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 BV 3269 .T48 T48 1884 
 Thoburn, J. M. 1836-1922. 
 My missionary apprenticeshi 
 

 
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 MY i. D[ . :n 
 
 MISSIONARY APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 REV. J. M. THOBUHN, D.D, 
 
 A^JUW YORK: 
 PHILLIPS & HUNT. 
 
 CmCINNA TI: 
 CRANSTON ,h ST OWE. 
 
 1857. 
 
Copyright, 1884, ^ 
 
 PHILLIPS & HUNT, 
 
 New York. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE writer of the following sketches began his work as a 
 missionary in 18o9, and consequently is now finishing a 
 term of twenty-five years' service. He does not yet, however, 
 regard himself as a veteran by any means, nor does he for 
 a moment suppose that there is any thing in the record of 
 these years which of itself would deserve more than a passing 
 notice. The incidents related are neither striking nor start- 
 ling in character, and are only spread before the public because 
 it is hoped that they may serve as illustrations of missionary 
 work and missionary life. While many books have been writ- 
 ten on missions and missionary work, it has long been felt by 
 many interested in this cause, that it is difficult to get a clear 
 inside view of missionary life. God's call to the youthful 
 messenger, the guiding hand that leads him forth, the new 
 life in a strange lan(^, the lessons Avhich have to be learned, 
 and the work wliich has to be done ; the manner of working, 
 the adaptations made to the peculiar character of the people, 
 the laying of foundations, and the erection of spiritual tem- 
 ples ; — all these things are but imperfectly understood by the 
 mass of those who are interested in missionary work, and all 
 information bearing upon these points is pretty sure to be 
 received, not only willingly, but eagerly. It is in the hope of 
 meeting this felt want, and at the same time bringing our 
 missionary work nearer to our friends at home, especially the 
 young men and women of the Church, that these sketches 
 have been written. 
 
 In a field so wide and so varied as that which India presents, 
 and in a work which, in many of its phases, has hardly yet 
 
4 Preface. 
 
 passed its experimental stage, a long apprenticeship must often 
 be served before the missionary is prepared for the real work of 
 his life-time. An apprenticeship of twenty-five years in such a 
 work is none too long, and happy is the missionary who can 
 thoroughly master the chief lessons which he needs to learn in 
 that brief period. The following sketches are but the simple 
 recital of some of the lessons learned during such an appren- 
 ticeship, and hence contain a mingled record of both success 
 and failure. 
 
 The only apology which need be offered for the free intro- 
 duction of the personal element in these sketches is, that the 
 end proposed could be attained in no other way than by open- 
 ing the front door of the missionary's house, and the front door 
 of his heart as well, and letting a kind and sympathetic public 
 step in and look around at leisure. The process may involve 
 what some will, no doubt, regard as a frequent sacrifice of good 
 taste, but this is inseparable from such a task as that which 
 has been taken in hand. 
 
 It may not be amiss to explain, for the benefit of Indian 
 friends, that these sketches have been written for American 
 readers, and hence many things have been inserted which, to an 
 Indian reader, may seem trivial or unnecessary. The sketches 
 have been arranged in chronological order, but without any 
 thought of writing a continuous history of these twenty-five 
 years. Many important events have been passed over without 
 mention, and the faithful labors of missionary associates only 
 mentioned incidentally. The book is a collection of simple 
 sketches, but is in no sense a history. 
 
 The Rev. B. H. Badley has kindly revised the final proofs, 
 and in doing so has placed both the author and the publishers 
 under obligations which they gi-atefully acknowledge. 
 
 J. M. Thoburn. 
 
 Calcutta, June 5, 1884. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VAGB 
 
 I. The Call 1 
 
 II. Going Forth 18 
 
 III. On the Coral Strand 31 
 
 IV. Missionaries in Council 45 
 
 V. My First Station 55 
 
 VI. My First Year's Work 66 
 
 VII. Lengthening the Cords 18 
 
 VIII. Light and Shade 92 
 
 IX. On Furlough 104 
 
 X. Back in India 123 
 
 XL GURHWAL 137 
 
 XII. Among the Pilgrims 148 
 
 XIII. Laying Foundations 167 
 
 XIV. Second Year in Gurhwal 178 
 
 XV. MORADABAD 198 
 
 XVI. Elevating the Poor 217 
 
 XVIL Sambhal 233 
 
 XVIIL Woman's Work 246 
 
 XIX. OuDH 257 
 
G Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XX. LUCKNOW 267 
 
 XXI. William Taylor 278 
 
 XXII. Further Lessons 288 
 
 XXIII. A New Departure 301 
 
 XXIV. The Press 312 
 
 XXV. Calcutta 323 
 
 XXVI. Second Year in Calcutta 335 
 
 XXVII. The South India Conference 349 
 
 XXVni. At General Conference 360 
 
 XXIX. Back Again in Calcutta 370 
 
 XXX. Founding a New Mission 386 
 
 XXXI. Serving Tables 395 
 
 XXXII. The Anglo-Saxon Dispersion 406 
 
 XXXIII. The Past and the Future 421 
 
MY MISSIONARY APPEENTIGESHI? 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 THE CALL. 
 
 VHE^ I was in mj eigliteenth year a little book, 
 entitled " Early Piety," fell into my hands, and 
 was read with some interest. It consisted of two ser- 
 mons by Dr. Olin, both addressed to young men, 
 and both containing pointed appeals to the conscience 
 and reason of those addressed. I was teaching a 
 country school at this time, and one day during the 
 children's play -hour had walked out into the warm au- 
 tumn sunshine, and was leisurely reading one of these 
 sermons, when I came upon the following passage : 
 
 The middle-aged pastor will generally be found unfit for 
 the new duties and ideas of missionary life. The young man, 
 on the other hand, has nothing to unlearn. He is pliable and 
 plastic, ready to be molded into any form of physical and 
 mental activity which the exigencies of the times may de- 
 mand. . . . Several of our great benevolent enterprises, wliich 
 are rapidly extending their influence to the remotest nations of 
 the earth, were projected by young men while they were still 
 under-graduates ; and Mills and Judson and Newell passed 
 immediately from the schools into the distant lands where 
 they laid the foundations^ of Christian empires. 
 
8 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 Up to this hour I had never thought of being a 
 missionary, or felt any interest in missionary work, 
 but as I read the above words there flashed upon my 
 mind and heart a clear impression that my life-work 
 would be in the missionary field. It did not occur to 
 me that I was needed there, or that I could do a good 
 or great work there, or that I should like such a life, 
 but simply there came to me an indefinable and yet 
 clear conviction that this was God's choice concerning 
 me, and that soon or later he would lead me forth 
 into the work for which he had chosen me. There 
 was nothing pleasing in the thought of such a life, 
 and I would have dismissed the whole matter from 
 my mind in a moment had I been able to do so. But 
 the conviction did not come at my bidding, and was 
 not to be shaken off as a passing fancy. 
 
 At this time I was not enjoying the witness of the 
 Spirit, and had not been converted, in the proper sense 
 of that word. I was a communicant in the Church, 
 and in a sense a servant of God, but had not received 
 the adoption of sonship, and knew nothing wliatever 
 by personal experience of the meaning of spiritual 
 communion, or the Spirit's guidance. Eighteen 
 months later I found Christ, and began to live the 
 life of Christian discipleship. The call, however, had 
 followed me, and when I began to understand what 
 it was to talk with God, and walk in the fellowship 
 of his Son Jesus, the only change I noticed in refer- 
 ence to this conviction was that it seemed to become 
 
The Call. 9 
 
 more deeply rooted and to come more distinctly and 
 frequently before my mind. And yet I was not at 
 any time sure that I was interpreting the conviction 
 aright. I thought — perhaps I ought to say hoped — 
 that it would turn out in the end to be nothing 
 iriore than a test of obedience put before me, and 
 that I should never have to leave either friends or 
 country. 
 
 Two years after my conversion I began to preach. 
 By a very slow and cautious process of prayer, 
 reflection, and observation of special indications of 
 Providence, I had reached a settled conviction that I 
 should become a messenger of Jesns Christ to men. 
 While pondering this wider question the more specific 
 duty of going into the mission field was constantly 
 thrusting itself upon me. At times it assumed the 
 form of a powerful conviction which demanded 
 immediate attention and obedience ; but a feeling of 
 honest cautiousness rather than of disobedience kept 
 me from accepting the call and letting the matter be 
 settled once for all. When I began to preach I soon 
 began to feel the need of a clear and definite call to 
 that work. I had conscientiously come to the con- 
 clusion that God would have me preach the Gospel of 
 Jesus Christ ; but when I seemed to preach in vain, 
 when people listened and yet did not seem to hear, 
 and when no tangible result appeared in any quarter, 
 I began to feel that life under such conditions would 
 be insupportable. One afternoon, during a series of 
 
10 My Mission AiiY Apprenticeship. 
 
 meetings in Marlborough, Ohio, I went out into the 
 woods near the village, and, kneeling alone among the 
 branches of a fallen maple tree, I talked the matter all 
 over with my Saviour, and there alone with him I 
 received my clear and distinct commission to go and 
 preach his Gospel to dying men. I heard no words, 
 but the commission could not have been more specific 
 and clear had the visible Son of God said to me, " Go 
 preach my Gospel." From that hour I could preach 
 with or without visible results. A foundation of 
 adamant had glided under my feet, and I knew for 
 whom I was to speak, and what the message was 
 with which I had been intrusted. 
 
 A busy year passed without any change occurring in 
 my inner feelings, or in the outward indications of 
 God's will in reference to my call to missionary work. 
 In a general way I still looked forward to the possi- 
 bility of becoming a missionary, but I had received 
 no definite call in such a way as to make the matter 
 a question of personal duty. I saw no special path- 
 way marked out in which I was to walk. I had often 
 thought of going to foreign lands, particularly to 
 South America, and had even thought of Africa as 
 my future home, but had never once thought it 
 probable that I might be sent to India. So far from 
 this, I had a singular aversion to India, felt no interest 
 in any thing connected with the country, and seemed 
 to shrink from the very thought of missionary work 
 in that land. The summer of my second year in the 
 
The Call. 11 
 
 work of preaching was drawing to a close. I had met 
 with abundant outward tokens of God's approval, and 
 was exceedingly happy in my work and the prospects 
 before me, when like a shadow from an invisible cloud 
 there began to flit across my heart a misgiving 
 that my work in Ohio was nearly over, that my call 
 to missionary work was soon to be brought to a 
 definite issue, and that the field of my future labor 
 was to be India. How this definite and disquieting 
 conviction began I cannot tell. I never could recall 
 its origin, or tell how it had taken possession of my 
 mind. I only knew that the issue was at last being 
 forced upon me, and must soon be decided definitely 
 for all time to come. One day I -came in from the 
 post-office and sat down alone to read "The Christian 
 Advocate and Journal," at that time edited by Dr. 
 Abel Stevens. The leading editorial was an appeal 
 to the young men of the Church, and it closed with 
 a statement that six young men were urgently needed 
 for India, and asked where they were to be found. 
 I was powerfully moved by the appeal, not so much 
 by any thing it contained as by a strong impression 
 that I ought to be one of the six young men to go 
 forth in the response to the call. I dropped the 
 paper and fell upon my knees, and promised God that 
 I would accept the call if only he would make it clear 
 that he sent me. I asked for some token, for some 
 definite indication that I was called from above, not 
 only in a general way to become a missionary, but to 
 
12 My Mission aey Ai'pkenticeship. 
 
 that special field, and at that special time. I had not 
 long to wait for an answer. 
 
 Strangely enough, I had not, up to this time, sought 
 counsel from any Christian friend. I had barely 
 mentioned the fact, on two or three occasions in the 
 course of two or three years, that I had more or less 
 of a conviction that I should become a missionary, 
 but for reasons wdiich I did not then understand I 
 felt averse to speaking to intimate friends on the sub- 
 ject. This inclination to reticence became stronger 
 as my convictions became deeper, probably for the 
 reason that there is a certain sacred ness about the very 
 deepest feelings of the heart which makes us at times 
 shrink from all outward observation. Much that the 
 Spirit reveals to us we feel at once like telling to the 
 world, but there are times when the closet-door is 
 shut, when the soul gains an audience on the mount, 
 and when the whispers from the overshadowing cloud 
 seem to conclude with a command to tell the vision 
 to no man till God's time for doing so shall have 
 fully come. I had thus far felt more and more like 
 keeping silence about the matter, but now a point was 
 reached where I felt that I must speak ; I might be 
 mistaking my own convictions. I had promised to 
 obey the voice of the Church, and if God spoke to 
 me directly he would also speak to me through the 
 Church. If he were to bid me go, and at the same 
 time bid the Church to send me, the latter call would 
 be a strong confirmation of the former. My presid- 
 
The Call. 13 
 
 ing elder was tlie immediate chamiel of authority 
 tlirougli which I received the commands of the 
 Church, and hence I resolved to seek his advice. If 
 he thought favorably of the matter I would take 
 further steps, but if he disapproved of it I would 
 pause and wait for more light ; or, possibly, dismiss 
 the subject from my mind altogether. 
 
 I was at this time junior preacher on the Marlbor- 
 ough Circuit, in the Pittsburg Conference, which at 
 the time included south-eastern Ohio. My colleague 
 was the Rev. R. Morrow, and my presiding elder 
 the late Rev. D. P. Mitchell, of Kansas. It chanced 
 that the latter had an engagement to preach at this 
 time in the little village of JS^ew Harrisburg, on our 
 circuit, and I determined to lay the whole matter be- 
 fore him and seek his advice. He came in at an early 
 hour, having ridden on horseback from the nearest 
 railroad station, and met me at the house of Brother 
 Peter Keener, a cabinet-maker, who was one of the 
 few members which we had in that French settle- 
 ment. Keener's house was one of my familiar stop- 
 ping-places, and at the head of the stair-way there 
 was a tiny little room, barely large enough to contain 
 a bed, a chair, a table, and a candlestick, where I had 
 often slept when on my weekly rounds on the circuit. 
 It was a snowy morning, and the presiding elder 
 was sitting with his feet to the stove which stood in 
 the cozy little room below, when lie remarked : 
 
 " I met Bishop Janes on the train this morning." 
 
14: My Missionary Appeenticeship. 
 
 " Bishop Janes ! " I replied. '' Wliat can he be 
 doing out here ? " 
 
 " He is on his way West, looking for missionaries 
 for India. He wants six immediately." 
 
 My heart leaped into my throat, but before I could 
 say any thing the elder continued : 
 
 " James, how would you like to go ? " 
 
 " It is very singular," I said, " but I have come 
 here with the special purpose of asking your advice 
 about going to India." 
 
 " Well, I must tell you that you have been in my 
 mind all morning. I incline to think you ought 
 to go. I have felt so ever since the Bishop told me 
 his errand." 
 
 I went up stairs to the little prophet-chamber and 
 knelt down to seek for guidance from above, but I 
 could not pray. God poured his Spirit upon me from 
 on high, and my heart so overflowed with a hallowed 
 feeling of love and joy that I could not utter a word. 
 Before I could ask, God had answered. It was not 
 so much a call to India that I received as an accept- 
 ance for India. I did not receive any message, or 
 realize any new conviction, or come down from my 
 sacred audience with God feeling that the matter was 
 forever settled, and yet that hour stands out in my 
 life as the burning bush must have stood in the mem- 
 ory of Moses. It was my burning bush. It has fol- 
 lowed me through all the years which have passed 
 like a Divine Presence, and a hundred times when 
 
The Call. 15 
 
 wearied and oppressed with doubts and discourage- 
 ments have I fallen on my knees and pleaded with 
 God, by the hallowed memories of that hour of bless- 
 ing, to prove faithful to the promise of his love and 
 care which was then burned into my very soul. It 
 has been one long inspiration, an unfailing source of 
 strength and courage, when these virtues seemed 
 about to fail. 
 
 Practically, the question of my going to India was 
 settled when I came down f romthat little room, but I 
 knew it not. I must have my name submitted to the 
 Bishops and Missionarj^ Secretary, and I was not sure 
 that they would appoint me. Then I knew that the 
 time had come when the matter must be submitted to 
 relatives, and hinderances might arise from unexpected 
 quarters. I arranged with my presiding elder to see 
 Bishop Simpson and submit my case to him, and then 
 sat down and wrote my mother and brothers and 
 sisters, telling them of my call, and intimating an 
 early visit to talk the matter over. I followed my 
 letters a week later, and found, as I had anticipated, 
 that the proposal was very unwelcome to nearly 
 every one in the family circle. My widowed mother 
 was beginning to feel the infirmities of age, and 
 every one assured me that her consent to my going 
 could never be obtained. I had anticipated as much, 
 and was not surprised when told that she had said 
 that she never could consent to let me go. But when 
 God undertakes to open one's way he can fully 
 
16 My Missionaky Appeenticeship. 
 
 accomplish the task. When I began to talk the matter 
 over with her she spoke to me, in substance, as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 " I crossed the ocean in the hope of finding a home 
 around which all mj children might be gathered, and 
 at first I felt that I could not consent to see you go 
 to the other side of the globe to spend all your days. 
 But some days before your letter came God began to 
 prepare me for a great trial. Each night as I lay 
 down to sleep a strange peace would fill my heart, 
 and I would become so happy that I could hardly 
 restrain myself. Sometliing made me understand 
 that the meaning of this was that God was preparing 
 me for a great trial, and on every occasion I had a 
 clear impression that in some way the trial would be 
 connected with you. I understand it all now. I feel 
 as if I could not bid you go, but I cannot bid you 
 stay. It is of God, and I cannot doubt it." 
 
 Here I saw one confirmation following another, 
 and every day it became clearer that God was making 
 my way plain before me. I still, however, hesitated 
 to dismiss all doubts and formally and finally deter- 
 mine to go, till New-year's-day, 1859, when I went 
 out alone among the familiar trees of the forest, and 
 after weighing all the evidences and thinking over all 
 the issues involved and praying to be kept from any 
 mistake, I finally consecrated myself to God and the 
 Church for service in India. 
 
 It is not to be expected that every one who is 
 
The Call. 17 
 
 chosen of God for missionary service will receive a 
 call like the above, and yet it ought to be said that 
 every missionary sorely needs the sustaining power of 
 a supreme conviction that he is called of God to the 
 work in which he is engaged. The call of Moses was 
 more sublime than that of Elisha, but not more real. 
 It matters not liow God may speak to those whom he 
 would make his messengers, but the messenger ou^ht 
 to be sure that he is sent of God, and that he goes 
 forth authorized to speak for Jehovah. Here and 
 there a missionary may be found who has sought and 
 found a commission from above after reaching his 
 field of labor ; here and there others may be found 
 who do fairly faithful work without being conscious 
 of a call ; but in most cases where young men go out 
 to grapple with the tremendous forces of error and 
 sin in the heathen world, unsupported by the divine 
 command, they either seek an early release from their 
 posts or remain through years of dull and listless 
 labor, occupying, but not filling, positions for which 
 God's true messengers alone are fitted. Speaking 
 from personal experience, I have no hesitation what- 
 ever in confessing that I must long ago have given 
 up the work had it not been that I felt perfectly sure 
 that I was in the place to which God had sent me, 
 and engaged in the work which he had given me 
 
 to do. 
 2 
 
18 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 GOING FORTH. 
 
 TTrHE^tT it was finally settled that I should go to 
 T T India, questions of all kinds, and from all kinds 
 of people, began to be asked about the country and 
 its people, about my plans and the nature of the work 
 to which I was going. My answers to these questions 
 must have been, I fear, very unsatisfactory ; I knew 
 very little about India, and in settling the question 
 of making it my future home thought very little 
 about the mode of life I should adopt, or the con- 
 veniences or inconveniences I should meet. At that 
 time India was little known in America. The few 
 missionary books which had been published had not 
 been circulated very widely, and Bayard Taylor's 
 somewhat hasty sketch of his tour through parts of 
 the country was the only popular work on the subject 
 to be found. 
 
 The Mutiny had just awakened a new interest 
 in the country and its people, but trustworthy sources 
 of information were few, and to most persons 
 India was a kind of gorgeous dream-land, a land of 
 gems and pearls, of perfumed forests and flowery 
 plains, and yet peopled by a race of intense idolaters 
 who were filled with a spirit of intolerance and 
 
Going Forth. 19 
 
 cruelty. The bloody stories furnished by the Mutiny 
 had done much to intensify the mistaken notions 
 which had been entertained regarding the people, and 
 it thus happened that at the time I was appointed to 
 India it was regarded by many as the very last coun- 
 try to be chosen for a future home and field of labor. 
 But I thought of none of these things. My call to go 
 forth was more to me than the destination appointed. 
 I did not realize it at the time, but as I now look 
 back upon those days I can see clearly that the dis- 
 tinctness of the call made every thing else so utterly 
 secondary that it would not have mattered where I 
 was to go or what I was to do. Abraham going forth 
 from the land of Haran, with his face set toward 
 strange lands and strange people, was the first of a 
 great multitude of God's servants who in every age 
 are called to go forth in like manner. '' Get thee out 
 of thy country and from thy kindred, and from thy 
 father's house, unto a land that I will show thee." 
 Each term of this commission was as distinctly im- 
 printed on my heart as if written in letters of fire. 
 I knew well and felt keenly that I was to leave coun- 
 try and relatives and home, but I had hardly yet 
 commenced to think of the unknown land to which 
 I was going. I had received the call, and was now 
 to go forth and let God show me the land of my 
 adoption. 
 
 As there was a little uncertainty about the time of 
 sailing, I returned to my circuit for six weeks, and 
 
20 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 devoted the time to earnest work for God and souls. 
 At various points God blessed tlie wor*k, and especially 
 at the little village of Greensburg, in Summit County, 
 was I permitted to see much good done. While at 
 that place, in the midst of one of the best revivals I 
 have ever witnessed, a letter arrived from Bishop 
 Simpsou telling me to leave the circuit and prepare 
 for my departure for India, and accordingly, on the 
 lYth of February, 1859, I bade farewell to the dear 
 friends at Greensburg, and rode over to my board- 
 ing place in the neighboring village of Greentown. 
 Stopping a day here, I rode on to Marlborough on the 
 19th. It rained heavily all day, and as I was obliged 
 to ride slowly through the deep mud I had ample 
 leisure for reflection. I fully realized that my great 
 journey had commenced. I was going forth from 
 country and kindred and home, going as I then sup- 
 posed beyond the reach of all such ties, and I felt the 
 trial very keenly. Often during the day, as I slowly 
 rode through the driving rain, hot tears were mingled 
 with the rain-drops, and yet there w^as an undercurrent 
 of deep and hallowed joy which began to rise in my 
 heart that day, and which became more marked as 
 the days passed by. It was the token of the Divine 
 Presence. Strangely, and in a way which I cannot 
 describe, I was buoyed up in every moment of trial, 
 until at last people began to ask me how I could be so 
 apparently indifferent in the midst of trials which 
 others seemed to feel more keenly. I was learning by 
 
Going Forth. 21 
 
 a strange experience a precious lesson which was to be 
 worth every thing to me in coming years. The mes- 
 senger who goes forth obedient to a divine command 
 never goes alone. As his day so is his strength. In 
 tlie furnace he finds a companion, in the storm he 
 descries the Son of Man coming to him upon tlie 
 angry waves. 
 
 I took my final leave of my circuit on February 22. 
 A farewell meeting had been held in Marlborough on 
 the previous evening which was all that such a meet- 
 ing should be. Farewell missionary meetings have 
 somewhat fallen into disrepute in consequence of the 
 artificial methods employed in too many instances to 
 make them interesting, and the exaggerated pictures 
 which are drawn of the devotion of the candidates, 
 and the perils and privations of the very comfortable 
 life to which they are going. It is a pity that this 
 should be so. A good farewell meeting, with manly 
 Christian addresses, and tender words of encourage- 
 ment, is worth much to one who is going forth to a 
 life-work in a strange land, and is often worth very 
 much to those who remain behind. The whole vil- 
 lage came together, and some who had never once 
 consented to hear me preach were prompt to give me 
 assurances of friendly sympathy when they saw me 
 setting out upon such an errand. 
 
 I spent a month with my friends, most of the time 
 in daily expectation of a summons to .join the mis- 
 sionary party in Xew York. It was not, however, 
 
22 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 till near tlie end of March that a day could be fixed for 
 our departure. In the evening of Sunday, March 27, 
 in the village church of St. Clairsville, Ohio, where I 
 had worshiped in childhood, another farewell meeting 
 was held. The Presbyterians and Methodists united 
 in the service, and I received an expression of genuine 
 sympathy and good cheer which was an inspiration to 
 me for many days. Next day I spent at the old 
 homestead where I had been born, and where I had 
 spent the sunny years of a very happy childhood. I 
 had no expectation of ever revisiting America, and 
 felt that I was quitting those familiar scenes forever. 
 I went out alone during the day and walked over the 
 fields and through the woods, looking with a feeling 
 of tender sadness at each familiar spot, and thinking 
 of the unknown scenes to which I was going, and 
 the unknown paths of life before me. I was sad, 
 and yet joyous. I^ever has the home above seemed 
 so near as it did that day when I, for Christ's sake, 
 went out to bid farewell to that sweet home below. 
 As I walked over the fields I seemed to see the 
 golden gates opening just above me, and, uncalled, the 
 sweet words of Montgomery's sweetest hymn were 
 constantly flitting across my mind : 
 
 " My Father's house on high, 
 Home of my heart, how near 
 
 At times to faith's aspiring eye 
 Thy golden gates appear ! '* 
 
Going Forth. 23 
 
 Faith's aspiring eye saw the golden gates that day, 
 saw the city of light, and the vision has lingered in 
 memory like a chapter of a special apocalypse granted 
 in a time of need to a disciple going forth to his life- 
 work. 
 
 Three days later I bade farewell to family friends 
 in Wheeling, where the whole family had gathered, 
 and set out for New York. Stopping at Pittsburg 
 for the night, I took the early train for Philadelphia 
 on Friday. I had been longing to be alone, but I was 
 recognized on the train, and had a friend beside me 
 till noon. When he left I found my loneliness a 
 luxury. I had time to think, and I was just begin- 
 ning to think as if in a new world. Friends and 
 home were behind me now, and I was going forth 
 into a world which was to me practically unknown. 
 I was a little sad, and my heart was a little sore, and 
 yet as I now look back upon those days I can see that 
 God was teaching me wonderfully, leading me in 
 ways that I knew not, and girding me with strength 
 for years yet far in the future. I thought of hopes 
 which had vanished, ambition tliat had been mor- 
 tified, plans that had perished, fond friends whose 
 wishes concerning me had been disappointed, and I 
 could only turn away from every such memory and 
 look to Him who had called me, and w^ho still beck- 
 oned me onward. At Harrisburg a party of 
 politicians came into the car, and two of them sat 
 down in the seat in front of me. With the officious 
 
24 My Missionary Appkenticeship. 
 
 familiarity whicli is peculiar to their class, some of 
 these men began to introduce some friends to one of 
 the gentlemen seated before me, and I thus became 
 aware that I had near me a candidate for the Pres- 
 idential nomination by one of the great political 
 parties of the day. I could not avoid hearing what 
 was said, and as this distinguished man sat talking to 
 his friend about the petty jealousies and belittling 
 schemes of his fellow-craftsmen of the political world, 
 I learned a new lesson. I felt that God had given 
 me a noble calling. The world's great honors seemed 
 dressed in the flimsy robes which really become them, 
 and I felt that my city of gold gleaming in the sky 
 above me w^as not reached by such paths of humilia- 
 tion as those whicli lead to the White Houses which 
 this world has to offer. Not many years have passed, 
 and yet the name of this candidate for the highest 
 position in America is already well-nigh forgotten, 
 and all the schemes with which those busy men were 
 engrossed on that afternoon have utterly perished. 
 
 I reached New York at noon on Saturday, April 2, 
 and found a home at the house of the late Kev. David 
 Terry. The Mission Rooms at that time were in 
 Mulberry Street, opposite to the Book Eooms, and 
 Mr. Terry's residence was next door. I was kindly 
 received, and in all the years which have since passed 
 never found a truer and more constant friend than 
 Father Terry. He was Recording Secretary of the 
 Missionary Society, and as such had to attend to all 
 
Going Forth. 25 
 
 the details of our arrangements for sailing. In the 
 evening the Rev. C. W. Judcl and his wife, who were 
 to go out with us, arrived, and next day I met Messrs. 
 Waugli and Downey, two other members of the 
 party. On Sunday afternoon we attended a Sunday- 
 school missionary meeting at a church in Jane Street, 
 and each of the missionaries gave a brief address. 1 
 was asked to limit my remarks to ten or twelve 
 minutes, and to confine myself to a simple narration 
 of my conversion and call to missionary ^vork, a 
 caution which I believe was frequently given to young 
 missionaries in those days. 'Next day I met Dr. 
 Durbin in the Mission Rooms, and had my first 
 business experience with that officer. My position 
 was a little embarrassing, and some of my recollections 
 of those days are not very pleasant. I was not only 
 young, but of a very youthful and even boyisli 
 appearance. The Corresponding Secretary had asked 
 for six married men, and under the impression that I 
 was married had paid for the passage of myself and a 
 wife who proved to have no existence. The shipping 
 agents refused to refund the passage money, and no 
 one was particularly happy over the mistake. In due 
 time I discovered that my appointment was a matter 
 of regret, and that had all the facts of the case been 
 known ten days earlier my commission would have 
 been canceled and I sent back to my circuit. When, 
 however, it was settled that I w^as to go, I was made 
 to feel that my acceptance was thoroughly cordial. 
 
26 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 Dr. Durbin was at that time a man of immense power 
 in the Church, hardly second to any of the Bishops, 
 and the missionary party considered it a rare privilege 
 to be placed in so direct a relation to him. He was 
 aot an old man then, but he had probably passed his 
 prime. He was still an eloquent speaker, but the 
 peculiar magnetism of his oratory had in a large meas- 
 ure ceased. He worked diligently, planned largely, 
 and had large views of the missionary future of the 
 Church. He devised liberal things for the missionaries, 
 giving each a sum of money sufficient to provide an 
 ample outfit, and assuring us that we should be sus- 
 tained faithfully in our distant field. His ideal mis- 
 sionary was one who went forth to return no more, who 
 obeyed orders, who asked few questions, and who 
 worked with the courage and loyalty of a soldier. 
 " When I began to preach," he said, " I never dreamed 
 that my presiding elder could be disobeyed. Had my 
 elder told me to walk directly through a stone wall, 
 I would without hesitation have made the attempt." 
 
 As we were to sail from Boston, it was arranged 
 that we were to go to Lynn, the seat of the Xew 
 England Conference, where we were to be ordained 
 a few days before the date of our sailing. We arrived 
 in Lynn on the Yth of April, and found the Con- 
 ference in session. Bishop Ames presided, and some 
 of the notable men of the Church were present. Dr. 
 W. F. Warren was one of the young men ordained 
 on Sunday, and Gilbert Haven, then a prominent but 
 
Going Fokth. 27 
 
 not yet a leading member of the Conference, spoke 
 at one of the anniversaries. An incident which oc- 
 curred at the Sunday-school anniversary has lingered 
 in my memory. The church was crowded, and I 
 could only get room to stand in the vestibule, near 
 the door. I was leaning against the stair-way listen- 
 ing to a thousand children singing, 
 
 " In heaven above, where all is love, 
 There'll be no more sorrow there." 
 
 In those days, when my heart was constantly bur- 
 dened with a certain kind of quiet sadness, these 
 words came to me with a sweet, soothing influence 
 which I shall never forget. A stranger stood by 
 me, and noticing that he seemed to recognize me, 
 I said ; 
 
 " What sweet singing ! " 
 
 "You'd better enjoy it all you can," he replied, 
 " for you will never hear such singing again." 
 
 The words dropped upon my heart like lead. I was 
 reminded that I was leaving privileges which had be- 
 come interwoven with my daily happiness ; but my 
 unbelieving heart did not then dare to hope that in 
 other tongues I should hear the songs of Zion warbled 
 by the glad young voices of thousands rescued from 
 the worship of idols. Often since that day, wdien 
 listening to glad songs of praise in India, have I 
 thought of the singers at Lynn, and my strange slow- 
 ness to believe that their song \vas to be taken up by 
 all the little ones of earth. 
 
28 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 We were ordained on Friday evening. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Parker had joined us at Lynn, tlius completing 
 our party of nine. Bishop Ames conducted the or- 
 dination services, assisted by Dr. Durbin and others, 
 after which brief addresses were delivered by Messrs. 
 Jiidd and Downey. On Sunday evening the mission- 
 ary anniversary was held, at which the other three 
 missionaries spoke briefly. An immense audience 
 had packed the large church in every part. On the 
 platform, among others, sat the venerable Father 
 Taylor, of the Mariner's Church, in Boston. When 
 I went up he drew me to him and insisted upon my 
 taking liis chair. I refused for some time, but at 
 last, on his assurance that lie had another seat, I con- 
 sented ; but no sooner had I taken the chair than the 
 venerable saint sat down on the carpet at my feet, 
 saying aloud, " I feel honored in being permitted to 
 sit at the feet of a missionary." I sprang to my feet 
 and insisted on his taking the chair again, and after a 
 warm contest succeeded in persuading him to do so 
 on the condition that I should sit on his knee. This I 
 did, and he put his arm affectionately around me, and 
 during the early part of the meeting gave me much 
 good advice. He was afraid that my courage would fail 
 me when T stood up before the vast audience, and re- 
 peatedly said to me, in substance, " Don't try to make 
 a speech, but just talk. Don't be afraid of them ; 
 don't try to exhort, but just tell them how you were 
 converted, and what the Lord has done for you." I 
 
Going Forth. 29 
 
 assured liirn that I was not afraid, but evidently he 
 doubted me. When my turn came he pushed me 
 forward with his blessing, and when I had finished 
 Jie clasped me in his arms with passionate affection, 
 and invoked God's blessing upon me for evermore. 
 I liad never seen him before, and never saw him 
 again, but he lives in my memory like the vision of 
 one of the old prophets, a man of God whose blessing 
 is a legacy to be coveted above all treasure. 
 
 At eight o'clock on Tuesday morning, April 12, 
 we went on board the little vessel which was to carry 
 us to Calcutta. Tt was a snug little ship of only six 
 hundred and fifty tons, and carried a cargo of Wen- 
 ham ice. A dozen friends accompanied us, and a 
 brief service was held in the little cabin of the ship. 
 Instead of selecting a farewell hymn, we joined in 
 singing, 
 
 " for a thousand tongues, to sing 
 
 My great Redeemer's praise, 
 Tlie glories of my God and King, 
 
 The triumphs of his grace ! " 
 
 after which Dr. Durbin commended us in prayer to 
 God, asking for protection at sea and victory on our 
 distant battle-field. A tug took us in tow, but strong 
 easterly winds kept ,us from getting out to sea till the 
 morning of the 16th, when our vessel crept out of 
 the harbor and began her long journey across the 
 trackless sea. Late in the afternoon I went up on 
 deck, and looking through the mist and rain took 
 
30 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 what I supposed was mj last view of the shores of 
 my native land. The distant hills were fast hiding 
 themselves in mist and cloud, and the view was utterly 
 cheerless and desolate. I ran my eye along the 
 coast line, looked at the hills, thought of greener hills 
 and brighter skies farther west, and then turned away 
 to look beyond the everlasting hills for the golden 
 gates of the city of light. 
 
On The Cobal Strand. 31 
 
 CHAPTEK III. 
 
 ON THE CORAL STRAND. 
 
 TWEKTY-FIYE years ago missionaries to India 
 and China were almost invariably sent by the 
 long sea-route around the Cape of Good Hope. Those 
 going from England could find well-furnished pas- 
 senger ships built expressly for the Eastern trade, but 
 as few persons except missionaries ever went from 
 America to India, special arrangements had to be 
 made for them with the owners of merchant sliips 
 sailing to Indian ports. The voyage was a very tedi- 
 ous one, but in most cases was by no means unpleas- 
 ant. Ship life on a modern steamer is in many re- 
 spects less enjoyable than on an old-fashioned sailing 
 vessel. People who never get more than a few days' 
 distance from the nearest port can never really under- 
 stand what it is to be at sea. The passenger from 
 N'ew York to Liverpool is hardly out of sight of land 
 until he begins to count the days, and even hours, 
 which separate him from the end of his voyage. It 
 was far different with us as we set out upon our voy- 
 age of four months. Our little ship became our little 
 world. We had ample leisure for reading and study, 
 and for thoroughly considering the nature of the great 
 
32 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 work in which we were so soon to be engaged. It 
 would have been well for most of ns if we had been 
 detained at home six montlis, or a year, and put under 
 a course of special instruction for our work. Onr 
 ignorance of India, and of the real nature of mission- 
 ary work, was very great, and ought to have disquali- 
 fied us for an immediate appointment to the mission 
 field. A brief time spent in special preparation would 
 have been time well spent, and w^ould have enabled 
 us to begin our work much more intelligently, and 
 prosecute it more successfully than we were able to 
 do. The traditional custom — for it is still the custom 
 — of making a hasty search when a missionary is need- 
 ed, and laying hands "suddenly " on some raw youth, 
 and sending him off to his life-work with little or no 
 knowledge of the country to which he is going, and 
 little or no preparation for the peculiar duties await- 
 ing him, is unjust to the wx)rk, and sometimes cruel 
 to the candidate. There may often be reasons to 
 justify haste, but when it is known positively that a 
 certain number of missionary recruits will be needed 
 every year during the next decade, or the next cent- 
 ury, there can be no valid excuse for not holding a 
 number of prepared young men in reserve, ready to 
 go forth when an emergency arises. 
 
 We had a congenial party, consisting of the Rev. 
 C. W. Judd and Mrs. Judd, of ]S"ew York ; Rev. E. W, 
 Parker and Mrs. Parker, of Vermont ; Rev. J. W. 
 Waugh and Mrs. Waugh, of Illinois ; Rev. J. R. 
 
On the Coral Strand. 33 
 
 Downey and Mrs. Downey, of Indiana, and myself. The 
 Rev. James Baume, of Chicago, also belonged to our re- 
 enforcement, but he had been hurried off a few months 
 in advance of us, going via England. Four of our party 
 have since been called to the heavenly home, one has 
 permanently left the field, and four still remain con- 
 nected with missionary work in India. Having been 
 provided with Hindustani grammars, we applied our- 
 selves diligently and eagerly to the study of the 
 language, and as the grammar included a small vo- 
 cabulary we were able to accomplish a good deal of 
 work which we found of no little value when we 
 came to the practical labor of acquiring the language 
 in India. In this study of Hindustani one member 
 of the party, Mr. Downey, took no part and mani- 
 fested no interest. He himself did not know how to 
 account for his disinclination to engage in it, but 
 during the latter part of the voyage he was accus- 
 tomed to say that it would be seen in eternity that 
 the line of study chosen by him had done more to 
 glorify God than the study of Hindustani could liave 
 done. He fully expected to live and labor in India, 
 but could never apply his mind to the study of Hin- 
 dustani. He never had occasion to use that language. 
 He lived to reach our mission field, but not the sta- 
 tion to which he had been appointed. On the very 
 threshold of what was supposed to be his life-work 
 he was stricken down, and thus became the first of 
 
 our Indian missionaries to exchange labor for reward. 
 3 
 
34: My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 He was a young man of superior ability, strong con- 
 scientiousness, and lofty purpose, and his death was 
 felt as a profound affliction in our missionary circle 
 in India. 
 
 I learned many lessons during our long voyage, one 
 of which I little thought at that time would be of 
 practical use to me in the future. Shut up as we 
 were within the narrow limits of our little vessel, I 
 had constant opportunities for seeing Jack in his own 
 home, and I learned to appreciate his hardships, to 
 see the temptations in the midst of which he lived, 
 and to sympathize with him in his friendless life, in 
 a way which served me well in after years. I was 
 strangely led to take an active part in efforts for his 
 good. Our captain belonged to a class of officers 
 which, in former years, gave the American mercantile 
 marine an unhappy notoriety. He governed his crew 
 by brute force, considered it the proper thing to insist 
 that they were amenable to no good influences, and 
 was extremely harsh and even cruel in his treatment 
 of them. We were forbidden to speak to them dur- 
 ing the voyage, or even to show them kindness by 
 making them presents of nuts or fruits which we had 
 brought on board with us. Both the captain and 
 first mate were as cowardly as they were brutal, and 
 but for the pluck of the more manly second mate our 
 voyage might have been attended with serious trouble. 
 During those months at sea I thought much about 
 sailors as a class, and learned to regard them as about 
 
On the Coeal Strand. 35 
 
 the most friendless and needy of all living men, and 
 when later in life I found myself thrown among 
 them, and saw them coming in throngs to hear me 
 preach, I saw clearly that during the tedious days of 
 our long voyage round the Cape, God had been pre- 
 paring me for one department of work which was to 
 meet me in after years. 
 
 After four months' sailing, we sighted the hills of 
 Orissa on the 13th of August. ISText morning when I 
 awoke I looked through the little port of my cabin 
 and saw the palm-trees along the shore, looking as if 
 they were lifting their heads out of the ocean itself. 
 Going up on deck I saw a large black object on the 
 shore, and was told that it was the world-renowned 
 temple of Juggernaut. It seemed as if heathenism 
 had risen up to meet us at o.ur coming and bid us 
 defiance. My earliest missionary recollections had 
 been associated with that temple and its hideous idol, 
 and my mind and heart were strangely moved as I 
 gazed upon the gloomy-looking black object before 
 me. I was at the door-way of India, and began to 
 feel eager for the strife which I knew w^as near at 
 hand. This was on Sunday, and as we expected to 
 enter the Hooghly next morning we held our last 
 Sunday services together. At the evening meeting I 
 spoke freely of the feelings with which I was drawing 
 near to the scenes of my life-work, and I can well re- 
 member the sincerity with which I deprecated my per- 
 sonal unfitness to be associated with the devoted and 
 
36 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 holy men who were engaged in missionary work in 
 India. The estimate formed of my own worth was by 
 no means too low, but I have often since smiled when 
 recalling the feelings with which I regarded the 
 general body of missionaries. I was fully possessed 
 of the notion, still common in some quarters, that a 
 missionary is not like other men, that his devotion 
 is more pure, his life more saintly, and his labors 
 more apostolic than if he lived in a Christian land 
 and worked like ordinary Christians. My illusion 
 w^as very soon to be dispelled, but for the time it was 
 very real. I did not then understand, as I now do, 
 that no service in the world can very materially affect 
 human character. A missionary is no better after 
 reaching his field than before leaving his native land, 
 and if there is any difference at all it is probably in 
 favor of the man who lives in the midst of Christian 
 associations, and is guarded and strengthened by 
 Christian institutions and usages. 
 
 We took a pilot on board on the morning of Aug. 15, 
 one hundred and twenty days after dismissing our 
 Boston pilot, and soon after entered the Hooghly. We 
 were now within a hundred miles of Calcutta, but an- 
 other week was spent in reaching the city. The pilot, 
 who had just returned to duty after a term of suspen- 
 sion for misconduct, was too fond of brandy, and both 
 he and our captain were soon unfit for serious duty. 
 At a critical point in the river we were placed in great 
 peril, and having been obliged to cut away an anchor 
 
On the Coral Strand. 37 
 
 the pilot refused to proceed without a tug, and we 
 were thus condemned to a long and wearisome delay 
 almost in sight of our destination. On the afternoon 
 of the 19th I took a stroll on shore, setting my foot 
 for the first time on Indian soil. Poetry and romance 
 faded away as I neared the land. From earliest child- 
 hood I had been familiar with Bishop Heber's hymn : 
 
 " From Greenland's icy mountains, 
 From India's coral strand," 
 
 and one of my dreams had been that I should step 
 lightly ashore upon the white coral of India's beau- 
 tiful strand. Yery different was the reality from the 
 dream. I was pulled ashore in a clumsy boat, and 
 then carried bodily by two naked boatmen through 
 deep black mud, and set down on the levee above, 
 where neither coral nor any other kind of stone had 
 ever been seen. A native village stood near by, and 
 the half-naked but kindly people gathered round us, 
 some to beg, some to barter, but most to stare at us. 
 Their houses were six or eight feet high at the eaves, 
 ten feet wide, and from ten to twenty feet long, witli 
 mud walls, and covered with grass thatch. It was a 
 typical Indian village, and the people fairly represented 
 at least two hundred millions of the inhabitants of the 
 empire. 
 
 We reached Calcutta on the evening of August 21, 
 and received a most enthusiastic welcome from Dr. 
 Butler, who had come down from Lucknow to 
 receive us and escort us to our appointed field. We 
 
38 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 had some necessary preparations to make which de- 
 tained us five days in tlie city, during which time we 
 liad many opportunities for making observations, and 
 were able to learn some useful lessons. Much as we 
 had heard of 'the " City of Palaces " we were surprised 
 at the princely life of many of the European residents. 
 We stopped in the European quarter of the city, and* 
 found ourselves in the midst of comfort and even 
 luxury. Near by, however, were whole squares of 
 squalid little huts, where the swarming natives were 
 living in what to us seemed abject poverty, and the 
 contrast impressed us painfully. In the northern half 
 of the city few Europeans are found, but the same 
 contrast appeared. Many of the natives were very 
 wealthy and lived in luxury, but the masses were very 
 poor and lived in the simple style of the peasantry of 
 the land. Calcutta is known as the City of Palaces, 
 and it is commonly supposed that the large buildings 
 which are seen from the river gave it this name. 
 This, however, is a mistake. The name was a com- 
 mon one long before any of the present buildings had 
 been erected ; at a time, indeed, when only one house 
 in the city could boast of a third story. 
 
 I had the pleasure of meeting a number of mission- 
 aries during our stay in Calcutta, and found them 
 cheerful, energetic, and liberal men. Some of my 
 notions, however, were i*udely shocked by what I saw 
 among them. Total abstinence was at that time 
 hardly known in India, whereas I had been accus 
 
On the Coral Stkand. 39 
 
 tomed to it all my days. I had never in my life 
 seen a minister of any Cliurch touch a glass of wine, 
 and when at a missionary party I saw three kinds of 
 wine handed round, when I noticed that all politely 
 accepted the proffered glass, and, above all^ when I 
 discovered that many of those present could not com- 
 prehend the scruples of the strangers, I began to 
 reconstruct my ideas of missionary life and character. 
 There w^ere missionary giants in Calcutta in those 
 days. Doctors Duff and Ewart were both working in 
 the Free Church Institution, Dr. Oglevie was in the 
 General Assembly's Institution, Dr. Mullens at 
 Bhowanipore, and Mr. Lacroix had just died. I met 
 none of these leaders except Doctors Duff and Ewart, 
 whom we saw during a brief visit at their college. 
 Dr. Duff was full of enthusiasm, and his soul was 
 stirred within him at the sight of so large a missionary 
 re-enforcement. He thought that a better day was 
 dawning upon missionary work, that the Churches 
 were awaking to a sense of their responsibilities, and 
 that larger and still larger bandsof missionaries would 
 be sent out into the moral wastes of the earth. As 
 we rose to take our leave we stood in a circle, and he 
 passed round, shaking hands with each in turn. My 
 turn came last, and he held my hand in his grasp for 
 some time^ talking to the group, but at last fixing his 
 eyes on me intently, and making me feel as if he were 
 talking to me alone. The tears coursed down his 
 cheeks as he spoke of the trials and toils which lay 
 
40 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 before us, and the sure harvest which faith would 
 be permitted to reap when the fullness of time should 
 come. With a voice choking with emotion he gave 
 us his blessing and bade us farewell. 
 
 I had occasion during my stay to call on a dentist 
 who had his office on the Esplanade, from whom I 
 received some sage advice. Ascertaining that I was 
 a missionary, and noticing my youth, he felt moved 
 to dissuade me from further attempting the task 
 which I had undertaken. "You are young," he 
 said, "and may need advice. Let me assure you 
 that these people never can be made Christians. It 
 is philosophically impossible. You might as well 
 try to make a Christian out of that brick pillar. 
 They must pass through another stage of develop- 
 ment before they will be prepared for a religion so 
 advanced as Christianity. You will waste your life 
 if you remain in India to do missionary work. I 
 was talking with Father D. the other day, and he 
 assured me that he did not believe there was a real 
 Christian among all the converts in India. I advise 
 you to give it up, and turn back before you waste 
 time and money in such an attempt." 
 
 I recall this incident chiefly because it illustrates 
 one of the forms of opposition which missionary 
 work encounters. This gentleman, no doubt, felt 
 kindly toward me, and wished to do me a service, 
 but he was talking wildly. At that time there were 
 Bengalee Christians in the city who were his equals 
 
On the Coral Strand. 41 
 
 in sinceritjj and liis superiors in intelligence, and 
 who were developed quite up to any level which 
 such objectors ever reach, but their existence was 
 wholly ignored. My dentist is one of a large body 
 of not very profound opponents of missions. They 
 are found on the coast of China and in all parts of 
 India. They will tell you how they have lived next 
 door to missionaries, seen their converts, observed 
 their work, and how they know it all to be a sham. 
 The truth in nearly every case tui-ns out to be that 
 they know little or nothing whereof they speak. 
 One may live next door to a neighbor without know- 
 ing any thing about him or his doings, and it is a 
 notorious fact that Europeans in India know very 
 little about the details of ordinary missionary life. 
 The people on the Esplanade have forgotten that a 
 dentist had his office there twenty-five years ago, but 
 meanwhile I have been permitted to see a Bengalee 
 Christian Church grow up within sight of the spot 
 where in my youth I listened to this prophecy of 
 evil. 
 
 During the five busy days that I spent in Calcutta 
 my mind was often turned in the direction of the 
 European and other English-speaking people whom 
 I saw on every hand. I was exceedingly surprised to 
 find that there was no Methodist Church in the city, 
 as up to that time I had never seen a town in which 
 there was no Methodist place of worship. One day 
 when driving with Dr. Butler through the streets I 
 
42 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 told liim that it seemed to me that an open door 
 stood before iis in Calcutta, and that some one should 
 be found to enter it. Even while yet at sea, while 
 reading various books on India, I had made the 
 following entry in the brief diary which I kept: 
 "This book has more deeply impressed upon me a 
 conviction before formed, that the English people 
 in India must be made an important agency in this 
 great work. It would appear from this book that 
 they are a great hinderance. If so, we must direct 
 our efforts toward them until a change is effected. 
 Providence did not scatter the English all over India 
 for nothing. Time will show it." I copy this unim- 
 portant note here, because it forms a part of the 
 story of my apprenticeship. God was even at that 
 early day turning my mind in the direction of an 
 important part of my work in succeeding years. 
 
 We left Calcutta on Friday evening, August 26, 
 for Lucknow, where the Annual Meeting of the mis- 
 sion was to hold its session on our arrival. Only two 
 sections of the East Indian Railway were open at 
 that time, one extending from the Hooghly to 
 Raneegunge, and the other from Allahabad to Cawn- 
 pore. The rest of the journey had to be performed 
 in small coaches, each drawn by a single horse, and in- 
 tended for not more than two passengers. The space 
 between the seats was boarded up at niglit, and a bed 
 improvised on which the traveler could sleep. The 
 horses were changed every ^ve or six miles, and 
 
On the Coral Strand. 43 
 
 were driven the whole length of their short stages 
 at break-neck speed. We reached Kaneegamge at 
 midnight and found our conveyances waiting for 
 us, but delay followed delay until broad daylight 
 dawned upon us before we were able to get away. 
 Here we discovered a fact which strangers in India 
 invariably worry themselves over, that in the Oriental 
 world time has little or no value. In a land where 
 every thing seems to move in a leisurely way, and 
 among a people whose time commands a merely 
 nominal price in the labor market, one may as well 
 bid a iinal fai-ewell to the eager haste and rigid punc- 
 tuality of tlie Western world. A man who is paid 
 six cents for a day's labor cannot be expected to put 
 a high value on his time, and will never regard 
 punctuality as a virtue. Our coachmen made noise 
 enough, and beat their wretched horses cruelly 
 enough, but our progress was slow. The rainy 
 season had not yet closed, and wherever the road 
 was muddy the horses were apt to call a halt. Our 
 party of ten persons had ^ve coaches in company, 
 and it often happened that serviceable animals 
 could not be found at the changing stations. The 
 rivers were all swollen, and it was a most wearisome 
 task to get our coaches drawn up on the boats which 
 were to convey us across. The entire journey occu- 
 pied eight weary days and nights, including one 
 Sabbath, during which we stopped to rest. Late 
 at night on Saturday, September 3, we were 
 
44 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 Hearing Lucknow. The rainy season in Upper 
 India was drawing to a close, and the full moon was 
 shining down upon us from a cloudless sky. I took 
 a small book from my pocket, and found that I could 
 read it by the bright moonlight with ease. It was a 
 night of entrancing beauty, and it was with a feeling 
 of intense gratitude and delight that we were nearing 
 the end of our long journey. We had just crossed 
 the boundary line of our mission field, and it seemed 
 as if we were entering an eastern fairy-land. We 
 entered the suburbs of the silent city at a late hour, 
 drove on mile after mile, passing at times through 
 ruins left by the recent siege, under the arches of 
 massive Oriental gates, or under the shadows of im- 
 posing palaces, until at last on the Extreme western 
 suburb of the city we were whirled into the beautiful 
 and quiet compound of our mission premises. The 
 brethren met us near the gate-way, while four ladies 
 stood in the bright moonhght in front of the nearest 
 mission house. They were all dressed in white, and 
 their thin and pallid faces made them look like in- 
 valids who had just risen from a long and weary 
 illness. They received us joyfully, and we were 
 more than thankful for their greeting ; but I took 
 note as I looked at their white faces that under the 
 bright skies of this enchanted fairy-land there must 
 lurk hidden foes to the health and vigor of strangers 
 from beyond the sea. 
 
Missionaries in CoriNciL. 45 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 MISSIONARIES IN COUNCIL. 
 
 A FTER a Sabbath's rest in Lucknow we assem- 
 ijL bled on Monday morning in the little temporary 
 chapel to hold the Annual Meeting of the mission. 
 Thirteen missionaries were present, nine of whom 
 were from America ; three were Englishmen who had 
 joined the mission in India, and one was a Hindustani 
 young man who had been given to Dr. Butler on his 
 first arrival by the Presbyterian brethren at Allaha- 
 bad. One of the English brethren had been admit- 
 ted as a probationer in a home Conference, and the 
 other two were expecting to be admitted in like man- 
 ner. The Hindustani brother, Joel Janvier, had been 
 made a local preacher, but his relation to this Annual 
 Meeting was wholly undelined. I had known before 
 arriving in Lucknow that such a meeting as this was 
 to be held, but had given it little thought, and had 
 not for a moment anticipated any thing but a few 
 days of delightful Christian fellowship in connection 
 with it. I was destined, however, to be somewhat 
 disappointed. I was to leara some new lessons in my 
 apprenticeship, and to catch a glimpse of some of the 
 difficulties and anxieties which were to confront us 
 in after years. 
 
46 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 We had not sat in council an hour before perplexi- 
 ties began to meet us. The first question raised was 
 a most important one, but we had no answ^er readj 
 at hand. Young men were present to be received 
 among us, but how were they to be received ? The 
 Conference membership w^as to be held on the other 
 side of the globe. We had no legal right to touch 
 them, and yet w^e could not but see that we as a 
 body were expected to do something in the premises, 
 and even if not expected, we saw at a glance that it 
 was of the most vital importance to the future har- 
 mony and efficiency of the mission that we should 
 have something to say in the matter. Then a most 
 important question arose in reference to the character 
 of the work to which we were to be assigned. A 
 large and important school had been offered to the 
 mission, and we were suddenly called upon to dis- 
 cuss the question of education as a missionary agency, 
 and teaching as a legitimate part of a missionary's 
 duty. We had first to decide whether we had any 
 right to discuss the question at all, whether the au- 
 thorities at New York, through the Superintendent, 
 should fix our policy, or whether it should be done 
 by formal action of the missionaries as a body. Kext 
 we had to decide whether we should establish schools, 
 or confine our work to preaching alone. ISText, if 
 schools were to be maintained, what kind of schools 
 were to be established — vernacular, or Anglo-ver- 
 nacular ? schools for Christians only, or for non-Chris- 
 
MiSSIONAEIES IN CoUNCIL. 47 
 
 tians as well ? And if all these questions could be 
 settled, then who were to be the teachers ? Was 
 every missionary to be subject to an appointment to 
 the work of teaching ? Was a man who had conse- 
 crated all his days to the one work of preaching the 
 Gospel to find himself most unexpectedly trans- 
 formed into a school-master ? 
 
 I mention these merely as specimens of a few of 
 the perplexing questions which met us at that memo- 
 rable Annual Meeting. They may seem unimportant, 
 or even trivial, to a reader in America, but to us on 
 the spot, remembering that we were deciding ques- 
 tions which must powerfully influence our work for 
 many years to come, they were very serious questions 
 indeed. What added to our perplexity was the dis- 
 covery that the law of the Church had made no man- 
 ner of provision for an emergency of this kind. The 
 Discipline was silent on the subject of missionary 
 government. The Missionary Board had spoken, but 
 in vague or equivocal language. A small Manual 
 for the use of missionaries had been published, but it 
 failed to deal with nearly all the really important ques- 
 tions which came before us. An oificial Letter of 
 Instructions had been sent out by the Corresponding 
 Secretary, but this also, while far in advance of the 
 Manual, failed to meet our difficulties, and really cre- 
 ated more perplexity than it removed. In short, we 
 found ourselves in a position which had not been 
 anticipated by the Church, and for which no proper 
 
48 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 provision had been made. We did not know what to 
 do, or what to leave undone. Under such circum- 
 stances it is not strange that we thought of the only 
 provision which the Discipline of the Church at that 
 cime afforded us. We had discovered that an Annual 
 Meeting had no ecclesiastical functions whatever, and 
 no certain functions of any kind ; then why not have 
 an Annual Confei'ence ? Or, failing this, why not 
 have the Annual Meeting legalized and its functions 
 specified ? To us, situated as we were, it seemed so 
 reasonable that something should be done that we 
 did not hesitate to adopt a memorial asking the Gen- 
 eral Conference to give us a legal status as an Annual 
 Conference. This seemed the simplest step to take, 
 as it is always difficult to secure legislation when new 
 and strange issues are involved. Letters of inquiry 
 in reference to various matters of administration were 
 forwarded to the Mission Rooms, and it was hoped 
 that in due time all our perplexities would be re. 
 moved, and our way cleared for a steady development 
 of our work. 
 
 A little reflection, or, perhaps, a better knowledge 
 of men, and of ecclesiastical matters generally, might 
 have prevented us from sending forward requests for 
 esuch radical measures as were outlined by us, although 
 subsequent events have proved that we were substan- 
 tially right in our positions. In I^ew York, however, 
 our action was viewed with no little misgiving. The 
 reply of the Corresponding Secretary opened with a 
 
MissioxARiEs IN Council. 49 
 
 frank statement of liis apprehension that we did not 
 sufficiently realize the solemn responsibility resting 
 upon us, and that we were allowing our minds to be 
 diverted from the great work for which we had been 
 sent to India. We were exhorted to be constant 
 in our devotion, and not to allow any thing to come 
 between us and our duty. A few questions were an- 
 swered, but our chief difficulties were left untouched. 
 It was evident at a glance that our position had been 
 wholly misunderstood. The idea of a dozen young 
 men, in a remote corner of the earth, without experi- 
 ence, without churches, and without membership, 
 asking for the formal organization of an Annual Con- 
 ference, seemed preposterous in the last degree. In 
 America such a thing had never been done, and in 
 India it seemed more out of place than at home. 
 And as to legalizing the Annual Meeting, or making 
 any special legislative provision for a handful of young 
 men in a remote country, it was not to be thought of. 
 To a distant observer on the other side of the globe it 
 very naturally seemed that we were impatient for full 
 ecclesiastical rights, and that part of the time which 
 we had been devoting to questions of organization 
 might have been better employed in prayer and de- 
 votion. 
 
 Our difficulties, however, were very real, and no 
 depths of personal consecration could have affected 
 them very materially. At home the idea evidently 
 
 was that we were to go out among the heathen, and 
 4 
 
50 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 after gatliering the simple people around iis and per- 
 suading them to be Christians, were to govern them 
 in an informal patriarchal way, till such time as their 
 growth in intelligence made it j)ossible for them to 
 assume the prerogatives of Church organization. It 
 was not expected that questions of administration 
 would concern us for many years to come, and hence 
 it seemed to indicate grave impatience, if not rash- 
 ness, for us to anticipate at the outset the problems 
 which our children were expected to solve. But to 
 one on the spot the case was very different. A mis- 
 sion field had been selected for us which, at the out- 
 set, included w^estern Oudh, "Rohilcund, and Kumaon, 
 and subsequently was enlarged to include the whole 
 of Oudh and the mountain district of Gurhwal. The 
 population of this tract exceeded seventeen million 
 souls; and any missionary could see in a moment that 
 the people, when converted, were not going to be sim- 
 ple creatures who would meekly wait for a generation 
 or two before beginning to manage their own affairs. 
 They must be guided from the very first. The lirst 
 generation of converts would leave its impress upon 
 the whole of the next century. The questions which 
 confronted us at the outset were as nothing when 
 compared with those which must arise in the future; 
 and it seemed as unwise as it was useless for us to try 
 to ignore the inevitable, and assume that the foun- 
 dations of a great Christian empire could be safely 
 laid by men who worked under uncertain rules 
 
Missionaries in Council. 51 
 
 and dispensed with the safeguards and helps of an 
 authorized organization. 
 
 And yet there was a certain danger not fully real- 
 ized by us at the time of borrowing too much trouble 
 from the future, and perplexing ourselves with ques- 
 tions which were never to have a practical existence. 
 It is impossible to provide a code of -rules beforehand 
 exactly adapted to the wants of every body of mis- 
 sionaries in the world, and it is impossible for the 
 missionaries themselves to anticipate, with any com- 
 pleteness, the developments of their own work. An 
 eagerness to legislate is not a healthy sign of states- 
 manship, and in both Church and State it is the part 
 of wisdom to provide legislation only for actual wants, 
 and to meet emergencies which have an actual exist- 
 ence. This being true, it follows that in every foreign 
 mission there should be a certain freedom of action 
 allowed, so that the missionaries may be able to pro- 
 vide for emergencies as they arise. From the very 
 first they should be intrusted with a certain clearly 
 defined responsibility, and should be made to under- 
 stand that as the years go by they will be expected 
 to organize thoroughly every department of their 
 work, not in every case according to a pattern showed 
 to them by parties beyond the sea, but according to 
 the indications of God's providence as interpreted to 
 them by the guiding Spirit of God. When they thus 
 understand what is expected of them they will act 
 more decisively, decide more wisely, and organize 
 
52 My Missionary x^ppeenticeship. 
 
 their forces much more thoroughly and efficiently 
 than when in doubt as to their responsibilities or 
 restrained by disabilities. 
 
 The effect of our discussions during our meeting in 
 Lucknow on myself was to open my eyes to the mag- 
 nitude of the work which we had undertaken. Tlie 
 plan of the mission as at first approved by the author- 
 ities at home was to establish eight or nine stations, 
 each at a central point in a district containing about a 
 million of people. In due time these missions would 
 be brought into close association with one another, 
 and the whole territory thus be covered with a net- 
 work of missionary agencies. The plan was a grand 
 one, and the field selected was perhaps the most 
 desirable one in India. But the statement of this 
 plan on paper can give no one an idea of the vastness 
 of the work which we had undertaken. To found a 
 mission among a few thousand people on a little 
 island of the sea is a vast enterprise, but to found one 
 in the midst of an ocean of humanity, to establish a 
 mission which shall be to the restless millions around 
 it what a little island is to the restless sea, then to 
 add another and another little island, each shut in by 
 an unbroken horizon of its own, is to attempt a task 
 too vast to be described on paper, or even realized by 
 the imagination. And yet this vast field was in itself 
 but a little corner of India. We did not propose to 
 reach one fifteenth of the people of the empire. My 
 enthusiasm was not in any measure lessened as I 
 
Missionaries ix Council. 63 
 
 began to see in outline the stupendous work which we 
 liad undertaken, but the survey of the situation 
 which we were led to make had the effect of enlarg- 
 ing my views and making me study more carefully 
 and intelligently many of the features of missionary 
 work as then presented in India. The week spent in 
 council with missionary brethren was one of ]3rolit in 
 many ways, and the meeting itself was important as 
 the iirst of a long series of Annual Meetings and Con- 
 ferences which have exercised an increasing influence 
 upon the development of the work. 
 
 The field selected for us was at that time all fallow 
 ground. A few native Christians had drifted into 
 Lucknow at the close of the Mutiny, and three or 
 four had been engaged as assistants of various grades 
 in our mission. A few inquirers had come to the 
 missionaries in Moradabad, one or two had been con- 
 verted in Bareilly, and a few were coming to the 
 missionaries in Lucknow, but practically there was 
 no such thing as a native Christian community in all 
 our field. There were no girls' schools among all 
 these millions, and not a single Sunday-school except 
 the informal little gatherings held in the mission 
 houses. We had to begin our work from the very 
 foundation, and in developing it we had every reason 
 to expect to be left to ourselves. Throughout the 
 greater part of our field we had no missionary neigh- 
 bors, and we had no reason to anticipate that any 
 missionaries of other Churches would come to help 
 
54 My Missionary Appkenticeship. 
 
 us till the soil for many years to come. Our thirteen 
 men were distributed among five stations, one of 
 which was in Oudh, three in Eohilcund, and one in 
 Kumaon. The plan at that time was to put two 
 American missionaries in each small station, and to 
 have a larger number in the two chief cities of Luck- 
 now and Bareilly. My own appointment was read out 
 for Nynee Tal, the station selected in the mountain 
 province of Kumaon, and for a colleague I had Sam- 
 uel Knowles, a young man who had left a good situ- 
 ation under government to join our mission, and who 
 is now one of the senior members of the I^orth India 
 Conference. 
 
My First Station. 55 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 MY FIRST STATION. 
 
 llTYlSrEE TAL, my first station, was as little as 
 i.\ possible like the India of my imagination. It 
 was perched high up on the mountains, and was 
 reached from the plain below by a narrow, winding 
 road, or rather pathway. Accompanied by my col- 
 league, I reached the mountains at early dawn of 
 Friday, the 16th of September. I had been carried 
 all night in a kind of palankeen, and when I awoke in 
 the morning found myself in the midst of gigantic 
 forest trees, at the very base of a long mountain 
 range which rose up as abruptly out of the level plain 
 as an island out of the sea. A narrow road led up 
 the steep mountain side, and mounting a pony we 
 started briskly upward. Yery soon we were carried 
 above the forest level, and in the early sunlight could 
 see a vast plain stretching far away toward the south 
 and west. The mountains were very steep, and 
 abounded with precipices ; but here and there a little 
 hamlet could be seen, with a few terraced fields near 
 by, while groups of mountaineers meeting us from 
 time to time showed that a large population must be 
 living in the depths of the great mountain range. 
 Slowly, but steadily, the little narrow road led us up- 
 
56 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 ward, sometimes passing through dense forests, some- 
 times creeping along the side of a rocky precipice, 
 until at last we found ourselves in the region of the 
 clouds, and looked out upon the distant plains, spread 
 out so far beneath us that the long belt of forest 
 looked like a strip of low shrubbery. Familiar trees 
 began to appear by the roadside, including the ash 
 and maple of the Ohio forests, and nearly every trace 
 of tropical vegetation disappeared. At last we came 
 in sight of the beautiful little lake called Nynee Tal, a 
 kidney-shaped body of clear water, a mile in length, and 
 nearly half a mile in average breadth, girt in by mount- 
 ains, and sparkling in the sunlight of a day of won- 
 drous brightness. A crescent-shaped mountain slope 
 shut in the lake on the north and north-west, near the 
 base of which stood the mission house, a cozy little 
 stone cottage built on a terrace, and half hidden be- 
 hind the roses which lined the wall in front and the 
 honeysuckle which shaded the little porch. Along 
 the margin of the lake, and nestling here and there 
 all over the surrounding mountain slopes, were the 
 white houses of the European residents. At the head 
 of the lake, hidden among a clump of luxuriant wil- 
 lows, stood a small Hindu temple. A short distance 
 above was the native town, a small collection of 
 shops and dwellings called the bazar, the name usually 
 given in India to markets and business streets. A 
 mile and a half away, out of sight of the lake, stood 
 the barracks, in which two or three hundred convales- 
 
My FmsT Station. 57 
 
 cent soldiers were housed. The whole population at 
 that time did not amount to more than sixty families 
 of Europeans and three thousand natives. 
 
 Nynee Tal had been selected as a choice spot for 
 a sanitarium, but did not in its earlier days offer 
 very good advantages as a place for a mission. It 
 was perched on the outer range of the Himalayas, 
 with no villages in its vicinity, and was in a great 
 measure isolated from the province of Kumaon, in 
 which it was situated. The lake is more than six 
 thousand feet above the sea, and in winter the cold 
 is so great that nearly all the natives migrate to the 
 foot of the hills or to warmer places in the interior. 
 Time, however, has wrought many changes in favor 
 of the. place, and while the station itself continues to 
 be of secondary importance so far as natives are con- 
 cerned, it has been made the center of a group of 
 important out-stations, both in the plains below and 
 in the surrounding hills. At the time of my arrival 
 the climate was very much like that of the corre- 
 sponding season at home. The rainy season was just 
 closing, and the warm and bright days were followed 
 by cool and pleasant nights. In the winter months it 
 is quite cold at times, but the air is so dry that ice 
 seldom forms except in damp and shaded places, w^hile 
 roses may sometimes be seen in bloom in the cold- 
 est winter months. In the months of April and May 
 the sun's rays are very powerful, but the heat is 
 never oppressive indoors. During the rains, which 
 
58 My Missionary AppnENTiCEsmp. 
 
 begin in June and continue till September, the air is 
 very damp, and clouds infold the mountain-tops for 
 whole days together; but even when living in this 
 damp cloud-land most Europeans enjoy good health, 
 and find a change from the sweltering plains below 
 most invigorating and enjoyable. 
 
 In point of domestic comfort I found that I had 
 lost very little by exchanging Ohio for Kumaon. 
 With the exception of some of the American fruits, 
 nearly every thing to which I had been accustomed 
 appeared on our table, and all idea of personal hard- 
 ship in missionary service vanished in a day. It be- 
 came evident at once that the trials of missionary life, 
 if, indeed, any trials worth the name were in store 
 for me, must be anticipated in the work to be 
 done, and not in its incidental associations. I was de- 
 lighted with my new home, and more than thankful 
 that it had fallen to my lot to begin my missionary 
 career in this mountain aerie, where a bracing climate 
 and pleasant surroundings would enable me to endure 
 the heavy strain of labor which comes upon most 
 missionaries during their first few years in the coun- 
 try. The acquisition of a new language is a severe 
 task to most persons, in addition to which abundant 
 labors are usually thrust upon the new-comer from 
 the day he reaches his field. 
 
 The Himalayas consist of a long range of lofty, 
 snowy peaks, extending along the northern boundary 
 of India, from the Brahmaputra River on the south- 
 
My First Station. 59 
 
 east to the heights beyond the Indus on the north- 
 west. Between the snowy range and the flat plains 
 of India rises an irregular range of lower mountains, 
 for the most part thrown together in wild confusion, 
 and rising to an average height of eight of ten thou- 
 sand feet. These lower mountains form a belt of 
 varying width, but averaging, perhaps, fifty miles or 
 more in a direct course from the line of snow to the 
 sunny plains. In the valleys and on the terraced 
 hill-sides live various races of hardy mountaineers. 
 The province of Kumaon, which contains over 600,000 
 inhabitants, was once an independent state, but before 
 its annexation by the British had been subjected by 
 the powerful State of !N"epaul, which lies to the east- 
 ward of Kumaon, and the western peaks of which 
 can be seen from l^ynee Tal. On the westward lies 
 the small province of British Gurhwal, with a popu- 
 lation of 338,000. The people inhabiting these two 
 districts are much alike, and yet differ widely from 
 one another, as well as from the mass of their co-re- 
 ligionists on the plains below. They all understand 
 the Hindi, which is the language of their courts, and 
 is taught in their schools, but in ordinary conver- 
 sation they use local dialects, which are not understood 
 except by limited sections of the people. 
 
 On my arrival at Nynee Tal I found a small 
 Anglo-vernacular school, attended by thirty or forty 
 boys, and held in a little stone building which an- 
 swered the double purpose of school-house and chapel. 
 
GO My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 A stone cliapel had been commenced near by, but the 
 work had been suspended for some time. The mis- 
 sionary was expected to hold two English services 
 weekly, one at the barracks on Sunday afternoon, and 
 another in the school-room in the evening. He was 
 also to hold a Hindustani service in the morning, and 
 to preach in the bazar at least two or three times a 
 week. He was also expected to teach at least two 
 hours daily in the school, and meantime vigorously 
 prosecute the study of at least one Indian language. 
 A single glance was sufficient to convince me that the 
 question of preaching in English must prove a most 
 serious one, and my first impulse was to give it up 
 altogether. It seemed impossible for any one to com- 
 bine so many kinds of labor successfully, and as I 
 had been sent to preach the Gospel to the heathen it 
 seemed wi'ong to let any thing interfere with that 
 great work. It was not so easy, however, to turn 
 aside from this work. The soldiers seemed eager to 
 hear, God blessed the work, and the way never 
 seemed open to give it up. I was learning more 
 than I knew. God was leading me in a way that I 
 knew not, and even at that early day was preparing 
 me for a sphere of labor of which at that time I did 
 not even dream. 
 
 Soon after getting settled in my new home work 
 was begun on the unfinished chapel. The mission 
 aries had to superintend the work, as is usually the 
 case when mission buildings of any kind are erected 
 
My First Station. 61 
 
 in IN'orili India. A dozen stone-masons, a dozen 
 carpenters, and fifty coolies were employed, and the 
 superintendence of these workmen required the con- 
 stant presence of one of the missionaries. The duty 
 was very irksome, but I found the experience gained 
 very valuable. During all the years that I remained 
 in ]^orth India I nearly always had some building 
 project in hand, and this part of my training was by 
 no means time thrown away. It was also of value to 
 me in throwing me among the people, and in a man- 
 ner compelling me to talk to them. I was thus led 
 to use the language as fast as I learned it, which is a 
 w^onderful help to one acquiring a new tongue. I 
 also had opportunities for observing the people among 
 whom I was to do my missionary work. Among the 
 coolies were both men and women, and persons be- 
 longing to nearly all the castes found among the hill 
 people. The carpenters and masons were all low- 
 caste men. These men earned about ten cents a day, 
 while the coolies w^ere glad -to work for five cents. 
 This rate of wages afforded an accurate index to the 
 social state of the people. There is much of sunlight 
 in the darkest abodes of the race, and many allevi- 
 ations can be found to the hard lot of the poor ; but, 
 after all, life becomes one long course of dull grind- 
 ing at the mill to those whose daily toil can earn no 
 more than the coarse food which satisfies the cravings 
 of hunger. Hence I was not surprised to find the 
 people weak in character, untmthful, and given to 
 
62 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 all manner of subterfuges, ignorant and superstitious, 
 and apparently without the shadow of a thought 
 concerning the life to come. They worked in a 
 dilatory way, and seemed to have little idea of hard, 
 rugged labor. They represented the poorer classes, 
 it is true, and yet were not very far below the mass 
 of the hill people in point of intelligence and char- 
 acter. 
 
 As soon as I was fairly settled in my new home I 
 began the study of the Hindustani language. A ven- 
 erable old Mohammedan became my teacher. He had 
 a long Howing white beard tipped with a red dye, 
 and was altogether the most thorouglily Oriental 
 character I had yet encountered. He was able to 
 speak a few words of English, but could not frame a 
 complete sentence, and his sole service to me was in 
 occasional attempts at correcting my pronunciation. 
 I read aloud out of a book, while he listened patient- 
 ly, and occasionally called my attention to a mispro- 
 nounced word. I soon saw that I would never learn 
 the language in this way, and began more and more 
 to make every native I met my teacher by engaging 
 him in conversation as far as possible. It was my 
 misfortune, however, to have to learn Hindustani 
 among the hill men, who speak it imperfectly, and 
 from whom I failed to get either a good pronunci- 
 ation or a good idiom. 
 
 I was now living among the people, seeing them 
 every day and every hour, and yet I knew very little 
 
My First Station. 63 
 
 about them. I always accompanied my colleague to 
 tlie bazar, where he w^ent to preach, and used to 
 stand by his side looking intently into the faces of 
 the people while they seemed to be listening closely 
 to his words. I had an intense desire to speak to 
 them myself, and always felt sure that I could startle 
 them by telling them of things of which they had never 
 thought before. I little knew that I had much to 
 learn besides a new language before I should make 
 myself understood by such a people. A great gulf 
 separated us. Their habits of thought, their accepted 
 traditions, their low plane of morals, their reliance 
 upon erroneous maxims which had to them all the 
 force of religious axioms, their dense prejudice, and 
 the caste rules which hedged them about on every 
 side — all these things kept us at a vast distance from 
 the people who stood close around us and looked 
 with kindly interest into our faces. They seemed 
 attentive, but very few understood what was said. 
 My colleague was studying Hindustani successfully^ 
 but at that early day his idiom was probably English 
 to a large extent, and his language too largely flavored 
 with Persian words and phrases to be intelligible to 
 the simple mountaineers. One day, when we were 
 together as usual in the bazar, I noticed a young map 
 with a large head, bushy hair, and square features, 
 who at once attracted my attention. He stood w^ith 
 folded arms, and looked the preacher intently in the 
 face, listening as if deeply impressed by every word 
 
61 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 that was spoken. Mr. Knowles spoke '* lustily," as 
 Mr. Wesley used to phrase it, and when wanned witli 
 his subject his face usually glowed with a pretty full 
 expression of the warmth felt within. I felt sure 
 that this young man was deeply impressed. Whoever 
 else might be careless, he certainly felt the force of 
 Uie preacher's words. I hoped for good in his case, 
 and wondered if I should ever find out wliat impres- 
 sion tlie message had made upon him. Two or three 
 years afterward I chanced to meet him, and recog- 
 nized his peculiar features at once. He also recog- 
 nized me, and seemed glad to meet me again. After 
 a little conversation, I asked him if he remembered 
 any thing the missionary had said in his sermon. 
 
 " No, sahib," he replied ; " I do not remember any 
 thing." 
 
 " Did you understand him ? " 
 
 ^* ]N"o, sahib. I did not understand him. He seemed 
 to be very angry about something, but I could not 
 make out what it was." 
 
 " What made you think he was angry ? " 
 
 " He became red in the face, and spoke in a very 
 loud and angry tone." 
 
 This story has become current in missionary circles 
 in India, and is sometimes quoted to prove that 
 young missionaries should not be allowed to preach 
 until they thoroughly master the language of the 
 people. I relate it for no such purpose. A man 
 who will not run the risk of committing laughable 
 
My First Station, G5 
 
 blunders will never become a ready preacher in a 
 new tongue. Those who begin to talk as soon as 
 they can put together the framework of a few sen- 
 tences, and who flounder along like one struggling 
 between swimming and drowning, are nearly certain 
 to succeed, in the long run, in learning to speak 
 fluently and intelligibly in any tongue which they 
 have to acquire. 
 5 
 
GO My Missionary Appkenticeship. 
 
 CHAPTEE YI. ' 
 
 ^.'- MY FIRST YITaR'S WOilK. 
 
 A FEW weeks after I had become fairly settled in 
 my new home, one of those changes took place 
 which so often try the strength of missionaries in 
 India. A vacancy occurred at a station on the plains, 
 and it became necessary to remove my colleague to fill 
 the place. To get out a man fi'om America would 
 have involved at least a year's delay, and the only 
 possible way of providing for the emergency was by 
 taking away my colleague, although this meant noth- 
 ing less than the doubling of my work. To me, in 
 my inexperience, it seemed like quadrupling it, and 
 for some weeks the strain was very heavy. A native 
 Christian boy was sent up to help in the school and 
 to assist me by interpreting, but he proved worth- 
 less and I was obliged to send him away. All day 
 long I was on duty among the woi'kmen or in the 
 school, and not being by any means a master-builder 
 i>\vself, the worry and bewilderment of directing gangs 
 f carpenters and masons whose language I could 
 not understand proved any thing but a recreation. 
 In a very short time, however, I began to master the 
 situation, and soon found that my isolation was not 
 without its advantages. I was among the people 
 
My First Year's Work. 67 
 
 from morning till night, and, having no interpreter, 
 was compelled to speak their language, and the 
 result was that I very quickly picked up a vocabu- 
 lary of common words and began to blunder through 
 long sentences. All day long I was struggling to 
 master strange idioms, and to find utterance for most 
 unfamiliar sounds, until at late bed-time I would fall 
 asleep with a jargon of Hindustani words ringing in 
 my ears, and next morning would awake in the midst 
 of what seemed to be a clamor of barbarous voices 
 around my pillow. It was a hard discipline, but a 
 good one. The Europeans had nearly all left the sta- 
 tion for the winter, and with the exception of a few 
 pious soldiers I seldom received a visit from any one. 
 One of the English services was closed for the season, 
 and my work among the soldiers was comparatively 
 light. 
 
 From the day of my arrival in E'ynee Tal I felt a 
 most intense desire to speak to the people in their 
 own language, but for a time it seemed as if an age 
 irmst elapse before I could do so with any freedom. 
 Sometimes, when mingling with the people, I would 
 feel such a longing to speak to them that it seemed as 
 if I would make any sacrifice if only my stammering 
 tono-ue could be loosed. At the end of two months 
 I could ask and answer questions pretty freely ; but 
 when I began to put sentences together my tongue 
 was quickly in fetters. I kept on trying, however, 
 until one evening, about three months after my arrival, 
 
68 My Missionaky Apprenticeship. 
 
 an incident occurred which gave me a wonderful 
 impetus. Some workmen had come up to the mis- 
 sion house for their pay, and after taking the account 
 of each, and paying them what was due, I began to 
 tell them that in this way God would reckon with us 
 wlien the work of life was over. Before I knew it 
 I was talking, talliing in continuous sentences, and 
 with a freedom that amazed me. I was delighted 
 beyond measure. I felt like a boy in the water who 
 suddenly discovers that he can swim. I would gladly 
 have used my newly discovered power every day, but 
 soon discovered that I could not do so. Every suc- 
 cessful public speaker knows that his mind is abnor- 
 mally active when he is standing before an audience, 
 and once fairly interested in his discourse. Tt is 
 astonishing how accurately and rapidly some men can 
 think when on their feet before a public audience. 
 Forgotten things come to mind, and obscure things 
 stand out in clear light. It was thus with me on tliis 
 occasion, and many a time afterw^ard. Every word in 
 my vocabulary was on my tongue the moment it w^as 
 called for, and some words which I could not possibly 
 have told the meaning of, and yet w^iich I had met 
 with in reading, were as readily at my command as 
 those with which I was familiar. I made sure that 
 the men understood me by cross-questioning them 
 before they left, and then thanked God for this signal 
 encouragement in my work. 
 
 From this time forward I embraced frequent op- 
 
My Fikst Year's Work. 69 
 
 portunities of speaking to groups of men when I 
 chanced to meet tliem by the wa j-sicle ; but not always 
 with uniform success. Yery often my tongue seemed 
 heavy as lead, and the words refused to come at my 
 bidding. Two months after this first attempt I was 
 with a brother missionary in a bazar at the foot of 
 the hills, and ventured to take a turn in preaching. 
 Hundreds of noisy people filled all the space nei^- by, 
 while a crowd of staring men pressed close around us. 
 I pitched my voice in an impossible key, and spoke 
 for a short time with extreme rapidity of utterance. 
 "Words were not lacking on this occasion, however, 
 it may have been with ideas. Some of my school- 
 boys w^ere present, and I ventured to ask them if 
 they had understood me. " We understood just the 
 least little hit of what you said," was the frank but 
 crushing reply. I did not attempt to speak in the 
 bazar again for two months, but I continued to talk 
 in more quiet places as I found opportunity. One 
 evening, about ^yq months after my arrival, some 
 workmen came into the house with the servants, to 
 our evening prayers, and I ventured to expound the 
 evening lesson to them, and, being encouraged by the 
 effort, I next attempted a more formal exposition on 
 Sundays, and thus was led to hold formal Sunday 
 services. On the 27th of March, which chanced to 
 be the anniversary of my farewell meeting in St. 
 Clairsville, I again took my stand in the bazar, and 
 attempted to preach. An audience quickly gathered, 
 
70 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 and God opened my lips so that I was able to speak 
 with great freedom. From this time forward I 
 preached twice a week in the bazar, but it was not 
 till five months later that I was able to conduct an 
 entire service in the chapel. When that point was 
 reached and passed I felt happy indeed. My knowl- 
 edge of the language was still extremely imperfect, 
 but I could at least do something, and every day was 
 sure to add to my equipment for work. 
 
 Near the close of 1859 a native assistant was sent up 
 to me from Bareilly. He was a Mohammedan convert^ 
 and had been but recently baptized by Dr. Hum- 
 phrey. He was to teach me Hindustani and assist in 
 the school, and also in preaching if he should develop 
 a gift for that sacred work. He was a singularly 
 modest man, and I soon learned to esteem and love 
 him, but in less than six months he was called down 
 to the plains. I parted from him regretfully, but I 
 was to meet him again in after years in many a noisy 
 bazar and in many a quiet village. He is now the 
 Rev. Zaliur-ul-Haqq, the first native presiding elder 
 of our Church in India. 
 
 With the return of the hot weather the Europeans 
 began' to flock back to the station, and a large number 
 of convalescent soldiers also arrived from the plains. 
 Our chapel was finished at last, and on the first Sun- 
 day in May was formally dedicated. In a very short 
 time it began to be evident that our work among the 
 Europeans would surpass our expectations, and would 
 
My First Year's Work. 71 
 
 add very much to the ordinary duties of the mission- 
 ary in charge. The chapel soon became too small to 
 hold the Sunday evening congregation, and a marked 
 religious interest was quickly manifested among the 
 people. I was expected to preach at the barracks at 
 six o'clock every Sunday morning, and in the chapel 
 at five in the evening. I also held a week-night 
 meeting at each place in English. In addition to this 
 amount of work I was expected to speak or preach at 
 least three times a week in a half-mastered tongue, to 
 teach two hours a day in school, and meanwhile pur- 
 sue the study of the language in its two branches, 
 Urdu and Hindi, reciting a lesson in each daily to 
 separate teachers. It was a mad undertaking to 
 attempt so much, and but for the timely return of 
 my late colleague, who came up to the mountains to 
 recover strength after a severe attack of fever, I 
 must have broken down sooner than I did. I was 
 also aided during two subsequent seasons by Dr. 
 Butler, who spent several months in Nynee Tal with 
 his family. 
 
 The officer in military command in ISTynee Tal at 
 that time was the late Major Drysdale, of the Forty- 
 second Highlanders. He was a man of good im- 
 pulses, and fully appreciated every effort made for 
 the good of his men. He was a rigid disciplinarian, 
 for which I have reason to remember him gratefully. 
 At the beginning of the season he said to me, " I 
 shall be glad to have you preach to the men, but it 
 
72 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 must be strictly on the following conditions : you 
 must not be too early — I would nearly as soon have 
 you too late as too early — and you must not be one 
 half-minute too late. The service mast not continue 
 longer than one hour ; sixty minutes must be the max- 
 imum." I was very willing to accept the conditions, 
 and had no difficulty in meeting them except in 
 abridging the sermons. I had been accustomed to 
 preach sermons an hour or more in length, and now it 
 seemed a difficult task to compress the whole service 
 into that brief space of time. I did it, however, and 
 did it successfully. Instead of reading w^hole chap- 
 ters I began to select appropriate portions of cliaptei's, 
 seldom more than twenty verses. I also abbreviated 
 the singing ; I found that with a rapid tune a verse of 
 four lines could be sung in forty-five seconds, while 
 an additional quarter of a minute would suffice for 
 other tunes, and I was careful to give out only as 
 many verses as we had time for. The sermon was 
 reduced to thirty minutes. I had been accustomed to 
 make a formal introduction, and to attempt a formal 
 peroration. I cut off both of these at a stroke, and 
 found that in doing so I had simply thrown away so 
 much useless wadding. Then I eliminated every 
 thing which I did not really wish to say, and w^hich 
 did not seem really important to be said, and found 
 that I could give the people God's message a great 
 deal more effectively in thirty minutes than in sixty. 
 To my surprise I found that the whole service was 
 
My First Year s Work. 73 
 
 made more effective bj the rigid limitation of time, 
 and I have ever since maintained tiie rule which was 
 enforced upon me by the Scotch major. If I wished 
 to deliver an oration, or a lecture, or to argue a ques- 
 tion like a lawyer, I should ask for an hour's time at 
 least ; but when I come before people with a message 
 from God, I prefer to be more like a man in haste. 
 A messenger of the Almighty has no business to 
 saunter into the pulpit and waste five minutes in 
 lolling in an easy chair or sofa, no business to talk to 
 the minister who sits beside him while the olioir 
 wastes precious time with operatic preludes and in- 
 terludes, no business to perform the ritualistic duty 
 of reading tedious and irrelevant lessons, to make 
 long and wearisome prayers, to waste five minutes in 
 reading notices, and then to spend one half the time 
 devoted to the sermon in talk which might be omitted 
 without the slightest loss to any human being. God's 
 messenger should be a man in haste, and, when stand- 
 ing before those to whom God has sent him, he should 
 be very careful not to waste a single half-minute. 
 
 Every missionary remembers with peculiar interest 
 his first inquirer. Many persons may have come to 
 talk, or to seek information, or to engage in contro- 
 versy, but no one of these is remembered as an in- 
 quirer. This personage is one who comes with' the 
 avowed purpose of becoming a Christian, provided 
 his doubts are cleared away and his path of duty made 
 plain before him. He is often sincere, and often very 
 
74 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 insincere, but the young missionary is pretty sure to 
 take a large amount of stock in liis first candidate for 
 baptism. It is well that he should, but he is often 
 doomed to a severe disappointment. My first inquirer 
 was an elderly devotee of high caste, who was a stran- 
 ger in IS'ynee Tal. His ears had been cruelly perfo- 
 rated, and he wore two large, clumsy wooden rings in 
 them. He was a dull man, but avowed his intention 
 to become a Christian, and seemed to have a little 
 knowledge of the new religion. He expected me to 
 provide for him in all respects, and I was unwise 
 enough to assume the obligation. I took the case in 
 hand with more vigor than common sense, and soon 
 brought matters to a crisis. Having made up my 
 mind that caste was a great iniquity, I required this 
 simple old man to break through all its restraints at a 
 stroke, and, in order to make the work more complete, 
 I required him to show his renunciation of both caste 
 and mendicancy by taking a basket and going to work 
 among the coolies. He very meekly went to work, 
 but when it came to the question of formally break- 
 ing his caste by eating with Christians he quietly but 
 persistently refused. He remained a few days, but 
 finding at last that he must choose between breaking 
 his caste and leaving, he quietly disappeared. I 
 thought at the time that the case had been well man- 
 aged, but am not very proud of it now. Young mis- 
 sionaries cannot be too careful to study the prejudices 
 and modes of thought of those to whom they go, nor 
 
My First Year's Work. 75 
 
 can they be too gentle or considerate in dealing w4tli 
 them. To the old devotee I must have seemed a 
 harsh and exacting young man, while it is to be feared 
 that he went away with an utterly distorted notion 
 of the requirements of the Christian religion. One of 
 the first essentials in the qualifications of a preacher 
 is an ability to know men, and this qualification has a 
 tenfold importance in a non-Christian country. I did 
 not know the old man, did not see beneath the mere 
 surface of his character, and in consequence exercised 
 no skill whatever in putting new truths before him. 
 I had nearly every thing to yet learn, so far as prac- 
 tical dealing w4th the people was concerned, and my 
 first lessons did not give much promise of rapid 
 progress. 
 
 As the season advanced the demands of our English 
 work steadily increased, as did my misgivings about 
 the rightfulness of devoting so much time to it. I 
 had come to India to preach to the heathen, and now 
 before the close of my first year in the country I 
 found myself in charge of two English congregations, 
 and perceived clearly enough that this kind of work 
 would increase rather than decrease in the future. 
 The station was growing rapidly, and the chapel was 
 always too small to hold the people who came to hear 
 the word. I enjoyed the work exceedingly, and yet 
 it seemed very clear that, soon or later, it must 
 draw me off from my mission to the heathen. Expe 
 rienced missionaries advised me to leave the place, 
 
76 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 assurino^ me that I could never master the vernacular 
 successfully while preaching constantly in mj mother- 
 tongue. I fully sympathized with these advisers, and 
 not only regarded my appointment to Nynee Tal as a 
 misfortune, but firmly resolv^ed that, as soon as I c(SWld 
 find a better place, I would put a seal upon my lips, 
 so far as English preaching was concerned, and preach 
 only to those whom Christian sinners are accustomed 
 to call " the heathen." " So foolish was I, and igno- 
 rant." I did not know that God had me in training 
 for usefulness in years to come, and- that the work 
 which I would gladly have escaped was singularly 
 adapted to prepare me for the field which he had in 
 view. 
 
 Near the close of the rainy season the heavy strain 
 of work of which mention has been made began seri- 
 ously to affect my health. Without a half -hour's 
 recreation in a whole month, with the day of rest 
 changed into a day of triple toil, with sleep abridged 
 and the mind in one incessant state of work or worry, 
 it is not strange that I began to find " the climate " 
 very injurious to my health. The climate of India has 
 enough to answer for in all truthfulness, but in no other 
 country are the ill effects of so much human indiscre- 
 tion set down to climatic causes. The wrecks to health 
 caused by an animal diet which would test the digest- 
 ive powers of a Greenlander, washed down with un- 
 ceasing draughts of beer and brandy, are nearly all 
 set down to the account of the " beastly climate." In 
 
My FmsT Year's \Yoek. 77 
 
 missionary circles there may be temperance at the 
 table ; but intemperate work, neglect of recreation, 
 disobedience to God's law of rest, and the transfer to 
 the tropics of habits suited to higher latitudes, often, 
 result in a breakdown which ought not, and in justice 
 cannot, be laid to the charge of the Indian climate. 
 In my own case, nearly every law of health had been 
 ignored, and God, who does not tolerate the violation 
 of a law of healtli any more than of one of the Ten 
 Commandments, suffered the appointed penalty to 
 vindicate his unchanging law. 
 
18 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 LENGTHENING THE CORDS. 
 
 WITH the approacli of the cold season, both Eu- 
 ropeans and natives began to desert Nynee Tal, 
 the former returning to their homes in the various 
 towns of North India, and the latter, for the most 
 part, descending to the villages along the base of the 
 mountains. The forest which skirts the mountains 
 had been cleared away in some places, and thriving 
 settlements of hill men had been established there. 
 Immediately outside the forest lies another belt of 
 rich but marshy land, called the Terai, where a deadly 
 malaria lurks throughout more than half the year, 
 and where Europeans and ordinary natives alike find it 
 nearly impossible to live. An aboriginal tribe, called 
 the Taroos, inhabit this malarial region. They are 
 a simple people, observe no caste distinctions, are hon- 
 est in their dealings, maintain a kind of devil- w^orship 
 for a religion, and are much given to drunkenness. 
 As soon as the people began to leave ]N"ynee Tal I 
 determined to follow them, and widen the sphere of 
 our operations by establishing an out-station at a place 
 called Huldwanee, at the foot of the mountains, and 
 about fourteen miles from Nynee Tal. From this 
 point I hoped to be able to reach the Taroos, and from 
 
Lengthening- the Cords. 79 
 
 all the information which I had been able to procure 
 there seemed good reason to hope that the Gospel 
 might be better received by them than by orthodox 
 Hindus, who were hedged about by caste rules, and 
 subject to deep-seated fears and prejudices. I accord- 
 ingly shut up the mission house and, early in Novem- 
 ber, removed to Huldwanee, where I expected to have 
 my head-quarters during the cold season. 
 
 The Commissioner of Kumaon at that time was 
 Major Eamsay, now General, the Honorable Sir 
 Henry Eamsay, K.C.S.I., well known and higlily 
 honored in every missionary circle in India. Though 
 hindered by his official position from taking an active 
 part in missionary work, he nevertheless aided the 
 cause by his personal influence, by open-handed giv- 
 ing, and by wise counsel and unfailing sympathy. 
 Through his influence a boys' school which had been 
 established at Huldwanee was made over to me, and 
 this at once gave me a footing in the place, and 
 opened a way among the people. I had previously 
 been joined by a native Christian, with his wife, 
 from a distant station, and hence I was prepared to 
 begin work in this out-station with a little show of 
 strength. It would have been better, however, if I 
 had gone to the place alone. In those days a gooc» 
 many native Christians were drifting about in JS^orth 
 India, and, as ours was a new mission, they were con- 
 stantly seeking service within our borders. A few 
 of them turned out well, but others gave us much 
 
80 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 trouble and wrought lasting injury to our work. My 
 man thought it of the first importance that he should 
 command respect in his new position, and accordingly 
 proceeded to speak to the officials in a lofty tone, and 
 to order policemen about vvi.h the air of a man in 
 authority. The result was a severe thrashing, Avliich 
 he solemnly set down to the account of persecution 
 for Christ's sake, while he proceeded to seek for ample 
 revenge in the court. This untoward event hindered 
 us very seriously, and for a time nearly broke u]i the 
 school. Another and a better man arrived about this 
 time to join me in my projected itinerating work, and 
 this better brother partly compensated for the weak- 
 ness which my other assistant had caused. In tliose 
 davs of small thins^s manv mistakes were unavoidable, 
 on account of the absolute necessities of the case ; but 
 in these better times it should be laid down as an 
 inflexible rule, admitting of no exceptions, that only 
 safe and tried men be sent to new stations. 
 
 In late ITovember I set out on my projected tour 
 among the Taroos. Two camels carried my baggage, 
 which consisted of a small tent, two boxes, containing 
 cooking utensils, dishes, etc., a small trunk for cloth- 
 ing and books, a bamboo cot, and a camp-table and 
 chair. Samuel, the native preacher, and I rode on 
 ponies. We passed through the forest, and after 
 riding a few miles through tall jungle-grass, so tall 
 that wo were often quite hidden by it, emerged upon 
 a beautiful little clearinor in the midst of which stood 
 
Lengthening the Coeds. 81 
 
 a Taroo village. The fields of mustard in its rich, 
 yellow bloom, and of wheat just beginning its luxuri- 
 ant growth, were in striking contrast with the dreary 
 marsh around ; and when the little tent had been 
 pitched in the mango orchard near the village, and 1 
 sat by my small table enjoying the strange quiet of 
 this enchanting little garden spot, I began to realize 
 my first experience of a phase of Indian missionary 
 life, which is to many one long delight. To go 
 about among the cpiiet villages for weeks — to pitch 
 one's moving tent in the cool depths of a dense mango 
 grove — to sit under the trees and watch the evening 
 shadows steal across the plain — to go out in the early 
 morning and see the mellow sunlight gently diss.olv- 
 ing the light haze which hangs above the horizon — 
 to listen to the peaceful sounds, the dove by the road- 
 side, the peacock in the distance, the cow-boy in the 
 pasture, the farmers in their fields, the village children 
 at their play — to gather the people together when 
 resting during the heat of the day, or, better still, 
 in the quiet village street in the bright moonlight, 
 and talk to them in the name of Him who once 
 went about doing good — all these things combine to 
 make -'itinerating," as missionaries in India call it, 
 not only enjoyable, but, to some, positively fascinat- 
 ing. There is another side to the picture, it is true. 
 The sun is so oppressive, even during most of the 
 cold season, that journeys have to be made in the 
 early morning. The tent must be taken down before 
 
82 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 dayliglit, and tlie chill niglit air is felt as keenlj by 
 most persons as a veritable winter air would be in 
 America. The roads are bad, carts and oxen break 
 down, and it is by no means certain that a tent will 
 always be ready at nightfall. Then the villages are 
 not always quiet, the groves are not always cool, ^nd 
 the gentle cooing of the dove by day is often fol- 
 lowed by the hideous uproar of troops of jackals at 
 night. But when all these allowances are made, the 
 fact remains that itinerating in India has a charm of 
 its own, and that few missionaries who have once 
 learned to love it ever succeed in shaking off its fas- 
 cination. 
 
 I was eager to begin my work among the villagers, 
 and soon after getting my tent in order I had a talk 
 with the head man and some of his friends. They 
 were not very unlike other natives in their religious 
 ideas. Like all aboriginal races, they had imbibed 
 a good deal of Hinduism from their Aryan neigh- 
 bors. They had little shrines under trees near the 
 village, and they believed that local demons or spirits 
 hovered near these places, and at times they made 
 offerings to appease them. They were not startled, 
 however, as Hindus would have been, at the mention 
 of forsaking their ancestral faith and becoming Chris- 
 tians. The head man gravely proposed to liave the 
 matter submitted to a council of the tribe, to be held 
 at a great fair the following week, and when I dis- 
 suaded him from this he next offered to call together 
 
Lengthening the Cords. 83 
 
 the cliief men of the villages in his immediate neigh- 
 borhood and lay the question before them. He looked 
 at the matter with the utmost coolness. It might 
 affect the gods, but did not affect him. He was 
 ready for an exchange if it was generally tliought 
 best, but was quite content to let matters remain as 
 they were. 
 
 I journeyed on eastward for several days, keeping 
 among the Taroos most of the time, and having con- 
 stant opportunities for observing their habits of life 
 and the range of their religious notions. They were 
 a cleanly people, and comparatively opulent. Their 
 rich fields produced bountiful crops, while the re- 
 dundant pasturage made it possible for every one to 
 keep cows and oxen. One little Iprd among them 
 owned an elephant, and aspired to the title of prince. 
 They did not seem to differ much from other natives 
 in point of morality except in the matter of intem- 
 perance, which seemed to prevail to a frightful ex- 
 tent among them. They may have been more truth- 
 ful than their Hindu neighbors, but I was not long 
 in discovering that they were quite capable of speak- 
 ing falsehoods. For missionary purposes they offered 
 some peculiar advantages, but to make Christians out 
 of them would have been any thing but a ten days' 
 task. The notion that there are single tribes of 
 primitive people who have all the Christian virtues 
 in full bloom, and who only wait for some one to 
 give them the hint in order to have them become 
 
84: My Missionary Appkenticeship. 
 
 good Christians, ought by this time to be pretty effect- 
 ually exploded. Mr. Stanley's account of the amiable 
 King Mtesa is an excellent illustration of this popular 
 notion. There are no heathen people in all the wide 
 world who are ignorant of the ordinary vices of our 
 fallen humanity, and there is not a tribe on earth 
 which can be won to Christ and to Christian virtues 
 without the severe struggle which always attends a 
 victory over sin and Satan. 
 
 On the banks of the river Sarda, which separates 
 the Kepaul border from Hohilcund, I found one of 
 those immense concourses of people so peculiar to 
 India, popularly known as melas or religious fairs. 
 The original object of these fairs was wholly religious, 
 but with the progress of time this has been largely 
 lost sight of, and business, pleasure, and social cheer 
 all unite to draw the people together. They come 
 from far and near, by tens and hundreds of thou- 
 sands, and settle down in a vast camp which assumes 
 the proportions of a temporary city. The streets are 
 marked off, often several miles in length ; shops are 
 opened, traders expose all manner of wares for sale, 
 and all the sounds of bustling city life may be heard 
 at every turn. A few of the better classes erect 
 tents, but the majority find shelter in the temporary 
 grass huts, or under the roof of reeds which serves 
 as a cover for their carts. Tens of thousands, how- 
 ever, have no shelter but the blanket or sheet which 
 they carry with them, and lie down at night under 
 
Lengthening the Coeds. 85 
 
 tlie open sky, or at best beneath the leafy branches 
 of a friendly tree. At these fairs all classes are in 
 the best possible spirits. They enjoy to the full the 
 sight of the great sea of human life, with the gaudy 
 display of merchandise, the sound of mirth and glad« 
 ness, the meeting with friends and kindred, and the 
 busy scenes which make the day one long round of 
 excitement. The women, especially, are fond of 
 these great gatherings. The strict rules of seclusion 
 which ordinarily govern them are partially relaxed at 
 the great fairs, and after a year of hard work in the 
 quiet village, which is their little world, they flock 
 to the annual fair in their best attire, loaded down 
 with all manner of ornaments, and gay as little birds 
 in the morning sunshine. Missionaries were not 
 slow in discovering the facilities which these resorts 
 afford for the prosecution of their work. They can 
 get unlimited numbers of hearers, can sell or give 
 away books and tracts in large quantities, and have 
 opportunities for meeting persons interested in 
 Christianity from all parts of the country. At all 
 the great fairs one or more missionaries may be 
 found, while often a strong band of native preachers 
 may be seen singing and preaching in company. 
 
 This was my first experience at one of these fairs, 
 and I entered into the work with great enthusiasm. 
 Samuel and I rode into the crowded streets, and 
 preached on horseback to immense audiences. No 
 missionary had ever before been at that fair, and this 
 
86 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 made our presence a notable event. The people 
 seemed to listen with intense interest. A few were 
 disposed to dispute with us, but for the most part 
 the simple people seemed anxious to know what our 
 message was, and what we wished them to do. Many 
 Taroos were present, and some of their leading men 
 waited on me and talked freely about my errand 
 to them, and seemed sincerely anxious to have me 
 visit them in their villages. I remained three days 
 at the fair, and then set out on my return, visiting a 
 number of Taroo villages on the way. During our 
 stay at the fair we preached daily for several hours, 
 both morning and evening, and always to the same 
 vast crowds of quiet and attentive hearers. I found 
 the work very invigorating spiritually, and much 
 less fatiguing physically than might be supposed. 
 On such occasions the preachers take turns, and also 
 take an occasional rest by stopping to read or sing, 
 or, as often happens, they are forced into discussion, 
 which is less trying to throat and lungs than a con- 
 tinuous discourse. At the present day parties of a 
 dozen or more preachers take their stand together, 
 and are thus able to keep up a continuous sound 
 of singing, prayer, and preaching for hours at a 
 time. 
 
 While at the fair I met the English magistrate in 
 whose jurisdiction the Taroos whom I had visited 
 lived, and received a proposal from him to take the 
 oversight of five village schools which he had estab- 
 
Lengthening the Cords. 87 
 
 lislied among the people. Tins seemed like a re- 
 markable providential opening, and I was greatly 
 encouraged by the prospect which was thus opening 
 out among these people. I returned to Huldwanee 
 in very^ high spirits, full of plans and hopes which 
 were never to be realized. While riding through 
 the Terai I had carelessly exposed myself to the sun, 
 and this, added to the broken state of health in which 
 I had closed the season at Nynee Tal, so prostrated 
 my nervous system that I had to return to the bracing 
 air of the mountains to recruit. The recruiting was 
 a slower and more serious process than I had antici- 
 pated. For three months I was laid aside from 
 work, and for three months more I was able to do 
 very little. The Indian sun is extremely hostile to 
 a foreigner's constitution, and it is the more danger- 
 ous because its range of temperature is no safe index 
 by which to judge of its effects. The hottest noon- 
 day sun often produces no injurious effect upon the 
 person exposed to it, while a very slight exposure in 
 the early morning may result in very serious injury 
 to the health. 
 
 While I was confined at ^ynee Tal, Samuel made 
 a few trips among the Taroos, and the otlier assistant 
 did a little work in connection with the school. With 
 the approach of the hot weather the people returned 
 to their mountain homes, and both the native preach- 
 ers came up to Kynee Tal. 
 
 During the summer of 1861 1 had ample leisure for 
 
88 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 reviewing the situation and prospects of our mission 
 to tlie liili men, and of forming plans for the exten- 
 sion of our work. In the course of the season a 
 school was made over to us by the government in- 
 spector at a place in the interior of the mountains, 
 about fifteen miles from Nynee Tal, and another in a 
 settlement at the foot of the hills, about twelve miles 
 distant. Two other schools were projected in villages 
 below, and another near a beautiful lake among the 
 lower mountains. We had thus a central station with 
 six village schools, serving as so many out-stations, 
 making the outline of a very interesting little mission 
 field. Our kind commissioner provided good stone 
 school-houses in the villages, and funds were found 
 for carrying on all the work without any aid from 
 America. The English people who attended our 
 services gave most liberally to the support of our 
 work, and in the course of my second year at Nynee 
 Tal I proposed to the Superintendent to relinquish all 
 claims upon the Board at New York except for my 
 own salary, provided the station should be made finan- 
 cially independent, and the missionary be allowed to 
 disburse all the funds collected by him. This pro- 
 posal was accepted, and not only was all our work car- 
 ried on by funds collected by us, but a large surplus 
 was paid into the mission treasury, the amount during 
 the first year being more than double the salary of the 
 missionary. This was an early illustration of what in 
 recent years has been called "self-support," but at 
 
Lengthening the Cords. 89 
 
 the time it attracted little attention either in India or 
 at home. 
 
 The Hindustani service increased in interest during 
 this second year in Nynee Tal, and we frequently 
 ]iad fifty or more persons present. A few native 
 Christians had come up for the season, and a few 
 Hindus were nearly always found among those who 
 came to liear the word. Early in the year a high- 
 caste man applied for baptism, and for a time 1 
 hoped for much from him. He broke his caste with 
 a great show of decision and courage, and for a time 
 proved of great use to me as an interpreter, not of 
 my words, which the people could understand, but of 
 my thouglits or meaning, wliich I could not always 
 convey to them. It is one thing to be able to speak 
 a language, but quite another thing to be able to get 
 the intellectual range of the people who use it. My 
 inquirer had great ability in this direction, and often 
 smoothed my way before me as I tried to talk to 
 the people. There seemed, however, something not 
 quite right about the man, and fortunately I did not 
 make haste to baptize him. While his case was 
 pending he was arrested on a charge of stealing, and 
 from evidence accidentally discovered I was fully con- 
 vinced of his guilt. The natives seemed astonished 
 that I made no effort to secure his acquittal, and T 
 think Christianity suffered a little in the estimation of 
 some of them when they perceived that it did not 
 stand by one of its adherents in a time of trouble. 
 
90 My Missionaey Apprenticeship. 
 
 The inquirer was a shrewd man, and defended his 
 own case w^ith such skill that lie was acquitted, but 
 his connection with me ceased. 
 
 The next inquirer turned out more satisfactorily. 
 He was a young man of nineteen, and had been edu- 
 cated in a mission school. He had a fair knowledge 
 of Christianity, but never had any interest in spiritual 
 things until a few weeks before his baptism, when he 
 came to Nynee Tal, and while attending some of our 
 meetings the Holy Spirit, to use his own language, 
 " came into his heart like a breath." He promptly 
 asked for baptism, and as his case seemed clear in all 
 respects, he was publicly baptized in the mission 
 church on Sunday, ^November 3, 1861. The native 
 Christians wlio were present were greatly rejoiced, 
 and some of the two dozen Hindus who came in to 
 witness the ceremony seemed much impressed. The 
 young man wished to drop his Hindu name, and hav- 
 ing asked me to select a new name for him, I gave 
 him the honored name of my college president, John 
 Barker. He has not proved unworthy of so good a 
 name, and is now a valuable laborer in the North 
 India Conference. 
 
 I had been more than two years at work before the 
 baptism of this first convert, and the occasion was to 
 me an era in a life-time. The story of those two un- 
 eventful years is quickly told, but the feelings of dis- 
 couragement and depression which would at times 
 arise, the disappointments which were met, and the 
 
Lengthening the Cords. 91 
 
 • 
 
 daily trial of faith and patience which had to be 
 endured, are things which may be mentioned, but can- 
 not be described. The baptism of a single youth was 
 in itself an unimportant event, but as a token from 
 above it was a signal of encouragement. It told of 
 better things and brighter days, and assured me that 
 in God's own time the little one should become a 
 thousand, and the small one a strong nation. 
 
92 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 CHAPTER YIIL 
 
 LIGHT AND SHADE. 
 
 MY first work during the cold season of my third 
 year in India was among the Taroos. Finding 
 that these j)eople lived too far away from JSTynee Tal 
 to be reached without great difficulty, it was arranged 
 to open a new station at tlie large town of PiHbhit, 
 on the plains, and only a dozen miles from the near- 
 est Taroo settlements. An English missionary who 
 had formerly been a " Scripture Eeader" in Calcutta, 
 and had subsequently joined our mission, was sta- 
 tioned at Pilibhit, which was attached to Nynee Tal 
 as part of a vast circuit. I met my new colleague 
 early in the cold season, and we made a tour together 
 through the Taroo country. The people received us 
 most kindly, and our way among them seemed to be 
 opening most satisfactorily. They seemed eager to 
 have us establish our work among them, but much of 
 this eagerness was but an expression of politeness. 
 They felt it their bounden duty to show their appre- 
 ciation of our good intentions, but did not expect us to 
 ♦accept their assurances in any thing like a literal sense. 
 We soon discovered this when we finally fixed upon a 
 village for the head-quarters of our proposed work. 
 The people seemed delighted at first, but when we 
 
Light and Shade. 93 
 
 proceeded to clear the ground under a huge banyan 
 tree for a little thatch school-house which was to be 
 erected they began to raise difficulties. After much 
 parleying we were told that a god or demon had 
 formerly had a shrine under the tree, and that if we 
 disturbed him he would almost certainly bring many 
 woes upon them. Fever and pestilence would smite 
 them, tigers would tear them to pieces, elephants and 
 boars would destroy their fields, and storm and tem- 
 pest overwhelm them. Among the nettles and un- 
 dergrowth I discovered a broken-down shrine, and 
 after surveying the situation, I succeeded in quieting 
 the troubled people by promising to assume the whole 
 responsibility in the case. We did a httle work 
 merely to let them see that we were in earnest in 
 what we told them, and then went on our way to 
 Pilibhit. 
 
 I may as well pause here to finish the story of this 
 projected mission among the Taroos. Many friends 
 of the cause would no doubt counsel me to leave the 
 story untold, but I have undertaken to tell how I 
 learned to do missionary work, and in simple honesty 
 feel bound to give a faithful account of all the lessons 
 received. Nothing is gained by concealing the truth, 
 from those who support the work, and it ought to be 
 frankly admitted at the outset that many mistakes 
 are made in the mission field, many reverses encount- 
 ered, and many disasters suffered. Young mission- 
 aries, like other young men, are often found to be 
 
94 My Missionary Appeenticeship. 
 
 impatient of supervision, and anxious to have a sepa- 
 rate field in which thej can work according to their 
 own ideas. Like other young men, too, most of 
 them need the supervision whicli they dislike, and 
 should not be trusted alone till they have been well 
 tested in a subordinate position. In this particular 
 instance it was the misfortune of both my colleague 
 and myself to be young, and this made it harder for 
 the junior to be junior. It soon became evident that 
 he would not work cheerfully in a subordinate posi- 
 tion, and the result was that the connection between 
 us was severed, and he took sole charge of the Taroos. 
 I have often thought of them and prayed for them 
 in the years that have passed, but have never seen 
 them since. 
 
 Meanwhile the missionary left in charge took his 
 family and moved out in a tent to spend the cold 
 season among the people. The simple villagers 
 brought him supplies at very moderate prices, but 
 could not always meet his wants. The missionary 
 was fond of kids, but the villagers had not many 
 goats, and did not wish to part wuth their kids. The 
 missionary insisted, and the simple people yielded. 
 They gave as far as possible what was demanded, 
 but closed their hearts against missionaries and their 
 message, and our work among them came to a sudden 
 end. It is possible that the attempt to evangelize 
 them might in any case have ended in failure, but 
 so far as one can judge from the known facts in the 
 
Light and Shade. 95 
 
 case, nothing did half so nuich to make success im- 
 possible as the want of the most elementary self- 
 denial on the part of the missionary. I can speak 
 of him the more freely because he has long since 
 ceased to be connected with any Christian Church, 
 and ^ his name is already forgotten in India. His 
 error, however, if so mild a word as error can be 
 used, illustrates a curious infirmity in human nature. 
 Self-denial may mean much or little according to the 
 spirit in which it is exercised. It by no means fol- 
 lows that those who forsake home and friends and 
 country will always be found ready to give up the 
 ordinary little comforts and preferences of daily life. 
 A change from one side of the globe to the other 
 does not effect the slightest change in human char- 
 acter, and it can hardly be said that missionaries as a 
 class have learned how to exercise the daily duty of 
 self-denial any more perfectly than other Christians. 
 They are very much like their former selves when 
 living in their native land, and find, as every Chris- 
 tian finds, that it is much easier to perform one special 
 act of self-sacrifice in a particular case than to em- 
 brace all obligations of this kind in one supreme act 
 of self-crucifixion, embracing the whole of a life 
 time, and renewed every day that life la.sts. 
 
 In a series of sketches such as I am writing it is 
 impossible to omit all mention of matters of a purely 
 personal character, especially when it is remembered 
 that a missionary's whole life is so interwoven with 
 
96 My Missionary Appeenticeshtp. 
 
 his work that any accurate account of the latter must 
 involve many incidents which ordinarily would not 
 find any mention in waitings intended for the public 
 eye. In tlie early part of this third year in India a 
 change occurred in my life which was to open a new 
 department in our mission work, and at the same 
 time end in thrusting me out into other regions far 
 away from the field which I was learning to look 
 upon as in a peculiar sense my own. I had gone to 
 India as a single missionary, and had found ample 
 o{)portunities for useful work, but had thus far at- 
 tempted nothing among the women. By my mar- 
 riage with Mrs. Downey, who had been in charge 
 of the orphanage at Bareilly, a light was not only 
 brought into the mission home, but a new and im- 
 portant element was introduced into our missionary 
 work. Tlie hill women, with a few exceptions, do 
 not live in seclusion like their sisters of the better 
 classes on the plains, and are readily accessible in 
 tlieir village homes to ladies who go among them. 
 We at once began to plan for a girls' school, and in 
 the meantime began to direct the two Christian 
 -vomen who belonged to the mission how to go 
 among the women and win their confidence and 
 iriendship. 
 
 With the opening of the hot season of 1862, a 
 small school for girls was commenced at Nynee Tal. 
 We had expected opposition, or at least alarm and 
 suspicion, on the part of the people, but at first were 
 
Light and Shade. 97 
 
 happily disaj^pointed. A few girls belonging to poor 
 families first came, but the number increased from 
 day to day, and much to our surprise some girls from 
 good families began to come, including the daughter 
 of the highest native official in the place. We were 
 exceedingly encouraged, and began to indulge the 
 most sanguine expectations in reference to the school, 
 but very soon a change occurred. One morning all 
 the high-caste girls were absent, and it soon appeared 
 that a whisper had been passed round warning the 
 orthodox to keep away from the school. The mis- 
 chief was traced to one of our own Christian assistants, 
 whose zeal was vastly in excess of his common sense. 
 His head was quite turned when he saw the daughters 
 of influential people coming to the school, and he de- 
 termined to make the most of the occurrence. With- 
 out taking counsel of any oiie, he went into the 
 bazar, and began to blaze abroad the matter, and urge 
 all the people to send their daughters to the mission 
 school. The rank and file were alarmed. The place 
 was soon full of talk, the men who had sent their 
 daughters to school were confronted by angry or 
 alarmed neighbors, and the result, which any one 
 knowing India might have predicted, was that the 
 cause of female education received a serious check, 
 from which it did not fully recover for ten years. 
 The school, however, was not broken up. A fair 
 attendance of low-caste girls was secured, and before 
 the close of the season some of their mothers began 
 
98 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 to manifest a most encouraging interest in the teach- 
 ing received bj their daughters. Some of them 
 even went so far as to attend the Sunday service in 
 the mission church, and strangely enough this little 
 school for girls was found to be of more use in giving 
 us access to the people in their homes than the much 
 larger and less distrusted school for boys. 
 
 During this year our English work occupied a less 
 prominent place than it had previously done, and I 
 had an opportunity of learning a lesson which was 
 to be unpleasantly repeated in after years. A new 
 chaplain was sent to the place, and, unlike his prede- 
 cessor, he was a good man and a faithful pastor. In 
 all my Indian life I have not met a harder worker 
 or a better chaplain. Soon after his arrival he kindly 
 asked me to discontinue my work among the English 
 people, except in the case of rigid " Dissenters," and 
 much to my sui-prise I found that many of our friends 
 who had applauded our work among the Europeans 
 were now of the opinion that I should discontinue it, 
 at least during the incumbency of this faithful chap- 
 Jain. In those days the official character of a govern- 
 ment chaplain was more generally recognized than 
 at present, and many good friends of missionaries 
 were ready to regard them as trespassers on the rights 
 of others if they attempted to exercise their full min- 
 isterial functions among Europeans. This was to be 
 done only in exceptional cases of necessity. It seemed 
 to be taken for granted that in case a different kind 
 
Light and Shade. 99 
 
 of chaplain sliould succeed this one we would, of 
 course, drop our work among the natives so far as 
 might be necessary to enable us to resume our En- 
 glish services. The chaplain was kind and friendly, 
 but very firm. My wife had gathered the soldiers' 
 children together in a Sunday-school, and so much 
 pressure was brought to bear that this had to be 
 closed. The colonel in command did not fall in with 
 the popular opinion, and urged me to continue the 
 meetings among his men, and by way of giving em- 
 phasis to his views he regularly attended our Sunday 
 services. The whole affair, however, had a powerful 
 influence in bringing me to a decision which for 
 several years I supposed was final. I was inclining 
 more and more to purely native work, and when I 
 discovered that as a preacher among Europeans I 
 could not expect to be more than a hewer of wood 
 and drawer of water, that I could not build upon a 
 permanent basis, but must get out of every man's 
 way who might see fit to enter into my labors, I de- 
 cided to give up English work altogether, just as 
 soon as arrangements could be made for doing so. I 
 was quite sure that this was a wise resolution, but 
 subsequent years proved that I did not know what I 
 was doing. 
 
 During this season our work among the natives 
 developed very encouragingly. The Sunday-school 
 flourished, and the service in the mission clmrch be- 
 gan more and more to assume the form of a regular 
 
100 My Missionaet Apprenticeship. 
 
 Christian service, such as one is accustomed to see in 
 a Christian land. An orphan boy of fifteen who had 
 come of his own accord to become a Christian, and an 
 orphan girl of twelve who had been sent as a waif by 
 the English magistrate to be taken care of by us, were 
 baptized in the course of the year. A young widow 
 from a village in the interior, who became the wife of 
 our first convert, was also baptized. Inquirers began 
 to multiply, and for a time it seemed as if we w^ere 
 entering upon an era of steady progress in the direct 
 work of the conversion of the natives. Before the 
 close of the year we had teri Christians living on our 
 own premises. A second orphan girl was received, and 
 there seemed every reason to hope that the following 
 year would witness a very considerable ingathering 
 of adults of both sexes. A prosperous and happy 
 year was drawing to a close. The future was bright 
 with hope, and we were busy with plans which reached 
 forward into coming years. The Eev. C. W. Judd 
 and wife were with us, having come up for a month's 
 change at the end of the hot season. My mfe had 
 been ill for several days, but not a shadow of a misgiv- 
 ing as to the result had crossed my mind. One even- 
 ing Brother Judd asked me to go out for a walk, and 
 when alone asked me if I had at all thought of the 
 I)ossibility of a great bereavement being at hand. 
 *' No," I replied, " I have no fear whatever of such a 
 thing. You see how our work is bound up with my 
 wife's life. Her death would scatter the little we have 
 
Light and Shade. 101 
 
 gathered together ; it would break up our plans, and 
 indeed would undo nearly all we have been doing. 
 God cannot take her away without undoing his own 
 work, and hence I have no fears whatever of such a 
 thing happening." I have never since used the word 
 cannot when speaking of God's dealings with his 
 own. An evening or two later the doctor expressed 
 his fear of a fatal termination of the illness ; but I 
 still felt little alarm. At ten o'clock she was worse, 
 and I then knew that the crisis was at hand. A long 
 night of wrestling with agonizing pain followed, and 
 the next morning, when the chariot came to carry the 
 weary pilgrim home, our lowly dwelling seemed as if 
 transformed into a portal of heaven. The dying suf- 
 ferer seemed as if a seraph's hand had been laid upon 
 her brow, while the glow of the upper temple filled 
 the room. " I am glad," she said, " that life has been 
 given me that I might have the privilege of dying." 
 While trying to urge her Mohammedan cook to give 
 his heart to Christ, her strength failed her, and a 
 moment later she was at rest forever. 
 
 The scattering of our little flock and the breaking 
 up of our home were not long delayed. Two weeks 
 later I took our baby boy, then but six weeks old, with 
 the orphan girls, to Bareilly. Mrs. Waugh kindly 
 assumed charge of the delicate little babe, and ten- 
 derly and nobly did she fulfill her task. I stayed 
 a week, and then kissed the child a good-bye the 
 full meaning of which I did not understand. He is 
 
102 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 now twentj-oiie years of age, but out of the twenty- 
 one years which have passed since that first good- 
 bye, all the time I have spent with him, counting 
 even fragments of wrecks, does not amount to eight- 
 een months. I returned from Bareilly to a desolate 
 home. The orphan boy alone remained, and I at 
 once locked ii]) the house, and set out for a cold sea- 
 son's campaign among the villages at the foot of the 
 hills. 
 
 When all alone in my little camp on the edge of 
 the great forests, and under the shadows of the silent 
 mountains, I had ample leisure for reflection. The 
 blow wdiich had fallen upon me was heavier than I at 
 that time knew. From the first I knew that other 
 changes must follow, but did not fully realize that my 
 work in my first mission field was nearly over. As 
 the weeks passed by, however, this feeling grcAv upon 
 me more and more. What was in the future I could 
 not know ; but unconsciously the feeling was slowly 
 creeping into my heart that my connection with 
 ^ynee Tal was not to be a jDermanent one. He wdio 
 mars our chosen plans can make other plans for us, 
 and I began to feel that God's thoughts were above 
 my fancies, God's promises above and beyond my 
 hopes, and God's vineyard a wider sphere of labor 
 than the choice little corner which I had thought to 
 call my own. 
 
 With the return of the hot season I went back to 
 Nynee Tal. I liad a great deal of missionary help 
 
Light and Shade. 103 
 
 during tliis season, and found the work lighter than I 
 had. previously known. In the course of the season 
 Mrs. Waugh came up to Kynee Tal, and I was able to 
 make arrangements for keeping my child with me 
 durins: the rest of the season. In the meantime the, 
 question of taking tiie child to America was seriously 
 proposed, and it thus happened that before the close 
 of the season I had determined to return for a brief 
 visit to my native land. Nothing had been farther 
 from my thoughts and expectations when I was leav- 
 ing home, but it seemed to me that the pathway of 
 duty pointed as directly homeward as it had before 
 pointed Indiaward. The arrangements were soon 
 made. The orphan boy, Harkua, accompanied me to 
 help look after the child, and on the 2d of October, 
 1863, two days before the little fellow had completed 
 his first year, we left Kynee Tal, and set out upon 
 one of the most serious undertakings of my life. We 
 stopped at several points on the way down to Calcutta, 
 but at last got away by steamer on the 23d. A moth- 
 erless babe needs no tongue with which to plead for 
 the love of strangers, and it thus happened that every- 
 where, through our long and trying jom-ney, kind 
 friends were at hand to help me with my tender 
 charge, until at last, with God's blessing, I was per-' 
 mitted to set foot again upon my native shores. 
 
104 My Missionary Appkenticeship. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ON FURLOUGH. 
 
 I EE ACHED home during Christmas week of 
 1863, after an absence of less than five years. The 
 country was in the throes of its great life-struggle 
 with the Southern Confederacy, and had wonderfully 
 changed during the few years of my absence. The 
 war spirit ruled every thing and every-where. Parti- 
 san feeling was exceedingly bitter, and the time 
 seemed most inopportune for calling attention to mis- 
 sionary interests. I was surprised, however, to find 
 that the people were more than willing to attend 
 missionary meetings, and to give most freely to the 
 cause. It was a period of feverish and most un- 
 healthy prosperity. Money was plentiful and easily 
 earned, and people parted with it very readily. The 
 churches were better attended than at any period since 
 the war. I was every-where struck with the absence 
 of gay colors in public congregations, and the marked 
 prominence of the mourner's black, which told of 
 kindred slain on the battle-field. The military spirit 
 which filled the very air seemed to make the people 
 appreciate the grand features of the missionary enter- 
 prise. They were ready to listen to plans for the 
 conquest of the world, and they quickly grasped the 
 
On Furlough. 105 
 
 idea, so easily obscured in our worldly age, that the 
 Church of Christ is a militant organization enlisted 
 for conquest and equipped for victory. 
 
 I was at first very much surprised to find that my 
 brief term of rather tame service in the foreign field 
 had given me a prominence to which I had no man- 
 ner of just claim. In those days, and in that part of 
 the country, returned missionaries had rarely been 
 seen. Dr. Maclay had spoken once or twice in and 
 about Pittsburg, but few people in that region had 
 ever seen a missionary, and the exaggerated notions 
 of the romantic period of the missionary enterprise 
 liad yet to be dispelled. I had also the exceptional 
 advantage of having a young Hindu with me. 
 Harkua quite eclipsed me on all occasions, and had he 
 not been blessed with what is aptly called a level 
 head would probably have been hopelessly spoiled in 
 a very few months. His complexion was dark, but 
 his features were distinctly Aryan, and this made him 
 a puzzle to strangers. On our way West w^e w^ere de- 
 tained on Christmas-day at a hotel in Reading. The 
 swarthy youth was the subject of constant attention 
 throughout the day. As he passed through a pub- 
 lic room a man stopped him and deliberately exam- 
 ined his hair, and then remarked, in a tone of great 
 satisfaction, "Well, he ain't a nigger, anyhow." 
 While I v/as at dinner, a half -tipsy young man, who 
 afterward turned out to be a backslidden theological 
 student, came in and asked for the gentleman who 
 
106 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 had a baby up stairs in charge of a strange boy. " I 
 can't make the boy out," he said. " He isn't a nig- 
 ger, that's certain. And he isn't an Indian or a Mex- 
 ican. He can't speak Spanish, and he can't speak 
 Italian, and I can't imagine where in this world he 
 belongs to." I was pointed out to the perplexed 
 inquirer, and when he learned where the boy was 
 from he had him brought down to the dining-room, 
 and, standing behind his plate, served him with his 
 own hands, meanwhile repeating to himself every 
 now and then, in a tone of solemn gravity, " Any 
 thing but a nigger ! Any thing but a nigger ! " 
 
 From the day of my arrival at home I was over- 
 whelmed with work. Invitations to preach, lecture, 
 address Sunday-schools, and attend missionary meet- 
 ings poured in from every side, and I was constantly 
 engaged in some kind of public speaking. Wher- 
 ever we went the churches were crowded and the 
 enthusiasm intense. The collections were large, and 
 the people seemed fairly delighted to give. Harkua 
 learned English rapidly, and was soon able to answer 
 brief questions in public. He was not long in dis- 
 covering that the people had some false notions con- 
 cerning him, and Sometimes was merry and some- 
 times angry over the questions put to him. The 
 ordinary idea seemed to be that the boy must neces- 
 sarily feel overwhelmed with gratitude on account of 
 his rescue from heathenism, but as a matter of fact 
 he saw no reason for being more thankful than 
 
On Furlough. 107 
 
 American sinners ouglit to be when converted, and 
 declined tlie monopoly of gratitude wliicli was so 
 freely accorded him. Another notion w^as that a 
 " heathen country " must be a most wretched abode 
 for human beings, and that America ■ must appear 
 like a paradise to the Hindu boy. It seldom seemed 
 to occur to any one that the youth could have any 
 patriotic feelings, or that he could possibly think 
 of India except by way of unfavorable contrast. 
 He liked America exceedingly, but sometimes felt 
 the cruel things said about his own country very 
 keenly. In his heathen childhood he had never 
 heard such horrible blasphemy as assailed his ears 
 every time he went abroad in America. He had 
 never seen a tenth part of the drunkenness which 
 every American town displayed before his eyes. He 
 had never seen so much fighting and violence as in 
 those war times he witnessed nearly every week. In 
 one town he saw a man stabbed through the heart, 
 and escaping with me into another street, he saw an 
 infuriated mob trying to kill another man w^ho was 
 lying helpless in their midst. It is not to be won- 
 dered at that the boy declined to believe that America 
 was paradise restored, or that the millennium had 
 fully dawned on the western shores of the Atlantic. 
 He stoutly denied that India was an inferior country, 
 and sometimes was even inclined to maintain in 
 private conversation with me that there were more 
 bad people in America than in India. 
 
108 My Missionary ArpuENTicESHip. 
 
 After four months of incessant preaching and lect- 
 nring, chiefly within tlie bounds of wliat was then 
 the Pittsburg Conference, I went to Philadelphia 
 during the second week of May, to attend tlie Gen- 
 eral Conference of 1864. Arriving on the morning 
 of the 11th, I went to the Conference room at an 
 early hour, and found that I was just in time to hear 
 the report of the Committee on Missions on the 
 organization of an Annual Conference in India 
 called up for action. The missionaries in India had 
 for the second time asked that a regular Conference 
 organization might be granted them, and the com- 
 mittee reported in favor of granting their i-equest, 
 with, however, a memorable proviso attached, to the 
 effect that the exercise of their Conference preroga- 
 tives should be " with the concurrence of the Bishop 
 presiding," The debate on the report was very 
 brief, but indicated very clearly, as did all the conver- 
 sation of delegates at the time, that the object of the 
 proviso was to guard against the irregularities which 
 might be expected to arise in a Conference com- 
 posed in a large measure of converts from heathen- 
 ism, or as one brother expressed it, " of heathen mem- 
 bers of Conference." A few questions were asked, 
 and one pointed protest made, but the motion to 
 adopt the report was carried almost unanimously. 
 I knew beyond a doubt that it would give very great 
 dissatisfaction in India, but could do nothing except 
 listen in silence. The one thing which the mission- 
 
On Fl'Klough. 109 
 
 aries in India had felt the want of was a legal and 
 settled organization, and no matter how harmless 
 this little proviso might seem, and no matter how 
 good the intentions of its framers might be, I knew 
 very well that it wonld suggest to those in the field 
 the possibility of all the evils which are sure to arise 
 from a policy of administrative uncertainties. It was 
 distinctly a move in the wrong direction. An 
 Annual Conference so exceptionally situated should 
 be clothed with additional powers, rather than shorn 
 of those which rightfully belong to it. 
 
 Dr. Durbin noticed me in the audience, and soon 
 after the vote had been taken came down to where I 
 was seated, and very kindly asked me if I thought 
 the action just taken would give satisfaction 
 to the brethren in India. I assured him that it 
 would not, at which he expressed his extreme sur- 
 prise, and for a time seemed to think that I must be 
 mistaken. He was profuse in assurances that the re- 
 striction would only be put in force in extreme cases, 
 but when I attempted to present the missionary view 
 of the case he said, in a very firm tone, th'at the mis- 
 sionaries ought to be satisfied with what had been 
 done by the General Conference, and gave me to 
 understand that the action taken would be final. In 
 due time he learned that I was not mistaken in my 
 estimate of the opinion of the missionaries. The dis- 
 trust of the proviso was extreme, and every possible 
 effort was made to secure the repeal of the clause. 
 
llO My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 So far from finding any necessity for such a restric- 
 tion, Bishop Thomson, who organized the Confer- 
 ence, actually allowed the little body to assume 
 functions which are never conceded to Conferences 
 at home. The next General Conference removed 
 the restriction, and gave the Conference the same 
 status, in all respects, as Annual Conferences in 
 America enjoy ; but the controversy which w^as occa- 
 sioned by this measure was unfortunate, and in one 
 respect affected the policy of the mission unfavor- 
 ably. The chief, and indeed almost the only, reason 
 alleged for the reservation of this Episcopal veto 
 power was that the influx of native preachers 
 would be so great, that in a very short time they 
 would control the Conference, and it was assumed 
 that they would almost certainly be found more or 
 less unfit for the responsibilities of Conference mem- 
 bership. At that time this seemed to be the univers- 
 al feeling at home, and hence it came to be under- 
 stood in India that a too rapid increase in the native 
 membership of the Conference would be regarded 
 with disfavor, and at first the deliberate policy was 
 adopted of admitting only a few representative men 
 to the Conference, and retaining the remaining native 
 preacliers in the nominal relation of local preachers 
 and exhorters. In due time this policy was corrected 
 in a measure, but meantime the cry began to be raised 
 at home that native preachers were not admitted to 
 Conference membership as freely as in China, and 
 
On Furlough. Ill 
 
 tlie India missionaries were censured, sometimes 
 sharply, for not doing tliat which at first they were 
 practically warned not to do. The worst result of 
 this most unfortunate measure was thus to initiate a 
 wrong policy, and put back the normal development 
 of an Indian ministry for twenty years or more. 
 
 I had anticipated my visit to this General Con- 
 ference with very great pleasure, thinking it would 
 afford me rare opportunities for studying some of tlie 
 most important features of our Churcli polity, and 
 becoming acquainted with the leading men of the 
 denomination. I succeeded in learning a good deal, 
 no doubt, but some of the lessons were a little start- 
 ling. For some unexplained reason legislative bodies, 
 whether in Church or State, rarely succeed in ex- 
 hibiting the noblest traits in the personal character of 
 their members in such a way as to impress outside 
 observers. In plainer words, there seems to be 
 something demoralizing in the very atmosphere of 
 such assemblies. A General Conference is not a 
 place specially favorable to growth in grace. It is a 
 body of very peculiar composition, being at once an 
 electoral congress, a judicial council, and a legislative 
 assembly. Its electoral functions overshadow all else, 
 and not only tend to vitiate the legislation, but create 
 something very nearly akin to mild demoralization at 
 certain stages in the proceedings. I have been at 
 two successive General Conferences in more recent 
 years, and was glad to observe on both occasions a 
 
112 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 marked imj)rovement over 1864, but even at Cincin- 
 nati in 1880 I was pleased to notice the thouglitful- 
 ness of a Bishop who slipped down from the plat- 
 form and went to the native delegate from India to 
 explain to him that he must not expect to find the 
 religious fervor to which he had been accustomed at 
 Conference time in India, in connection with so un- 
 wieldy and busy a body as a General Conference. In 
 1864 the license of the war spirit to some extent per- 
 vaded the Conference. The election of Church 
 officials absorbed more attention than all other inter- 
 ests combined. I very naturally watched the canvass 
 for Missionary Secretaries, and was somewhat pleased 
 to discover that a certain minister of some promi- 
 nence was among the candidates. A day c|r two 
 later, however, I was astounded to learn that by an 
 exchange among the " friends " of certain candi- 
 dates this man had been put up for another office. 
 In other words, the offices w^ere shuffled about to suit 
 the candidates, on the principle that the office is 
 made for the man, and not the man for the office. 
 Vote-brokers went about among delegates making 
 proposals like this : " I liave twenty-five votes which 
 can be cast for your man Brown, provided you can 
 get an equal number for our man Robinson." This 
 kind of thing may be all right among the politicians 
 of this world, but to an unsophisticated young mis- 
 sionary it seemed wholly out of place, to put it very 
 mildly, in an assembly of Christian ministers. Three 
 
On Furlough. 113 
 
 fourths of these elections sliould be taken away from 
 the General Conference at once and forever, or, better 
 still, the electoral functions of the body should be 
 given to another assembly whose sessions would not 
 be prolonged beyond two or three days. 
 
 It was arranged that I should return to India dur- 
 ing the summer or early autumn with a party of 
 missionaries who had yet to be sele(^ed. Early in 
 August, Bishop Thomson sent for me, and told me he 
 wished to have it arranged for me to accompany him 
 on his visit to India, and that he was to start in a 
 week or ten days. I hastened oif to northern Illi- 
 nois, where my child was living with his maternal 
 grandparents, and waited for several days for the 
 telegram which was to announce the day of sailing. 
 ^"0 telegram, however, came, and I had to take an 
 uncertain farewell of my friends, not knowing 
 whether I was at once to return to India, or at a later 
 day. I used the wire vigorously, but received no re- 
 sponse till I reached Wheeling, where I was informed 
 that the Bishop had sailed, and that to save expense 
 it had been determined to send me by an ice-ship 
 around the Cape. I very little thought that this 
 would result in a stay of more than a year at home, 
 but such proved the result. An eif ort was to be made 
 to send off a missionary or two about the first of 
 October, and in the hope of meeting one of these I 
 visited the Ohio Conference, at Chillicothe, early in 
 
 September. Dr. Durbin was present and made, as 
 8 
 
114 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 he supposed, every arrangement for our sailing, but 
 s,oon after the plans made were changed, and no one 
 being ready to go, I was directed to wait till a party 
 could be enlisted and prepared for sailing. The wait- 
 ing proved longer than had been anticipated, and was 
 sometimes very perplexing. 
 
 When I entered the Conference room at Chillicothe, 
 Chaplain M'Cabe, who was then just rising into local 
 fame in Ohio, came to me and told me that it was ear- 
 nestly desired that I should preach in the evening, and 
 pressed the matter till I promised to do so. As I 
 was a stranger, wholly unknown to the members of 
 the Conference, I was greatly puzzled to know how 
 this desire to hear me had. originated, and I was by 
 no means elated when I discovered afterward that 
 the Chaplain himself had been announced to preach, 
 and that he had cleverly slipped out of the duty by 
 catching a stranger with guile. The gentle trick 
 might have been a more serious one under other cir- 
 cumstances, but as it turned oiit it opened a wide 
 door to me, and gave me more than enough to do 
 during the ensuing w^inter. After the sermon the 
 preachers gathered around me and gave me such 
 expressions of love and confidence as I had seldom 
 received before. I was invited in all directions, and 
 the next morning I discovered that the Chaplain had 
 unwittingly given me a key with which to unlock all 
 the doors of Ohio Methodism. The Cincinnati Con- 
 ference was in session in an adjoining town, and I 
 
On Furlough. 115 
 
 was at once impressed for service there, and was also 
 cordially invited to the J^orth Ohio and Central Ohio 
 Conferences. A wide field of usefulness was thus 
 opened to me, and during the rest of my stay in 
 America most of my time was spent within the bounds 
 of my native State. Wherever I went the people 
 were more than wilhng to hear about our missionary 
 work, and the meetings were most enthusiastic and 
 successful. The uncertainties of those war times, 
 added to other difficulties, caused repeated postpone- 
 ments of the sending out of the proposed missionary 
 party, and it thus came to pass that the ensuing sum- 
 mer found me still in Ohio, until at last I was per- 
 mitted to meet Bishop Thomson after his return 
 from India. 
 
 Late in the winter I chanced to be passing through 
 Chicago, and having an hour to spare dropped into 
 the Methodist Book Room. I was recognized by the 
 gentleman in charge, who asked me how I liked my 
 appointment. 
 
 " "What appointment ? " I asked. 
 
 " "Why, your new mission station in India." 
 
 "What new station?" 
 
 " Why, have you not heard of it ? Bishop Thom- 
 son has organized the Conference, and appointed you 
 to a new station in an out-of-the-way place ; but I 
 forget the name of it." 
 
 I grasped the paper which he handed me, and read, 
 to my utter amazement, that I liad been appointed to 
 
116 My Mission aky Appkenticeship. 
 
 a place called Paori, in the remote mountain province 
 of Gurhwal, some eight days' journey from I^ynee Tal, 
 and ^ve days from our nearest station on the plains. 
 An appointment to Kamtchatka could hardly have sur- 
 prised me more, and for a time I was not very happy 
 over the arrangement. There were only three or four 
 Europeans living in the province, and only one of these 
 resided permanently near the proposed mission station. 
 It would have been easy to have found one hundred 
 more accessible and equally needy places for a new 
 mission, and I found it hard to understand on what 
 principle this remote point had been selected, and on 
 what principle I had been chosen for the new post. I 
 did not, however for a moment feel like backing out, 
 and the sequel will show that the appointment was by 
 no means a misfortune to me, in any sense of the 
 word. When I met Bishop Thomson after his return I 
 learned that he had acted upon the judgment of others, 
 but that he had carefully studied the quality of their 
 judgment before acting. Sir Henry Ramsay had 
 been the originator of the project, and the Bishop had 
 studied the question till he was able to give it his cor- 
 dial approval. With all his simplicity of character 
 he had much of the insight which true genius gives 
 to its possessor, and I was not long in discovering 
 that his views while in India had been those of a far- 
 seeing statesman. I was astonished at the extent, but 
 more especially at the accuracy, of the information 
 wdiich he brought back w^ith him. In a few hurried 
 
On Furlough. 117 
 
 weeks he seemed to have learned more about India 
 and its people than I had done during a residence of 
 more than four years. H.is calm approval of the pro- 
 posed new mission did much to confirm me in my 
 resolution to go out to my post at the earliest pos- 
 sible day. I accordingly arranged to go by way of 
 Egypt, paying the difference myself between the 
 cost of a passage by that route and the one round 
 the Cape of Good Hope, and nothing remained but to 
 time my departure so as to reach India before the 
 session of the Conference. 
 
 Just here I must in strict fidelity tell of a little 
 episode which occurred during the latter part of my 
 furlough. I do so the more willingly because it had a 
 very important influence upon me, and also because 
 it illustrates God's method of teaching me how to 
 walk in the light of his counsel. I had not been in 
 robust health on my return from India, and contrary 
 to expectation my stay in America had not restored 
 my former strength. On the other hand, some new 
 and rather serious symptoms began to manifest them- 
 selves, and several physicians told me that I should 
 not return to India. Some family interests also 
 seemed to indicate that I should remain in America, 
 while I could not help noticing that my attempts to 
 get away had been repeatedly thwarted. Just at this 
 critical point I received a lucrative offer of an educa- 
 tional agency, in which I would be allowed to de- 
 vote a large share of my time to missionary matters, 
 
118 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 and which seemed to indicate the possibility of my ul- 
 timately attempting a project which at that time was 
 much in my mind, the establishment of an institute 
 for the training of missionaries for the foreign field. 
 The idea of giving up India and spending the rest of 
 my life in America was thus brought before me in 
 the most plausible light, and before I fairly knew 
 what I was about the dazzling false lights around me 
 had diverted my gaze from the clear stars which God 
 had set in my firmament. After all, might it not be 
 possible that my duty now lay at home? Many 
 things indicated that I ought to stay, but not a single 
 token appeared to indicate that God wished me to go 
 back again. I might live to see the institute founded, 
 and thus do a nmch greater work for the missionary 
 cause than if I went back. To go was to seek a 
 living burial in the depths of the mountains of !N"orth 
 India ; to stay was to achieve a brilliant success in the 
 midst of the friends of my childhood and youth. 
 Day after day these thoughts passed before me, and 
 every day the flaring false lights of earth seemed to 
 glow more brightly, while God's stars paled in the 
 distance and were soon lost to my view. The crisis 
 came soon. I finally concluded to give up India and 
 remain in America. I was in Wheeling at the time, 
 and determined to announce the matter first to one 
 of my sisters, the one who afterward joined me in 
 India. I went out to St. Clairsville, Ohio, where she 
 was staying. On the way out a man asked me how soon 
 
On Furlough. 119 
 
 I expected to start for India. The question startled 
 me, and for a moment an indescribable feeling of guilt 
 oppressed me, but I looked at the false lights for a 
 moment, and succeeded in convincing myself that I 
 •was acting very conscientiously in what I was doing, 
 and that my supposed sense of guilt was merely the 
 effect of a sudden surprise. Arriving at St. Clairs- 
 ville, I spent a pleasant evening with friends, and at 
 a late hour asked my sister to go out with me for a 
 walk in the moonlight. It was a night of rarest 
 beauty, and as we walked along the deserted turnpike 
 I began to tell of my changed plans in a spirit of 
 glowing enthusiasm. The silvered landscape seemed 
 to be in pcitfect harmony with my bright hopes of 
 usefulness and success in the new field to which so 
 many tokens seemed to beckon, and I unfolded the 
 whole scheme without a shadow of a misgiving. I 
 was allowed to finish my story without a single inter- 
 ruption, and when I had told all we walked a few 
 paces in silence. At last I asked, " What do you 
 think of it all ? Why don't you tell me ? " 
 
 " If I remember correctly," she replied, " you said, 
 when you went to India, you were sieve God called 
 you ? " 
 
 " Yes ; and so I was." 
 
 "i>^6?hecallyour' 
 
 " Yes ; I have never doubted it for a moment. It 
 was the clearest religious impression of any kind that 
 I have ever received." 
 
120 My Missionary Apprenticeship, 
 
 " Then my advice is this : Whenever God gives 
 you an equally clear call to leave India you may 
 safely give it up. Have you any such call now f " 
 
 The effect of this question was astonishing. In a 
 moment the false lights had vanished, and God's 
 stars were again shining. I belonged to India again, 
 and saw only one path of daty before me. The next 
 morning it seemed as if the project of abandoning 
 India was a thing of the distant past, and as I returned 
 to Wheeling I could scarcely realize that I had only 
 the day before been seriously contemplating such a 
 thing as retirement from the field. 
 
 Before leaving I went out to northern Illinois, and 
 spent three weeks with my child. He was nearly 
 three years old, and I could leave him with a hope 
 that he would remember me in after years. He 
 could not of course understand that I was to take so 
 long a farewell, and when I kissed him good-bye it 
 was to him no more than if I had been going out 
 into the village. I shut the door behind me, and 
 when I looked back from the gate I saw his little face 
 flattened up against a window-pane to which he had 
 climbed to look after me. I turned away, and for 
 more than ten long years the vision of that little face 
 against the mndow-pane seemed to follow me every- 
 where. I was willing to leave the boy, willing to 
 leave every thing, but at times a bitter feeling would 
 rise in my heart, and would not be repressed. The 
 last public engagement which I had away from home, 
 
On Furlough. 121 
 
 was at Elyria, where the North Ohio Conference was 
 in session. On the way home from the Conference I 
 was mnch oppressed with this feeling. At a railroad 
 junction we were detained an hour or two, and seeing 
 a little boy off by himself I went to him, thinking to 
 engage him in play, and help him pass the time away. 
 The little fellow was friendly enough, but, although 
 I had gone to him for my own boy's^ake, I could not 
 bear to hear his merry laugh, and had to turn away. 
 The train came along, and I took a seat in company 
 with three ministers from the Conference. We 
 had been sitting some time in silence when I was 
 strangely moved to ask the brother sitting opposite to 
 me if he had any children. " Yes," he replied, " I 
 have a boy three years of age. He was a very bright 
 and promising child, but he had an attack of scarlet 
 fever nearly two years ago, and when he recovered 
 we found that he had become perfectly deaf. If my 
 boy could only be restored again," he added, while his 
 eyes filled with tears, " I w^ould gladly consent to go 
 to the ends of the earth and see him no more." I 
 felt rebuked, but not wholly comforted. I mused 
 upon the strange workings of God's law of compensa- 
 tion among men, and began to see more clearly that 
 the Almighty metes out guod and ill with an even 
 hand to all his creatures, but correct views of Provi- 
 dence do not make bitter things sweet, and I went on 
 my way with a heavy heart. At Columbus I went to a 
 hotel near the depot, and leaving an order to be called 
 
122 My Missionary Appeenticeship. 
 
 up at three next morning for an early train, I went to 
 bed and soon fell asleep. At the appointed hour a 
 boj opened the door and put a light into the room, 
 and I rose up in the bed. I had not dreamed, and 
 had not been even thinking of any hymn the night 
 before. 'No voice spoke to me, no angel whispered 
 in my ear, but in my heart, repeated over and over 
 in sweetest melody, the words of a couplet from 
 Bryant, which I had learned in a reading-lesson in 
 my earlier scliool-boy days, were strangely ringing : 
 
 " And heaven's eternal bliss shall pay 
 For all His people suffer here." 
 
 I did not note the words so much as their immedi- 
 ate effect. They seemed to have come to my heart 
 freighted with sweetness from above. In a moment 
 the bitterness was all gone, and gone to return no 
 more. The sky was bright above me, the pathway 
 clear before me, and I went forth with feet swift to 
 run in the way of the Lord's commandments. 
 
Back in India. 123 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 BACKININDIA. 
 
 I SAILED from New York on tlie 18th of Octo- 
 ber, 1865, and after a tedious but very enjoyable 
 journey arrived in Moradabad early in the morning 
 of February 1, 1866. The Conference had been 
 appointed to meet at Moradabad on that date, and I 
 was just in time to be present at the first session. 
 I was struck with the contrast between this little 
 Conference and the Annual Meeting which I had 
 attended upon my arrival in 1859. Bishop Thomson 
 had organized the Conference a year before, and 
 had done his difficult work wisely and well. We 
 were now a people in the land, and were working 
 under the familiar laws and usages of our Church. 
 We had twenty-one members of Conference, with 
 three Presiding Elders' Districts, and were equipped 
 for active service in nearly every part of the field. 
 My appointment to Gurhwal was renewed, but it 
 was found impossible to send a native preacher 
 with me, and I accordingly arranged to go alone. I 
 had landed at Bombay, and as that city was not then 
 in railway connection with the valley of the Ganges 
 I had been obliged to make the journey through 
 -Central India in ox-carts and on ponies, and sometimes 
 
124 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 on foot, and hence had not been able to bring my 
 heavy baggage with me. This had been left to be 
 forwarded by a carrying company, and such were the 
 delays in those days that I was obliged to wait two 
 months before the baggage reached Moradabad. 
 While thus detained I determined to make the most 
 of my time by assisting the missionaries at that sta- 
 tion, and accordingly set off at once on a tour with 
 the Eev. E. W. Parker, presiding elder of the dis- 
 trict. Mrs. Parker accompanied us, and at many 
 points was able to gather the women together for 
 separate meetings. In the company of these good 
 friends I visited many villages, and made several 
 tours through different parts of the Moradabad Dis- 
 trict, but it will suffice to tell of the work done in 
 one neighborhood where I paused for a time, and 
 where we afterward gained a permanent and impor- 
 tant foothold. 
 
 The first place at which we stopped after Confer- 
 ence was at a small town named Kunderki, about 
 twelve miles south of Moradabad. A native preacher 
 had been stationed in the neighborhood, and although 
 he had no followers as yet he was opening a way be- 
 fore him, and had secured a good many friends. This 
 man's name was Andrias, and I was afterward to 
 meet him on many a battle-field. He was a short, 
 square-shouldered, resolute man, with very little cult- 
 ure, but an immense store of ready wit, a robust faith, 
 a manly courage, and an eloquent tongue. Before 
 
Back in India. 125 
 
 his conversion lie had been a roving devotee, of a 
 class which abounds in North India. They are called 
 by the generic name of Gurus^ or teachers, and have 
 disciples living at various points, upon whom they 
 are dependent for support. They wear the coarse 
 garb of devotees, and combine the characters of the 
 traditional devotee and the religious teacher, but foi 
 the most part live on the best their disciples can give, 
 and are not famed for their rigid morality. There 
 are various classes of these Gurus, but those most fre- 
 quently met with are either followers of Nanak, the 
 founder of the Sikh religion, or of Kabir, a Hindu 
 reformer of an earlier age. Their followers are al- 
 most exclusively low-caste people, and the Gurus 
 themselves are for the most part outside the pale of 
 strictly orthodox Hinduism. Andrias had attained 
 some celebrity as a Guru before becoming a Chris- 
 tian, but he had been in the mission some time before 
 any one suspected that he had in him the elements of 
 a popular preacher. He was holding a petty post on 
 a salary of two and a half dollars a month, when one 
 day his ability as a speaker was very unexpectedly 
 discovered. Mr. Parker was going out to this same 
 town of Kunderki to preach on a market-day, when, 
 at the last moment, he discovered that he had no one 
 to go with him. In noisy market-places it is very 
 desirable for the missionary to have some one to take 
 his place when he becomes tired, that he may obtain 
 a brief rest and be able to take the stand again with 
 
126 My Missionary Appeenticeship. 
 
 renewed strength. On tins occasion no one else could 
 be found, and as tlie urgency was great Andrias was 
 asked if he could take a turn in talking to the people, 
 merely for the purpose of occupying the time, and he 
 at once consented. When his turn came he mounted 
 the cart, which served as the out-door pulpit, and 
 began to talk, and at once the people began to press 
 around. He spoke like a master. He parried blows 
 from opponents with great readiness, and gave thrusts 
 like a master of his art. From that day Andrias was 
 numbered among our preachers, and when I first met 
 him he had just become settled in his first independ- 
 ent appointment. 
 
 We spent Sunday at this place, and on Monday 
 moved on to another town about six miles distant, 
 and camped for the day. Andrias was with us, and 
 the next morning took us to visit a village in v/hich 
 he had a large number of friendly hearei^s. I was by 
 this time becoming interested in the man, and in the 
 course of the morning had a good deal of talk witli 
 him. He had a kind of circuit, embracing some 
 twenty-five villages, with friendly hearers in each. 
 My enthusiasm took fire as he gave me an outline of 
 his work, and I began to tell him how to get the vast 
 circuit arranged for systematic visits, when he inter- 
 rupted me by saying that it w^as impossible on account 
 of his wife. 
 
 "She will not allow me to. be absent overnight, 
 and hence I can only go out to the nearest towns." 
 
Back in India. 127 
 
 " But can't yoii explain her duty to lier ? She 
 seems to be a good woman, and if you make her un- 
 derstand the case I am sure she will not object." 
 
 '' I have tried to make her understand, Sahib. I 
 have tried it twice, but it was all in vain. I merely 
 struck her a few light slaps on the side of the head ; 
 but she raised such an uproar that all the neighbors 
 came running together, and I had to stop. I cannot 
 help myself, and so have given it up." 
 
 Christian readers in America will be shocked as 
 they read of this Christian preacher lifting his hand 
 against his own wife, and will be prepared to hear 
 that he was summarily dismissed from the service of 
 the mission. Nothing, however, of the kind was done. 
 This man and wife had both been brought up to 
 regard it as eminently proper for the husband to sub- 
 ject his wife to a discipline very much like that im- 
 posed on children. The father is the lord of the 
 household, and his authority must be enforced. The 
 wife is ordinarily more ignorant than her husband, 
 and often submits to the government imposed on her 
 very much as a naughty child would do. I mention 
 this incident solely for the purpose of illustrating 
 the nature of our work, and the character of the peo- 
 ple among whom we were trying to plant Christianity. 
 We attempted no violent domestic revolution among 
 them. To those very villagers we carried Paul's in- 
 junction, " Wives, obey your husbands," and worked 
 on in the confident expectation that the time would 
 
128 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 come when husbands would be asliamed to strike their 
 wives. But, taking the people as we found them, it 
 would have been very wrong for us to have assumed 
 that every man who punished his wife was necessa- 
 rily a bad man. It is not to be supposed that Aquila 
 was in the habit of striking Priscilla ; but it is more 
 than probable that Paul had to deal with weak and 
 wrong-headed men and women, who had been trained 
 to wrong notions, and whose domestic life would have 
 been reduced to utter anarchy had the wives been 
 suddenly instructed to throw off the authority of their 
 liusbands. 
 
 About the middle of March I returned to this 
 neighborhood to take part in a campaign among the 
 villages with the E-ev. H. Mansell and wife, who were 
 at that time stationed at Moradabad. We pitched 
 our camp at Kunderki, and began to hold meetings 
 in a small court-yard belonging to the houses of two 
 men who professed to be inquirers. Every morning 
 and evening we visited one or more villages and 
 talked to such people as we could meet, and in the 
 early evening we preached in the bazar of the town. 
 Later in the evening we went to the open court-yard 
 and held a regular meeting. The singing could be 
 heard in the still nights all over the town, and was 
 the means of drawing together an audience of from 
 sixty to a hundred persons. We had no light except 
 that furnished by one small lantern ; but it was de- 
 lightful to worship in this way in the still night-hours, 
 
Back in India. 129 
 
 with the stars for our gas-jets and the bare earth for 
 oiir carpet. The whole village was soon aroused, and 
 a very hostile spirit was manifested by most of the 
 people. The caste to which our inquirers belonged 
 was that of the Chumars, or leather-dressers. These 
 from time immemorial have been ranked among the 
 lowest of Indian castes, and are every-where kept 
 at a distance by both Hindus and Mohammedans. 
 In the Moradabad district they are very numerous, 
 and a little settlement of them may be found in nearly 
 every village. Andrias had originally belonged to 
 this caste, and it was among them that he exercised 
 his chief influence. We preached to all classes, but 
 onr chief effort at that time was directed toward the 
 Churaars. It was probably for this very reason that 
 the Brahmans and Mohammedans were the more in- 
 censed against us. They saw at a glance that if these 
 low -caste people became Christians they would at 
 once rise in the social scale, that their children would 
 be educated, and that they would no longer be able 
 to keep them in a state of meek submission on the 
 outskirts of their villages. With the perverse vision 
 which selfishness always gives, they saw in the eleva- 
 tion of the Churaars their own degradation, and hence 
 regarded as their worst enemies the missionaries who 
 came among them to compass their social ruin. The 
 poor ignorant Chumars did not see so clearly their 
 own interest, and, so far from accepting the Gospel 
 as an assurance of their own elevation, they were 
 
130 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 easily persuaded by their crafty neiglibors to regard 
 it with extreme distrust, and it thus happened that a 
 powerful opposition was excited against us. 
 
 One night after preaching we invited sinners to 
 come forward for prayers, and five men responded. 
 We had no bench at which they could kneel, but 
 they adopted the Oriental style of kneeling down and 
 bending the head forward till the forehead touched 
 the ground. It was a touching sight to see these 
 men thus kneeling before us, and at first we thought 
 that a great work of grace was about to be wrought. 
 The people seemed impressed, and others among 
 til em were undoubtedly serious. But we found that 
 we had difficult' w^ork in hand when we attempted to 
 deal with the five seekers. There they were on their 
 knees before us, professing a desire to be saved, but 
 strangely unlike any men found in American con- 
 gregations as public seekers of salvation. I had 
 worked in revivals in America had talked to hundreds 
 of seekers, and had seldom found much difficulty in 
 pointing inquirers to Christ, but here I was baffled. 
 The ordinary instruction given to inquirers made no 
 impression on these men. They were convicted, 
 but their conviction w^as manifestly shallow. They 
 prayed, and two of them prayed aloud, and the little 
 company of Christians prayed with all earnestness 
 for them, and yet there was no satisfactory result. 
 I studied this case prayerfully and long ; I have seen 
 it repeated fifty times since, and whatever the ex- 
 
Back in India. 131 
 
 planation may be am fully convinced that the meas- 
 ure of spiritual power which produces decided results 
 in a Christian country will not produce the same re- 
 sult in India. Tliose who select and send out mis- 
 sionaries should ponder this subject well. To send 
 a young man to India who has neither experience nor 
 skill in spiritual surgery, who has never dealt suc- 
 cessfully with awakened souls under the most favor- 
 able circumstances, is to trifle with a most sacred re- 
 sponsibility. The weakest thing about modern the- 
 ological seminaries is the absence of liospital practice 
 for their students. Medical schools provide both in- 
 struction and practice for their young men, but the 
 theological student, whose work in life is to be that 
 of binding up broken hearts, is sent out in many cases 
 in utter ignorance of the practical part of his pro- 
 fession. Whatever else a young missionary may be 
 deficient in, he ought to know how to deal with the 
 more difficult cases which he is sure to meet among 
 seekers of salvation. 
 
 What the immediate outcome of our meetings 
 might have been had we continued them I cannot 
 say, but the hostility became so great that we, prob- 
 ably unwisely, concluded to leave. Three of the men 
 who had come forward had wives in the village, and 
 these dames were greatly enraged against us. If 
 their husbands became Christians, their daughters 
 would never find husbands, and this would be a dis- 
 grace not to be atoned for. All manner of disasters 
 
132 - My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 would follow, and conversion would be simply ruin. 
 When we met the next night two angry w^omen hung 
 on the outskirts of the congregation to stir up wrath. 
 While I was praying one of them drove a big ox 
 into the circle. A boy called out just in time for 
 me to move aside on my knees, and let his oxship 
 pass, after which I went on with the prayer. Mean- 
 while the women scolded, and interruptions of various 
 kinds were frequent. Had we held on we might 
 have won the day, but in view of all the interests 
 involved we thought it best to move on to another 
 point. Two of these seekers, with their scolding 
 wives, have since been converted, and we now have 
 an organized Church in the town. 
 
 While in camp at this place our tents were pitched 
 in a grove of mango trees. A vulture had built her 
 nest on the broken top of one of these trees, and one 
 day I chanced to see a quill which had fallen from 
 her wing. I picked it up and amused myself by 
 making it into a pen, and having done this the thought 
 occurred to me that I should write a letter with my 
 strange pen to my sister in America. I sat down 
 at once, and after describing my pen went on to 
 speak of our work, of the condition of the women, 
 and of the grand work which could be done by estab- 
 lishing a school for girls at a central point, and gath- 
 ering them in from the villages far and near. I then 
 suggested to her that she should come to India to un- 
 dertake this work, and sent the letter off, but without 
 
Back in India. 133 
 
 very serious expectation of its leading to any result. 
 It, however, brought a prompt and decided answer, 
 and the correspondence thus begun led, after various 
 delays, to the appointment three years later of the 
 first lady missionary of the Woman's Foreign Mis- 
 sionary Society of pur Church. 
 
 Our second camp was pitched in a mango orchard 
 near a village, named Haraurha, about six miles from 
 Kunderki. We were at first well received, but oppo- 
 sition was quickly developed, and we had to use both 
 tact and firmness in order to hold our ground. An 
 empty hut, open on one side, was given us for our 
 first meeting, and a large audience gathered to hear 
 us. The room was filled with attentive hearers, 
 while many more sat outside, where they could both 
 see and hear as well as those within. The people 
 seemed very cordial, and with the free consent of the 
 parties in charge of the house we announced that we 
 would hold another meeting in the same place the 
 following evening. When the time came we repaired 
 to the spot, but found to our surprise a long row of 
 buffaloes tied in front of the hut, so that we could 
 not possibly get near it. We called the man in 
 charge and asked him what all this meant. 
 
 " Did you not say that we might hold the meeting 
 here ? " 
 
 " Yes, certainly, and you are w^elcome to the 
 place." 
 
 "Bat don't you see the buffaloes? How can the 
 
13Jr My Missioxaky Appkenticeship. 
 
 people get near tlie house with these animals fastened 
 where they are ? " 
 
 '' We did not promise not to have the buffaloes 
 here. Yon asked for the house, and we gave it. 
 You are very welcome to it. There it is, perfectly 
 empty. You are welcome to it." 
 
 A crowd had gathered around us in the moonlight, 
 and our first thought w^as to hold our meeting in the 
 street. Before doing this, however, we asked in a 
 loud voice if any person present w^ould be kind 
 enough to invite us within his inclosure, and at once 
 a weaver, a Chumar by caste, came forward and told 
 us his place near by was at our dis230sal. We fol- 
 io w^ed him, and found a little court-yard about forty 
 feet square, with a small banyan tree in its center. 
 Three small houses opened into it, and the three 
 families living in these houses had a joint interest 
 in the property. Under the banyan tree, on a small 
 earthen platform about twelve inches high, was a 
 rude private shrine for the use of the owners. An 
 image of Hanuman, the monkey god of the Hindus, 
 made of baked clay, a stone emblem of Shiva, and 
 two or three small smooth stones, the use of which 
 they did not seem to know, made up the little pan- 
 theon of these families. The people followed us, 
 into the court-yard and filled it in every part, while 
 others leaned over the mud wall, or stood outside 
 where they could both hear and see. After singing 
 and prayer I stood on the mud platform, close beside 
 
Back in India. 135 
 
 the gods, and told tlie people about Jesus and his 
 salvation. They listened with eager attention, and 
 the sight of their dusky faces upturned in the bright 
 moonlight acted like an inspiration upon me. The 
 idols by my feet gave no one a thought. All seemed 
 to feel that a new message from God had come to 
 them, and as I glanced up and saw the bright moon- 
 beams struggling down through the thick foliage of 
 the banyan tree it seemed as if God's everlasting 
 light was shining upon us, and faith rose up in new 
 strength to claim an assured victory. We prayed that 
 night that God would give us that idol shrine and all 
 the souls that bowed down to those images of stone 
 and clay, and lay down to sleep in thankfulness and 
 hope. I shall never forget the luxury of preaching 
 w^hich I enjoyed that night. It was an unmixed joy 
 to preach in such a place to such a people and with 
 such a hope. 
 
 We never lost the foothold gained that night. 
 Under the same tree we held our meetings night 
 after night. The high-caste people opposed us at 
 every point, and many of the poor CUumars became 
 their willing tools. Andrias was there and did val- 
 iant service. We held one memorable meeting in 
 the open street at a late hour at night. A great 
 crowd of men gathered around us, and we could see 
 in the moonlight the heads of many women peering 
 down from the flat roofs of adjoining houses. An- 
 drias preached with great power. He assured the 
 
136 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 people that we had come to stay. " They tell you 
 that we will soon be gone to return no more. It is 
 not true. We are just beginning our work, and 
 shall not leave till it is finished. Wherever my 
 sweat has fallen upon the ground in the service of 
 my Master, there 1 shall stay, till my work is done." 
 The people were manifestly impressed, but at that 
 time we did not succeed in breaking their lines. 
 Yery soon after, however, Brother Mansell baptized 
 the man who had invited us to hold the meeting in 
 his court-yard, and from time to time other baptisms 
 followed. Three years later, when I had been trans- 
 ferred to Moradabad, the last member of the three 
 families was baptized, the idols were given to me as 
 trophies, and a small room which opened into the 
 square was fitted up as a chapel for the growing 
 village congregation. 
 
GUKHWAL. 13' 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 GURHWAL. 
 
 I'^HE province of Gurhwal consists of a section of 
 . the Himalayas, embracing the liead-waters of the 
 Ganges, and extending from the plains below to the 
 separating line between India and Thibet on the 
 north. The whole region was conquered from the 
 Kepaulese in 1815, but the English only retained pos- 
 session of a part of the province, the other portion 
 having been relinquished in favor of a native prince. 
 British Gurhwal contains 5,500 square miles, and 
 maintains a population of 345,629 souls, "flie coun- 
 try does not differ much from Kumaon, which joins 
 it on the east, except that the mountains are more 
 precipitous, the civiHzation a little more backward, 
 and the principal points more remote and inaccessi- 
 ble. "Within this little province are no less than five 
 snowy peaks wliich are more than 22,000 feet high, 
 the highest being 22,661. The scenery is second to 
 none in the world. Switzerland is tame by com- 
 parison, and the mountains of America would sink 
 down into insignificance in the presence of these 
 majestic bulwarks of snow. The roads are mere 
 bridle-paths, often cut along the sides of almost per- 
 pendicular mountain walls. There is not a wheeled 
 
138 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 conveyance of any kind in the province, not even a 
 wheelbarrow. The harvests are carried home from 
 the little terraced fields on the heads of women and 
 children, and nearly all the traffic on the public roads is 
 carried on the heads or shoulders of the men. Ponies 
 iTom the plains are sometimes used to carry packs, 
 and sheep and goats from the highlands of Thibet 
 may now and then be seen laden with little packs, of 
 about fifteen pounds each. 
 
 The people of Gurhwal are short of stature, and, 
 while resembling their neighbors both on the east 
 and west, have a cast of features of their own, and 
 speak a dialect which is not understood beyond their 
 own borders. They are divided into three main divis- 
 ions — Brahmans, Rajpoots, and Domes. The Brah- 
 mans are not recognized as orthodox by the Hindus 
 of the plains, and are much less strict in their rules 
 of religious exclusiveness than Brahmans generally 
 throughout India. The Bajpoots represent the war- 
 rior caste of India, but like the Brahmans of the 
 province they probably borrowed their caste distinc- 
 tion from the more orthodox and powerful Hindu 
 race before which they retired in remote times into 
 their mountain home. The Domes are outcasts, and 
 evidently belong to a distinct race. They may have 
 been, and most probably were, the aborigines of the 
 country. They were held as serfs at the time the 
 British took possession of the province, and so igno- 
 rant are they still, and so slowly does intelligence 
 
GUKHWAL. 139 
 
 penetrate this remote region, that many of them even 
 now hardly reahze the full extent of their enfran- 
 chisement. Less than twenty years ago an English 
 magistrate had to explain to an ignorant villager in 
 his court that he was a free man, and could go where 
 he pleased, and do whatever work he chose. During 
 my residence in the province a Brahman was arrested 
 under a charge of murder, and, when arraigned in 
 court, he at once admitted that he had killed the 
 deceased, but pleaded in defense of the act that the 
 man belonged to him, and that he had a perfect right 
 to kill liim if he chose. The Domes, like the two 
 higher castes, are separated into a great many subdi- 
 visions, some of which are comparatively respectable, 
 but the highest of these subcastes is separated by an 
 impassable social gulf from the lowest of the caste 
 next above them. 
 
 Two of the most famous shrines of India are found 
 within the limits of Gurhwal, and each temple has 
 a powerful college of priests attached to it, but their 
 local influence is very small. Stone temples, some of 
 them ornamented with elaborate carvings, are found 
 scattered through the mountains, and it is evident 
 that Hinduism must have had a powerful hold on the 
 people in a former and not very remote age. At 
 present, however, the people are chiefly devoted to 
 the worship of local deities. They are avowed Hin- 
 dus, and count themselves happy if permitted to visit 
 one of the great shrines ; but for practical religious 
 
140 My Missionary Apprexticeship. . 
 
 purposes they have recourse to a kind of spirit or 
 demon worship. A rude stone is set up under a 
 tree, a few rags are fastened on the bushes around it, 
 and the people believe that a deity — w^hether god, 
 demon, or spirit, they do not seem to know or care — 
 takes up his abode there, and can be placated by 
 petty little offerings, or by acts of adoration. Tin's 
 simple form of idolatry is the popular religion of all 
 the hill tribes of this region, and orthodox Hinduism 
 has been virtually supplanted by it. Many fine tem- 
 ples have become wholly deserted, and are falling to 
 ruins. Of late years there has been a slight revival 
 of Hinduism, and, singularly enough, its origin may 
 be traced to the influence of Christian missions. At 
 Almorab, the capital of the adjoining province of 
 Kumaon, the London Missionary Society has long 
 maintained a high class school, and the young men 
 educated there in due time began to feel that their 
 religious position was wholly untenable. They were 
 very unwilling to become Christians, and feeling 
 instinctively that the corrupt idolatry of the day could 
 not be maintained, they hoped to find a more tenable 
 position by falling back upon the more orthodox 
 Hinduism of their ancestors. During my stay in 
 Gurhwal I discovered that nearly all the movements 
 in favor of the ancestral faith could be traced to the 
 eixhortations of young men from Almorah. In this 
 there was nothing strange, and indeed nothing new. 
 It is but a repetition of what has occurred on a wider 
 
GURIIWAL. 141 
 
 scale in other parts of India. Driven from popular 
 idolatry bj tlie influence of Christian teaching, the 
 leaders of native thought fancy they can find a ref- 
 uge in the purer faith of the earlier ages of their 
 race, and thus we have had, and for manj; years to 
 come may expect to have, attempts to build up a 
 purely Indian system of religion, which shall arrest 
 the progress of Christianity by taking away the ne- 
 cessity for its existence. 
 
 Human sacrifices were offered in Gurhwal up to a 
 very recent period. For some years after the East 
 India Company took over the country it w^as closed 
 against Europeans, as the neighboring kingdom of 
 Nepaul still is, and its affairs were administered by a 
 Commissioner who retained, in most respects, the 
 former native regime^ allowing the people to main- 
 tain the institutions to which they had been accus- 
 tomed without much question. It is probable that in 
 those days many grave abuses were, if not permitted, 
 yet made possible by the want of supervision which is 
 now so thoroughly enforced. Ordinary natives can 
 seldom remember dates w4th any approach to accuracy, 
 and hence it would be hazardous to say just when the 
 custom of offering human sacrifices ceased, but at the 
 time of my residence in the province there were men 
 still living who affirmed that they could remember 
 instances in which this horrible expedient had been 
 resorted to in order to save the life of dying persons. 
 When a person is taken sick it is usually supposed 
 
142 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 that he has fallen under the influence of an evil spirit, 
 and a blass of exorcists are found scattered through 
 the hills who exert an immense influence over the 
 people, and who are nearly always sent for on such 
 occasions. These men, who in some respects seem 
 affiliated with ordinary spiritualists, perform various 
 rites, and, after a kind of dance with the head envel- 
 oped in a blanket, profess to fall into a kind of trance, 
 under the influence of which they proceed to tell what 
 must be done in order to induce the spirit or demon 
 to leave the body of the afflicted persons. In ordi- 
 nary cases the requirement is simple enough, the sac- 
 rifice of a goat being a very respectable offering on 
 such an occasion, but in former years when a per- 
 son of position, was in danger the exorcists would 
 sometimes direct that a low-caste man be sacrificed. 
 The head man of the hamlet nearest to our mission 
 house had been a local magnate of some little influ- 
 ence. When he was dying, and every other device 
 had failed, it was announced that a man must be sac- 
 rificed, and without delay a poor wretch was seized 
 in the nearest village and hurried to the spot. It 
 took some time to make the preparations, as an elabo- 
 rate diagram had to be made on the floor, and certain 
 incantations performed, before the victim was put to 
 death. Every moment was counted precious both by 
 the friends of the dying man and the trembling vic- 
 tim of the cruel superstition. At last when all was 
 ready the poor wretch was compelled to walk around 
 
GURIIWAL. 143 
 
 tlie cot of the dying man, tlie rule in such cases re- 
 quiring that the creature offered in sacrifice shall 
 walk seven times around the sufferer, and at the end 
 of the seventh circuit be killed with a sword. At 
 this critical moment, after several circuits had actu- 
 ally been completed, the sick man expired, and the 
 intended victim, already half-dead w^ith terror, was 
 released. I heard this story from the lips of persons 
 w^lio had been living in the neighborhood from child- 
 hood, and had no reason whatever to doubt its truth- 
 fulness. 
 
 When the English government introduced the tea 
 industry into India, one of the experimental gardens 
 was established near the village of Paori, where the 
 magistrate of the district has his head-quarters. A 
 house with a few out-buildings had been built upon 
 a detached portion of this tea estate, and for a time 
 a European overseer had resided on the premises. 
 For some years, however, before the establishment 
 of our mission, the premi&es had been unoccupied, 
 and we were fortunate in purchasing the house with 
 nine acres of land for the sum of five hundred dol- 
 lars. We were thus near a post-office, and close by 
 the capital of the province, if such a name could be 
 applied to the place, while at the same time isolated 
 from the contaminating influence of town life. Seven 
 miles below, in the hot valley of the eastern branch 
 of the upper Ganges, is the ancient town of Sree- 
 nugger, once the capital of the province, and a town 
 
144 My Missionary AppKEXTicEsiiir. 
 
 of some importance. It was destroyed by an earth- 
 quake early in the present century, and the royal pal- 
 ace still lies in ruins. The town is built of stone, and 
 its street is paved with stone from one end to the 
 other. It is now a decayed place, but of importance 
 from a missionary point of view, as a central point 
 from which all parts in both British and native Gurh- 
 wal can be reached. The little village with which 
 the mission house is connected is called Chopra, but 
 the mission station is better known by the name of 
 the post-office, Paori. Distances in the mountains are 
 usually indicated by the standard of a day's journey, 
 which varies from twelve to eighteen miles. Paori 
 is eight days' journey from Nynee Tal on the east, 
 seven days from ■ Mussoorie on the west, and five 
 days from Bijnour on the plains. It is thus an iso- 
 lated spot, far in the depths of the mountains, but not 
 by any means an undesirable place in which to live. 
 The mission house stands on the northern slope of a 
 mountain spur, at an elevation of about 5,500 feet. 
 In the rear the mountain towers up about 2,000 feet 
 higher, against a sky of deepest blue, while all along 
 the horizon in front the vast range of snowy peaks 
 which stand like giant sentinels along the Thibetan 
 frontier afford a spectacle of grandeur rarely wit- 
 nessed in our world. On the east stands tlie great 
 Nan da Devi, towering up to a height of 25,661 feet. 
 Passing over lower peaks the n-ext great sentinel is 
 Badrinath, 22,901 feet high, and farther west is 
 
GUEHWAL. 145 
 
 Kedarnath, with an elevation of 22,853. Farther west 
 again, is a group of peaks to which the name of Gan- 
 gotri is given, and among which the head fountain of 
 the Ganges is found. Away beyond these peaks, on the 
 extreme north-western point of the horizon, anotlier 
 group stands out clearly against the sky, called Jumno- 
 tri, and known as the source of the river Jumna. The 
 immense extent of this view can hardly be realized by 
 the imagination, or even by the spectator. At sunset 
 I used to stand in front of the mission house, and watch 
 the sunlight disappear from one peak after another in 
 succession. I^anda Devi, which stood nearly 3,000 feet 
 above the rest, but far to the east, would be the first to 
 retire into the region of shadow. Next Badrinath 
 would follow, and two or three minutes later Kedar- 
 nath. Gangotri would continue to wear its tip of gold 
 some time longer ; and finally, after every other ob- 
 ject had crept into the deepening shadows, the distant 
 peaks of Jumnotri could be seen with the lingering 
 sunlight still gilding their snowy crests. 
 
 The house which I occupied at Paori was an old 
 stone building, built loosely, with mud for plaster, 
 and covered with clapboards overlaid with rough 
 flag-stones. The rats had perforated the walls in all 
 directions, and the roof was infested with snakes^ 
 which were attracted there by the vast number of 
 swallows which persisted in building their nests 
 between the clapboards and the flag-stones. The 
 
 snakes were not poisonous, but they sometimes made 
 10 
 
146 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 lady visitors uncomfortable, and did not add to the 
 attractiveness of the house. Scorpions, which have 
 a liking for old buildings, often appeared unbidden, 
 but no one during my stay ever suffered from them 
 in the mission house. One missionary, however, had 
 a narrow escape. He had taken up a piece of toast, 
 and was in the act of putting it to his mouth, when a 
 black scorpion whisked around from the under side 
 of the toast. The missionary was seized with a sud- 
 den loss of appetite which deprived the scorpion of 
 his opportunity of doing him any harm ; but had a 
 bite been taken, and a sting received on the tongue, 
 it would probably have been fatal. The old house 
 stood in the midst of a little paradise of fruit-trees. 
 A large fig-tree crowned the terrace in front. Apri- 
 cot-trees rose higher than the house all around. A 
 dozen varieties of plums and peaches grew around 
 the place, an apple-tree which bore excellent fruit 
 stood in the garden, and to these I added cherries 
 and pears. It was a lovely spot, and the landscape 
 in front afforded an ever-changing picture of wonder 
 and beauty ; I could sit under my fruit-trees on a 
 warm summer's day, and watch the snow-drifts 
 wreathing the white summits of the distant snowy 
 range, while nearer to me in one direction I could 
 see a soft shower of summer rain falling in long, 
 swaying waves, and in another direction a fierce snovv 
 storm spreading a mantle of white over a range of 
 higher hills. Winter never relaxed his icy grasp on 
 
GUKIIWAL. 147 
 
 the heights above, summer never ceased to smile on 
 the valleys below. To live in such a place may at 
 times be lonely, but it never seemed to me in the 
 most remote degree an affliction. 
 
 I reached my new home in Gurhwal about the 
 middle of April, and at once entered upon my work. 
 Fortunately I was accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. 
 Parker, who went up to spend four months at Paori 
 for the purpose of recruiting their health. Tlieir 
 going was very opportune, as I not only had their 
 company when at home, but could take counsel with 
 my presiding elder in forming plans for our work in 
 the new field. Mr. and Mrs. Mansell had spent the 
 hot months of the previous year in the place, and had 
 organized a small school of boys, under a Brahman 
 teacher, whom I found waiting to receive me. 
 Aside from this nothing had been done, and I had to 
 begin to build from the very foundation. 
 
1^8 Mv Mission AUY Apprenticeship. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 AMONG THE PILGRIMS. 
 
 I have spoken of the two famous shrines in Gurh- 
 wal, to which every year large numbers of devout 
 people from all parts of India make pilgrimages. 
 In the month of April a great religious fair is held at 
 Hurdwar, the point where the Ganges issues from 
 the Himalayas, and thousands of the people who go 
 to the fair pass on into the mountains, and visit the 
 two great shrines of Ivedarnath aud Badrinath, while 
 at the same time paying their respects to dozens of 
 inferior shrines which crafty priests have built along 
 the route of travel. One leading object in establish- 
 ing our mission in Gurhwal was to reach these 
 pilgrims. It was thought that men who came so far 
 and suffered so much for the sake of their religion 
 w^ould probably be peculiarly favorable subjects for 
 missionary labor, while their wide dispersion after the 
 journey would scatter the Gospel into every nook 
 aud corner of the empire. I reached Gurhwal soon 
 after the ''pilgrim season" had opened, and wishing 
 to examine carefully the character of these people, 
 and the opportunities for doing them good, I lost no 
 time in arranging for a visit to the shrines, following 
 the pilgrim route, and spending my time among the 
 
Among the Pilgrims. 149 
 
 weary wanderers themselves. The two great temples 
 are not situated near the head-waters of the Gano^es 
 proper, but near twp main sources of its eastward 
 branch, called the Alaknanda. 
 
 At sunrise on the 9tli of May I set out from 
 Sreenugger on my journey to the shrines. I traveled 
 on foot, but had a small tent with me, so that I was 
 not exposed to the same degree of hardship which 
 most of the pilgrims suffered. I sought their com- 
 pany, walked with them, often sat with them in the 
 shade, sometimes ate under the same tree, and found 
 constant opportunities for getting acquainted with 
 them, and finding out the range of their religious 
 thought, and the depth of their religious convictions. 
 They had come from almost every province of India, 
 but the majority belonged to the valley of the Ganges. 
 Some had come to fulfill vows made in a time of sick- 
 ness or danger, some in hope of recovery from illness, 
 some to secure an earthly blessing — most commonly 
 the birth of a son — while the greater number had a 
 vague notion that there was great merit in making 
 the pilgrimage, and that the greater the hardship the 
 greater the merit Avould be. All classes of Hindus 
 have the utmost confidence in religious pilgrimages, 
 and are ready to be persuaded that very great good in 
 very many forms will flow to the pious soul that 
 makes the journey. A very large proportion of these 
 pilgrims were professional devotees. They belonged 
 to different, and sometimes widely divergent, orders, 
 
150 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 with much less in common than is found in the case 
 of the various orders of Roman Catholic priests. In 
 reality they belonged to different religious systems, 
 but as each one was in some way connected with the 
 great tangled network of Hinduism, they regarded 
 themselves as members of a common faith, and de- 
 scendants of a common religious ancestry. 
 
 1 set out upon this journey with eager steps, not 
 only because of the rare attractions of mountain 
 travel, but more especially because I was eager to be 
 among the pilgrims, and not without hope that some 
 of them might be found not far from the kingdom 
 of God. I made a short march the first day, keep- 
 ing up the valley of tlie river and pitching my little 
 tent in the shade of a mango-tree, the presence of 
 which indicated that I was still within the line of 
 tropical heat. I saw many pilgrims during the day, 
 and had a good deal of conversation with them, but 
 failed to elicit any thing of special interest from any 
 one. The next day I made a march of eleven miles, 
 and camped at the junction of the main stream with 
 a branch from the west, which has its source near 
 the temple of Kedarnath. The road had been stead- 
 ily ascending all day long, and I was now in the 
 midst of deep mountain solitude. The upper river, 
 for the most part, has no valley whatever, but rushes 
 down through a narrow channel cut out of the solid 
 rock. It is seldom more than fifty yards in width, 
 and often not more than twenty, but it is very deep, 
 
Among the Pilgrims. 151 
 
 and roars and rushes along like a little Niagara. The 
 road, if road it could be called, was from two to five 
 hundred feet above the river, and was in many places 
 exceedingly rough and steep. The magnificent scen- 
 ery became more and more impressive as I advanced 
 i:ito the depths of the great mountains, and, aside 
 from the work in which I was engaged, I felt a great 
 delight in the wild life into which I seemed to be 
 entering. My intercourse with the pilgrims was 
 much the same during the second day as on the first. 
 I talked with many, was kindly received, and courte- 
 ously listened to ; but that was all. They did not seem 
 to differ much from other natives whom I had met 
 under ordinary circumstances in India. 
 
 A number of pilgrims had camped near me among 
 the forest trees, among whom were two or three 
 devotees. Late at night I went out for a little walk, 
 and had made a turn or two up and down the little 
 pathway by the tent, when I was startled by the 
 figure of a man, perfectly nude, standing on a spur 
 of rock which jutted out over the seething river be- 
 low. His matted hair was bound up on the crown of 
 his head, and he stood perfectly erect and still, with 
 his clasped hands stretched toward the stars, while he 
 seemed to be gazing intently into the distant heavens. 
 A flickering camp-fire under a tree behind him threw 
 its light upon his form, so as to give him a strange, 
 ghost-like appearance, and for a moment I was quite 
 startled by the seeming specter. I watched him a 
 
152 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 short time, but lie did not move, and he probably 
 remained there long after I had fallen asleep. He 
 was a typical Hindu character. Hindu tradition is 
 full of stories of saints and sages who in a former 
 and better era stood on lonely Himalayan heights, for 
 long days at a time, in rapt adoration, or deep com- 
 munion with the Infinite. The idea is that a man 
 should withdraw himself far from the world, that he 
 should escape from the cares and bustle of life, and 
 in absolute quiet concentrate his thoughts on God 
 alone, until his mind and heart become wholly ab- 
 sorbed in communion. This tradition, if it be tra- 
 dition, has a strong hold upon the Hindu mind, and 
 powerfully influenced the late Keshub Chunder Sen 
 and his school of advanced Brahmos. It is more than 
 probable that in ancient days those mountain soli- 
 tudes were frequented by men of reputation both as 
 saints and sages, and that the voice of tradition is 
 correct in saying that they maintained fixed attitudes 
 as above described, followed by a state of ecstatic or 
 preternatural mental exaltation. It may have been, 
 and very probably was, but an ancient form of the 
 modern trance, as illustrated by professional manipu- 
 lators. There are still saints among the Hindus who 
 have the power of throwing themselves into this state, 
 and in one instance which came under my own obser 
 vation, when a native had been converted, and stoutly 
 maintained that his change of heart was supernatural, 
 an old devotee was brought to him to convince Imn 
 
Among the Pilgrims. 155 
 
 that lie could superinduce an equally striking experi- 
 ence in liis own case. The old man sat for some time 
 looking intently at the palm of his hand, and then 
 went off into a kind of ecstasy which w^as accepted as 
 supernatural by all the Hindu spectators. When Jo- 
 seph Cook was in Calcutta he was taken to see a 
 famous Eishi — a Hindu term, meaning both sage and 
 saint — who threw himself into an unconscious state, 
 and then proceeded to give utterance to various wise 
 or pious sayings which his hearers believed to be the 
 offspring of divine inspiration. Mr. Cook, in telling 
 me of the incident, said, " I told them that in Boston 
 we would call such a man a trance-medium." 
 
 My third day's journey was rougher than any thing 
 I had yet seen in the w^ay of mountain travel, and I 
 was heartily glad when we reached our camping-place 
 in a beautiful valley, quite above the channel of the 
 river. During the day I had met fewer plgrims 
 than nsual, but in the evening I found all the talking 
 I could do. N^ext day I pushed on again, bnt I had 
 now gained the higher elevation of the cultivated 
 mountain sides, and saw not only more pilgrims, but 
 more of the mountaineers. I had reached a remote 
 region where Europeans had rarely penetrated, and 
 as my coming was heralded far in advance by the 
 pilgrims who had passed on, I found many groups of 
 people waiting to see me. I preached five times dur- 
 ing the day, besides doing a great deal of ^miscella- 
 neous talking, and having walked twelve miles over 
 
154 My Missionary AppRt:N'ricESHip. 
 
 roads so vongli that much of the walking was h'terally 
 climbing, I was exceedingly wearv when I reached 
 our camping-place. It was a charming spot, high up 
 on a mountain side, with a grassy lawn in front, and 
 the forest and fields around clothed in the verdure of 
 summer, while scarcely a mile away a giant mountain 
 stood up against a sky of deepest blue, with its shoul- 
 ders draped in white, untrodden snow. It was Sat- 
 urday night, and I halted for the Sabbath's rest. I 
 had been four days among the pilgrims, and was be- 
 ginning to feel what many a missionary has felt a 
 hundred times over, the depression which arises from 
 incessant labor without the slightest visible evidence 
 of any effect Ijeing produced. The gigantic task be- 
 fore me in Gurhwal loomed up in all its vast propor- 
 tions. I was alone. The people Avere wholly indif- 
 ferent to my message, were inaccessible and ignorant, 
 and, so far as preaching went, I might go on and talk 
 for days and months and years, but it would not 
 result in turning them from sin and Satan unto God. 
 Pondering these things I lay down to sleep, and found 
 my rest delightful after the weary mountain climbing 
 of the previous four days. 
 
 The next morning was one of rarest beauty. The 
 air was so still, the sky so blue, the verdure so green, 
 the snowy mountain near by so wliite, that I seemed 
 as if transported above the earth into a little p&radise 
 where every sight was in beautiful harmony with the 
 sacred character of the day. The depression, however, 
 
Among the Pilgrims. 155 
 
 if I maj call it depression, of the previous even- 
 ing still continued. About half a mile below stood a 
 large Hindu temple, at wliich I learned a great festi- 
 val was to be held on this day. At an early hour 
 I went down to the place and learned siich particulais 
 as I could, intending, if possible, to preach to the 
 people who might assemble. At nine oVlock I went 
 again, and found a great crowd around the place, all 
 dressed in their gayest attire and in a high state of 
 excitement in expectation of a procession in honor of 
 the idol of the temple. I went among them, and 
 spoke to one and another, but found that they were 
 not in a mood to listen to my message, and not wisli- 
 ing to seem to countenance their exhibition by my 
 presence, I returned again to my little tent. As I 
 climbed the hill I heard a great shouting behind, and 
 turning round I saw the people following the idol in 
 a procession around the tem23le. They were in a 
 state of wild excitement. Men, women, and children 
 were shouting in honor of the dumb image which was 
 carried before them. My heart utterly sank within 
 me as I looked upon the strange spectacle. The 
 tempter thrust at me w^ith most malignant determina- 
 tion. How could I ever hope to make an ifnpression 
 upon such a people, to pierce through an ignorance 
 so dense, to disperse a darkness so all-pervading, to 
 overthrow a superstition so firmly rooted in both the 
 hopes and fears of the people ? With heavy feet and 
 a heavy heart I climbed the mountain side, and in my 
 
156 My Missionary Apprenticeship 
 
 little tent found comfort in at least hiding myself 
 from the idolatry without. 
 
 At eleven o'clock I took my pocket Bible and re- 
 tired to a little thicket near by for my Sabbath 
 worship. I was the only worshiper. No other 
 person Avithin fifty miles adored the God to whom I 
 that day bowed down. I sat down on the soft grassy 
 carpet, in the thick shade of a small evergreen oak, 
 and opening my Bible at random began to read the 
 thirty-second chapter of Isaiah : 
 
 Behold, a King" shall reign in righteousness, and princes 
 shall rule in judgment. And a man shall be as an hiding 
 place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest ; as rivers of 
 water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary- 
 land. And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and 
 tlie ears of them that hear shall hearken. . . . Until the Spirit 
 be jDOured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruit- 
 ful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. . . . 
 Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters. 
 
 I had no definite expectation in my mind as I 
 began to read this chapter. I was struggling against a 
 feeling of extreme depression, and clinging to God's 
 sure word of jDromise, but beyond this I was asking 
 for nothiifg and expecting nothing. I read on until 
 I came to the words, " Until the Spirit be poured up- 
 on us from on high," when it seemed as if a window 
 of heaven had been opened above me. The Holy 
 Spirit was poured upon me, and in a moment my 
 sinking heart was filled with exultant hope and con- 
 
Amonc; the Pilgrims. 157 
 
 fidence. I read on until I came to the last verse, 
 " Blessed are y-e that sow beside all waters," when I 
 saw, and I felt it in my inmost sonl, that in going forth 
 to earth's waste places to sow I was the heir of a 
 special promise and had the assurance of a special 
 blessing. The experience of that memorable hour 
 upon the lonely mountain side had to me all the 
 force of a renewal of my commission from above. I 
 little understood at the time what a permanent influ- 
 ence it was to have upon my subsequent life. It has 
 not lingered like a bright spot in a receding past, 
 but it has followed me wherever I have gone. Nearly 
 eighteen years have passed since that day, but the 
 influence of that manifestation of the Spirit to me is 
 clearer and more powerful now than it was the day 
 after the event. It lives in my heart like a vision of 
 God. It has all the power of a special revelation, and 
 it seems as natui'al for me to plead its memory in 
 prayer as to make mention of any of the written 
 promises of the Word. God took me apart from the 
 world, withdrew me into solitude with himself, that 
 he might gird me anew with strength, and teach me 
 .in my chosen school a lesson of service never to be 
 forgotten. 
 
 Next morning I was off again, refreshed in both 
 body and spirit, and was able to make a successful 
 march of fourteen miles. The road became so bad 
 that I left the tent behind, trusting to find shelter 
 under some trader's hut by the way-side. I was now 
 
158 My Missioxahy Apprenticeship. 
 
 drawing near the line of perpetual snow, and the 
 scenery was every hour becoming more grand and 
 sublime. For ten or twelve miles behind me I 
 could see great mountain spurs, clad in white, jutting 
 out toward the south, while in front the mighty 
 giants of snow rose up before me with a majesty 
 which at times filled me with awe. I did not wonder 
 that the ancient Hindu sages who had painfully 
 climbed up day after day until they stood face to 
 face with those j)ure, white, stainless mountains, stand- 
 ing far above their world, clothed with majesty, 
 and silent as the sky above them, were led away by 
 the fancy that they had passed beyond the confines 
 of the lower world, and reached the abode of the 
 celestial beings. At night I found shelter in the 
 garret of a small dilapidated Imt, in the village near 
 the crest of the last range I was to cross before 
 reaching the line of snow. I had now passed above 
 the region of wheat, and found nothing but barley 
 growing in the rich fields which the mountaineers 
 had built up like so many stairs on the mountain 
 side. The villagers told me that barley was their only 
 possible crop, and that even potatoes would not ma- 
 ture in their short summer. Strange forest trees be- 
 gin to appear, but the familiar maple and birch held 
 a prominent place in the deep forests around, the 
 former being among the very last to disappear before 
 reaching the line of perpetual snow. 
 
 Next morning I set out early, intending if possible 
 
Among the Pilgrims. 159 
 
 k> reach the temple before night. It was a wearisome, 
 but intensely exciting day. I cannot tell of the wonder- 
 ful scenery through which I passed, the dense forest, 
 the beautiful cascades, some of them hundreds of feet 
 in height, the foaming streams, the rock-ribbed mount- 
 ain sides, the vast snowy peaks, all illuminated by a 
 sunlight which seemed in that pure atmosphere to be 
 touched with an unearthly brilliance. I hurried on, 
 barely stopping to exchange a few words with the 
 Brahmans who were now becoming more and more 
 numerous by the road-side, until I reached the last 
 halting place, near a large hot spring in a narrow 
 ravine. Leaving my baggage here, I pushed on for 
 the temple, which was situated six miles higher up. 
 I was accompanied by my native cook, who carried a 
 small tea-kettle, and a handful of wood for a fire. 
 Before we had gone a hundred yards we came upon 
 a great snow-drift in a ravine, fifty feet or more in 
 depth, and from this point upward nearly every step 
 of the way involved difficult walking or climbing. 
 In many places large rough stones had been built up 
 like a stair- way along the side of an almost perpendicu- 
 lar mountain, and at two or three points bridges had 
 been built over precipices by thrusting poles into the 
 crevices of the perpendicular rock, and joining them 
 by laying loose planks from one to another, making a 
 narrow and most precarious foot-path. The narrow 
 path was crowded with pilgrims, some hurrying for- 
 ward with eager steps, and others returning after 
 
160 My Missio>;aky Apprenticeship. 
 
 their visit to the temple. I crept on up, but in due 
 time besran to feel the exhaustion which severe climb- 
 ing in that rare atmosphere caused, and finding a 
 suitable place halted for a cup of tea. Mj cook 
 found a rock from which the snow had melted, with 
 foaming water all around it, and jumping across to 
 it built a lire and began to prepare the tea. While 
 waiting I had time to notice my peculiar state of 
 exhaustion. I could hear the beating of my heart 
 with a distinctness which quite startled me, and I was 
 oppressed with a strange feeling, not exactly of dizzi- 
 ness, but of something very much like it. I took the 
 cup of tea eagerly when it was ready — it was not a 
 large cup — and drank it down, and then took cup after 
 cup until the seventh had drained the little kettle- 
 pot. I was not thirsty, but I drank with a strange, 
 unnatural eagerness, and did not feel in the least 
 measure satisfied when I had emptied the last cup. 
 
 The cook returned from this point, and I trudged 
 on alone. The trees had all disappeared, and where 
 the melting snow permitted the ground to he visible 
 no kind of shrub could be seen except a species of 
 wild gooseberry. The snow lay in vast drifts upon 
 the sloping mountain side, and the feet of the pil- 
 grims had worn a little foot-path along its hardened 
 surface. Far below, the river, now near its very 
 source, and swollen by the melting snow, rushed 
 downward in a furious torrent, threatening certain 
 death to any one who should lose his foot-hold above 
 
Among ttte Pilgrims. 161 
 
 and slide down the steep incline. The pil^^rims had 
 never seen snow before, and knew nothing abont the 
 danger of slipping upon its frozen surface, especially 
 ill the morning after the half -melted snow had been 
 couted with ice during the night, and many stories 
 were told of the disasters which had befallen them 
 while threading the narrow little path which led 
 across tlie treacherous drifts. Many of the pilgrims 
 were barefoot, and all were thinly clad, and their suf- 
 ferings were at best very great. Only two or three 
 days before my visit, a party of live had been cross- 
 ing the drift, when suddenly a blinding snow-storm 
 swept down upon them from the heights above. They 
 were soon overpowered, and^ not knowing what to do, 
 they huddled together and lay down in the snow, 
 w^here they soon slept tlie sleep w^hich knows no 
 waking. 
 
 It was nearly three o'clock in the afternoon when 
 I reached the temple. It stood on a small plateau, 
 near the foot of a great glacier, and at the time of 
 my visit was surrounded by snow. In July and 
 August, however, the snow disappears, and the 
 ground around is covered with rich green grass. The 
 temple was not an imposing building, being smaller 
 than I had expected to find it, and having nothing 
 striking about its architecture. It was built of hewn 
 stone, covered with copper sheeting, and surmounted 
 by an immense bell. The priests in charge had heard 
 
 of my coming, and had closed the doors of the 
 li 
 
162 ^ My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 temple, so that I could not get even a peep at the in- 
 side, and no persuasion on mv part would induce 
 them to open the doors for me. In front' of the 
 temple, on a solid stone platform, was a huge image 
 of Shiva's bull, named I^andi, and adored by devoui 
 Hindus as a member of their great pantheon. Tra- 
 dition says that in ancient times Shiva was pursued 
 across the mountains by an enemy, and being hard 
 ])ressed he plunged into the ground at the spot where 
 the temple stands, and a large rock which juts out of 
 the floor of the temj^le is pointed out as a part of his 
 body which was not covered. One of the thousand 
 names of Shiva is Kedar, and the shrine is named in 
 his honor Kedarnath, the w^ord nath meaning lord, 
 or master. 
 
 I found a large company of priests at the temple, 
 among whom were some half-grown boys who re- 
 garded me with the most lively and friendly interest. 
 The priests were courteous, but manifestly anxious 
 to have me leave. They refused to accept tracts, but 
 did not object to the boys taking them, and in a very 
 few minutes the lads were sitting on the sunny side 
 of tJie temple, each one reading aloud from the tract 
 I had given liim. I knew I must make my way back 
 to camp before the sun went down, and hence could 
 not prolong my stay. Seeing no other favorable 
 place, I mounted the platform beside the huge bull 
 of Shiva. The priests, with the boys and pilgrims, 
 seated themselves on the steps of the temple in front 
 
Among the Pilgrims. 163 
 
 of me, and listened with respectful and almost eager 
 attention while I preached to them of Jesus the 
 Saviour and Judge of all. It was a delightful priv- 
 ilege to preach in such a place, and to such an au- 
 dience. If ever I felt strong in faith, if ever I had 
 au earnest in my heart of the victory which God has 
 promised to his Son over the nations, it was at that 
 gate-way of one of the most famous strongholds of idol- 
 atry in all this world. I would gladly have lingered 
 with the people there, but the sun, looking in the 
 deep blue sky like a great furuace of molten gold, 
 was already tipping the western peaks of snow, and I 
 was obliged to hurry away. I hastened down the 
 rugged pathway, and reached my camping-place in 
 such utter weariness, after my nineteen miles of 
 walking and climbing, that I was obliged to halt for 
 a day of rest, and when I moved on I had to go by 
 short stages, and curtail my preaching by the way. 
 
 Space will not permit me to speak of many inter- 
 esting incidents which occurred on -my return jour- 
 ney. Leaving the road by which I had come, I fol- 
 lowed the pilgrim route across the mountains to the 
 valley of the Alaknanda, intending to proceed up the 
 valley of that stream to the temple of Eadrinath. 
 I moved leisurely, and continued my work among 
 the pilgrims, but found myself every day becoming 
 more and more interested in the people of the vil- 
 lages through which I passed, and less in the pil- 
 grims. The simple mountaineers were interested 
 
161 Mr Missionary Ap^RE^TICESHIP. 
 
 in me and in my mission. Thev received me with 
 all possible honor, and seemed prepared to serve me 
 to any possible extent. As I neared one village the 
 head man came out attended by a iinmber of men, 
 and went before me to "gather out the stones" 
 which lay upon the narrow road. They did not 
 dream of forsaking their religion, but they were not 
 alarmed or displeased wdien told that a new faith was 
 about to be introduced among their mountains, which 
 must ultimately displace it. They were glad to see me 
 come and sorry to see me go. The pilgrims, on the 
 other hand, were very friendly, but they were all im- 
 patient to get forward. They h^d no time for quiet 
 reflection, and they were, besides, too much absorbed 
 in the duties and hopes of their pilgrimage to make 
 room in their minds or hearts for any thing else. 
 As for the devotees, like all of their class in all parts 
 of the w^orld, they were the last of all men to feel 
 their need of a salvation which they had not earned. 
 The}' were interesting men in many respects, but 
 three weeks spent on this journey convinced me that 
 there was little of a nature peculiarly favorable to 
 missionary work among either these devotees or pil- 
 grims generally. Before the tour was finished my 
 heart had turned definitely to the inhabitants of the 
 province as those for whom my future efforts were 
 to be directed. 
 
 The night before I reached the Alaknanda I had 
 camped near a village, and was sitting by my table, 
 
Among the Pilgrims. 165 
 
 when a stranger unexpectedly appeared, and in- 
 formed me that he was one of four officers on a 
 shooting tour, and was encamped near by. He had 
 come to invite me to spend the evening with them, 
 which I was glad to do. They were on their way to 
 the pass above which leads into Thibet, and were 
 bent on crossing beyond the snowy range to try their 
 hand at shooting the gigantic game of that desolate 
 country. We talked till late, and then I took my 
 leave, telling them I did not feel well enough to 
 pursue my journey further, but would start for 
 home the next nrorning. I returned to Paori, and 
 some weeks later heard that the corpse of a Scotch 
 officer had been carried by natives from near the 
 belt of snow to a tea-planter's residence in Eastern 
 Gurhwal, where it was buried. In a small memo- 
 randum book in a side pocket was found a brief 
 mention of a meeting with an American missionary, 
 by which I was able to identify the poor fellow who 
 had died alone in those upper solitudes. He had 
 been taken ill, and had been left behind by his 
 friends in the full expectation of Iris speedy recovery, 
 but had grown worse, and had died in utter lone- 
 liness. His death so soon after my casual meeting 
 with him impressed me deeply, and I could not help 
 thinking of the exaggerated estimate which even 
 good men put upon ordinary devotion. Had I died 
 while alone preaching among those snowy mountains, 
 I would have secured almost a martyr's fame. Devo- 
 
166 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 tion, heroism, and I know not what other virtues, 
 would have been attributed to me, to which I would 
 have had no just claim. I felt then, as I still feel, 
 that heroism is too cheap in the field of Christian 
 warfare. All over the globe men may be found 
 making sacrifices and braving dangers and enduring 
 hardships for objects of little or no real importance, 
 objects which cannot for even a moment be named 
 in comparison with the high and holy claims of 
 Christ's service. It is well to recognize merit and 
 reward service, but I have often felt that the work 
 of making martyrs out of missionaries who have 
 fallen at their posts, in faithful but not extraordinary 
 service, has been more than overdone. 
 
Laying Foundations. 167 
 
 CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 LAYrWG FOUNDATIONS. 
 
 AFTER returning from the tonr among the pil- 
 grims, it became necessary to decide upon some 
 definite line of action for our mission work in the 
 province of Gurhwal. I could not expect to do 
 much in the way of preacliing in the bazars, as 
 there was only one bazar town in the province. I 
 could not well make itinerating tours, as was so com- 
 monly done on the plains, on account of the inac- 
 cessible position of the villages ; nor could I, except 
 in isolated cases, find villages so compactly built that 
 the people could be gatliered together at any one point 
 by the mere sound of singing. How to proceed I 
 could not tell, but it was at once evident that I must 
 hit upon some new plan or plans, differing to some 
 extent from any thing which we had up to that date 
 tried in our mission work. 
 
 While visiting the temple of Kedarnath I was 
 much interested by a brief account of the founder 
 of that famous shiine. His name was Shankar 
 Acharjya, and he svas one of the ablest men in the 
 annals of Hinduism. He flourished in the eighth 
 century, and was the great apostle of Shiva worship 
 in both South and North India. He penetrated the 
 
168 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 Himalayas, founded the temple of Kedarnath, estab- 
 lished the college of priests which to this day is con- 
 nected with the temple, and died at or near the 
 temple at the early age of thirty-two. I was at that 
 time nearing the same age, and was often in those 
 days deeply impressed that I had not long to live. I 
 had done nothing in my short life, and felt a strong 
 desire to do something, to plant a vine, or lay a foun- 
 dation, which might endure after I was gone. While 
 looking out over the mountains from the high sum- 
 mits near the line of snow, it had seemed to me that 
 I might at least emulate the zeal and energy of the 
 Hindu reformer, and before my death succeed in 
 planting a Christian institution in Gurhwal, con- 
 fronting the great temples, and destined to live on 
 and bless the province for long centuries after the 
 temples should be forgotten. There may have been, 
 and very probably was, some admixture of earthly 
 ambition in this thought, but, on the other hand, 
 there was the inspiration of hope in it, and a convic- 
 tion which daily took clearer shape in my mind that 
 God would have me try to build up at a central point 
 some kind of a Christian institution, which would 
 m 'ke itself felt all over the province. 
 
 Wliile on my way up to Paori, on the second day 
 :ifter entering the mountains, some boys had asked 
 me to provide a school for them, and when I spoke 
 of the impossibility of doing this they asked if ar- 
 rangements could not be made for them to go to 
 
Laying Foundations. 1C9 
 
 Paori and study English there. At once tlie idea 
 flashed upon me that I might be able to open a cen- 
 tral boarding-school, to which choice boys might be 
 sent from the village schools, and in this way they 
 would be .brought under our direct oversight, and 
 isolated from evil associations and bad influences. 
 Young men who would thus grow up under our 
 care would understand our position thoroughly, and 
 through them we might hope to make our influence 
 felt throughout the province. The idea of such a 
 central school took a firm hold on my mind, and 
 always came to the front when 1 began to think of 
 plans for future work. I also hoped in time to 
 gather together at this central point Christian agents 
 of various kinds, and train them for missionary work. 
 It was evident at a glance that the work of evangel- 
 ization in such a region must be done by the hill 
 men themselves. Neither foreign missionaries nor 
 native preachers from the plains could ever be ex- 
 pected to seek out the people in their inaccessible 
 hamlets. Evangelists must be found on the spot ; and 
 when once a beginning should be made, these could 
 be sent to our central station for training. A certain 
 proportion of such preachers might be trained at a 
 regular theological institution, but the ranli and file 
 would never leave their native mountains, and would 
 require a special drill which could only be given 
 among their own people. A central missionary insti- 
 tution would thus become a nucleus of Christian influ- 
 
170 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 ence around which all manner of agencies would 
 gather, and from which streams of blessing would 
 flovNT out among the people for ages to come. As the 
 people should become Christians the institution would 
 grow in importance until, in due time, it >vould exert 
 an influence in the province which both of the great 
 shrines combined had never known. Its day of 
 power might be far off, but it was sure to come in 
 God's own fullness of time. 
 
 To draw an outline of such an institution was not 
 difficult, but how to carry out the project was a ques- 
 tion which seemed beset with impossibilities. Money 
 would be required for buildings, and the current 
 expenses would be heavy, but I had only a thousand 
 dollars in hand, and could not hope for much from 
 any known source in India. The Corresponding 
 Secretary in l^ew York disapproved, but did not dis- 
 allow, the plan ; and even if it had met with favor, the 
 finances of the Board were at that time in such a 
 straitened condition that I could not hope for much 
 help from that source. Another difficulty lay in the 
 want of teachers. There was not a Christian in the 
 ■orovince. I had taken a stammering convert from 
 Mohammedanism with me, but he turned out to be an, 
 opium-eater, and I was obliged to send him away dur- 
 ing my first season at Paori. There were Christian 
 teachers in other parts of India, but few of them 
 would have been willing to go to such a remote place, 
 unless in the hope of receiving very high wages. 
 
Laying I^'oundations. 171 
 
 Without teachers I could not found a Christian 
 school, and I knew not where to look for them. 
 Nor did my difficulties end here. The boys who 
 would come to the school would all be observers of 
 caste, and I could not provide a common bill of fare 
 for them, nor could they eat together or be served by 
 a common cook. Boarding-houses for Christian boys 
 had been successfully established in Indian missions, 
 but the idea of having such amission school for high- 
 caste Hindus was, so far as I could hear, wholly new. 
 Besides all this, the parents of the boys had no ready 
 cash, and, with very few exceptions, would not be 
 able to pay, even on a very simple scale, for the board 
 of their boys. Thus at every hand I was beset with 
 obstacles, but the more the project was considered 
 the more important did it seem to carry it out, and 
 before the close of the season it was formally decided 
 to make a beginning. In those days I was, without 
 knowing it, taking lessons in what some people call 
 "faith work." In every kind of mission work in 
 India the earnest laborer will find opportunities 
 enough to test his faith in God and his promises, and 
 over and over again will he find himself called upon 
 to begin most difficult enterprises without seeing 
 how they are ever to be carried to completion. 
 
 Around the old mission house stood a number of 
 small out-buildings which had been used in the prepa- 
 ration of tea. Most of these had been dismantled, 
 but one of them still maintained its roof, and in this 
 
172 My Missionary Appkenticeship. 
 
 onr school was accommodated. Arrangements were 
 at once made to repair the others, and to build a row 
 of small houses for boarders. The slate for the roofs 
 had to be quarried on a mountain side four miles dis- 
 tant. The timber used had to be carried on men's 
 shoulders from the nearest pine forest, part of it hav- 
 ing to be brought from a distance of five miles. The 
 nearest place at which lime could be burned was 
 eight miles distant, and as the lime had to be carried 
 in sacks on men's heads we used it very sparingly. 
 In Gurhwal, as elsewhere in India, work of all kinds 
 goes on slowly, and during the first season I only 
 succeeded in repairing some of the dismantled houses, 
 and in collecting material for building after the ex- 
 pected snow-fall of the winter. I planned a row of 
 small houses for the boys, built of stone, each to hold 
 four lads, and provided with a small window and 
 a chimney. I took great credit to myself for this 
 last innovation. The natives in the mountains live 
 in substantial stone houses, many of them superior to 
 the Italian houses seen in some places among the Ap- 
 ennines, but they one and all dispense with the luxury 
 of chimneys. I was to teach them a more excellent 
 way. I superintended the chimney building with 
 great care, doing part of the work with my own 
 hands, and felt confident that when the boys once 
 learned how to keep a fire in a smokeless room they 
 would go home and teach their fathers how to build 
 chimneys. But I was doomed to disappointment. 
 
Laying Fol^ndations. 1T3 
 
 When in due time the houses were finished and the 
 bojs began to live in them, thej could not be per- 
 suaded to build a lire in a little hole at one side, but 
 placed it in the middle of the room, where they could 
 get tlie largest possible amount of benefit from it ; 
 when tlie smoke became too stifling to be endured, 
 they would go out of doors. During my stay in 
 Gurliwal I never succeeded in teaching them the use 
 of chimneys. I might have succeeded better if I liad 
 given sufficient time and labor to the experiment ; but 
 most missionaries in India discover, soon or later, that 
 they must accept native habits of life as they find 
 them, and carry to the people a Gospel which is 
 adapted to all possible conditions of men. Our 
 Saviour was brought up in a house which had no 
 chimney, and lived among people whose habits of life 
 w^ere very much more like those of my Gurhwali boys 
 than of the people of the United States. 
 
 It was fortunate for me that my presiding elder 
 w^as with me at this time, and ready to assist, not only 
 in council, but in war. There are some missionaries 
 who rigidly confine themselves to the one w^ork which 
 is assigned to them. They believe that if they do 
 their own special work they w411 do their whole duty, 
 and perhaps accomplish more than they could by 
 accepting other cares; hence they will not teach, 
 no matter how urgent the necessity, and they excuse 
 themselves from various other duties on what seems a 
 wise, and, from one point of view, reasonable princi- 
 
174 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 pie. But tliis hard and fast rule is absolutely ruinous 
 to missionary work in its earlier stages. Tiie mis- 
 sionary must be ready and willing for any thing and 
 every thing which may be thrust upon kim, and dur- 
 ing the period of foundation-laying his burdens will 
 often be very heavy indeed. Here at Paori I had a 
 case in point. We had no teachers within call, and 
 the only possible way in which we could begin our 
 contemplated school was for the missionary to become 
 a teacher. I was quite willing to assume my share of 
 the work, but I could not always be present, and twice 
 during the season I was absent on tours of some length. 
 In this emergency my practical presiding elder came 
 to the rescue, and taught in the school as patiently 
 as if he had been a youth engaged for this special 
 service. Our beginning Avas a small one, but before 
 the close of the year three boys had taken up their 
 quarters with us as boarders, and a dozen had been 
 engaged for the ensuing season. Sir Henry Ramsay 
 furnished funds for the first year, and before leaving 
 for Conference I had the satisfaction of completing 
 other arrangements both for strengthening the school 
 and for enlargement of our work elsewhere. In the 
 old town of Sreenugger, which stood in the hot valley 
 of the river, seven miles below, there was an Anglo- 
 vernacular school belonging to the government, which 
 had been well managed and was in a good condition. 
 This school, with the stone building in which it was 
 carried on, was made over to us by the government 
 
Laying Foundations. 175 
 
 inspector, and the transfer did much to strengthen 
 our position both in the town and province. Plans 
 for two or three village schools were also formed, and 
 when at the close of the year I left fo^r the plains, to 
 attend the session of our Annual Conference, I felt 
 that a little had been done in the way of preparing 
 for active work in the province. 
 
 While on the plains I had the pleasure of again 
 joining in the vigorous work carried on in the Morad- 
 abad district. New-year's eve found me back at the 
 village of Haraurha, where we had made our stand 
 under the little banyan tree. The Parkers and the 
 Mansells were there holding a meeting, and we 
 arranged to have our watch-night service in a little 
 tent among the mango-trees. Several inquirers had 
 come from other places, and it was arranged that a 
 number of baptisms should take place near midnight. 
 Among tliem was a youth who had gone with me to 
 Gurhwal as a servant, and who had been importuning 
 me to baptize him for several months. He figured in 
 the statistical tables of the year as constituting the 
 entire membership of the Gnrhwal mission, and as 
 the only person baptized during the year. He be- 
 came my Eleazer from that time forth, and remained 
 with me during the rest of my stay in l^orth India. 
 Another convert baptized that night was the wife of 
 a young man who joined me in Paori six months 
 later as a teacher. Still another was a .young man 
 belonging to tlie village near by, a man of local iniiu- 
 
176 My Mission aky ArPKENTicESHip. 
 
 ence in his caste, and whose conversion was making a 
 great stir. His wife was bitterly opposed to the step 
 he was taking, and when the critical hour drew near 
 had recourse to a device which women in India often 
 employ successfully. The converts, a dozen in num- 
 ber, were all standing in line, and the baptismal serv- 
 ice had already commenced, when a man rushed 
 over from the village, and, pushing his way through 
 the throng of men and boys who had gathered around, 
 called out that the young man's wife had become des- 
 perate, and was at that moment in the very act of 
 cutting her throat. There was a flutter in the little 
 congregation, and the young husband for a moment 
 seemed to waver, but Andrias squared his shoulders, 
 and firmly advised that the service proceed. The 
 nn'ssionaries knew very well that although enraged 
 wives did sometimes actually commit suicide in a 
 moment of desperation, yet they much more frequent- 
 ly made a great show of doing so for the purpose of 
 frightening their husbands, and in this case they felt 
 pretty sure that there was no immediate danger. A 
 message was accordingly sent back to the wife that no 
 one would interfere with her in her purpos^, and that 
 she might cut her throat to any extent that would 
 suit her purposes, but that meantime her husband 
 would certainly be baptized. The ceremony pro- 
 ceeded, and one after another the converts confessed 
 their faith in Christ, and received the outward sign 
 and seal of their profession. Three of them belonged 
 
Laying ForNDATioNS. 1Y7 
 
 to the village near by, where we had battled so hard 
 ill the early part of the year. It was a time of great 
 rejoicing, in the midst of which we for the time quite 
 forgot the poor distracted woman in the village who 
 hud seemed so bent on suicide. It need hardly be 
 added that she did not die. Her husband returned 
 !-o her, and the two talked the night away together, 
 and when morning came the fierce lioness had become 
 a gentle lamb. She sent for the missionaries, and 
 told them to their utter astonishment that she Avished 
 to accept the new faith of her husband, and begged 
 to be baptized on the spot. A little company gath- 
 ered under a tree in the village, water was brought 
 from a village well, and in the presence of her bewil- 
 dered neighbors the poor woman professed her faith 
 in Jesus Christ by receiving baptism. Her husband 
 became one of our preachers, and when I last saw her 
 she was a quiet, dutiful, and exemplary Christian 
 
 wife. 
 12 
 
178 Mr Missionary ArrRENTicESHir. 
 
 CHAPTEE XIY. 
 
 SECOND YEAR IN GURHWAL. 
 
 I returned to Giirhwal from tke Annual Conference 
 of 1867 in good spirits, and very mucli better 
 equipped for work than when I had entered the 
 province the previous year. I took with me a young 
 local preacher who was a native of Kumaon, and who 
 had been educated in the Mission Orphanage, and 
 put him in charge of Sreenugger, wliich thus became 
 an out-station of the mission at Paori. As it was 
 impossible to get a Christian teacher for the boarding- 
 school, I engaged a liberal-minded Hindu who had 
 been teaching in the mission school at Moradabad, 
 and by doing part of the teaching myself we were 
 able to carry on the school. Work was commenced 
 on the new buildings in February, and by the first of 
 April we were ready to make a formal opening of the 
 boarding-school. About a dozen boys came as board- 
 ers, and the number gradually increased until w^e had 
 thirty present. Eighteen of these were aided by 
 payments of two or three rupees a month. They 
 cooked their own food, and ate separately, or in little 
 groups arranged according to caste, but I had no 
 trouble whatever in looking after their domestic ar- 
 rangements. They were well-behaved, very studious, 
 
Second Year in Gurhwal. 179 
 
 and gifted above the average of boys of their age. 
 No one among them was ever charged or suspected 
 of immorahty, and I had no case of serious disci- 
 pline to administer during the year. At first a few 
 of them were timid and suspicious, and refused to 
 touch a copy of the New Testament lest it might 
 damage their caste, but this fear, quickly wore away. 
 In addition to the boarders other boys came in from 
 the villages in the neighborhood, so that we had 
 nearly a hundred boys in the school, and more than 
 half of these were regular attendants at the Sunday- 
 school. 
 
 Among those who applied for admission as boarders 
 were two young girls of fifteen, who came to prepare 
 themselves for teaching in girls' schools, of which 
 there was just beginning to be some talk in the prov- 
 ince. They were brought by their parents, and ac- 
 companied by the grown-up brother of one of them, 
 who was to remain with them and be responsible for 
 their oversight. Their presence was at once an 
 encouragement and a very serious embarrassment. It 
 was a rare and, indeed, an unheard-of thing for two 
 non-Christian girls to seek admission into a Christian 
 boarding-school, and I was exceedingly glad to see 
 this token of good for our work, but what to do with 
 them was a very difiicult question. There was no 
 missionary lady about the place, and not even a native 
 Christian woman of any grade, and according to 
 native ideas it was regarded, and very properly, too, 
 
180 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 as not quite riglit for tliese girls to be so far from 
 home, witli no female relative to look after tliem. 
 Fortunately, however, in this emergency Mrs. Man- 
 sell determined to come up with her children from 
 Bijnour to spend the hot months at Paori, and I at 
 once arranged to have the girls placed mider her 
 care. They were quick-witted and bright girls, and 
 learned very rapidly. They belonged to a class of 
 roving bards, who go about among the villagers recit- 
 ing popular epics which had been handed down from 
 generation to generation, without ever having been 
 reduced to writing. One of these girls could sit for 
 hours, and recite village tales in verse, which she had 
 learned from hearing them repeated by her parents, as 
 they in turn had learned from their parents in child- 
 hood. A vast amount of folk-lore is kept alive in 
 India in this oral form, and it is easy to believe the 
 assertion of some learned orientalists that the oldest 
 of the Ycdic hymns were composed long before the 
 ancient Aryans had learned the use of letters. It is 
 easy, too, for any one who has observed the accuracy 
 with which purely oral narratives can be transmitted 
 from place to place, and from generation to genera- 
 tion, to believe that the common source from which 
 the writers of the iirst three Gospels drew their 
 materials was the oral teaching which had originated 
 with the apostles and spread throughout Judea and 
 Galilee, and into more distant places, during the first 
 fifteen or twenty years after the Saviour's death. 
 
Secokd Yeak in Gurhwal. 181 
 
 In a few months I had onr whole machinery in 
 good working order, and had my hands full of 
 employment. Once a week I went down to Sreenug- 
 o-er reviewed all the classes in the school, inspected 
 two small girl's schools which the government inspect- 
 or had placed under our care, preached in the bazar 
 in the evening, and returned home at nightfall. In 
 neio-hboring villages I opened three vernacular schools, 
 and these had to be visited every two or three weeks 
 to see that the work done in them was satisfactory, 
 and to give the boys a little Gospel talk, and pray 
 with them. At home I had teaching to do in the 
 school, a Sunday-school with about fifty boys, and a 
 Sunday service at which sometimes as many as a 
 hundred were present. The people far and near 
 began to understand our purpose, and worthless in- 
 quirers began to come to me to talk about becoming 
 Christians. This part of the work was very trying. 
 Nothing could have given me greater joy than to have 
 found a genuine inquirer after Christ, but to have 
 one after another come with some corrupt or unwor- 
 thy motive concealed under a plausible profession was 
 very trying. I rejected a good many, but at last one 
 man turned up who, if his motive at first was not 
 the highest, in the end turned out well. I had a 
 number of workmen engaged on a teacher's house, 
 among whom was a young stone-mason. One day 
 this man came to me and asked for an English first- 
 book, saying he could read a little Hindi, but was 
 
182 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 anxious to learn English. Like all artisans, he was a 
 low-caste man, and in the course of a little conversa- 
 tion I said to him : 
 
 " Kjali, if you want to elevate yourself and your 
 people, you must give up Hinduism. Its rules of 
 caste will always keep you down. You know it 
 can do nothing for you, and in your heart you do 
 not believe in it. You should be a Christian, and 
 get an education, and make a man of yourself, and 
 thus be able to elevate your people." 
 
 " Agreed ! " he exclaimed, much to my surprise. 
 
 " Agreed to what ? '' 
 
 " To be a Christian." 
 
 '' Do you mean it ? " 
 
 " Certainly, I do ; I have done with gods, god- 
 desses, ghosts, and devils. I accept your religion." 
 
 I thought very little of these positive ]3romises, 
 for natives of his class think nothing of making and 
 breaking plausible promises of this kind. T gave 
 him the book, and he returned to his work. In a 
 few minutes there was a great uproar among the 
 workmen, and soon a boy came running to me to say 
 that Kyali was saying that he intended to become a 
 Christian, and to ask if it were really true. It seemed 
 that when he went back to his work he lost no time 
 in announcing his decision, but no one would believe 
 him. He assured them that he was in earnest, and 
 swore a great oath to confirm his assertion, and at 
 length so convinced them that a storm burst forth, 
 
Second Year in Gurhwal. 183 
 
 and for a time there was a great uproar. Even then 
 I was slow to believe that any thing would come of 
 it, but Kyali held firmly to his resolution. He 
 studied diligently, began to pray, adopted vari(v-- 
 Christian habits, and never again wavered in his ] 
 pose. He did not, however, seem to get any insigiit 
 whatever into the spiritual nature of the new relig- 
 ion, and for some months the question of baptism 
 was scarcely mentioned to him. 
 
 A month or two after his avowal of his purpose, a 
 man came to me with a grown-up son, some eighteen 
 or twenty years of age, and wished me take him and 
 make him a Christian. He had an unusual but very 
 plausible story, to the effect that his son had learned 
 to read and write, and in consequence stood well 
 among his low-caste friends, but that he saw clearly 
 that he had no chance in life as a Hindu, and that he 
 had heard that Christianity gave an equal chance to 
 all. He wished, therefore, to have his son pursue 
 his studies at the school, " be made a Christian," and 
 then permitted to go out into the world and work his 
 way as best he could. The youth was intelligent, and 
 seemed to enter heartily into his father's plans ; and 
 although I was greatly surprised at their course, 7 
 finally concluded that they were perfectly sincere, 
 and that if their motives were not very spiritual, yet 
 they were honorable enough, and so on the whole I 
 thought it best to receive the young man and see 
 what I could do with him. He was a model of good 
 
184 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 behavior, studied well, and from the first seemed 
 anxious for baptism. I kept him some time, and his 
 case became well-known among the people, and as 
 he was likely to be the first Gurhwali to become a 
 Christian, every thing connected with his instruction 
 and baptism was sure to be closel}^ watched. In due 
 time he was publicly baptized on a solemn profession 
 of his faith in Christ, and formally took his place 
 among the two or three Christians who were with 
 us. A few weeks later I was one day standing near 
 the school-house, when I noticed a policeman climb- 
 ing the mountain in the direction of the mission- 
 house, and in a moment a conviction flashed upon 
 me that he was coming after my convert. Why I 
 should have thought of such a thing I cannot tell, 
 but a sickening misgiving took possession of me, and 
 I felt certain that there was something wrong in his 
 case. The policeman came on up the hill, walked 
 past the house, and came directly to me. 
 
 " Have you," he said, *' a young man here named 
 S ?" 
 
 " Yes ; what do you want with him ? " 
 
 " 1 have a warrant for his arrest." 
 
 "Arrest for what?" 
 
 " For murder." 
 
 For a minute or two it seemed as if the big mount- 
 ains were whirling round my head. Every thing 
 seemed lost ; I saw at a glance that the wily father, 
 foreseeing the arrest of his son, had brought him to 
 
Second Yeai? in Guriiwal. 185 
 
 me in the hope that I would defend him in conrt 
 and secure his acquittaL I knew how the matter 
 would be talked about all over the province, how 
 contemptible our mission would be made to appear, 
 and how every convert would be ridiculed in the fut- 
 ure. I told the policeman to take the poor young 
 wretch away, and during the rest of the day I 
 think I knew the meaning of what are called mis- 
 sionary trials. It is not the heat of tropical plains, 
 or the malaria of deadly jungles, or the isolation 
 from home, or the exposure to hardship, which mis- 
 sionaries feel, but rather the trials and disappoint- 
 ments, the discouragements and reverses, which at 
 times seem to enter like iron into the very soul, and 
 sometimes leave wounds behind which are felt for 
 long months and years. 
 
 In this case, however, all was not lost. The im- 
 pression on the people around was less unfavorable 
 than I had anticipated. The young man stood his 
 trial, and every one saw clearly that the father had 
 been foiled in his purpose. It turned out that the 
 youth had not been implicated in a murder, but he 
 had accepted a small fee for writing a letter which 
 would involve an innocent man in the crime, and as it 
 seemed that he had done this without fully appreci- 
 ating the gravity of the act he was let off with a 
 light punishment. For some time he led an unsatis- 
 factory life, but at length found his way back to the 
 mission, and is now a Christian in good standing, and 
 
186 My Missionary Appkenticeship. 
 
 an official member of the Churcli. The strangest 
 thing about the case was, that so far from ruining 
 our infant cause, this crafty attempt was overruled 
 to the salvation of a whole family, and to the 
 strengthening of our mission. Four brothers of the 
 young man have since become Christians, one of whom 
 is a native preacher, a second is in the Bareilly Theo- 
 logical Seminary, a third in the school at Paori, while 
 the fourth remains at home and sustains a good char- 
 acter. I have since learned, a dozen times over, that 
 God's work can live and thrive long after the devil 
 has given formal notice that utter and final ruin has 
 overtaken it. 
 
 In the month of July an orphan boy came to the 
 mission-house and asked me to take him in and make 
 him a Cliristian. As he had neither friends nor 
 home I received him as sent by God. In a few days 
 another came, and then a third, and before the end 
 of the month a fourth. I received them all, and put 
 them to work among the laborers employed on the 
 mission premises. They were able to earn enough 
 by their work to pay for their food, besides spending 
 some hours daily in school. A fifth boy came, and I 
 saw that an orphanage was likely to grow up around 
 me. Harkua, the lad who had accompanied me to 
 America, was in Moradabad, where he had been at- 
 tending school since his return, and as he was a 
 mountaineer by birth I sent down for him to come 
 up and take charge of the orphans. He came 
 
Second Year in Gurhwal. 187 
 
 promptly, and entered upon his work with great 
 enthusiasm. Meanwhile other boys came, so that 
 we had ten under our care before the close of the 
 season. They learned rapidly, and if not at first very 
 spiritually-minded were at least enthusiastic Chris- 
 tians. They sang lustily, and it was a joy to me to 
 hear them make the mountains ring with the praises 
 of Him who of old had weighed the mountains in 
 scales and the hills in a balance. They lived in 
 the most simple style, and during my stay in Paori 
 it did not cost more than a dollar a month for each 
 boy to provide them with food and clothing. They 
 added much to the interest of our meetings, and gave 
 promise of growing up to be useful Christian men. 
 
 The two young girls had been doing well, and both 
 of them had been somewhat interested in Christianity. 
 They were light-hearted, however, and as they had 
 been kept unmarried beyond the usual age of Hindu 
 brides, their heads were sometimes filled with other 
 thoughts than those pertaining to religion. One of 
 them took a fancy to an imposing-looking Mohamrae- 
 dan who had one wife already, and, with the sanguine 
 faith so characteristic of her sex in such emergencies, 
 made sure that she would win him over to be a 
 Christian after they were married. As for his wife, 
 the poor child did not see any special difficulty in her 
 case. Her husband could put her away, or she might 
 become a Christian and live with them in peace. We 
 succeeded in bi-eaking up this little arrangement, but 
 
18S My Missionary Appkenticeship. 
 
 it required all oiir skill and firmness to accomplish it. 
 Meanwhile Ilarkiia arrived, and at once it was evi- 
 dent that he was an object of profound interest to the 
 young ladies. lie had reverted to his Hindustani 
 style of living, and wore the ordinary clothes of native 
 young men, but there was something about his man- 
 ner which impressed the simple people, and he was 
 very commonly addressed as " Sahib," the title given 
 to Europeans. It soon became evident that a new 
 crisis was at hand. The girl wdio had been passed 
 over by the Mohammedan suitor found favor in the 
 eyes of the young stranger, and was herself in a de- 
 lirium of joy at the thought of her good fortune in 
 having won a lover of such brilliant promise. Her 
 parents were quickly on the scene, and while not angry 
 at the course which events were taking, yet made a 
 great show of opposition in the hope of exacting 
 favorable terms from the young suitor. It is the cus- 
 tom in Gurhwal for the bridegroom to i:)ay a good 
 round sum to the parents of the bride, and, unlike 
 some other parts of India, girls are there regarded as 
 so much wealth in the family. While this custom 
 had the one merit of preventing infanticide, it was, 
 after all, but another name for selling children, and 
 in a province given up to polygamy was open to the 
 greatest objections on moral grounds. Hence we 
 thought it best to take a stand against it, and Ilarkua 
 himself was utterly averse to it. He was ready to 
 promise every thing fair and fine, but to pay a price 
 
Second Year in Gurhwal. 189 
 
 for liis wife was a thing which he peremptorily re- 
 fused to do, or even to talk about. 
 
 Finding ordinary negotiation of no use, the parents 
 determined to try the effect of a removal of their 
 daughter. The mother brought her into the house, 
 told Mrs. Mansell that she would take her away, and 
 that there must be an end to the whole affair unless 
 the money demanded was paid. Harkua stood by list- 
 ening to what w^as said, and the girl, whose name was 
 "Garland," was the picture of distress. After the talk 
 had gone on for some time Harkua suddenly flanked 
 the bartering mother in the most unexpected manner. 
 Turning to the despairing girl he said : " This is 
 your business. Choose for yourself : if you marry 
 me you must be a Christian, and if a Christian you 
 must break your caste. Are you ready to do that ? " 
 The response in the affirmative was quick and em- 
 phatic. An apple-pie was on the table, and Harkua, 
 taking up a knife, cut off a slice and handed it to her. 
 She ate, and in a moment her caste was gone, and her 
 price in tlie general matrimonial market had gone down 
 to zero. The mother stood for a moment transfixed 
 with rage, and then seized her daughter and began 
 to strip her of her ornaments. Half a dozen rings 
 were taken out of each ear, silver ornaments removed 
 from her hair, bracelets and anklets taken from her 
 arms and ankles, and then her very clothing taken 
 from her. Mrs. Mansell quietly provided othei 
 clothing, and the enraged dame was permitted to 
 
190 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 carry all away. For two or three days the storm 
 raged with unabated fury, and then there came a great 
 calm. Peace was made, reconciliation followed, the 
 young people were married in the presence of the 
 parents, and Ilarkua led away a bride whom he had 
 fairly wooed and won, and for whom he had paid no 
 base coin. 
 
 In the latter part of the season I succeeded in en- 
 gaging a Christian teacher for the boarding-school, 
 and the Hindu, who had been doing his work fairly 
 well, returned to his home on the plains. I had now 
 three Christian families in Gurhwal, and when the 
 presiding eld^r came up in September we were able 
 to hold a Quarterly Conference and formally organize 
 the Church. Ilarkua's wife had been baptized, and 
 also a brother who had come over from Kumaon, so 
 that we had six members and three probationers to 
 begin with. Every day now added new interest to 
 the work, and the outlook appeared very favorable 
 indeed. Mrs. Parker, who was in feeble health, came 
 up with her husband. Mr. Mansell had also come, and 
 during the fortnight which they spent at Paori I had 
 a royal time. There was enough to do to keep us all 
 busy, and for two weeks our little mission station 
 was the scene of constant activity. One little task 
 was accomplished during those two weeks which is 
 perhaps worthy of special mention, and which, in its 
 ultimate eifects, has proved of great importance to 
 the w^hole of the North India mission. 
 
Second Year in Gurhwal. 191 
 
 A District Association had been organized for tlie 
 Moradabad District, chiefly through the efforts of 
 Brothers Parker and Mansell, and had been worked 
 with great success. It inchided in its membership 
 all the missionaries, local preachers, exhorters, and 
 Christian teachers within the bounds of the district. 
 These various grades of missionary w^orkers were in- 
 creasing in number from year to year, and it seemea 
 necessary to provide some plan for their formal or- 
 ganization. At that time it was understood that the 
 authorities at home did not wish to see any consider- 
 able number of these men admitted to the Annual 
 Conference, and hence it became necessary to provide 
 some kind of similar organization for them. To let 
 them remain as ecclesiastical nondescripts for any 
 length of time was impossible, and for one pressing 
 reason was very undesirable. These " mission help- 
 ers" were under the direction of the several mission- 
 aries, and were not subject to removal by any author- 
 ity excepting the missionary in each particular case. 
 The Discipline made no provision for fixing the 
 yearly appointments of local preachers and exhorters, 
 and the Missionary Society had made no attempt to 
 deal with the question. Our familiar " itinerancy " 
 was needed in the case of these men, and every year 
 would be needed more imperatively. During that 
 fortnight at Paori a constitution for tlie association 
 was drawn up, in which it was provided that the pre- 
 siding elder should be ex-officio president, and that 
 
192 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 he should annually, with the advice of the several 
 r)reachers in charge, fix the appointments of all the 
 local preachers and exhorters throughout the districts. 
 In other words, it was provided that he act the part 
 of a president of an Annual Conference, constitute a 
 ''cabinet," and fix the appointments in due form. 
 After a good deal of hesitation it was determined to 
 change the name of the organization from District 
 Association to District Conference. This was before 
 the General Conference had made provision for Dis- 
 trict Conferences, and our fear was that the word Con- 
 ference would excite alarm, and make some parties 
 think we wxre aiming at something dangerous, if not 
 rfvolutionary. In all our attempts to develop our 
 work in India we have found it necessary to have due 
 iv:gard to the inexperience and incapacity of weak 
 men in India and the misplaced apprehension of 
 strong men in America. 
 
 When we met at the close of the year the native 
 brethren voted upon the constitution, '• item oy item," 
 vrith an intelligent interest and a frank independence 
 which greatly pleased us. Several clauses which the 
 inissionaries favored were unhesitatingly amended or 
 st'-icken out, the most notable one being the " time- 
 limit." The missionaries had thought it best not to 
 insist on a time-limit, but the native brethren, by a 
 large majority, adopted the three-years' limitation of 
 service of the Discipline. At the close of the Con- 
 ference forty-three native brethren were assigned to 
 
Second Year in Gurhwal. 193 
 
 appointments, and as the list was read out bj the pre- 
 siding elder the eager attention of the audience 
 showed that the people were aware that the District 
 Conference was to them vastly more than any in- 
 formal association could ever be. Two years later = 
 when Bishop Kingsley presided in the Annual Con- 
 ference, a report of a committee w^iich had been 
 previously appointed was adopted, by which it was 
 provided that this plan should be adopted in each of 
 the three districts of the mission, and in reply to a 
 question on a point of law the Bishop gave a guarded 
 but very emphatic opinion in favor of the arrange- 
 ment. It was, no doubt, an act of ecclesiastical legis- 
 lation by an Annual Conference, but it was justified 
 by the emergency, and its results have been most 
 satisfactory. The District Conferences have steadily 
 grown in influence, and are now most important 
 assemblies, and in the early future must become An- 
 nual Conferences in both name and fact. They have to 
 retain an awkward and unmeanins: nomenclature, 
 their local preachers being itinerants, their exhorters 
 pastors, and their traveling preachers men outside of 
 the " time-limit," but they apply their own meaning 
 to the terms and work away successfully enough. 
 
 I relate this little bit of history the more readil;y 
 because my own share in the work was that of a late 
 comer upon the field who had the honor of entering 
 into other men's labors. I ought to mention, too, 
 
 that a similar association had been organized in the 
 13 
 
104 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 T'areillj District, and had been working successfully 
 lor several years. The whole case illustrates the wis- 
 dom of allowing a good deal of freedom of action to 
 those who work in mission fields. Had we appealed 
 to the General Conference for a legal sanction for our 
 plan, or for something better, we would merely have 
 created alarm, have brought down upon our heads 
 endless lectures about the excellence and inviolabiUty 
 of the Methodist Discipline, and the necessity of 
 maintaining intact the organism of tlie Church in 
 every part of the globe, while not a hand would have 
 been lifted to show us a way out of our difficulties. 
 It may be doubted if any ecclesiastical body in mod- 
 ern times has ever, in a single instance, provided suc- 
 cessful legislation for the local developments of the 
 foreign missions under its care. 
 
 As my second year in Gurhwal drew near its close 
 I was able to make some farther arrangements for 
 strengthening the mission. A large stone building 
 in Sreenugger was purchased at a nominal price, and 
 under its roof I was able to find accommodation for 
 our native preacher and two or three teachers, and 
 also a room which could be fitted up for a chapel. I 
 also received a promise from the magistrate to pro- 
 vide from government funds for twenty scholarships 
 in our boys' boarding-school. Meanwhile, inquirers 
 had continued to come, and I had five or six candi- 
 dates for baptism. As I was obliged to go down to 
 the plains to the District and Annual Conferences, I 
 
' Secoxd Year in Gckhwal. 195 
 
 had arranged with Mr. Mansesll to hold a joint 
 meeting at the city of l^ageena, some twenty-two 
 miles from the foot of the mountains. The orphan 
 boys were eager to go, and I was able to persnade 
 tliree of the adult inquirers to accompany them. I 
 was thus able to descend from the mountains at the 
 close of- the year with a band of seventeen persons en 
 route to a Methodist camp-meeting. Some twenty- 
 five or thirty Christians from the plains met us, and 
 we held our meeting in a mango orchard on the out- 
 skirts of the city. Two tents were pitched among the 
 trees, and a canopy raised in front, under which the 
 people sat on a carpet, and joined in the worship. 
 In addition to the meetings held in this little camp, 
 we went into the city every evening and preached in 
 an open space, where a large crowd of rather bellig- 
 erent Mohammedans gathered around us, eager to 
 dispute if not to hear. On Sunday morning we held 
 a formal love-feast, which proved an occasion of great 
 blessing to those present. Many of our converts were 
 persons who had been intellectually convinced, and 
 who had shown signs of repentance, but who did not 
 seem to have advanced very far beyond what might 
 be called John's baptism. They were not spiritual^ 
 and it was our constant prayer tliat they might be 
 lifted up into newness of life in Christ Jesus. While 
 we were talking in this love-feast the Holy Spirit fell 
 upon us as at the beginning. Some were made to 
 rejoice, some deeply moved with a feeling of com- 
 
196 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 passion for their countrymen, and others convicted of 
 sin. It was an hour of blessing, and of greater bless- 
 ing than any of us at the time realized. A divine 
 spark had fallen upon some of those hearts, and sacred 
 fire was to be borne thence to places far away. 
 
 The meeting closed the same night. A baptismal 
 service was appointed for the closing hour, and as my 
 orphans w^ere anxious to be baptized I thought it best 
 to let them follow their own convictions. The three 
 adults who had accompanied me were also baptized, 
 together with several persons from the plains. One 
 feature of the baptism of the hill men was at once 
 ludicrous and touching. Each man wore a long tuft 
 of hair upon the crown of his head, and when they 
 came forward for baptism the native brethren called 
 attention to the fact that this was a mark of Hinduism, 
 and, as such, ought to be removed before proceeding 
 with the ceremony. The candidates hesitated, and 
 begged to be allowed to retain the tufts till after their 
 friends had become reconciled to their baptism. The 
 Christians assured them that this would entangle them 
 in acts of duplicity, and urged them not to shrink 
 from their duty. Harkua stood in front with a large 
 pair of shears in his hand, eagerly waiting for their 
 decision, and when at last consent was given he seized 
 the tuft of the man -nearest to him, pulled down his 
 head, and the click of the shears soon told that the 
 Hindu mark was gone. The second and the third 
 followed quickly, and the three tufts of hair lay like 
 
Second Year in Gurhwal. 197 
 
 60 many trophies on the carpet. There was a slight 
 ripple of amusement in the audience, but when the 
 service proceeded this quickly gave place to a deep 
 but joyous solemnity. Kyali, the young stone-mason, 
 was the first to receive baptism, and from that hour 
 he has led a most exemplary life. He is now the 
 Simon Peter of the Church in Gurhwal, a preacher 
 of approved fidelity and much spiritual power. The 
 other two men and the ten boys stood in a line, and 
 one after another confessed their faith in Christ and 
 received the sign and seal of baptism. I could not 
 but rejoice, even in that day of small things. I had 
 spent two fragments of years in Gurhwal, and was 
 now on my way to Conference to report five schools 
 for boys, two for girls, and a Christian community of 
 twenty-six souls. I was not to return again to my 
 mountain home, but as the work had not been mine, 
 it was not to stop when I left. There are now three 
 hundred Christians in Gurhwal. A large stone build- 
 ing has been erected for the boys' school, which is 
 now a flourishing institution, and another for the 
 growing girls' orphanage and school. The old mission- 
 house has given place to a substantial and attractive 
 building, and seven hundred and seventy-four boys 
 iiid girls are taught in the twenty-eight schools of 
 the mission. 
 
198 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 CHAPTER XY. 
 
 MORADABAD. 
 
 AT the beginning of 1868 I received my first ap- 
 pointment to a station on the plains. My 
 health had been so unsatisfactory in Gurhwal that 
 nothing but an urgent necessity could have induced 
 the brethren to think of calling me down from the 
 mountains, but there seemed no other way of filling 
 a vacancy which had occurred in Moradabad, while a 
 substitute for Gurhwal was ready at hand. After 
 much hesitation it was finally determined tliat I 
 should give the plains a fair trial, and in case my 
 health should give way I was to be allowed to return 
 again to Gurhwal, or possibly, if the case should be 
 serious, give up India and return to Amei'ica. 
 
 Moradabad is a thriving city in western Rohilcund, 
 and at that time contained a population of about 
 80,000 souls. In the district of Moradabad there is a 
 population of 1,155,1 Y3 souls, being 506 to the 
 square mile, and the field was at that time tlie most 
 inviting and fruitful in the whole mission. Tlie 
 work assigned to me was exceedingly congenial, and 
 for a few weeks I thought that I had at last found 
 my place, and that my time of worry and care was 
 now over. I was to have charge of the native 
 
MORADABAD. 199 
 
 cliurcli in Moradabad and of the new work opening 
 in the southern part of the district, and was to give 
 my exclusive time and attention to preaching and 
 pushing forward aggressive Christian work. E"o 
 teaching or supervision of schools, no building or 
 secular interests of any kind, w^ere to come in the 
 wa}'. An efficient band of native helpers were to 
 assist me, and with a hundred open doors before me 
 1 entered upon the year with the utmost enthu- 
 siasm and confidence. Mr. Parker, the presiding 
 elder, was my colleague, and he generously took 
 charge of the schools and all the more harassing part 
 of the work. I was constantly among the people, 
 and could preach to large audiences every day in the 
 year. 
 
 I lost no time in going out into the villages, and 
 had several plans formed for vigorous operations 
 during the year, when suddenly all my fine arrange- 
 ments were scattered to the winds. While out in 
 the country a messenger arrived one day from Morad- 
 abad with a note, from which I learned that Mrs. 
 Parker had been peremptorily ordered out of the 
 country by her physician, and that her husband, 
 who was also ill, was to accompany her. We had" 
 no one in India to take his place, and there was ncl 
 help for it but for me to add his work to my own. 
 This would give me daily teaching in the High 
 School, the supervision of the branch schools, the sec- 
 ular care of the mission, and. the presiding eldership 
 
^00 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 of the district. The hot weather was just coming on, 
 and with the uncertainties of health, my inexperi- 
 ence on the plains, and the multitude of cares to be 
 assumed, I felt for a few days completely dismayed 
 at the outlook. In all the twenty-five years past no 
 burden has ever seemed to press upon me so heavily 
 as this did for the first few weeks. I smile when I 
 think of it now, but I felt it most painfully at the 
 time. The charge of the school would have been 
 quite enough of itself, but to add to this daily 
 preaching, frequent journeys, endless interviewing 
 of native Christians from all directions, the settle- 
 ment of all manner of domestic affairs in a hundred 
 homes, and the management of the finances of both the 
 circuit and district, all these things seemed to be more 
 than enough to overwhelm me. I had no reason, how- 
 ever, to borrow trouble. Another lesson had to be 
 learned, and learned so as not to be forgotten. When an 
 avalanche of work suddenly descends, as it very often 
 does descend, and blocks up the pathway before us, it 
 can nearjy always be cleared out of the way in a very 
 short time if taken in detail, just as each se]3arate 
 task presents itself. The avalanche may defy our 
 strength, but by concentrating attention upon the 
 duty of the moment we lose sight of the great mass, 
 and quickly begin to toss our finished tasks over our 
 shoulders, and ere we know it the whole vast mass 
 lies behind us, while we start forward again with an 
 exhilarating feeling of confidence and hope. In my 
 
MORADABAD. 201 
 
 own case I was not long in discovering that I had 
 ahogether overrated the size of the avalanche. By 
 taking np the duties of each day just as they pre- 
 sented themselves, I soon found that I could do the 
 w^ork, if not well, at least much better than I had 
 dared to hope. As for health, although the season 
 was a trying one, I suffered little, and from that time 
 forward ceased to be reckoned among the semi-inva- 
 lids of the mission. 
 
 My work during this and the following year made 
 it necessary for me to keep two, and sometimes three, 
 horses. I traveled in a spring cart, and made most of 
 my journeys at night. A horse would be sent out ten 
 or twelve miles, another twenty or twenty-five miles, 
 and a third thirty-five or forty miles. By borrowing 
 a horse for the first and last stages, I could make a 
 journey of sixty miles in a night, and thus after the 
 work of. the week I could make night journeys to 
 various points in the country, visit our people, and 
 hold meetings on Saturday and Sunday. This in- 
 volved hard work, and I still remember, as if it were 
 but yesterday, the heavy drow^siness of the long, 
 hot nights, and the attempt to sleep in the close air 
 of the low-roofed huts during the day. I took with 
 me a Christian boy who served as cook, a small roll 
 of bedding, and a basket of provisions. Thus 
 equipped I could live during the cold season in very 
 enjoyable comfort for weeks together. The poor 
 villagers were glad to set a house at my disposal, 
 
202 My Missionary Appeenticeship. * 
 
 and this was usually well cleaned by having a thin 
 coat of mud plastered over the walls and floor the 
 day before my arrival. They would gladly have 
 supplied all my wants, but their extreme poverty 
 made this impossible. Sometimes they would ask 
 the privilege of inviting me to a single meal, but 
 more frequently would merely send a choice dish for 
 my table. The fattest fowl in the village was some- 
 times killed in honor of my coming, and the white 
 meat carefully separated for my table, while the rest 
 would be served up for the Christians who went 
 with me. 
 
 The teaching staff of the High School in Morada- 
 bad consisted of one Scotchman, one Bengalee, four 
 north India Hindus, and one Mohammedan. The 
 successful administration of the affairs of the school 
 required much skill and constant oversight, and it 
 was considered necessary for a missionary in person 
 to be present and bear a part in the work of teaching, 
 in order to keep up the prestige of the institution. 
 There were also four branch schools in the city 
 which required frequent visits, and four girls' schools 
 which gave me no little trouble, but which I was 
 never permitted to see. Both teachers and pupils 
 were kept in strict seclusion, and all I could do by 
 way of inspecting the schools was to sit in front of a 
 screen and ask questions, which were answered by in- 
 visible persons, who might have been pupils, and yet 
 very probably were teachers or other older persons.. 
 
MoRADABAD. 203 
 
 I liked the teaching, and very quickly became intense- 
 ly interested in the school work, but every day, and 
 almost every hour, 1 was pursued by a conviction that 
 tliis was not my work. I longed to be off on preach- 
 ing tours, and every time I made a flying visit tc 
 the villages it seemed as if God would have me 
 leave the schools and every thing else, and give my 
 whole time and strength to the one work of evan- 
 gehzing the people. 
 
 Meanwhile, as the months passed by God did not 
 leave us without tokens of blessing. The native 
 Church in Moradabad made some advancement, and 
 in the villages there were very encouraging move- 
 ments among the class of people from whom we had 
 drawn most of our converts. At the city of Amroha, 
 twenty miles west of Moradabad, Brother Zahur-ul- 
 Haqq, who had been with me at Nynee Tal, was sta- 
 tioned, and all over his circuit an active work was 
 going on among a low-caste tribe of people who had 
 come from the Punjab, called Mazhabi Sikhs. At 
 one place I baptized ten persons, and at another thir- 
 teen, all being the fruits of the labors of native 
 brethren. At more distant points people were calling 
 for us to visit them, and Brother Zahur-ul-Haqo 
 urged me to arrange for an extended tour in a new 
 region where but little Christian preaching had ever 
 been heard. Dr. Waugh was at that time presiding 
 elder of the Oudh District, and when I wrote him 
 of the loud call which we were hearing, and of my 
 
SOi My Mission aky Appep:nticeship. 
 
 intense anxiety to get free from tlie school, he gener- 
 ously proposed to let one of his colleagues, the Rev. 
 F. M. Wheeler, come to my relief. Mr. Wheeler, like 
 myself, was very anxious to give himself wholly to 
 the work of preaching, but in view of the necessity 
 of the case loyally and cheerfully took his place in 
 the school, and set me free for the work which I so 
 earnestly desired. 
 
 On the morning of the 15th of October I set out 
 from Moradabad, and in a few hours was among our 
 Christians in the villages. I puslied forward to a 
 town called Bashta, about forty miles to the north- 
 west, stopping at various points along the route, bap- 
 tizing a few converts, talking to the people, listening 
 to grievances, confirming their weak faith, and trying 
 to arrange for a better observance of their religious 
 services, Notice had been given that a large meeting 
 would be held in Bashta on Sunday, and we were 
 very hopeful of a great work among the people. 
 We were going in response to repeated and urgent 
 calls, and felt confident of a cordial reception. Zahur- 
 ul-Haqq and several other preachers were with me, 
 and Ave were prepared to push a vigorous campaign. 
 On our first arrival, however, no one came near us. 
 It was a sore disappointment to me, for I had hoped 
 for great things from this visit, and I could not under- 
 stand the strange conduct of the people. It turned 
 out in the end that they were not so false as at first 
 they seemed. They had merely been seized by one 
 
MOKADABAD, 205 
 
 of those panics with which missionaries in India 
 become so familiar, which at the last moment nnnerve 
 even sincere men, and keep them from an open con- 
 fession of Christ by baptism. 'No violation of caste 
 rules is so unpardonable as Christian baptism. This 
 one act creates a Rubicon so wide and deep between 
 the convert and all the world in which he has lived 
 and moved before, that very many men of deep ear- 
 nestness shrink back when brought face to face with 
 it. These simple people in the villages around Bashta 
 really thought they intended to be Christians, and so 
 long as we were at a distance they were quite ready 
 to make promises, but now that the decisive hour had 
 come the courage of many gave way, and a panic 
 seemed to be spreading among them on every side. 
 
 On Friday evening we visited a village near by 
 and talked to the inquirers living in it for some time. 
 They had many excuses and many promises to make, 
 but declined to take any decisive steps toward be- 
 coming Christians. After a long talk I told them I 
 mu^t leave, but before doing so asked them to kneel 
 down and join with us in prayer. They all bowed 
 down to the ground, Tvhile I prayed earnestly but 
 with a heavy heart, for I fully expected to leave them 
 and pass on to another place. When we rose I began 
 to bid them farewell, but was suddenly interrupted 
 by the head man of the company, who held out his 
 hand and gave me his promise to accept baptism at 
 once. Others followed, and the result was that we 
 
206 My Missionary Appeenticeship. 
 
 returned to the village the next evening, held a de- 
 lightful meeting, and at its close baptized eight men 
 and three women. We were all happj, and yet I had 
 serious misgivings about what we had done. These 
 three women knew very little about Christ or Chris- 
 tianity. They differed from the other women around 
 them chiefly in the fact that they were friendly to 
 Christianity, while the others hated it, but very few 
 missionaries would have pronounced them " prepared 
 for baptism." The men were better informed, and 
 some of them more in earnest, but I had grave mis- 
 givings even in the case of the best of them. I feared 
 very much that I had acted too precipitately, but 
 there had seemed no other way open to me. To 
 have left the people till they were better prepared 
 would have been to abandon them to the wiles of in- 
 triguing neighbors, who would almost certainly have 
 entangled them in various snares, and thus made it 
 nearly impossible to get them safely within the Chris- 
 tian fold. I hoped that it would all turn out right, 
 but feared it might be otherwise. Little did 1 dream, 
 however, as I lay down to sleep that night. )f the 
 lesson which was in store for me next day. 
 
 Notice had been circulated through all the villages 
 around that the grand meeting on Sunday would be 
 held at eleven o'clock, and I had looked forward to 
 this hour with eager expectation. The day was 
 bright and clear, and a sweet Sabbath calm rested 
 upon the quiet grove where our little camp was 
 
MORADABAD. 207 
 
 pitched. Eleven o'clock came, but no audience ap- 
 peared. This, however, did not very much surprise 
 us, as the simple villagers in India have no idea of 
 time, and on all such occasions may come an hour 
 earlier or two hours later than the hour appointed. 
 We waited till afternoon, and then gathered togethei 
 a little company under a tree, where I preached, and 
 afterward baptized two men, a woman, and a child. 
 A few more stragglers dropped in, and at five o'clock 
 I preached again, and baptized two women and two 
 children. Shortly after I had commenced preaching 
 a large company arrived and took their places under 
 the tree, where they listened very attentively. While 
 I was baptizing the candidates all had risen to their 
 feet and were watching the ceremony with the great- 
 est interest, but I had not given them any special 
 thought. At the close, to my utter astonishment, 
 eleven men stepped forward, and asked me to baptize 
 them. They seemed serious and resolute, but I 
 shrank from the idea of admitting so many unin- 
 structed men to the holy rite of baptism. I accord- 
 ingly told them that I was very glad to see them take 
 this step, but that it would be necessary to give them 
 preparatory instruction, and that in due time I would 
 come again and baptize them. I saw their coun- 
 tenances fall in a moment, but did not divine the 
 cause. Zahur-ul-Haqq, however, was master of the 
 situation. To make time, he started a hymn, and 
 then coming up to me, quietly said : 
 
208 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 " If you put these men off in this way, they will 
 not believe you. They will merely think that you 
 have some secret reason for doubting them, and we 
 shall see them no more. We must take them just as 
 they come. Let them see that we trust them, and 
 then they will trust us. If we do not accept them, 
 and baptize them, we cast them off altogether." 
 
 I was in a great strait, and for a minute or two I 
 knew not what to do. But it would have been fatal 
 for me to seem to vacillate, and whatever w^as to be 
 done must be done at once, and done firmly and con- 
 fidently. I lifted my heart to God in prayer, and my 
 decision was made. The men were called forward, 
 and I told them that by the advice of Zahur-ul-Haqq 
 I had determined to baptize them first and instruct 
 them afterward. They brightened up at once, and 
 were baptized in the midst of a rejoicing little com- 
 pany of Christians. 
 
 I left Bashta with no little misgiving. I had bap- 
 tized twenty-seven adults, and organized them into a 
 church, appointed a pastor over them, and arranged 
 for a careful supervision of the work ; but when I 
 thought of those raw converts my heart almost sank 
 within me. How could they be expected to hold to- 
 gether, adopt Christian habits, and develop the life of 
 a genuine Christian church ? What would other mis- 
 sionaries think of this wholesale baptizing of ignorant 
 men whom I had never seen before, and whose ante- 
 cedents and even names I knew little or nothing of 
 
MORADABAD. 209 
 
 whatever ? I was troubled not a little with question- 
 ings of this kind as I went on my way, but it was all 
 for nothing. God was in the work. The little 
 church founded in the wilderness, and built out of 
 sucli rough material, was not to fall into speedy 
 decay. A year later I visited the place and held a 
 meeting, which was greatly blessed. Mr. Wheeler 
 and Zahur-ul-Haqq were with me, and the latter re- 
 ceived a rich anointing of the Spirit which added 
 greatly to his efficiency in the work. On Sunday I 
 baptized fifteen adults, and, after receiving the com- 
 munion, one hundred and two Christians sat down 
 under the mango -trees to a common meal. The 
 church at Bashta now holds a notable place among 
 the Cliristians of that region, and the survivors of the 
 group who were first baptized consider it the chief 
 honor of their lives that they belonged to the early 
 pioneers of that day of small things. 
 
 The happy outcome of this singular movement did 
 much to modify my views with regard to baptizing 
 immature converts, but I would not have it under- 
 stood for a moment that a similar course would in 
 every case result so favorably. Beyond all doubt 
 God would have us exercise a wise discretion in this 
 matter. Some people who are eager for baptism 
 may b3 much less sincere than others who realize 
 that it is to them a very Eubicon, and who hesitate 
 because they realize the weight of the obligations 
 which it imposes. I merely state the facts as they 
 
210 My Missionary xIpprenticeship. 
 
 occurred, and leave missionary readers to draw their 
 own inferences. From this time forward I adopted 
 the policy of baptizing parties Avitliout hesitation 
 who seemed fully decided to be Christians, and who 
 could not safely be left in the equivocal position of 
 inquirers in the midst of hostile neighbors. This 
 was particularly necessary in the case of wives whose 
 husbands had become Christians before them. It 
 more than once happened that when we left such 
 wives for a time to be prepared for baptism, crafty 
 friends managed to make trouble between them and 
 their husbands, and thus succeeded in either breaking 
 up the family or winning the husband back to his 
 former ways. 
 
 Space will not permit me to note all the events of 
 this memorable year. Suffice it to say that I suc- 
 ceeded in holding all the quarterly meetings of the 
 districts, except at my former station of Paori, and I 
 even succeeded in reaching that remote place twice 
 during the year. Each of the five circuits on the dis- 
 trict reported an encouraging increase in member- 
 ship. Two weeks before the close of the year Mr. 
 Wheeler and I went out to a village nine miles from 
 Moradabad, where a number of families having Chris- 
 tian relatives resided, and here again we saw a sudden 
 and remarkable decision for (^hrist. Twenty-three 
 persons were baptized on the spot, and other inquirers 
 were reported from villages near by. Best of all, the 
 year closed amid showers of blessing upon all the 
 
MORADABAD. 211 
 
 native preachers of the district. They had met for 
 their District Conference at Moradabad, and a deep 
 and. fervent feehng pervaded all the meetings. A 
 work of revival had broken out at a camp-meeting in 
 the Bareilly District, and Mr. Jndd, with three of 
 the native brethren, came over to Moradabad, all 
 aflame with love and zeal for God and souls. Their 
 coming was greatly blessed, and at the watch-night 
 meeting on New-year's-eve a baptism of power cume 
 upon the assembly which made many of those dear 
 native preachers new men. That was in reality an 
 era in our India mission work. Kot many noted 
 it at the time, but the work, which had been spread- 
 ing out rapidly, received a spiritual quickening w^hich 
 placed it upon a new vantage ground, and probably 
 averted disasters which we could not then foresee. 
 
 A rapid sketch of this Ivind will give a very imper- 
 fect idea of the difficulties which we encountered in 
 gathering together and caring for these people. The 
 work was by no means a light recreation. It cost us 
 much anxiety and mnch hard and disagreeable labor. 
 Many were prone in a time of trial to go back to 
 their heathen practices, nearly all were slow to learn 
 the law of the Sabbath, and in some places it was 
 nearly impossible to induce them to hold regular 
 Sunday services. They had little idea of time, and 
 paid very little attention to engagements of any kind. 
 On one occasion, when out in the villages, a man 
 came to me in the evening to say that his child \ad 
 
212 My Missionary Apprenticp:ship. 
 
 died, and that he wished me to bury it the next morn- 
 ing. I was touched by the poor man's story, gave 
 liim money with which to buy a shroud, and prom- 
 ised to be present at early sunrise. The weather was 
 in tersely hot at the time, and I urged him to have 
 every thing ready, so that I might return before the 
 sun became too oppressive. To my surprise, how- 
 ever, when I arrived at his village I found that the 
 grave had not been dug, the shroud had not been 
 purchased, and no one was doing a thing to hasten 
 tlie preparations. I waited an hour or more, and 
 then had to direct the work myself. In the soft 
 earth near the margin of a large pond a grave was 
 dug about three feet deep, a small coffin-shaped hole 
 was made at the bottom, the little corpse was laid in 
 this, and protected from the clods by a few branches 
 of a thorn bush, and then the earth filled in above. 
 The vexatious trifling of the friends might have indi- 
 cated to some an utter indifference, and yet the poor 
 people had hearts and felt very deeply. 
 
 In those days I made it a point to insist on a radi- 
 cal reform in dress on the part of the village women, 
 but here I encountered a determined opposition. 
 They not only wore a profusion of coarse ornaments, 
 but their hair was tied up into a kind of horn shaped 
 knot on the crown of the head, and this, with the 
 colored cotton sheet which covered the head, gave the 
 poor creatures a very ungraceful appearance. I not 
 only insisted on their laying off their ornaments, but, 
 
MOKADABAD. 213 
 
 with a lack of good sense wliicli now amazes me, I 
 made war on the top-knot, and urged the dear sisters 
 to adopt a style of dress which would everj-where 
 distinguish them from their heathen neighbors, for- 
 getting that I had no business to lay down a. rule of 
 d) ess for the native Christians, and that, in any case, 
 it was desirable to interfere just as little as possible 
 with their food, dress, or occupations. The women 
 were much more ignorant than their husbands, and 
 usually held out long and bitterly against them when 
 they wished to become Christians. I was very unwise 
 in adding to their troubles, and in the sharp contest 
 which w^as carried on between us I w^as decidedly 
 worsted. There was one point, however, on which 1 
 insisted long and strenuously. For some unexplained 
 reason the custom prevailed in that caste that a wife 
 should never be allowed to show her face to the elder 
 brothers of her husband, although the younger broth- 
 ers miglit see and converse with lier freely. It so hap- 
 pened at one point, that two or three of our leading 
 men were elder brothers to so mauy of the w^omen 
 of influence, that it was impossible to hold a class- 
 meeting, or indeed to get the two sexes together for 
 any kind of joint worship, unless of tlie most formal 
 character. I reasoned with them till I was tired, and 
 hnally determined to break up the custom by a coup 
 de main. One day I was to preach in the village 
 ehapel, and before the service I exliorted the women 
 to come in and sit down unveiled, and thus show, 
 
21i My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 once for all, that they had thrown their foolish cue- 
 torn to the winds. The husbands had given their 
 consent, but I w^as by no means assured that my ex- 
 hortations would be heeded. The hour of service 
 arrived, and the men filed into the little mud- walled 
 chapel, and, according to custom, took their seats on 
 the floor at one side of the room. The women's side 
 of the chapel was ominously vacant, and for a time 
 I thought they must have conspired to stay away ; 
 but soon after the service had commenced a file of 
 the good sisters entered the chapel. The class-lead- 
 er's wife was at tlie head of the party, and she led 
 tlie way to the corner on my left, where she busied 
 herself for a minute or two in shuffling from side to 
 side, but finally sat down with her face toward the 
 corner, and with both her head and face carefully 
 covered. I left the little stand, which served as a 
 pulpit, went to the poor creature, who had just settled 
 herself for the service, laid a hand on each shoulder, 
 and requested her to turn round. She was startled 
 half out of her wits, but turned at once. Tlie woman 
 next in rank to her had elder brothers-in-law present, 
 but she bravely took her seat and uncovered her face, 
 and then all the rest followed her example ; and from 
 that time the spell of this stupid custom was broken 
 in that village and neighborhood. But there were 
 other customs and superstitions which constantly 
 hedged up our way in trying to introduce a better 
 life among the women, and in our frequent efforts to 
 
MORADABAD. 215 
 
 effect reforms by our summary and sometimes unwise 
 methods we were often baffled and defeated. At 
 times I was at my wit's end, and felt almost ready to 
 give up the struggle, but I did not know that God 
 was even then beginning to show us a more excellent 
 way. 
 
 Just before Mrs. Parker left for America she had 
 made a small beginning in the way of a boarding- 
 school for girls, and had received the first three pu- 
 pils. Her plan was to gather in the village girls, 
 and after giving them a simple education send them 
 back again to their homes, w^here they might be ex- 
 pected to act like so much leaven among tlie native 
 Christians in the villages. Finding it impossible to 
 arrange for these girls in Moradabad, Mrs. Parker 
 had made them over to Mrs. Zahur-ul-Haqq, who 
 lived in the city of Amroha. For a time the people 
 held aloof, and were unwilling to send their girls 
 away from home, but during these tours in the vil- 
 lages I succeeded in picking up a few pupils, and 
 before the close of the year the school began to 
 assume very respectable proportions. The next year 
 the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society was most 
 opportunely founded, and the school, having fallen 
 under its fostering care, has had a career of wonder- 
 ful prosperity. It noAV contains more than one hun- 
 dred pupils, and the girls who have been taught in it 
 are exerting a most wholesome influence all through 
 the villages of that region. Katives of India, like 
 
216 My Missionary Appeenticesiiip. 
 
 natives of other countries, wish to see a strange thing 
 done before attempting it themselves. A missionary 
 might lecture to the village women for years without 
 inducing them to change their ancient habits and 
 superstitions, but a better way is simply to send a 
 few educated and intelligent young women of their 
 own class to live among them. What precept cannot 
 do example easily accomplishes. I am more and 
 more persuaded that Christian boarding-schools are 
 to be most important factors in the future develop- 
 ment of Christianity in India. The boarding-school 
 must follow close in the pathway of the evangelist. 
 The school does not save the people, but it takes up 
 the work of their improvement, and aids in the 
 development of the new life which the Gospel brings 
 to them. 
 
Elevating the Poor. 217 
 
 CHAPTER XYI. 
 
 ELEVATING THE POOR. 
 
 FROM time immemorial India has been famed 
 for its riches, but as a painful matter of fact it is 
 a very poor country. It has vast natural resources, 
 and has always possessed the art of making an im- 
 posing display of the most attractive forms of wealth, 
 and yet the great mass of the people are extremely 
 poor. Indeed, the word jpoor will fail to convey to 
 the reader in America any thing like a correct idea 
 of the crushing poverty of millions upon millions of 
 the village population. Immediately after my ap- 
 pointment to Moradabad I spent a week or two in a 
 mud- walled hut in one of the villages where we had 
 a native preacher stationed, and improved the oppor- 
 tunities thus offered for observing the every -day life 
 of the people. I enjoyed the confidence of the villag- 
 ers, and had no difficulty in getting all the informa- 
 tion I w^anted. In the course of my observations I 
 met with much that was pleasing, not a little that was 
 repulsive, and a great deal that was simply astound- 
 ing to me, even after so many years spent in India. 
 
 We had eight or ten Christian families living in 
 the village. The most thrifty man among them cul- 
 tivated a little plot of land containing about two 
 
218 Mv Missionary Appkenticesiiip. 
 
 fifths of an acre, for which lie paid a fixed annual 
 rent. He owned neither horse, cow, pig, nor fowl, 
 and did all the work of cultivating his tiny little field 
 with his own hands. He had a brother who stood 
 second in point of opulence among the Christians, 
 who was a weaver, and who earned a little less than 
 two dollars a month by working diligentl}" at his 
 loom from dawn till sunset. On this income he sup- 
 ported a wife and child, and was able to appear in 
 clean apparel at the little village chapel every Sunday. 
 A third man worked as a common laborer, and when 
 he fell in with a good job could earn eight cents a 
 day ; but it often happened that no w^ork could be 
 found, and the wages of one working-day had to 
 suffice for the wants of two or three days of idleness. 
 The other families had even a harder lot, and yet, in- 
 credible as it may seem, these Christians were so 
 much more thrifty than many of their neighbors that 
 they were looked upon almost as objects of envy. 
 One young Hindu with his wife lived near by, and 
 I sat down one day by the door of their little mud 
 hut and had them tell me all the story of their con- 
 stant struggle for life. The husband had made an 
 engagement to work during the sugar-making season 
 for three months, for the lump sum of two dollars 
 and thirty-five cents in cash, and as a perquisite a 
 certain quantity of the drippings from the sugar 
 presses. His wife also was to be allowed the privi- 
 lege of gathering dry twigs among the trees in the 
 
Elevating the Poor. 219 
 
 inango orcliards. To supplement this wretched in- 
 come the wife employed all her leisure time in spin- 
 ning cotton yarn, and by the most unremitting dili- 
 gence was able to earn thirty-two and a half cents a 
 month. These items made up the sum total of their 
 income. They paid thirty-five cents a year as ground- 
 rent for their little hut, but had to erect the house 
 and keep it in repair themselves. 
 
 This story will seem incredible to many readers in 
 a land where the real bitterness of poverty is rarely 
 tasted, and wliere such an income would be insuffi- 
 cient to support the life of two persons ; but I am an 
 eye-witness to the fact that vast multitudes of human 
 beings live in this extreme depth of daily poverty, 
 and not only live but enjoy a measure of content 
 wdiich is the most astonishing feature of their extraor- 
 dinary lot. These two young people, for instance, 
 were not unhappy. The husband trusted the wife, 
 and the wife was proud of her husband. With the 
 little cash which could be spared they bought a little 
 coarse rice, or some meal made from the coarser kinds 
 of grain, with a little pinch of salt and two or three 
 red-pepper pods. The wife w^ould then go out into 
 the fields and gather mallows, wild mustard, " lamb's 
 quarter," and other kinds of wild herbs, and these, 
 when boiled and seasoned Avith the salt and red-pepper, 
 would be added to the rice or cakes, and the whole 
 would make a meal which the poor people ate in simple 
 contentment. Sometimes it sufficed to satisfy fully 
 
220 My Missionary Apprentices hip. 
 
 the cravings of hunger, and sometimes it only did so 
 partially ; but they had never been accustomed to full 
 meals, and did not regard hunger as an affliction so 
 long as it did not show its wolfish fangs and begin to 
 gnaw at their patient stomachs. The case was harder 
 when there chanced to be a group of children in the 
 family, and yet even then the poor patient people did 
 not seem to know how poor they were. The little 
 store of daily food would be divided among them, 
 be it much or be it little, and old and young alike had 
 learned to be content with what was given. Millions 
 upon millions of human beings in India and other 
 lands seldom ever eat to repletion, and have to sub- 
 sist the whole year round upon stinted fare. 
 
 It is among these extremely poor people that most of 
 the village converts are found. A few are better off, 
 and own oxen and plows, but at the outset the vast 
 majority are very poor, and, as might be expected, 
 one of the first cares of the missionary is to improve 
 their condition. This, however, is by no means a 
 simple or an easy task. A very little money would 
 make an immediate difference in their daily bill of 
 fare, but money alone w^ill not elevate a people, and 
 its unconditional gift paralyzes thrift instead of fos- 
 tering it. Our first efforts, therefore, were directed 
 to plans for securing better employment for our con- 
 verts, and while their number was few this was easily 
 done ; but when they began to multiply by scores 
 and hundreds it became very quickly impossible to 
 
Elevatixg the Poor. 221 
 
 make special provision for each case, and we were 
 thus led to attempt various expedients in the mids^ 
 of the people in their village homes. The people of 
 India rarely live in detached houses, but maintain tlie 
 primitive village system of the earliest times. The 
 whole country is dotted over with small villages or 
 liamlets, as numerous in many sections as the farm- 
 houses in Ohio and Illinois, and the land around is 
 divided up into small farms, w^hich are cultivated by 
 the more prosperous of the people. The cultivators 
 are the well-to-do class, but a large number of labor- 
 ers, weavers, shoe-makers, and other artisans, with a 
 few scavengers, may be found in every village. Our 
 problem was that of taking people belonging to this 
 poorest class and elevating them to a position of com- 
 parative comfort, in which their improvement would 
 be brought within the range of possibility. The lirst 
 and most obvious plan to try was that of securing 
 land for them to cultivate, and some fifteen years ago 
 we were constantly busying our heads with plans for 
 getting possession of a village in which a settlement 
 of Christians could be formed. One such attempt in 
 the mission has proved successful, but other efforts 
 signally failed. A year or two before my arrival in 
 Moradabad the missionaries had rented a village, and 
 at their own risk had gathered together some Chris- 
 tians as cultivators, but the experiment ended in seri- 
 ous loss to the missionaries, without any tangible gain 
 to the Christians. 
 
222 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 It was next determined to try some plan which 
 would make it possible for the people to help tliem- 
 selves without, however, spoiling them by taking all 
 financial responsibility off their shoulders. Accord- 
 ingly, an Industrial Association was formed, with a, 
 capital of seven hundred and fifty rupees, held in 
 shares of ten rupees each. A large number of the 
 better class of native Christians were induced to take 
 shares, and the experiment was inaugurated with great 
 enthusiasm. The plan was to give a small advance 
 of money, on approved security, to enable a w^eaver 
 to buy his yarn in advance on better terms than when 
 he purchased on the security of the cloth, to enable 
 the cultivator to purchase seed, or oxen, or a plow, so 
 as to get in his crop on terms wdiich would not be 
 ruinous to him, and to help the common laborer to 
 buy a cart, or some tools, or to make some other petty 
 investment which would give him remunerative em- 
 ployment. The presiding elder was made business 
 manager of the association, not because this seemed a 
 fitting arrangement, but because it was found neces- 
 sary in order to give the people confidence in the 
 undertaking. Unfortunately for me, this organiza- 
 tion had been made just before the care of the dis- 
 trict fell upon my shoulders, and one of the most 
 perplexing of my duties was that of looking after the 
 many little investments which had been made, and 
 trying at once to save the money from waste, and 
 the labor of the people from failure. 
 
Elevating the Poor. 223 
 
 The experiment was not successful. Witli very few 
 exceptions the people were found too weak in char- 
 acter, too much like impatient children, to bear any 
 sudden imxprovement in fortune. Those who took 
 advances for the purchase of seed could not resist the 
 temptation to turn the grain into bread before the 
 time of sowing came around. The weavers did well 
 for a time, but the temptation to buy dainty kinds of 
 food instead of cotton yarn overcame them, and in 
 due time I found that their prosperity was leading 
 them into debt. A huckster did well for a month or 
 two, but in spite of all warnings and injunctions he 
 would sell on credit, and soon he had empty baskets 
 with nothing to show for them but 'worthless bills. 
 Two men bought carts and oxen, and were able to 
 earn about twenty cents a day, above expenses, by 
 hauling goods between Moradabad and the Ganges. 
 This was regarded as a splendid opening, and the 
 fortune of the two enterprising men was regarded as 
 made for life, but their brilliaiit prospects quite 
 turned their shallow heads, and the old snare of 
 making haste to be rich proved fatal to them both. 
 They would not give their oxen enough to eat, they 
 drove them too fast and too far in a day, they cut 
 their feet by making them draw the carts over the 
 rugged lumps of limestone with which the middle 
 of the road was macadamized, and they injured the 
 wooden wheels of their carts in the same way. The 
 result was_that in less than a month the carts and 
 
224 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 oxen had been sold, and the two enterprising men 
 were bankrupt. But I need not go on with the story 
 of each case of experiment and failure. The end 
 came soon. The affaii's of the association were 
 wound up without any loss to the native members, 
 and with the profit of a most valuable lesson to the 
 missionary manager. 
 
 ''But had the people no principle of honesty?" 
 asks some astonished reader. Yes, they w^ere honest 
 after their manner, but to put money in their hands 
 under such conditions, and expect them to deal with 
 it as men of the business world are expected to do, 
 was like giving a plate of cherries to a dozen children 
 five or six years of age, and expecting them to play 
 w^ith them all day long without putting a single 
 cherry in their mouths. The vast majority of these 
 simple villagers are the merest children on some sides 
 of their character, although old enough in many other 
 respects. They cannot be elevated in a day, or a 
 month, or a year, and my further experiments con- 
 vinced me fully that the efforts of the missionary 
 toward the material improvement of the people must 
 be of the most indirect kind. After winding up the 
 association I next attempted to gather together a half- 
 dozen lads and teach them a trade. An English en- 
 gineer kindly gave me his assistance, and offered to 
 provide a place among his men for them to learn the 
 trade of brick-laying. In six months they could be 
 taught enough to enable them to earn good wages, 
 
♦ Elevating the Poor. 225 
 
 but tbej had not tlie patience to wait, and after a 
 
 few weeks of discontented labor tliey tlirew down 
 
 their tools and left. Meanwhile a serious famine was 
 
 impending, and many of our Christians were upon 
 
 the very verge of absolute starvation. Determined 
 
 to exhaust my utmost efforts in trying to better their 
 
 condition, I secured a contract for forty men to work 
 
 in a brick-yard. The work was not hard, the wages 
 
 were the best any one among them had ever earned, 
 
 and to protect them from any annoyance or unfair 
 
 treatment a resolute Christian overseer was placed 
 
 over them. All went well for two or three days, 
 
 but. as soon as their stomachs were well filled and 
 
 they had a little surplus money in hand they became 
 
 insubordinate, made unreasonable demands, and finally 
 
 left in a body and went back to their village homes. 
 
 At last, however, I was able to do a little among 
 
 the Bashta converts, of whom mention is made in 
 
 the last chapter. Zahur-ul-Haqq, who had warmly 
 
 seconded all the efforts which ended in failure, was 
 
 the first to perceive the weak spot in the whole 
 
 policy. One day he said to me : " If we wish to do 
 
 these people any good your hand must not be seen 
 
 in what is done. They think your money can 
 
 never be exhausted, and that there can be no failure 
 
 while you stand behind, and hence they are reckless. 
 
 Whatever is done must be done through their own 
 
 brethren. Let me put a little money in the hands 
 
 of the two head men at Bashta, and I will take 
 16 
 
226 My Missionary AppKENTicfesmp. 
 
 r.jcnritj in our way by taking brass utensils belonging 
 to tliem and keeping tliem till the money is repaid. 
 They will look after it as we cannot, and no one will 
 ever know that you have any thing to do in the 
 matter." A small beginning was made in this way, 
 and it proved entirely successful. Some families 
 were put in the way of helping themselves, and they 
 have gone on and prospered ever since, and the con- 
 dition of the whole community is said to be steadily 
 improving. 
 
 Miss Ellice Hopkins has well said in her admirable 
 little book, " Work among Working-Men," that it is 
 not poverty that keeps the lowest classes from rising, 
 but sin. We may help these very poor village Chris- 
 tians in many ways, and ought to do so in every pos- 
 sible way ; but, after all, the only way of lifting them 
 up into a new social life is to put the elements of 
 such a life into them. When they begin to live the 
 Christ-life in the low depths of their present poverty 
 they will rise as if by the power of a natural law. 
 Ko artificial method will materially affect their con- 
 dition. They must be lifted up by the natural laws 
 of growth, and our first care must be to implant the 
 elements of life and growth within them. 
 
 One of the most perplexing of our missionary 
 problems in India is to fix some just and satis- 
 factory standard of pay for the native preachers of 
 various grades who work under foreign missionary 
 societies. The inequalities of life in India are so 
 
Elevating the Poor. 227 
 
 great that it is impossible to set up a coininon stand- 
 ard for all. Some of our preachers have been drawn 
 from the low depths of poverty described above, 
 while others w^ere in respectable positions before 
 their convei-sion. It seems neither wise nor right to 
 bring the respectable man down to the poor man's 
 level, while to hft the latter up at one bound to a 
 state of opulence, as it would seem to him, is to make 
 preaching the most profitable of all professions, and 
 in many cases will be certain to work out results like 
 those which attended the operations of our Industrial 
 Association. Many brave and devoted men have 
 tried to face this question, but no one has yet cleared 
 away its difficulties. I have known an American 
 missionary to live for years upon seven dollars and a 
 half a month, and another for a time upon six dollars 
 and a half, and still another upon three dollars and 
 a quarter. These men wished to get down to the 
 native standard, but the lowest of the three was still 
 far above the average village standard of living ; and 
 while he was making a great sacrifice the converted 
 villager who would have joined him would have 
 made an immense gain in doing so. In fact, it is 
 very nearly, if not quite, impossible to fix a decent 
 standard of living for the lowest grade of native preach- 
 ers which will not make their position an object of 
 covetousness to the half-crushed multitude. As an 
 illustration of this difficulty, I may mention a case 
 which occurred during my first year at Moradabad : 
 
22^8 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 A young man whose monthly income had been less 
 than two dollars a month began to display some gifts 
 as an exhorter, and I gave him an appointment in a 
 linmble place on a salary of a little less than three 
 dollars a month. To my utter surprise I soon heard 
 that a sj^irit of discontent had broken out among the 
 Christians of the village from which this young man 
 had gone, that many were on the point of open re- 
 bellion, and that, strangest of all, the cause of all the 
 trouble was that the exhorter had been taken from a 
 family which had no s|)ecial claims, while more 
 prominent and more deserving families had been 
 passed over. The appointment was regarded as a 
 rich prize to be contested for by the whole com- 
 munity, while no one seemed to think for a moment 
 of the work which was to be done, or of the personal 
 fitness of the candidates. 
 
 One of our best preachers had been employed as 
 an ordinary j)eon on a salary of two dollars and 
 thirty-five cents a month, before being made a 
 preacher. He developed superior gifts as a speaker, 
 and was highly appreciated by the missionaries. In 
 a short time his pay was increased to six rupees, or 
 tfTO dollars and eighty-two cents. He w^as very 
 grateful, worked well, remained contented, and in 
 due time his pay was again increased to seven rupees. 
 With this increase he was delighted. " I shall now 
 be able," he said, " to live in more comfort. Instead 
 of oil we can use butter in cooking, and many little 
 
Elevating the Pook. 229 
 
 tilings can be added to onr daily fare." The mis- 
 sionary was touched, and almost ashamed that the 
 increase had been so small. A year passed, and the 
 salary of this deserving man was pushed np to ten 
 rupees. He w^as 23leased, but not specially thankful. 
 The next increase was to twelve rupees, but this time 
 neither pleasure nor gratitude was apparent, and 
 when the next step brought him up to fourteen 
 rupees he was positively discontented. It fell 
 to my lot to raise the salary to sixteen rupees, 
 but in doing so I told him that it would increase no 
 more. 
 
 *' Why not ? " he asked, " Is it not my right ? " 
 
 " You do not really need more." 
 
 " But other men get more, and I am entitled to as 
 much as others." 
 
 " You do not live as others. You buy no books, 
 no furniture, no utensils. You eat and live in the 
 style you did when your salary was half what it is 
 now." 
 
 "But, Sahib, it is mj right. J^o matter what I do 
 with the money, I claim it as my right." 
 
 '^ We have no rights. We work for Christ, and 
 should only take what we need." 
 
 "But, Sahib, you get ten times as mncli as I do 
 Why don't you take sixteen rupees ? " 
 
 " I take only what I really need. If I quit this 
 work I can earn in other service three times as much 
 as I now get, but if you quit your present work you 
 
23) My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 cannot possibly get half as mncli as you now receive, 
 in any other employment." 
 
 " Nevertheless, Sahib, I claim that it is my right 
 to have a larger salary." 
 
 I would not yield, and for two or three years the 
 poor man hovered near the verge of rebellion and 
 disaster, but he has since become a contented and 
 faithful pi'eacher. 
 
 As presiding elder of the district I had virtually 
 to iix the salaries of all the native preachers, and this 
 soon became a most harassing, and at times painful, 
 duty. The temptation to let my symj)athies run 
 away with my judgment was often very strong, and 
 pointed reference to my own salary, which some of 
 the more discontented ones were always ready to 
 make, made me exceedingly uncomfortable. Of all 
 the missionary duties which have ever fallen to my 
 lot, nothing has ever been so painfully trying as this 
 task of annually revising the salaries of a hundred 
 preachers and teachers, many of whom were extremely 
 poor. When a man whose salary was less than sixty 
 dollars a year would jDlead for an increase to seventy- 
 live dollars, and point to his wife and children living 
 in their little mud-walled house, it was nearly impos- 
 sible to refuse his request, and yet in many cases I 
 knew perfectly well that the increase would do posi- 
 tive harm to both husband and wife, and that it would 
 add to the discontent of others who could not receive 
 a similar increase. The whole question was a part of 
 
Elevating the Poor. 231 
 
 the difficult problem of elevating the poor. It was 
 extremely perplexing, and to me it quickly became 
 unspeakably painful. 
 
 As I went around among the villagers this question 
 of preachers' pay was constantly in my mind. Sonv 
 of our native preachers fully appreciated its difficul- 
 ties, but others who could not take broad views, who 
 did not, and in fact could not, understand the com- 
 plicated workings of an antipodal missionary society, 
 were constantly tempted to chafe and murmur. I had 
 no hope of removing all cause of complaint, knowing 
 as I did that the great billowy sea of bitter poverty 
 which swept all around us would have to be dried 
 up before the nmrmuring voice of discontent among 
 tlie poorer grades of our assistants could be silenced. 
 I did not hope to remove all difficulties, but it seemed 
 worth while to try to do something. I could reduce 
 my own expenses, if I could not increase the re- 
 sources of others, and I could ]3ut it out of the power 
 of weak men to make remarks about — as it seemed 
 to them — my princely salary. I made up my mind 
 to sell my cart and horses, to travel on foot, to live in 
 the mud huts of the villages, and to reduce my 
 retinue to a native Silas, my Christian cook, and a, 
 coolie to carry my slender outfit. This would havcj 
 made a very marked difference in my style of living 
 and working, but it would still have left me like a 
 nabob among the poor. I had no hope of getting 
 down to the level of the lowest, and this was no part 
 
232 My Missionaky Apprenticeship. 
 
 of my object, but I did hope to do something to stop 
 the murmuring of weak native preachers, and to do 
 a great deal to stimulate a nobler spirit of self-denial 
 throughout the whole corps. I thought and prayed 
 much about this plan, and at one time had it all 
 matured, and fully expected to make the change at 
 the close of the year ; but in the meantime unexpected 
 events broke up all my plans and sent me to another 
 part of the vineyard, where other lessons had to be 
 learned and other experiments made. Had I been 
 permitted to go ahead and make the attempt w^hich 
 I had in view, it would probably have resulted in 
 much good in certain directions, but I am by no 
 means sure that it would have been a wise procedure. 
 My journeys would have been shorter, and I would 
 have been able to do less preaching in the course of 
 a year than when moving rapidly from place to place. 
 My health would probably have suffered seriously, and 
 it is by no means certain that I could have endured such 
 a life more than two or three years. The conviction, 
 however, tliat I should do something, or at least 
 attempt something, to help in the solution of this 
 difficult question did not leave me, and a few years 
 later it resulted in a decision which was to affect 
 most seriously all the rest of my missionary life. 
 
Sambhal. 233 
 
 CHAPTER XYIL 
 
 SAMBHAL. 
 
 AT the Conference of 1869 I was appointed presid- 
 ing elder of the Moradabad District, and preacher 
 in charge of Sambhal, an old Hindu city twentj^-tAvo 
 miles south-west of Moradabad. In former days it 
 had been a city of great renown, and boasted, in addi- 
 tion to its wealth and power, of the great temple in 
 which the Sinless Incarnation expected by the Hindus 
 was to make his appearance. In more recent times, 
 however, the city had been utterly overthrown and 
 destroyed by the Mohammedans, and its great temple 
 converted into a mosque; but under English rule it 
 w^as reviving again, and, aside from the religious 
 interest with which it was regarded by the Hindus, 
 w^as favorably situated for missionary work. The 
 missionary who had been in charge had been ordered 
 out of India on sick-leave, and as it was found impos- 
 sible to replace him by any one else, it fell to my lot 
 to take the post, but with the understanding that the 
 greater part of my time should be given to the 
 district. 
 
 Perhaps the hardest of all kinds of missionary 
 work is that of undoing what has been done amiss. 
 There had been a well-arranged plan of work at 
 
234 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 Samblial, and knowing a good deal about the place I 
 anticipated a successful year, but I was to meet with 
 sore disappointment. The missionary who had been in 
 charge was not a lazy man, and a good deal of work 
 had been done by him, but lie ought never to have 
 been a missionary, and when he left us for Australia 
 it was to return no more. He had gathered together 
 a staff of native helpers of various grades, most of 
 whom had broken down in reputation in other mis- 
 sions, and had set up a standard of moral character 
 whicli I quickly perceived was lower than that of 
 the Hindus and Mohammedans. The whole fabric 
 was bad. 
 
 I tried for a few months to reform the iTock, but 
 before the close of the year had to dismiss nearly 
 every man and vroman whom 1 had found in connec- 
 tion with the station. It was a sad and a very diffi- 
 cult task. Bit by bit the work had to be taken to 
 pieces and reconstructed, and at the close of the year 
 I had little to show for the labor performed. I would 
 much rather found three new missions than recon- 
 struct one old one, and those who hold the responsi- 
 bility should see to it that no one is permitted to 
 spend years in erecting an edifice every brick of 
 which must be taken down by other hands. In 
 earlier days such a mistake was in a measure unavoid- 
 able, but now, with a staff of experienced men in 
 every mission field, there need be no very great 
 danger of grave and long-continued mistakes, pro- 
 
Sambiial. 235 
 
 vided even a moderate degree of supervision is exer- 
 cised bj the proper parties. 
 
 I spent a great deal of time during tliis year in 
 making tours through the district, not merely for the 
 purpose of holding the regular quarterly meetings, 
 but to extend the work into new parts and confirm 
 the faith of the many flocks which had been gathered 
 together. Throughout the year the work was inter- 
 esting, and steady progress was made ; but space will 
 not permit me to give a detailed account of what 
 was done, nor is it necessary, since in its main feat- 
 ures the work did not differ materially from that of 
 the previous year. The hot season proved to be an 
 unusually trying one, and in my inexperience of life 
 on the plains I exposed myself very imprudently, 
 but suffered little or nothing in consequence. About 
 the first of June I had a quarterly meeting at a vil- 
 lage in the country, and driving out in my spring 
 cart I reached the place early in the morning of Sat- 
 urday. I expected a large attendance, but to my sur- 
 prise found that no one had come. Brother Zahur- 
 ul-Haqq arrived before noon, but expressed doubts 
 about the coming of others on account of the excess- 
 ive heat. It was positively dangerous, he assured 
 me, to travel for any distance in such a furnace, 
 and those who had to come from distant points would 
 not attempt the journey. A fierce hot wind was 
 blowing from the west, as it always does during the 
 hot season, but at that particular time it seemed 
 
236 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 like the Babjlonian furnace, heated seven times hot- 
 ter than usual. Tlie people had deserted the fields 
 and roads, and were taking shelter in their iniid- 
 walled huts. In the one village in which I was stay- 
 ing three deaths occurred on that memorable Satur- 
 day, all three persons having been stricken down 
 when out of doors, exposed to the hot wind, and all 
 three were reported as cases of cholera. The symp- 
 toms, however, were those of sun-stroke, but among 
 the more ignorant natives all sudden deaths are 
 credited to cholera. 
 
 Late in the afternoon the native preachers began 
 to arrive. They came on foot, each having his head 
 covered all over with a loose cotton sheet, which lay 
 in folds on the head, and covered the neck and shoul- 
 ders. Like all natives, they carefully protected their 
 ears from the hot wind, and, next to the head, were 
 careful to shield the loins from both sun and wind. 
 The thick roll of cloth wrapped round the waist of 
 Oriental people is worn for the very good reason 
 that this part of the body needs special protec- 
 tion, especially in times of excessive heat. I shall 
 never forget the rallying of our people to that quar- 
 terly meeting. They came in the face of an Indian 
 blizzard, risking as much and suffering as much as 
 the people of the North-west do wlien breathing 
 an atmosphere of powdered ice. We had a good 
 meeting in the evening, after which the Quarterly 
 Conference met, and all the arrangements were made 
 
Sambiial. 237 
 
 for vigorous meetings the next day. I lodged in a 
 room attached to the chapel, the latter being the 
 largest and best coiintiy chapel we liave in that 
 region, but the next day 1 was obliged to take refuge 
 in the chapel itself. We held our morning meeting 
 at six, and after breakfast at nine the j)eople all dis- 
 appeared in their huts, and the chapel was shut up as 
 tight as we could make it. There was no glass in the 
 windows, however, and the relentless hot wind forced 
 its way through every crack and crevice. A boy 
 stood over me all day plying a huge fan, but this 
 seemed to do little good. A thin covering was 
 spread over a cot-bed, and having first thrown water 
 over the doors and windows, I sprinkled both bed 
 and pillow till both were thoroughly wet, and then, 
 having poured a gallon of water over my head and 
 shoulders, lay down in my dripping clothes, and soon 
 fell fast asleep. In half an hour or less I woke up to 
 find that the bed, pillow, and clothes were not only 
 dry, but hot to the touch. I applied the water again, 
 with the same result, and in this way, bathing, doz- 
 ing, and waking, the hours of the day slowly passed. 
 Evening came at last ; the people came together 
 again ; we went outside the chapel, and under the 
 dull, ashy sky held our evening meeting. It was a 
 blessed hour. The hearts of the dear disciples were 
 lifted up in hope, and the day closed with the baptism 
 of eleven adults and five children. 'Next morning, 
 long before the dawn, I was on my way to another 
 
238 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 point, none the worse in body, and greatly clieered 
 and strengthened in soul by the experiences of tlie 
 meeting. 
 
 In the latter part of the year we organized two new 
 circuits in the country part of the work. As a little 
 token— a very little token it will seem to the reader 
 in America— of the improved position which w^e were 
 gaining, I may mention that at one of the new points 
 opened by us the leading convert was a man of so 
 much wealth that lie was able to entertain our whole 
 company, including myself, during our stay in his 
 village. This had not happened before. The people 
 were so poor that among the Christians it was an un- 
 derstood rule, that a stranger coming among them 
 must not expect more than a meal in token of hos- 
 pitality. The acquisition of a man of snbstance who 
 could entertain a missionary, three preachers, and four 
 or five friends, all at once, and that for several days 
 at a time, was an event of no little moment in the 
 scattered Christian community, and I could plainly 
 see that it had a salutary effect upon some of our 
 leading men, who began to see how in the end it 
 would be possible for them to build up a self-sup- 
 porting Christianity in India. 
 
 Another event of no little significance took place 
 during this year. Wherever converts had been 
 picked up by ones and twos, they had come from va- 
 rious castes, both the highest and the lowest being 
 represented ; but when they began to come to us in 
 
Sambiial. 289 
 
 larger numbers, tliey invariably did so in the order of 
 caste lines. Tlie several castes are like so in any sep- 
 arate strata in the social world, and a most important 
 movement may be going on in one caste without the 
 members of other castes in the same town being af 
 fected by it. Not only this, but when the Christian 
 community is made up of converts from a single 
 caste there is apt to be a want of interest in all the 
 rest of the community, and, in some cases, a positive 
 unwillingness to see the Christian community re- 
 cruited from the lowest ranks of the people. I had 
 from the first encountered this difficulty in the vil- 
 lages. Our converts were chiefly drawn from two 
 castes, and up to this time these remained in a large 
 measure distinct. When they met they fraternized 
 as Christians, but in their village homes they were 
 never found intermingled, nor did we ever see the 
 former members of one caste trying to win converts 
 from the ranks of the other. At length, however, 
 this wall of separation broke down. We were hold- 
 ing a meeting in a village where all the Christians 
 had been fellow-caste men, and where no one ex- 
 pected to see an inquirer come forward from any 
 otlier part of the community. Others attended the 
 meetings, but no one expected to see any of them con- 
 verted. The evening meeting had closed, and some 
 had retired to rest, when a man and wife of a caste 
 a shade higher than the rest came out from their 
 village and asked for baptism. There was an imrae- 
 
21-0 My ivIis8Jonaky Appke^ticeship. 
 
 diate and most lively commotion among tlie Chris- 
 tians. The parties were known and enjoyed the con- 
 fidence of the people, and on the recommendation of 
 all present w^ere at once admitted to baptism. The 
 Christians rejoiced greatly, and at once it seemed as if 
 their hearts had expanded and their faith in the mis- 
 sion which God had given them greatly increased. 
 It was a very little incident in itself, but it meant 
 much. It told of better days and greater victories, as 
 well as of a more comprehensive and harmonious 
 church. 
 
 During Christmas week I w^as at Moradabad, where 
 the District Conference was assembling, w^hen a tele- 
 gram from Bishop Kingsley, who had come to visit 
 our mission and preside at our Conference, sum- 
 moned me to meet him at Lucknow. I left at once, 
 and reached Lucknow on Saturday evening. Early 
 on Monday morning the Bishop took me out for a 
 short walk, and as soon as we were fairly outside 
 asked me if I would be willing to come down and 
 take the presiding eldership of the Oudh District. 
 I assented, and forthwith began to regard my brief 
 work on the Moradabad District as over. I w^ould 
 have been glad to remain longer. Many plans had 
 been formed, a vast work seemed to be opening up, 
 and every day my heart became more attached to 
 the people and the work ; but the call seemed clear 
 from every point of view, and I consented to the 
 change cheerfully and hopefully. 
 
Sambhal. 241 
 
 The work among the village people has gone 
 
 steadily forward through the years which have since 
 
 passed. Brother Zahiir-ul-Haqq is now a presiding 
 
 elder over part of the territory in which we used to 
 
 travel together. He has seventeen native preachers 
 
 under him, and a Christian community of twelve 
 
 hundred souls, besides a large number of nominal 
 
 adherents. Brother Andrias, the man avIio had such 
 
 crude notions of family government, is a general 
 
 evangelist in the Moradabad District, and is loved 
 
 and esteemed very highly for his work's sake. The 
 
 Kev. J. H. Gill writes to me concerning him : " We 
 
 have no man so spiritually-minded, and so thoroughly, 
 
 both heart and soul, devoted to the work as Andrias. 
 
 The people love and honor him." He no longer 
 
 contends for his financial rights, but acting under a 
 
 conviction which he believes was given him by the 
 
 Holy Spiritj he some time ago relinquished his 
 
 salary, and depends for his slender support upon the 
 
 people among whom he goes preaching the word. 
 
 God is leading the people forward, and a great future 
 
 undoubtedly lies before us in all that region. 
 
 Bishop Kingsley was the second Bishop who had 
 
 visited us in India, and his coming was a great event 
 
 among us. He was gifted with a robust common sense 
 
 which served him well in dealing with some of the 
 
 new and perplexing questions which met him in 
 
 India. Doctors Waugh and Scott, with myself, were 
 
 presiding elders at that time, and we all had met 
 16 
 
242 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 with questions of administration in which we could 
 be guided by no precedents, and concerning wliich 
 the Discipline was silent. We liad sometimes felt 
 misgivings about the legality of some of our doings^ 
 although perfectly satisfied that our course had been 
 right in itself. When our difficulty had been stated 
 to Bishop Kingsley in general terms, lie made short 
 work of it. " Under the Methodist Discipline," he 
 said, " it is always right to do the best you can under 
 the circumstances." That decision has been worth a 
 great deal to us in the years that have since passed, 
 and has saved many good men from the thankless 
 task of trying to untie knots which nothing but a 
 knife could sever. An equally happy decision is 
 said to have once been made by Bishop Janes, who, 
 when a point of law was raised against some ques- 
 tion of overpowering common sense, replied, " The 
 law, brethren, was not made for good men." Such 
 decisions must, of course, be appealed to very spar- 
 ingly, but in a new work, far away from the settled 
 usages and precedents of home, common sense must 
 at times be alloAved the force of unwritten law. 
 
 At our Conference session Bishop Kingsley was 
 not perfectly at home. In those days the appropri- 
 ations for the current year, and the estimates for the 
 following year, were made out during the session of 
 the Annual Conference, and these two items of busi- 
 ness absorbed a great deal of time, and called for 
 the exercise of a great deal of wisdom and patience. 
 
Sambhal. 243 
 
 It was a kind of duty which the good Bishop had 
 seen very little of before, and he became weary of the 
 petty details of expenditure. Some features of our 
 work he approved warmly, but other parts he re- 
 garded with a measure of misgiving. Had he lived 
 to reach America his visit might have resulted in 
 more radical changes in India than have followed 
 any other episcopal visit which we have received. 
 
 In those ante-railway days it was a heavy task to 
 attempt to visit all the stations in the North Inc^ia 
 Mission, and it is to be feared that the attempt to do 
 so contributed a little to hasten the Bishop's untimely 
 death. As it was, he was only able to devote three 
 days to the whole of the Moradabad District, and 
 during this time he was so utterly exhausted that I felt 
 it would be cruelty to lay any tax upon his strength. 
 He had been at Nynee Tal, and I met him at the foot 
 of the mountains at two o'clock on Saturday after- 
 noon. He had ridden down the mountain on a pony, 
 and was so exhausted that he begged me to let him 
 have a little sleep before we started. I covered him 
 up, and he slept soundly for two hotirs, after which 
 we set out in my spring cart for Moradabad, forty- 
 eight miles distant. The road was fairly good, but 
 doing my best it was midnight before we reached the 
 mission house, I little knew that the weary saint was 
 hastening on to his grave. He talked with animation 
 all the way, asking questions, telling anecdotes, ad- 
 vising me in reference to many points connected 
 
244 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 with tlie mission, but every now and then I would 
 discover anew that his weariness was very little short 
 of absolute prostration. lN"ext day in the afternoon 
 he preached a short sermon, and on Monday he vis- 
 ited the school and gave a brief address. On Tues- 
 day morning he left Moradabad, and spent the night 
 in a tent near a village where some of our Christians 
 lived. A few gathered to see him, but we could 
 make very little of the occasion, and after making 
 his long journey the good Bishop was obliged to 
 hurry away without seeing what was at that time the 
 most fruitful field in the mission. 
 
 The home papers at the time made a great ado 
 about this episcopal tour around the globe. It is 
 well that more sensible views now prevail, and yet 
 the sad lesson of Bishop Kingsley's death seems al- 
 ready to liave been forgotten. He should never have 
 attempted the journey. The mere travel is a small 
 matter, but a journey for the purpose of practical 
 work should be devised in the interest of the practical 
 work. A journey around the globe is no better than 
 the same number of miles traveled on a single conti- 
 nent, and cannot be prosecuted without an immense 
 sacrifice of time and money which could better be 
 employed elsewhere. For the mere duty of presid- 
 ing at an Annual Conference, a Bishop need hardly 
 be sent to the antipodes at all ; and if he goes to in- 
 spect the missionary operations carried on in a great 
 country like India, the inspection must be more than 
 
Same HAL. 245 
 
 a mere episode in a great journey to he of any real 
 advantage to any party. The liahility to form wrong 
 judgments in the course of a hurried visit to a strange 
 country, among a strange peoj)le, and in the midst 
 of strange developments is so great, that not a few- 
 have been known to say that such visits excite almost 
 as much fear as hope on the part of those whom they 
 are intended to benefit. 
 
2i6 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 CHAPTEK XYIII. 
 
 WOMAN'S WORK. 
 
 THE arrival of my sister in India, at the beginning 
 of 1870, not only led to an important modifica- 
 tion of my plans, but forced on me a very careful 
 and thorough examination of the whole question of 
 woman's work in the mission field. Nothing could 
 Have been more superficial than ^the views which 
 were current in reference to this subject twenty-five 
 years ago. The chief value of a woman in the mis- 
 sion field was supposed to be in her relation as a wife 
 to the missionary who was to do the work. If she 
 ministered tenderly to him the poor man's health 
 would be more secure, and his life thus be prolonged ; 
 and above all, the presence of a wife would be most 
 effectual in keeping him from discontentment and 
 possible retirement from the work. If an important 
 girls' school had been established, it was thought that 
 an unmarried lady might be usefully employed in it 
 as a teacher, but no one dreamed of the latent power 
 which the Church possessed in her unemployed 
 Phcebes and Priscillas. For my own part, I must 
 confess to a strong feeling at that time against the 
 enlistment of any considerable number of ladies in 
 our work ; and when my sister promptly accepted my 
 
Woman's Work. 247 
 
 first suggestion that slie should come out to help in 
 the mission, I felt something like dismay at the pros- 
 pect. A wide door seemed to be opening for her, but 
 for many reasons I shrank from taking the responsi- 
 bility of bidding her come. 
 
 It seldom happens that the Church is wise to know 
 her day of visitation. When God would have her 
 move forward and take up some new enterprise, it 
 usually happens that he has to beckon often and 
 long before he is obeyed. In 1859 Dr. Durbin told 
 me that he was astonished and perplexed by the gen- 
 eral wish to engage in missionary work found among 
 the young women of the Church. ^' If I wanted fifty 
 young ladies," he said, "I could find them in a week; 
 but when I want five young men, I must search for 
 them for a year or more." It did not once occur to 
 him, it did not then occur to any body, that the pres- 
 ence of a conviction so strong and general was an 
 indication of the will of God. If six young men felt 
 moved to give themselves to missionary work, they 
 were sent forth with acclamations and followed with 
 the prayers of the whole Church ; but if six young 
 women were moved in precisely the same way, their 
 convictions were looked upon as a curious phenome- 
 non which did not admit of any satisfactory explana- 
 tion. Tliere can be no doubt that the Holy Spirit 
 had been moving the Church to open a wider door 
 for her daughters for ten years or more before the 
 work in its present form was really initiated. A little 
 
248 My Missionary Appkei^ticeship. 
 
 had been done, but, for the most part, it had been 
 badly done. A Board of Managers, composed ex- 
 clusively of men, is not competent to enlist, send out, 
 and administer the affairs of any considerable number 
 of young ladies. I had felt this from the time my 
 attention had first been called to the subject, and had 
 been so strengtliened in my conviction by all the facts 
 which had come under my observation in India, that 
 when my sister seriously proposed to join me in my 
 work, I did not hesitate to write and advise her to 
 offer her services to the Woman's Union Missionary 
 Society, of New York, rather than be sent out by the 
 Missionary Society of our own Church ; and nothing 
 but her loyalty to the Church of her childhood, and 
 her intense desire to be sent abroad in its name, kept 
 her from following my advice. The Missionary So- 
 ciety in those days had no anticipation of the great 
 movement which was beginning to manifest itself, 
 and were wholly unprepared to assume the moment- 
 ous responsibility of directing it. 
 
 The somewhat exceptional position which I had 
 occupied in Gurhwal and at Moradabad liad naturally 
 made me realize very sensibly how crippled mission- 
 ary work must be when carried on by men alone ; but 
 as the work spread among the villages I began to per- 
 ceive that God had a vastly wider field for his hand- 
 maidens than I had before dreamed of. The vast 
 majority of the^women of India, including all the 
 village people, go about unveiled, but they are none 
 
Woman's AYork. 249 
 
 the less inaccessible to the ordinary preacher of the 
 Gospel. They do not join the men wlio listen in the 
 bazar, nor do they come out into the more quiet 
 assemblies of their own villages. Here and there a 
 few may be seen on the outskirts of the crowd, or 
 peeping down from the flat roof of an adjacent house, 
 bat where one listens a thousand shrink away out of 
 sight. These women must be reached by evangelists 
 of their own sex. They may, as they often do, be- 
 come Christians with theii- husbands ; but even then 
 they must be instructed and elevated, and this can 
 only be done by Christian women. During my last 
 year on the Moradabad District" I made a tour in com- 
 pany with Brother Zahur- ul - Haqq, and, by way of 
 experiment, took Mrs. Haqq and half a dozen Chris- 
 tian women and girls along, to see what they could 
 do among the village women. Tlieir success was 
 astonishing. The voice of their singing every- where 
 brought the women and girls in throngs around them, 
 and I was delighted to notice that the work of sing- 
 ing, talking, and praying from village to village 
 seemed to act like an inspiration upon the little band. 
 They were eager for the work, and more than happy 
 in it. I could not watch them long without perceiv- 
 ing that a mighty work might be done in this way, 
 or by some other method adapted to woman's pe- 
 culiar gifts. It was no longer a question of finding 
 something for a few unmarried ladies to do, but 
 rather a call to enlist and train the Christian 
 
250 My Missionary Appkenticeship. 
 
 womanhood of India for the great work of regen- 
 erating the empire. 
 
 I was not quick, however, to learn that the ladies 
 sent out to the work were missionaries, and that their 
 work was quite as important us my own. A few days 
 after my sister had commenced her Avork I found 
 myself pressed for time, and asked her to copy a few 
 letters for me. She did so cheerfully, and very soon 
 I had occasion to repeat the request. The copying 
 was again done for me, but this time I was quietly 
 reminded that a copyist would be a great assistance 
 to her as well as to myself. The remark made me 
 think, and I discovered that I had been putting a 
 comparatively low estimate on all the work which 
 " the missionaries " were not doing. Woman's work 
 was at a discount, and I had to reconsider the situa- 
 tion, and once for all accept the fact that a Christian 
 woman sent out into the field was a Christian mis- 
 sionary, and that her time was as precious, her work 
 as important, and her rights as sacred as those of the 
 more conventional missionaries of the other sex. The 
 old-time notion that a woman in her best estate is 
 only a helper, and should only be recognized as an 
 assistant, is based on a very shallow fallacy. She is 
 a helper in the married relation, but in God's wide 
 vineyard there are many departments of labor in 
 which she can successfully maintain the position of 
 an independent worker. 
 
 It has been said that a separate Missionary Society 
 
Woman's AVork. 251 
 
 need not have been organized, and that its work could 
 even now be as well done bv the Parent Society. It 
 is easy after the event to say that things might have 
 been done differently, but there is not the slightest 
 reason to believe that any six leading men in the 
 Church would have been able to interpret the rising 
 conviction of their Christian sisters, if the matter had 
 been left to the men alone. As a matter of fact, 
 bishops, secretaries, managers, editors, and leading 
 men generally, had not only failed to comprehend 
 the first indications of this conviction, but were -per- 
 plexed, and, in many instances at least, confounded by 
 the sudden uprising of the daughters of the Church. 
 It might do to say that these men should have had 
 clearer vision, or that they should have been more 
 quick to recognize tlie presence of a great moral 
 movement around them ; but to say that the direc- 
 tion of the movement itself should have been in- 
 trusted to men who did not appreciate its superlative 
 wortli, and some of whom did not hesitate to dispar- 
 age it, is simply to say that the good work should 
 have been suppressed at the outset. 
 
 It was a mistake on the part of the promoters of 
 the Woman's Society to lay too much stress on the 
 necessity of employing unmarried ladies in the mis- 
 sion field. The effect was to create the impression 
 that married ladies could do very little work as mis- 
 sionaries, and this very naturally had the effect of 
 causing some ladies in the field to look askance at a 
 
252 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 society which seemed to depreciate the good work 
 wliich many of them had been doing. The first two 
 ladies of the society were kindly and cordially re- 
 ceived by all, but the new movement was critically 
 scanned, and for a very short time a certain amount 
 of misgiving was felt as to the future position of its 
 agents. It was a mistake to put it forward as a so- 
 ciety which proposed to find employment for unmar- 
 ried ladies as its chief agency, instead of taking the 
 broader ground which its name implied — a society 
 for enlisting Christian women in missionary work. It 
 was not long, however, before the right position was 
 taken, and all the ladies in the field began to recog- 
 nize the fact that they had a powerful auxiliary in 
 the new organization. Girls' schools, a kind of work 
 in which the ladies took an interest, were supported 
 by it ; Bible women were enlisted as its agents, and 
 came under its fostering care. The result was, that 
 woman's work throughout the whole of our mission 
 field in India received a powerful stimulus, and the 
 married ladies, without exception, were encouraged 
 to go to work with new zeal. 
 
 It was at first an exceedingly difficult and delicate 
 question to determine the exact relation in which the 
 ladies sent out by the Woman's Society should stand 
 to the mission, the Conference, the presiding elder, 
 and the preacher in charge of the station to which 
 they might be assigned. We had no rule to guide 
 us, but we had by this time acquired some little 
 
Woman's Work. 253 
 
 experience in devising rules to meet unforeseen emer- 
 gencies, and in due time all the questions involved 
 were adjusted to the entire satisfaction of all the par- 
 ties interested, at least so far as India was concerned. 
 The ladies were recognized as missionaries, and re- 
 ceived their appointments annually from the presi- 
 dent of the Conference. They were responsible to a 
 presiding elder, as other missionaries were, and their 
 rights and duties were so guarded and explained that 
 all needless cause of friction was removed. At the 
 session of the Annual Conference the ladies, married 
 and single, began to meet in a council of their own, 
 and this has grown, in the lapse of years, into a most 
 important body, publishing its own minutes and re- 
 ports, and maintaining all the forms of a permanent 
 organization. If the Woman's Missionary Society 
 had done nothing else, or if all its work in other 
 lands were to perish from the earth, it would still be 
 able to justify its existence by pointing to the strik- 
 ing advance which has been made in all that con- 
 cerns woman's work in the North India mission since 
 the first agents of the society arrived in the field at 
 the beginning of 18Y0. It is not so much that these 
 ladies have done a good and great work, as that scores 
 of Christian women have been enlisted in the Mas- 
 ter's service, and the working capacity of the mission, 
 as a whole, very nearly, if not altogether, doubled. 
 
 The special field of labor for Christian women in 
 India is a wide and widening one. In the large cities 
 
254 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 the women who are kept secluded from the outer 
 world are to be visited and instructed, and close be- 
 hind the Christian teacher will follow the Christian 
 evangelist. In Calcutta a lady devotes her whole 
 time to preaching the word in the zenanas of the 
 better classes, and, although she goes in the avowed 
 character of a messenger of Christ, she never meets 
 with a rebuff. Other ladies give more or less of their 
 time to the same kind of work, and meet with similar 
 encouragement. Then among the constantly increas- 
 ing converts in both towns and villages, girls' schools 
 must be provided to meet the wants of the rising 
 generation, while at central points boarding schools 
 must be provided for those who are to occupy lead- 
 ing positions in the rising Christian communities. It 
 cannot be expected that native girls will have to be 
 educated in this way for all the generations to come, 
 but at the beginning hundreds and thousands of them 
 will require such a training. They cannot them- 
 selves take up such work at the outset, and we ought to 
 be content in the hope that their daughters may be able 
 to do it. Then there is a vast evangelistic work to be 
 done in India, which can be done only by women. If 
 not done by them it will never be done at all. Ladies 
 from England and America will not be able to do this 
 work, but they can inaugurate it, and can lead their 
 Indian sisters till the latter are able to direct it them- 
 selves. I am strong in the persuasion that this will 
 be the most prominent part of woman's work in India 
 
Woman's Work. 255 
 
 before many years have passed. Orphanages will 
 maintain their place in the mission field as long as 
 missions endure, and ought to have a recognized 
 place in every Church, in every land. Here, too. 
 Christian women will be needed. Medical work also 
 offers its opportunities, and this work, too, will prob- 
 ably expand from year to year. 
 
 In recent years I have noticed that there is not 
 only a steady breaking down of the old prejudice of 
 making women too prominent in the churches, but an 
 increased willingness to intrust them more and more 
 with responsibilities which, a very few years ago, were 
 given to men alone. Two young ladies have been 
 sent by the Baptists of Australia to open a mission in 
 a remote town in Bengal where no gentlemen are at 
 hand to direct them, and in our own mission ladies 
 have repeatedly been put in charge of stations wliere 
 the entire responsibility devolved upon them, and 
 have acquitted themselves well. It is more than 
 probable that this tendency to give the ladies more 
 and more of the ordinary work found in a mission 
 field will increase, rather than diminish, and I can 
 even go the length of adding that it is by no means 
 improbable that Indian Phoebes will yet administer 
 the ordinances of the Church to the secluded women 
 of the zenanas. I have baptized frightened village 
 women under circumstances which made me wish 
 that some Phoebe might be employed to take my 
 place ; and as for the inmates of the zenanas, it is sim- 
 
226 ' My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 plj impossible for a man to gain access to them, and, 
 even if he could be admitted to them, his services 
 would be very unsatisfactory. A woman who has 
 been carefully secluded all her days, and who has 
 never seen the face of men who were not members 
 of her family, is not merely embarrassed in the pres- 
 ence of a foreign missionary ; she is absolutely fright- 
 ened. There are those who believe that these timid, 
 untaught creatures will be induced to come out to the 
 big churches built for them, and stand np in the 
 presence of a congregation, face to face witli a mis- 
 sionary, and give intelligible answers to his questions, 
 and then receive baptism at his hands. All this may 
 happen, but I do not expect to see it. I cannot 
 believe that God will exact such an ordeal from such 
 women, but rather that, as in ancient times, we shall 
 see the church in the house revived, and Christian 
 women sent to minister to those who ?re inaccessible 
 to the ordinary minister of the public congregation. 
 God would have mercy, and not sacrifice, and he will 
 not compel these children of misfortune to suffer 
 the torture of publicity for the mere sake of con- 
 forming to a custom which is more conventional than 
 apostolic. 
 
OuDH. 257 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 OUDH. 
 
 0^ Thursday, the 10th of February, I took my final 
 leave of Moradabad, and set out for my new 
 home in Lucknow. A large number of Christians 
 and school-boys liad collected to see me off, and I 
 found it harder to say good-bye than I had antici- 
 pated. In two short and busy years I had formed 
 many and strong attachments among the people, and 
 the sight of the native preachers, who had battled so 
 often by my side, moved me deeply. I bade them 
 be of good cheer, and assured them that I would 
 return at some future da}^, and go with them once 
 more over the old familiar ground, and fight other 
 battles and win other victories in the name of our 
 Master. I fully expected to carry out my promise, 
 but it was not so to be. Fourteen years have passed 
 since that day, but I have never had a week to spare 
 for such a visit, I had not then learned that in our 
 short and busy lives we never, or at least very rarely, 
 can turn back upon our tracks and live any part of 
 our past lives over again. The past is behind us for- 
 ever. Each year, each day, bi'ings its own responsibil- 
 ities, and in the midst of the ever-pressing duties of the 
 
 present, the past can at best only live in our memories. 
 17 
 
258 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 Tlie province of Oudb, when viewed on the map, 
 at least, presented a most inviting -field for such w^ork 
 as I was expected to do. Within its compact terri- 
 tory of 24,2tl:5 square miles live 11,397,741 inhabit- 
 ants. It is marked off for administrative purposes 
 into four main divisions, and each of these subdi- 
 vided into three districts, with an average population 
 of nearly a million each. In addition to the city of 
 Lucknow, where we had four mission houses, we had 
 located missions and bought property at central 
 points in five of these subdistricts, and the superin- 
 tendence of so vast a work as should be carried on 
 in connection with such a group of missions, would 
 have given me a much wider and more interesting 
 sphere of labor than any I had previously known. I 
 did not find, however, the opportunities for successful 
 work which my best instinpts craved. Four of the 
 mission houses w^ere standing empty, and only tw^o 
 foreign missionaries could be spared for the out-sta- 
 tions of the province. In addition to the American 
 missionaries, two of the native members of Confer- 
 ence had been assigned to central j)oints in two of 
 the most important districts of the province, but they 
 had done very little except take up their residence in 
 rented houses, and do a little preaching in the bazars. 
 Under any circumstances I must have found this vast 
 district much more difficult of cultivation than the 
 compact little district of Moradabad. In the latter 
 the native preachers lived close together, their little 
 
OuDH. 259 
 
 circuits being so near to one another that it was easy 
 to call together a dozen men for any emergency, while 
 in the former the stations were from fifty to seventy- 
 five miles apart, the preachers few in number, and 
 almost absolute strangers to one another, and every 
 point on the district was very seriously under- 
 manned. 
 
 In order to fill up the gaps which had occurred in 
 the district, or at least to make a slight attempt at 
 doing so, I was not only appointed presiding elder of 
 the district, but also preacher in charge of the station 
 Af Koy Bareilly, a town about fifty miles south' of 
 Lucknow. I was not expected to live there, but 
 only to make prolonged visits to the place, and keep 
 up the work as well as I could. I was also expected 
 to devote the greater part of my time to the city of 
 Lucknow, where I was to reside ; and I thus occu- 
 pied the novel position of a presiding elder, who was 
 at once a preacher in charge in one town and a junior 
 preacher in another. It was a novel and awkward 
 arrangement, but this would have mattered little had 
 there been a fair chance for pushing forward aggress- 
 ive work. This, however, I could not do. I very 
 quickly discovered that while a magnificent brick- 
 field had been placed at my disposal, no straw had 
 been provided for making bricks. The empty mis^ 
 sion houses stood, like so many doubting-castles, at 
 the forlorn stations. The scattered native preachers 
 had no leaders, and very few of them had any vestige 
 
260 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 of leadership of their own. Had I been able to give 
 my whole time to the work of a presiding elder, I 
 might have done a little at certain points, but it 
 would have been wiser policy to have concentrated 
 our forces at a few points, and organized them for 
 effective work. The reader in America may very 
 naturally wonder why I did not use my authority as 
 presiding elder to do this, but I was hardly in a po- 
 sition to attempt such a thing. These were mission 
 stations of the Missionary Society, and it was my duty 
 to hold them as such. A wise foresight might have 
 provided against such a weakening of our forces as 
 took place at that time. Ee-enforcements should al- 
 w^ays be ready to be sent to the front on short notice, 
 and the spectacle of an empty mission house should 
 never be seen. I chafed a great deal in those days as 
 I went around from one deserted station to another. 
 !Not only w^as it costing a great deal of precious 
 money to maintain the ground in this inactive way, 
 but the work of years was melting away before my 
 eyes, and I knew but too well how muoh money and 
 time and hard work it would require to do the work 
 over again. 
 
 I lost no time after my arrival in Lucknow in 
 visiting the mission stations of the province. I first 
 went out to Roy Bareilly, the station which was 
 under my own special charge, and spent a week in- 
 specting the work and trying to get the measure of 
 the native helpers. I next visited Xawabgunge, a 
 
OUDH. 261 
 
 town about twenty miles east of Lucknow, Avliero 
 Brother Joel T. Janvier, a Hindustani member of 
 Conference, was stationed. He had a young exliorter 
 as an assistant, and the two were faithfully preach- 
 iug; but they were making no impression on the 
 people, and it was perfectly evident that, unassisted, 
 they would probably work on for years in this fi'uit- 
 less way. Going on twenty miles farther east, I 
 crossed the river Gogra, a mighty stream, very little, 
 if at all, inferior to the Ganges. On the east of this 
 river we had two stations, Gonda and Bahraich. The 
 Eev. S. S. Weatherby was stationed at the former 
 place, and a native preacher at tlie latter. A vast 
 population is found in this trans-Gogra region, and, 
 in many respects, this may be regarded as the best 
 part of Oudh for mission work. I made a hasty tour 
 through the country, visiting both Gonda and Bah- 
 raich, but could do very little in tbe way of organizing 
 work. The preacher at Bahraich was an elderly man, 
 who had once belonged to another mission, and who 
 felt no special attachment to us. He was a man of 
 ability, but not one who would build up a living 
 Church in a generation. From Bahraich I passed on, 
 by a long journey, to Seetapore, distant about sev- 
 enty-five miles. Here the Eev. S. Knowles was in 
 chars:e of tbe oldest of our Oudh stations outside of 
 Lucknow. Thirty miles to the north-east was the 
 station of Lnckimpore. where an empty mission 
 house and a native preacher were found. A journey 
 
262 My Missioxary Apprenticeship. 
 
 of fifty miles from Seetapore brought me back again 
 to Lucknow. 
 
 Having thus made a hastj^ inspection of the field, 
 1 next called together the missionaries and native 
 preachers, of various grades, at Lucknow to organize 
 the District Conference. It was the first time that 
 these brethren had ever met, and tlie occasion was one 
 of no little interest to all present. The total number 
 enrolled, including teachers and minor assistants, was 
 only thirty-one, and they were by no means a homo- 
 geneous body of men. Many of them had drifted 
 into Oudh from other missions, far and near, and 
 very naturally brought with them the peculiar tastes 
 and habits in which they had been trained. A very 
 few were men of devout piety, but the average 
 spiritual standard of the group was much lower than 
 that of the District Conference I had left behind me 
 at Moradabad. One of the good results of the meet- 
 ing was that these men became acquainted with one 
 another, and in this way the virtues as well as frail- 
 ties of each were more quickly discovered than would 
 have been possible had they remained in their isolated 
 stations. The reader may be shocked when I men- 
 tion that in the course of this first year I discovered 
 that no less than four of these preachers were opium 
 eaters. Men addicted to this habit follow the prac- 
 tice so stealthily that it is nearly impossible to detect 
 them in the act, and yet they never succeed in de- 
 ceiving the public for any great length of time. A 
 
OuDH. 263 
 
 suspicion soon fastens itself upon the mind, and such 
 is the bad repute in which the habit is held, that a 
 preacher's influence would be utterly ruined if he 
 were even suspected of being addicted to it. The 
 opium habit, whether the drug be eaten or smoked, 
 is every-where regarded as a vice, and it is a grievous 
 reproach in any grade of society to be called an 
 opium user. "When I discovered that these four men 
 were suspected of the habit, I spoke to them with all 
 plainness, and urged them to speak the truth, but 
 only one of them could be induced to acknowledge 
 his guilt. The other three protested their innocence, 
 and, like all the victims of this seductive vice, told 
 falsehoods without scruple in order to screen them- 
 selves, but eventually were obliged to seek employ- 
 ment elsewhere. It was a sad experience to have to 
 deal with these cases, but the ultimate effect upon the 
 other preachers was good, especially as they had to 
 deal with the men themselves in the District Con- 
 ference. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to add that I did not succeed 
 in doing very much, during the first year in Oudh, in 
 the general work throughout the province. At near- 
 ly every point we were simply trying to hold the 
 ground, while longing and praying for such re-en- 
 forcements from America as would enable us to 
 begin energetic work at every station. And yet the 
 labor of the year was by no means thrown away. 
 When our District Conference met again in October, 
 
264 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 it was like a new body. The majority of the preach- 
 ers seemed to feel their responsibility as they had not 
 done before, and both the discussions at the Confer- 
 ence and the devotional meetings were marked by 
 much spiritual fervor. Many of the brethren seemed 
 inspired with new hope, and the dawn of a better 
 day seemed to be at hand. I Avas not, however, to 
 see much done in the out-stations of this great prov- 
 ince during my stay. New men arrived, but they 
 were dumb at first, and even when they began to 
 master the vernacular, urgent emergencies called 
 some of them elsewhere. Only one station was occu- 
 pied continuously by the same missionary during the 
 last three years of my stay on the district. One 
 station had three different missionaries in as many 
 years, one changed twice, a third had a missionary 
 for half a year and then remained vacant, while a 
 fourth was not occupied at all. 
 
 In those days I used my pen vigorously in putting 
 the facts of our situation before the Church at home, 
 through the medium of the home papers. I had done 
 this for several years, as had other missionaries in 
 India, but in time w^e all wearied of the labor. It 
 was found that plain unvarnished facts, especially 
 when they were of a disagreeable flavor, were not 
 palatable at home. It was thought, too, by not a few 
 in high position, that criticisms on the missionary ad- 
 ministration, or on the general missionary policy of 
 the Church, had a discouraging effect upon the friends 
 
OuDH. 265 
 
 of missions, and created distrust where tliere should 
 be confidence. 1 could not persuade nijself that 
 such would be the effect of faithful correspondence 
 from missionaries in the field, but after several years 
 of plain and pointed writing in the Church papers, I 
 finally grew w^eary and gave it up. I could not go 
 around among my empty mission houses, or look out 
 over the neglected work which we had taken in hand, 
 and then sit down and write a glowing letter for the 
 home papers, telling them that a grand work was 
 going forward, and a glorious victory just at hand. 
 I could not write any thing of the kind. I knew bet- 
 ter. I knew that money and time and labor had been 
 wasted in laying foundations upon which we were not 
 trying to build. Years have passed since that time, 
 and I am somewhat older, and perhaps a little more 
 experienced in missionary affairs, but my judgment 
 in this matter has not changed an iota. The j)olicy 
 which permitted us to drift into such a straitened con- 
 dition was sadly at fault. It is my deliberate judg- 
 ment that missionary work in Oudh was put back ten 
 years, and tens of thousands of precious dollars wasted, 
 simply by neglecting to keep up the strength of the 
 working force according to the scale which had been 
 adopted. 
 
 " But why write all this in a series of sketches of 
 this kind ? Why not let past failures be forgotten ? " 
 I am writing the story of my apprenticeship, and this 
 is a part of the story ; moreover, this is not all a tiling 
 
266 Mr Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 of the past. Other parts of the mission field have 
 suffered in like manner in much more recent years. 
 Our great Missionary Societies, one and all, are at 
 fault. They do not appreciate the importance of 
 keeping up the working strength of their foreign 
 missions, they rarely keep reserves within call, and 
 they pursue a policy of " drift," instead of keeping a 
 firm hand at the helm and a constant eye upon the 
 chart. The Church is not kept well informed. Good 
 news is published to the four winds, but every thing 
 of a discouraging character is kept from the public 
 eye and ear, and when at last it is suddenly proposed 
 to abandon a field on account of its long-continued 
 barrenness, the story of its failure comes upon the 
 Church Avith all the force of a painful surprise. This 
 kind of tactics may be excused among military men 
 in war time, but there is no need of such a policy in 
 directing the movements of the militant hosts of Him 
 whose name is Faithful and True. 
 
LuciQ^owo 267 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 LUCKNOW. 
 
 THIRTY years ago Lucknow was by far the larg- 
 est inland city in India, having a population of 
 about half a million souls, but it suffered terribly 
 during the Mutiny, and the removal of the native 
 court, after the annexation of Oudli by the British 
 Government, cut oif the main source of the artificial 
 prosperity of the place. Its decline was rapid for a 
 number of years, but it has probably passed its worst 
 crisis, and is not without encouraging prospects for the 
 future. It retains a population of more than 250,000, 
 and still exhibits many traces of its former splendor. 
 It is a thoroughly Oriental city, with palaces and 
 domes and minarets, rising out of the dense foliage 
 which half conceals the city, as it lies six miles in ex- 
 tent upon the western side of the river Goomtee. A 
 few days after my arrival in the city, my two col- 
 leagues, J. W. Waugh and J. H. Messmore, took me 
 up into one of the minarets of the Fort, from the top 
 of which we could get a splendid bird's-eye view of 
 its whole vast extent. It lay like a crescent, with its 
 western horn resting upon the river to our right, 
 while the city swept round to the south and east un- 
 til it touched the river again far to the eastward. 
 
2'GS My Mission akv Appkenticeship. 
 
 The large vacant space inclosed in this territory had 
 been cleared of buildings by the military authorities, 
 but before the Mutiny was covered with houses and 
 streets. Tlie railway station was at the eastern end 
 of the city, as were all tlie pubHc offices, while be- 
 yond these, live miles from our point of observation, 
 were the military cantonments, where three regi- 
 ments of European troops were permanently quar- 
 tered. 
 
 Before the wholesale demolition of buildings above 
 referred to had been made, the main street of the 
 city led directly into the quarter where the western 
 end of the crescent touches the river, and here our 
 mission premises had been purchased, and a large 
 Anglo- vernacular school established. Subsequently 
 a house had been purchased in the eastern end of the 
 city, with a room in it fitted up for religious services, 
 but the head-quarters of our work were far away in 
 what was at this time little more than a western sub- 
 urb. As we looked out over the city from the lofty 
 minaret, I quickly perceived that our mission was 
 most unfortunately located, and that every year would 
 add to our disadvantage if we remained there. The 
 Lucknow of the future would be three miles to the 
 eastward, and if w^e wished to be where we could feel 
 the mighty pulsations of the great city we must 
 change our position. The two bretliren with me 
 confirmed this observation at once, and had long 
 before perceived that the population was steadily 
 
LucKNow. 269 
 
 drifting awaj from us; but it had seemed impossible 
 to change our position, or to contend against the in- 
 evitable. We talked the matter over up there in the 
 minaret, and began seriously to discuss the feasibility 
 of a complete change of base, by selling our property 
 and transferring the whole missionary force to the 
 eastern part of the city. We took counsel with our 
 brethren in other parts of the mission, naade estimates 
 as to the ways and means, and a month later formally 
 decided to make the change. It was a resolution 
 easily placed upon paper, but it involved an immense 
 amount of work and anxiety, and required a long 
 time for its completion. Two months later a fine 
 property, containing about six acres of land and situ- 
 ated on the dividing line between the native city and 
 the European quarter, was offered for sale, and Broth- 
 er Messmore and myself assumed the responsibility of 
 purchasing it with borrowed money. Two spacious 
 mission houses have since been erected on the prem- 
 ises, while the large building of the Centennial School 
 stands near by. 
 
 My sister and myself moved into the house standing 
 at that time on this piece of ground, but the Mess- 
 mores remained at the old head-quarters at the w^estern 
 end of the city. It was not easy to find a purchaser 
 for the mission houses in that decaying part of the 
 city, while the large building which had been erected 
 for the Anglo- vernacular school was for a time a 
 great embarrassment to us with our new plans. The 
 
270 Mr Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 building was large and had cost not only a great deal 
 of money but ten years of very hard work. The 
 school had at one time been the leading institution in 
 the city, and its fame seemed worth preserving. On 
 the other hand we saw that its attendance was steadily 
 falling off, and that it would be impossible to save it 
 from further decline. I believed then, and every 
 year of observation since has confirmed me in the 
 opinion, that it is always a wrong policy to cling to a 
 bad position for the sake of a building which may 
 have been erected at some cost, and hence gave my 
 voice in favor of blowing up the school building 
 with gunpowder rather than continue to work 
 longer at so manifest a disadvantage. Mr, Mess- 
 more, however, was in no mood for using gunpowder 
 on the building. He had built it, and every brick in 
 its walls was dear to him. He had expended ten 
 years of hard labor on the school, and had hoped to 
 see it rise up into a large and permanent institution, 
 and to forsake it altogether seemed to him a thing 
 not to be thought of. Thus the matter rested till the 
 month of September, when a chilly wind set in 
 from the north, and meeting the warm current of 
 moist air from the south-west precipitated a deluge 
 of rain upon the province. The streams were quickly 
 swollen, and the Goomtee rose to an astonishing 
 height. The school building was far away from the 
 river bank, but the relentless water sought it out, 
 filled the lower rooms, melted the soft mortar of the 
 
LucKNow. 271 
 
 foundation, and in less than three days the grand 
 building, which I had often praised before American 
 audiences, lay in ruins. Mr. Messniore looked at it as 
 if an only child lay beneath the wreck, while I secretly 
 rejoiced that God had so manifestly approved of the 
 gunpowder policy. Our mission in that part of the 
 city was now ended, and in due time we succeeded in 
 finding a purchaser for the mission houses, and were 
 thus able to complete our transfer to the growin(>- 
 part of Lucknow. 
 
 All through that first year in Oudh I was on the 
 lookout for a suitable site for a home for the ladies of 
 the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, but, turn 
 where I would, some difficulty would always present 
 itself, and it was not till near the close of the follow- 
 ing year that we were able to effect a purchase. In 
 e:irly days, when our missionaries had proposed to 
 open English services in the eastern part of the city, 
 a certain high official, who lived in one of the largest 
 houses in the station, had used all his personal and 
 official influence to oppose us. It so happened that 
 we succeeded in obtaining a house suited to our pur- 
 poses next door to this gentleman, and when he left 
 the city his opposition was quickly forgotten. Mean- 
 ivhile the fine house in which he had lived was 
 offered for sale, with nine acres of land attached to 
 it. For months we had known that it was in the 
 market, but had never supposed that we could possi- 
 bly get together enough money to make an offer for 
 
272 My Missionary AppiiEXTicESHir. 
 
 it, until at last the owner became discouraged and re- 
 duced his price, when we stepped in and bought the 
 whole property for the small sum of $7,000. Our 
 position in Lucknow was greatly strengthened by 
 this purchase. A fine English church has since been 
 erected on one part of the land, a large building for 
 the Anglo-vernacular girls' school on another part, 
 while a large space has been inclosed for the board- 
 ing department of the school. The fine property 
 of the Widows' Home, which adjoins the English 
 church, now forms a continuous part of this valuable 
 purchase on one side, while the Hindustani chapel 
 and one of the mission houses adjoin it on another 
 side. God has thus planted us in force at the very 
 point where our opponents in earlier years sat and 
 planned to exclude us altogether. The Press, mean- 
 while, was kept in temporary quarters for two years 
 longer, when, nnder the vigorous superintendence of 
 the Rev. T. Craven, a fine property was purchased 
 in the main business street of the English quarter. 
 
 During the four years preceding my appointment 
 to Lncknow I had conscientiously abstained from 
 preaching in the English language, unless when away 
 from home or under exceptional circumstances. Dur- 
 ing the two years that I lived in Moradabad I only 
 preached once in English, and that was the evening 
 before I left for Lncknow. I could have had a 
 chapel full of hearers at any time, and was repeated- 
 ly importuned to hold an English service ; but I had 
 
LucKNow. 273 
 
 adopted rigid notions about the claims of what in 
 India is called the ''native work," and was resolved 
 that I w^ould preach only in the language of the 
 natives. My experience in preaching to the Eu- 
 ropeans at Nynee Tal had not been satisfactory, and 
 I rashly came to the conclusion that I would limit 
 my commission to " every creature " by excluding 
 Europeans from the list. As time passed, however, 
 I began to feel that my resolution was essentially 
 wrong, and when I arrived in Lucknow I was more 
 than willing to bear a part in our English services. 
 These services, however, were very informal, and did 
 not by any means tax our strength. In earher days 
 we had opened a regular English service in East 
 Lucknow; but at a time when the cry for "native 
 work" was in the ascendant, the w^hole of the En- 
 glish work had been made over to the English Wes- 
 leyans. They sent a missionary to the place, but in a 
 short time he removed to the military cantonments, 
 and a few of the people who could not walk so far 
 begged our missionaries to preach to them on Sunday 
 evenings and also hold a week-night service. This 
 was done ; but the sacraments were not administered, 
 no Sunday-school was held, and little or no pastoral 
 oversight had been assumed by the missionaries. Be- 
 fore my arrival, however, it had been determined to 
 push this work among the English-speaking people 
 more vigorously, and we at once began to form plans 
 
 for doing so. 
 18 
 
'27 4t My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 During my first year in Lucknow I had charge of 
 a class of four young men who were preparing for 
 native preachers, and I went regularly with them and 
 other native assistants to preach in the bazars. This 
 work was very interesting, but in those days 1 in- 
 dulged in an amount of controversy with Moham-* 
 medan disputants which I would now consider wholly 
 unprofitable. Nearly every morning I was in the 
 bazar soon after sunrise, and an audience was easily 
 and quickly gathered. The city swarmed with Mo- 
 hammedan disputants who were eager for controver- 
 sy, and sometimes I would be detained in argument 
 with them till the broiling sun would drive us from 
 the street. I never discovered that much good re- 
 sulted from these controversies, and in later years I 
 abandoned them altogether, absolutely refusing to 
 answer questions in public, or to pause on account of 
 any interruption. In addition to the street preach- 
 ing I took my turn in the English services, and often 
 preached in the Hindustani chapel, and thus found 
 more than enough to occupy my time when in the 
 city. 
 
 It so chanced one week that I had no appointment 
 of any kind for the Sabbath, and the novel situation 
 led me to consider carefully whether I was doing ray 
 whole duty. On Friday I had an errand at the rail- 
 way station, and, while walking across the platform, a 
 gentleman, with an open telegram in his hand, 
 stopped me and asked me if I could 2:0 to Cawnpore 
 
LucKNow. 275 
 
 on Sunday, and preach to a small congregation. A 
 preacher had disappointed him, and he had just been 
 notified that he must look up some one else. I told 
 him that for once in mj life I had an idle day ahead, 
 and so agreed to go to Cawnpore, " assuredly gather- 
 ing" that God was calling me thither. Cawnpore 
 was at that time an important city, and I had been 
 regretting that it had not been inchided in our field, 
 and wondering if our way w^ould open for us to gain 
 an entrance into it. It is much larger now, and is not 
 only the chief commercial citj^ of North India, but 
 destined to maintain its leading position in the future. 
 I found a congregation of about fifty persons, wor- 
 shiping in a hired store-room, and served two Sun- 
 days in the month by Presbyterian and Baptist 
 missionaries from Allahabad. I was received most 
 cordially, and was not only invited to return, but 
 urged to plant a mission in the place, or, if not able 
 to do this, at least to arrange for preachers to go over 
 from Lucknow on the vacant Sundays. I was anxious 
 to drive in our stakes at once, but several obstacles 
 intervened. In the first place the Board in 'New 
 York had accepted at the outset a certain carefully 
 defined field for our mission, the western boundary 
 of which was the river Ganges, and had never form- 
 ally relinquished the right of fixing our boundaries. 
 Then the General Conference had fixed the bound- 
 aries of our Annual Conference, and it was a question 
 with some whether this did not confirm the original 
 
276 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 action of the Board. Still further, there was an un- 
 written law of comity among the various missionary 
 bodies in India, which made it improper to intrude 
 into the field of a neighbor without his permission, 
 and, as matters then stood, it was proper and fitting 
 that we should seek counsel of some of our neigh- 
 bors, especially of our American Presbyterian breth- 
 ren, who occupied the region west of the Ganges, 
 while we occupied the country to the eastward. 
 Lastly, we had a well-understood agreement among 
 ourselves that no new mission station should be 
 added to our list, except by the consent of the An- 
 nual Conference, and this consent I could not obtain 
 till the close of the year. While thus hedged about 
 in so many directions I could not take any decisive 
 action, and yet it seemed very clear to me that an 
 open door like this ought not to be neglected. I ac- 
 cordingly ventured to become responsible for supply- 
 ing the little congregation with preachers, who should 
 be sent over from Lucknow every alternate Sunday, 
 and left the question of a permanent mission in the 
 city to be settled in the future. On my return to 
 Lucknow I invited our Wesleyan missionary brother 
 to take a part in these services, which he did for «. 
 time, but subsequently both he and the Baptist breth- 
 ren withdrew in our favor. In this way we were led 
 to begin work on the western bank of the Ganges, 
 and events soon proved that God's hand had guided 
 us thither. 
 
LucKNow. 27, 
 
 As the year advanced we began to witness many 
 encouraging tokens of God's presence in our work. 
 The English congregations, both in Lucknow and at 
 Cawnpore, increased steadily, and in the former city 
 signs of awakening among the people began to be 
 manifested. The Hindustani congregation also in- 
 creased materially, and a hopeful spirit took posses- 
 sion of both missionaries and people. We all felt 
 deeply our need of a genuine work of revival, and 
 many waited, with expectant faith, for showers of 
 blessing from above. They did not wait in vain. A 
 brighter and a better day was soon to dawn, and the 
 expected revival was already at hand. 
 
278 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 WILLIAM TAYLOR. 
 
 IFIEST met William Taylor at tv/o different camp- 
 meetings in 1858. He was then well known as a 
 California street preacher, and was supposed to be 
 absent from California for a short time only. He 
 was a comparatively young man, but had already be- 
 come known among Californians as Father Taylor. 
 He was very quiet and unobtrusive in manner, neat 
 and tasteful in dress, and very courteous and winning 
 iB his intercourse with preachers and people. I met 
 him constantly, and had abundant opportunities for 
 talking with him ; but, for some reason, we failed to 
 become well acquainted. He impressed me as a re- 
 markable man, but at that time nothing seemed less 
 probable than that we should meet, in after years, on 
 a distant mission field. During my two years of 
 secluded life in Gurhwal I was led to think much 
 about our position in India, and the conviction began 
 to take a "firm hold on me that God had a work for 
 us to do far beyond what had been outlined for us at 
 the beginning. Other members of the mission were 
 impressed at the same time in the same way. We 
 had lived in India long enough to begin to feel an 
 interest in the whole country, and as we looked at 
 
William Taylok. 279 
 
 the position and prospects of Christianity throughout 
 the empire, we could not resist the conviction that 
 God had something for us to do in the regions be- 
 yond our little corner in the north. In those days 
 revivals, and all forms of revival work, were un- 
 known in India. The great cities were well supplied 
 Vv'ith Christian churches, but nothing like a revival 
 had ever been witnessed in any city of the empire. 
 A growing feeling of despondency had taken posses- 
 sion of many missionaries, and not a few of those 
 who had witnessed revivals at home were inclined to 
 think that it would be too much to expect a time of 
 refreshing in India. While studying this situation 
 in my remote mountain home, my thoughts reverted 
 to William Taylor. Of all the men I had ever 
 known he seemed the most likely to succeed as a 
 pioneer evangelist in India, and I became so strongly 
 impressed with this idea that, in a letter to a brother 
 missionary, I sketched a plan for getting him out to 
 India and having him open our way to all the great 
 cities of the empire by preaching in English to the 
 English-speaking people. Two years later, after 
 hearing of his noted campaign in South Africa, I 
 was again so impressed with this idea that I sat down 
 and wrote a letter to him, telling him of our position 
 in India, and urging him to come over and help us. 
 I had no idea where such a cometarv evans^elist could 
 be found, but sent my letter to the care of the Wes- 
 leyan Mission Rooms in London, and, in the course 
 
280 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 of a year or so, received an answer to the effect that 
 we might look for him in India during the following 
 year. 
 
 I mention these particulars, not because they had 
 any bearing on his coming, but merely to show how I 
 was led to associate myself, from the first, with him 
 and his work. He had decided to come to India be- 
 fore my letter reached him. He came up from Aus- 
 tralia, and stopped for a time in Ceylon, intending to 
 go from thence to the Wesleyan missionaries in the 
 Madras Presidency ; but, not finding an open door 
 there at that time, he concluded to come on to us at 
 Lucknow. We awaited his coming with eager ex- 
 pectation, and spread his fame among the people far 
 and wide. He arrived on Friday, November 25, 1870, 
 and began his work the following Sunday. He had 
 wonderfully changed since I had last seen him, both 
 in manner and appearance. He was now a veritable 
 patriarch, with erect and imposing mien, long white 
 beard, a piercing but kindly eye, and a reserve which 
 often impressed strangers more powerfully than any 
 words could have done. His pulpit style had com- 
 pletely changed, so much so, indeed, that there w^as 
 absolutely nothing about him which reminded me of 
 the William Taylor whom I had known a dozen years 
 before. He seemed indifferent to surrounding cir- 
 cumstances, but from the moment of his arrival be- 
 gan to give us lessons in his theory of " soul-saving." 
 At family prayer he read a few verses and expounded 
 
William Taylok. 281 
 
 them to us, and then, kneeling down, continued the 
 exposition in the form of prayer. He insisted much 
 on our maintaining an attitude of faith. Walking 
 with him at a late hour one night through a palace 
 garden, I chanced to say, " If we should have a re- 
 vival here," — In a moment my arm was in the grip 
 of a giant ; " If^ My brother, there is no if about 
 it. We are going to have a revival. That is settled. 
 The agreement is with the Lord Almighty, and it 
 cannot fail." As he thus talked to me he held me at 
 arm's length, while my arm felt as if screwed up in 
 an iron vice. 
 
 On Sunday evening the chapel was crowded to its 
 utmost capacity, and the entrance of the strange 
 preacher was awaited with great curiosity. He went 
 inside the communion railing, but paid no attention 
 to the humble little pulpit. After singing and 
 prayer he took the big Bible, and stepping to one 
 side to be near a lamp, proceeded to read and ex- 
 pound the second chapter of Acts. He did this in a 
 manner of seeming indifference, and apparently took 
 no note of time. After singing a second hymn he 
 announced his text, and began to preach to a congre- 
 gation who were expecting the benediction. His ser- 
 mon was but a continuation of the previous exposition, 
 and was such as to startle and shock many of his 
 hearers. He talked as if he was perfectly indifferent 
 to the opinion of any one present, and from begin- 
 ning to end did not once rise to the level of ordinary 
 
282 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 animation. I have heard him preach, perhaps fifty 
 times, since, but have seldom ever heard him make 
 an effort which seemed less suited to the occasion 
 than his first sermon in India. Once or twice he 
 told grotesque anecdotes which provoked audible 
 lauofhter, a things at that time unheard of in an Indian 
 church, and a terrible scandal to some who were pres- 
 ent. Altogether the service was a disappointment to 
 us, and we were not surprised to see but a small con- 
 gregation the next evening. This, however, seemed 
 to rouse up rather than depress the preacher, and 
 the sermon was searching and incisive. On Tuesday 
 evening sinners were invited forward for prayers, and 
 seven persons responded. They were not deeply con- 
 victed, and only one of the seven remained perma- 
 nently among us ; but this meeting was an era in the 
 history of our work in India. It committed us fully 
 and irrevocably to work among the English-speaking 
 people, it put an end to the aimless kind of English 
 services which we had been holding, and it was an 
 inauguration of a style of Gospel labor which has 
 since spread all over India, and has resulted in incal- 
 culable good. 
 
 On Wednesday morning the first invitation was 
 given to natives. The congregation was composed 
 almost exclusively of native Christians, but very few 
 of them were really converted. I acted as interpre- 
 ter, and near the close of the sermon I had an oppor- 
 tunity of perceiving the effects of that extraordinary 
 
William Taylor. 283 
 
 power which at times attends Dr. Taylor's preaching. 
 He was describing, in simple language, the works of 
 the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit, when suddenly 
 a thrill seemed to go forth with his words. I felt it 
 as I tried to interpret, and I saw the tears start into 
 the eyes of the natives before us. Eleven men came 
 forward for prayers, ten of whom ahnost immediately 
 professed to find peace in believing. Most of them 
 were deeply moved, and there was every reason to 
 believe that the work in their hearts was of the most 
 genuine character. We were all surprised, however, 
 at the simplicity and quietness of the meetings. We 
 had fully expected that a long and vigorous prayer- 
 meeting would follow each call for seekers, but this 
 seldom occurred. The inquirers were instructed, 
 sometimes in a body and sometimes one by one, and 
 their attention kept closely to two points : submitting 
 to God and receiving Jesus Christ. I had seen Dr. 
 Taylor in the midst of stormy prayer-meetings in 
 former years, and asked him why he had changed his 
 methods. " I never liked those meetings," he said, 
 " but I found it best to endure them. When allowed 
 my own way, I choose a different course." 
 
 A deep and powerful work of revival set in at 
 Lucknow, but it was confined to Europeans and 
 native Christians. For this we were thankful 
 enough, but our real interest was in the direction of 
 the Hindus and Mohammedans. We had read of 
 the wholesale conversion of the heathen in South 
 
284 My Missionary Apprextioeship. 
 
 Africa, and we hoped, and some of us expected, to 
 see similar results among the non-Christian people of 
 India. Dr. Taylor fully shared this hope with us, 
 and lost no time in seeking an outside audience of 
 natives. He secured a fluent interpreter, and made 
 one attempt after another, but without any marked 
 result. At first he was inclined to think that he had 
 not a fair chance, but, after going from place to place, 
 and preaching to people of all classes and under all 
 manner of conditions, he was constrained to admit 
 that there were inherent difficulties in the situation 
 which made it, at that stage of the work, impossible 
 to repeat the South African campaign. He went 
 through our mission-field, preached every-where to 
 the native Christians, stirred up a deep interest, and 
 did much good ; but, at the end of his visit, we found 
 ourselves just where we had been before, face to face 
 with millions of people who seemed absolutely imper- 
 vious to the truth, and who thus far had never been 
 moved by the Gospel, except in detached groups, and 
 in obscure places. The work among the native 
 Christians was not deep except at two or three points. 
 They were too ready to press forward as seekers at 
 any and every meeting, and did not fully comprehend 
 the message which the evangelist brought to them. 
 
 Had Dr. Taylor's mission terminated here, and had 
 he left India to return no more, he would still have 
 done a great and most important work. He had 
 taught valuable lessons, had elevated the spiritual 
 
William Taylor. 285 
 
 tone of our little Conference, and had kindled a 
 flame which has never since gone out. It is due to 
 him to say that he gave an impetus to our work which 
 it has never lost, and that he committed us to ad- 
 vanced movements whicli we might have shrunk from 
 for years had he not led the way. If we were disap- 
 pointed in not seeing him hew a way for us through 
 the dense masses of the natives, we were neverthe- 
 less permitted to see him beckon us forward into 
 other fields, and point out to us other and greater 
 responsibilities than we had dared to anticipate. 
 During the hot season of 1 871 he was comparatively 
 idle, and private letters received from him indi- 
 cated that he had no definite plan of operations 
 formed ; that he was watching for tokens from above, 
 and that he was more than willing to enter any door 
 which might be opened to him. During all those 
 months, none of those who have since censured him 
 for following a line of his own, came forward with 
 either suggestion or invitation, and he was left to 
 settle his future course in whatever way God might 
 indicate to him. Near the close of the year he went 
 to Bombay, and following step by step the indications 
 of Providence, he was led to organize his converts 
 into churches, and thus lay the foundation of what 
 has since become the South India Conference. 
 
 It would be foreign to the purpose of these sketches 
 to speak at length of the character and extent of the 
 work done by William Taylor in India. He has now 
 
286 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 been absent from the country for many years, and tlie 
 results of his labors can be pretty fairly estimated. 
 That he did a great and most important service to the 
 cause of Christianity in the empire I do not for one 
 moment doubt. He is the " poor wise man " wlio by 
 his wisdom did a great work for the "little city " of 
 Indian missions, and now no man remembers him for 
 it. He was the pioneer revivalist of the empire, and 
 he gave an impetus to lay preaching which is felt ia 
 all its force to the present day. He brought the 
 power of the Gospel to bear upon low depths of vice, 
 and he inspired the most active Christians of the land 
 with a loftier courage than they had before known. 
 If many of his converts fell away, it can be said on 
 the other hand that his work still abides. If his an- 
 ticipations and pi'omises of success among the natives 
 have not been verified by results, the fact remains 
 that hundreds of these enlisted by him are still de- 
 voted to the great work of winning India to Christ. 
 The doctrines which he preached, and most of the 
 peculiarities which he introduced, are now popular- 
 ized all over India, and many of those who still con- 
 demn his procedure are entering heartily into the 
 work which he made possible for them. He did not 
 sufficiently appreciate the enormous difficulties which 
 beset the work among the natives, he Avas too san- 
 guine in reference to the success of his own men and 
 his own methods, and too quick to assume that he 
 had discovered the path which would quickly lead us 
 
AViLLiAM Tayloe. 2S7 
 
 all out of the dense jungle of difficulties in which we 
 had so long been struggling, but after discounting 
 his services with all just freedom, the fact remains 
 that one of the greatest benefactors Indian Chris- 
 tianity has ever had, and one of the truest men who 
 ever tried to plan and labor for the Indian people, is 
 William Taylor. 
 
288 JjIy Missionary ArPKENTiCESHip, 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 FURTHER LESSONS. 
 
 THE year 1871 opened auspiciously upon our work, 
 both in Lucknow and the outlying stations of the 
 district. Three new missionaries had been added to 
 tlie work, and two of the empty mission houses were 
 ai^ain occupied. The spirit of revival, which had been 
 kindled at Lncknow, burned brightly througliout the 
 year, and both Europeans and native Christians were 
 powerfully influenced by it. The work of grace was 
 deep and powerful, and some of its manifestations 
 surpassed any thing of a similar kind which I have 
 ever seen* Tliere was a searching energy in the 
 word which seemed to find out hidden sin, and a 
 power ill the Gospel preached wdiich saved to the 
 uttermost. I w^as quite at home in this work, and yet 
 I had much to learn, and soon discovered that God 
 had placed me in a good school for receiving instruc- 
 tion. 
 
 Among those converted were some notorious drunk- 
 ards, and our success in dealing with some of these 
 cases inspired me with an unwise zeal to rescue every 
 drunkard who could be found. At that time, as now 
 also, all the large cities of India were infested by a 
 class of European tramps, usually called loafers in 
 
FuKTHER Lessons. 289 
 
 India. One of these men was well known in Luck- 
 now, and had often been seen in a state of violent in- 
 toxication in the street. Without hat, coat, or shoes, 
 he would charge into a bazar, and drive the people 
 before him like so many sheep. One day he called at 
 the house of one of our members and. asked for some 
 breakfast. He was received kindly, and after eating 
 was asked to come again. A friendly watch was kept 
 over him during the day, and at night he was induced 
 to attend a meeting in the chapel. There was noth- 
 ing of special interest in the sermon, but at the close 
 of the service the poor tramp was found sitting help- 
 lessly in his place, so mightily convicted of sin that 
 he could not rise. He was taken home, and a few 
 brethren talked and prayed w^ith him till a late hour, 
 when pod appeared to him and saved him. The 
 chanofe in the man was as thorousrh as it had been 
 rapid. In a very few weeks his voice was heard in 
 both prayer and testimony, and before the close of 
 the year he became a very acceptable local preacher 
 in our Church. 
 
 The remarkable conversion of this man impressed 
 me deeply, and I at once began to look around for 
 more work of the same kind. Among the many vic- 
 tims of intemperance around us there was one nota- 
 ble man who had fallen from a very respectable posi- 
 tion to a low depth of vice and degradation. 1 
 determined to make an effort to save this man, and 
 
 lost no time in seeking him out and trying to win him 
 19 
 
290 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 from his evil ways. He made no attempt to avoid us, 
 but, on the other hand, seemed willing to give us 
 every possible opportunity to do him good. I took 
 the poor wretch home and for a time let him share 
 my own room, walked and drove with him in public 
 talked and prayed with him in private, had him in 
 religious meetings every day, and tried by every pos- 
 sible means to make an impression on his heart, but 
 all to no purpose. He never evinced the slightest 
 compunction for his sinful life, and never once 
 seemed touched in the slightest degree by religious 
 feeliug. AVe all did our utmost for him, but after 
 two months or more of faithful effort, we were 
 obliged to give him up. So far as religious feeling 
 was concerned, we might as well have concentrated 
 our efforts upon a lump of ice : he was sinjply im- 
 movable. 
 
 This case of failure taught me a much needed les- 
 son. God's work must be carried on in God's way, 
 and God's servants must accept the tasks which God 
 sends them. Elisha healed Kaaman when he came to 
 him, but did not forthwith set out in search of des- 
 perate cases of leprosy on which to try his power of 
 healing. For reasons more or less hidden God directs 
 his servants to persons whom they often would not 
 have chosen, and passes by others whom they would 
 have selected as much more hopeful subjects. " Two 
 women shall be grinding at the mill ; the one shall 
 be taken, and the other left." Two drunkards shall 
 
Further Lessons. 291 
 
 be reeling in the streets of the same city ; the one 
 shall be taken, and the other left. 
 
 In the course of a few months the inlluence of our 
 work be^an to be felt in various cities in IS^orth In- 
 dia. Persons converted in Lucknow carried tidings 
 of the work to distant places, and often were the 
 means of leading others to Christ. Opposition also 
 was aroused, and we were frequently attacked in the 
 papers, and sometimes from hostile pulpits. We be- 
 gan to feel the need of some medium of communica- 
 tion with the public, and this led, in April, 1871, to 
 the establishment of a small fortnightly paper, called 
 "The Witness," and published at Lucknow. Mr. 
 Messmore and myself assumed the responsibility of 
 the paper, and became joint editors. It proved more 
 successful than we had anticipated, and was soon en- 
 larged, made a weekly paper, and its name changed 
 to the " Lucknow Witness." The circulation of all 
 newspapers in India is very limited, but the influence 
 of a good paper is really very great. Our little paper 
 gained a secure foothold, and has, almost from the 
 first, had a larger circulation than any other religious 
 paper in the empire. It is now published in Calcutta, 
 its name having been changed to the " Indian Wit- 
 ness," and it bids fair to maintain the position which 
 it has gained. 
 
 Among the first to connect himself with our En- 
 glish church in Lucknow was Mr. Dennis Osborne. 
 He had been a member of the Established Church 
 
292 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 of Scotland, holding his membership in Allahabad, 
 but had first found an experimental knowledge of 
 salvation in Lucknow, and at the time of Father Tay- 
 lor's visit he received a rich anointing of the Holy 
 Spirit. When he proposed to join us, I advised him 
 to go to his pastor, in Allahabad, and lay the case 
 before him. This he did, and having amicably secured 
 his dismissal from his own church he united with us, 
 and became the first class-leader of our English church. 
 In a very short time he began to hold prayer-meetings 
 at his own house, and in these meetings he quickly 
 developed a power in exhortation which surprised all 
 w^ho had known him. One Sunday evening the mis- 
 sionary who was to preach at the regular service was 
 taken suddenly ill, and there being no one else present, 
 Mr. Osborne was constrained to enter the pulpit and 
 conduct the service. He did so with a success which 
 amazed the audience, and from that evening he has 
 held his place as one of our leading preachers in India. 
 His meetings w^ere crowded, and he quickly became a 
 man of great influence in his own community. This 
 was too much for the government chaplain, who could 
 not get as many people to hear him on Sunday as the 
 local preacher could draw out at an ordinary w^eek- 
 night service, and he rashly made a formal complaint 
 to the Chief Commissioner against his presumptuous 
 rival, for interfering with the religious interests and 
 preferences of the men in the ofiice to which he be- 
 longed. The secretary at the head of the department 
 
Further Lessons. 293 
 
 conducted the investigation, wliich, however, qiiicklj' 
 assumed a most ludicrous phase, and ended in the 
 complete discomfiture of the chaplain. 
 
 One day in September, 1871, I received a note 
 from Mr. Osborne, telling me that it had been sug 
 gested to him, in prayer, that we should hold a series 
 of open-air services during the four days of a well- 
 known holiday season, called the Dasahra, which was 
 then close at hand. At that time, and in the face of 
 the public sentiment then prevailing, this was consid- 
 ered a very bold proposal, and we pondered the sub- 
 ject well before deciding to make the attempt. In 
 due time our decision was made, and notices of the 
 meeting were sent to all the surrounding stations. 
 We aimed at holding a miniature camp-meeting in 
 the very heart of the English quarter of the city, and 
 for this purpose secured a grassy plot which had been 
 used as a cricket ground, on which we erected an 
 awning, and provided seats for four hundred persons. 
 The meeting was a notable success. A goodly num- 
 ber were converted, while the Christians who came 
 together were inspired with a courage and zeal far 
 beyond what we had yet seen. The attendance, for 
 India, was large, and so delighted were all parties 
 with the meeting, that similar services were held the 
 following year, and thus the "Dasahra Meeting,'' of 
 Lucknow, has taken its place as an establislied annual 
 gathering. Streams of blessing have flowed out from 
 these meetings throughout all Nortli India, and even 
 
294: ILy Missioxaky Appkenticj:ship. 
 
 in very remote ]3laces their influence has been power- 
 fully felt. 
 
 The holding of this meeting at Lucknow stirred up 
 no little opposition. We were becoming too aggress 
 ive and outraging all religious propriety. One news- 
 paper writer gravely accused us of taking all possible 
 pains to get out as many people as possible. One evil 
 device which we had resorted to, and which was a sub- 
 ject of earnest complaint, was that of annoimcing 
 that laymen would preach at the meetings. Tliere 
 were, at that time, two Christian surgeons in Cawn- 
 pore, one military and the other civil, and both readily 
 agreed to go over and preach on the occasion. Dr. 
 Moffat, the military surgeon, was not able to keep his 
 promise, but Dr. Condon, of the civil service, put in 
 an appearance and preached an excellent sermon. 
 Such an event w^ould hardly excite a single remark in 
 any part of India now, but as recently as a dozen 
 years ago it was a social and religious phenomenon 
 of the most extraordinary kind. It was considered 
 all right for an officer to conduct a Bible reading, or 
 speak to a room full of soldiers, but to stand up at an 
 open-air meeting and preach a formal sermon was- an 
 innovation of the most startling character. It was a 
 blessed innovation. Dr. Moffat afterward rendered 
 valuable preaching service to our infant cause in Cal- 
 cutta, while Dr. Condon still stands in his place at 
 Cawnpore, a well known and very acceptable preacher 
 of the word. 
 
Further Lessons. 295 
 
 As our work began to assume a more aggressive 
 cLaracter I was often subjected to embarrassment, 
 not to say pain, by the remonstrances which good men 
 would make against what they called our " interfer- 
 ence " with their work. For many years the policy 
 had been generally accepted among Protestant mis- 
 sionaries in India, that when one Missionary Society 
 occupied a field, all others should avoid it, unless in 
 the case of a few of the larger cities. The mutual 
 separation of Abraham and Lot was constantly quoted 
 as an example for missionaries, and it w^as considered 
 a very unbrotherly act to enter into another man's 
 pre-empted field. There Avas a good princij^le under- 
 lying this rule, but the rule itself had proved a prac- 
 tical failure. Some observed it, while others ignored 
 it, and it was a question with not a few whether it 
 did not do more harm than good. It often afforded 
 a ground for needless complaint, and it also made it 
 possible for an impracticable man to assume a dog-in- 
 the-manger attitude, and in reality keep the Gospel 
 out of a province while contending for the exclusive 
 privilege of carrying it in. I have one case in mind, 
 in which a really good man sent me word that I need 
 not enter a district containing a million souls, as he 
 had " occupied " it, said occupation consisting in send- 
 ing an inefficient native Christian to live in a certain 
 tow^n and preach in its bazars. I had no occasion to 
 get into trouble with brother missionaries about out- 
 lying fields ; but the work among the English-speaking 
 
296 My Missionary Appkenticeship. 
 
 people in the large towns gave rise to no little com- 
 plaint, especially from the official chaplains. Those 
 gentlemen did not concern themselves with the mis- 
 sionary phase of the question, but took a much bolder 
 attitude. They claimed that the government had 
 given them the specific work of looking after the 
 souls of the people, and that no one else had any ri^ht 
 to interfere with their work. The very presence of a 
 strange preacher was regarded as a reflection on them, 
 and sometimes they were deeply pained by that which 
 others regarded as a cause for joy and gratitude. 
 
 On one occasion I visited a railway town, where I 
 found one hundred and thirty adult persons living in 
 the railway barracks. I preached to about thirty of 
 these persons, and was surprised to learn that the con- 
 gregation was considered a very large one. A day or 
 two later I met the chaplain of the station, who, at 
 once, complained of my " interference." After a 
 good deal of talk, I said : 
 
 " There are a hundred and thirty persons there ; 
 you rarely have more than a dozen to hear you, and 
 I only had thirty. Thus, you see, both of us to- 
 gether can't get one third of them out. Don't you 
 really think there is room for both of us, if not for 
 a third man also ? " 
 
 "The work is mine. It has been put into my 
 hands, and I am responsible for it. If they wont 
 come out to hear me, the fault is not mine. I really 
 cannot have this kind of interference." 
 
Further Lessons. 297 
 
 Explanation was useless. I told liiin I was work- 
 ing in John Wesley's big parish, " the world," and 
 that, much as I wished to please him, I must con- 
 tinue to preach the Gospel to every creature who was 
 willing to hear me. My duty was plain, but it was not 
 veiy pleasant. It is always an unpleasant thing to 
 give pain to a good man, and it is usually a trial to 
 one's fortitude to have to maintain the position of a 
 misunderstood person. 
 
 In ]^oveniber, 1871, I attended the Synod of the 
 American Presbyterian missionaries in IN^orth India, 
 which met in Allahabad. I was received with the 
 utmost kindness, and asked to give a detailed account 
 of the work at Lucknow. These brethren had never 
 complained of our interference with them, and for 
 this very reason I was the more anxious not to seem 
 to trespass on their ground. A few weeks before a 
 man and wife living in Allahabad had been up to 
 Lucknow, and while there had both been converted, 
 and when they heard of my visit to their city they 
 invited me to visit them. I was careful to take a 
 Presbyterian missionary with me when I made my 
 call on these people, who received me joyfully and 
 asked me to hold a meeting in their house the next 
 evening. I agreed to do so, but took two Presby- 
 terian brethren with me again, so that I might not 
 seem to be working behind any one's back. I found 
 only a very small company, most of the neighbors 
 having a wholesale dread of Methodist meetings, of 
 
298 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 which they had heard many strange things. I preached 
 to those present and bade them farewell, but the next 
 day I received a note informing me that two of those 
 who had been present at the meeting were very un- 
 happy and wished to see me. I could not go to them 
 till late in the evening, but I remained with them till 
 midnight, and before I left one of them had found 
 peace with God, and the other was in a measure com- 
 forted. "While visiting these people my heart burned 
 within me with an intense desire to remain and carry 
 on the work which God had commenced. I felt a 
 strong persuasion that if I would do so the sacred fire 
 would spread from heart to heart, and from home to 
 home, and that a great work of salvation would be 
 wrought in Allahabad. But the fear of transgressing 
 the law of fraternal non-interference confronted me, 
 and I could not bring myself even to ask the Presby- 
 terian brethren, who had been so cordial and so kind, 
 if they had any objection to my opening work in 
 Allahabad. Had I done so, I have now reason to 
 know that they would have bid me welcome, but at 
 the time I could not find it in my heart to tell them 
 that I felt called to work within their geographical 
 lines. 
 
 The train did not leave till midnight, and I reached 
 Cawnpore the next morning barely in time to preach 
 at the early morning service. All night long my 
 heart had been in a strange atmosphere of joy. A 
 holy fire had been kindled within me at Allahabad, 
 
Further Lessons. 299 
 
 and as morning dawned I felt as if I could take the 
 wings of the morning and % with the glad tidings 
 of salvation to earth's remotest bound. I went into 
 tlie pulpit, but could not preach. I talked as mj 
 overflowing heart would let me for a little while, and 
 then announced meetings for the week. I did not 
 feel condemned for leaving Allahabad as I had done, 
 and yet I did feel that God would have me hence- 
 forth regard his call as taking precedence of all rules, 
 opinions, and wishes. The week which followed was 
 a blessed one, and at its close our English church in 
 Cawnpore was organized. Father Taylor had organ- 
 ized a class the year before, but most of the members 
 were Hindustani-speaking people, and they now be- 
 long to tlie Hindustani church. Dr. Condon was at 
 tliat time in nominal connnection with the Church of 
 England, but, owing to the introduction of ritualistic 
 innovations, had for some time ceased attending its 
 services. I needed a class-leader, and could see no 
 one else, and so went to him and told him, that while 
 I cared nothing for the mere enrolling of names, I 
 really thought his providential place was that of 
 leader of the new converts. He felt impressed in 
 the same way, and, after examining the Discipline, 
 made up his mind to join our Church. We settled 
 the matter one day on his door-step, and, as the Irish 
 man said, " I organized him " on the veranda of his 
 house, and at our next meeting enrolled the converts 
 gathered during the week's meetings as probationers. 
 
»^00 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 In the latter part of 1S72, while preacliing at Cawn- 
 pore, I learned another lesson which w^as to affect my 
 succeeding labors in a most important way. I had 
 preached to an ordinary congregation, and, as was our 
 custom, at the (jlose of the sermon called on awakened 
 persons to rise. Two or three men did so, and diir- 
 ing the prayer I went to one of them to try to show 
 him the way of salvation. To my extreme surprise 
 he assured me that he had found peace during tlie 
 sermon. He had been awakened, pointed to Christ, 
 and enabled to believe, during the half -hour that I 
 had been preaching. I had never met with sucli a 
 case before, and at iirst was a little incredulous abont 
 the man's profession, but soon another case exactly 
 similar occurred, and other like cases have continued 
 to occur wdth greater or less frequency ever since. I 
 have long since ceased to marvel at them. The real 
 wonder is that I should have preached nearly fifteen 
 years before discovering that the embassador of Jesus 
 Christ, intrusted with the ministry of reconciliation, 
 is really able through his message to do that which 
 he is sent to accomplish. The messenger of Jesus, 
 who speaks for his Master, should beware of trusting 
 to methods, helps, or any artificial appliances, but 
 always stand up before his fellow-men in the confi- 
 dent expectation of seeing them both convicted and 
 converted while listening to the word of life. 
 
A iS^Ew Departure. 301 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIII. 
 
 A NEW DEPARTURE. 
 
 AFTEE, my transfer to Oiidli, I frequently felt 
 that the question of relinquishing, in whole or in 
 part, my salary as a missionary was postponed rather 
 than abandoned. During my third year in the prov- 
 ince I was much exercised in mind about the duty of 
 devoting myself wholly to evangelistic work, and 
 with this was coupled a conviction that I should re- 
 linquish all claim upon the Missionary Society, and 
 trust to God alone for my support. The way, how- 
 ever, never seemed to open for me to become an 
 evangelist, much as I coveted that calling, and I did 
 not wish to anticipate Providence by running before 
 I was sent. With reference to the other conviction, 
 the case was quite different. I had nothing to do 
 but to cease drawing my salary and look to God for 
 help. I thought and prayed much about it, but my 
 duty did not become clear until near the close of the 
 year. One day, while attending to some ordinary 
 little matters in my room, and while my thouglits 
 were not fixed upon any special subject, the words, 
 " My God shall supply all your need," seemed to be 
 spoken in my heart, but with so vivid an impression 
 that they could not have been more distinct if whis- 
 
302 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 pered in my ear. With these words there came an 
 immediate and unmistakable conviction tliat this was 
 God's assurance to me that he would take care of me, 
 and supply all my need after my dependence upon 
 the mission treasury should cease. I could no longer 
 doubt, and felt that the time had come for me to 
 take some action in the matter. 
 
 Lonj]^ before this I had become convinced that 
 when God calls a man to any special duty he will, 
 except in extraordinary cases, impress other Chris- 
 tians who may be concerned in the case with a cor- 
 responding conviction, and that he will also give 
 providential indications to confirm the call. Hence, 
 although convinced in my own mind, I thought it 
 my duty to write to all the members of the Mission 
 for advice. The responses came promptly and em- 
 phatically. Kearly every man in the Mission dis- 
 suaded me from the proposed step, and even Father 
 Taylor did not think it practicable under existing 
 circumstances. Dr. T. J. Scott, and, if I remember 
 correctly, F. M. Wheeler, bade me go ahead. I 
 thought it better, however, to w^ait, and accordingly 
 shut the question up in my heart till the close of the 
 year. 
 
 In January, 1873, our Conference met at Bareilly, 
 and I was present as usual. The question of giving 
 up my salary was constantly Hitting before my mind, 
 but I was not expecting to settle it finally at that 
 time. On Sunday morning we held our customary 
 
A. JSew Depakture. 303 
 
 Conference love-feast, and I entered the clmrcli with- 
 out the slightest anticipation of what was to follow. 
 The meeting had been in progress some time, and I 
 had already spoken and was sitting quietly listening 
 to the testimony of others, wlien suddenly the duty 
 of settling my long-pending question came distinctly 
 and vividly before me. I felt at once that the time 
 for final decision had come, and, lifting my heart to 
 God, I promised him that I would cease henceforth 
 to depend on the Missionary Society and look to him 
 who fed the ravens to care for me. In a moment the 
 very windows of heaven seemed opened above me, 
 and a l^iagara of love and power and joy was poured 
 upon my soul. IN'o language can describe the flood- 
 tide of blessing which burst upon me, and at once I 
 knew —knew beyond a possibility of doubt — that God 
 had put his seal of approval upon what I had done, 
 and that I had made no mistake in reaching my de- 
 cision. I was sitting quietly in my place in adoring 
 love and wonder at the revelation which had been 
 made to my soul, when the thought of my boy and 
 his future occurred to me, and I rashly determined to 
 let his usual allowance be drawn from the Mission as 
 bofore, while I myself should take nothing. In a 
 .oment I w^as under a thick cloud. The flood of 
 blessing had ebbed away again, and I knew that the 
 Spirit had been grieved by my unwillingness to trust 
 for my boy as for myself. I retraced my steps at 
 once, and resolved to trust God to take care of both 
 
ZC>4: My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 myself and child. Quick as a lightning's flasli heav- 
 en's light beamed upon my soul again. The cloud 
 was gone, and streams of blessing were again pouring 
 down into my heart. I said nothing of all this during 
 the meeting, nor did I mention it to any one during 
 the day, but at the evening prayer-meeting I rose 
 and told the story, and, to my surprise, found that 
 all the brethren, or very nearly all, thought I w^as 
 led of God, and bade me go forward and be of good 
 courage. 
 
 Throughout that eventful Sunday in Bareilly I felt 
 a strong desire to be alone, and in the course of the 
 afternoon went out into an adjoining garden, where I 
 thought I might walk unobserved among the orange- 
 trees. A boy from Gurhwal soon discovered my 
 liiding place, and came into the garden to talk over 
 the happy time we had known wliile I was stationed 
 in his province. As tlie boy walked up and down tlie 
 garden path with me I thought of his mountain home, 
 and of the hardships of the life he led, and thought 
 to myself that the time would probably come when I 
 would be as poor as he, and live in the midst of the 
 same kind of hardship and privation. I had honestly 
 and unreservedly given myself up to a life of extreme 
 poverty, not because such a life seemed in itself neces- 
 sary to the work, but because it had not for a moment 
 occurred to me that God was able, or willing, to give 
 more than the barest subsistence to those who put 
 their whole trust in him. I did not choose poverty, 
 
A New DEFAinxjiiE. 305 
 
 but I did not slirink from its prospect, and it was a 
 long time before the truth fully dawned upon my dull 
 understanding that God was able to provide bounti- 
 fully for all who put their trust in him alone. 
 
 For a long time it was both embarrassing and pain 
 ful to have to talk about tliis new step which I had 
 taken. I quickly discovered that very iew^ even of 
 the most advanced Christians, could understand me 
 when I spoke of the deep religious conviction which 
 I felt upon the subject, and 1 ceased to refer to the 
 peculiar experience through which I had passed. The 
 whole question was regarded as one of policy alone, 
 and to most persons I seemed to be acting very un- 
 wisely. It was very humiliating, too, to discover, as 
 I quickly did, that I was becoming an object of pity 
 to many kind-hearted people, and that I must expect 
 to be regarded as a claimant upon the charity of the 
 religious public. From first to last it had never once 
 occurred to me that other members of ^le Mission 
 ought to follow my example, and it did not, nor has 
 it ever since, seemed to me that there was any wrong 
 involved in the policy of supporting missionaries 
 from the funds of a missionary society. I merely 
 know that God was leading me in a particular way, 
 and could not tell what other changes might be in 
 store for me in the years to come. 
 
 When 1 w^as leaving home for the first time after 
 
 Conference, and had taken my seat in the railway 
 
 carriage, a man gave me a handful of rupees, saying 
 20 
 
306 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 he had been requested so to do, but forbidden to tell 
 who the donor was. I accepted the money thank- 
 fully, regarding it as a token from above, and yet it 
 was a sore trial to think that I was becoming an ob- 
 ject of charity. The next week I visited Fyzabadc 
 and on Sunday preached in the regimental school- 
 room to a large congregation of English soldiers, 
 wdtli a few officers. Among those present was the 
 lieutenant-colonel, who came up to me at the close of 
 the service, and asked where I would be during the 
 week. I left Fyzabad the next morning, and two 
 days later 1 received a brief note from the lieutenant- 
 colonel inclosing a check for five hundred rupees. I 
 was amazed, and the more so because I felt sure that 
 neitlier this kind officer nor any one else in Fyzabad 
 could liave heard of the step I had recently taken. I 
 thanked God again, but at the same time felt that 
 1 could not accept the money as my own. The devil 
 made haste to suggest that I was going to double or 
 treble, my former salary by adopting the new policy, 
 but I cut the matter short by distributing the whole 
 of the money to needy objects connected with our 
 work. 
 
 I need not, and indeed I cannot, narrate all the 
 steps by which God led me along the untried path 
 into which he had brought me. From unexpected 
 sources, and in unexpected ways, help was sure to 
 come when needed. It w^as long before I fully real- 
 ized that God had me in charge, and that he would 
 
A Kew Depaktuke. 307 
 
 unfold his designs concerning nie fiom day to day, 
 and year to year, if I fully trusted liiui. At the end 
 of my first year of trust I found myself out of debt, 
 and able to give away more money than I had ever 
 done before; but at that time it had not dawned upon 
 me that, instead of becoming a public beggar myself, 
 1 was to be a distributer of God's bounty to scores 
 and hundreds of the poor. In the years that have 
 since passed, God has interposed a hundred times to 
 Jielp me to help other people, and the strangest thing 
 about the strange way in which he has led me has 
 been the discovery that it w^as not the lesson of 
 trusting God for my own support which I had to 
 learn, but rather that of trusting him in behalf of 
 other people. 
 
 I am often asked if I have not practically aban- 
 doned the course of life adopted at that time, inas- 
 much as I have since accepted support in the usual 
 way as pastor of a church. It is quite possible that 
 the principle of trust miglit have been more consist- 
 ently illustrated by me at times, but the lesson which 
 God impressed upon me was that of accepting what 
 he sent. Nothing was further from my thoughts in 
 1872 than the probability of becoming a pastor of a 
 church; but when once I had put myself in God's 
 hands it became my simple duty to accept wliat he 
 sent me, and when he has put me in charge of a con- 
 gregation I have accepted a support from the people 
 when they have been able and willing to give it. 
 
308 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 This has not by any means been the case at all times, 
 as the sequel may possibly show, and I have more 
 than once found that the most severe test of faith is 
 in the midst of seeming plenty, rather than in a bar- 
 ren desert where the arid sands are nightly bedewed 
 with sweet manna from the skies. 
 
 One more remark may not be oat of place here, 
 [t is not every one's duty to attempt to live in this 
 peculiar way by trusting God. The very basis of 
 such a life implies a call from God, and the man who 
 runs before he is sent, or who gives up a livelihood 
 before God calls upon him to do so, will trust in vain 
 for guidance and support. Nothing is more certain 
 than that God will care for every servant of his who 
 stands at his post of duty; but it is impossible to take 
 a dozen men, picked up as they chance to come along, 
 and organize them mechanically on a basis of living 
 by trust. God must choose the men, and indicate 
 the line of duty which they are to follow, and when 
 once he has done this in any particular case, the 
 faitliful disciple will be fed with manna, ministered 
 to by angels, and girt around hy a wall of fire. 
 
 It must not be supposed that this financial change 
 of base included a separation from the service of the 
 Missionary Society. Nothing was farther from my 
 wishes or expectations. I continued to do the work 
 of a presiding elder in the Conference, and conducted 
 the official correspondence with the Board as before, 
 and even when, a year later, I was transferred to an- 
 
A New Departure. 309 
 
 other field, there was no thought on nij part of 
 ceasing to be a missionary of the society whicli had 
 sent nie to India. On returning from the Confer- 
 ence at which I had taken this step, I wrote to Dr. 
 Eddy, who then conducted the correspondence for 
 India, and, after informing him of my decision, 
 begged that my salary might be appropriated to the 
 support of a missionary who should be sent out to do 
 literary work in connection with our press. During 
 my residence in Lucknow I had a good deal to do in 
 connection with our publishing work, especially 
 during periods of illness of the missionaries in charge, 
 and thus was led to study carefully the various inter- 
 ests involved in this most important agency. From 
 the first our little press had existed by sufferance, 
 rather than by a policy of generous support. The 
 establishment of the "Witness" had enabled us to 
 add a font of type and two compositors to the estab- 
 lishment, and such was our feebleness in that day of 
 small things that we were very thankful for this 
 trifling advance. But better days had dawned ; the 
 pi-ess was steadily extending its work; the fixed 
 policy of having a vigorous and powerful mission 
 press had been adopted ; Mr. Craven, the j)resent en- 
 ergetic superintendent, had assumed charge of it ; and 
 now it was as clear as any practical question could be 
 made that an efficient ]3ress must have an efficient 
 editorial staff. My thought was that we should get 
 out a scholarly man, with superior linguistic abilities 
 
310 My MissioNAiiY Apphenticeship. 
 
 and tastes, who sliould thoroughly master the liter- 
 ature, current and classical, of the natives, and qual- 
 ify himself for vernacular editorial work. The or- 
 dinary missionary, no matter how gifted, cannot 
 become an accurate and really able scholar and iit 
 the same time throw himself with enthusiasm and 
 energy into the great work of preaching, organizing, 
 lj)uilding, teaching, leading, soliciting money, and all 
 else which enters into the work of an enero-etic and 
 efficient missionary. Those who have really become 
 scholars have done so at the sacrifice of other inter- 
 ests, wdiile those who have written and jDublished 
 much, while at the same time doing a full share of 
 general work, will be the first to admit that their 
 books and essays bear marks of imperfection which 
 were unavoidable under the circumstances in which 
 the writers were placed. 
 
 Dr. Eddy acted with the utmost promptitude, and 
 quickly secured the Hev. James Mudge for the place. 
 The original plan, however, did not receive much of- 
 ficial favor, and after Dr. Eddy's death was lost sight 
 of. Mr. Mudge assumed the editorial charge of the 
 "Witness," and retained it during his stay in India; 
 while the attempt to keep a missionary solely for 
 vernacular editorial work has not yet been made. It 
 was held by influential parties at home that a band of 
 active, fairly educated, and versatile missionaries 
 ought to be able to do all their own literary work — 
 a view which clearly showed that those holding it 
 
A New Departure. 311 
 
 failed to realize not onlj what a missionary's work 
 was, but what kind of service literary work required. 
 A decade has passed, and again the same question is 
 coming to the front. The feeble little press of ten 
 years ago has grown into a great power, and is mov- 
 ing forward to a position where not one, but prob- 
 ably three able editors will be needed for its publi- 
 cations. 
 
312 My Missionary Appkenticeship. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIY. 
 
 THE PRESS. 
 
 IN the last chapter I liave spoken very briefly of 
 the planting and growth of our mission press, but 
 the importance of the enterprise demands more than 
 a passing notice. Like every other kind of mission- 
 ary Avork in which I have become interested, I have 
 learned to value this powerful agency by my own 
 practical experience in the mission field. Wlien liv- 
 ing in Gurhwal, where travel is so difficult and the 
 people so inaccessible, I began to consider seriously 
 the project of speaking to the people of every village 
 through the medium of printed tracts, or weekly 
 letters, or, perhaps, a formal newspaper. It would 
 cost something to attempt such an enterprise, but 
 very much less tlian a circle of schools, less than an 
 orphanage, and less, too, than the support of a foreign 
 missionary, with the various expenses connected with 
 his outfit and maintenance. Later observation on the 
 plains strongly confirmed these first impressions 
 Every-where the people were willing to read, but the 
 efforts made to supply them with the kind of Chrstian 
 reading which they needed were wholly inadequate to 
 meet their wants, and the interest manifested in this 
 kind of work seemed not only faint, but actually 
 
The Press. 313 
 
 dying out. The best-known mission presses were far 
 from active, and some were about to be given up. 
 Tracts were circulated, it is true, but on a small scale, 
 and with little or no effort to adapt them to the exi- 
 gencies of time or place. At the very time that the 
 press should have been most active it seemed to be 
 lapsing into comparative idleness. The opportunity 
 of the hour was not seen, the chosen agency for the 
 work in hand w^as not appreciated. 
 
 It will have to be admitted that the great missionary 
 societies of England and America have not utilized 
 the press with the w^isdom w^hich usually characterizes 
 the children of this world. The Baptists have done 
 the best, and the American Baptist Mission Press, of 
 Kangoon, is by far the most powerful press of its kind 
 in India ; but the press once belonging to the Amer- 
 ican Board, at Bombay, has long since passed into 
 other hands. The once well-known Wesleyan press, 
 at Bangalore, has ceased to exist, as has the London 
 Society's press at Mirzapore. The American Pres- 
 byterian press, at Allahabad, has passed into private 
 hands, and the once powerful and famous press, 
 founded by Dr. Carey, at Serampore, has disappeared 
 without leaving a vestige behind it. The story of the 
 gradual decline of these presses would probably be 
 very much the same in every case. They were not 
 supported from home. The traditional notion of a 
 mission press is, that it is well enough to send out 
 one with a missionary who goes to an unciviHzed 
 
314 My Missionary Appkenticeship. 
 
 people, as without it he could not print the Bible for 
 his converts, but beyond this very elementary con- 
 ception of the mission of the modern press in non- 
 Christian lands, it is not considered worth while 
 to spend money on so secular an agency as a modern 
 printing-press. 
 
 It need hardly be said that India is much more 
 than a half-civilized country, and that the missionary 
 has no need to introduce printing, as a new art, into 
 the country. Many of the people read, and the 
 schools are filled with boys who read eagerly what- 
 ever comes within their reach. But their wants are 
 not supplied. One of the leading Bible Societies of 
 India recently reported the sale, in the course of 
 twelve months, of 548 copies of the Bible. During 
 the same period a single Hindu publisher, in Lucknow, 
 sold 40,000 copies of the Koran to Mohammedan 
 purchasers. The simple statement of these two facts 
 will suffice to show how much has been neglected in 
 the past, and how much might be accomplished now 
 by a diligent use of this mighty agency for either 
 good or evil. It can no longer be said that the people 
 will not read the Bible. A gentleman recently pur- 
 chased 300 copies of the New Testament in the ver- 
 nacular, and distributed them among the clerks in a 
 large office, and he was surprised to find not only that 
 every one was thankfully received, but that many of 
 the recipients seemed exceedingly grateful for the 
 gift of such a book. 
 
The Press. 315 
 
 It is said, in reply, by those who do not advocate 
 mission presses, that the creation of a literature does 
 not depend on the maintenance of a press, that the 
 work can be done by contract, and that the energy de* 
 voted to the management of a press might better be 
 devoted to the preparation of a literatnre ; but tlie 
 logic of facts is too strong for this theory. As a mat- 
 ter of fact, literatnre, on the mission field at least, 
 does not spring up of itself apart from an active 
 press. The presence of the press is a pledge that 
 material will be found for printing. As a standing 
 army is said to be a standing menace of war, so a 
 fully equipped mission press may be regarded as a 
 standing assurance that constant work will be done in 
 printing precious words of truth, to be scattered free- 
 ly among the people who are perishing for lack of 
 knowledge. This assurance becomes a positive cer- 
 tainty w^hen the press is organized fully, with a staff 
 of editors, as well as of compositors or book-binders. 
 We might as well expect teaching to cease in the col- 
 leges, or preaching in the pulpits, as writing and pub- 
 lishing in a press fully organize^ and equipped for 
 service in a country like India. 
 
 It is a great mistake to assume in any land that a 
 religious press is simply a manufacturing agency, 
 equipped and maintained for the purpose of printing 
 such books and newspapers as may be offered for 
 the purpose. In this field of enterprise, perhaps 
 more than in any other, the cliildren of this world are 
 
31G My Missionary ArrRENTicEsiiip. 
 
 wiser than the children of light. Pernicious litera- 
 ture has the universal right of way everj-where 
 throughout the world, while positively Christian 
 publications find their way into public places, as if by 
 stealth. The persistence with which the publishers 
 of the very worst type of immoral books push their 
 unhallowed wares upon the market ought to put to 
 shame those whose duty it is to make the press con- 
 stantly speak for Christ and truth. A great Christian 
 publishing house ought to send forth a constant 
 stream of healthful literature, varied in style and 
 range of topics sufficiently to suit the taste of all 
 classes, and sold at the lowest price quoted in any 
 market. The topic of the day, the sensation of the 
 hour, should not be allowed to pass unimproved. 
 John Wesley made it the duty of his preachers to 
 attend all the public executions, that they might 
 preacli to the callous multitudes assembled to wit- 
 ness the ghastly spectacles. He knew the meaning 
 and the value of the woi'd opportunity. Not long since 
 a young man of respectable family, in Calcutta, was 
 hanged for murder, and on the morning of his exe- 
 cution no less than three diiferent pamphlets, in the 
 Bengali language, giving brief accounts of the young 
 man and of his crime, were sold in large numbers 
 throughout the city. The children of this world 
 knew how to make money out of the opportunity, 
 and acted accordingly. Had John Wesley been alive 
 and on the spot, he would probably have had 
 
The Press. 317 
 
 a faitliful word of warning suited to tlie awful 
 occasion, printed and circulated among the multitude. 
 In whatever else he maj have been deficient, he 
 never failed to grasp the opportunity while it was 
 within his reach. 
 
 The mechanical part of the work of a mission press 
 is, or at least ought to be, the least important of all 
 the interests connected with it. Ability of the high- 
 est order is needed to direct the work of pubHcation, 
 and writers of more than ordinary versatility must 
 be employed to prepare books, tracts, periodicals, 
 leaflets, cards, or whatever else may be needed to 
 meet emergencies as they arise. It sometimes re- 
 quires a higher order of ability to prepare a leaflet 
 than a ponderous book, and no literary work is more 
 difficult than the writing of tracts of real merit. Tlie 
 pencil must also be used as well as the -pen. A 
 picture can be read much more quickly than a printed 
 page, and the power of simple, but highly colored, 
 illustrations, is becoming generally known in the 
 mission field. The magic-lantern is a powerful aid 
 to the missionary in his itinerations, but it is only with- 
 in very recent years that it has come into general use. 
 Its sphere is necessarily a very narrow one, but its suc- 
 cessful use shows how easily simple pictures can be 
 made to convey important lessons of truth, or illustrate 
 the printed paper in connection with which they appear. 
 
 The chief difficulty in connection with this work 
 is not, however, so much the creation of a literature 
 
318 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 as its distribution. The work of printing is simpie 
 enough, and can be done at less expense than in En- 
 gland or America. The preparation of material for 
 publication is a much more difficult task, while the 
 distribution of the printed matter is most difficult of 
 all. There are no natural channels of trade in which 
 our publications can flow out into a public market. 
 The people are eager to read, and not a few are will- 
 ing to buy ; but, for the most part, the book or other 
 publication must be carried to them. They cannot 
 be expected to send for it, or to go after it, and hence 
 the custom has grown up in India of employing col- 
 porteurs for this service, and these men enjoy almost 
 a complete monopoly of this kind of work. With few 
 exceptions they are men not distinguished for their 
 success. They are usually men of very moderate abil- 
 ity, men who have failed to secure employment as 
 preachers or teachers, and have become colporteurs 
 from necessity rather than choice. It would be 
 strange indeed if men thus appointed were to succeed 
 even moderately well. They work in a perfunctory 
 manner, and are satisfied with the most ordinary 
 measure of success. They do some good, and, as a 
 class, may be expected to improve from year to year ; 
 but a better agency is needed, and, no doubt, will be 
 found in due time. 
 
 Not a few m.issionaries have discovered that this 
 work can only become really successful when it be- 
 comes general, and hence they not only engage in it 
 
The Press. 319 
 
 themselves, but have all their assistants do the same. 
 Tliis is not always a congenial task. The people who 
 gather around the missionary in the bazar look upon 
 him as a man of wealth, and it does not fall in with 
 their notions of propriety for him to hold up a hand- 
 ful of tracts and offer to sell them for a few coppera 
 each. In time they become accustomed to it, but to 
 many a missionary this peculiar duty is very trying 
 to the flesh. ^Nevertheless, he must not shrink from 
 it. In every kind of untried work he must be will- 
 ing to lead. He must familiarize every Christian 
 around him with this kind of work, and he cannot do 
 it by any possible amount of exhortation. He nmst 
 show how the work is done, and must let every Chris- 
 tian see that he is willing to bear his part of a burden 
 which many are unwilling to touch. 
 
 This difficulty of finding an effective means for the 
 distribution of our publications grows less formidable 
 every year, and in due time will wholly disappear. 
 The opening of a vast railway system throughout the 
 empire has done much to make a general distribution 
 easy. One effective agent, moving about by rail, can 
 sometimes sell more in a day than six ordinary col- 
 porteurs are expected to dispose of in a month. The 
 increased postal facilities now offered to us can also 
 be utilized wonderfully in this good work. Every 
 year the increased supply will create an increased 
 demand, and in due time the usual law of legitimate 
 trade will assert itself, and the publications of the 
 
320 My Missionary Appkenticeship. 
 
 most active press find a speedy sale in tlie ever- 
 expanding market of a people rapidly rising in the 
 scale of civilization and intelligence. 
 
 The two Conferences which represent our Clinrch 
 in India are fully pledged to a most vigorous prose- 
 cution of our publishing w^ork on a much wider scale 
 than in the past. The success of our press at Luck- 
 now lus been accepted as an indication of what might 
 be done upon a much larger scale, and with great 
 unanimity it has been resolved to extend this depart- 
 ment of our work, and make it worthy of such a vast 
 enterprise as is involved in the conversion of India to 
 Christ and Christianity. It is too soon to form elab- 
 orate plans, or to attempt to predict the measure of 
 success which is in store for us ; but it is at least 
 cheering to know that the value of this agency is 
 fully appreciated by our missionaries, and that an 
 earnest effort wnll be made to employ it as vigorously 
 in the service of Christ as it is employed by the world 
 and the devil in promotinoj objects of doubtful merit, 
 or even of positively bad character. 
 
 To build up a powerful mission press in a country 
 like India, a generous support is necessary from the 
 Church at home. Such a support is rarely given in 
 modern times. The mission press is tolerated, or 
 possibly encouraged to a moderate extent; but it is 
 seldom aided by large grants of money. The result 
 is, that the managers are obliged to accept printing 
 contracts, to go into the open market and compete 
 
The Press. 321 
 
 with other printing firms in order to earn the money 
 with which to carry on their legitimate work. This 
 necessity is to be deplored for many reasons. It puts 
 the mission press in a position of rivalry in respect to 
 other firms, which is at all times unfortunate, while, 
 at the same time, it absorbs time and energy which 
 can ill be spared from the great and absorbing work 
 of spreading Christian truth among the people. It is 
 to be hoped that the whole subject will soon receive 
 the careful and prayerful consideration which its su- 
 perlative importance deserves, and that the several 
 missionary societies will definitely adopt a new and 
 better policy in reference to the whole question. 
 
 In our own mission it has cost much hard work, 
 and at times the assumption of no little responsibility 
 on the part of individuals, to keep this department of 
 our work from losing ground. In all his connection 
 with the Lucknow press, Mr. Craven, like the ancient 
 Hebrews, has been required to make his bricks without 
 straw. From time to time he has secured aid from 
 Bible and Tract Societies, but the greater part of the 
 resources of the press have been gathered from its 
 own earnings. Some of our interests, which are val- 
 ued highly in India, are not regarded with like esteem 
 in New York ; and it thus happened that when the 
 very existence of the " Indian Witness" was in peril, 
 I was obliged not only to add its editorial manage- 
 ment to my pastoral and other duties, but to assume 
 
 the whole financial responsibility of the paper, and 
 21 
 
322 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 carry it on as a private entei-prise, although it was all 
 the time the officially accredited organ of our Church 
 in India. 
 
 1 hope to see wiser and better counsels prevailing 
 before many years. We will soon be printing in six 
 or more languages, and I hope to see the day when 
 our presses will be scattering printed pages over India 
 like forest leaves for multitude. Whatever others 
 may do, here is our own plain pathway of duty. I 
 verily believe that God calls us to it, and if we take 
 up the work with courage and faith, it will yield a 
 rich liarvest in the years to come, a harvest the full 
 extent and value of which no one can now fully esti- 
 mate. 
 
Calcutta. 323 
 
 CHAPTER XXY. 
 
 CALCUTTA. 
 
 OUR second " Dasalira Meeting," held at Lucknow 
 in the closing days of September, 1873, brought 
 together many visitors, some of them from distant 
 places. At one of the morning meetings I noticed a 
 lady who was evidently a stranger to tlie place and to 
 the congregation, and as the meeting just at that 
 moment was not flowing in a smooth current, my first 
 thought was that she would be disconcerted by our 
 unconventional ways, and get a very unfavorable im- 
 pression of Methodist people and Methodist meetings. 
 In a very few minutes, however, it became evident 
 that the stranger was neither startled nor offended by 
 any of the things which she saw and heard. She 
 was intensely interested in every part of the meeting, 
 and at the close came up to assure me that she had 
 witnessed nothing in India which reminded her so 
 much of the privileges she had enjoyed in her earlier 
 days in her home in England. This lady was intro- 
 duced to me as Mrs. May, of Calcutta, and almost 
 immediately she began to urge me to go to Calcutta, 
 and make that great city my future home. She 
 assured me that it had come upon her almost as if by 
 an inspiration that God had work for me there, but 
 
«^24: My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 lier repeated and earnest assurances that I would find 
 an open door and an eager people awaiting me seemed 
 60 improbable that I had often to laugh at what 
 seemed her misplaced enthusiasm. " There will not 
 be a place in the city that will hold the congre- 
 gation," she would say, " and you will find more work 
 than you can possibly do." It was easy enough to 
 believe that abundant work might be found in Cal- 
 cutta, but eager hearers and crowded congregations 
 seemed only to be the possibilities of a very distant 
 future. 
 
 This was by no means the first time that I had 
 thought of going to Bengal. Four years before 1 
 had procured a Bengali grammar and had given a 
 little attention to the study of the language, owing 
 to an impression I had received that I would at some 
 future day be called to labor among the Bengali 
 peoj)le. The impression had lingered in my mind, 
 and was gaining strength at the time I received this 
 invitation, but the way did not seem open before me. 
 I had just returned from Nynee Tal, where an offer 
 had been made to me which seemed to be very prov- 
 idential, and which would enable me to carry out a 
 deeply cherished desire of engaging in evangelistic 
 work. A very generous provision was to be made 
 for my support, and I was to be allowed six months 
 of every year to go wdiere I pleased, provided 1 
 would preach for the English congregation during 
 the six months of the Nynee Tal " season." I had 
 
Calcutta. 325 
 
 not only considered this proposal favorably, but bad 
 almost given my promise to spend the next season at 
 Kynee Tal, and hence did not at first see the way 
 clear before me to go elsewhere. I could not, how- 
 ever, shake off the conviction, which now began to 
 take a firm hold of my mind, that I was soon to go to 
 Calcutta, and very soon more light dawned upon my 
 way. Two months after the subject had been thus 
 pressed upon my attention I received a telegram 
 fiom Bishop Harris, then in Ceylon, asking me to 
 meet him in Calcutta, where he was to arrive about 
 the middle of December. Father Taylor had com- 
 menced his work in that city nearly a year previously, 
 and had worked bravely in the face of constant dis- 
 couragements. He called the city '^ the Paris of the 
 East," and was accustomed to say in those days that 
 of all the places he had ever visited, Calcutta was the 
 hardest and least inviting as a field of evangelistic 
 labor. He had not, however, worked in vain. A 
 Church had been organized, a temporary place of wor- 
 ship erected on a rented site, and a deeper impression 
 had been made upon the city than, perhaps, he him- 
 self suspected, or others were prepared to admit. He 
 now wished to leave the work in other hands. He 
 was an evangelist, and distinctly avowed his con- 
 viction that it was no part of his mission to do the 
 work of a pastor, but ratlier to dig and plant, and 
 leave others to prune and water. 
 
 Bishop Harris spent some days in the city and 
 
326 My Missionary Appkenticesiiip. 
 
 talked very freely to me about the work, but did not 
 broach the subject of my transfer for some time. At 
 last, however, he intimated to me that he should be 
 glad to transfer me to Calcutta if the way would open, 
 and meanwhile Father Taylor had intimated that he 
 was impressed that I should take the work out of his 
 hands, aud he added that a singular dream had made 
 it seem probable to him that all the difficulties which 
 had baffled him so long would crumble to the earth 
 as if in a moment when I came, and that I would 
 have an easy and joyous victory. Our Conference 
 met in January at Lucknow, and on taking counsel 
 of the brethren I found that, without a single excep- 
 tion, they all approved of my going. It was accord- 
 ingly arranged that I should spend three of the hot 
 months at Nynee Tal, but meantime go at once to Cal- 
 cutta. I was accordingly transferred to the "Bom- 
 bay and Bengal Mission,'^ which was at that time 
 formally organized by Bishop Harris, and my appoint- 
 ment read out for Calcutta. 
 
 The little Church which had been organized in Cal- 
 cutta was composed of poor people, and its financial 
 resources were so limited that I could not hope for a 
 rupee for support. I had for a colleague a young 
 man just received on trial, and before the end of the 
 year two others were added, so that we had ample 
 opportunity for testing our newly-adopted principle 
 of self-support. On the occasion of my visit I had 
 been kindly entertained by Mr. and Mrs. F. W. Maj^ 
 
Calcutta. 327 
 
 and when it was proposed that I should be appointed 
 to Calcutta, these good friends at once gave me an 
 urgent invitation to make my home with them ; and 
 remembering the Master's direction, " In what place 
 soever ye enter into a house, there abide," I thought 
 it my duty to accept their hospitality, although it gave 
 my pride a slight twinge to think I was now to live on 
 the bounty of others. A difficulty, however, soon pre- 
 sented itself. These friends were English Wesleyans, 
 and were active members of their own Church in Cal- 
 cutta, and it soon became apparent that it would ap- 
 pear a little unseemly for our ministers to be sup- 
 ported by members of other Churches. I mentioned 
 the matter frankly, and proposed to look out for 
 other quarters, but they would not hear of it, and in 
 a few days they settled the matter in the most sum- 
 mary fashion by withdrawing from their own Church 
 and casting in their lot with us. Meanwhile I lacked 
 for nothing. My slender purse was never empty, and 
 I was never in debt. Later in the year the stewards 
 began to give a small monthly allowance to the other 
 preachers, and the next year to myself, but for some 
 time these payments barely covered actual expenses, 
 a list of which was furnished by each preacher. 
 
 My regular work in Calcutta began on Sunday, Jan- 
 uary 25, 1874. Our Sunday evening service was 
 held in a Baptist chapel, in an eastern suburb, and as 
 it had been raining nearly all day, I had a long and 
 dreary walk through muddy streets to my place of 
 
328 My' Missionary Apprentickship. 
 
 preaching. I shall never forget that evening's walk. 
 I was a stranger in the great city, and perhaps there 
 is no place in the world where a stranger feels more 
 lonely than in the very midst of jostling multitudes in 
 a great city. I thought of my work and its outlook, 
 and felt like one upon whom the very ends of the earth 
 were come. It was too late to retreat, and yet there 
 seemed no way to advance. I reached the chapel and 
 found about a hundred persons present, but the meet- 
 ing was a dull one, and the outlook rather cheerless. 
 The next Sunday evening I could notice no increase 
 in the congregation, and the third Sunday again 
 showed little signs of improvement. The attendance 
 was small, and the meetings dull and spiritless. Mean- 
 while our new church, or preaching-hall, as Fathtr 
 Taylor proposed to call it, was approaching comple- 
 tion. This had been a notable work of faith, and was 
 to be crowned with blessing. At a time when he had 
 few friends and scarcely any members. Father Taylor 
 had determined to erect this building, and the steward 
 whom God selected to pay the chief part of its cost 
 was the Rev. George Bo wen, of Bombay, a man who 
 had years before voluntarily relinquished all income 
 except a nominal sum of less than $150 a year. In 
 an unexpected way, and from an unexpected source, 
 the sum of ten thousand rupees had come into the 
 possession of this man of faith, and hearing of the 
 new enterprise in Calcutta, he at once sent the whole 
 amount to help in the erection of the building. The 
 
Calcutta. 320 
 
 new chapel was intended to seat a congregation of 
 four luindred persons, and w^e were all very glad and 
 thankful when on the evening of its dedication it was 
 filled in every part. The next Sunday evening it was 
 crowded, and we had to bring in chairs from neigh- 
 boring houses. On the 'third Sunday evening I went 
 early so as to attend a meeting for Bengalis which 
 had been appointed for half past four. Wliile at this 
 meeting I saw some Europeans come in, and, suppos- 
 ing they had made a mistake, I went to them and ex- 
 plained that the English service would not begin for 
 another hour. " We know the time," w^as the reply, 
 " but we have come early so as to be sure of getting 
 a seat." For the first time it dawned upon my dull 
 mind that our crowded congregation was to be perma- 
 nent, and I remembered with a feeling of astonish- 
 ment the prophecy of the good lady who had first 
 invited me to Calcutta. It went on thus, night after 
 night, until six hundred regular hearers were packed 
 into a room which comfortably held only four hun- 
 dred, and in the most sweltering weather many of 
 these people would sit patiently for an hour or more, 
 waiting for the service to begin. When it did not 
 rain seventy-five seats were placed outside the rear 
 windows, and in addition to these the doors and win- 
 dows were always thronged with people standing. 
 
 This crowded attendance would have been unsatis- 
 factory enough if there had been no work of salvation 
 attending it, but this was not wanting. At the dedi- 
 
330 My Missionary Appkenticesiiip. 
 
 catory service two rose to ask for the prayers of the 
 congregation, and this was the beginning of a work 
 which went steadily forward with increasing power 
 until, before the close of that year, three hundred per- 
 sons had been converted to God. Many of these were 
 members of other Churches, and did not connect them- 
 selves with us, but many others were drawn in from 
 the outside world, and took their places permanently 
 among us. The genuineness of the work was attested 
 by the remarkable hold which it gained upon the more 
 abandoned and godless classes. An inmate of a house 
 of refuge w^as taken to one of the meetings by a 
 Christian lady, and on her way home was asked how 
 she liked it. " It is the strangest church I ever saw," 
 was her rej^ly. " It seemed to me that all the bad 
 people in Calcutta were there." It was the New Tes- 
 tament ministry of Christ repeating itself again in our 
 day. The Friend of sinners was there, and the very 
 classes who are supposed to have no religious inter- 
 est of any kind flocked around him, as in olden time. 
 A year later I found, by actual count, that twenty- 
 five per cent, of all the members thus gathered in had 
 before their conversion been intemperate persons. 
 
 Throughout this year we had conversions, not only 
 on every Sunday evening, but at almost every meet- 
 ing which we held, and the w^ork of revival which was 
 then commenced has never wholly ceased. Every 
 Sunday evening service during the past ten years has 
 been conducted as a revival service, and if it so hap- 
 
Calcutta. 331 
 
 pens that two or tliree Sundays pass in succession 
 without any one being converted, the fact occasions 
 surprise, and is accepted as a cause for heart-searching 
 and humiliation. The work of conversion was very 
 simple, but it was also very genuine. Throughout lliia 
 year I met with many instances of persons finding 
 peace with God wdiile listening to the preaching. One 
 Sunday evening I went into the pulpit wdiile suffer- 
 ing from fever, and preached with no little difficulty. 
 I hardly knew what I was saying, and at the close was 
 about to dismiss the congregation without a prayer- 
 meeting, when it occurred to me that it might be well 
 to pursue the usual course, if for nothing else than 
 that the people might know that we always wished to 
 see them turn to God. I accordingly called on awak- 
 ened sinners to come forward for prayers, and, to my 
 extreme surprise, sixteen persons promptly rose and 
 walked forward. I talked with these persons, one by 
 one, and found that seven of them had found pe^ce 
 in believing while listening to my blundering attempt 
 to preach. I was astonished beyond measure, and 
 humbled in the dust, as I perceived how very little 
 the success of the work depended upon the quality of 
 my sermons. 
 
 With this influx of new members it became neces- 
 sary to organize the Church more perfectly. A Sun- 
 day-school was formally organized on the day of 
 dedication, and quickly rose to to a state of prosperity 
 and usefulness. A few official members had been 
 
332 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 appointed before, but they had not entered npon the 
 discharge of their duties. A devoted mother in 
 Israel, then and still known familiarly as " Mother 
 Freude," had acted as steward, treasurer, and general 
 agent for Father Taylor, and now, after giving a good 
 accoimt of her stewardship, she resigned her respon^ 
 sibilities into the hands of the official board, and all 
 the work of the Church began to move forward 
 smoothly in its regular grooves. A new Christian 
 organization had taken its place among the Christian 
 Churches of Calcutta, and henceforth was to do its 
 full share in evangelizing the eight hundred thousand 
 souls of that great city. 
 
 It would be too much to say that the work of re- 
 vival which began at this time was the real beginning 
 of all the revival work which has follow^ed in Cal- 
 cutta, but perhaps no one would now deny that it had 
 a most important influence upon it. The spiritual life 
 of the Calcutta Churches had been at a very low ebb, 
 and very little success had attended the labors of the 
 missionary societies during the previous two or three 
 years. It had been affirmed in the columns of the 
 leading non-Christian paper in the city that not a 
 single baptism had taken place for a year, and beyond 
 all doubt an impression was abroad among the Hin- 
 dus and Mohammedans that it was no longer possible 
 for Christian missionaries to make converts. All this 
 was changed in the year 1874. Mr. Moody had just 
 commenced his great meetings in Scotland, and the 
 
Calcutta. 333 
 
 evangelical pastors of Calcutta were moved to unite 
 in a series of revival meetings, which God richly 
 blessed. A deep and powerful impression was made 
 upon the whole city, and a new faith and courage 
 took possession of Christians of all names and denom- 
 inations. The Bengali Christians felt the impulse of 
 this movement, and not only were there numerous 
 baptisms of converts during the year, but these bap- 
 tisms have been of frequent occurrence ever since, 
 and no longer excite surprise or even attention when 
 they are reported. 
 
 It had been my firm conviction that a genuine 
 work of grace among the English-speaking Christians 
 of India would inevitably affect the non-Christian 
 people around them, and hence I made no formal at- 
 tempt to begin what is called " mission work " in the 
 city, but hoped to see the people reached through the 
 agency of our own converted people. From the first 
 we had a small sprinkling of Hindus in our congre- 
 gations, and very soon we had the nucleus of a small 
 congregation of Bengali Christians. Native Chris- 
 tians in India are very much like native Christians in 
 America. They are made up of saved and unsaved 
 people, and as in America many are very ungodly, so 
 in India many who bear the Christian name have no 
 conception whatever of the power of a Christian life. 
 In Calcutta a large number of nominal Christians 
 were to be found, many of whom had renounced 
 every semblance of the Christian life, while others 
 
334 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 were maintaining an outward form, tliongli wholly 
 ignorant of the inward power of the Gospel. One 
 of this latter class was powerfully awakened in one of 
 our meetings in 1874, and soon after obtained the 
 clear witness of the Spirit to his adoption into God's 
 family. He was a man of intelligence and respecta- 
 ble position, and became our first Bengali class-leader, 
 and in due time our first Bengali local preacher, and 
 at times he has since acted as pastor of our Bengali 
 Church. Around this brother a little Church gath- 
 ered, growing thus out of the roots of the English 
 Church, and when, two years later, we left our first 
 place of worship, it was made over to our Bengali 
 brethren. This Church has now an active member- 
 ship of about one hundred, a Sunday-school and day- 
 school with over a hundred pupils, and a substantial 
 brick parsonage, in which their European pastor, 
 himself born, educated, and converted in Calcutta, 
 finds a comfortable and happy home. 
 
 Note. — The reference in tlie preceding chapter to the Rev. George 
 Bowen calls for a further word of explanation. This excellent mis- 
 sionary not only relinquished his entire salary as a missionary, but 
 strictly limited his income to a mere subsistence allowance. Acting 
 from a conviction of duty, he accepts only enough as payment for his 
 literary labors to enable him to live in a style of rigid simplicity, and 
 when he entered upon this course he deliberately fixed this compen- 
 sation so low as to leave "a margin for trust," that is, to leave him 
 in part dependent upon such help as God might send him. For many 
 years he has, while living so simply himself, been the chosen steward 
 through whom God has helped many others. J. M. T. 
 
Second Year in Calcutta. oSl 
 
 w 
 
 CHAPTEE XXYL 
 
 SECOND YEAR IN CALCUTTA. 
 
 ITH the approacli of the cold season of 1874-5, 
 it became a very serious question with us how 
 to provide for the increasing numbers who thronged 
 our little church. It seemed probable that the con- 
 gregation might be nearly doubled if we could only 
 provide room for the people, but no larger place could 
 be found in the city, except the Town Hall, which 
 could not be made available for our purposes. Mean- 
 while a new theater was soon to be opened in our 
 street, and it occurred to me that we might solve our 
 difficulty, and at the same time carry the war into 
 Africa itself, by securing this place for Sunday even- 
 ings. This was accordingly done, and a lease of the 
 theater secured for Sunday nights at a rental of one 
 hundred rupees a night. The announcement of this 
 new step created no little interest in the city. The 
 project was warmly attacked in the daily papers, 
 and as warmly defended, and the somewhat heated 
 discussion which followed served admirably to adver- 
 tise the meetings. When the first meeting was held 
 the place was crowded in every part, the doors were 
 packed, and many stood on ihe flat roof of an adjacent 
 house. The second meeting convinced us that the 
 
336 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 theater would be as much too small as the church had 
 been, and almost immediatelj the question of build- 
 ing a new church, or tabernacle, began to be discussed. 
 The necessity for such a place was so apparent that 
 rhere was very little room for controversy, but the 
 ways and means of proceeding with an enterprise of 
 such magnitude were as yet hidden from our view. 
 
 Meanwhile the work of salvation went steadily for- 
 ward in the theater as it had done in the church. 
 Large numbers were awakened and converted, and 
 we were all soon quite at home in our new and 
 strange surroundings. The offense, however, which 
 our procedure had caused did not cease. Many 
 ])eople, who paid freely to see and hear the actresses 
 ])erforni their parts on the stage of this same theater, 
 were grieved in spirit when they heard that Cliristian 
 ladies were permitted to lift their voices in jirayer 
 and testimony within the same walls and on the same 
 stage. They could endure the idea of woman's voice 
 being used freely in the service of the world and the 
 devil, but their pious prejudices could not be recon- 
 ciled to such an act of sacrilege as the employment of 
 woman's voice in her Master's service, especially in 
 this high place of the world. One evening I shocked 
 he prejudices of many by an unpremeditated act which 
 1 have never found any reason to regret. Among 
 those who professed conversion was a young man 
 from Ceylon, a Buddhist in religion, who seemed to 
 be clearly converted. I spoke to him about baptism, 
 
Second Year in Calcutta. 337 
 
 and he at once expressed his willingness to receive the 
 ordinance then and there. Assuming that no one 
 would forbid water for such a purpose, I asked one 
 of the brethren to get some, while I proceeded with 
 an improvised form of service to baptize the new 
 convert. It so happened that no water could be found 
 in the theater, and a request had to be sent to an ad- 
 jacent house, the inmates of which, under tlie im- 
 pression that some one wanted a drink, sent in an 
 ordinary tumbler filled with water. I took this in mj 
 hand without a thought of impropriety of any kind, 
 and baptized the young man in the name of the Holy 
 Trinity; but, in doing so, I had unwittingly shocked 
 and grieved many tender souls. To their minds the 
 procedure had in it all the elements of an act of glar- 
 ing sacrilege. To do such a thing in a theater, and 
 to baptize out of a common tumbler, and to ignore 
 the usual forms of service, and to combine all these 
 improprieties in the case of a youth who had not been 
 a Christian more than thirty minutes, was a little too 
 much for many who had been all their lives accus- 
 tomed to rigid forms, and who were in many cases 
 falling under the influence of the reviving ritualism 
 of some of the Anglican Churches. 
 
 My first year in Calcutta closed in the midst of 
 these scenes, and as I reviewed its events I was amazed 
 at the wide door which God had opened to us. The 
 anniversary of the lonely first Sunday which I had 
 
 spent in the city came round, and I sat in my room 
 22 
 
338 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 thinking of my long walk up the muddy street, and 
 of the dark cheerless evenings, and the dull meetings 
 in the obscure little chapel, and contrasted this with 
 what I then saw, and with the amazing prospect 
 which God had set before me. While thus engaged 
 a messenger brought me a note from a very poor 
 wddow, not at that time a member of our Church, 
 who begged me to accept the sum of sixty- three 
 rupees, as an offering from her sister and herself to- 
 ward the erection of a new and larger place for wor- 
 ship in Calcutta. The money had been saved by 
 close and long-continued economy, and had been 
 intended for another purpose; but finding that it 
 would not be needed for the first object, this devoted 
 successor to the widow who cast in the mites in the 
 temple, determined to send the money to me, as an 
 offering for the work which as yet existed only in 
 her own faith. To Mrs. Maria Littlepage, now a 
 saint in glory, belongs the credit of initiating what 
 was to us at that time an enterprise of most formi- 
 dable proportions. I read her note, and was at once 
 impressed that it was a token from God for me to 
 undertake boldly the work for which this first pay- 
 ment had been made. " If God," I reasoned, " can 
 move one of the very poorest widows in the city to 
 give this amount, he can easily move upon the hearts 
 of others to give whatever amounts may be needed. 
 My decision was made, and at the close of the service 
 in the theater the same evening I related the incident, 
 
Second Year in Calcutta. 339 
 
 and announced that we would forthwith undertake 
 the erection of a building large enough to hold all the 
 people who wished to hear God's word preached. 
 God had greatly blessed us during the year, and yet 
 we were a very poor people, and it seemed most im- 
 probable that we would be able to accomplish such an 
 undertaking. I went home feeling that I had crossed 
 ft very wide Kubicon. It was too late to retreat, and 
 impossible to stand still, and there was nothing left 
 for us but to advance boldly, trusting for success to 
 Him " who only doeth wondrous things." 
 
 The next Sunday evening I asked for a collection 
 in the theater, and received four thousand four 
 hundred rupees in cash and pledges. This was con- 
 sidered an astonishing sum to receive at a Sunday 
 collection, and most of our people were greatly elated ; 
 but I knew very well that this was the merest frac- 
 tion of the ultimate cost — in fact, not one fourth of 
 the cost of a site alone. We were more fully com- 
 mitted to the entei-prise, but that was about all. The 
 great work was still before us, and it was abundantly 
 evident that every nerve of every member of our 
 Church must be put upon its utmost strain in order 
 to succeed in our undertaking ; and right royally did 
 the people devote themselves to the work. Scores of 
 collecting books were in circulation, old and young 
 were alike busy, and the whole Church and Sunday- 
 school seemed as if transformed into a vast ant-hill on 
 which every one was incessantly working. Mean- 
 
340 My Missionary Appeenticeship. 
 
 while generous friends rallied to our aid, and some 
 liberal subscriptions were received; but after doing our 
 utmost it was nearly a year before we had enough 
 money in hand to enable us to purchase our site, for 
 which we had to pay nearly twenty thousand rupees. 
 Sixty thousand more would be needed to pay for the 
 building and its equipments, and our enterprise be- 
 gan to look more formidable than ever. Our people 
 could now see clearly, not only the gigantic propor- 
 tions of the work which tliey had undertaken, but 
 also the measure of their own ability, and it is to 
 their credit that I am able to say that their enthu- 
 siasm showed no signs of flagging, and their faith 
 seemed to rise with the clearer discovery of their 
 difficulties. One year after the first public collection 
 had been taken, I made another appeal to a smaller 
 congregation, and although they had been drained 
 almost constantly throughout the year, they actually 
 gave three thousand rupees more than on the first 
 occasion. They were evidently learning how to give, 
 but they had not yet reached the full measure of 
 their liberality. 
 
 I had some difficulty in getting a plan for the 
 building, and as I was to leave for America at the 
 close of February, I began to feel a little nneasy 
 about getting the work put in hand before starting. 
 In India all substantial roofs are made of solid mor- 
 tar, five or six inches thick, as a protection from the 
 heat, and in order to hold up the enormous weight 
 
Second Year in Calcutta. 341 
 
 of sncli a roof, nearly all large clinrclies and halls are 
 disfio-ured by rows of pillars, which offend the eye and 
 often interfere seriously with the hearing of the con- 
 gregation. I was determined, at whatever cost, to 
 have an audience-room without pillars or roof-sup- 
 ports of any kind, and at last, within a week of my de- 
 parture, an experienced architect offered to give me 
 what I wanted. My instructions were very brief. 
 "I care very little for the outside of the building," 
 I said, " but insist on a good audience-room. I am 
 like the Irishman, who told how a cannon was made 
 by taking a big hole, and pouring melted brass around 
 it. I give you a big hole, one hundred feet long, 
 sixty wide, and thirty high, and wish you to show 
 how it can be covered in with bricks and mortar." 
 My friend accepted the commission, and in two days 
 not only gave me a good plan, but his firm offered to 
 have the building ready for me on my return from 
 America, at the close of the year, and nobly did they 
 fulfill their promise. 
 
 The reader must not suppose that the whole of this 
 year was given up to this building enterprise. So far 
 from it, our work moved steadily forward, and some 
 of its most important developments occurred at this 
 time. Our ladies had heard of the famous Woman's 
 Crusade in Ohio, and during the cold season of 1875 
 a few of these devoted sisters resolved to make an 
 attempt of the same kind in Calcutta. They accord- 
 ingly made their appearance one Sunday afternoon 
 
342 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 in a street infested with liquor shops, and began to 
 talk, sing, and pray with the seamen whom they 
 found there in large numbers. Their success sur- 
 passed their most sanguine expectations. They were 
 received with great respect, and many of the rough 
 but really generous-hearted men wept beneath their 
 words. Several sailors were won from the ways of 
 sin on that first Sunday, and every Sunday since, 
 through the nine long years which have passed, this 
 blessed work has been going steadily forward. At 
 present two parties of ladies go out every Sunday 
 afternoon, and it is not probable that a work which 
 has been persevered in so long, and which God has so 
 richly blessed through all these years, will soon be 
 given up. It must not be supposed, however, that 
 our ladies limited their efforts to the sailors who 
 visited our port. They were instant in every good 
 word and w^ork, and in every department of Church 
 labor rendered most timely and efficient service. 
 
 It would have been contrary to all experience, and 
 to what might have been expected in the case 6i 
 even good and devoted Christian men, if our sudden 
 irruption into Calcutta, and our demonstrative ways 
 and aggressive measures, had not provoked a little 
 opposition, and created a certain kind of misgiving in 
 some minds. In those first two years I found it 
 necessary to step somewhat tenderly, and at times to 
 hold my own just rights in abeyance lest some little 
 one might be offended. It was commonly supposed 
 
Second Year in Calcutta. 343 
 
 that I was engaged in vigorous efforts to make pros- 
 elytes from other Ohurciies, whereas I observed what 
 I now regard as an extreme reticence upon the sub- 
 ject of Church membership. Many who were nominal 
 members of other communions sought the Lord at 
 our meetings, and when left to their own spiritual 
 guides were either neglected, or taught to regard 
 their new experience as illusory. If the work of 
 those two years were to be done over again, I should 
 not feel it my duty to let so many of the converts go 
 practically uncared for as I did then. And yet, while 
 making this slight reference to the little friction 
 which in some instances took place, I am glad to put 
 it upon record that the pastors and Christian people 
 generally gave us a more cordial and fraternal wel- 
 come than would have been accorded to a new and 
 demonstrative people in an English or American 
 town. I'rom the very first some of our best friends 
 were found among the members of the other 
 Churches, and all through the years which have 
 followed we have been placed under constant obli- 
 gations to good men and women whose hearts have 
 been turned toward us, but who remain loyal mem- 
 bers of their own organizations. It was a Baptist 
 missionary, the Rev. G. Kerry, who placed his chapel 
 at Father Taylor's disposal when every door in the 
 city seemed closed against him, and ministers and 
 members of other Churches rendered us very valuable 
 services in our meetings. Among these was Miss 
 
344 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 Mary E. Leslie, the daughter and granddaughter of 
 a Baptist missionary, a gifted writer and devoted 
 worker in her Master's vineyard. This Baptist 
 Phoebe threw herself heartily into our work, and 
 proved so successful in training new converts that 1 
 formally appointed her a class-leader, and in this 
 capacity she rendered us most efficient service. At 
 the close of every quarter she would present one or 
 more probationers as suitable persons for admission 
 into full membership, and always seemed as glad 
 to see them admitted as if they were becoming 
 Baptists. I was well aware that I was doing a very 
 irregular thing in appointing this Baptist lady to fill 
 the position of a Methodist class-leader, but it was 
 one of those acts of audacious irregularity which God 
 seemed in a special manner to approve, and which 
 during the four years that she filled this office, we 
 never had the slightest reason to regret. 
 
 At a very early stage of our work in Calcutta the 
 claims of the seamen in port were brought prom- 
 inently before us. Many of these men came to our 
 meetings, where they were awakened and saved, and 
 Christian captains frequently asked us to hold meet- 
 ings on their vessels. From the very first I was 
 struck with the extraordinary readiness with which 
 these children of the sea received the word. It' was 
 a very common occurrence to see half a dozen 
 or more sailors converted in a single meeting. One 
 evening I was invited to preach on a large ship, and 
 
Second Year in Calcutta. 345 
 
 found about sixty men and boys collected "between 
 decks," tlie place having been tastefully fitted up for 
 the occasion. At the close of the sermon 1 made a 
 direct and earnest appeal to them to decide the ques- 
 tion of their salvation at once by giving up their sins 
 and giving their hearts to God. I then called upon 
 all who were willing so to decide to raise their hands, 
 when, to my surprise, it seemed as if more than half 
 of those present at once responded by holding up 
 the right hand. At first I supposed that I had been 
 misunderstood, and that many of those who gave the 
 token did not really mean to take so momentous a 
 step as that of forsaking sin and becoming true 
 Christians, but I very soon discovered that they 
 understood perfectly what they were doing. Many 
 of them were deeply convicted, and all seemed thor- 
 oughly in earnest. God was manifestly in our midst, 
 and was clearly indicating that he had a rich harvest 
 for us to reap among these strangers from the sea. 
 I have never been able fully to account for the un- 
 doubted fact that seamen, as a class, are more impress- 
 ible than any other men in the world. In those days, 
 in 1875, I was just making this discovery, and it was 
 to me a very great surprise. During the nine years 
 which have since passed I have had abundant oppor- 
 tunities for further observation, and have become 
 convinced, beyond all possibility of doubt, that such 
 is the fact. I have often preached to a thousand 
 persons, among whom there would be perhaps fifty 
 
346 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 sailors, and when, at the close of the meeting, a call 
 would be made for seekers, a dozen of the fifty 
 seamen would come forward, w^hile perhaps only one 
 or two of the nine hundred and fifty landsmen would 
 respond in like manner. 
 
 At the close of 1874 our work among the seamen 
 had become so important that one of our young 
 preachers, Thomas H. Oakes, was set apart exclusively 
 for this field. He had himself felt a call in that 
 direction, and, when released from other duties, he 
 gave himself to the work with great enthusiasm, and 
 was greatly blessed in his labors. It was still our day 
 of financial small things, and as each man was thrown 
 for support upon those to whom he ministered, the 
 outlook was not very cheering for our young mis- 
 sionary to the seamen. The support, however, was 
 not lacking. At first he took up his quarters on 
 board a ship lying in the river, and when her time 
 for sailing came the Christian captain of another 
 vessel invited him to shift his quarters on board his 
 ship, and thus he moved from one ship to another as 
 he received invitation, and literally found his support 
 from those to whom he ministered. In due time, 
 however, this plan was found to be attended with 
 serious difficulties, and a room was rented in the fort, 
 which served as head-quarters until we were ready to 
 make a new advance. T]iis advance was not long 
 delayed, and when it came it led us out into a wider 
 field than we had anticipated. From the first we had 
 
Second Year in Calcutta. 347 
 
 felt tlie need of some place of refuge into wliich poor 
 Jack could be led when taken out of the liquor shop, 
 or to wliich he might go when he came ashore. For 
 a year or more some of our people opened their 
 houses freely to these friendless men, but a few pri- 
 vate houses could not be made to meet the wants of 
 two thousand men, especially when, as very often 
 happened, a pretty large proportion of the men were 
 tipsy. A coffee-room, with a chapel and reading-room 
 attached, seemed to be the thing required ; but the 
 opening of such a place involved an amount of 
 expense which, at that day, made the project seem 
 impossible. For months we talked about it, and 
 made plan after plan, but each in turn came to 
 nothing. 
 
 One day Mrs. May, who from the first had taken a 
 leading part in our seamen's work, asked me to go 
 with her to see if we could rent a suitable buildins: in 
 a street frequented by sailors. Supposing that she 
 had some special building in view, I went with her 
 at once, and when she stopped the carriage in the 
 middle of the street I asked her to point out the 
 house. "O, any of these houses will do," she said, 
 " I merely wished you to see if we could rent one of 
 them." I laughed heartily at her simplicity. " The 
 cheapest of these houses," I replied, " will cost us two 
 hundred rupees a month, and with our new church to 
 build where are we to find ths money ? " It was 
 simplicity, indeed, but it was the simplicity of faith. 
 
348 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 Two years later we rented one of tliose very build- 
 ings iovfour hundred rupees a month, and have kept 
 it at the same rate ever since. We are often stronger 
 than we know, and even after God has rebuked our' 
 unbelief by a hundred striking interpositions we still 
 remain " fools and slow of heart to believe." 
 
 Our first beginning with a coffee-room was in the 
 little suburb of Hastings, which lies below Calcutta, 
 on the river bank, and near enough to a part of the 
 shipping to make it accessible to the sailors. Here 
 Mr. Oakes rented a one-storied house, and by sub- 
 letting some of the rooms, and husbanding his 
 resources carefully, he was able to keep an attractive 
 place for the sailors, and also maintain religious 
 services, which were richly owned and blessed by 
 God. In due time this w^ork became exceedingly 
 fruitful, and much of its fruit still remains in various 
 parts of the world. At a single meeting, held in 
 March, 1876, no less than forty men professed con- 
 version. This seamen's work has had a wide devel- 
 opment since those earlier days, and still is abundantly 
 blessed, but never has it enjoyed more signal tokens 
 of God's favor than during that earlier period of 
 foundation-laying. 
 
The South India Conference. 349 
 
 CHAPTER XXYII. 
 
 THE SOUTH INDIA CONFERENCE. 
 
 11^ a previous chapter mention lias been made of tlie 
 organization by Bishop Harris of the " Bombay 
 and Bengal Mission." By this arrangement all of 
 India which was not included in what was then the 
 India Conference was placed on the basis of a foreign 
 mission, the members of which held their membership 
 in the India Conference, as missionaries in Japan re- 
 tain their connection with Conferences in America. 
 This arrangement was only intended to be temporary, 
 and while it afforded an important relief for the time 
 being, it was attended with serious difficulties in its 
 practical working; and when the General Conference 
 of 1876 drew near, there was a common understand- 
 ing that a better organization would be asked for. 
 The Conference met in January of that year at Cawn- 
 pore, and as the whole of India was represented in 
 the body, the discusssion of the future position of 
 Methodism in the empire was a most important feat- 
 ure of the session. It was not the first choice of these 
 missionaries that the future Conference should be di- 
 vided according to missionary policy rather than geo- 
 graphical convenience, and at one time a resolution 
 had actually passed the Conference asking for two 
 
350 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 Annual Conferences of about equal geographical 
 extent ; but other complications having arisen, it was 
 finally decided that the original Conference should 
 remain unchanged, while all the rest of India should 
 1)6 included in a new Conference. The General Con- 
 ference adopted this plan, and thus was organized 
 what has since been known as the South India Con- 
 ference. 
 
 For one, I regarded this unwieldy organization 
 with a measure of misgiving from the first. It had 
 some elements of strength in it, but others of weak- 
 ness. It was made up of about a dozen churches, or 
 circuits, for the most part isolated from one another, 
 so that each missionary was left almost wholly to 
 himself. These churches had developed a remark- 
 able spiritual life and activity, and had proved them- 
 selves worthy of the high responsibility now placed 
 upon them. The missionaries had proved themselves 
 men of faith and pluck, and there was no discount 
 upon the integrity of any one of their number. The 
 work was essentially indigenous, and not only did the 
 churches sustain all the ministers, but they were 
 thrusting out their own sons into the field, and thus 
 showing that they would continue to live and flourish 
 though every American missionary should be with- 
 drawn. But while these strong points could be men- 
 tioned in favor of the new Conference, there were 
 other weak points about its organization which were 
 seen and pointed out at the time, but which were not 
 
The South India Conference. 351 
 
 sufficiently appreciated bj those on whom responsi- 
 bility rested. 
 
 In the first place, the work was to be missionary in 
 its character, and its main object was to be the con- 
 version of the heathen ; but no provision was made 
 for initiating the missionaries into this work. There 
 were only two men in the Conference who had ever 
 had any experience in actual missionary work ; each 
 man was left in his isolated station to adopt 
 such plans as he pleased, or to adopt no plan at all ; 
 and the result was that some blundered, w^hile others 
 worked unsatisfactorily. It was clearly understood 
 that the distinctive policy of the new Conference was 
 to be that of attempting to enlist the English speak- 
 ing Christians of India in missionary work, but very 
 few seemed to have any idea of the immense diffi- 
 culty of such an undertaking, and no attempt was 
 made to adopt any particular method of work. Hence 
 some had recourse to the old-time policy of collecting 
 money and hiring native Christians to preach or 
 teach ; others tried to enlist the English-speaking 
 people in voluntary work ; while others again did 
 nothing, and in a short time became mere pastors of 
 small English churches. It is no reflection upon the 
 personal worth of the men who were intrusted with 
 this work, to say that a majority of them were un- 
 fitted for the peculiar duties which were laid upon 
 them. Scarcely any one among them had developed 
 any aptitude for learning languages ; some were young 
 
352 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 and raw, with no experience whatever as preachers, 
 wliile others were above the age at which missionaries 
 are usually sent abroad. For ordinary work among 
 English or American people the whole band would 
 liave been effective enough, but for the very peculiar 
 work which we had undertaken, a work which re- 
 quired special qualilications, these brave and true 
 men did not seem, in all cases, to be the right men 
 in the right place. One of our older members, him- 
 self no longer in India, once said to us, with most 
 humorous frankness, ^' Brethren, if we succeed in this 
 work God ought to have all the glory, for it is certain 
 that we cannot lay claim to any share of it." Another 
 mistake which was made was that of assuming that 
 we had solved our problem before we had really com- 
 prehended its terms. A few natives had been con- 
 verted, but they had been very few, and not many of 
 our missionaries had any conception of the immense 
 tide of difficulties which the conversion of fifty Hin- 
 dus w^ould bring upon those who effected the work. 
 We had two great tasks before us, and both wer6 
 formidable enough. We had, in the first place, to 
 enlist our English-speaking people in missionary 
 work, and then to lead them forward to aggressive 
 and victorious efforts to win the people to Christ. It 
 was a great undertaking, and one which was beset 
 with peculiar difficulties ; but its real nature was not 
 very clearly understood. 
 
 It is a strange thing to say, but I have often thought 
 
The South India Conference. 353 
 
 that our somewhat vaunted, and also much criticised, 
 principle of self-support was just a little of a snare to 
 some in those first days, and has remained so ever 
 since. It was not clearly defined at first, and has 
 been a shifting term all along. It was assumed, to 
 some extent, that this principle would prove an ele- 
 ment of power, and great things were expected 
 of us by reason of it ; but it was easy enough to see 
 that a self-supporting Conference in India need not 
 differ materially from a self-supporting Conference 
 in America. We adopted this principle for several 
 reasons. Some of us had been distinctly called to 
 this kind of work. It was considered very desirable 
 to try, at least, to develop a self-supporting work 
 among the natives ; and it was believed that such a 
 work, commenced among English-speaking people, 
 would propagate itself among the natives. Moreover, 
 there was no possibility at that time, and certainly 
 there was no necessity, of getting aid fi'om the Mis- 
 sionary Society. In 1872 it might have been possible, 
 but the long financial depression which followed kept 
 the Missionary Society for years in a state of serious 
 indebtedness, and had we waited for money from 
 home with which to do our work, it is safe to say 
 that it would never have been done. But there was 
 nothing in this principle which of itself could give 
 us either life or power. When a man, or a number 
 of men, receive a divine call to a work, and are en- 
 dued with power for their work, the principle of 
 23 
 
354 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 trusting God for support may become an important 
 part of tlieir commission ; but, after all, it is a subordi- 
 nate principle, and becomes perfectly lifeless when 
 separated from the call, and from the holy anointing 
 which makes obedience to the call possible. In our 
 own case, there is reason to fear that too much has 
 been made of an incidental principle, and too little 
 of the great call which God in his providence gave us. 
 And yet it ought to be said at this point, that this 
 principle of self-support has been, and still is, one 
 which cannot be lightly given up. If the Conference 
 has not worked out its problem in all respects wisely 
 or successfully, it has, nevertheless, done a good and 
 great work. It has stimulated others ; it has led the 
 Church forward to advanced positions ; it has demon- 
 strated that great results can be achieved by earnest 
 labor coupled with dependence upon God and his 
 promises ; and it has kindled holy fires all over India 
 which will burn on until the whole empire is aflame. 
 In the somewhat heated discussions which have at 
 times been raised over the peculiar policy of the 
 Conference, it has been felt too generally that this 
 its peculiar glory was the special object of attack, and 
 that nothing short of an unconditional surrender of 
 principle would remove the objections of those who 
 looked upon its plan of operations with misgivings. 
 A more excellent way would be thankfully to accept 
 this principle, carefully to guard it, and prayerfully 
 and cautiously to extend it. The time must very 
 
The South India Conference. 355 
 
 soon come wlien the mistrust, if I maj use so strong 
 a term, with which this new work has been viewed 
 will give place to a better feeling, and when it will 
 be found practicable to utilize in India all the money 
 which the Church can possibly spare, without stifling 
 develojDments of , this kind wiiich deserve the most 
 tender encouragement and the most unreserved confi- 
 dence of the Church. 
 
 The immense territorial extent of our Conference 
 was one of the weakest features of its organization. 
 At our first session a married brother received an 
 appointment which involved a removal of twenty-five 
 hundred miles, and year after year we have had the 
 spectacle of preachers going from five hundred to two 
 thousand miles to Conference, and families moving 
 like distances to new appointments. The cheerfulness 
 with which our people have paid the cost of these 
 immense journeys has really been wonderful. The 
 loss of time, too, which these long journeys involve 
 is very serious. Some preachers have to be absent 
 from their work a full month, while others are kept 
 away two or three weeks, making an aggregate loss 
 of labor which can illy be spared in such a work as 
 ours. The same question of distance has made the 
 administration of the Conference very difficult. The 
 j)residing elders have been, for the most part, pastors 
 as w^ell, and have, consequently, found it impossible 
 to make prolonged, or even frequent, visits to the 
 isolated stations. The result has been that the work 
 
856 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 lias been badly superintended, and this lias been one 
 of its chief defects from the very first. 
 
 I point out these peculiarities of the South India 
 Conference freely and frankly, but I do not under- 
 rate tlie success which has attended it, or the noble 
 opportunities which even yet arc set before us. It is 
 too soon to write the history of the Conference, but 
 in due time, probably after its present members are 
 all dead, the story will be told, and a worthy story 
 will it be. We have done w^ell, but we might have 
 done much better. We have not realized the high 
 hopes with wliich w^e set out, but we have accom- 
 plished enough to afford us ground for profound 
 gratitude and renewed faith and courage. 
 
 The reader in America will perhaps w^onder why 
 we did not adopt a better organization, or at least 
 correct the one we had as soon as its defects were 
 discovered. It is more than probable that we would 
 have done so had the whole matter been left to the 
 men in India, but we were hedged in by various 
 powers and laws. We wanted, and knew that we 
 must have, a legal organization, and a legal standing 
 before the Church. We could only make choice of 
 the Annual Conference. A foreign mission at that 
 time had no legal status in the Church, and even if 
 we had chosen that form of organization, it would 
 have had the same drawbacks, without the compensa- 
 tions which we found in the Annual Conference. We 
 were in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and wished 
 
The South India Conferenck. 357 
 
 to remain in it, and hence had to adapt our measures 
 to the forms of organization which the Church 
 offered, and that within lines which the authorities in 
 America approved. Perhaps the real lesson which 
 the history of those years teaches is, that the Church 
 should adopt more flexible machinery as her work 
 extends to the ends of the earth, and not insist on 
 applying uniform cast-iron forms of organization 
 among all nations and in all ages. The Church 
 which aims at universality must not shrink from 
 flexible n.ethods. As Dr. Punshon once said, when 
 speaking on a kindred subject, so may we now say of 
 the Clmrch of Asbury : " Let the grand old tree 
 stand firmly rooted as ever; but for God's sake do 
 let its branches wave freely in every breeze of 
 heaven." Thus far the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church has not acted upon this wise policy in 
 administering her foreign missions, and while the 
 branches have been kept from free motion m the 
 healthful breeze, the roots have sometimes refused to 
 strike deep into the soil beneath. 
 
 The extension of our work to important points in 
 all parts of the great Indian empire has accomplished 
 one providential purpose, the ultimate effects of which 
 ■ can hardly be overestimated. It has not only opened 
 the doors of the whole vast empire to us, but has laid 
 upon us a responsibility from which we cannot shrink. 
 Our converts already speak a dozen Eastern tongues, 
 and among the people who speak each of these Ian- 
 
358 My Missioxary Apprenticeship. 
 
 gnages a field of labor opens before us far wider and 
 more important than that which oiir Church regarded 
 as in a special sense her own a quarter of a century 
 ago. At no point can we retreat, w^hile at every 
 point we are urged forward. No other Protestant 
 organization, except the Church of England, has 
 stretched out its arms so far, or has undertaken a task 
 of such gigantic proportions. Perhaps w^hen the his- 
 tory of our Conference comes to be written it will be 
 recorded as its chief achievement, the special service 
 for which God raised it up, that it led the Church 
 forward to a w^ork which otherwise never would have 
 been assumed. What this means very few even now 
 can in any measure realize. The founding of churches 
 and schools, the organizing of Conferences, the crea- 
 tion of a literature in a dozen or twenty different 
 languages, the adaptation of ecclesiastical machinery 
 to new conditions, the provision to be made for ever- 
 recurring new emergencies, these and other like tasks 
 lie before us, and must be resolutely taken up in 
 the near future. 
 
 The South India Conference, as a single body, has 
 very nearly finished its course. It has been generally 
 conceded from the first that its vast distances must 
 be reduced as soon as possible, and a division of its 
 territory will, no doubt, take place in a few years at 
 furtliest. The new bodies which may be formed 
 out of it will, no doubt, inherit much of its spirit 
 and some features of its policy ; but the Conference 
 
The South India Conference. 359 
 
 itself will have run its course, and its work will be 
 left to speak for itself. In the past there has been an 
 almost unreasonable impatience in demanding results, 
 an impatience in strange contrast with the cheerful 
 waiting for harvest-time in other fields ; but as the 
 years go by the true value of the Avork accomplished 
 will, no doubt, become more clearly manifest, and both 
 friends and doubters enabled to see that God has been 
 with his servants and has guided their steps. The 
 first division of the Conference may be into only two 
 bodies, but very soon there will be five Annual Con- 
 ferences where now there is but one. And wdien the 
 five, fully equipped and organized, begin to move 
 forward in their respective fields, winning victories 
 and gathering resources for still greater achievements 
 in the years to come, it will be clearly seen and every- 
 where admitted, that our present day of small things 
 was the ushering in of that brighter day of prosperity 
 and progress. 
 
360 My Missionary Appkenticesuip. 
 
 CHAPTER XXYIII. 
 
 AT GENERAL CONFERENCE. 
 
 IlIiE occasional visits which many missionaries are 
 . permitted to make to their native lands do much, 
 if properly improved, to complete their training, not 
 only for service in the mission field, but for an intel- 
 ligent support of the great cause to which their lives 
 are consecrated. In May, 1876, it was my privilege 
 to attend the General Conference, at Baltimore, as a 
 delegate from the India Annual Conference, and 
 while there I had ample opportunities for learning 
 new lessons. Our missionaries all over the world are 
 accustomed to look forward to the sessions of the 
 General Conference with a great deal of interest and 
 hope. Indeed, througliout the Church generally, 
 there is a disposition to look to this body to initiate 
 all new measures, and direct all the great movements 
 which may from time to time engross the attention 
 of our people. 
 
 ^Nothing could have exceeded the kindness with 
 which I was received by the delegates. It was 
 enough to let it be known that I was a missionary 
 from India to secure the most considerate attention, 
 and I was soon convinced that any measure which 
 the missionaries, as a body, might ask for, would be 
 
At General Conference. 301 
 
 considered cheerfully, provided always that it could 
 be kept disentangled from interests in America. 
 Delegates from all sections of the country were all 
 alike in their manifestations of kindly feeling, and if 
 at any point we failed to receive the attention which 
 the importance of so great a w^ork demanded, the 
 fault certainly could not be laid at the door of our 
 personal unpopularity. It w^as very soon evident, 
 however, that we could expect very little from such 
 a body at such a time. The great question of that 
 session was a proposal to make the Presiding Eldership 
 an elective office, and a feverish state of excitement 
 prevailed upon this subject, which made it practically 
 impossible to secure prolonged attention to any thing 
 else. A few measures were passed in the interest of 
 foreign missions, some of them of an important 
 character, but no attempt was made, or at that time 
 could have been made, to go very deep beneath the 
 surface of our general missionary interests. A very 
 few days' observation convinced me that great meas- 
 ures, of whatever kind, must be elaborated, and 
 in a manner popularized elsewhere, so as to com- 
 mand the confidence of the Church, and then be 
 brought forward for formal sanction. A busy, 
 overweighted, and somewhat mercurial legislative 
 body of this kind is the last place in which to in- 
 augurate a movement which is designed to affect the 
 whole Church. 
 
 Another observation which I was not long in mak- 
 
362 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 ing was, that this great body, with its immense 
 responsibilities and limited time, would never be 
 able, as a permanent arrangement, to legislate for a 
 Church spread out over the whole globe. In the 
 first place, it must necessarily be a physical impossi- 
 bility. The work in hand could not be attended to 
 satisfactorily, and it was manifest at a glance that the 
 new and strange questions which must from time to 
 time arise in twenty or more foreign countries, could 
 never obtain a fair hearing, to say nothing of a proper 
 solution, from such a body. In the next place, it was 
 quickly evident that all questions from abroad would 
 be pressed into American molds, and that antipodal 
 legislation would not in every case adapt a proper 
 means to a desired end. Lastly, it was constantly 
 evident that every proposed measure would be, first of 
 all, weiglied in the balance with American interests, 
 and if it were found to interfere with these it would 
 stand a very poor chance of adoption. One week at 
 the General Conference convinced me that in the 
 fullness of time there must be a legislative body, 
 with carefully defined powers, in each separate 
 nationality. 
 
 The real work at a General Conference session, as 
 is generally known, is done in large committees. 
 The Committee on Missions on this occasion was a 
 very large one, having eighty or more members, and 
 its sessions were sometimes enlivened by very ani- 
 mated and thorough discussions. At the first regular 
 
At General Conference. 363 
 
 meeting I asked for the appointment of a subcom- 
 mittee on the revision of the Chapter on Missions in 
 the Discipline, and the request was not only granted, 
 but I was courteously named as chairman, and thus 
 found an opportunity of doing what had been before 
 my mind for nearly seventeen years. By introducing 
 a few slight changes into this chapter, the legal status 
 of a foreign mission was established, the duties of a 
 superintendent specified, and, for the first time, a legal 
 standing was given to him, while the Annual Meeting 
 w^as elevated to the position of a District Conference. 
 The Committee readily adopted our report, and it 
 passed the General Conference without a word of 
 .discussion. Had this very simple, and manifestly 
 necessary, siep been taken thirty years earlier, it would 
 have been better for the interests of more than one 
 of our foreign missions, and Dr. Butler, I am sure, 
 would have found a less perplexing problem to sohe 
 when he organized our first work in Oudh and Ro- 
 hilcund. I was very sorely tempted to ask for further 
 changes in this chapter, but quickly discovered that 
 it would be wiser to reduce our demands to the nar- 
 rowest possible limit, and especially to ask for nothing 
 M^hich would in any w^ay affect any parties in the 
 Churcli at home. 
 
 A number of missionaries were present at the 
 General Conference, among whom Drs. Scott and 
 Wilson, of India, and Mr. Ohlinger, of China, were 
 courteously invited to take part in the discussions of 
 
364 My Missionary xVppeenticeship. 
 
 the Committee. Dr. Scott was exceedingly anxious 
 to liave the question of the separation of the lioine 
 and foreign work discussed, and when it was brought 
 forward he spoke with great clearness and force in 
 favor of a division ; but he might as well have spoken 
 to the winds. No one contended that our people did 
 not wish to give more to the foreign work, but all 
 seemed perfectly content with the statement that the 
 money was needed in the West and South, and when 
 the vote was taken only ^ye or six favored a change. 
 Still more significant was the treatment of a motion 
 to amend the article in the Constitution of the Mis- 
 sionary Society, which makes it seem that a donor 
 may specify to what field he wishes to have his con- 
 tribution sent, while, as a practical fact, it is ordinarily 
 distributed equally among all the different fields to 
 which the Society sends its money. There was no 
 possible evading of the question, and the only defense 
 set up was that the accounts were so kept that it would 
 appear on the books that the money was credited to 
 the mission specified, as if the question were merely 
 one of book-keeping ! It was contended by the mis- 
 sionaries that the principle was wrong, that a healthy 
 liberality could only be stimulated and maintained by 
 letting the people know what was done with their 
 money, and allowing them, as far as possible, to give 
 it for the West, South, or foreign field, as they might 
 choose ; and it was earnestly, and as I still believe 
 truthfully, represented that both the home and 
 
At General Conference. 365 
 
 foreign work suffer seriously because many people 
 see no way of giving tlieir money according to their 
 convictions of duty. It was useless, however, to talk. 
 The missionaries received a patient and kind heariiii>:, 
 but, amid jokes and laugliter, it was decided by an 
 overwhelming majority to leave the article in tlie 
 Constitution unchanged, and where it still remains, a 
 big fly in a pot of very precious ointment. 
 
 The proposal to organize the South India Confer- 
 ence, with immensely extended boundaries, met with 
 no opposition, and excited very little discussion. I 
 briefly explained that the division would be a most 
 unequal one. " If you were to organize," I said, "the 
 State of Connecticut into one Conference, and all the 
 rest of the country east of the Mississippi into an- 
 other, you would have a division very much like that 
 which is proposed for India." One of the leading 
 ministers of the Church replied, " That is all right. 
 "We pursue the same policy at home. The older Con- 
 ferences are small and compact, and those on the 
 frontier large and sometimes inconvenient." I did 
 not reply that in India we had no " frontier," in the 
 American sense of the word, but thought it best to 
 accept the inevitable, and wait till a better arrange- 
 ment could be made. 
 
 My position at this General Conference, and 
 throughout my brief stay in America, was, in one 
 respect, a very awkward one. I had returned to 
 America with an earnest hope of finding a band of 
 
366 My Missionary ArrKENTicEsiiip. 
 
 young men for our new work, and I had also hoped 
 to secure some help for our new church in Calcutta ; 
 but it soon became evident tliat I must work with 
 both hands tied, and that at best I could do very 
 little. Tlie Missionary Society was heavily burdened 
 by debt, and could not have rendered any material 
 aid under any circumstances. Moreover, the old-time 
 policy of the Board was still in force, by which mis- 
 sionaries from abroad were precluded from soliciting 
 money for any object outside of the regular appro- 
 priations, and all contributions were made to pass 
 through the Missionary Society's treasury. A mission- 
 ary from Alabama or Colorado could range through 
 the length and breadth of the land, and collect money 
 freely for any church or school in which he had an 
 interest, but not so with his brother from China or 
 India. As I was no longer in the pay of the Mis- 
 sionary Society, ir seemed doubtful whether I should 
 be longer bound by this rule, but another difficulty 
 met me from quite a different direction. Father 
 Taylor had not at that time adopted the policy of 
 soliciting money for his work, and to avoid misunder- 
 standing, and at the same time keep any from saying 
 that he was lessening the ordinary collections, he 
 begged me to abstain from all direct solicitation of 
 inoney. He regarded our new work as his own, in 
 an important sense, and, in view of all the facts, I 
 thought it right to respect his wishes, but I quickly 
 found that while thus hedged about I could accom- 
 
At General Conference. 367 
 
 plisli very little, and that mj visit to America must 
 prove a practical failure. 
 
 One day during the General Conference session a 
 young man sent for me, and after making certain 
 inquiries offered himself unreservedly for our South 
 India work. He had excellent recommendations, and 
 seemed admirably adapted to our work, but there was 
 no money with which to pay his passage to India. I 
 suggested that he should collect the amount needed 
 himself, but he replied that he could not possibly do 
 it. " I could do it, and would gladly do it," he said, 
 *' for any one else, but I cannot do it for myself." 1 
 was sorely perplexed over this case, and began to feel 
 keenly that I was placed in a very embarrassing po- 
 sition. This feeling was intensified as I discovered 
 that many entertained the gravest doubts in regard to 
 the permanence of our work. One of the highest 
 officials of the Church said to me, in the presence of 
 one of the Bishops, "In a year at the farthest you will 
 be out of that work. It will not hold together." An 
 elderly minister took me aside and asked me to tell 
 him, confidentially, just what I thought of it. Was 
 it worthy of confidence, or was it not ? I had come 
 home fondly anticipating a generous and enthusiastic 
 support, and to my surprise I found my way blocked 
 up, and many regarding the work, on which I had 
 staked every thing, with undisguised distrust. It is 
 too late now to correct the mistakes of those days, 
 but I have never ceased to regret that a better policy 
 
368 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 had not been agreed upon. Had the Church placed 
 her broad seal of confidence upon us, and had I been 
 autliorized boldly to search out six or more choice 
 ^^ouiig nien for our field, without restriction as to the 
 means of getting them to tlieir destination, the past 
 eight years of our history would almost certainly have 
 been, in some important respects, very much more 
 prosperous tlian they have been. It was a critical 
 period in our work, and we threw away a golden op- 
 portunity by not acting promptly and vigorously. 
 
 During the few months that I remained in Amer- 
 ica I did not wholly refrain from soliciting money, 
 especially during the camp-meeting season. I only 
 went so far, however, as to ask persons to pay the 
 cost of one or more chairs in the church, and a few 
 contributed to other incidental expenses. The total 
 amount of money carried back to India by me was 
 fifteen hundred rupees, and, as the event turned out, 
 I was not sorry that the amount was so small. I 
 could well afford to do without the aid for the Church, 
 but it was not so easy to refrain from direct and 
 earnest efforts to secure efficient young men for our 
 work. 
 
 One day, during the session of the General Con- 
 ference, the pastor of the Metropolitan Church, at 
 Washington, rose and asked that sanction might be 
 given to a proposed special effort to collect money 
 for the payment of the debt on that building. I had 
 preached in that church a few days previously, had 
 
At General Conference. 369 
 
 seen the large congregation of very thrifty-looking 
 people, and wondered that such a people could not 
 pay their own debt. As the debate on the motion 
 went on I thought of my distant church, a metropol- 
 itan building also, and having claims of.no secondary 
 importance, and felt that, so far from asking the 
 General Conference to help me to pay for it, I would 
 count myself more than happy if authority could 
 only be given me to attend to that duty myself. I 
 only. asked that my hands might be untied, but this 
 could not be done, and now I am thankful that it was 
 not done. Nearly eight years later I read in the home 
 papers that Chaplain M'Cabe had at last paid the bal- 
 ance of that long-standing Metropolitan debt, and by 
 a singular coincidence I was at that very time paying 
 over the last rupee of the debt on our Church property 
 in Calcutta. 
 24 
 
370 My Missionary Apprentice:ship. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIX. 
 
 BACK AGAIN IN CALCUTTA. 
 
 I SAILED from IS'ew York on September 26, 1876, 
 and reached Bombay on tlie third of November. 
 Bishop Andrews joined me at Alexandria, and I 
 enjoyed the rare privilege of his company from* that 
 point to Bombay. Our new Conference met for the 
 first time on Thursday, November 9, and we had an 
 interesting and very delightful session. Under the 
 guiding hand of Bishop Andrews every thing was 
 arranged to the satisfaction of the members, and we 
 all parted in affection and hope. My appointment 
 was a double one, that of presiding elder of the Cal- 
 cutta District and pastor of the Calcutta church. I 
 lost no time in getting back to Calcutta, and reached 
 that city, now endeared to me by many happy recol- 
 lections and many delightful associations, on the 
 morning of Saturday, November 18. The next day I 
 was at my old post of duty, and at the evening service 
 God gave me a token for good by moving seven per- 
 sons to seek salvation. For a colleague I had the Eev. 
 F. A. Goodwin, a young man whose career was to be 
 short, but who was to leave a lasting impression upon 
 the city. 
 
 The district over which 1 was appointed presiding 
 
Back Again in Calcutta. 371 
 
 elder was more a geographical expression than a real 
 district. It had only four appointments outside of 
 Calcutta, and these were scattered over an immense 
 extent of territory. To reach one appointment re- 
 quired a journey of about twelve hundred miles, 
 while the nearest of the five points to be visited was 
 three hundred miles from Calcutta. It quickly be- 
 came evident that my duties on such a district would 
 be restricted to one or, at most, two visits annually, 
 and that no such supervision could be exercised as 
 the initial character of the work and the inexperience 
 of the missionaries demanded. This might have been 
 regarded as a relief, but it hardly proved so in the 
 end. It is often much easier to do a full measure of 
 work than to be intrusted with a responsibility which 
 cannot be discharged, and to chafe constantly while 
 looking in helpless impatience at golden opportunities 
 slipj)ing forever from our grasp. Had the district 
 been smaller, I could not have done justice to it. A 
 man who does his duty as pastor of a church can never 
 assume permanent duties which call him frequently 
 from his home. 
 
 My first duty on reaching Calcutta was to look 
 after the new church, and a very urgent and some- 
 what trying duty did I find it. The building had 
 been erected, and w^as nearly ready for dedication, but 
 an enormous debt stared us in the face, and we saw 
 no possible way of escape. During my absence the 
 collections had not been vigorously pressed, and at 
 
372 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 times idle rumors had been started to the effect that 
 the whole enterprise was about to collapse. At our 
 recent Conference the brethren had faithfully called 
 me to account for incurring so large a debt, and I had 
 not made a very successful defense of a proceeding 
 which at every step had been exceptional. I could 
 not tell how we were to solve our problem, could not 
 indicate any measure whatever which would probably 
 remove our mountain, and to say that I had faith in 
 God and felt no misgivings was not a very salisfactory 
 answer to give to men W'ho also had faith in God, but 
 whose faith at that particular time was not exercised 
 in that particular way. It was a critical time, as I 
 very well knew. Our cause in Calcutta was at stake, 
 and my own reputation w^ould be hopelessly lost, 
 both in Calcutta and throughout India, if we failed. 
 Bishop Andrews visited us and looked into our 
 affairs carefully, and although he gave me his cordial 
 support, and assured me of his approval, he did not 
 succeed in concealing from me the fact that he 
 regarded the situation with no little anxiety. 
 
 Our debt at that time amounted to about fifty 
 thousand rupees. By selling the old church w^e 
 hoped to reduce this amount to thirty-six thousand, 
 but even this sum seemed hopelessly beyond the 
 means of our people. The benevolent people of the 
 city had all been importuned, and most of them had 
 given freely, so that we could not hope for much 
 more from that source. I started out one day to 
 
Back Again in Calcutta. 373 
 
 make a new and thorongli canvass of the city, but 
 met witli such poor success that I felt constrained to 
 give it up. We had twice had pubhc collections for 
 this object, the last one in the early part of the same 
 year, on which occasion our people thought they had 
 surpassed themselves, and it seemed like sheer mad- 
 ness to expect them to do more. But God expected 
 them to do much more, and at the right moment 
 he came to our aid. 
 
 One day it occurred to me that we could easily lift 
 the burden if only the payments could be spread out 
 over a term of years. A man who would gladly give 
 five hundred rupees found himself only able to give 
 one hundred, but this ability could be maintained 
 through a period of five years, and thus he might 
 have the satisfaction of putting a comparatively large 
 amount into an enterprise which he dearly loved. 
 I called the oflScial members together, and laid this 
 plan before them, and it was approved by them, and 
 arrangements made for a new canvass of our people. 
 
 The new church was to be formally dedicated on 
 Sunday, December 31, and the dedication to be 
 followed by a watch-night service. On the previous 
 Thursday evening we met for a farewell meeting in 
 the little church where we had spent two eventful 
 years, and which was greatly endeared to our people, 
 most of them having been born again within its 
 walls. We had an informal meeting, and at its close 
 I explained the plan on which we had agreed, and 
 
374 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 said we would have a collection before eeparating. 
 The cards were passed round, and in three or four 
 minutes, in the midst of perfect quiet, and without a 
 single word of urging, those dear devoted people 
 pledged over twenty thousand rupees / I went home 
 with a heart lighter than ether. The debt was not 
 paid, it is true, but its back was effectually broken, 
 and I needed no one to assure me that He who had, 
 over and over again, showed us through the dark- 
 ness bright gleams from the pillar of fire, would 
 guide us still, and help us to finish successfully the 
 work he had given us. 
 
 On the last day of the year we formally dedicated 
 the new church — nearly two years after the time that 
 the determination to build it had been first announced. 
 It was considered an immensely large church, for 
 India, and many had prophesied that it would be im- 
 possible to fill it, but when the hour of service came 
 it was found quite too small for the people who 
 thronged for admission. Its wide galleries and every 
 part of the floor were packed, while a crowd of people 
 filled the large vestibule and blocked up the doors. 
 The service was a simple one, and at the close the 
 people were again asked to subscribe toward the 
 building fund, and a further sum of sixteen thousand 
 rupees was easily secured, making a total of thirty-six 
 thousand at the two meetings. It was the Lord's 
 doing, and it was marvelous in our eyes. The people 
 were more than happy ; they were joyous in the 
 
Back Again in Calcutta. 375 
 
 Lord, and rejoiced to do liis bidding. The watch- 
 night service came on, and the vast crowd lingered 
 till the midnight hour. A pointed appeal was made 
 to the unsaved to decide for God before the close of 
 the year, and in response to an invitation twenty 
 awakened persons asked the prayers of God's people 
 in the presence of the great congregation. It was a 
 fitting close to a long year of struggling but now 
 triumphant faith. 
 
 For days and weeks after tliis Ked-Sea crossing I 
 seemed to live and move in a new atmosphere. God 
 seemed to come nearer. I had often and long tried 
 to trust him in the realm of grace, and hoped that, 
 when my spiritual strength increased sufficiently, I 
 might be able to trust to him more fully in the realm 
 of providence ; but now it seemed as if the process 
 liad been strangely reversed, and that his providential 
 interpositions were to teach me to trust him more 
 fully for saving grace. Clearer light beamed down 
 upon me, faith had plumed her wings for loftier 
 flights, and as I saw God's hand in all I was doing, 
 I began to fathom anew the meaning of the words — 
 " In Him w^e live, and move, and have our being." 
 
 If our original plan had been adhered to, our task 
 would now have been accomplished, but, gaining 
 courage from these tokens, we ventured to change the 
 plan, and determined to keep the old church as a 
 place of worship for our Bengali members. This was, 
 in effect, almost the same as buying an additional 
 
376 My Missionaey Apprenticeship. 
 
 church, although in form it was the payment of the 
 cost of the new building. It was quickly pointed out 
 by our critics that these long-term subscriptions 
 would never be paid, and that this would prove 
 another of those loudly trumpeted cases of debt- 
 paying which are only paid on paper, the pledges to 
 pay never being redeemed ; but such was not our fate. 
 A few subscribers died, and a few failed to make good 
 their promises, but others came forward to take the 
 vacant places, and the whole thirty-six thousand 
 rupees were paid in four years, instead of five. In 
 addition to this, the attempt to save the old church 
 proved successful, and thus, by God's blessing, our 
 trustees now hold two churches, both located on a 
 central and crowded street, and both free from debt. 
 The new church has not been found too large. 
 While the sailors attended it in large numbers it was 
 actually too small, and even after the opening of our 
 coffee-rooms had drawn off most of these attendants, 
 the place was found none too large. On Sunday 
 evenings it is always fairly well filled, and on some 
 occasions densely crowded. Hundreds of souls have 
 been converted within its walls. Many of these con- 
 verts are strangers w^ho chance to be in Calcutta for 
 a time, while many others belong to the city. The 
 membership, however, is not as large as might be 
 expected. Society in India is a shifting quantity 
 and seven years is the average duration of an Anglo - 
 Indian generation. Some return to England, while 
 
Back Again in Calcutta. 377 
 
 others move to other parts of India, and it tlius hap- 
 pens that a church which would maintain its strength 
 must renew its membership every five years at least. 
 We are constantly losing members, and lience we 
 nmst be constantly winning converts, or else make 
 up our minds to grow feeble, and before very long 
 have our candlestick removed out of its place. We 
 cannot alford to depend on intermittent revival 
 seasons, but must live in an atmosphere of revival 
 from January to December. 
 
 As soon as the care of opening the new church was 
 off our hands, another problem, but not a difficult one, 
 confronted us. When I had landed in Calcutta, in 
 1859, I had found a temporary home with Mrs. Lish, 
 the widow of a Baptist missionary, and when I re- 
 turned to make my permanent liome in the city, I 
 found this excellent lady living with her son-in law, 
 Mr. S. J. Leslie. These kind friends proposed in the 
 latter part of 1874 to open their house to the three 
 Methodist preachers, and their home accordingly 
 became our head-quarters, and remained so until 
 March, 1877. As our work developed, however, it 
 was thought best to have a parsonage in the very 
 heart of tiie city, and as near as possible to the church. 
 This did not seem a very formidable undertaking, but 
 our people had just assumed heavy burdens in con- 
 nection with the building fund, and we could not 
 reasonably expect them to give more than a very 
 moderate sum as a pastor's fund. The parsonage was 
 
378 My Missioxaky Apprenticeship. 
 
 sought for the good of tlie work, rather than the 
 comfort of its inmates, and by a very singular com- 
 bination of circumstances, we found ourselves, after 
 long and diligent search for a cheaper ^^lace, lodged in 
 an ehgible house immediately opjDosite the church. 
 The rent and taxes of this building cost us a hundred 
 and seventy-five rupees a month, while the total 
 monthly allowance for myself and colleague was two 
 hundred and fifty rupees. Living in Calcutta is as 
 expensive as in an American city, and I knew at once 
 that, leaving myself wholly out of the account, the 
 remnant saved out of our monthly allowance would 
 be wholly insufficient to keep my colleague with his 
 wife and child. Here again was room for faith. A 
 living was pledged to us, and God was faithful to Lis 
 unchanging word. Kind friends rallied and filled 
 our parsonage with furniture and other domestic 
 equipments, and as time passed we were never per- 
 mitted to lack for any real comfort or necessity. 
 
 In the midst of this new emergency an additional 
 work was suddenly thrust upon us. I had often 
 been importuned to establish a school, but had not 
 ^een any practicable way of doing so. One day a 
 Roman Catholic gentleman asked me why I held 
 aloof from school work. I replied that it was a 
 question of money. A school could not be started 
 without money, and with all the work I had in hand, 
 I had not been able to look up the necessary funds. 
 '- If that m the trouble," he replied, " I am willing to 
 
Back Again in Calcutta. 379 
 
 help you. You may depend on me for a hundred 
 rupees a month, if that will be of any use to you." 
 Thus encouraged, we began to look around, and in a 
 short time opened a day school in our little church, 
 one of the teachers rendering v^oluntary service, and 
 the others receiving very moderate compensation. 
 Almost immediately we received applications for 
 boarders, and having no other place we admitted half 
 a dozen boys and girls into the parsonage, and thus 
 increased our slender income, wdiile at the same time 
 forming the nucleus of what in the end developed 
 into two flourishing boarding schools. But even 
 with this aid our resources were very limited, and I 
 did not draw a rupee from the Church for my own 
 personal use during the year. Meanwhile, our suc- 
 cess in raising money, and the fame of our crowded 
 congregations, had given us an immense prestige, and 
 I began to receive applications for aid from far and 
 near. I had never been poorer, and yet people were 
 asking me for money, as if I rolled in wealth. In 
 those days I began to learn a lesson which I have 
 often had to bring into practice since, but which I 
 was very slow to comprehend. I had always sup- 
 posed that God's stewards were persons of substance, 
 and that a penniless man could not fill such an office, 
 simply because he had no gifts to account for. I 
 began to learn that this was a great mistake. When 
 I put my hand into my almost empty pocket I often 
 found that more coin seemed to remain than I had 
 
380 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 taken out. Mj light purse was often like the wid- 
 ow's barrel ; it refused to become empty. People a 
 thousand miles away would send me money to be 
 given to the poor, or to be disbursed in whatever way 
 I saw fit. I could not, it is true, relieve all who 
 came for help, and often a dozen would be turned 
 away in a day, and yet month by month I was able 
 to assist many needy people, to soothe many sorrow-, 
 ing hearts, and to live in the delightful consciousness 
 of ministering to eai'th's needy ones by a special coin- 
 mission from the Master himself. 
 
 On the approach of the hot season of 1877 our 
 young missionary to the seamen, Mr. Oakes, 
 completely broke down in health, and it became 
 absolutely necessary for him to seek a change of 
 climate. He accordingly left for America to pursue 
 a course of theological study, while my colleague, 
 Mr. Goodwin, was transferred to the seamen's 
 work. This brother was brimfull of irrepressible 
 energy, and when he went among the seamen it was 
 q^uickly manifest that he had found a most congenial 
 sphere of labor. In the preceding year Colonel (now 
 General) Haig had established a successful coffee- 
 room for sailors in Bentinck Street, and early in 1878 
 he proposed to us to unite this with our rooms, on 
 condition that we opened up in the very heart of 
 Lai Bazar, the street were seamen were found in 
 largest numbers. Mr. Goodwin threw himself 
 into this enterprise with all his energy, but for a 
 
13 ACK Again in (Jalcutta. 381 
 
 time the project seemed utterly beyond onr re- 
 sources. A large building was for rent, and it not 
 only suited our requirements, but stood in the very 
 spot where we wished to take our stand. Its rental 
 was four hundred rupees a month, with thirty rupees 
 to be added for taxes, and at first it seemed utterly 
 useless for us to think of taking it, but several parties 
 offered liberal help, and we determined to make the 
 venture. The place was taken, a reading-room and a 
 chapel were fitted up at a heavy expense, the whole 
 building put in order, and its doors thrown open 
 from six in the morning till ten at night. The suc- 
 cess of this enterprise surpassed all our expectations. 
 The rooms were thronged, and meetings were held 
 every evening. The word preached to the sailors 
 was greatly blessed, and the influence of the work 
 was so marked, that the police authorities mentioned 
 it in their official reports, and thus the coffee-room 
 and our seamen's work were brought to the notice of 
 the lieutenant-governor. That gentleman visited the 
 place, observed carefully what was going on, made 
 minute inquiries about every thing connected with 
 the work, and then asked if we could not open a 
 similar place for the benefit of that part of the 
 shipping which lay lower down the river. I replied 
 that the question was simply one of funds, where- 
 upon he promised us liberal assistance, sanctioned a 
 monthly grant to our existing rooms, and not only 
 gave three thousand five hundred rupees to start the 
 
882 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 new enterprise, but secured other large sums as dona- 
 tions from private parties. Thus encouraged and 
 assisted, we lost no time in lengthening our cords. 
 Mr. Goodwin threw himself into the new enter- 
 prise with all his indomitable energy, a house and lot 
 were purchased in the suburbs of Hastings, the build- 
 ing was enlarged to suit our purjDoses, and early in 
 1880 this additional place was opened for seamen. 
 Mr. Goodwin removed to these new rooms, and 
 undertook the work with his usual, but, alas ! fatal 
 energy ; but he was not to remain long at his post. 
 He had a genius for work, and was never happy un- 
 less engaged in some form of intense activity. His 
 face was familiar on every street and on every ship. 
 His name had become known in three short years all 
 around the globe. His task was quickly done, but his 
 works still follow him. His health gave way about 
 the middle of the year, and he was ordered to iN'atal, in 
 the faint hope that a change might benefit him, but 
 it was too late. He came back only to take his fam- 
 ily and return to his native land, wdience he soon 
 after was called to his eternal rest. 
 
 The departure of this leader of our seamen's work 
 did not, however, affect the work itself. At the be- 
 ginning of 1880, the Rev. G. I. Stone came out 
 specially for this w^ork, and has ever since been in 
 charge of the chief head-quarters in the Lai Bazar. 
 The work has gone steadily forward, year after year. 
 Hundreds of men are converted in the meetings, and 
 
Back Again in Calcutta. 883 
 
 ftp to the present day this remarkable work sliows no 
 signs of abatement. Taking it altogether, from the 
 first beginning of this unique part of our Calcutta 
 mission work down to the present hour, 1 think it 
 may safely be said that it would be difficult to find 
 any thing fully equal to it in any part of the world. 
 It has gone on so long, without cessation and with- 
 out abatement ; it has been so simple in form, and yet 
 so deep and powerful in its effects ; it has scattered 
 its converts so widely, and made its influence felt to 
 such remote points, that I cannot but regard it as a 
 work of God's own appointment, and one upon which 
 his special blessing abides. 
 
 I have spoken of the unexpected development of 
 our two boarding schools. At the end of nine 
 months the day school had outgrown the capacity of 
 the building in which it was held, and it became 
 necessary to make some other provision for it. At 
 this point the secretary of a long-established board- 
 ing school for girls, known as the Calcutta Girls' 
 School, proposed to me to take the management of 
 that institution on terms which were acceptable to 
 us, and I accordingly transferred it. The school 
 had been gradually declining for several years, and I 
 determined to place it upon a new basis, by bringing 
 it in from the suburbs to the heart of the city, adding 
 our few boarders and one hundred day pupils to its 
 rolls, and striking out boldly in the direction of a 
 higher grade of scholarship. Again I was con- 
 
384 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 fronted by a mountain of financial difficulty. I 
 found that the school was much more heavily in 
 debt than I had supposed, while the only suitable 
 buildings which could be obtained in the quarter of 
 the city which I wished to occupy could not be 
 rented for less than four hundred rupees a month. 
 It seemed like a desperate venture, but there was no 
 other way open before us, and I thought it best to 
 assume the obligation. Some of our best friends 
 shook their heads, and urged me to stop before it 
 was too late ; but every time I reviewed the case, and 
 examined the situation anew, it seemed more clear 
 that we were following the guiding hand of Provi- 
 dence. We were now under an obligation to pay, in 
 rent and taxes, a sum of more than a thousand rupees 
 monthly, and at times the situation seemed serious 
 enough, but every time I carried our troubles to God 
 in prayer, the conviction was more deeply impressed 
 upon my heart that God was leading us, and that he 
 would carry us safely through every sea, and across 
 every desert w^hich might lie in our pathway. Slowly 
 but steadily the school emerged from its difficulties. 
 Early in November, 1878, Miss M. E. Layton, who 
 'lad been sent out by the Woman's Missionary So- 
 ciety, arrived in Calcutta and assumed charge of the 
 institution, and under her able management it has 
 Iield on a steady course of prosperity and usefulness. 
 It is full to overflowing with pupils, and many appli- 
 cants for admission have to be turned away. The 
 
Back Again in Calcutta. 385 
 
 nucleus of a fund for a new building has been formed, 
 and in cash and pledges more than fifty thousand ru- 
 pees have been secured. 
 
 The boys' school has not had so prosperous a career, 
 but after passing through a long series of mishaps and 
 discouragements it has at last entered npon a course 
 of steady prosperity. Two spacious houses have been 
 rented for its accommodation, and these are now be- 
 ginning to be uncomfortably crowded. Both of the 
 schools must be speedily provided with homes. A 
 few years ago we thought the task of building our 
 large church enough for a life-time, but now we are 
 confronted by the necessity of providing buildings for 
 these two schools, each of which will cost more than 
 tlie church. God will help us to accomplish both 
 enterprises, and, no doubt, when these tasks are fin- 
 ished, others of still greater magnitude will rise upon 
 our horizon, to be approached and overcome in like 
 manner. 
 25 
 
386 My Missionaey Apprenticeship. 
 
 .^ 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 FOUNDING A NEW MISSION. 
 
 OON after arriving in Calcutta, in 1874, 1 received 
 kj an invitation to visit Rangoon, tlie growing capital 
 of tlie flourishing province of Burmali, and from time 
 to time similar invitations were received, not only 
 from that city, but from other points on the south- 
 eastern coast. It was, however, not till June, 1879, 
 that I was able to respond to any of these invitations, 
 although I had definitely decided to make an attempt 
 to gain a foothold in Rangoon a year earlier. As it 
 was our policy to do permanent work, and to build 
 upon whatever foundation God might permit us to 
 lay, I had written to America during the previous 
 year for a missionary to take charge of the church 
 which w^e should organize. The project was brought 
 before the Rock River Conference by Father Taylor, 
 and the members of that body quickly pledged money 
 enough to send a man to Rangoon, and about the first 
 of June I was greatly surprised to receive a telegram 
 announcing the arrival of the Rev. R. E. Carter and 
 Mrs. Carter in Rangoon. I had hoped to be there to 
 receive them, but they had "prevented" me, as King 
 James's translators would liave said, and so I had to 
 make all haste to go down and get the strangers 
 
FouNDiKG A Kew Mission. 387 
 
 settled in their new home. Mr. Goodwin was to 
 go with me, and I asked him to be good enough to 
 procure tickets for our passage bj the next steamer. 
 " Where shall I get the money ? " he asked. '^ It was 
 one of JS'apoleon's maxims," I replied, ^' that war 
 must support itself. We must depend on making 
 conquests in Rangoon, and getting the sinews of war 
 from our converts." 
 
 The agents of the steamer gave us return tickets 
 for a nominal sum, and, after a stormy passage of four 
 days, we arrived at Rangoon on Wednesday, May 11. 
 A young man who had been converted at one of our 
 Dasahra meetings in Lucknow met us on the dock, 
 and took us to his home. Mr. Carter meanwhile 
 had been hospitably received by Baptist friends, and 
 had preached several times in a hired hall. The 
 American Baptists maintain a very strong missionary 
 force in Rangoon, but at that time they did very little 
 for the English-speaking people. They had a small 
 chapel in which they preached on Sunday evenings, 
 and held a prayer-meeting on Wednesday evenings ; 
 but they had not been able to give attention to pas- 
 toral work, and gave us a cordial reception when we 
 came among them with the avowed intention of mak- 
 ing work among the English-speaking classes our chief 
 objective point. Their chapel, which held about two 
 hundred persons, was placed at our disposal, and there 
 we opened our commission, and most of our services 
 during this visit were held in it. 
 
388 My Missionary ArrRKNTicESHip. 
 
 Going to Burmali from India was like going from 
 home to a foreign country. We were in a strange 
 land and among a strange people. The number of 
 European and Anglo-Burman inhabitants in Rangoon 
 was at that time estimated at three thousand. Yery 
 few of these had ever seen a revival, or knew any 
 thing about revival methods, and we were to begin 
 our work in fallow ground. I found that a much 
 larger jDroportion of the Europeans could speak the 
 vernacular of the province than in Calcutta, and this 
 afforded a ground of hope that we might more easily 
 and quickly reach the natives than we had been able 
 to do in the latter city. We had no caste rules or 
 caste prejudices to encounter, and altogether the way 
 seemed to lie wide open before us. 
 
 The next evening after our arrival we began our 
 meetings in the Baptist chapel. The small room was 
 not full, and it was at once apparent that a revival 
 meeting had as yet very little power to "draw" an 
 audience in Eangoon. I announced meetings for 
 both morning and evening, and the next morning 
 about forty persons were present. After a quiet talk 
 I called for seekers, and eight persons at once re- 
 sponded. A deep feeling was manifest, and I felt 
 assured that a blessed work of salvation had com- 
 menced. At each succeeding meeting the interest 
 seemed to increase, and awakenings and conversions 
 took place daily. We secured the Town Hall for 
 Sunday evening, put up posters on all the streets, 
 
Founding a Kew Mission. 389 
 
 hired and borrowed seats from far and near, and at 
 the appointed hour an immense crowd filled the place. 
 I had a rare opportunity to deliver the message of 
 reconciliation, and God stood by me and helped me. 
 The immediate fruit was not very apparent, but a 
 new impetus was given to the meetings in the chapel, 
 and our hands and hearts were burdened with work 
 At the two meetings on Tuesday we had thirty-two 
 seekers, and at the close of one week's services thirty- 
 eight persons publicly professed to have found salva- 
 tion during the previous meetings, and two days later 
 the number of persons who had publicly come for- 
 ward for prayers had risen to eighty. The amount 
 of work, in the shape of visiting from house to house, 
 and patient instruction and prayer wdth inquirers one 
 by one, which the presence of eighty awakened sin- 
 ners involves, will be readily understood by every one 
 who has had experience in winning souls. In Ean- 
 goon this kind of work was new, and as we had very 
 few who could help in such an emergency, Mr. 
 Goodwin and myself were soon worn down with the 
 incessant work into which God had thrust us. Our 
 strength, however, w^as as our day, and w^e were able 
 to hold up under the heavy strain to the last. 
 
 On the second Sunday evening it seemed as if 
 almost the whole city had come together in the Town 
 Hall. God helped me again to declare his word, and 
 when at the close of the sermon I called on awakened 
 persons who wished to be prayed for to rise, some 
 
390 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 thirty persons stood up in the presence of the congre- 
 gation. It was a solemn hour. I have seldom at any 
 time seen a meeting in which divine power was so 
 manifestly present. Again a fresh stimuhis seemed 
 to be given to the meetings in the chapel, and by the 
 end of our second week in the city the total number 
 of seekers enrolled by us had risen to one hundred 
 and thirty. 
 
 As my stay in Rangoon was to be short, we Iiad 
 not neglected for a day the great w^ork of foundation- 
 laying which we had in view. Our first class-meet- 
 ing, or fellowship -meeting, as we say in India, was 
 held on the fourth day after our arrival. Our church 
 was formally organized on the second Sunday, with 
 twenty-nine members and probationers, but the num- 
 ber rose to fifty during the next three days. A 
 Quarterly Conference was duly organized, three men 
 licensed to exhort, a pastor's fund secured, and thus a 
 thoroughly organized and fully equipped church was 
 established in Rangoon within two weeks of our 
 arrival. Nor was this all. We had applied to the 
 authorities for the free gift of a site for a new church, 
 and had received assurances which virtually made us 
 owners of a fine lot at the junction of two leading 
 streets, and we had also collected about one third of 
 the cost of a new church. Mr. Carter, unfortu- 
 nately, was prostrated with fever most of the time of 
 my visit, and as he was still very feeble I left Mr. 
 Good\nn to help him for another fortnight, while I 
 
Founding a Kew Mission. 391 
 
 returned again to Calcutta. As I came away I looked 
 back upon the brief days of my hurried visit to this 
 most interesting city with simple amazement. We 
 had gone forth without a rupee, and had set up our 
 banner in a strange land and among a strange people, 
 trusting solely in the unchanging and unfailing prom- 
 ises, and mountains had melted down before us. The 
 banner was left waving, and it is waving still. God 
 had been in the work, and the gates of hell were not 
 to prevail against the humble band which had been 
 gathered in his name. Christ had gained another 
 victory, Satan had been again defeated. 
 
 The work thus started in Kangoon has gone for- 
 ward, on a smaller scale, it is true, but in much the 
 same w^ay as in Calcutta. A church was speedily 
 erected, and soon a parsonage was built by its side. 
 Four leading classes of non-Christian people live in 
 Rangoon — Burmese, Chinese, Telugu, and Tamil 
 people, the last two being settlers from Southern 
 India. A few Burmese have been baptized, but our 
 chief native work has been among the Indians. A 
 Tamil church has grown up out of the roots of the 
 English church, its Tamil pastor having been for 
 several years an official member of the English 
 organization. A coffee-room has also been opened, 
 and is conducted very succesofully. Open-air preach- 
 ing to the natives takes place every evening when the 
 weather is favorable, and every year our work in 
 Rangoon becomes more and more what we wish all 
 
392 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 our work in India to be^ a mission to the non-Christian 
 people. 
 
 The Rev. J. E. Robinson was placed in charge of the 
 mission in Rangoon at the beginning of 1880, and has 
 pushed forward the work with unflagging energy ever 
 since. One of the first questions which arrested his 
 attention was the necessity of establishing an English 
 school, both for the children of our own people, and 
 for others whose parents wished a more distinctively 
 evangelical school for their children than any then 
 existing in the city. This was the more necessary in 
 connection with our work, not only in Rangoon, but 
 throughout India, because of our settled policy of 
 training up our people for active usefulness in the 
 Lord's great Indian vineyard. But important as this 
 enterprise appeared, as soon as we seriously proposed 
 to attempt it we found ourselves confronted by another 
 Red Sea. We had no money, and we knew that a 
 good school in the expensive city of Rangoon could 
 not be either founded or kept up without a large out- 
 lay of funds. 1 shall long remember a walk which 
 I had with Mr. Robinson through cheerless, driz- 
 zling rain, to look at various plots of ground which 
 seemed suitable for a large school building. We 
 talked much of our possible sources of help, but 
 they were few and uncertain. I returned to my 
 room and wrote a letter to one of the home papers 
 which I hoped might move some one to come to the 
 rescue, but I might as well have saved the postage. 
 
Founding a New Mission. 593 
 
 No response came from any quarter. And yet we went 
 ahead. In response to an appeal from us the Wom- 
 an's Foreign Missionary Society sent out Miss E. II. 
 Warner, of Berea, Ohio, to begin the enterprise, and 
 meanwhile the Chief Commissioner of Burmah, who 
 took a kind interest in our work, came forward with 
 a liberal grant from public funds, while private par- 
 ties aided with subscriptions. Best of all, the city 
 authorities, with the sanction of the Cliief Commis- 
 sioner, gave us, free of all cost, a splendid plot of 
 ground, large enough for two separate institutions for 
 boys and girls, and admirably situated for our purposes. 
 A large and tasteful building speedily rose upon this 
 ground, and, under Miss Warner's successful manage- 
 ment, the school has so prospered that we have already 
 found it necessary to add a wing to the building. 
 It is only three years since Mr. Robinson took me 
 out on that cheerless walk through mud and i-ain 
 in search of a possible resting place for an institution 
 yet unborn, and now the institution is flourishing be- 
 fore our eyes, and comfortably housed, with a property 
 worth fifty thousand rupees, or perhaps more. Again 
 may w^e well confess that it is the Lord's doing, and 
 it is marvelous in our eyes. 
 
 It may not, perhaps, be w^holly out of place to 
 make a single remark before dismissing the story of 
 God's dealing w4th us in Rangoon. Had w^e been 
 wholly dependent upon missionary funds, there would 
 never have been any such story to write. The ortho- 
 
394 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 dox mode of procedure is, first of all, to secure an 
 appropriation for the purpose of buying a mission 
 house and the erection of a place of worship. This 
 always involves delay, and often ends in a disapproval 
 of the project in hand. Then a year or two is spent in 
 preliminary operations, and every successive advance 
 must be sanctioned and provided for from the other 
 side of the globe. Precious time is thus lost, the 
 edge of enterprise and courage is dulled, and the 
 quick and decisive movements by which battles are 
 won and positions gained are discouraged if not ren- 
 dered impossible. I do not for a moment say that 
 missionary money should never be given and received, 
 but it certainly ought to be given in such a way as 
 to encourage aggressive movements at the front, rather 
 than to hamper them. It would have been well if 
 some money could have been given at various stages 
 in this Eangoon work, as an encouragement to people 
 wlio were nobly helping themselves, but it w^ould 
 have been very unfortunate if the gift of the money 
 should have involved a virtual suspension of the work 
 for long months, or possibly years. If any kind of 
 work deserves generous, hearty, and confiding sup- 
 port it is that which has in itself all the elements of 
 independent life and activity. 
 
Serving Tables. 395 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 SERYING TABLES. 
 
 EYERY missionary in India who mingles freely 
 with his converts is regarded as the head of a 
 tribe rather than a pastor of a chnrch, and is expected 
 to busy himself with all manner of cares and duties 
 pertaining to the welfare of the community and of 
 individuals. Parents consult him in every thing per- 
 taining to the welfare of their children. Wives bring 
 complaints against their husbands, and husbands re- 
 port the misconduct of their wives. When a man 
 loses his situation he expects the missionary to iind 
 liim another, and when sickness or misfortune over- 
 takes a family, relief in some form is expected from 
 the one who is regarded at once as pastor, parent, 
 and ruler of the flock. The missionary hears the 
 various proposals for the marriage of the young 
 people, listens to complaints of wrong or injustice, 
 settles many petty quarrels, and too often is obliged 
 to exercise the functions of a detective in trying to 
 ferret out the schemes of mischievous men or women 
 who are making havoc among the flock. Then be- 
 yond the limits of his own little community he often 
 has many friends, and is worried by the importunity 
 of many applicants for favors. All manner of men 
 
396 My Mission ary Appkenticesiiip. 
 
 come to him upon all manner of errands, and it some- 
 times becomes a very serious question with him how 
 he is to iind leisure either for study or rest. I knew 
 one missionary, in Moradabad, who was so beset by the 
 continual coming of all manner of callers that he could 
 not iind any leisure for his private devotions, and in 
 order to secure a quiet retreat from intrusion during 
 this sacred hour he had a small room built on the flat 
 roof of his house. The little sanctuary was prepared 
 according to orders, but almost immediately its pur- 
 pose was discovered, and when the missionary was on 
 his knees within he heard a slight rustle at the door, 
 and, looking up, saw a young man from the city 
 bowing to him with the most profound expression of 
 respect. 
 
 Interruptions such as these would be serious enough, 
 but they by no means exhaust the list of the hin- 
 derances which stand between the missionary and the 
 work to which he feels especially called, and to which 
 he wishes to devote his life. His constant desire is to 
 give himself wholly to the ministry of the word and 
 to prayer, but he has a multitude of other duties 
 pressing upon him daily. He has schools to maintain, 
 chapels to build, preachers and teachers to superin- 
 tend, accounts to keep, journeys to make, books to 
 ^vrite or translate, studies to pursue ; and it is not 
 strange that he reads of the escape of the first apostles 
 from the worry of table-serving by the appointment 
 of the seven deacons with a peculiar interest. In 
 
Serving Tables. 397 
 
 former years I often read that brief story with cer- 
 tain qiiahns of conscience. I felt that my time and 
 strength were both sacrificed by work and w^orry to 
 which I did not feel called, and from which I was 
 exceedingly anxious to escape. When I left North 
 India for Calcutta I was foolish enough to fancy tliat 
 I was making a complete and final escape from this 
 serving of tables ; but it was not so to be. I did es- 
 cape, it is true, from the irksome duty of keeping 
 mission accounts, and ceased to be troubled with the 
 thought that I was, in a sense, paymaster to my native 
 brethren ; but it did not take a long residence in Cal- 
 cutta to convince me that a fish might as well try to 
 escape from the sea, as a missionary, engaged in a 
 work like mine, to try to escape from the ever-rising 
 tide of care and worry in which he is called to live. 
 In India a pastor of a church is expected to exercise 
 many paternal functions which are seldom exacted 
 from him in America, and which are hardly regarded 
 as belonging to the pastoral office at all. The village 
 converts are a little more childlike in their manner of 
 throwing responsibility upon the missionary ; but in 
 the city congregation the pastor is none the less both 
 parent and servant, not only to many of his own 
 people, but also to many who do not belong to his 
 cono^reo^ation. 
 
 I was once in attendance at the High Court 
 in Calcutta as ^ witness in a divorce suit, when 
 an attorney remarked to me, "I suppose you have 
 
398 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 happily but little experience in cases of this 
 kind." 
 
 " I wish I could say so," was my reply, " but, as 
 a disagreeable matter of fact, I am but too familiar 
 with such cases." 
 
 " Whv, how is that ? I am surprised to hear you 
 say so." 
 
 " It happens in this way : nearly every one of these 
 wretched affairs is carried to the jpadre before they 
 are taken to you. Tliey go through our hands before 
 coming into yours." 
 
 And so it is. Over and over again I have had to 
 deal with sad cases of separation between husband 
 and wife, sometimes with good results, and sometimes 
 in vain. Much of this kind of work is heart-sicken- 
 ing in its very nature, but, on the other hand, it is a 
 blessed Avork to be able to bind up a bleeding family 
 wound, to reunite a broken and scattered family, or 
 to prevent the final rupture of the most sacred bond 
 which is known among mankind. So, too, with many 
 other irksome duties thrust upon me. They did not 
 seem to belong to me, especially when the parties w^ere 
 utter strangers, but it often happened that I could do 
 much good, help the weak or poor, comfort the sor- 
 rowing, lift other men's burdens, and thus be made 
 to feel that I was not living and working in vain. 
 
 Calcutta, like all the large cities of India, is over- 
 run with unemployed persons, of all races and lan- 
 guages, who are untiring in their efforts to secure 
 
Serving Tables. 309 
 
 assistance, either by gifts of money or recoiamenda- 
 tions to employers. The city is also tilled with poor 
 people, of all grades, both of character and social 
 standing. I could have fully occupied all my time in 
 listening to the stories of these sufferers, witiiout 
 being able to do them much good, and without feel- 
 ing that I was spending my time profitably. At an 
 early day the Church detailed a number of stewards 
 to disburse its poor fund, but this afforded only par- 
 tial relief. The multitude lived beyond the pale of 
 our Church, and knew nothing of stewards or poor 
 boards. Nor was it the poor alone w^ho trespassed on 
 my time. All manner of people, with all manner 
 of errands, seemed to come in one long procession to 
 seek assistance for themselves or others, and I seemed 
 to be every body's servant without being able to 
 render any body service. 
 
 But it was not alone the pressure of miscellaneous 
 cares which tried me at times as our work in Calcutta 
 expanded. The opening of schools involved both 
 labor and responsibility. The work among the sea- 
 men brought with it many serious questions of ways 
 and means, and at the end of my first three years in 
 Calcutta I found myself more hampered by what we 
 often call the serving of tables than I had ever been 
 in E'orth India. There seems to be no escape from 
 it. A flying evangelist may keep himself absolutely 
 free from entanglements, but one who organizes and 
 builds cannot do so. The apostles at Jerusalem sue- 
 
400 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 ceeded wisely and well in their experiment of ap- 
 pointing seven deacons to distribute alms among the 
 poor, but in due time we find the greatest leader of 
 the apostolic age burdened daily with the heavy cares 
 of the churches which he had founded. 
 
 Two mistakes may be made in dealing with this 
 question. On the one hand, a rigid attempt may be 
 made to abstain from every kind of work and care, 
 except what may be considered strictly evangelistic 
 in character, with the result that the missionary will 
 seem like a man of narrow sympathies, and will inev- 
 itably in time be shorn of much of his p)Ower. On 
 the other hand, work of all kinds may be accepted as 
 it comes, and no attempt made to transfer its burden 
 to other shoulders, with the certain result that the 
 missionary will be hindered and hampered for a 
 season, and prematurely break down, or perhaps quit 
 the field in utter dismay before the crisis arrives. A 
 wiser and better course is to distribute new tasks as 
 they arise to new workers as far as it can possibly be 
 done, and, failing to find substitutes, to accept what 
 comes to hand as if sent from God, and undertake its 
 performance without a misgiving, and without a fear 
 of failure. 
 
 I was once ta,ught a lesson on this subject in a few 
 simple words, which I shall not soon forget. I had 
 some work in hand which I was exceedingly anxious 
 to complete, but from morning to night other tasks 
 were thrust upon me, and days were passing without 
 
Serving Tables. 401 
 
 any sign of relief. I spoke of the hard necessity 
 which seemed laid upon me to a Christian lady, who 
 listened attentively, and then ashed wdiat particular 
 interruptions had occurred during the day. I gave a 
 hi-ief account of tJie day's doings, telling how I had 
 been interrupted so and so, and when I had finished 
 the good woman quite silenced me by saying: "What 
 you have been doing could have been done by no one 
 else, and you ought to accept it as your special work, 
 given you of God, and done for God." 
 
 True enough. Our natural indolence is sometimes 
 too ready to rebel against wdiat we please to call the 
 serving of tables. If a work is at hand, and needs to 
 be done, and if no one else is at hand to do it, we 
 may very safely accept this conjunction of affairs as 
 an indication from God that the work is given us to 
 do. No man, no body of men, have a dispensation 
 from the universal law of hard labor written into the 
 constitution of the human race. JSTot only must all 
 really useful men w^ork, but they must work hard, 
 and much of their work must seem to go for naught. 
 The missionary is no exception to the general rule. 
 He must be a worker, and a hard w^orker, and he 
 must have sense and grace enough not to try to 
 shrink from the share of the great task which God 
 allots to him, under pretense of wishing to escape 
 table service. 
 
 But if a patient submission to all that is manifestly 
 
 one's own work is a clear duty to the missionary, it 
 26 
 
402 My Misstoi^ary Apprenticeship. 
 
 is no less a duty to lay all possible burdens upon other 
 shoulders just as soon as God provides shoulders for 
 the purpose. Division of labor is a law of Christ's 
 kingdom, and it is more than a blunder for Christian 
 leaders to neglect to utilize all the varieties of labor 
 which God j)uts within their reach. Every Cliristian 
 has a special adaptation to some form of Christian 
 work, and it is doing him a personal wrong to with- 
 hold from him the task which God would have him 
 perform. On the mission Held the temptation, or at 
 least the tendency, to shrink from intrusting native 
 churches with responsibility is very strong, and hence 
 it happens that some missionaries are breaking down 
 under burdens for which there are ready and willing 
 shoulders all around them. It is easy, of course, to 
 go too fast, and lay upon a feeble native Ch^jrch re- 
 sponsibilities which it is not able to carry; but the 
 danger of mistakes is almost wholly in the other 
 direction. It is the natural metliod, the universal 
 law of the kingdom of God on earth, that in every 
 land, among every people, Christians should be taught 
 to manage their own affairs and carry their own bur- 
 dens. 
 
 But relief cannot always be found on the ground, 
 especially when new agencies are developed, and new 
 work taken in hand. In sucli cases the missionary 
 very naturally turns his eyes toward his native land, 
 and looks for help suited to the emergency which 
 meets him. In very many cases he looks in vain. 
 
Serving Tables. 403 
 
 A man may be sent to his aid, but it is by no means 
 certain tliat he will be found suited to the j^eculiar 
 work in hand, and, if not, his coming may prove more 
 of a hinderance than a help. The Roman Catholics 
 are much wiser in their generation in this respect 
 tlian the Protestants. They send out trained men, 
 tliat is, men specially trained for special service, while, 
 as a general rule, Protestants send out the same kind 
 of men for all kinds of work. As an illustration of 
 the disadvantage which such a policy creates, I need 
 only mention our school work in Calcutta. For sev- 
 eral years I have been trying to build a good school 
 for boys, but from the first I have had the utmost 
 difficulty in finding a suitable staff of teachers. To 
 get even one or two young men from America is a 
 great undertaking ; and even if secured we have no 
 guarantee that they will be the kind of men we need, 
 trained for and adapted to the special work which we 
 have in hand. In the same city tlie Roman Catholics 
 have a school which flourishes greatly. The principal 
 is assisted by a staff of over twenty European teachers, 
 all trained in Belgium for this special service, and all 
 tried and tested thoroughly before being sent abroad. 
 It is no wonder that we have to carry many miscella- 
 neous burdens while pursuing a policy which seems 
 to put a premium on fiiihire, and discount freely every 
 chance of success. 
 
 As time goes on it will become less difficult for us 
 to make such a division of labor as will relieve the 
 
404 My MissroNARY Apprenticeship. 
 
 missionary of much of his table serving. The Holy 
 Spirit wonderfully distributes all needed gifts for 
 useful service in the Church, and if a wise discrimi- 
 nation is used in the employment of the workers, it 
 will generally be found that with the development of 
 a Christian congregation workers of all grades, and 
 prepared for all kinds of service, come to the front 
 when needed. We must not despise the service be- 
 cause it is lowly. Too many are ready to take it for 
 granted that God only calls men to what they regard 
 as sacred or spiritual service, and lience they are 
 startled to hear it suggested that a devoted woman 
 lias a call to minister to the sick, although quite will- 
 ing to admit that her brother or husband may have 
 been called to preach the word. It will be a happy 
 day for the Christian Church Avhen every form of 
 Christian labor is dignified by being recognized as a 
 part of God's service, and w^hen all grades and classes 
 of workers are recognized as equally honorable in 
 God's sight, and alike heirs to a blessed reward. The 
 seven deacons were not inferior to the twelve apostles 
 whose burdens they, in part, assumed ; and one of 
 them speedily rose to a position of great eminence in 
 the Church, and but for his untimely death would 
 probably have eclipsed the fame of the most illus- 
 trious of the twelve. As in the case of Stephen, so 
 witli many a modern worker has it happened that a 
 humble form of service is made a stepping-stone to 
 greater responsibilities. "We never know when initi- 
 
Serving Tables. 405 
 
 ating a new disciple into some lowly form of service 
 for the Master wliat the outcome may be. " To him 
 that hath shall be given." To the faithful worker 
 will be given higher service, and success in one trust 
 becomes the earnest of still gi-eater success in other 
 spheres. 
 
 ^ 
 
406 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 THE ANGLO-SAXON DISPERSION. 
 
 V HEIST the apostle Peter wrote his epistle from 
 Babylon he addressed it, in the language of the 
 Revised Version, to the " sojourners of the Disper- 
 sion " in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadoeia, Asia, and 
 Bithjnia. James, also, who does not seem to have 
 had any theory of ten lost tribes, addressed his gen- 
 eral epistle "to the twelve tribes which are of the 
 Dispersion." The many IsraeHtes, known at that pe- 
 riod by the common name of Jews, who had become 
 scattered throughout the Roman world, were famil- 
 iarly spoken of by their brethren as the Diaspora^ or 
 Dispersion, and their presence in every city and large 
 town of the empire contributed very greatly indeed 
 to the success of the first preachers of the Christian 
 faith. It is a very great mistake to suppose that, 
 because a large majority of these dispersed Jews 
 rejected the Gospel, no aid w\^s received from any 
 members of the scattered communities which the 
 early evangelists found in tlieir itinerations. In 
 every place the Jews opened the door of access to 
 the Gentiles, and in every place they had prepared 
 the way by familiarizing their Gentile neighbors with 
 many of the truths of the new faith. The leading 
 
The Anglo-Saxon Dispersion. 407 
 
 evangelists of tlie first generation were nearlj all 
 converts from Judaism, and most of tliem belonged 
 to the Dispersion. The multitude rejected the word, 
 but the chosen few in every place received it gladly, 
 and rendered invaluable service in helping to carry 
 it, both to their own people and to the outer worKL 
 They formed the connecting link between the original 
 Church at Jerusalem and the Gentile nations. 
 
 In modern times another great race has, in the 
 strange providence of God, become scattered over a 
 much wider world than that which w^as known to 
 Paul and his fellow-missionaries. The Anglo-Saxon 
 race, in its several families, has its representatives in 
 almost every quarter of the globe. Wherever ships 
 sail and roads penetrate, wherever trade is carried on, 
 mines opened, or the puff of the steam-engine seen, 
 the Anglo-Saxon may be found holding a leading po- 
 sition, and struggling hard to maintain himself against 
 all competitors. England and her colonies, by the 
 direct exercise of political power; and America, less 
 directly, but hardly less powerfully, by the force of 
 example and by the commanding position which she 
 is destined to hold, seem as if chosen of God to gain 
 and permanently maintain the world's leadership. 
 The Anglo-Saxon race is admirably fitted for mission- 
 ary service, and to this service the race is manifestly 
 called. God has something nobler for the scattered 
 bands of English-speaking people to do tlian amass 
 wealth, and the time has fully come to ask, What can 
 
408 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 be done to utilize the services of those wlio consti- 
 tute the Anglo-Saxon dispersion of our day ? 
 
 In India the number of Europeans is not large, but 
 they are scattered widely, and their influence is felt 
 in every part of the empire. For administrative 
 purposes British India is divided into 224 districts, 
 corresponding somewhat to counties in an Amer- 
 ican State, although usually larger and much more 
 populous. The average of these districts is about 
 5,000 square miles, and many of them contain more 
 than a million of inhabitants. In every district there 
 is a " sudder station " or capital, where an English 
 magistrate, with one or more assistants, an English 
 doctor, a superintendent of police, with, perhaps, an 
 engineer, to look after roads, canals, and other public 
 works, have their offices. In addition to these higher 
 officers, there are usually six or a dozen other Euro- 
 peans living in the station, and employed as clerks or 
 in other subordinate positions. The whole number 
 of Europeans, of both sexes and of all ages, at the 
 smaller of these stations, may not exceed 20 or 30, 
 but at larger places the number may be increased to 
 100 or more, while in the larger cities as many as 500 
 or 1,000 may be found. In addition to these 224 
 official subcapitals, there are other large towns at 
 which small European communities may be found, 
 and also a few large military stations where a settle- 
 ment of civilians is nearly always found in addition 
 to the military residents. 
 
The Anglo Saxon Dispersion. 409 
 
 Of late years the opening of railways lias more 
 than doubled at a stroke the number of stations at 
 which European residents may be found, and at the 
 same time has made the European element a much 
 more important factor in the social and religious 
 problems of the future than it has ever been in the 
 past. There are now about 15,000 miles of railway 
 open, and it is altogether probable that the railway 
 system will expand steadily until the present mileage 
 of open lines will be more than doubled. Wherever 
 these lines penetrate European settlements follow. 
 Many Indians arc employed in railway work, and year 
 by year they will encroach more and more upon 
 their European competitors, but the more responsible 
 positions are all given to the latter, and will be held 
 by them for many years to come. We may thus 
 count npon the presence of a permanent European 
 railway population in India, and the probable influ- 
 ence of this population on the future of the country 
 is a subject worthy of much more careful study than 
 it has yet received. For good or for ill these people 
 are in the country, are scattered all over it, are min- 
 gling with the natives, and will either represent or 
 misrepresent Christianity to a most serious extent in 
 coming years. 
 
 The religious condition of the Europeans in India 
 is, in many respects, peculiar. In many of the smaller 
 stations preaching is rarely heard, but a government 
 chaplain is expected to visit each place at least once 
 
110 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 in three months, and in his absence it is a very 
 general custom for the highest official present to 
 read the Church of England service. Until recent 
 years Non-conformist services were unknown through- 
 out large tracts of the country, and even in the large 
 cities such worship held a very subordinate place. 
 The Koman Catholics, having been first in the field, 
 gained, and still hold, a very strong position in India. 
 In Calcutta they comprise fully one half of the 
 Christian population, and in some places farther south 
 they are still stronger. The Indian government 
 maintains four or five Presbyterian chaplains, belong- 
 ing to the Established Church of Scotland, but the 
 Presbyterians, as a separate community, are hardly 
 known beyond the limits of the cities in which these 
 chaplains reside. The Baptists have maintained a 
 few English churches since the days of Dr. Carey, and 
 of late years have extended their work among Euro- 
 peans ; but, as a community, their infiuence is local 
 rather than general, and they have never aimed to 
 carry their English work into all parts of the em- 
 pire. The Wesleyans have been in the country for 
 a long time, but until recently confined their opera- 
 tions to the Madras Presidency and Ceylon, and did 
 not attempt to reach the Europeans generally through- 
 out the whole of India. Until recent years all Non- 
 conformist bodies in India were, if not unknown, at 
 least overlooked, and even at the present day the 
 only distinction recognized by many is that of Cath- 
 
The Anglo-Saxon Dispersion. 411 
 
 olic and Protestant. It is very comn:ion, wlien we 
 invite people to attend oar services, to receive, even 
 from intelligent persons, the answer, ''I cannot go; 
 I am a Protestant, and can only attend my own 
 Church." The word Protestant is supposed to be 
 but another name for the Church of England ; but un- 
 fortunately for this fine old tradition, many of the 
 Anglican chaplains w^ho have been sent to India in 
 recent years teach the bewildered public that the 
 Church of England is not a Protestant Church at all, 
 and that its best possible destiny would be to become 
 reunited with the Church of Rome. 
 
 When I first arrived in India the bishop of Cal- 
 .cutta, the late lamented Dr. Cotton, who was also 
 metropolitan of India, was an evangelical man, and 
 exerted an excellent influence througliout his wide 
 jurisdiction. At his death, however, there was a dis- 
 tinct change for tlie worse. Slowly but very steadily 
 Eitualism began to invade the country, and it has 
 gained ground to such an extent that it may almost 
 be said to be the distinctive form of Anglicanism 
 w^hich prevails among the Europeans in India. A 
 few clergymen and a few congregations hold out 
 bravely, but the general sentiment and practice are 
 in the sacerdotal direction. Many chaplains are so 
 much like Poman Catholic priests, botli in garb and 
 teaching, that those not familiar with the peculiari- 
 ties of the two sects find it hard to distinguish the 
 one from the other. Tiie confessional has been set up 
 
412 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 in not a few chiirclies bnilt in the name of Protestant 
 Christianity. For a time there is a protest, some- 
 times a very vigorous protest, and, perhaps, a large 
 portion of the congregation may cease to attend the 
 services, but in due time the agitation subsides, the 
 protest is allowed to drop, the wanderers come back,* 
 and sacerdotalism fixes itself firmlv in the seat which 
 it has gained. 
 
 In previous chapters I have spoken of the strong 
 conviction which I held at one time against giving 
 any of my time to preaching to the scattered Euro- 
 peans in India. When I reached this conviction I 
 had not learned how to take a survey of India,, as a 
 vast empire, held together by influences which are 
 felt in every part of the political and social fabric ; 
 but thought rather of the little corner where my lot 
 had fallen, and of the part of the work which I was 
 expected to do. As, however, I began to interest 
 myself in the general affairs of the country, this 
 narrow vision was enlarged, and I quickly perceived 
 that the religious situation was a most unsatisfactory 
 one. The English churches were manifestly exer- 
 cising a most important influence upon the native 
 Christians, and it was evident, too, that this influence 
 would increase with the lapse of years, and tlius India 
 would be made to think that sacerdotalism was the 
 ordinary phase of European Christianity. A few 
 evangelical churches, here and there, did not lessen 
 the force of the general rule. Another view that in- 
 
The Anglo-Saxon Dispersion. 413 
 
 fluenced me profoundly was the sad conviction that 
 the Europeans in India, as a class, were doing little 
 to glorify God ; but on the contrary, like the Jews of 
 the first Dispersion, they were profaning God's holy 
 name before the heathen. No men in the world 
 stood in more pressing need of a saving Gospel 
 than many of those belonging to these scattered bands 
 of self-exiled Englishmen in India. Still another view 
 was presented to my mind, and had its due share of 
 weight in leading me to throw away my scruples and 
 give myself, without reserve, to the work of preaching 
 and founding churches among these people. I began 
 to see clearly that these scattered bands might be 
 utilized in missionary work, directly and indirectly, 
 with the very best results. Like the Jews of old, 
 they had been scattered over an empire larger than 
 that of Rome, and if not all men leading saintly lives, 
 they were yet Christians by education and pi-ofession, 
 supposed to hold Christian truth, and able when en- 
 lightened to work for Christ, both by precept and 
 example. In what way and to what extent these 
 people could be used, in connection with our work, I 
 could not see, and did not try to see, but the convic- 
 tion became rooted and grounded in my mind that 
 every converted European in India could, in some 
 way, be made practically useful in leading the teeming 
 millions of the empire to Christ. 
 
 The term European, as used in India, is very often 
 made to include the Eurasian community ; that is, 
 
41i Mv Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 persons of mixed European and Asiatic descent. 
 These people are scattered all over India, but 
 throughout Xorth India they have never been very 
 largely utilized in missionary work. A notion pre- 
 vails very wddely throughout the country that they 
 are not adapted to this kind of service, but I have 
 never been able to see any reason for accepting such 
 a belief. If trained according to a false standard, as 
 many of them have been, they will fail to commend 
 themselves to the Hindus and Mohammedans ; but 
 there is no necessity to give them a false training. 
 They are in India, and of India, and in the provi- 
 dence of God can, no doubt, be used to do a good and 
 great work in connection with the evangelization of 
 the empire. 
 
 When we entered practically at Lucknow upon the 
 settled policy of not only preaching to Europeans, 
 but of gathering them into the churches, laying upon 
 them ecclesiastical responsibility, and thus utilizing 
 them in building up a permanent organization, one 
 that would endure and perpetuate itself through all 
 the years to come, we quickly discovered that we 
 had undertaken a task beset with difficulties. As 
 preachers, we were acceptable enough to the people, 
 but when we attempted to exercise the usual functions 
 of ordained ministers, very few were prepared to 
 stand by ns. In the latter part of 1870 we announced 
 a communion service in connection with our regular 
 Sunday evening service. I preached on the occasion, 
 
The Anglo-Saxon Dispersion. 415 
 
 and the chapel was crowded ; but when we proceeded 
 to administer the Lord's Supper all left, except eleven 
 jjersons, five of whom belonged to our own mission- 
 ary circle. In other words, only six persons out of 
 our large congregation cared to receive the com- 
 munion at our hands. We were not altogether un- 
 prepared for snch a result, but it reminded us that a 
 vast change must take place in public opinion, and 
 public feeling as well, before we could secure 
 much of a foundation for a Church composed of 
 Europeans. 
 
 Several influences combined to make our work 
 difficult. First of all, we were a new, people in 
 India, and our methods were new, and probably a 
 little more startling to strangers than we could then 
 appreciate. Revivals were unknown, and were gen- 
 erally supposed to be scenes of wild excitement and 
 disorder. Our rules were strict, and, to many, must 
 have seemed to border on fanaticism. A Church 
 composed of total abstainers seemed like an impossible 
 conception, while the proscription of attendance at 
 races, cards, dancing, and the more popular forms of 
 Sabbath-breaking, made many think that we were 
 binding burdens upon men's shoulders which never 
 could be borne. Then our ministerial standing was 
 openly challenged by official chaplains and others, 
 and not a few^ timid people shrank from committing 
 their interests to us while in doubt about our position. 
 Even to this day I often find persons who are glad to 
 
416 My Missionaky Appenticesmip. 
 
 hear me preacli, and who do not scruple to send for 
 me to pray witli any member of their families who 
 may be ill, but who would not think of asking me to 
 officiate at a wedding, a baptism, or a funeral. I am 
 good enough to minister to the dying, but not to bury 
 the dead ! 
 
 Anotlier singular but sometimes adverse influence 
 which we encountered was the power of the social 
 current which sets in every-where in the direction of 
 the Church of England. It is regarded as the official 
 Church, and the notable men of the empire may be 
 expected to be seen at its services, that is, if they at- 
 tend any service at all". Even many Scotchmen, who 
 have been brouglit up in the Presbyterian faith, and 
 who have no shadow of respect for the ritualistic forms 
 which they And in most of the Anglican churches, do 
 no*" hesitate to go with the current, and affect a respect 
 which they do not feel, and engage in a service wliich 
 to them can hardly be the sincere worship of God. 
 In small communities, such as we have in India, this 
 social attraction often becomes almost irresistible, and 
 at the outset it required no ordinary courage for 
 any one to unite with a new people, to assume a name 
 as yet hardly known in India, and to enter upon a 
 hfe of ricjid obedience to rules which seemed too 
 exacting for human endurance. 
 
 If the people had all been hona-fide members of 
 the Anglican Clmrch, or of any Church, it w^ould have 
 been wrong to disturb them, or to regret their par- 
 
The Anglo-Saxon Dispersion. 417 
 
 tialitj for their own communion ; but just here was 
 the point of difficulty. Yast numbers of those who 
 regarded themselves as members of the official Church 
 had no actual connection with any church organiza- 
 tion, and their nominal membership really stood in 
 their way when the Gospel was preached to tlfem. 
 Many of them made it cover a multitude of sins, by 
 supposing that a Gospel to sinners could not be for 
 members of a Christian Church, and it was very 
 common to hear persons who were leading notoriously 
 wicked lives defend themselves by simply referring 
 to their church membership. A hundred times in 
 my own experience, when urging drunkards, adulter- 
 ers, and other open transgressors to forsake their 
 evil ways and seek salvation, it has been said to me, 
 " What yon say is all w^ell enough, but I am a mem- 
 ber of the Church of England." A similar reply is 
 sometimes given by Eoman Catholics, the error in 
 each case being the same. In vain have I told them 
 that I was not speaking against their Church, or that 
 until they broke off their sins God did not reckon 
 them as members of any Church, or that they 
 would become all the better members of their 
 chosen communion if they would only repent and 
 be saved from their sins. They would cling to 
 their pernicious fancy, and go on with the mul- 
 titude to do evil. Their nominal membership in 
 a Christian Church was to them at once a delusion 
 
 and a snare. 
 
 27 
 
418 My Missioxary Apprenticeship. 
 
 In the midst of these and other adverse influences 
 it seemed a formidable task for us to attempt to found 
 churches among the Europeans in India ; but the at- 
 tempt was made and churches were formed. The 
 rules were respected, and very soon it was discovered 
 that it was possible to have a merry wedding without 
 wine, and a cheerful party without dancing. Our 
 communion services were no more shunned, and 
 people began to accept the fact we were Christian 
 ministers, and worthy to be respected and trusted as 
 such. In the course of time our communion services 
 became so largely attended in some places by Chris- 
 tians of other denominations, that our own member- 
 ship would be in a minority, and at the present 
 time our pastors probably minister to twice as 
 many persons as are reported in the statistics of 
 membership. 
 
 The formal inauguration of a permanent work 
 among the Europeans in India has brought with it 
 heavier responsibility than was at first foreseen. 
 Schools of a high grade must be maintained, espe- 
 cially if we wish to raise up a people imbued 
 with a missionary spirit, and prepared for mis- 
 sionary work. Of all the work which we have 
 attempted in India this has proved the most difficult 
 and perplexing. It is not easy to find good teachers ; 
 it is not easy to retain their services when found ; 
 and it is nearly impossible to give the schools 
 that high character, either in a religious or an 
 
The Anglo-Saxon Dispekston. 419 
 
 educational sense, which we deem essential to their 
 real success. 
 
 But the wort must be done, and, with God's help, 
 it can be done. Every j^ear that passes convinces me 
 more and more that to the English-speaking Chris- 
 tians of India God has committed a great work, and 
 that, for the sake of that work, we must give to these 
 people a large share of our sympathies, our prayers, 
 and our labors. Every year the number of English- 
 speaking Hindus and Mohammedans increases, and 
 thus every European finds a prepared people able to 
 understand him when he speaks of Christ and his 
 salvation. There are thousands of young men in the 
 schools and colleges of the country who are acquiring 
 a marvelous facility in the use of English, and in the 
 great cities the proceedings of all public meetings 
 are held in that tongue. In Calcutta alone more 
 than ten thousand Bengalis can be found who both 
 speak and write English with great accuracy, and 
 among such people no European need plead his 
 iernorance of an Indian vernacular as an excuse for 
 not attempting informal missionary work. All over 
 India little communities of English-speaking natives 
 can be found, corresponding in numbers to the 
 European settlements, and for the most part living 
 at the same stations. These people, like their 
 European neighbors, will, no doubt, have an impor- 
 tant part to play in the developments of the future. 
 God is preparing a wonderful way for the ultimate 
 
420 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 conversion of India to Christ, and he who maketh 
 all things work together for good will," no doubt, in 
 the fullness of time, cause workers to rise up in 
 every part of the vast Indian empire to lend a 
 helping hand in bringing in this glorious consum- 
 mation. 
 
The Past and the Future. 421 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 THE PAST AND THE FUTURE. 
 RETROSPECTIVE. 
 
 THESE sketches have waxed too long, and must 
 be brought somewhat abruptly to a close. The 
 events of the last five or six years are left almost 
 untouched, and it is, no doubt, best that it should be 
 so. The perspective is too near for faithful sketch- 
 ing, and the time has not yet come for taking up the 
 lessons which these recent years teach. If spared 
 through another twenty-five years, the story may pos- 
 sibly be resumed in the year 1909, but that is a 
 remote contingency. 
 
 And now, after twenty -five years of missionary 
 service, I may, perhaps, be allowed to take a brief 
 survey of the past, and state some of the impressions 
 which these years have left upon my mind. In the 
 first place, I would say, somewhat paradoxically, that 
 my expectations have not been realized, and yet I 
 have not been disappointed. The golden hopes of 
 speedy success with which I came to India were »ot 
 founded upon a correct knowledge of the work to be 
 done, and hence I have no right to feel disappointed 
 over their partial failure. Missionaries cannot, any 
 more than other people, make their own plans, and 
 then expect the Almighty to carry them out. They 
 
422 My Missionary Apprenticeship. 
 
 must wait for orders, must follow the pillar of fire 
 and cloud through the sea and over the desert, and 
 must not regard the failure of their self-made plans 
 and the withering of their hopes as evidence that 
 God's j)lans ever come to naught, or tJiat the Angel 
 of the Covenant ever fails or is discouraged. The 
 glowing visions of more youthful years have, for the 
 most part, given place to an intelligent faith, and 
 instead of disappointment there has come to me a 
 deeper conviction that this is God's work, that it is 
 in God's hands, and that God will carry it through to 
 a glorious consummation. The word which he sends 
 forth will not return void. 
 
 Another lesson which the past has taught is, tliat 
 God does not carry on his work with the feverish 
 impatience which is so often the offspring of our un- 
 believing hearts. Without a particle of sympathy 
 with the procrastinating unbelief which forever talks 
 about " God's own good time," and yet never reads 
 any promise in the present tense, I can, nevertheless, 
 wait for God's appointed hours and seasons as for- 
 merly I could not. The majestic movements of Om- 
 nipotence often seem slow to our dull vision, and 
 nowhere in the world is this ilkision more apt to de- 
 ceive us than in the mission field. It is not easy to 
 convince a child that the evening star which hangs 
 above the horizon is flying on its course with the 
 swiftness of an angel's wing, and in like manner it is 
 often difficult to make the little ones in the kingdom 
 
The Past and the Futuke. 423 
 
 of grace understand tliat God's slowest movements 
 are only slow to our narrow vision. 
 
 Another lesson learned during these past years, has 
 been that of a more implicit trust in the immediate 
 guidance of our heavenly Father. Moses met with 
 many disappointments during his long sojourn in the 
 wilderness, and, instead of marching triumphantly 
 into Canaan at once, was obliged to submit to long 
 delays and bitter trials, and at last had to die without 
 finishing the great enterprise to which he had been 
 called. And yet every year of hope deferred only 
 made God's presence more real to him, and God's 
 guiding hand more visible to his faith's vision. In 
 every age God's people are taught in the same way. 
 Again and again we are baffled and driven back from 
 our own way, and as each time we seek in our trouble 
 a shelter beneath the cherubic wings, we are made to 
 realize anew that God leads, that his ways are above 
 our ways, and that across the desert sands there is a 
 safe and sure pathway marked out for us, and known 
 to him alone. The past twenty-five years have been 
 utterly unlike the eager anticipations with which I 
 began my work in India. The path in which I have 
 been led has literally been one which I knew not, but 
 as I look back along the now lengthening way, I can 
 see clearly that I have never been left to walk alone, 
 and a visible pillar of fire could not make the Divine 
 Presence more real to me than I find it by simply 
 following the Master along life's untried patlis. 
 
424 My Missionaet Apprentioeship. 
 
 prospective. 
 
 It is with a deeper feeling than cheerfuhiess that I 
 look forward to furtlier service in the Indian mission 
 ■Qeld. Mj heart is filled with profound gratitude to 
 God that he has given me a part in such a work, in 
 such a land, and at such a time as the present. The 
 country is one of the best in the world, and I have 
 learned to love it above mj native land. I am 
 stronger for work than I was twenty-five years ago, 
 and have no misgivings about the climate, or the 
 manifold forms of disease \diich are supposed to lure 
 every stranger in India to an early grave. As a mis- 
 sionary in India I feel that the lines have fallen to 
 me in pleasant places, and that I have indeed a goodly 
 heritage. I am more than happy in the work, more 
 than cheerful in viewing the future, and more than 
 hopeful of enlarged success. 
 
 Christians sometimes speak of passing a point in 
 their experience beyond which temptations to doubt 
 never reach them. It sometimes seems to me that in 
 relation to this great work I have passed the doubting 
 point. I never think of quitting the field, never doubt 
 my call to the work, and never for a moment despair 
 of success. I feel as much assured that the Lord 
 Jesus Christ will yet possess this empire, as that he 
 will receive me to himself when life's w^ork is done. 
 This precious work has so grown into my heart, has 
 so interwoven itself with the very roots of my inner 
 
The Past and the Future. 425 
 
 life, that it seems inseparable from my spiritual self. 
 To ask me if I am content witli my calling, and hope- 
 ful in it, seems like asking me if I am satisfied with 
 my Saviour, and really expect to see him when he shall 
 appear in gloiy. 
 
 The field which opens before me to-day is vastly 
 wider than that which I entered twenty-five years 
 ago. A province lay before me then ; a mighty em- 
 pire stretches around me now. From Singapore on 
 the extreme south-east, to Kurrachee and the Indus 
 towns in the far-off north-west, I receive invitations 
 to go and preach the word. The opportunities of the 
 hour are such as are seldom found in any part of the 
 world. God's great plans are fast developing all 
 around us, and in the midst of these transcendent op- 
 portunities, with the pathway behind me strewn with 
 blessings, and the horizon before me illuminated with 
 hope, I grasp the hand of Him who leads his people 
 evermore, and start joyously forth for another term 
 of restful toil. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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