the argument thus: "To be brief; is it not the same in +everything?" + +Surely the wise man spoke the truth: it is the same in everything. The +one thing that matters is the opinion of the One. If He is satisfied, +all is well. If He is dissatisfied, the commendation of the many is as +froth. "Blessed are the single-hearted, for they shall have much peace." + +But Nature is full of pictures of bright companionship in service; the +very stars shine in constellations. This book of the skies has been +opening up to us of late. Who, to whom the experience is new, will +forget the first evenings spent with even a small telescope, but +powerful enough to distinguish double stars and unveil nebulae? You look +and see a single point of light, and you look again and twin suns float +like globes of fire on a midnight sea; and sometimes one flashes golden +yellow and the other blue, each the complement of the other, like two +perfectly responsive friends. You look and see a little lonely cloud, a +breath of transparent mist; you look and see spaces sprinkled with +diamond dust, or something even more awesome, reaches of radiance that +seem to lie on the borderland of Eternity. + +And the shining glory lingers and lights up the common day, for the +story of the sky is the story of life. + + Far was the Call, and farther as I followed + Grew there a silence round my Lord and me-- + +is for ever the inner story, as for ever the stars must move alone, +however close they are set in constellations or strewn in clusters; but +in another sense is it not true that there is the joy of companionship +and the pure inspiration of comradeship? God fits twin souls together +like twin suns; and sometimes, with delicate thought for even the +sensitive pleasure of colour, it is as if He arranged them so that the +gold and the blue coalesce. + +And we think of the places which were once blank, mere misty nothings to +us. They sparkle now with friends. Some of them are familiar friends +known through the wear and tear of life; some we shall never see till we +meet above the stars. And there the nebula speaks its word of mystery +beyond mystery, but all illuminated by the light from the other side. + +In the work of which these chapters have told there has been the +wonderful comfort of sympathy and help from fellow-missionaries of our +own and sister missions; and, as all who have read, understand, nothing +could have been done without the loyal co-operation of our Indian +fellow-workers whose tenderness and patience can never be described. We +think of the friends in the mission houses along the route of our long +journeyings; we remember how no hour was too inconvenient to receive us +and our tired baby travellers; we think of those who in weariness and +painfulness have sought for the little children; and we think of those +who have made the work possible by being God's good Ravens to us. We +think of them all, and we wish their names could be written on the cover +of this book instead of the name least worthy to be there. And now +latest and nearest comfort and blessing, there are the two new +"Sitties," whose first day with us made them one of us. What shall I +render unto the Lord for all His benefits towards me? + +The future is full of problems. Even now in these Nursery days questions +are asked that are more easily asked than answered. We should be afraid +if we looked too far ahead, so we do not look. We spend our strength on +the day's work, the nearest "next thing" to our hands. But we would be +blind and heedless if we made no provision for the future. We want to +gather and lay up in store against that difficult time (should it ever +come) a band of friends for the children, who will stand by them in +prayer. + +There has been another compelling influence. We recognise something in +the Temple-children question which touches a wider issue than the +personal or missionary. Those who have read _Queen Victoria's Letters_ +must have become conscious of a certain enlargement. Questions become +great or dwindle into nothingness according as they affect the honour +and the good of the Empire. We find ourselves instinctively "thinking +Imperially," regarding things from the Throne side--from above instead +of from below. + +We fear exaggerated language. We would not exaggerate the importance of +these little children or their cause. We have said that we realise, as +we did not when first this work began, how very delicate and difficult a +matter it would be for Government to take any really effective action, +and less than effective action is useless. We recognise the value of our +pledge of neutrality in religious matters, and we know what might happen +if Government moved in a line which to India might appear to be contrary +to the spirit of that pledge. It would be far better if India herself +led the way and declared, as England declared when she passed the +Industrial Schools Amendment Act of 1880, that she will not have her +little children demoralised in either Temple houses recognised as such, +or in any similar houses, such as those which abound in areas where the +Temple child nominally is non-existent. But must we wait till India +leads the way? Scattered all over the land there are men who are against +this iniquity, and would surely be in favour of such legislation as +would make for its destruction. But few would assert that the people as +a whole are even nearly ready. A great wave of the Power of God, a great +national turning towards Him, would, we know, sweep the iniquity out of +the land as the waters of the Alpheus swept the stable-valley clean, in +the old classic story. Oh for such a sudden flow of the River of God, +which is full of water! But must we wait until it comes? Did we wait +until India herself asked for the abolition of suttee? Surely what is +needed is such legislation as has been found necessary at home, which +empowers the magistrate to remove a child from a dangerous house, and +deprives parents of all parental rights who are found responsible for +its being forced into wrong. Surely such action would be Imperially +right; and can a thing right in itself and carried out with a wise +earnestness, ever eventually do harm? Must it not do good in the end, +however agitating the immediate result may appear? Surely the one calm +answer, "_It is Right_," will eventually silence all protest and still +all turbulence! + +Such a law, it is well to understand at the outset, will always be +infinitely more difficult to enforce in India than in England, because +of the immensely greater difficulty here in getting true evidence; and +because--unless that River of God flow through the land--there will be +for many a year the force of public opinion as a whole against us, or if +not actively against, then inert and valueless. Caste feeling will come +in and shield and circumvent and get behind the law. The Indian +sensitiveness concerning Custom will be all awake and tingling with a +hidden but intense vitality; and this, which is inevitable because +natural, will have to be taken into account in every attempt made to +enforce the law. The whole situation bristles with difficulties; but are +difficulties an argument for doing nothing? + +"Whoever buys hires or otherwise obtains possession of, whoever sells +lets to hire or otherwise disposes of any minor under sixteen with the +intent that such minor shall be employed or used for . . . any unlawful +purpose or knowing it likely that such minor will be employed or used +for any such purpose shall be liable to imprisonment up to a term of ten +years and is also liable to a fine." + +_But_ where it appeared that certain minor girls were being taught +singing and dancing and were being made to accompany their grandmother +and Temple woman to the Temple with a view to qualify them as Temple +women, it was held that this did not amount to a disposal of the minors +within the meaning of the section. + +Ought this interpretation of the Indian Penal Code to be possible? The +proof the law requires at present, proof of the sale of the child or its +definite dedication to the idol, is rarely obtainable. The fact that it +is being taught singing and dancing (although it is well known, as the +barrister's letter proves, that among orthodox Hindus such arts are +never taught to little children except when the intention is bad) is not +considered sufficient evidence upon which to base a conviction. To us it +seems that the presence of the child in such a house, or in any house of +known bad character, is sufficient proof that it is in danger of the +worst wrong that can be inflicted upon a defenceless child--the +demoralisation of its soul, the spoiling of its whole future life, +before it has ever had a chance to know and choose the good. + +[Illustration: From the Rock, Dohnavur.] + +And so we write it finally as our solemn conviction that there is need +for a law like our own English law, and we add--and those who know India +know how true this sentence is--_such legislation, however carefully +framed, will be a delusion, a blind, a dead letter, unless men of no +ordinary insight and courage and character are appointed to see that it +is carried out_. + +God grant that these chapters, written in weakness, may yet do something +towards moving the Church to such prayer that the answer will be, as +once before, that an angel will be sent to open the doors of the +prison-house! + +The frontispiece shows the rock to which we go sometimes when we feel +the need of a climb and a blow. It is associated in our minds with a +story:--"Between the passages by which Jonathan sought to go over unto +the Philistines' garrison there was a sharp rock on the one side and a +sharp rock on the other side. . . . And Jonathan said to the young man +that bare his armour: 'Come and let us go over unto the garrison of +these uncircumcised: it may be that the Lord will work for us: for there +is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few.' And his +armour-bearer said unto him: 'Do all that is in thine heart: turn thee, +behold I am with thee according to thy heart.'" + +We have a rock to climb, and there is nothing the least romantic +about it. We shall have to climb it "upon our hands and upon our feet." +It is all grim earnest. "We make our way wrapped in glamour to the +Supreme Good, the summit," writes Guido Rey, the mountaineer, in the joy +of his heart. But later it is: "One precipice fell away at my feet, and +another rose above me. . . . It was no place for singing." Friends, we +shall come to such places on the Matterhorn of life. As we follow the +Gleam wherever it leads, may we count upon the upholding of those for +whom we have written--the lovers of little children? + +And now, in conclusion, all I would say has already been so perfectly +said, that I cannot do better than copy from the writings of two who +fought a good fight and have been crowned--Miss Ellice Hopkins, brave, +sensitive, soldier-soul on the hardest of life's battlefields; and +George Herbert, courtier, poet, and saint. "Often in that nameless +discouragement," wrote Miss Hopkins, as she lay slowly dying, "before +unfinished tasks, unfulfilled aims and broken efforts, I have thought of +how the creative Word has fashioned the opal, made it of the same stuff +as desert sands, mere silica--not a crystallised stone like the diamond, +but rather a stone with a broken heart, traversed by hundreds of small +fissures which let in the air, the breath, as the Spirit is called in +the Greek of our Testament; and through those two transparent mediums of +such different density it is enabled to refract the light, and reflect +every lovely hue of heaven, while at its heart burns a mysterious spot +of fire. When we feel, therefore, as I have often done, nothing but +cracks and desert dust, we can say: So God maketh His precious opal!" + +We would never willingly disguise one fraction of the truth in our +desire to win sympathy and true co-operation. There will be hours of +nameless discouragement for all who climb the rock. For some there will +be the "broken heart." + +And yet there is a joy that is worth it all a thousand times--well worth +it all. Who that has known it will doubt it? This reach of water +recalls it. The palms, as we look at them, seem to lift their heads in +solemn consciousness of it. For the water-side--where we stand with +those for whom we have travailed in soul, when for the first time they +publicly confess their faith in Christ--is a sacred place to us. + +[Illustration: THE PLACE OF BAPTISM.] + +Has our story wandered sometimes into sorrowful ways? To be true it has +to be sorrowful sometimes. We look back to the day of its beginning, the +day that our first little Temple child came and opened a new door to us. + + Since that time many a bitter storm + My soul hath felt, e'en able to destroy, + Had the malicious and ill-meaning harm + His swing and sway; + But still Thy sweet original joy + Sprung from Thine eye did work within my soul, + And surging griefs when they grew bold control, + And got the day. + +It is true. Many a bitter storm has come; there have been the shock and +the darkness of new knowledge of evil, and grief beside which all other +pain pales, the grief of helplessness in the face of unspeakable wrong. +But still, above and within, and around, like an atmosphere, like a +fountain, there has been something bright, even that "sweet original +joy" which nothing can darken or quench. + + If Thy first glance so powerful be + A mirth but opened and sealed up again, + What wonders shall we feel when we shall see + Thy full-orbed love! + When Thou shalt look us out of pain, + And one aspect of Thine spend in delight, + More than a thousand worlds' disburse in light + In heaven above! + +And not alone, oh, not alone, shall we see Him as He is! There will be +the little children too. + +_Those who care to know how the Temple Children's work began will find +the story in_ "THINGS AS THEY ARE." _Preface by Eugene Stock; 320 pp. +and Thirty-two Illustrations from Photographs taken specially for this +work. Cloth, 2s. 6d. net (post free 2s. 10d.) Also,_ "OVERWEIGHTS OF +JOY." _Preface by Rev. T. Walker, C.M.S. With Thirty-four Illustrations +chiefly from Photographs taken specially for this work. Cloth, 2s. 6d. +net (post free 2s. 10d.), Morgan & Scott Ld., 12, Paternoster Buildings, +London._ + + + +ONLY A LIMITED NUMBER OF COPIES REMAIN + +OF THE + + +ORIGINAL EDITION OF + +LOTUS BUDS + + +CONTAINING + +FIFTY PHOTOGRAVURE ILLUSTRATIONS. + + * * * * * + +Cloth Boards, 14s. 6d. _net_ (_post free_, 15s.). + + * * * * * + +"THE MOST STRIKING MISSIONARY BOOK EVER PUBLISHED." + +_Her Majesty Queen Alexandra graciously accepted a copy._ + + "The feature of the book is fifty photogravure + illustrations from photographs specially taken of + the children. Many of these--indeed, all of + them--are very charming. Some of them are mere + babies, others of larger growth, but in each case + the photographer has succeeded in presenting + pictures which will elicit high admiration. The + laughing faces, curly hair, and fine physical + development of the little Indians, make + photographs exceedingly attractive. Indeed, we + have never seen a more 'taking' series of children + of the Orient. . . . The book will interest not only + supporters of missions but all lovers of + children."--_The Westminster Gazette._ + + "The photogravure illustrations--fifty in + number--are perfect as works of art. Some are + pictures of scenery; most are characteristic + representations of the children. All are + full-page."--_British Weekly._ + + ". . . the beautiful little faces depicted in the + photogravures which adorn the volume. There are + fifty of these photogravures in the book, the + major portion being of children, and we regard it + as extremely improbable that more splendid + pictures are to be found in any other + work."--_Baby._ + + "The most wonderful photographs."--_Contemporary + Review._ + + "We have seldom seen more attractive illustrations + than those of the Indian children which are here + reproduced."--_East and West._ + + "They are the finest photographs of children we + have ever seen, and beautifully produced."--_The + Record._ + + "We must, in conclusion, compliment all concerned + in the manner in which this appeal for the + children has been issued--the author, the artist, + and the publishers (Messrs. Morgan & Scott Ld.), + having combined to produce in 'Lotus Buds' a fine + piece of work."--_The Publishers' Circular._ + + * * * * * + + MORGAN & SCOTT LD., 12, Paternoster Buildings, London, E.C. + + + + +ALSO BY AMY WILSON-CARMICHAEL + + * * * * * + +THINGS AS THEY ARE: MISSION WORK IN SOUTHERN INDIA + +With Preface by EUGENE STOCK. 320 pages, and Thirty-two beautiful +Illustrations from Photographs taken specially for this work. Ninth +Edition. Paper, 1s. 6d. _net_ (_post free_, 1s. 9d.); Cloth Boards, +2s. 6d. _net_ (_post free_, 2s. 10d.). + +DR. A. RUDISILL, M.E. Press, Madras:--"In 'Things as They Are' are +pictured by pen and camera some things as they are. It is all the more +needful now when so many are deceived, and are 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 about idolaters in Rome and Corinth is +still true of idolaters in India." + +"The account of native life, of the customs of the people, of the few +pleasures they enjoy, and the many sorrows that oppress them, is as +accurate as it is lucid and entertaining. It will be well to give this +book studious attention; it is so completely sincere and so free from +prejudice; and there are many excellent illustrations after +photographs."--_Literary World._ + + +OVERWEIGHTS OF JOY: MISSION WORK IN SOUTHERN INDIA + +Preface by Rev. T. WALKER, C.M.S. 320 pages, and Thirty-four beautiful +Illustrations from Photographs taken specially for this work. Paper 1s. +6d. _net_ (_post free_, 1s. 9d.).; Cloth Boards, 2s. 6d. _net_ +(_post free_, 2s. 10d.). (Companion Volume to "Things as They Are.") + +"There is a life and enthusiasm and devotion, combined with literary +ability and winsomeness of style, which make the book very captivating, +as well as very touching. It is quite wonderfully illustrated with +sunsets on the Ghauts and all kinds of wonders, and withal it is a song +of spiritual triumph from a soul that feels intensely the cost of the +Cross. A book, indeed, for every Christian home."--_The Churchman._ + +"One of the most striking and inspiring missionary books of recent +years."--_The Christian World._ + + +THE BEGINNING OF A STORY + +Being the story of the beginning of the work among Temple children, +related for the friends of the Temple children. Bound in Art Covers, +tied with silk cord. Artistic design embossed in gold, 6d. _net_ +(_post free_, 8d.). + +"This little book tells a touching story. It is hoped that many who are +interested in the work on behalf of Indian children exposed to terrible +peril will circulate this booklet to further a cause which has aroused +widespread and prayerful interest."--_Irish Baptist Magazine._ + +"This is a delightful booklet in its attractive blue and gold covers, +and with the picture of the smiling Indian maiden looking out upon +us."--_Bible Standard._ + + * * * * * + +MORGAN & SCOTT LD., 12, Paternoster Buildings, London, E.C. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Obvious punctuation errors were corrected. + +The original contained each chapter number and title on a page preceding +the actual start of the chapter. These repeated Chapter Titles were +removed to avoid redundancy. + +Varied hyphenation, such as "armchair" and "arm-chair", was retained. +The Bear Garden is not hyphenated when used in titles but is hyphenated +within the text. + +Page 22, "subjeect" changed to "subject" (is the subject of) + +Page 237, "form" changed to "from" (from Bunyan's) + +Page 237, "C. H." changed to "G. H." (by G. H. Morrison) + +Page 238, "suprintends" changed to "superintends" (superintends the +more) + +Page 256, "opportunties" changed to "opportunities" (watching for +opportunities) + +Page 256, "aviod" changed to "avoid" (To avoid the Penal) + +Page 298, "own their" changed to "their own" (from their own homes) + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOTUS BUDS*** + + +******* This file should be named 29427.txt or 29427.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/9/4/2/29427 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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