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 Phillips, Mary Sayles, 1837- 
 
 1911. 
 Dr. J. L. Phillips, 
 
 missionary to the children 
 

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j 812 Phillips (Dr. J. L.) India. A Biographical 
 
 I sketch, by his widow, map and illustrations, 
 8vo, doth, 2s 3d _ 11?8_ 
 
From a Photograph by the 
 London Stereoscopic Company 
 
 ^a"iv^< 
 
De. J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 MISSIONAEY 
 TO THE CHILDEEN OF INDIA 
 
 H 3Bioatapbical Sl^etcb 
 
 HIS WIDOW / 
 
 r 
 
 Completed and Edited 
 
 W. J. WINTLE 
 
 AUTnOR OP 
 'PARADISE row" "ARMENIA AND ITS SORROWS" ETC. 
 
 L N D ^T . 
 THE SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION 
 
 57 AND 59 LUDGATE HiLL, E.G. 
 
FOREWORD. 
 
 OHOETLY after the death of the late Dr. Phillips, 
 his widow commenced the preparation of a bio- 
 graphy, and completed a first draft of that portion 
 which dealt with the career of Dr. Phillips previous 
 to his connection with the Sunday School Union. 
 The first twelve chapters of the present book consist 
 of the work of Mrs. Phillips, considerably revised, 
 enlarged, and in part rewritten. For the remaining 
 four chapters the Editor is alone responsible. He 
 takes this opportunity of expressing his great indebted- 
 ness to the Eev. William Carey, who very kindly 
 examined and arranged the vast mass of correspond- 
 ence and other material used in the preparation of the 
 present biography. 
 
 May, 1898. 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I. CHILDHOOD 
 
 II. VOYAGE TO AMERICA 
 
 III. SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 IV. COLLEGE DAYS 
 V. GROWING DAYS 
 
 VI. DEPUTATION WORK 
 VII. BACK TO INDIA 
 VIII. IN LABOURS ABUNDANT 
 IX. ON FURLOUGH IN AMERICA 
 
 X. THE BIBLE SCHOOL 
 XI. TEMPERANCE AND PASTORAL WORK 
 XII. WORK IN AMERICA 
 
 XIII. FOR THE CHILDREN OF INDIA 
 
 XIV. WORKING FOR THE CHILDREN 
 XV. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS . 
 
 XVI. CLOSING DAYS 
 
 18 
 26 
 
 39 
 
 61 
 
 83 
 
 93 
 
 111 
 
 134 
 
 151 
 
 166 
 
 181 
 
 195 
 
 207 
 
 227 
 
 242 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PORTRAIT OF DR. J. L. PHILLIPS . 
 
 MAP SHOWING STATIONS OF THE INDIA FREE BAPTIST MISSION 
 
 WHITESTOWN SEMINARY .... 
 
 BOWDOIN COLLEGE, BRUNSWICK 
 
 AN INDIAN BUNGALOW .... 
 
 THE OLD KARANCHI USED FOR TRAVELLING 
 
 DR. J. L. PHILLIPS IN HIS YOUNGER DAYS 
 
 VIEW OF MISSOORIE .... 
 
 DR. PHILLIPS' GRAVE .... 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Fiwifisjricce 
 
 11 
 27 
 41 
 106 
 113 
 125 
 259 
 262 
 
DE. J. L. PHILLIPS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 CHILDHOOD. 
 
 JAMES LIDDELL PHILLIPS and his twin brother 
 John were born on January 17th, 1840, being 
 the sons of the Eev. Jeremiah Phillips, D.D., and 
 Mary Anne Grunditch, his wife. His father came out 
 to India in 1836 with Mr. Noyes, to open a Free 
 Baptist Mission at Orissa. It was a missionary 
 speech that he heard, when he was only ten years 
 old, which first put into his heart the desire to dedi- 
 cate his life to the preaching of the Gospel to the 
 heathen. Afterwards, when he was twenty-one, he 
 heard Dr. Sutton tell the story of Orissa, and this 
 decided him to offer himself for the work there. 
 
 He sailed from America in 1836, with several other 
 missionaries, his first station being at Sumbulpore, 
 where he suffered as few missionaries do now. 
 
 He had not been long in India when his wife and 
 little daughter died, and he helped to bury them with 
 his own hands. 
 
lo LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 Soon afterwards he came to Balasore, where he 
 married Miss Mary Anne Grunditch. It was here, in 
 Balasore, that the twin boys were born. Two months 
 later, their father removed to Jellasore, a distance of 
 about thirty miles to the north-east, where he founded 
 the second permanent station of the India Free Baptist 
 Mission. The following year Mrs. Phillips fell a 
 victim to an Indian fever, and thus the twin boys 
 were left motherless when only six months old. 
 
 Towards the close of the year 1840, Miss Anne 
 Cummings, a member of the Lowell Free Baptist 
 Church, in company with Dr. and Mrs. Bacheler, 
 joined the mission. She subsequently became the 
 third wife of Dr. Jeremiah Phillips. Nobly did she 
 fulfil her duties as second mother to the orphan 
 brothers. At first they were in the care of an ayah, 
 or Indian nurse, who used to bring sugar tied up in 
 the corner of her cloth for her " Jimmy baba," and 
 watched him day and night. Soon it became appar- 
 ent that the boy was likely to develop into a perfect 
 little tyrant, so the ayah was sent away, and through- 
 out the rest of their childhood the two boys were 
 constantly nurtured and cared for by Mrs. Phillips. 
 She took much pride in her flower garden, and when 
 the boys were still but very small, she gave them light 
 tasks in it every morning. John is said to have been 
 the good boy, and stuck to his work, while Jimmy, 
 the hero of our story, generally ran off to play with 
 the native boys, and when carried back, resisted 
 vigorously, until he found that his mother was not 
 to be frightened so easily as the ayah, and that play 
 came sooner by finishing the work quickly, and doing 
 
MAP SnOWTNG STATIONS OF THE INDIA FEEE BAPTIST MISSION. 
 
CHILDHOOD 
 
 13 
 
 it well. In after years, Dr. Phillips often attributed 
 his methodical and painstaking habits to the training 
 of those early days. 
 
 When they were a little older their father gave 
 them a patch of ground in which to raLse arrowroot, 
 and all the profits were their own. Their small 
 accumulations were a source of much pride to the 
 little boys ; but even as children they were taught to 
 take care of their money, and to give one-tenth of it 
 to God, The first thing they did on receiving money 
 was always to divide it into ten equal parts, and to 
 set aside one for religious purposes. 
 
 Mrs. Phillips also taught them to sew and knit, and 
 during the long hot days they made little garments 
 and knitted socks. We shall see how, afterwards, 
 during school and college days in America, Dr. 
 Phillips found the advantage of these very practical 
 acquirements. 
 
 All their days in India were regularly divided be- 
 tween work, study, and play. They had lessons in 
 English and Oriya, and they studied on a little bench 
 in their father's room. The bench is now in the 
 Midnapore chapel. Later on they also learned Ben- 
 gali. A grand old banyan tree in the garden was an 
 endless source of pleasure. They never tired of swing- 
 ing from its long arching roots with the native boys. 
 Under this banyan tree the British soldiers used 
 sometimes to encamp. A second banyan tree near 
 by, in the back compound, was planted by Dr. and 
 Mrs. Phillips on the occasion of their marriage, and 
 under it was held the first Indian Sunday School 
 Convention in 1870. 
 
14 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 Not far from the missionary's house was the quaint 
 little mission chapel. 
 
 The boys attended Sunday School with the native 
 children, and Jimmy sat on a bench in the back of 
 his father's pulpit during service, and in after years 
 admitted that the long sermons were dreadful. 
 
 Several little sisters came in due course, and added 
 brightness to the missionary's home, and the ingen- 
 uity of the two boys was constantly taxed to contrive 
 new ways of carrying them about. In after years 
 Dr, Phillips said — 
 
 " One of my happiest recollections is that of putting 
 a sweet, golden-haired sister into a basket, just large 
 enough to hold her, and tying it to a pole, which I 
 carried on my shoulder, spurred on by the bursts of 
 glee and wild delight that came from the tiny bed 
 suspended in the air behind me." 
 
 Camping out was great fun. Once a year Dr. 
 Phillips took the boys with him. They took no 
 books, but studied the jungle and the strange people 
 instead. They delighted to collect the beautiful 
 fragrant lilies, which grew up through the grass in 
 damp and lonely places. The jungle had its dangers, 
 and the little boys grew familiar with the sight of 
 deadly cobras, stretched out in the sun. One little 
 Oriya boy died in fifteen minutes after he had been 
 bitten by one. Crocodiles, too, were seen sleeping on 
 the banks of the streams, but sank down into the 
 water too quickly to be examined. Then they caught 
 scorpions, and tied strings to their tails, to their 
 hearts' content. During the night, bears came for 
 the sugar-cane which grew near the missionary's tent, 
 
CHILDHOOD 15 
 
 and sometimes wild elephants hurried through the 
 jungle forests, trampling down everything on their 
 way. Sometimes, too, the boys followed the foot- 
 prints of Bengal tigers in the sandy jungle paths. 
 They went with their father and gave away tracts in 
 the great markets, and ran into the little dark huts, 
 sitting on mats and eating curry and rice (which the 
 women piled up on fresh green leaves for them) with 
 their fingers, and listening eagerly as the native women 
 told them about ghosts that prowled about in uncanny 
 fashion, and lived in hiding-places in the hills, and 
 about unseen spirits that fluttered among the quiver- 
 ing leaves overhead, and about sacred creatures that 
 roamed the neighbouring plains. They were in mortal 
 terror one day, and the poor people were almost wild 
 with excitement, when a newly - arrived missionary 
 shot a peacock. 
 
 John and " Jimmy baba " were welcomed every- 
 where. They soon knew the customs of the people, 
 their secrets, and the way to win their affection ; but 
 sometimes into their everyday life came horrible 
 scenes, which are now rarely, if ever, witnessed in 
 India. Pilgrims passed the house in thousands, on 
 their way to the Car Festival at Puri, and the boys 
 eagerly rushed into the road to watch the great 
 crowds. Between sunrise and sunset one day, 20,000 
 pilgrims were counted. 
 
 Sometimes cholera broke out among them. On 
 one occasion during the morning walk, which the 
 boys always took with their father, they saw within 
 a mile thirty dead bodies by the roadside, while on 
 the river bank some half-dozen funeral piles were 
 
i6 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 burning. At the Swinging Festival they saw men 
 suspended from poles by hooks fastened in their 
 backs, and sometimes swinging with a child in 
 their arms. Devotees passed by the missionary's 
 home, who held up their arms until the muscles 
 were withered, and it was impossible to bring them 
 down again. Others measured the road to Jagannath 
 by stretching themselves on the ground. The most 
 horrible of all was the sight of the Khand children 
 who had been fattened for sacrifice, and were rescued 
 by the missionaries, who afterwards kept them in 
 their midst. 
 
 These horrible scenes and other influences which 
 were to be dreaded made the father and mother 
 very anxious to send the boys to America to complete 
 their education. More than once they had traced the 
 journey from Jellasore to New York on the map by 
 day, and by night had dreamed it all out again. 
 
 At last a day came when the father said, " Boys, 
 Dr. Bacheler and his family are going to America. 
 Would you like to go too ? " That was a great 
 moment in their lives, and it was not long before they 
 said " Yes." They were now nearly twelve years old. 
 For boys so young to cross the seas, and to enter 
 upon the unknown world of school life in America, 
 was no light matter, and we can well imagine that 
 not only were the parents' hearts anxious, but the 
 boys themselves were not without some degree of 
 fearfulness as they looked forward to leaving India, 
 and all the strange surroundings amid which their 
 childhood had been passed, and to gomg forth to what 
 was practically an unknown world ; but they brushed 
 
CHILDHOOD 17 
 
 away their tears, and for some days were busy with 
 preparations for the voyage. 
 
 Their hearts swelled with pride as they imagined 
 themselves astonishing the American natives with 
 their grand new clothes. Poor little fellows ! they 
 little knew that the fashions of Jellasore were not a 
 little out of date, and that their finery would give rise 
 to more amusement than admiration in the distant 
 land. At last all was finished, and the boxes duly 
 locked and corded. The scene at their departure was 
 one which European eyes can scarcely picture. It 
 was one o'clock on a bright moonlight night on 
 December 8th, 1851. The palkis and bearers were 
 at the door, and the Oriya Christians were crowding 
 the verandah, and sobbing as though their hearts 
 would break, while the blue eyes of brother Jerry and 
 the little girls were filled with farewell tears. 
 
 The two boys were crying and hugging all alike, 
 men and women, boys and girls, black and white, and 
 then bounding into the palkis, they buried their heads 
 in the pillows, and ultimately sobbed themselves to 
 sleep. In an hour or two the moon went down, and 
 they were awakened by the cries of the jackals, and 
 the glare of the torches carried by the bearers. It 
 took them five days to reach Calcutta, and on 
 December 21st they sailed down the Hooghly, 
 waving their handkerchiefs to their parents on the 
 shore, until all they could see was a white speck, 
 marking the place where their hearts were still. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 VOYAGE TO AMERICA. 
 
 JAMES PHILLIPS kept a diary of his voyage to 
 America, which lies before us as we write. The 
 ink has long been faded, but the book, with its con- 
 scientious and painstaking entries in round hand, is 
 not only interesting, as illustrating the working of a 
 boyish mind under circumstances altogether excep- 
 tional, but possesses a pathos of its own, as a revelation 
 of a singularly honest and ingenuous character. We 
 can hardly describe the voyage to New York better 
 than by giving a series of extracts from this boyish 
 diary : — 
 
 ''Jan. 12th, 1851. — It has now been eight days 
 since we left Madras. We have had small showers 
 of rain, once in a while, and a considerable breeze. 
 Yesterday we were going at the rate of eight or nine 
 miles per hour, but to-day we are going at the rate of 
 six or seven. We had a considerable motion in the 
 ship yesterday, and we were very sick, and could not get 
 out of our beds either to go to dinner or anything else. 
 I had a very bad headache yesterday, which has not 
 gone off yet, but we had school to-day as usual. Our 
 lessons are History of England, of which we read four 
 pages, and then answer all questions on it, spell long 
 
 18 
 
VOYAGE TO AMERICA 19 
 
 words, and parse a few sentences, then we learn our 
 Greek lesson, and after we have said it, or sometimes 
 before, we have to go to dinner. After we come from 
 dinner we have a little recess. When Mr. Bacheler 
 goes to dinner we write in our copy-books, in which 
 he has set some Greek copies, then we go up on deck 
 with him. After being there a little while, the tea 
 bell rings, and after tea we remain on deck a little 
 longer, and then come down into our cabin, and have 
 worship. We all, namely, Mr. Bacheler, Mrs. Bacheler, 
 John, Maria, Albert, and myself, read four verses each 
 all round, and then Mr. Bacheler prays, and after 
 worship, John and I read a chapter in the Bible, and 
 when we have said our prayers we go to bed." 
 
 "■Jan. Vitli. — It is rather rainy to-day. We have 
 now been out twelve days without seeing land, and 
 expect to be another month before we get to the Cape 
 of Good Hope. A gentleman, the fourth mate of the 
 ship, told us yesterday that we may expect rainy 
 weather for three or four days longer, and then we 
 shall have some fine weather. I have had a very bad 
 headache to-day. I wish it had been a pleasanter day, 
 for it is my birthday. I am twelve years old to-day. 
 I so wish I were at home." 
 
 "March 2nd. — After sailing forty-two days we 
 arrived at Cape Town, but we saw land about a week 
 before we anchored. We had a very strong contrary 
 wind for several days before we entered the bay, and 
 at last it blew so hard that we had to stow away all 
 sails." 
 
 "On the 17th Feb. there was a calm, so that we 
 only went about a mile an hour. We were only about 
 
20 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 eighteen or twenty miles off, and so in uhe evening a 
 little breeze springing up we got in at about eleven 
 o'clock. The next morning after breakfast we went 
 ashore with Mr. Bacheler and Albert." 
 
 "April 28th. — We expect to be in dock at London 
 in two or three days more. We took a pilot from the 
 Scilly Islands on the 23rd inst., but we were not in 
 sight of land when he came on board. Yesterday 
 morning we saw England. It looked so very beautiful 
 through our port. We could see the houses so well, 
 although so far from land. Yesterday evening we 
 passed Plymouth Harbour from which the people went 
 to settle in America, and named the place where they 
 landed, Plymouth, in the State of Massachusetts. We 
 have a fine fair wind now, and are going fast, so we 
 hope to have a steamer to-morrow to take us into 
 dock. I saw the Eddystone Lighthouse yesterday 
 evening, but we were a great way off, and I could not 
 see it very distinctly." 
 
 " Ma7/ 8th. — We took the steamer Goliath on the 
 morning of the 29 th April, and about nine o'clock 
 that night we anchored near Gravesend, a small town 
 about twenty-one miles from London. On the follow- 
 ing morning we arrived in dock about ten o'clock, and 
 in the afternoon went to a boarding-house in Queen 
 Street, Cheapside. On the way we saw a great many 
 things, so many beautiful shops and houses, all orna- 
 mented with pictures and glass ornaments. We only 
 remained at Cheapside four days and then removed to 
 lodgings in Museum Street, Bloomsbury." 
 
 " May 24:th. — We have seen a great deal of the 
 city since I wrote last. The gentleman of the house 
 
VOYAGE TO AMERICA 21 
 
 has a boy about two years older than we are, who 
 has been very kind to us ever since we came here, 
 and has taken us all about the city, and shown us all 
 the curious things and places in London. He took us 
 to St. Paul's Church, but we did not go all through it ; 
 and he took us to see Buckingham Palace, where the 
 Queen of England lives ; and we saw the Duke of 
 Wellington's place, which has got iron shutters up. 
 It was because the people once threw stones, and 
 broke his glass shutters, so the Duke, wishing to teach 
 them respect for their great people, ordered iron 
 shutters to be put up. Now the people are ashamed 
 of themselves, and wish to have them taken down ; 
 but the Duke will not do it. After we had seen it, 
 we went to see Hyde Park, and had a good run on 
 the nice fresh green grass. It was the first time we 
 had been on the grass for four months or more. 
 Since that we have been out almost every day. We 
 have been with Mr. Bacheler to see the new House 
 of Lords. It is one of the most beautiful houses in 
 London. It is ornamented on all sides by pictures 
 and all sorts of paintings. I was astonished when I 
 went into it. In several places there are statues of 
 people, all so beautiful, and finished off so nicely. 
 After we had been through the House of Lords, we 
 went to see Westminster Abbey, one of the oldest 
 places in London, built by Henry ill. nine hundred and 
 eighty-eight years ago. We saw the tombs of a great 
 many of the kings of England. We also saw the tomb 
 of Mary, Queen of Scots, Cromwell, and General Wolfe, 
 who died in a battle with General Montcalm at Quebec. 
 Also a great many more of whom I have read in 
 
22 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 history. We have been to see the Crystal Palace, 
 or the display of industry of all nations of the year 
 1851. It is one of the beautifulest houses in Eng- 
 land, and is all glass and iron. It is being broken 
 down now, and I hear it is to be built again next 
 year in a place in the country, about ten or twelve 
 miles from London. We have not been yet to see 
 the Tower, where so many kings and queens of Eng- 
 land have been murdered ; but I think we will go 
 before we leave Loudon." 
 
 " May 29 th. — We are now on board the ship 
 Ocean Queen for New York, on our voyage to America, 
 where we hope to find the dear friends and relatives 
 with whom we are going to remain and go to school. 
 When we were on board the ship Barham, the mid- 
 shipmen and sailors used to tease us, and call us 
 Yankees, and some of them used to swear over it ; but 
 here everyone is American, so no one can tease us." 
 
 "June 11th. — I am sorry to say that the breeze 
 has quite failed us. It kept leaving us by littles for 
 the last three or four days, and now has entirely left us. 
 It is perfectly a dead calm now, and we are scarcely 
 going at all. We saw a great many sharks plying 
 about to-day ; they almost always are seen in calm 
 weather. I also hear that yesterday there was a large 
 whale in sight ; some said that it was alongside, and 
 quite near to the ship." 
 
 "June 14th. — I think we have got a fair breeze 
 now, in fact, it sprang up after I wrote last, but, very 
 unfortunately, was a foul one ; but it has taken to 
 getting better and better every day, and thought, I 
 suppose, to become a good one. We have got a fair 
 
VOYAGE TO AMERICA 23 
 
 one now, and one thing more would make it all right, 
 and that is, a good strong one, to take us on at ten 
 or twelve knots an hour. Yesterday was Sunday, 
 and Mr. Bacheler had prayers in the saloon or dining- 
 room, as he did last Sabbath. The captain has asked 
 him to have worship every Sabbath. A great many 
 of the steerage passengers attend, so that the room is 
 almost crowded. I like this ship a great deal better 
 than the English ship Barham. They give us much 
 better food here. On the Barham they gave us 
 nothing but slops for breakfast, such as sago, and no 
 kind of meat, but bread and butter and jam. But 
 here they give us meat for breakfast, bacon and eggs, 
 mutton chops, beef and mutton, boiled eggs, and such 
 things, which they never thought of giving us on the 
 Barham. They also give us a great deal better dinners 
 here than on the Barham, for all of which things I 
 like this ship a great deal better." 
 
 ''June 23rd. — I am glad to say that we have 
 caught a very good, fine, fair breeze now, and are 
 going about eight or ten miles per hour. I think 
 that the captain said we were near the Banks of 
 Newfoundland. For the last three or four days we 
 have had a very great fog, so great that we could not 
 see more than twenty or thirty feet from the ship. 
 The fog reminds me of home, where some days we 
 used to have them ; but the captain tells us that there 
 is a fog here most of the year round. Newfoundland 
 Bank, a place so celebrated for its fisheries, is, I think, 
 very well named. This morning I was one of the 
 first passengers to go on deck, and when I was there 
 I heard a great shout among some of the people 
 
24 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 forward, and seeing some of them looking into the 
 water, I looked and in a minute I saw three great 
 whales spring up at once from the water, and dive 
 down again very near the ship's side. They seemed 
 to be in chase of one another. They kept about the 
 ship for nearly a quarter of an hour, and then dis- 
 appeared. I also saw a great many porpoises leaping 
 in the water. Sometimes eight or ten of them would 
 leap up at once. I should think that I saw about 
 fifty or sixty before breakfast, all astern of the ship. 
 We also saw flocks and flocks of Mother Carey's 
 chickens flying round about the ship. We are in 
 shallow water now. The mate told me that it is 
 sixty fathoms deep ; and the captain says that if we 
 go on at this rate we shall be quite clear of the Bank 
 by to-morrow morning." 
 
 '^ June 28th. — We have not got a fair breeze now, 
 but it has been a very fine and sunny day. It was 
 also a fine day yesterday, and being Sunday, Mr. 
 Bacheler had service up on deck. There were a great 
 many fishing boats in sight ; some were anchored, and 
 others were going to the Bank to fish. The captain 
 thought that we might get some fish, and Mr. Smith 
 and Mr. Macfarlane, the first and second mates, 
 started at once, but unfortunately they caught none. 
 Mr. Smith has an excuse for not catching any, and 
 said he could never succeed in fishing on Sunday. 
 He also remarked that there was no harm in fishing 
 on Sunday provided you caught none ! " 
 
 "July 7th. — We have a fair wind now, but I am 
 sorry to say that there is very little of it ; but still 
 we hope it will grow stronger this evening. The 4th 
 
VOYAGE TO AMERICA 25 
 
 July or Independence Day was last Sunday. A great 
 many fishing boats passed us ; I counted fourteen in 
 less than an hour. They did nothing on Sunday to 
 celebrate Independence Day, and somehow or other it 
 was forgotten on Monday. On Tuesday morning Mr. 
 Smith told me that they were going to keep the 4th 
 July to-day, so he gave instructions to have the 
 American flag hoisted. When all the gentlemen and 
 ladies came on deck they wore a piece of red and 
 white ribbon on their coats or hats. In the afternoon 
 the second mate called the sailors up, and they all 
 sang a song. Afterwards one of the ladies led them 
 in giving three cheers for the American flag. In the 
 evening there was a dance on deck." 
 
 " July 9 th. — We took a pilot yesterday, and he 
 said we were 115 miles from New York, and would 
 perhaps reach it to-morrow. We passed several ships 
 off in different directions. I heard them say to-day 
 that a steamer will take us in tow from Sandy Hook 
 to New York." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 SCHOOLDAYS. 
 
 " JULY I'^th. — I am now all safe and sound in 
 Whitestown. We arrived at New York at about 
 eight o'clock on Saturday morning on the 10 th July. 
 The captain sent one of the sailors to get the letters 
 that had been waiting there for the people on board, 
 and he came back with a whole bundle, and one was 
 marked ' Phillips.' It was from Mr. John Chancey, 
 inviting us to go over to his house. We were very 
 glad to receive it, and showed it to Dr. Bacheler. He 
 got a carriage to take us all there. We set out 
 Monday night. That night we took a hearty supper, 
 and went with Mr. Chancey to the boat station, where 
 we got our tickets and labels, and went on board the 
 steamboat Sir Isaac Netvton, wdiich was to leave at 
 6.50 p.m. for Albany, We stayed up that night till 
 about ten o'clock ; and as we could see the shore all the 
 time, and it looked so beautiful, we had a very pleasant 
 evening, and were — where ? Nowhere, but on the 
 old North Hudson river, which I had heard so much 
 about at home. A very kind man obtained berths for 
 us, so that we went to bed that night, and did not 
 wake up till about 5.30 in the morning, when a negro 
 called us and said ' Albany.' So we jumped up 
 
SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 29 
 
 and were dressed in a few minutes, then we gave up 
 our tickets and left the boat. We saw a cart which 
 was going to the depot, so we picked up our bundles 
 and followed it. Our chests were labelled through to 
 Utica, so we had nothing to do with them till we got 
 there. We waited at the depot for the 6.30 train, 
 then jumped on to one of the cars and arrived at Utica 
 at about eight o'clock on Tuesday morning. At the 
 depot we had to look up our boxes and things. 
 
 " We inquired of a man how we could go to 
 Whitestown, where we were to be put to school 
 with our uncle. He told us that an omnibus left for 
 Whitestown at 11 a.m., and he took our boxes to the 
 omnibus station. We took the 'bus and arrived at 
 Whitestown at 11 o'clock in the evening on Tuesday, 
 July 13th, 1852." So ends the interesting little diary 
 and their first long journey. 
 
 Whitestown was truly a new world to the two little 
 Indian boys, whose early surroundings had been quite 
 different. Indeed it would not be too much to say 
 that they hardly spoke the language of America, and 
 that all their ideas were entirely foreign to those of 
 the people with whom the rest of their boyhood was to 
 be passed. They had even to ask the names of many 
 things which they saw. The very furniture of the 
 house was a study to them. They peered cautiously 
 into the presses and cupboards, remembering the weird 
 stories they had learned from the native women of 
 India, and half wondering what uncanny creatures 
 might suddenly spring out of those dark and hidden 
 recesses. The American stove with its iron doors 
 they actually thought was a prison in which to shut 
 
30 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 up bad boys. In the distance they watched their new 
 school-fellows playing games hitherto unheard of, and 
 it was with a sort of sinking of their young hearts that 
 they longed for the dear old games they had left 
 behind at Jellasore. Everybody stared at them and 
 exchanged significant glances which the poor boys under- 
 stood only too well. A single glance around had re- 
 vealed to them the fact that their garments, though very 
 neatly made, were by no means in the latest American 
 fashion. Uncle John's description of what he called 
 " the hang of their trousers " was no doubt amusing 
 enovigh, but it was a very serious affair for the owners 
 of those garments, and many tears were shed in quiet 
 corners. The little strangers formed but an unfavour- 
 able impression of theircomrades as they contrasted their 
 somewhat pointed witticisms with the simple native 
 courtesy of the dark-skinned people in Orissa. 
 
 With the opening of the term they went to school 
 and began work in earnest. But the bills increased, 
 and their little purses were empty. Where was the 
 money to come from ? Piles of uncut wood near the 
 seminary answered the question. On cold mornings, 
 when the mercury in the thermometer sank eight or 
 nine degrees below zero, they had to bound out of their 
 beds and set the chips flying and the saw buzzing. 
 
 Dr. Phillips said in after years : " One of the gifts 
 I can feel to-day was a pair of fine warm mittens that 
 a dear aunt gave me. These kept my hands from 
 freezing, and when my feet were beginning to grow 
 numb from cold, I dropped the axe and jumped and 
 beat my hands vigorously till the warm blood found 
 its way to the tips of toes and fingers, and then 
 
SCHOOLDAYS 31 
 
 went on again with the chopping till the breakfast 
 bell rang. Our brains were tingling with pure fresh 
 oxygen, and study found us ready with Latin and 
 Greek roots and unknown quantities. I got to like 
 mathematics, and was soon promoted in that course. 
 Languages, too, came easy to me ; indeed they were a 
 kind of pastime." 
 
 But there was one thing which James Phillips 
 afterwards confessed that he neglected at this time, 
 and his father, without knowing it, made reference to 
 the matter in one of his letters, and asked him if he 
 read his Bible regularly. He replied that he felt " as 
 downright ashamed and wicked a boy as ever lived on 
 earth." Although he had been accustomed from very 
 early years to read his Bible daily, the habit had 
 become weakened since landing in the New World ; but 
 now he wrote a pledge and entered it in his Journal 
 in the following terms : — 
 
 " I hereby pledge myself that I will read daily 
 the Old Testament once a year, and the New twice, 
 according to the Biblical calendar. It is my earnest 
 design to remain true to my pledge unless prevented 
 by ill-health or similar circumstance. 
 
 " (Signed) James Phillips. 
 
 " Whitestown, Oneipa County, N.Y., 
 "Sundaij, Jan. 2, 1853." 
 
 Well did the future missionary keep his pledge ! 
 He read the entire Bible through forty times, and 
 during the last thirty years of his life he read the New 
 Testament in Greek every year. To this practice he 
 undoubtedly owed not only the robustness of his private 
 
32 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 religious life, but also the freshness and force which 
 characterised his sermons and addresses. The Word 
 of God was to him a perennial fountain at which he 
 daily quenched the thirst of his soul, and in his turn 
 was a minister of life and refreshment to others. 
 
 After this time the two brothers John and James 
 regularly read their Bibles together and said their 
 prayers with carefulness, though apart from this they 
 seemed to have thought comparatively little about 
 God and the great hereafter. 
 
 Soon after this a series of revival meetings was 
 held. James attended them night after night; and as 
 others were deciding to serve the Master, he longed 
 to do so as well, but was held back by an inward 
 conviction that if he became a decided Christian he 
 would ultimately feel bound to go back to India as a 
 missionary. While his heart continually longed for 
 home, curiously enough he strongly rebelled against 
 the idea of becoming a missionary. This was the 
 more strange seeing that the life of an Indian mis- 
 sionary, so far as the boys had seen it exemplified in 
 their father, would appear to have been not altogether 
 unattractive. Still other ambitions and objects in 
 life seemed at this time to have presented themselves 
 forcibly to the young boy's mind. But a great 
 spiritual crisis was at hand in the life of James 
 Phillips. We give his own description : — 
 
 " God was no doubt to answer dear Mother's 
 prayers. One Sunday evening John was greatly 
 affected at the meeting, while I was quite unmoved. 
 At the close of the service one of the students 
 prayed with him. I had already gone home, and to 
 
SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 33 
 
 bed. A little later when he returned he burst into 
 tears and told Uncle and Aunt that he was a great 
 sinner. I was then called, and while dressing 
 trembled like a leaf. Jolm said to me, ' James, I 
 have resolved to be a Christian ; won't you come 
 with me ? ' I was touched then, and burst into tears. 
 Uncle prayed with us, after which we went to bed, 
 but not to sleep. We got up and prayed until five 
 in the morning. I told the Lord I would go any- 
 where and do anything if He would save me. Oh, 
 how happy I felt then ! I found that it made me 
 happy and cheerful to have Christ's love in my heart. 
 It did not matter that the boys scoffed at me, and 
 called me ' the missionary.' I paid little attention to 
 them now, for, from the night of conversion, I began 
 to think about India's needs and children, and gave 
 myself up to India's God and to them. It has been 
 ' dear India ' ever since then." 
 
 There can be little doubt that this youthful experi- 
 ence marked an epoch in the religious life of James 
 Phillips. Although certain notes in his diary might 
 suggest that an element of perhaps not entirely 
 healthy emotion had been introduced by attendance 
 at revival meetings of the type not uncommon in 
 those days in the United States, it must be frankly 
 admitted that from this time a new impulse and 
 motive had entered into the boy's life. The desire 
 to ultimately consecrate himself to the higher and 
 more immediate service of God as a foreign missionary 
 was from this time never altogether absent from him. 
 While the experiences and influences of the years 
 which lay before him were needed to mould and form 
 
 3 
 
34 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 an even and robust religious character, still it seems 
 incontestable that the beginning of the good work 
 must be identified in point of time with the revival 
 meetings at Whitestown, and more especially with 
 the early decision of his brother John. 
 
 But now the hardships at which we have already 
 hinted increased. It is difficult to realise at what 
 cost of physical endurance and suffering these two 
 boys secured for themselves the advantages of educa- 
 tion. At this distance of time it is perhaps unneces- 
 sary to discuss the causes of this. We content 
 ourselves with simply recording facts. When the 
 two boys rose higher in the school their book-bills 
 grew so large that they decided to economise by 
 boarding themselves. They lived with a frugality 
 truly Spartan. Their food consisted mainly of corn- 
 meal puddings, which they ate with milk three times 
 a day. Now and then they indulged in a few biscuits 
 and a little cheese, and sometimes a motherly hand 
 slipped a pie or cake into their little cupboard, but 
 usually its shelves were sadly bare. They economised 
 in other ways too. With the arrival of the warm 
 spring the ice melted, and they did their washing in 
 the pond. In the second winter of their stay at 
 Whitestown they engaged to saw fourteen cords of 
 wood during the three weeks' vacation. It was all 
 done by the last Saturday, but they were not to be 
 paid until the following week. They were desperately 
 in need of some new clothes for Sunday, so they went 
 to the tradesman in Utica with whom their uncle 
 dealt, and told him how they were situated, asking 
 him to give them credit ; but he absolutely refused. 
 
SCHOOLDAYS 35 
 
 It was a great disappointment, but they made the 
 best of it, and mended up their old clothes for one 
 more Sunday's wear. Sometimes they tried to do a 
 little trade on their own account, having brought 
 from India some Tussore silk and arrowroot. The 
 silk they managed to sell, but the grocers declared 
 that the West Indian arrowroot was better than 
 theirs, and refused to buy it. 
 
 But it would be a mistake to suppose that James 
 Phillips was always a sober-sided boy, learning his 
 lessons, chopping wood, and hawking Indian wares. 
 Once his Uncle Gardner, who kept the boarding-hall, 
 asked him to help at the dinner table while he was 
 away for a few days. The first morning, after all the 
 boys were seated for breakfast, James slipped off into 
 his uncle's room, and arrayed himself in his relative's 
 dressing-gown. His uncle was a large man, but the 
 boy filled up the great spaces between the gown and 
 himself with feather pillows, and then, imitating his 
 uncle's gait, he limped into the dining-hall, taking the 
 seat at the head of the table with all the dignity he 
 could muster, while teachers and boys alike were 
 convulsed with laughter. 
 
 " My declamation," he writes, " was never very good. 
 We were required to learn by heart and deliver 
 orations, recite poems, and so forth. My memory 
 was not a good one, and I knew that I was not 
 exactly like the American boys. Had I then known 
 how graceful Indian children really are, I should have 
 stepped proudly enough on to the platform. As it 
 was, my heart sank within me, and I felt as though I 
 were mounting a scaffold in the prison court, and 
 
36 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 doubted whether I could say a single word. But God 
 was good, and helped me to remember my oration. 
 The bright new faces helped as well, and I was 
 enabled to put my whole soul into the words I was 
 repeating. I forgot myself, my clothes, my audience, 
 everything, except the thoughts of the author. I left 
 the platform amid the resounding cheers of my class- 
 mates, whose ridicule I had been praying for grace to 
 bear." 
 
 James and John being now recognised as professing 
 Christians, were baptized on Sunday, May 27th, 1853, 
 in a little stream by Professor Fullonton, a man of 
 singularly gentle and gracious spirit. The boys 
 sought as opportunity offered to engage in Christian 
 work, and to lead their schoolfellows heavenward. 
 At the same time the straitness of their resources 
 imposed upon them the double task of doing their 
 schoolwork and earning their daily bread. They rang 
 bells, lighted fires, swept the halls, and during one 
 vacation papered seventy rooms in the seminary, in 
 order to finish the year without debt. 
 
 Now came the delightful news that Mrs. Phillips 
 and her eight children were coming to America, 
 though the exigencies of the mission were such as to 
 detain her husband still in the field. She settled in 
 New Hampton, in order to secure the privileges of its 
 excellent school, in the summer of 1854, When 
 James heard that she had arrived, a great struggle 
 took possession of him. Should he drop his work and 
 rush to her as his heart prompted ? or should he stay 
 and finish the course, and thus equip himself for the 
 future ? But however much he may have wished to 
 
SCHOOLDAYS 37 
 
 hasten to his mother's side, one insurmountable 
 obstacle stood in the way, and that was the total lack 
 of funds. Ultimately it was arranged that John 
 should go to help her in her numerous cares, while 
 James continued his work at Whitestown College. 
 
 The end of the term arrived, and all the students 
 were talking of going home ; but for the missionary's 
 son there was no such joy. He had to spend the 
 long vacation working on a farm. He stood the 
 work far better than he expected, and soon became 
 sufficiently expert in mowing to keep up with the 
 hired hands. He worked regularly from sunrise to 
 sunset, and sometimes later. He was footsore at first, 
 and described himself as being " tanned like shoe- 
 leather." His hands were blistered, and he suffered 
 considerably, but the outdoor life did much to restore 
 his health. His brave endurance of harassing hard- 
 ships appears in a letter to his mother in answer 
 to an inquiry on her part to know how he was 
 getting along pecuniarily. He said, among other 
 details, that he washed his own socks and handker- 
 chiefs, and worked for the woman who did the rest of 
 his washing and cooked his food. His clothes had 
 become so worn and shabby that they were unfit to 
 wear to church ; but he had an opportunity to teach 
 a school, by which means he hoped to supply his 
 necessities. It must be remembered that at this time 
 he still lacked two months of being fifteen years old. 
 The letter fortunately fell into the hands of a family 
 who were deeply interested in the Indian mission, 
 and they promptly sent a large box of clothes and 
 other necessaries to the struggling schoolboy. By 
 
38 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 this means he was enabled to contmue his studies. 
 He now decided to fit himself for the sophomore class 
 at Bowdoin College, and by teaching a few terms, to 
 try and earn more than had hitherto been possible. 
 Thus, when only fifteen years old, he taught his first 
 school. During the same year he preached his first 
 sermon from the text, " Train up a child in the way 
 he should go, and when he is old he will not depart 
 from it." 
 
 At the close of the term the great desire of his 
 heart was realised. He had denied himself the 
 ordinary comforts of life in order to remain at school 
 and qualify himself for college, and now he was 
 richly rewarded by being able to write home : " I am 
 at the head of everybody in languages." 
 
 Having been accustomed to speak two Indian 
 languages, and also a smattering of other dialects, 
 he found it a comparatively easy task to master the 
 classical tongues. It was in 1857 that he was 
 admitted as a student at Bowdoin College. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 COLLEGE DAYS. 
 
 THE choice which James PhilHps made of a college 
 in which to continue his education was distinctly 
 his own. His father had been a student in Hamilton 
 College, New York, and his uncle was a graduate from 
 the same, and it was not strange that the latter should 
 advise him to enter Hamilton ; but without quite 
 knowing why, he was strongly impressed to choose 
 Bowdoin College, in Brunswick, Maine. He seems to 
 have been mainly drawn there from a desire to make 
 the acquaintance of Professor Upham, whose reputa- 
 tion had spread far beyond his own locality, and who 
 was not only esteemed as a most competent tutor, 
 but was valued as a very spiritual teacher. It was 
 then to this old-established college, beautifully situ- 
 ated among the pines, that James Phillips came in 
 1857. The following is his first letter written from 
 the place, which ultimately became the dearest spot 
 in America to him : — 
 
 "August 22nd, 1857. 
 
 " My dear Parents, — Of the seven who applied for 
 admission, the Whitestown trio stood by far the best 
 examination. We had to appear before six teachers, 
 and all of them understood their business, I assure 
 
 39 
 
40 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 you. The first, Professor Smythe, gave us an over- 
 hauling in mathematics, and tried to corner us in 
 some dark places in equations and quadratics, but 
 those assigned to our boys were chalked on the boards 
 with nimble fingers. In passing us he said, ' You are 
 thoroughly prepared in all you have professed to have 
 gone over.' With light hearts we wended our way 
 to the Medical College, where the examination in 
 languages was conducted. After two hours the Pro- 
 fessor dismissed us, saying, ' I perceive you have 
 studied hard, and have been well taught.' We felt 
 well, I can tell you, and soon the President gave us 
 our tickets of admission in the sophomore class. I find 
 that I must live an old bachelor's life for three years, 
 washing my socks and handkerchiefs, and doing my 
 own mending. I shall join the prayer circles, and 
 one of the missionary societies in college, but with 
 secret societies I shall have nothing to do. Yesterday 
 I read the Joitmal of Missions. All of its pages are 
 filled with transactions of the American Board at 
 their last anniversary. Some addresses of the returned 
 missionaries were so affecting, I could but weep to 
 read them. I would rather have spent a day, nay, an 
 hour, in that assembly, than a week in the United 
 States Congress, or in the British Parliament. — Your 
 affectionate Son, James." 
 
 It may be well to add here that the sophomore 
 class to which James was now admitted, is an institu- 
 tion peculiar to American colleges. It consists of 
 students belonging to the second of the four classes, 
 i.e. of students next above the freshmen. 
 
«' 
 
COLLEGE DAYS 43 
 
 There is probably no spot in the world where the 
 autumnal foliage is more beautifully and brilliantly 
 tinged than in New England. Accustomed as the 
 Indian student was to the gorgeous hues and striking 
 contrasts of the tropical jungle, he was able the more 
 keenly to appreciate the deeper richness of the scene, 
 as the autumn of the West toned down the brilliant 
 green woods and hillsides into the mellow purples and 
 restful browns which marked the season. But the 
 autumn soon sank into winter ; and while James 
 Phillips was able to appreciate the marvellous touch 
 of the frost upon the leaves, his very bones were 
 frozen with the cold. The fierce Maine climate was 
 a foe he had not anticipated. With the insufficiency 
 of food, and being surrounded by strangers, with his 
 nearest relatives 1500 miles off, it is little wonder 
 that at times he grew discouraged, and almost ready 
 to give up the battle. The defraying of college ex- 
 penses was for him a serious matter. He was no 
 visionary, and had learnt already something of the 
 stern realities of daily life, and he now took up his 
 new life with a courage and unfaltering trust that in 
 some way he should be carried through his course of 
 study. How this could be he could not quite foi'esee, 
 but he was confident of this one thing, that God 
 knew his case, and was able to make provision. His 
 faith was not disappointed. Some small contributions 
 from neighbouring Free Baptist Churches, with whom 
 he occasionally spent the Sunday, and to whom he 
 sometimes preached, afforded him a little aid, but 
 nothing at all commensurate with his needs. 
 
 " I believe I should have gone down," he writes, 
 
44 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 " had not friends in Portland and Limerick sent me 
 substantial aid. The thought burdened me night and 
 day that I ought to leave college, and go to work for 
 our large and needy family. I could scarcely provide 
 for all ; but many kind friends, including Mrs. Upham, 
 helped my dear ones far more generously than 1 
 could have done, and I was permitted to continue 
 my studies." 
 
 "Mother" Upham, to whom allusion is here made, 
 was the wife of Professor Upham whom we have 
 mentioned above. She was a woman of singularly 
 consecrated spirit, and her influence upon James 
 Phillips was of a high and permanent character. She 
 cherished and cared for him as a loving mother for 
 a dear son. Together they laboured for the revival 
 of God's work, maintaining prayer and carrying on 
 religious services in a public institution near by, and 
 in the village, by which means many souls were 
 blessed. Many a time Mrs. Upham, at considerable 
 self-denial, provided for the more pressing needs of 
 her favourite student. In a subsequent letter she 
 wrote : — 
 
 " Although I made many sacrifices to help James 
 Phillips, I am amply repaid in the good he has already 
 done. Yes, I thank God, who has given me such a 
 precious youth as James Phillips to care for, and through 
 him to feel such an interest in this mission " (the 
 Orissa Free Baptist Mission). 
 
 The following extracts from his letter and diaries 
 will serve to illustrate his life at Bowdoin College, and 
 will exhibit the spirit of the man better than we 
 could hope to do by any mere description. 
 
COLLEGE DAYS 45 
 
 " During the vacation we had a blessed revival in 
 Limerick, where I laboured for about four weeks. 
 The religious interest in our college prayer circles is 
 deepening. Perkins and I have a Sunday School, 
 three miles out in the country, and my earnest prayer 
 is ' my whole class for Jesus.' 
 
 " Of all work of my attempting at Bowdoin, there 
 is none I love so tenderly as my Poor House services. 
 Mrs. Upham has introduced me to this sad field, and 
 accompanies me each Sabbath afternoon to Topsham, 
 a town across the river. Several old faces are begin- 
 ning to shine with the love of Christ, and the poor 
 little children cling to us and know they are loved at 
 last." 
 
 " I have always fondly indulged the hope that I am 
 not to be the only missionary child who from our 
 dear family group will devote his services to preaching 
 Christ. Dr. Scudder, of Madras, has gone to his rest, 
 but three sons are in the field he left. Cannot as 
 many children of one who has worn out all his energies 
 in a service of twenty years be found who shall gladly 
 fill his place ? " 
 
 " When the appointments were made by the Faculty 
 for our class prize declamation, twelve of the best 
 speakers were selected, and the name of your son 
 appeared on the list. There are two in this number, 
 and only two, that I am afraid of." 
 
 " Several weeks have slipped away, and the prizes 
 with them. One of the two boys I feared took it, but 
 the college Faculty has again seen fit to remember me 
 among the honours of my class, and at the new senior 
 and junior exhibition I am expected to perform. Two 
 
46 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 juniors are to speak translations in different languages, 
 and both students and teachers are quite anxious that 
 I should speak in my own Oriya. I shall translate 
 from, the German, as I find richer composition there 
 than elsewhere." 
 
 "Nov. 2ith. 
 
 " The exhibition passed off finely, and was a perfect 
 success. The hall was crowded to overflowing at 
 an early hour. All my friends were on hand to 
 listen to that heathenish tongue ; for the students 
 had circulated quite extensively that I was to speak 
 in Oriya. I kept the people in a great state of 
 laughter, and when I closed my periods there was a 
 general outburst. It was all that I could do myself 
 to preserve a grave face under the circumstances. 
 Our examinations went off very satisfactorily. During 
 the past four weeks I have been a martyr to study, 
 many times sitting up till midnight, and then begin- 
 ning again at four o'clock in the morning. College 
 honours I have never sought for, but thus far I have 
 had my share of them. 
 
 " Since Friday last a dear classmate has been 
 mysteriously missing. We harbour fearful apprehen- 
 sions of suicide. A general consternation prevails in 
 the college and throughout the community. Parties 
 have been sent out in every direction, searching care- 
 fully through the woods, marshes, and swamps, but he 
 was not found. We broke open his desk, in which we 
 found a letter addressed to his father. It began with 
 tender expressions of affection for his parents, and then 
 said that he had determined to put an end to his life, 
 and had taken a farewell look at his colleije associations. 
 
COLLEGE DAYS 47 
 
 A large number of students searched thoroughly all 
 the ponds and streams. Then boats went up and 
 down the river, and it will be dragged to-morrow. 
 Doubtless the cold and lifeless body is drifting along 
 the bed of the stream on its passage to the sea. The 
 father arrived to-day. Poor man, I do pity him. His 
 son was only nineteen. I wish we had talked more to 
 him about God and the world to come while he was 
 with us. I will try and do more for my remaining 
 comrades. 
 
 " During my vacation I attended the Union 
 Missionary meeting in Lowell, a large manufacturing 
 town in Massachusetts. I saw the papers on Saturday 
 evening, and I knew that I was expected to preach 
 there next day. The Lord helped me much in the 
 morning, as I addressed a quiet and attentive audience. 
 In the evening arrangements were made for me to 
 speak at the John Street Baptist Church. I went, 
 but was hardly seated before a messenger came, 
 calling me to the Congregational Church. A friend 
 lent me his watch, saying, " Go, and speak fifteen 
 minutes, but be back promptly." I found there also 
 a crowded house, and for fifteen minutes' speech they 
 gave me an honorarium of ten dollars. At the John 
 Street Church we had a glorious missionary meeting. 
 Miss Crawford, who had just come from our old 
 Jellasore home, spoke with great effect on India for 
 half an hour. Subsequently a fine watch was pre- 
 sented to me. I have found my Oriya Testament, 
 which has been lost for several weeks. I am keeping 
 the promise I made on leaving India to read ten verses 
 every day." 
 
48 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 There was plenty of fun among some of the students 
 at Bowdoin, but James Phillips seems to have been, at 
 any rate during the greater part of his college course, 
 too earnestly engaged in his studies and too deeply 
 impressed with the responsibility of the future, to enter 
 with any great heartiness into the frolics of his class- 
 mates, although we shall presently see that he was by 
 no means without a sense of humour, and was never to 
 be numbered with those who mistake lightheartedness 
 for frivolity, and consider a joke inconsistent with piety 
 of heart. Here are two good stories that he was fond 
 of telling about his fellow-students : — 
 
 " Spring has opened well, for there are a number of 
 half civilised students, who torment the very life out 
 of the French professor, and generally go wild. The 
 other day he said to me, ' Monsieur Pheeleeps, I tell you, 
 had I to hear the second deeveesion recite, or go to 
 hell, I would go to hell.' " 
 
 " A few days ago they dragged the Professor's 
 carriage off seven miles, and put it under an old 
 bridge ; but as they were about to leave it there, his 
 head suddenly appeared from under the seat, and 
 calmly remarked, ' Now, young men, we will return ' ; 
 whereupon they were compelled meekly to draw the 
 Professor back again. The other morning no little 
 commotion was caused by an old cow's lowing up in 
 the belfry, where some wild spirits had conveyed her 
 during the night." 
 
 It was during his life at Bowdoin that James Phillips 
 met with an adventure in the snow, which many of 
 his friends have heard him describe. 
 
COLLEGE DAYS 49 
 
 " One bright cold morning in the dead of winter, 
 two of us started to attend some special meetings at 
 an inland town, about a day's journey away. The 
 road had just been opened after a recent snowstorm, 
 and we anticipated a fine sleigh ride ; but about noon 
 another storm set in, and as the sun went down the 
 wind rose. Two hours later blinding blasts of snow 
 were blowing in our faces. Pitch darkness came on, 
 and not a sound but the roaring of the wind could be 
 heard. We soon lost the main track, and got into 
 the fields, where the horse broke through the crust 
 at every step. At last we unharnessed him, and 
 abandoned the sleigh. Meanwhile my hat had blown 
 off, and I had to put the shawl over my head to keep 
 me from freezing, while I scrambled along, tracking 
 the path as best I could, and leading the horse behind. 
 My companion followed, and on we went, little know- 
 ing where, but realising that to stop was to die. Now 
 and then I stumbled, and the drowsy stupor which 
 precedes a sleep which knows no waking began to 
 creep over my senses. But I prayed for strength to 
 rally, and tried hard to cheer up my friend. At last, 
 poor fellow, he fell down, and could go no farther. 
 When I, too, was about to give up, I saw a light in 
 the far distance. What a relief it was ! It put new 
 courage into my heart. I staggered forward till I 
 reached the window of a farmhouse, where the light 
 was shining, and shouted for help. A moment later 
 and a dear old man and woman were drawing me near 
 the fire, where the coals were still burning, though it 
 was past midnight. All I could do then was to say, 
 ' Thank God, thank God ! find the other man.' He 
 
so LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 was brought in almost senseless, and then I remem- 
 bered the i)Oor old horse. In a little while we were 
 all comfortably alive again; and before we retired to 
 rest we asked for tlie Bible, and found it had been 
 laid away for years, and that our friends were lost in 
 a darker storm than had overtaken us. But we prayed 
 together, and their liearts were touched, and they 
 thanked God for our coming with tears of joy, and 
 overwhelmed us witli kindness. The next day they 
 went to tlie meeti)ig, and told the story of the light 
 in the window for us, and the light in God's Word for 
 them, and ever since they have kept brighter lamps 
 than the one that saved out' lives." 
 
 We have already alluded to the kindly and gracious 
 influence which Mrs. Upham exercised on the life of 
 the young student. Again and again we find in his 
 letters and diaries grateful references to the help, 
 spiritual as well as material, which he from time to 
 time received at her hands. The following extract 
 is but one taken from many : — 
 
 " Our Professors were true scholarly men, and they 
 spared no pains in teaching us; but Mrs. Upham, a good, 
 hard-working woman, taught me more than all of 
 them put together. She led me into a higher and 
 holier life than I had ever known. 8he had learned 
 somewhat of waiting on God, and knew the peace 
 which passeth all understanding, and the perfect joy 
 that comes from complete surrender of all to Christ. 
 Hers was no ascetic life, and I never knew a more 
 intense worker. From the highest circles in Bowdoin 
 to the humble creatures of the Poor House, she laboured 
 unceasingly to lead souls into rest. She believed that 
 
COLLEGE DAYS 51 
 
 many Christians know little of the yoke that is easy, 
 and the burden that is light, because they hud failed 
 to accept Christ as their all-suflicient Saviour. Little 
 by little slu; hid me to let go of self and cling to 
 Christ, till the veiy habit of my soul was to cast my 
 care on Him, and 1 learned to follow Plim one step at 
 a time." 
 
 Let it not, however, bo supposed for one moment 
 that James Phillips had any leaning to ])0i I'ectionism, 
 or to that so-called "higher life" which is practically 
 indistinguishal)le fioni it. While seeking daily to 
 walk in the light, and finding in the exercise of a 
 simple faith in the power and grace of Cod the secret 
 of victory over many a temptation, he was ever con- 
 scious both of ?n's own impeifections and of the exceed- 
 ing breadth of the divine commands. His whole life 
 was one of quiet growth and advance. He was natur- 
 ally impetuous, irrital)l(!, and self-willed ; but as the 
 years passed by, those who knew him best, and saw 
 him in his most intimate moments, wei'C inij)ressed by 
 the steady growth and increase which manifested itself 
 in his changed and subdued spirit. The old, inde- 
 pendent, " cocksure " air gradually disappeared, hut 
 only rjradvMlly. We lay stress upon this because 
 some who knew him only in later days have wrongly 
 inferred that he arrived at something approaching 
 " entire sanctificiition " under the influence of Mrs. 
 Upham at Ijrunswick. But this was by no means the 
 case. Mrs. Upham's influence was but the initial 
 stage in a process which was lifelong, and which 
 Dr. Phillips never at any time regarded as being 
 in any sense complete. 
 
52 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 It may possibly have been due to a sense of 
 personal gratitude to Mrs. Upham that, even in 
 his student days, he took the unpopular side of 
 the question on woman's share in public work for 
 Christ. 
 
 " In those days," he writes, " it was thought in some 
 Churches a shame for women to speak in public. 
 Even in the social prayer meetings they were silent ; 
 but one evening Mrs. Upham, in the fulness of her 
 joy, rose and spoke for Christ. Ministers, professors, 
 and most of the women, too, felt that she had com- 
 mitted an unpardonable breach of a time-honoured 
 custom ; but she bravely insisted that St. Paul's 
 injunction had no bearing upon the case in hand, and 
 that Christ could speak through women's lips as surely 
 as through men's. The feeling ran so high that she 
 and some other ladies requested me to hold special 
 meetings, where all alike should be invited to take 
 part. These meetings helped to break down the old 
 prejudices, and in many New England churches the 
 women are now invited to take a share in social 
 service. 
 
 " Professor Upham, who was the author of several 
 earnest books on the divine life, himself heartily 
 encouraged his wife in her public efforts, although he 
 himself never on any occasion spoke or prayed in 
 public. He was a strict vegetarian ; and I remember 
 once dining at his house when some boiled lobsters 
 were on the table which his adopted son and I had 
 caught. He mourned grievously for ' the broken 
 families of lobsters on the seashore,' and exclaimed 
 so pathetically, ' Oh, boys, how could you be so cruel ! ' 
 
COLLEGE DAYS 53 
 
 that his words come back to my memory every time I 
 see a lobster." 
 
 When a student at Bowdoin College, where the 
 men were arranged alphabetically in the classroom, 
 Dr. Phillips had for his neighbours Messrs. Perkins 
 and Penney. These gentlemen have been good 
 enough to furnish some recollections of their fellow- 
 student, which are especially interesting as illustrating 
 the diverse, but not contradictory, sides to his character. 
 Mr. C. S. Perkins, writing under date September 23rd, 
 1895, says — 
 
 " I had never met Dr. Phillips until we went to 
 Bowdoin as students together. At once our intimate 
 friendship began, and it has never been broken. We 
 were drawn together doubtless at first because we 
 were of the same faith and attended the same church. 
 At one time there were seventeen of us Free Baptist 
 students at Bowdoin. Sitting alphabetically in the 
 classroom, Penney was on my left hand and Phillips 
 on my right. We three were much together for the 
 reasons already named, and because in general we 
 were in agreement on all those important questions 
 that came up for settlement in our college life. It 
 happened several times that during our course at 
 Bowdoin matters came up concerning which the class 
 in general were quite agreed ; but a few dissented 
 from the decision of the majority on grounds of prin- 
 ciple. These few were sometimes severely denounced 
 for the time, because of their weak scruples, as it 
 appeared to the other college boys, and they were 
 ridiculed for being over-pious. Phillips, though I 
 think he desired as much as anyone the goodwill of 
 
54 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 others, was always among the few. Notwithstanding 
 his strong convictions which frequently placed him in 
 opposition to most of his classmates, he was still a 
 very popular man in college, no one more so at the 
 close of the course. College boys, I think, are gener- 
 ally just at the last, and they give respect to those 
 who adhere to real principle. Dr. Phillips was a 
 good scholar, standing, if I remember rightly, about 
 sixth in a class that numbered fifty-five, and which 
 had many good scholars in its membership. He had 
 the same readiness of speech in his recitations which 
 characterised him as a public speaker afterwards. 
 
 " Fidelity to his duties, both as a student and as a 
 Christian, was one of his marked characteristics. He 
 did not neglect his studies, nor did he neglect his 
 religion ; and he never was ashamed of his religion, 
 as many of the college boys at times seemed to be. 
 He found time, though sometimes hard pressed with 
 college duties, for much religious work, both in the 
 college and in the church he attended, as well as in the 
 surrounding country. He frequently went far abroad 
 when opportunity otfered to do work for his Master. 
 
 " I remember making the discovery that he was 
 teaching a Sunday School class in Topsham — where we 
 attended church — at noon ; in the Methodist Church 
 in Brunswick early in the afternoon ; and taking a 
 third Sunday School two or three miles away from 
 the college at 5 o'clock. Thus, even in college, there 
 was the beginning of that zeal which was afterwards so 
 noticeable, and which finally consumed him. I recall 
 now all my classmates, and do not think of one of 
 them who, as a college boy, was so nearly what he 
 
COLLEGE DAYS 55 
 
 afterwards became when a man as Phillips was. He 
 was a manly, true, zealous missionary boy ; and when 
 he became a man with his added strength, and with 
 the burdens and anxiety of a marvellously active life 
 upon him, we who met him found in him still the 
 freshness and good-fellowship which we knew and 
 valued in his early days." 
 
 The recollections of Mr. C. F. Penney, his other 
 classmate, which were written under date January 
 16th, 1896, serve to show that the strenuous earnest- 
 ness and religious zeal of James Phillips had in no 
 way marred the mirthful freshness and jollity which 
 should characterise every right-minded and healthy 
 boy. 
 
 " I wish it were possible for me to reproduce with 
 accuracy the many impressions, now half forgotten and 
 indistinct, of the wit and mirthfulness which were so 
 abundant in Dr. Phillips' life. Beyond almost any- 
 one I ever knew, the cheerful and mirthful side of his 
 life was attractive. There was no vindictiveness or 
 sting in his ready wit. His jokes never hurt, and his 
 funny stories were always clean and wholesome. I 
 have no recollection of anything he ever said that 
 could not be repeated in any place. He saw as few 
 could see the ludicrous side of things, and would 
 relate incidents in his irresistible way, till his hearers 
 would be convulsed with laughter. It made no 
 difference whether he was a party to it or not, or 
 whether the joke was against himself, he enjoyed it 
 just as well, and was quite as happy in its relation. 
 I have heard him tell the circumstances of his first 
 sermon preached while at Whitestown. He could 
 
56 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 not have been more than fifteen or sixteen years of 
 age at the time. He was invited by one of the 
 students in the theological school to go to some 
 preaching station and help him in his Sunday service. 
 He described the church as old-fashioned, with the 
 pulpit lifted high above the heads of the people and 
 covering the entire space of platform, and so high in 
 itself that his head was only just visible above it, and 
 that was all of him that could be seen. He selected 
 for his text the well-known words of the Preacher, 
 ' Train up a child in the way he should go, and when 
 he is old he will not depart from it.' To hear him 
 picture the scene, the grave elderly appearance of his 
 hearers, his earnest exhortations concerning the duties 
 of parents to their children, and his own appearance 
 in the pulpit, with his head only just visible to his 
 audience, was provocative of convulsive laughter. 
 
 " His theological course was spent at New Hamp- 
 ton. Our graver studies were relieved by frequent 
 rambles over the hills and through the valleys of 
 that famous district. He was always the life of 
 the party, and his wit and funny stories kept us 
 usually in fits of laughter. I remember on one 
 occasion, about half a dozen of us, with Professor 
 Brockett of the Institute, wandered away in the late 
 spring for the purpose of botanising. In the course of 
 our ramble we came to a brook of such width that we 
 were not able to cross it by any means at hand. 
 Phillips was full of expedients, and I think it was he 
 who suggested to Professor Brockett that he should 
 find a long pole, and planting it in midstream, by a 
 running leap should thus be able to reach the other 
 
COLLEGE DAYS 57 
 
 side iu safety. Professor Brockett made the attempt 
 after much chaffing, but the pole sank into the deep 
 mud in the middle of the stream, and there it stuck 
 fast, holding the Professor upright over the water, so 
 that nothing was left for him to do but to lower 
 himself into the water and wade ashore. Phillips' 
 mirth and jokes at the luckless Professor, as he 
 clung desperately to the pole, and with slow reluctance 
 slipped into the cold water of the stream and waded 
 to the shore, were so irresistibly comical that we 
 simply lay down on the bank in helpless mirth. On 
 another occasion the same party went for a picnic 
 over the hills on a Saturday, and one of us managed 
 to step into a basket of eggs, which had been set 
 aside to boil as a part of our midday meal. Phillips' 
 remarks on the occasion were so funny that we all 
 threw ourselves on the ground in laughter. 
 
 " Occasionally he would come to my room and ask 
 me to call with him on Professor Butler, who was 
 in the theological school at Whitestown, while he 
 was a member of the Institute there. These visits 
 were often occupied by himself and the Professor in 
 recalling amusing incidents which had happened at 
 Whitestown. I usually sat as a listener, but can 
 never forget the mirth that Phillips used to provoke. 
 No one who ever heard his story of the appearance of 
 Professor Butler, who, on an alarm of fire one night in 
 the village of New Hampton, made his appearance on 
 the scene in carefully prepared toilet, with an 
 umbrella spread over his head, and a wooden pail in 
 his hand to assist in extinguishing the flames, can 
 ever forget the mirth his description of the scene 
 
58 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 produced. He had the happy faculty of making 
 others see a thing as it appeared to himself, and this 
 was so, whether the incident was sober or mirthful in 
 character. 
 
 " I find by looking over college memoranda that 
 Phil was selected one of twelve members of the 
 class in the prize declamations, in his sophomore 
 year in college. He was also one of the com- 
 mittee of arrangements, consisting of three men for 
 the senior and junior exhibitions, and his part 
 on that occasion was an Oriya translation from the 
 German of Fichte, ' The Vocation of Man.' He 
 was also one of the three selected from the class for 
 the junior prize exhibition. I find he was chaplain 
 at our class day exercise. His subject on graduation 
 was ' Christian missions and civilisation,' which was 
 regarded as one of the best performances of the day. 
 I wish I could tell all that his life was to me in the 
 five years we were so much together, at Bowdoin and 
 New Hampton. A large part of the time I was at 
 college we ate at the same table, attended the same 
 church and week-day meetings for prayer, and for two 
 years our rooms were adjoining on the same floor in 
 Appleton Hall — ' Paradise ! ' How many miles we 
 walked together, and how often we sang, prayed, and 
 talked together ! What a love I had for him ! I was 
 eight years his senior in age, but his sweet boyish 
 life came into such close and loving relation to 
 my own, that it seems to me that he did for me a 
 hundredfold more than I could ever have done for 
 him." 
 
 James Phillips' last days at Bowdoin had their humor- 
 
COLLEGE DAYS 59 
 
 ous as well as their pathetic side. To borrow his 
 own words — 
 
 " There were no tears in our eyes, and no sentimental 
 expressions of grief, but each heart knew its ' dear 
 chum,' and we wrote eulogies and farewells in each 
 other's albums, and drove the local authorities well- 
 nigh crazy. Very different was the parting with my 
 Sunday School class, and the little children, and old 
 men and women at the Poor House ; that quite broke 
 me down. Thank God for giving me such an oppor- 
 tunity for work ! We all clasped each other's hands, 
 and many prayers for God's blessing went up from 
 that humble abode. I never in any of our meetings 
 had witnessed so much emotion as at the last meetings 
 of the prayer circle. My heart prompted me to praise 
 God for all the peace and joy I had received in His 
 blessed service during my college course. My mother's 
 parting words, ' James, if you graduate from college a 
 humble Christian, we shall be glad,' had often incited 
 me to earnest endeavour for Christ. I felt sure that the 
 sole secret of success to those who were going forth 
 to battle with the sinful world was consecration to 
 Christ. There were now twenty - five professing 
 Christians in my class, and fifteen of these, besides a 
 number of drunkards and roughs, had been converted 
 during my college course." 
 
 One more quotation from his diary tells us of the 
 closing scene at Bowdoin — 
 
 " Wednesday night, August 1st, 1860. — Well, the 
 long-dreaded day on which degrees are conferred is 
 over. I shall pass my evening in silent communion 
 with my own spirit and with God, rather than at the 
 
6o LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 President's levee, where I should be quite a stranger. 
 Our class day passed off very finely indeed, but to-day 
 has been the great day after all. The boys really 
 have done themselves credit, and I felt proud of my 
 classmates. Pain in the head occasioned me a 
 moment's hesitation with the exhibition, which I got 
 through nicely. The Lord helped me to speak out 
 earnestly for the missionary cause, which I so much 
 love. 
 
 " To-night I feel very weary indeed. The exercises 
 did not close till 5 p.m , and then we had the com- 
 mencing dinner. I am now through college. My 
 poor pen cannot express a tithe of the gratitude I feel 
 to God for His merciful kindness which has so long 
 spared and blessed me." 
 
 The next morning the old pine trees were whisper- 
 ing a farewell for the students who would never walk 
 arm-in-arm beneath their shade again. But years of 
 study, and still higher degrees, were waiting some of 
 the fifty-five young men who left Bowdoin that day. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 GROWING DAYS. 
 
 NEW HAMPTON is a beautiful little village 
 nestling in the heart of the White Mountains 
 in New Hampshire — the Switzerland of America. 
 It has a Literary School fur young men and women, 
 and a Theological Department for men. Hither came 
 James Phillips, soon after leaving Bowdoin, in order 
 to take a theological course preparatory to undergoing 
 a thorough medical training in New York, with a 
 view to his complete equipment for foreign missionary 
 service. His arrival was marked in a characteristic 
 fashion. 
 
 One Thursday evening the little band of students 
 and others, who were in the habit of meeting for 
 prayer, saw a stranger present — a young man who 
 spoke with great earnestness and tenderness. A 
 revival among the students was the absorbing theme 
 of his address, and more than one wayward heart 
 was led to higher things through his earnest pleading. 
 Thus he marked his arrival at New Hampton in the 
 way he would most have wished. 
 
 On the 17th January 1861, James Phillips attained 
 his majority. We condense the entry in his 
 diary : — 
 
62 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 " I am twenty-one to-day. I am quite free from 
 parental care. Such are the thoughts young men are 
 prone to cherish on this eventful day of their life. 
 Ever since first they learn the limit of parental super- 
 intendence do they look eagerly forward to the day 
 when they shall be free ; and what singular notions 
 enter the mind at this period of life. How many are 
 well-nigh ruined by the course of conduct that such 
 notions suggest. They break wildly aloof from every 
 homely restraint, their restive nature clamours for 
 power and for independence. But how changed is 
 this spirit in the heart of a Christian ! In a most 
 emphatic sense he is not his own, but his Lord's, and 
 increasingly so as the years pass by. I thank God 
 for the assurance on this my twenty-first birthday 
 that my heart, my mind, my education, my life, my 
 all is Christ's. The past affords only a joyous retro- 
 spect when I regard it as devoted to Christ's service. 
 The present appears happy only when doing my 
 Master's will, and the future looks hopeful only as 
 fully dedicated to faithful and zealous labour for my 
 Lord." 
 
 Not many weeks later, one Sunday morning as a 
 crowd of young people filed out of the village church 
 and hastened over the glistening snowpaths, home- 
 wards, a girl graduate of New Hampton Seminary, 
 Miss Mary Sayles, of Rhode Island, saw James 
 Phillips just before her, leading a little girl, the 
 daughter of one of the Professors, with whom he 
 was so absorbed in conversation that he apparently 
 heard and saw nothing else. Miss Sayles had 
 acquired some skill in reading character from the 
 
GROWING DAYS 63 
 
 hands, and during that short walk homewards from 
 the church she amused herself by studying the 
 hand that so carefully guided the child, little 
 dreaming that in Eliode Island Church, only three 
 years from that time, she would grasp it in her 
 own. 
 
 She formed the opinion that it was a broad generous 
 hand, made so by liard service and self-sacrifice for 
 others, and although the fingers were short there was 
 a daintiness and delicacy about them which left their 
 impression on whatever he touched. Thus it was that 
 James Phillips met his future wife, a lady eminently 
 fitted both in heart and mind to stand side by side 
 with her distinguished husband. In after years she 
 was wont to say that the first sight of her future 
 husband was typical of his whole after career, for 
 throughout his entire life he walked before her 
 leading little children heavenwards. 
 
 When James Phillips came to New Hampton he 
 was looking forward to times devoted to quiet study 
 of God's Word, free from distraction and interruption 
 from the world outside. But Mrs. Harriet Beecher 
 Stowe's famous book. Uncle Toms Cabin, had roused 
 the attention of the nation to the curse of slavery, 
 which still lay like a blot on the land. The low 
 mutterings of distant thunder had long been rumbling 
 in the distance, and now suddenly, like a flash of 
 lightning, the execution of John Brown at Harper's 
 Ferry rent the moral sky. Slavery with all its 
 horrors was laid bare, and the storm burst upon the 
 land in an outbreak of civil war. Never was song 
 more true than that which was sung by marching 
 
64 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 armies and by cowering slaves in the rice-fields and 
 swamps of the South — 
 
 "Jolin Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave, 
 But his soul is marching on." 
 
 Men of every calling, from the fields, from the 
 
 factories, and from the universities, shouldered their 
 
 arms and marched to battle, while women and 
 
 children wept and prayed at home. The missionary 
 
 student thus describes his feelings in a letter to his 
 
 mother — 
 
 "New Hampton, 
 "Ain-il \%th, 1861. 
 
 " Fort Sumter is just taken by the rebels. I feel 
 like fighting to-day. You need not be surprised if 
 you hear that I have joined the volunteers to quell 
 the Southern frenzy. I believe if I had been alone, I 
 would have been shot through before surrendering 
 Fort Sumter. How dreadful it seems that we are 
 now exposed to the miseries of a civil war ! Unless 
 the South take conciliatory measures soon, I see no 
 alternative but a most terrible war ; and should it 
 come, every Christian must take his part, for truth 
 and right are concerned. I believe under some 
 circumstances it is as much a Christian's duty to 
 fight as ordinarily it is his duty to cultivate the arts 
 of peace, and I hope to be always on duty whether it 
 be in my study or in the tented field." 
 
 It was at this time that the well-known incident 
 occurred which found its way into all the newspapers 
 of the world, and demonstrated as perhaps nothing 
 
GROWING DAYS 65 
 
 ever did before the unique influence for good exercised 
 by one of the greatest pulpit orators of this or any 
 other age. One Sunday, in Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, 
 a scene was witnessed which drew tears from all eyes. 
 Mr. Henry Ward Beecher carried into his pulpit a 
 little child. Pausing for a moment to conquer his 
 emotion, he sent a thrill of horror through the con- 
 gregation by saying, " This child was born a slave, 
 and has just been redeemed from bondage." Then in 
 broken voice he continued, " Look upon this little 
 child. Saw you ever a fairer face ? This loveliness 
 and the beauty of this figure would only make her so 
 much more valuable for the purpose of sin. While 
 your children are brought up in the fear of the Lord, 
 this little one, just as beautiful, would be made through 
 slavery a child of damnation. Look upon her, every 
 young man and maiden, and by the memory of this 
 scene, and for the sake of Christ, let your souls burn 
 with indignation against the system which turns into 
 chattels such fair children of God. May God strike 
 for our armies and the right, that this cursed thing 
 may be utterly destroyed," 
 
 In sending an account of this incident to his parents, 
 James Phillips observed — 
 
 " This child is only one of many hundreds. How can 
 I be justified in quietly studying, while my country 
 calls so loudly ? I wonder I have been enabled to do 
 my theological work as heartily as I have." 
 
 As a relief from severer studies, James Phillips at 
 
 this time took up botany as a recreation, and his 
 
 morning and evening walks and rambles through the 
 
 woods and marshes afforded him opportunities for 
 
 5 
 
66 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 collecting a fairly representative set of specimens of 
 the flora of the district. In his letters he expresses 
 with keen regret that he had not earlier given himself 
 the pleasure which this study afforded. 
 
 " These flowers," he says, " have been my teachers. 
 Already, as if by an eloquence, silent yet persuasive, 
 they have deeply impressed many a lesson of love and 
 truth upon my mind. They have afforded me higher 
 conceptions of the beautiful, and have given me a clearer 
 insight into the mind of the great Workman, whose 
 ideal of the beautiful is so perfect and sublime. 
 
 " I will tell you if you won't ' let on,' as they say in 
 the West, that I heard from a reliable quarter the 
 other day, that ' Phillips is the best Hebrew scholar in 
 the class.' However that may be, I think I am making 
 progress. On my next birthday I hope to begin a 
 course of reading in the Greek Testament, and to take 
 up afresh my sadly-neglected phonography. I think 
 that the phonetic system of writing bears an important 
 relation to the Oriental languages. I am learning to 
 take care of myself. I have been well lately, and am 
 inclined to attribute it mainly to dressing more warmly, 
 and avoiding exposure after speaking. I sincerely 
 believe that I have not been properly dressed till this 
 winter. These Yankee boys have colds and coughs, 
 but your humble Hindoo is mercifully spared. My 
 room is a pleasant one in Eandall Hall. Through the 
 kindness of my friend, Mrs. Upham, I have been able 
 to furnish it with a neat carpet and some furniture, 
 but only four pictures adorn the walls — Father's 
 likeness, Ballasore Chapel, a view of Professor Upham's 
 house, and a lithograph of Bowdoin College." 
 
GROWING DAYS 67 
 
 [t is not uncommonly the case with active minds 
 that they alternate in a striking- degree between high 
 spirits and mental depression. This was notably so 
 in the case of James Phillips, at any rate during his 
 younger years. We have seen from the reminiscences 
 supplied by Mr. Penney that at times his spirits ran 
 high, and that the impression made upon one of his 
 closest associates was that of a man bubbling over 
 with fun, and impressed quite as much as he should 
 be with the merrier side of life. At the same time, 
 indications have not been lacking in the foregoing 
 quotations from his letters and diaries to show that 
 the deep and strenuous devoutncss which lay hidden 
 behind the outward mirth, had a tendency at times to 
 weigh perhaps more heavily upon his youthful mind 
 than it sliould have done. It may be interesting here 
 to extract a passage from his diary written at a time 
 when he may fairly be said to Imve been suffering 
 from a fit of the blues. 
 
 "May 29th, 1861. — If ever since I first began to 
 study I have had a view of my own perfect ignorance, 
 and also of the vastness and infinity of knowledge, I 
 most certainly have during the past week. This con- 
 sciousness of my own stupidity and profound ignorance 
 has come mainly through some recent inquiries into 
 the vegetable kingdom. I confess to a sense of shame 
 at not knowing even the most common and frequent 
 herbs and flowers which deck and beautify our hillsides 
 and meadows. Almost every shrub and plant rebukes 
 me when I observe it, which, however, I usually fail to 
 do. In college, we studied botany just long enough 
 to confuse our brains, and there it still remains with 
 
68 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 me. It is a shame and a sin that such limited facilities 
 are afforded in college for the study of the natural 
 sciences, and I can never reproach myself enough for 
 not better appropriating even the scanty time allotted 
 to them. Thus I might indulge in very nearly a similar 
 train of remarks in regard to every other department 
 of knowledge of which I ever learned anything. How 
 little, infinitely little I know ! What utter ignorance ! 
 And, worst of all, to know it and to feel it. The 
 most depressing feelings I ever experienced have 
 weighed me down, and I have been perfectly miser- 
 able. Call it blues or blacks, I know I feel dis- 
 heartened and sad. There is, I suppose, some discipline 
 to be gained from even these depressing feelings ; but, 
 alas! who looks or cares for discipline when in misery? 
 It would seem enough to bear these painful thoughts, 
 to know and feel oneself a fool, and to see and hear 
 all nature jeering at one's ignorance. Enough ? Yes, 
 too much for too many. But, after all, the man who 
 would be wiser and better must try to welcome even 
 these depressing feelings as harbingers of hope for the 
 future, and so I must try not to care how poor and 
 ignorant I feel, provided it will only make me wiser, 
 give a gentle impetus to the life-current, and promote 
 my progress in true knowledge. May this sense of 
 humility at the sight of my ignorance serve as a spur 
 to quicken my pace in (^uest of knowledge ! There 
 are many reasons why I long to be in heaven, and not 
 the least is that I shall understand and know some- 
 thing there." 
 
 A fortnight later we find in his diary the first inti- 
 mation of that opening for religious work in the City 
 
GROWING DAYS 69 
 
 of New York which enabled him to qualify as a 
 medical man in that city, and thus to complete the 
 all-round equipment which he was anxious to secure 
 before returning as a missionary to India. 
 
 On July 13th, 1861, he wrote — 
 
 " I have just been invited to take charge of a Free 
 Baptist Church in New York. Shall I accept the 
 offer ? I have been studying botany by day and 
 astronomy by night, and I have analysed thirty 
 varieties of wild and garden tiowers. I hope to have 
 a chance to study medicine, as well as to devote a 
 little time to surgery and dentistry, before I go back 
 to India ; for 1 conceive that this would enhance in 
 no small degree a man's influence in the mission 
 field." 
 
 The stirring events which were taking place in 
 connection with the war between the Northern and 
 Southern States still occupied much of his thoughts. 
 Many entries in his diary and references in his letters 
 prove this. In his diary he says — 
 
 " We had a good prayer meeting this morning at 
 live o'clock in the chapel hall. Earnest prayers were 
 offered and stirring remarks were made upon the 
 existing troubles in the country. I told them that 
 we had no right to grumble at the war, for God liad 
 only commenced answering our prayers. The slave 
 in the South and the Christian in the North had long 
 been crying to God for redress of the cruel wrongs 
 and for the establishment of national justice. God 
 has heard and is now replying to these petitions. 1 
 cannot pray for this rupture to heal up over our 
 national corruption and intestine sin, but only that the 
 
70 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 nation may be purilied and purged of this monstrous 
 iniquity. I wish the war to be as brief as possible, 
 but I pray that it may be cut short only in righteous- 
 ness." 
 
 He alludes to the subject in a letter written from 
 Bowdoin College, where he was paying a visit in order 
 to be present at the graduation of some of his former 
 classmates. 
 
 "Brunswick, July 5th, 1861. 
 
 " I am here for Commencement. Only two of my 
 classmates have arrived yet, and I shall expect hardly 
 a dozen of that noble fifty-five. Quite a number of 
 them are now in the army, and all of these were 
 engaged in that sad battle at Manassas, two weeks ago 
 yesterday. None were killed or wounded, but some of 
 them — two at least — were taken prisoners, and are 
 now in all probability musing in Eichmond Gaol. I 
 cannot tell you how I sometimes long to go to this 
 terrible war. If it is a temptation from Satan, then 
 I must confess that I have been very seriously 
 tempted. In this conflict one sees such noble and 
 generous principles involved that one cannot summarily 
 dispose of the matter by saying that there are plenty 
 of others to fight our battles. As to the right of war 
 and the duty of Christian men to bear arms, I am 
 perfectly clear, and if it were not for one consideration 
 I should be in the army to-day. That one thing is 
 my call to the Indian mission. I only state the truth 
 when I say that I believe very few have been favoured 
 with so distinct and so forcible a call to any work 
 as I have been to this ; and in every year and day 
 of my literary pursuits, I have been able to keep my 
 
GROWING DAYS 71 
 
 future work distinctly in view. Now the question 
 is this — are the claims of this country paramount to 
 those of my native land ? Ought the war to keep 
 me from the heathen ? ... If it did, my life's work 
 would be defeated, and my life's aim would be frus- 
 trated. When I look at all this, and think how God 
 Himself has opened the way for me since I first gave 
 myself to this work of foreign missions, I am satisfied 
 that my duty is not to go to the war. But then 
 again my feelings of patriotism well-nigh drive me 
 mad, when I think tliat I am not and cannot be in 
 the ranks of those noble soldiers who are defending 
 our highest interests. Our civil and religious institu- 
 tions and all missionary enterprises are dependent 
 upon the issue of this contiict. If this war continues, 
 it is possible that I may never have the chance to go 
 to India. Oh that God may teach me and direct 
 me!" 
 
 ''August ord, 1861. — I am still at Brunswick, and 
 have just returned from our college gymnasium. I 
 am very sorry we did not have it when I was in 
 college. I am strongly of the opinion that good 
 muscle can glorify God as well as a clear brain. I 
 am getting to believe with Horace Mann that a 
 dyspeptic stomach is just as great an abomination 
 in the sight of God as a lying heart. Yesterday I 
 visited my parish. How glad those poor old crippled 
 and infirm ones were to see me ! That alms-house 
 was my real theological school, and a better one I 
 never expect to enter. My education there was no 
 .unimportant part of my college course." 
 
72 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 In the meantime arrangements for his removal to 
 New York had been in progress. The chapel of 
 which he became pastor was situated at the corner 
 of Broadway and 28 th Street, and had for some time 
 been in a very depressed condition. It was hoped, 
 however, that his exceptional energy and zeal might 
 succeed in making it a centre of earnest and effective 
 work. On September 21st, 1861, he writes — 
 
 " I have accepted the call to the New York Church, 
 and am hard at work here. In introducing me to the 
 audience last evening, Mr. Graham said that I was 
 one of the little boys who ten years ago had sung to 
 his Sunday School in my native Oriya." 
 
 A month later he adds — 
 
 " Mr. Graham has introduced me finely here. He 
 had a large circle of friends among all denominations, 
 and I feel deeply obliged to him for their acquaint- 
 ance. Dr. Cheever, Dr. Hague, Dr. Matthews, Dr. 
 Lathrop, and many others are indeed good acquaint- 
 ances for a boy to make upon going to a strange city. 
 These men are very kind to me. Dr. Matthews is 
 quite an old man. He was first Chancellor of the 
 New York University. He was with me a fortnight 
 ago and assisted in the pulpit. He called my atten- 
 tion to the wonderful way in which the Bible appeals 
 to men's hearts, and he showed me how strong heads 
 and well-trained brains are usually reached through 
 the heart. ' Study all you like, my young brother,' 
 he said, ' and the more the better ; but when you 
 preach, speak to the heart, for God's Word was sent 
 to mould and manage the human heart.' Mr. Graham 
 was far from being a sectarian, and hence was much 
 
GROWING DAYS 73 
 
 liked here. A genial, generous-hearted man always 
 finds worthy friends. The Ilev. Mr. James has pro- 
 mised me free tickets to a course of lectures at the 
 Cooper Institute. I have been twice asked to marry 
 parties, but having no licence, I have declined. A 
 young fellow and his lady in my audience last Sunday 
 evening wanted me to tie the knot. He looked so 
 meek and supplicating and she so full of mischief, 
 that I could hardly refrain from laughing." 
 
 About this time James Phillips seems to have 
 made his first contribution to journalism, and, like 
 most beginners, he got severely handled. Throughout 
 his life, he was a constant and valued contributor to 
 many newspapers, and the books which lie before us 
 containing his carefully tabulated lists of these con- 
 tributions, indicate an extraordinary industry and a 
 remarkable skill in adapting himself to a wide range 
 of subjects. The adverse criticism which greeted this 
 maiden attempt of his pen wounded him considerably, 
 and the following letter suggests that he took the 
 matter to heart rather more seriously than he need 
 have done : — - 
 
 ^'' December 1th, 1861. 
 
 " My dear Father, — A most ardent desire to 
 help and encourage young men to qualify themselves 
 for their important work prompted me to pen an 
 article which has been most severely criticised. I 
 was writing to young men like myself who are just 
 entering the work. I could not be so cruel as to 
 whittle or carve at the veteran soldiers in God's 
 work who have failed to enjoy such opportunities for 
 culture as the present day affords. It was not in my 
 
74 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 heart to write ' plain things ' about them. It is not 
 fair, it is not Christian to represent me as an infiatecl 
 bigot, declaiming for a pompous parade of learning. 
 Upon such a subject, and writing for young men, I 
 could not write a tame and colourless article, but 
 necessarily injected into it something of my natural 
 and spirited style of speaking. 
 
 " I can bear to be smitten by all the sarcasms that 
 my opponents care to array against me, but it is 
 surely not my duty to submit to misrepresentations 
 of the grossest kind. After the storm is over, I trust 
 good will come out of this. I have been sometimes 
 tempted to relinquish the ministry for some vocation 
 affording wider scope for worldly fame and the 
 applause of men, but I trust that God has delivered 
 me from this species of temptation. I now rather 
 shun publicity and recoil from demonstrations of 
 approval. I am contented in the mission that our 
 Heavenly Father has planned for me, and each day 
 I ardently long for the time when I shall enter upon 
 my life's work across the seas." 
 
 All this time he was busily occupied in continuing 
 his theological studies and preparing for his approach- 
 ing college anniversary, and on a paper upon the 
 relation of psychology to preaching. He worked 
 almost night and day, and frequent attacks of tooth- 
 ache deprived him of the little rest which he tried 
 to snatcli between tliree o'clock in the morning and 
 daybreak. The result of this overstrain was simply 
 what might have been expected. When the anni- 
 versary day came, he found that l)y no exercise of 
 
GROWING DAYS 75 
 
 will-power could he rouse hi.s exhausted energies. 
 He stepped nervously to the platform surrounded 
 by the Professors, looked down upon the sea of faces 
 before him, said a few words upon the subject that 
 had absorbed all his thought so constantly for many 
 weeks past, and then his mind became a perfect 
 blank. Not one word could he recall of the theme 
 that he had so carefully memorised. His head reeled, 
 and he could only bow and leave the platform. The 
 disappointment to a man of his temperament was 
 keen indeed, but he did not brood over it. After a 
 short rest he returned to his work in New York City, 
 and with rare unseltishness devoted himself to assist 
 his father, whose pecuniary affairs at this time had 
 become embarrassed. 
 
 " Dear father," he writes, " Abraham Lincoln's pro- 
 clamation setting the slaves of the United States free 
 has fired the young men of the country with fresh 
 courage, and John has enlisted — the dear, brave, unsel- 
 fish fellow ! He left school and earned a thousand 
 dollars for our family before he was twenty-one, and 
 now he has left all, and has marched away ready to 
 die in the cause of freedom." 
 
 His brother came through the war, but not long 
 afterwards a much-loved sister died. 
 
 " Our first parting pang has come. This is our 
 first great family sorrow. Our hitherto unbroken 
 circle has sent one to join the holy family in heaven. 
 But God can heal the wound His hand has made. My 
 tears fall as I read father's account of sister Beebee's 
 last words, and her calm and peaceful death. May 
 God sanctify this to each one of us. I am glad that 
 
76 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 you intend to wear no mourning, for I never believed 
 in the practice." 
 
 The following extracts are taken from his letters 
 written about this period :- — 
 
 " Yesterday morning the Lord seemed to take me 
 completely into His own hands, and to pour His simple 
 and mighty truths through my willing lips. Mine is 
 indeed becoming a working church. I believe it takes 
 a whole church to preach tlie Gospel with power and 
 success, not a minister alone." 
 
 " My heart rejoices to hear of dear Nellie's baptism. 
 Last Sabbath I baptized several, among whom were 
 some of our dear Sunday School children, ranging 
 from twelve to fifteen years of age. I am becoming 
 more and more firmly attached to my people here, 
 and they often speak of the painful parting which 
 some day awaits us." 
 
 At this time his personal appearance was so youth- 
 ful, that he was commonly spoken of as " the boy 
 preacher." Yet he received numerous invitations to 
 address missionary societies, Sunday School meetings, 
 chapel anniversaries, and religious gatherings of every 
 kind, even beyond the limits of his own district and 
 denomination. 
 
 " To-morrow evening 1 have to speak at the Academy 
 of Music to several thousands of people. It is the 
 second anniversary of the Union Home School for the 
 children of our volunteers. Next Sunday I am due 
 at the fifth anniversary of an Independent Methodist 
 church up town, next Wednesday evening at the 
 Magdalen Asylum, and so on. At the late Sunday 
 School anniversary I addressed the largest cougrega- 
 
GROWING DAYS 77 
 
 bion of children in the city, at Dr. Spring's church. 
 T am called upon to address a Sunday School very 
 often here in New York, and I am free to acknow- 
 ledge that I depend largely upon my memories of 
 India to enliven and illustrate my speeches." 
 
 But the shot and smoke of battle often broke in 
 upon these happy days of earnest work, and both 
 letters and diaries contain many allusions to the 
 troubles of the period. 
 
 " I have received a splendid letter from John. I 
 feel confident of Grant's success at Vicksburg. May 
 Heaven direct him and give him success ! Opening 
 the Mississippi will be the deathblow to the rebellion." 
 
 Soon, however, the inhabitants of New York were 
 to have the realities and horrors of bloodshed 
 brought to their very doors. Although the operations 
 of the armies never came within a considerable dis- 
 tance, yet terrible riots broke out, and for a time 
 mob law prevailed in the streets. James Phillips 
 gives us a vivid picture of the rioting in his own dis- 
 trict. 
 
 "July 15th, 1863. — Mob law has reigned in New 
 York for several days past. The copperheads are 
 burning houses and killing negroes at a furious rate. 
 A black man was killed near us this morning, and his 
 house burned down. A splendid new block of brick 
 buildings diagonally across the Broadway from us, 
 was laid in ashes after a thorough sacking on Monday 
 afternoon, I never saw such a spectacle as that 
 infuriated mob of Irishmen presented. We are still 
 in danger. Our church is spotted as an abolition one, 
 and those of our members who have their residences 
 
78 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 about here are in serious danger of being burned out. 
 These are awful times. Our militia are all in Pennsyl- 
 vania, and will be returning to-day. We are in a 
 state of constant trepidation, and God only knows what 
 awaits us. It is said that the Southern men here 
 have set this mob on foot. I hope you may never 
 see such a spectacle as I have just witnessed. On my 
 own. street, at the corner of 28th Street and 7th 
 Avenue, a negro man was deliberately hanged to a 
 lamp-post, and that in open daylight at 5 o'clock this 
 afternoon. I can hear of no provocation save that he 
 was born with a coloured skin. The fury of the mob 
 seems to be turned chietly upon the coloured citizens. 
 Many of their dwellings liave already been sacked 
 and burned in our vicinity. This is a deliberate plot, 
 and simultaneously with it other plots are in progress 
 in the large towns and cities of the North." 
 
 In the Morning Star he gave some further par- 
 ticulars. 
 
 " Monday night was the scene of several fires 
 among the private residences. Tuesday and Wednes- 
 day were not so exciting, but still a general trepida- 
 tion prevailed. No cars or coaches were running, and 
 the city looked sad enough. On Tuesday evening 
 we held our usual prayer meeting in the lecture-room, 
 notwithstanding the remonstrances of neighbours and 
 friends. Our abolitionist church was thought to be 
 peculiarly exposed to danger, but the sanctuary doors 
 were thrown open, and a small company entered them. 
 Never before did it seem so precious to read the 91st 
 Psalm, and to remember the perfect security of those 
 who trust in God. An hour was passed in prayer 
 
GROWING DAYS 79 
 
 and praise, and then we went out to face our dangers 
 again. The fury of the rioters is now turned upon 
 the negro. With one exception, every neighbourhood 
 where the blacks reside was visited. Several negroes 
 were openly hanged to lamp-posts. One, a poor sick 
 man, was dragged from his bed by the angry demons, 
 and strung up to tlie lamp-post at the corner of our 
 street." 
 
 This reign of terror soon came to an end, and 
 before long he was able to report that all was quiet 
 again. 
 
 " The regiments stationed here are quietly slipping 
 away. Business it is said was never better, and the 
 city is swarming with strangers. The first-class 
 hotels are kept full. The churches are again opened, 
 and the people are returning from the country." 
 
 His autumn vacation was described in an article 
 which he wrote in the Morniwj Star, a denomina- 
 tional paper to which he was a frequent and valued 
 contributor. 
 
 " After a month of rambling in New England, I 
 reached my study last evening. A few weeks of rest 
 and recreation in the country are most welcome to one 
 who works throughout the year in the dust and din of 
 a great city. To toss off care and slip away from the 
 routine of busy life is indeed a lu.xury ; but a vacation 
 must be short to be profitable. Too long a disuse 
 of books tends sometimes to a distaste for study. 
 Eelaxation is all that a healthy mind wants, and all 
 that a tired brain requires. When this is accomplished 
 the desire to get away from work is promptly replaced 
 by a stronger desire to return to it. During August, 
 
8o LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 I chanced to be at Brunswick City, at Bowdoin College. 
 Three years ago fifty-five of us were let loose upon 
 society from this scene of ' screws ' and ' deads.' 
 Our college class flies to pieces after graduation. 
 Already we are scattered over both hemispheres. 
 Our triennial meeting brought together twelve, although 
 double this number received the small degree. Since 
 we left the alma mater, four brothers have fallen, and 
 rumour adds still another, who is said to have perished 
 at sea. One fell an early victim to consumption, and 
 the missing link broke the chain for ever. Thus our 
 chain has one link in Paradise. Three brave fellows 
 gave their lives to our imperilled country. Two at 
 Antietam and one at Gettysburg, that most gory but 
 most glorious battle of the Eepublic. We remembered 
 them, and praised God that they fell in such a cause. 
 Twenty of our number are still left in the United 
 States' Service." 
 
 On returning to New York he writes in his diary — 
 " I find everything quiet. It is said that from 
 thirty thousand to fifty thousand of the United States 
 troopers are quartered here now. One would sooner 
 fancy himself in Alexandria or New Orleans than in 
 New York, such is the military aspect of the city. 
 The smaller parks are all appropriated by the soldiers." 
 He came back from his vacation strengthened in 
 body and refreshed in mind, and prepared to enter 
 upon yet another course of strenuous study and earnest 
 preparation for the great work to which he had 
 consecrated his life. His position and plans will best 
 be shown by the following quotation from a letter 
 written at this period : — 
 
GROWING DAYS 8i 
 
 " My eiigagenient with our church here expired last 
 month. 
 
 " I shall not feel at liberty to renew it as I am 
 invited to do. I have a heavy course ahead in 
 medicine and surgery which will occupy several 
 months. Just at this juncture unusual opportunities 
 are afibrded here for study and observation in this 
 department, and I am anxious to make the most of 
 them. It is not yet decided who will be invited to 
 succeed me in this pulpit. A city church needs a 
 faithful pastor no less than a stated preacher, and this 
 church needs in addition a first-class financier in the 
 pastor's chair. I shall rejoice to see some strong and 
 worthy man devote himself wholly to this important 
 work. May God direct such a one to this earnest 
 band of disciples, who are willing to sacrifice and 
 suffer in the cause." 
 
 The heavy course in medicine and surgery to which 
 he here alludes was only the topstone of that 
 intellectual building which he had been steadily 
 raising, in the endeavour to fit himself for foreign 
 missionary work. The goal was now in sight, and 
 the desire of years was about to be satisfied. It was 
 with more joy than mere words could express that he 
 wrote to his parents on November 7th, 1863, from 
 Lowell — 
 
 " This afternoon I have been examined by the 
 Foreign Board and accepted as their missionary. The 
 vote was unanimous. We are to go next summer if 
 the money can be raised, and of this I have in my 
 mind no doubt. The Board voted to employ me as 
 their agent after my medical course is completed until 
 6 
 
82 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 my embarkation, with a view to my travelling among 
 the churches. I hope all this is well. Julia has been 
 unanimously appointed missionary teacher. My heart 
 is too full of praise and gratitude to find expression in 
 writing. I never felt happier or so eager to step into 
 the fray. I have worked and prayed long and 
 earnestly, and now I shall most confidently look 
 forward to better days. I beg that our friends will 
 remember us both in prayer and in pocket. We need 
 both Christian sympathy and money." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DEPUTATION WORK. 
 
 THE year 1864 was one of direct preparatiou for 
 the mission field. Events moved rapidly now. 
 His course of study in medicine and surgery drew to 
 its close, and he added one more degree to those 
 which he had already won. He travelled much, 
 visiting the various churches of his denomination, and 
 endeavouring to arouse in others something of that 
 missionary spirit which burned so fiercely in his own 
 breast. By his earnest appeals he raised large sums 
 of money, not only to defray the cost of his own going 
 forth, but also to set the affairs of the mission upon a 
 more permanent and satisfactory financial basis. He 
 was diligent in season and out of season in the 
 proclamation of the Gospel. He completed all the 
 arrangements for his own departure, and last but not 
 least a happy marriage resulted from the friendshij) 
 which had its beginning beneath the snow-clad pines of 
 New Hampton. The records of this busy year are 
 unfortunately only too scanty, but as far as possible 
 we give them in James PhilHps' own words, quoting 
 from letters and diaries without distinction. 
 
 "Feb. 21st, 1864. — I have had a letter from the 
 senior mission secretary saying that we must take 
 
84 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 the long voyage round the Cape, as it is much less 
 expensive. Tims we shall not visit England. The 
 Board wishes me to raise 2000 dollars (£400), so 
 I shall visit the churches as soon as possible. This 
 war is making it most difficult to leave the country as 
 gold is so high, 2 dollars 50 cents to the gold 
 dollar." 
 
 "March 14:th, 1864. — To my surprise there came 
 the other day a note from a friend in England, saying 
 that 400 dollars, and more if required, would be 
 paid for my passage. The parties do not belong to 
 our denomination. How good God is to me and to 
 mine, and how unworthy I am of it all ! I have 
 a friend on the lookout for vessels going vid the Cape 
 of Good Hope to Calcutta. Our secretary prefers 
 that we shall sail from Boston. Somehow they seem 
 to think New England to be the whole of God's 
 creation, and that nothing can be done outside that 
 sacred ground ! The church folks here will not 
 listen for a moment to the proposition that I should 
 sail from Boston." 
 
 "April 7th, 1864. — We have just had a glorious 
 Board meeting. A unanimous vote was passed to 
 send father and mother back to India. I sent a 
 telegram to father at once. How happy he will be. 
 I returned and held a farewell meeting with the 
 children of Five Points. 
 
 " There are hells in Five Points, New York, which 
 •cwe not safe to enter by day or night, and yet from 
 this district a hundred dear little children have been 
 gathered into a home where they can stay until 
 permanent homes are found for them." 
 
DEPUTATION WORK 85 
 
 " AiJril 9th, 1864. — To-day General Lee has 
 surrendered the remnant of his gallant army, only 
 26,000 men. This cruel war is over. The slaves 
 are free. Public rejoicings fill the land, and thanks 
 are going up from every heart. I am glad 1 could 
 stay to see the end, and can now go to India full 
 of joy." 
 
 James Phillips continued to take a lively interest 
 in all the affairs of the day. A keen politician and a 
 strong patriot, his first interests always centred in 
 the extension of the kingdom of God, and his political 
 interest was always subordinated to his intense love of 
 that righteousness which alone can exalt a nation. 
 It need not be added that this enthusiastic foreign 
 missionary took a no less keen interest in the 
 progress and development of mission work at home. 
 It is interesting in view of the work which was to 
 occupy the closing years of his life, to find that 
 already the work of Sunday School development and 
 extension had arrested his attention, as may be 
 seen from the following extract from the Morning 
 Star : — 
 
 " May has been, as it always is, a month of 
 anniversaries in New York. The anniversary exer- 
 cises of the New York Sunday School Union were 
 among the most interesting. Addresses were de- 
 livered to immense gatherings of children. The 
 Sunday School enterprise is acquiring wonderful 
 strength, and is increasing to vast proportions in our 
 great city. Still there are hundreds of thousands 
 within the precincts of New York who never darken 
 the doors of the sanctuary. There is no surer way to 
 
86 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 bring in these almost heathen thousands, than by 
 working for their children, and by getting these little 
 ones into evangelical Sabbath Schools." 
 
 "May 17th, 1864. — I have made my last visit to 
 our Western home. Father and mother are seeking 
 new homes for our dear little sisters. Brother John 
 will be a father to them all. He has visited the 
 province of New Brunswick." 
 
 ' ' FllEDERICTOX, N. 15. , 
 "Ji'lyStk, 1864. 
 
 " We arc having a charming day, and I am feeling 
 so much at home among these good British friends. 
 This morning after a spirited and enthusiastic discus- 
 sion these brothers voted to organise a missionary 
 society, as an auxiliary to our own Foreign Missionary 
 Society, and they have further voted to make vigorous 
 efforts towards raising funds for our support. That is, 
 these brothers have, so to speak, adopted me to be 
 their representative in India. I have no doubt these 
 British Christians will do nobly in this matter, and 
 they seem to look upon me as a subject proper of the 
 British Crown." 
 
 "Portland, Maine, 
 
 "Jiili/ 26th, 1864. 
 
 " I have just met John. We had only a few hours 
 together, as his furlough had nearly expired. May 
 God keep my dear brother. From here I go to 
 Brunswick to take another look at my dear old college 
 home, thence immediately to Rhode Island. I have 
 my medical thesis to write out next month for 
 graduation." 
 
DEPUTATION WORK 87 
 
 The visit to Rhode Island to which he alludes in 
 the above letter, was for the purpose of his marriage, 
 which took place there on August 10 th. Unfortun- 
 ately we have no particulars of this interesting event, 
 with the exception of a brief letter which lies before 
 us as we write :— 
 
 " New YoiiK, 
 " Avjj. nth, 1864. 
 
 " Mv Dear Father and Mother, 
 
 " Yesterday was a charming cloudless day. Wedding 
 at church at 1 a.m. The Rev. William Fitz officiated, 
 and he and his wife drove down to Providence with 
 us. We took the 7 p.m. train for New York, reached 
 Stormington at 9 p.m. and found the bridal room 
 No. 28 reserved for us on the steamer Commonwealth. 
 We have just had a stroll in the Central Park. Our 
 home is still with Dr. Perry just now." 
 
 His old friend who caught the lobsters with him at 
 Bowdoin was now married and settled at Yonkers, and 
 from thence he wrote the following letter : — 
 
 "Yonkers, New York, 
 "Sept. 5th, 1864. 
 
 " This is such a charming place. The beautiful 
 Hudson rolls on towards the bay, only a few rods from 
 us. The ' Palacaides ' on the opposite bank present a 
 magnificent appearance, and yet these are hardly worth 
 mentioning when compared with this lovely little family. 
 The household all full of sunshine and happiness is 
 to me the most lovable thing on earth. One of the 
 sweetest little voices that made this home a welcome 
 one to every lover of children was hushed nearly two 
 
88 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 years ago. The image of little Nell is always present 
 with me whenever I am here. Her hearty loving 
 welcome I shall never forget, nor her earnest pleading 
 that she might accompany me to my Indian home. 
 You may wonder why I allude to this, but among the 
 hundreds of dear little ones whom I have known in 
 America, there is not one to whom I grew so attached. 
 Such was her mild and loving nature. It always 
 seems to me that parents who lose these tender plants 
 from their earthly guidance should rejoice in the 
 thought that they may thus be contributing towards 
 the beauty and bliss of heaven." 
 
 James Phillips was already Master of Arts and 
 Bachelor of Laws of a reputable university, and the 
 time now came when, upon the completion of his 
 medical course, he was to graduate in that Faculty 
 also. He merrily records the fact in a letter dated 
 September 15 th, 1864: — 
 
 " I have been extremely busy since the Sabbath 
 with my thesis, examination, etc., but now all is over. 
 I have passed through the ordeal successfully, and 
 have gained those two letters M.D. I am sure I feel 
 very much like myself notwithstanding the affix. Do 
 you suppose you could identify me now ? As a favour 
 only a nominal fee was charged." 
 
 "Oct. 29th, 1864. — I have had high fever and 
 intense headache, the result of working over some 
 bones which have been macerating for a long time. 
 They came from Southern battlefields, and I have been 
 preparing them for our cabinet at college. They 
 illustrate gunshot wounds. All I am now earning is 
 
DEPUTATION WORK 89 
 
 200 dollars (£40) a year for work in an oltice, and 
 I have to pay half of it directly back for pre- 
 ceptors' fees, and the rest will hardly pay college 
 expenses." 
 
 Dr. Phillips, as we must now call him, continued to 
 minister at the chapel in 28tli Street in the absence 
 of a pastor, but before he sailed to India he was able 
 to report that the financial affairs of the congregation 
 had been placed on a satisfactory basis, and that there 
 was a prospect of steady and permanent work in the 
 future. How busily he was occupied during the time 
 which still remained before his embarkation for the 
 mission field, will be seen by the following letters. 
 Incidentally they serve to show with what keen 
 interest the writer followed the political events of 
 his day : — 
 
 " N'ov. 7th, 1864. — My name is duly registered, and 
 so I propose to cast the first vote for Lincoln in our 
 ward at sunrise to-morrow. Our city was never more 
 quiet and orderly. General Butler and staff are at 
 the Hoffman House. Telegraph wires come directly 
 into his room from every ward and district in our city, 
 from every engine company, from every town in the 
 State, and from Washington, D.C. The General talked 
 an hour with Secretary Stanton by telegraph this 
 morning, and is it not a wonderful thing, that although 
 not a soldier is seen on the street, at a single tick of 
 the magnetic wire, thousands of armed men can he 
 summoned to duty ? " 
 
 " Wa.shingtox, D.C, 
 "Xov. IQth, 1864. 
 
 " My vote was one of the very first cast in our 21st 
 
go LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 Ward, after which I started for Philadelphia. This 
 morning we came through Baltimore, and I saw the 
 very spot where the traitors fired into our Massa- 
 chusetts boys three years ago. Now that city gives 
 Lincoln a large majority. I am now writing in the 
 Post Office in the Senate Chamber of the Capitol in 
 its north wing. How strange it seems to be here ! 
 Here where the noblest and ablest men have stood 
 up in the advocacy of liberty and justice, and here, 
 too, where the supporters of slavery have pleaded 
 for sin. I think of Sumner, as he fell vmder the 
 blow of Brooks, and his blood crimsoned this very 
 tioor. The cane of Brooks has become almost like 
 the rod of Moses to open the Eed Sea before the 
 millions of redeemed bondsmen. Thank God that 
 no such days are ever likely to come again to this 
 Eepublic ! " 
 
 From Washington he visited Gettysburg, whence he 
 wrote — 
 
 "Gettysburg, Pa., 
 "JVov. lith, 1864. 
 
 " Don't you wish you could have been here to- 
 day ? I rode over this most renowned of American 
 battlefields. I visited the national cemetery, now 
 beautifully laid out in a section of the battlefield. 
 More than 3500 LTnion soldiers are buried there, 
 the graves being arranged according to the States. 
 The ' Eebs ' lie buried in trenches in every part 
 of the immense field. I saw one containing sixty- 
 five, all thrown in promiscuously in a heap, and 
 
DEPUTATION WORK 91 
 
 near by ano^ther mound covered twenty, another 
 thirty- five, and so on. I passed a corn-field in 
 which many ' Rebs ' fell, and were interred. In 
 one instance 105 in one long trench. It is by 
 no means a wild estimate that upwards of 7000 
 U.S.A. troops lie buried in different parts of this 
 sanguinary field. I can give you no adequate idea 
 of this battlefield, whicli even now, after sixteen 
 months, exhibits many and sad tokens of that 
 terrible conflict. The houses of the village, the 
 trees in the streets, and the neighbouring woods, 
 all bear the marks of bullets, shell, grape, canister, 
 and shrapnel. Some of the forests and houses arc 
 completely riddled with these shots. Our friendly 
 and intelligent driver pointed out to us General 
 Mead's headquarters, and also General Lee's. We 
 saw the spot where our gallant Eeynolds fell by a 
 sharpshooter's bullet when rallying his comrades to 
 the attack, and a thousand and one things could I 
 mention, but the fact is I am too full for expres- 
 sion. A good fellow has given me a Confederation 
 musket." 
 
 He now returned to New York, whence he wrote 
 on November 16 th — 
 
 " Messrs. Tudor & Co., Boston, have chartered a 
 vessel for Calcutta, which will take our party about 
 the 1st proximo. Let us give thanks. 
 
 " I am very glad that mother has decided to take 
 Ida with her to India. She will thus have her 
 youngest child with her to comfort her in this hour 
 of keen partings." 
 
92 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 In December they sailed, the event bemg laconically 
 expressed in Dr. Phillips' diary — 
 " r>rc. 17. — Went on board." 
 " „ 10. — Wrote all night." 
 " ,, 20. — Weighed anchor." 
 
CHAPTER Vll. 
 
 BACK TO INDIA. 
 
 THE voyage of Dr. and Mrs. Phillips to India 
 opened boisterously enough. The sky was 
 black with clouds as they went on board the 
 Elcano, a new vessel laden with ice, bound for 
 Calcutta. All next day the clouds grew darker, the 
 wind blew a gale, and the vessel rolled and pitched in 
 a most alarming fashion. On the second night, as 
 Captain Pritchard was going through the main cabin, 
 he remarked to the passengers, " A terrible night ; an 
 awful storm." They never heard him speak again. 
 All through the night the vessel tossed like a leaf on 
 the waves, and the missionary and his party were too 
 prostrate to leave their berths. 
 
 Just as the grey dawn broke, a tremendous sea 
 struck the vessel, and the next instant Mrs. Pritcliard's 
 heart-rending cry, " My husband's overboard," was 
 heard above the howling of the wind. Dr. Phillips 
 sprang from his berth, but was too ill to do more 
 than crawl back again. Before a boat could be 
 lowered, they were miles away, flying before one of 
 the fiercest hurricanes that had ever swept the 
 eastern shores of America. All day long it lasted, 
 wliile above the moaning and shrieking of the wind 
 
 ^ 93 
 
94 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 in the shrouds, and the dashing of the roaring waves 
 against the vessel, rose Mrs. Pritchard's wail for her 
 lost husband. Without a captain, the vessel plunged 
 on madly into the darkness of the awful night which 
 followed. The passengers laid their heads upon their 
 pillows, wondering if they would wake up in this 
 world or the next. 
 
 But on the following morning they were sailing 
 under a cloudless sky. Outside the ship not a trace 
 of the storm was to be seen. The first officer was 
 proclaimed captain, and he undertook to land Mrs. 
 Fritchard at some American port, so that she might 
 return to her friends. Unfortunately he proved 
 sadly incompetent to take the captain's place. He 
 lost his reckoning, crossed the Equator four times, 
 and at last the vessel was becalmed forty days in the 
 Indian Ocean, which seemed like a sea of glass. The 
 marvellously beautiful sunsets which they witnessed 
 every night were the one redeeming feature of this 
 tedious time of waiting. The drinking water failed, 
 and buckets were hung up to catch the rain, which 
 was served out as a delicious beverage. Finally, Dr. 
 Kelly found the right route, and the vessel reached 
 Point de Galle, in Ceylon, after a five months' voyage. 
 Having sighted land but once, when they caught a 
 distant glimpse of the Island of Trinidad, Ceylon 
 seemed like a fairyland to their tired eyes. 
 
 Now Dr. Phillips wrote — 
 
 " One hundred and forty-nine days from Boston. 
 A little boat came out, bringing the pilot, to take us 
 into the Point de Galle, Ceylon. Our first eager ques- 
 tions were about the American War. Fancy our sur- 
 
BACK TO INDIA 
 
 95 
 
 prise and sadness on hearing from the pilot's lips the 
 words, ' Lincoln shot — Peace • ' Tlie joy the last word 
 brought us could not dispel the grief of the iirst 
 announcement. Our crew were in grief, and with one 
 exception all on board were overwhelmed with sorrow. 
 
 " The mate, who took command of the ship after 
 the captain was swept overboard, was jubilant. I 
 cannot speak for my shipmates, but I know one pas- 
 senger, and he a missionary, had hard work to keep his 
 hands off this creature, who deserved to be tiung 
 headlong into the Indian Ocean, and given a chance 
 to cool his hot head." 
 
 Three pleasant weeks were spent in Ceylon, and the 
 party reached the Mission House at Midnapore, Bengal, 
 at eight o'clock in the morning on July 1st, 1865. 
 
 The wild delight of the native Christians on seeing 
 their " Jimmy baba " was not easily to be forgotten. 
 The Bengali preacher, Mohesh, caught him up, and 
 ran all round the room with him in his arms. Mrs. 
 Phillips also came in for a vast amount of curiosity. 
 
 Dr. Phillips' gratitude to God for bringing him 
 back again to his native country as a missionary knew 
 no bounds. On the following Sunday he took the 
 afternoon prayer meeting, his first service in the Oriya 
 language. He preached his first Bengali sermon on 
 August 27th. He afterwards started on his first 
 preaching tour, and reached Jellasore on November 
 1st. The following letter was written from this 
 place to his father, who was now at Midnapore : — 
 
 "Jellasore. 
 " My dear Pa, — How natural it all seems about 
 
g6 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 here. I could not call you anything but ' Pa.' In 
 this house the childhood memories are too strong. I 
 cannot tell you how much at home I feel. It seems 
 but as yesterday that we children played about here. 
 Everything I see revives childhood's memories, and 
 my heart overflows with praise to God for the mercies 
 of those early days. All the love, all the instruction, 
 all the joys, and all the pains of childhood awaken 
 to-day the devoutest gratitude of my heart. In the 
 room where you taught me to pray I am praying 
 for you to-day to Him whose kind hand has led me 
 safely thus far. Oh, for grace to hold fast to that 
 divine hand, and to be led on even to tlie end ! " 
 
 His old friend. Dr. Bacheler, now the senior mis- 
 sionary at Midnapore, welcomed him most cordially 
 to every department of the work there. Dr. Phillips 
 helped to build up the congregation and Sunday School 
 with his wonted enthusiasm, and introduced the 
 volunteer system into the latter, allowing none to 
 teach but those who heartily offered themselves. This 
 plan worked like a charm, and the Sunday School grew 
 very rapidly. Prayer meetings, temperance lectures, 
 singing classes, and special services occupied almost 
 every evening. Only a few weeks after his arrival 
 in India good tidings of bread cast upon the waters 
 brought him great joy, and strengthened and deepened 
 his faith. 
 
 One of the Inspectors, returning from his tour 
 among the schools in the district, brought with him 
 two Bengalis who were anxious to be taught. He 
 reported that one morning he was awakened by a man 
 
BACK TO INDIA 
 
 97 
 
 who was in search of the " Jesus Christ man," and 
 was taken to a neighbouring village, where he found 
 four men who had abandoned their idols, and were in 
 the habit of meeting at the side of a tank every Sun- 
 day to worship the unknown God by bowing to the 
 sun. On inquiry he found that some twenty years pre- 
 viously Bangsi Mahanti, the leading man of the party, 
 had obtained a small volume of tracts at a market- 
 place. He became so interested in them that he 
 called together his friends, and read them aloud. The 
 result was that all these men were ultimately led to 
 abandon heathenism, and to accept Christianity. When 
 Dr. Bacheler and Dr. Phillips visited the village in 
 order to baptize these converts, the Hindus were 
 greatly enraged, and threatened to kill the missionaries. 
 One of them offered a price for Dr. Bacheler's head ; 
 but the Christians remained steadfast. Many years 
 later Dr. Phillips was again visiting this district, and 
 hearing that one of those who had formerly threat- 
 ened him was now dangerously ill, he at once went to 
 see him. This unexpected kindness greatly impressed 
 the dying man. He afterwards remarked that it was 
 a strange kind of religion that would lead the sahib 
 to call on him after he had threatened to take his 
 life. 
 
 Bazaar preaching brought him face to face with men 
 he wished to meet, and his study and drawing-room 
 were always open to all who chose to call. Not a 
 few of those for whose highest good he constantly 
 laboured entered his ever-open door. Hindu gentle- 
 men were especially drawn to him, and attended the 
 English service at his house on Sunday evenings, he 
 7 
 
98 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 visiting them in the morning for the purpose of con- 
 versation on religious subjects. As a medical man 
 he found abundant opportunities of speaking to them 
 about the Great Physician. For the orphan girls on 
 the mission station he deemed no sacrifice too great, 
 and a large number of those whom he thus taught 
 are to-day earnest Christian women. During the 
 cold season he usually made long tours through- 
 out the district, sometimes going still farther 
 afield. 
 
 Some extracts from his letters written during these 
 mission tours, provide us with a graphic description 
 of the circumstances under which he worked. 
 
 " MooNBGHUR, Jan. 22nd. 
 
 " This morning I was premeditating an attack on 
 the Brahmins, and this evening I have had a chance 
 to make it. Mahesh, our native preacher, and I went 
 to a large village a mile away. The audience consisted 
 almost entirely of Brahmins. It was a gloomy picture. 
 Fat, lazy fellows grinning at each other as I exposed 
 their trickery. Now and then, while I spoke of the 
 awful judgment awaiting them for deceiving the 
 people, I thought I could see seriousness settle upon 
 their faces. Were our blessed Lord here, I doubt not 
 that He would talk to these miserable Brahmins as 
 He did to the Pharisees. It is our duty to expose 
 them to the people whom they are deluding, and to 
 shake their confidence in these blind guides. Poor 
 dupes ! They laugh, and say all is true, and then go 
 off and put the dust from the priest's foot upon their 
 heads. Little Rover [his dog] is amusingly curled up 
 
BACK TO INDIA 
 
 99 
 
 at my feet fast asleep. The men are cooking, and the 
 oxen are eating straw, while I have just finished my 
 Bengali chapter and cut my quill to write to you. I 
 overtook the garriman six miles out. Eover was 
 trotting along beautifully, but thinking that the fellow 
 might have walked him too much, I took him on Don, 
 and he almost went to sleep ; but when we reached 
 the other bank of the river I put him down. After 
 walking some distance he trotted up to my side, and 
 looking up into my face, began to beg to be taken up 
 again ; so I gave him a second ride of half a mile. 
 On reaching camp the little fellow- seemed so dis- 
 appointed at not finding any of his friends, that he 
 set up a pitiful cry, but a bit of plantain and two 
 mutton bones very soon soothed his heart vid his 
 stomach, and he thereupon went to sleep. Now, as 
 I write, he lies close to my arm, on the table. He 
 looked so lonesome after his supper that I let him 
 jump into my lap and then on to the table, where he 
 seemed entirely contented. After biting my pen a 
 few times for fun, he laid himself out for a nap, but 
 every few minutes he looked up to assure his little 
 heart that ' Massa is near.' " 
 
 "TuMLOOK, Feb. 2nd. 
 " When I woke yesterday the rain was pouring 
 down in torrents. I feared we could not break camp. 
 When it stopped a little 1 saw that the pilgrims and 
 market-women had started, and remarked to Mahesh 
 that the Lord Jesus Christ's work should not stand 
 still when Satan's and Mammon's work went on. 
 But the fellows had not had their rice ; and I 
 
loo LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 challenge any man to find a Hindu who will 
 willingly budge before taking his invoice of rice 
 for ballast ! 
 
 " I consented to wait another hour. At eleven 
 o'clock I gave orders to break camp, and we went on 
 to a market. I started for Dantoon, and a mile or 
 two out a terrific thunderstorm broke upon us. The 
 men could hardly walk against the violent wind and 
 rain, much less carry me ; so I had to walk five miles. 
 After struggling a while with the empty dooly, falling 
 flat every minute or two, I ordered the men to drop 
 the dooly (an inverted go-cart carried by men), and to 
 look out for themselves. The rain was falling like 
 hail against our faces, and I thought the wind would 
 fairly blow us away. On and on we battled over the 
 swampy ground, until all the Santals gave up, and 
 crouched under a tree. While the lightning was so 
 frequent and so sharp all around us, no place could 
 have been more perilous than the foot of a green 
 tree. After a time of pleading, ordering, and fright- 
 ening, I got them up again, and having made them 
 join hands, I led them on through the tempest, hoping 
 soon to find a house. Long did we work our way 
 through mud and darkness. One young fellow was 
 so scared that he began crying aloud for his mother, 
 which amused and heartened the rest of us. I can 
 assure you it was no easy thing to pull four men 
 along a flooded road, amid torrents of wind and rain. 
 At last deliverance came. In a little room a ' mudie ' 
 (petty shopkeeper) made us a little fire, and there 
 I dried my coat, shirt, and blankets, shedding tears 
 in the blinding smoke. Throwing myself down, I 
 
BACK TO INDIA loi 
 
 took a nap, and toasted my feet at the same time. 
 Waking at midnight, we decided to press on. Taking 
 with me the two stronger men, I walked on to 
 lianesarai, and there found Charlie, and trotted home 
 on him." 
 
 The rice crop of 1865 was a failure, and the 
 opening months of the following year saw large por- 
 tions of India desolated by one of those terrible 
 famines which periodically visit the country with 
 disastrous effect. Some hundreds of orphan chiklren 
 were brought in a state of destitution to the mission 
 schools. In July 18G6 Dr. Phillips reported as 
 follows : — 
 
 " The rains having set in, sickness has increased 
 fearfully among these thousands of poor, half-starved 
 creatures. We have not even a shed in which to 
 shelter them. Dr. Bacheler is feeding about 2000 
 now. A terrible famine is indeed upon us, and my 
 work is fast increasing. I have secured the Dhurrum- 
 sella (a pilgrims' rest-house) north of us for a tempor- 
 ary hospital. Patients, in all stages of starvation, are 
 coming in fast. We opened the quarters yesterday 
 and admitted six, three of whom died in the night. 
 Starvation and cholera are making awful havoc 
 among them. A dear little girl with the tiniest 
 hands and feet followed me all around and carried 
 my pill-box for me. I took her home with me, 
 and we have named her Alice. She is our first 
 orphan. Cholera has broken out now in the jail, 
 and I do not know what we may have in the way 
 of pestilence." 
 
 At Balasore the distress was even greater, and Dr. 
 
I02 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 Phillips hastened to help at the missionary station 
 
 there. 
 
 " Balasore, 
 "Aug. 10th, 1866. 
 
 " The famine is raging fearfully. Many are dying 
 Thousands of miserable starving ones are flocking in 
 from every quarter. I never witnessed such a scene 
 before. One case was on trial in the Court here, 
 where a man had killed his little children, and the 
 older members of the family had actually cooked and 
 eaten them. Many are dying, and the vultures and 
 jackals are growing fat on human flesh. The Govern- 
 ment is providing cooked food for the suffering 
 natives. I saw a mass of boiled rice thirty feet long 
 and three feet deep. It lay on sacking on the 
 verandah, and was shovelled into baskets for distribu- 
 tion. The people are kept from stealing this rice by 
 a policeman stationed inside the railings." 
 
 On his return to his own station, Dr. Phillips found 
 himself faced by the necessity of providing for large 
 numbers of children who had been orphaned by the 
 famine and pestilence. He did not shrink from the 
 heavy responsibility, but manfully faced the work 
 which this involved. He welcomed every orphan as 
 a child sent to him by the Great Father of all, to be 
 led heavenwards. 
 
 " Opportunities to labour for young souls, by the 
 pouring in of these hundreds of famine-orphans, are 
 such as we have never enjoyed before since the 
 founding of our mission, and I am ever welcoming 
 these additional and weighty responsibilities. We are 
 addressing ourselves right resolutely to the work of 
 
BACK TO INDIA 103 
 
 training these interesting children. I have found a 
 sweet little girl, and have named her Minnie. I 
 carried her most of the way from Balasore to Midna- 
 pore — about seventy miles — in my arms on the horse." 
 
 It was early one morning when Dr. Phillips 
 galloped up to his door carrying the child thus 
 referred to. He was drenched, and bespattered with 
 mud from riding by night in the rain, holding the 
 reins in one hand and Minnie in the other, while her 
 bright little face shone out from under the dripping 
 eaves of his great solar hat as her head rested on his 
 shoulder. She was a child of rare beauty, and for 
 two years was the pet of the household. But cholera 
 broke out, and Minnie was one of its first victims. 
 At nine in the morning she begged to lie on the mat, 
 as she " felt so badly." At four o'clock in the after- 
 noon she had passed to the land of peace where earth's 
 pains are no more known. At sunset the girls carried 
 her little coffin along a shady path to the burial- 
 ground and laid her to rest. 
 
 About this time Dr. Jeremiah Phillips began to 
 fail in health through overwork during the famine, 
 and his son hastened to Santipore to relieve him for a 
 few weeks. He thus describes his visit — 
 
 " This is father's station, — Santipore, the city of 
 peace, — and he has been taking me round showing 
 me what to do in his absence. I am to build bridges, 
 construct a canal, erect dykes, clear a jungle, put up 
 a schoolhouse and a godown (a storehouse), and to 
 generally improve the premises. Besides this I am to 
 feed and doctor a number of Oriyas, and to superintend 
 
I04 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 the work at Jellasore, seven miles off ! I shall need 
 more legs than my own pair to get over all this 
 territory to inspect the work. Several girls at 
 Jellasore have the smallpox. I have a number of 
 interesting cases, among them being two men who 
 have been terribly mauled by bears. I shall hold 
 clinique regularly on Wednesday at noon. At 4 p.m. 
 we shall have a singing class, at 7 a lecture, and at 
 8 o'clock a teachers' class. Yesterday I had a good 
 game of ' red, white and blue ' with the girls. In the 
 evening I lectured on the temperance pledge. How 
 men professing Christianity can voluntarily degrade 
 themselves and become the slaves of intemperance, so 
 ruinous to the body and so blighting in its influence 
 on the soul, I cannot tell. Let us do all we can to 
 save the dear little boys and girls from the path of 
 sinful indulgence. We must be ready for a regular 
 campaign, and I am getting up a compendium to the 
 Bible and a polyglot hymn-book." 
 
 When Dr. Phillips was only seven years old, his 
 father had become deeply interested in the Santals, 
 one of the aboriginal tribes dwelling on the foot of 
 the Himalayas. Some of them had found their 
 way to the Balasore and Midnapore districts. He 
 made the first dictionary and translated the Gos- 
 pels. When he became too tired to go on with 
 the work during the long hot days, he would say, 
 " James, wake me in ten minutes," then dropping his 
 head upon his folded arms on the table, he would 
 sleep just ten minutes, when the boy spoke to him and 
 he resumed his work with his Santal pundits. Thus 
 early in his life Dr. Phillips became interested in the 
 
BACK TO INDIA 105 
 
 Santal tribe, and when in 1869 he found himself in a 
 position to commence active missionary work amongst 
 these neglected people, he felt that one of the great 
 desires of his heart had been granted. 
 
 " Our Indian Committee have voted to let me 
 devote myself to Santal work. If it is God's will, I 
 am more than willing ; I am anxious to do so. Still, 
 I have my serious doubts about entirely quitting so 
 important a Bengal field at present." 
 
 Every cold season seemed to him to bristle with 
 golden opportunities for work. Thus we find in his 
 diaries and letters periodical accounts of journeys 
 many and long through dense jungles and along 
 mountain paths in search of outlying villages where 
 the good news needed to be proclaimed. Many of 
 his letters contain most graphic descriptions of the 
 strange scenes and adventures which he encountered 
 in the course of these tours. We give some extracts 
 without special reference to dates. 
 
 " I have left the preacher and the bookbag and 
 wandered off alone to this clump of trees a quarter of 
 a mile away. In the centre there is such a handsome 
 little tank of sparkling water, and all around this 
 stand tall majestic trees making a lovely shade, and 
 reflecting their swaying branches in the smooth mirror 
 of water. Along the edge of the tank several large 
 birds are strolling, and many a beautiful pigeon is 
 taking its sultry nooning. All these birds seem so 
 completely at home and unafraid ! I want to tell you 
 here how thankful I am to God for giving me such 
 liberty in preaching in these native languages. I used 
 to think that my preaching in this country might 
 
io6 
 
 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 become a tedious and tiresome task, and that I should 
 never have such happy times in the pulpit as in 
 America. Oh, how good God is to me ! Now I know 
 no difference, so far as freedom of expression and tiow 
 
 -^IKiiy' If.! i: *-• ^s ^'# 
 
 AN INDIAN BUNGALOW. 
 
 of soul are concerned, between speaking in English 
 and in these Hindu tongues. I forget myself now 
 quite as much in Bengali and Oriya, and am quite as 
 lost in them as ever in English. All this is of God. 
 To Him shall be all the praise ! He has taught me 
 these languages and given me this freedom, so that I 
 
BACK TO INDIA 107 
 
 am never at a loss to convey my thoughts even in 
 the most rapid passages in our chapel and street 
 preaching. The words that tell, the idioms that 
 count, the emotion that makes my soul burn and my 
 speech flame in view of God's love and man's sin — 
 these are the elements which reach hard hearts and 
 cause them to relent. All these infinite mercies it 
 pleases God to give me, who am but an earthen vessel 
 most weak and worthless, and unworthy of His 
 slightest favour. 
 
 " Yesterday I went across country all day. It was 
 very fatiguing. For one of the stages a friend lent 
 me his mule that I had been told was hard to mount, 
 but when once on she would go all right. I had a 
 charming time. She kicked with her left leg to 
 prevent my mounting, but by dint of strategy I 
 managed to get on. Then the fun began. She 
 reared and roared and romped and ' raised Cain,' and 
 came within one of sending herself and me down an 
 embankment, where one of us would undoubtedly 
 have required no surgical aid. At midnight it poured 
 so heavily that we were compelled to take shelter in a 
 shed. My pony stood all night at the foot of my 
 bed, while snoring men lay on every side. A party 
 of drummers and fifers occupied one side of the shed, 
 and felt it their delightful duty to set up such a 
 bedlam every now and then that I got very little 
 sleep. I have sold a few tracts here. The people 
 must first make sure that we are positively in earnest 
 about giving away no more tracts and books before 
 they will buy even whaf they want. A year hence I 
 think the plan of selling will have become sufficiently 
 
io8 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 well understood to make our sales large enough to 
 pay the cost of printing and paper. A while ago a 
 lad came to my tent and asked for a book. On my 
 inquiring why he wished for that particular book, he 
 answered, ' There is enough paper in it to make a first- 
 rate kite ! ' 
 
 " Another time I was preaching in a large market 
 on our Orissa border. On my camp cot I had 
 arranged our Christian books, and the native preacher 
 had begun to address the crowd that stood around us. 
 Presently a Brahmin came along, and I offered him 
 one of our largest and best books. I shall not forget 
 with what lofty disdain he turned away, saying, ' I 
 don't care for your cheap trash that you give away. 
 Our books cost money, and cannot be given away for 
 nothing.' Then and there I determined to fix a price 
 to all our books, and to stop promiscuous giving. We 
 sell our Scripture portions at a merely nominal fee, to 
 be sure. Yet this commands respect, and our books 
 are better received and more worthily treated. 
 
 " For several days we have been travelling about 
 among Oriyas and Santals. The party consists of 
 Father, two native preachers, and myself. Our main 
 object is to visit as many Santal settlements as pos- 
 sible, and at the same time to make for as many 
 Oriya markets as we can, where we never fail to 
 secure large congregations and good attention. This 
 is a little village. Our tents are pitched on the edge 
 of a large market, and while I write hundreds of 
 people are buying, selling, bantering, and blowing 
 right beside us. For several hours we shall have a 
 large audience, and we take turns, and shall keep up 
 
BACK TO INDIA 109 
 
 the preaching until the people leave. All around us 
 are these Hindu markets, so that we can attend them 
 daily by going from four to ten miles. Earely do we 
 fail to find people to hear our message. 
 
 " The other morning, however, we adopted a curious 
 plan to get a congregation. After breakfast there 
 was hardly a person at the tent door, and we were 
 discussing where we should go for hearers. A couple 
 of young men presently .walked up, and very politely 
 and urgently requested us to shoot some troublesome 
 monkeys that were robbing their gardens. We needed 
 no second invitation. Our guns were only loaded 
 with bird shot, to be sure, but this would fetch the 
 brutes. So out we started in quest of the plunderers. 
 On some tamarind trees close by were well-nigh a 
 score of monkeys of all sizes, from old paterfamilias 
 to the little ones clinging to their mothers' breasts. 
 These animals when well grown are about the size of 
 a small calf. They have strong slender legs, and tails 
 from three to four feet long. They do the fields and 
 gardens much harm, and the Hindus are glad to have 
 them shot. In some places, however, the monkeys 
 are worshipped, and notwithstanding the mischief 
 they do the people protect them. . . . The shooting 
 occupied ten or fifteen minutes, and thus there was a 
 good congregation to preach to. Only one of the men 
 seemed at all displeased at our shooting the monkeys. 
 He was an ignorant and very superstitious man, and 
 as I afterwards learned had no crops to suffer from 
 the wholesale pillage of these animals. We had a 
 good audience, and one by one all of us spoke to them 
 of the concerns of the soul, contrasting them with the 
 
no LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 worldly matters about which they had so much to say. 
 So the monkeys helped us to a congregation. 
 
 " The Hindus, as I have told you before, hold 
 singular views with regard to the lives of animals. 
 They believe that a part of the divine life dwells in 
 every living creature. They often blame us for 
 shooting birds, and sometimes make a great fuss 
 over a duck or a pigeon. Men of intelligence among 
 them are getting over this, however, and many of 
 them eat flesh as freely as we do. We shoot only 
 what is required for the camp, except when we are 
 asked to put an end to birds or beasts of prey that 
 trouble and terrify the people. Every now and then 
 men come to our tent, as they did one morning this 
 week, to ask us to shoot an ugly bear or something 
 else that is doing mischief. We never say No when 
 we have time to help the poor villagers without inter- 
 fering with our regular work. 
 
 " Speaking of mercy to beasts reminds me of the 
 cruelty towards their own race so frequently wit- 
 nessed among the Hindus. Some of these people 
 will make grievous lamentation over a dead fowl, or 
 the carcase of a monkey, but will pass proudly and 
 coldly by a poor dying woman who has fallen on the 
 dusty road. They feign pity for beasts, but they have 
 no sighs or tears for suffering humanity. Oh the 
 hardness of heart that this paganism begets ! " 
 
CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 IN LABOURS ABUNDANT. 
 
 DR. PHILLIPS found his work amongst the Santal 
 tribes steadily increasing, and soon after the 
 date of the letters given in the preceding chapter we 
 find him reporting : — 
 
 " I have been most happy in my work to-day preach- 
 ing to the multitude, who came to witness the consecra- 
 tion of a tank, where we have been eight hours on the 
 grounds, Madhu and I taking turns in talking to the 
 people. Thousands were present, some from fifty miles 
 away. Over 250 Brahmins were on the ground, and 
 were feasted up to style. Many of the scenes which took 
 place on the premises were disgusting in the extreme. 
 Hundreds of Santals were hired to dance, and their 
 intoxicating liquor, ' Hundia,' was served out to them 
 without stint. Plenty of people were drunk before 
 nightfall, and there were rows without number. The 
 old Brahmin who has made the tank spent 2000 
 rupees on the earthwork, so it is said, and he claims 
 to have laid out another 2000 on the consecration. 
 Poor fool ! How soon he must see his mistake, and 
 how completely these bigoted, inflated priests rule the 
 common people ! Eover has just come trotting up, 
 and seemed delighted when I proposed to send his 
 
112 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 ' bow-wow ' to you and Julia. He is a very affection- 
 ate little dog. Flora should certainly be taught to 
 stay on the verandah at night and watch. I fully 
 sustain you, Mrs. Phillips, in the family discipline ! " 
 
 " I am fast learning to speak and preach in Santal, 
 and I feel that God is very near me while preaching. 
 
 " I was greatly pleased with my effort last Sabbath, 
 and though I find it difticult to pray in this strange 
 language, I am yet wonderfully aided. It really re- 
 freshes my soul to talk to these poor villagers of the 
 love of Jesus. What a story of love we have to tell ! 
 Heaven pity us that we so often deliver it with cold 
 hearts and cold lips ! Oh for more faith and fire from 
 above to move and melt our hearts ! We might then 
 hope to move the people. We are observing the week 
 of prayer, and are having a good meeting every 
 evening." 
 
 " It is our increasing delight to travel among these 
 jungle people, and one only wishes for more time and 
 strength to devote to them. During these three weeks 
 we have visited fifty-six villages, and examined ten 
 schools. Everywhere the Santals receive us as their 
 friends, and give us a hearty welcome. No sooner do 
 our carts arrive than many willing hands are ready. 
 Some bring straw for the tent and bullocks, others 
 run for fire and fuel. Away go a couple of boys in 
 great haste in quest of milk for the children, and 
 several others are racing after a hen for our curry. 
 Wherever there is a school of ours, there the teacher 
 and pupils are invariably first on the ground to greet 
 us. There is a general ' Namasker ! ' from all sides. 
 This answers to our ' Good morning,' and to the 
 
C5 
 
 te if 
 
 
 iM'/-'' 'S* H 
 
IN LABOURS ABUNDANT 115 
 
 Mohammedan ' Salaam.' This over, all hands eagerly 
 hasten to our help. Up goes the little umbrella tent, 
 and down come the dusty boxes fi'om the carts. One 
 boy takes a chulla (fireplace), and another runs for a 
 kalsi (earthen jar) of water for cooking purposes. 
 In less than an hour we are nicely settled down in 
 our camp home, and the curry and rice are ready. 
 
 " After dinner the school is examined, and the 
 people are addressed. As for the audience, there is 
 seldom any lack. Eight at the tent door sometimes 
 scores assemble to hear the Gospel. They do not all 
 come, however, to hear us preach. Some, perhaps the 
 majority, come out of mere curiosity ; others come 
 for medicine, in many cases bringing their sick with 
 them. Every missionary is supposed to be a doctor, 
 and the call for medicine is constant. It is such 
 a comfort to help these poor creatures. It is amus- 
 ing to mark the implicit confidence they repose in us, 
 and their notions of the range of our skill and know- 
 ledge are often remarkably ludicrous. 
 
 " I was making my way over a belt of steep, 
 ragged hills one day, in the Santal Pergunnahs, my 
 guide being a young man of twenty, a thorough jungle 
 man, and an out-and-out Santal. We were both far 
 in advance of our party, for the banghy men (who 
 carry boxes swung across their shoulders) found it 
 hard work climbing the rocks. My companion, after 
 only half an hour's acquaintance, began opening his 
 heart to me. After the usual preliminaries, consisting 
 of extravagant expressions of confidence, etc., the 
 simple-hearted youth began thus : — ' Do help me, 
 Sahib, for I have a great affliction. Our own doctors 
 
ii6 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 cannot cure it, and I have called in vain on the gods 
 of our race. Yes, I have offered up fowls and kids, 
 yet no good comes from it all. You white men must 
 know all about it. Do pity and help me ! ' I never 
 once suspected what the trouble was, nor will you be 
 likely to. If you are good at guessing, stop right 
 here before reading farther. 
 
 " A short question brought out the whole story. 
 The youth had married a wife, but the girl-wife was 
 constantly running away to her father's house. 
 Nothing would keep her at home. Several times had 
 he climbed over the long range of hills to her old 
 home and brought her back, but she always ran away 
 again at the very first chance. With remarkable 
 sincerity my guide told me his sad story, and then 
 fixing his large black eyes fully and firmly on mine, 
 he asked so beseechingly, ' What is the right medicine 
 for the girl ? give me the right charm. Do cure her, 
 and I will worship you and bless you ! ' 
 
 " There was yet a weary mile of hard climbing 
 before we were out of the hills, and I had time enough 
 to tell my confiding companion of the only ' medicine ' 
 there was, and the true ' charm ' for bringing and 
 binding fast together their young and wayward hearts. 
 We talked on until we stood on the summit of the 
 last hill. My guide pointed out to me the descending 
 path to the little village, and with a low bow and a 
 happy smile, he ran homeward on the opposite side." 
 
 " We rejoice most when the Santals come to our 
 camp begging for schools. The other day tliere came 
 such a fine-looking man, the ' mandal ' or headman of 
 the village, to ask us for a school. This rapidly 
 
IN LABOURS ABUNDANT 117 
 
 increasing desire for learning among these sons of the 
 forest gives us great cheer. Oh that we had the 
 wherewithal to establish the schools that are now 
 so greatly wanted throughout the Santal country ! 
 Just now an effort is on foot to bring the girls into 
 the schools, and I hope before many months we may 
 have the pleasure of reporting some girls in our 
 jungle schools." 
 
 " Slowly, but nevertheless surely, is the Santal 
 mind becoming disengaged from the cruel supersti- 
 tions of centuries, and directed towards a purer faith. 
 Our two-score village schools in the jungle are so 
 many lighthouses dispelling the darkness and reveal- 
 ing the dangers of the past, and opening out the path 
 of peace for the future. Let the Churches make 
 special prayer for the teachers of these schools, and 
 the hundreds of youths now under instruction. These, 
 rightly trained, must become the leaders of their 
 people, and incalculable blessings to their posterity." 
 
 A little later Dr. Phillips visited the Santal 
 mission station at Ebenezer, and on his return he 
 encamped near a railway station at Eanigunge. From 
 this camping place he wrote : — 
 
 " We have reached here this evening at sunset. 
 Just as we were crossing a railway bridge, a freight 
 and passenger train passed under. What singularly 
 delightful sensations I experienced upon looking at 
 the cars again after five years ! I stood and gazed 
 in silence, and in the brief moments I lived over 
 again many a pleasant journey in America. You 
 should have seen my Santals stare at the wonderful 
 engine and the long line of cars. They will have 
 
ii8 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 stories enough to tell upon getting home, I warrant. 
 We happen to be on the verge of what we may call 
 incognita, because we shall not be heard from again 
 for probably ten days at least. I shall work my 
 way slowly, reaching the northern border of our own 
 district about a month hence, somewhere near Silda. 
 I should like to settle amongst the numerous Santal 
 villages, but of this who can tell ? We walked 
 twenty-five miles one day barefoot through the rice- 
 fields, and had great success in selling books in 
 Bengali, Oriya, Hindu, and Santal. I carried the 
 pack myself from village to village. 
 
 " This is my last day of this very interesting trip. 
 We have visited 122 villages, and have preached 
 to multitudes the unsearchable riches of Christ. On 
 the Judgment Day we must meet every congregation 
 we have addressed. Speakers and hearers alike must 
 stand at God's impartial bar. The serious question 
 comes to me in view of these important facts. Am I 
 ready to face them before the great Judge ? I trust 
 that I have tried to be true and faithful to the 
 thousands whom I have addressed in this trip of 
 six weeks." 
 
 Twenty miles west of Midnapore, and 90 miles 
 west of Calcutta, lies Bhimpore, a beautiful Santal 
 village. Dr. Bacheler gave a copy of the Gospel of 
 St. Mark to a Santal teacher named Eaju, one of 
 three brothers. For a time the little book lay tucked 
 away in the thatch of his mud house. Occasionally 
 it was taken down and read. At last his eyes were 
 opened and his heart was touched, and he began teach- 
 ing it to his pupils, and his brothers also became 
 
IN LABOURS ABUNDANT 119 
 
 acquainted with the new-found treasure. The result 
 was that the three brothers and six teachers, as well 
 as one of Eaju's pupils, all came out for Christ. The 
 oldest of the brothers, Panchu, headman of Bhimpore 
 village, at once put an end to the dancing and 
 drinking, and built a neat little chapel, although 
 his mother and wife constantly opposed and per- 
 secuted him. This was the beginning of the work 
 at Bhimpore, to which reference is so constantly 
 made by Dr. Phillips. 
 
 " This month I have again visited our Santal 
 branch at Bhimpore, and spent the Sabbath with 
 our brothers there. They seem to be holding on 
 well. The mother continues as vehement as ever 
 in her persecutions. Poor deluded thing ! She 
 fancies that Christianity has ruined her family. The 
 wife of Panchu is doing all in her power to make 
 it hard for her husband to serve God in his own 
 house. She keeps all the children from attending 
 the meetings, and does all that she can to embitter 
 their minds against Christianity. But the good soul 
 bears it all with remarkable patience, and never 
 ceases to pray for their conversion." 
 
 The girls' orphanage, to which allusion has already 
 been made, occupied much of Dr. Phillips' best 
 thought and energy. The work was beset with 
 peculiar difficulties, many of which we cannot here 
 describe in detail. Their general character, however, 
 may be gathered from the following letter written 
 by Dr. Phillips about this time : — 
 
 " The more I think of it, the more is my mind 
 impressed with the conviction that ' police detective ' 
 
120 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 and ' police protective ' of our native girls must have 
 their stand in their hearts, rather than around their 
 homes. 1 believe in safe enclosure, high walls, strong 
 hedges of thorns, and deep pits full of water all 
 around our girls' homes ; and I believe in bars and 
 bolts, locks and keys, and everything of this sort ; but 
 I firmly believe in having all these within rather than 
 without the individuals whom we would protect. I 
 pray God to give us, who are their guardians, great 
 grace to work so faithfully and intelligently for their 
 souls that each of them will be strong to face tempta- 
 tion. The devil with all his wicked wiles these girls 
 will have to meet, every one of them, and I am for 
 having them proof against these by God's saving 
 power in their souls, and then I care not how soon 
 the temptations come, or how subtle they are. I 
 believe that one of the greatest objections to the 
 boarding-school system in India lies in the fact that 
 the pupils are too much shielded and screened from 
 the world of sin and sorrow, into which at marriage 
 they rush unprepared, and too often bring trouble and 
 shame upon themselves. Let our dear girls know 
 now that the arch - enemy of souls will leave no 
 stone unturned to bring about their ruin, and that 
 Christ alone can keep them safe in the hour of 
 temptation. Let us place this more frequently and 
 more faithfully before our children. Now is the 
 time to prepare them for the future. Show them 
 from God's Word what their armour is, and how to 
 use it. God is almighty, and He is a hearer of 
 prayer. This is my hope and comfort." 
 
 While thus committing to paper his earnest desire 
 
IN LABOURS ABUNDANT 121 
 
 for the spiritual welfare of these orphan girls, Dr. 
 Phillips little knew that one of them, named Surgi, 
 was even then influencing for Christ a most remark- 
 able woman who has since done noble work as a 
 Christian evangelist in many of the large cities of 
 India. A month later he joyfully reported the 
 fact. 
 
 " Chandra Lela, a woman of the province of Nepaul, 
 a high caste Brahmini by birth, and for many years 
 a Bastami, having devoted herself to most rigid 
 religious ceremonies, and travelled over a large part of 
 India from shrine to shrine in quest of salvation, has 
 at last found the true way, and believed on our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 " She was found by one of our schoolgirls when 
 she was teaching in a Sepoy bazaar. Chandra was 
 very anxious to learn the way of life. They told her 
 of Jesus, and the next day they went to her lodging 
 and expounded to her the way of God more perfectly. 
 She listened eagerly to the gracious tidings of salva- 
 tion through Christ, and from that day has been a 
 diligent student of the Bible. She began attending 
 the chapel, and came to our bungalow for religious 
 instruction. In this way she has made slow but sure 
 progress, until on the first Sunday of this month it 
 was my privilege to baptize and to receive her into the 
 Christian Church. The Hindus, her old associates, 
 did all they could to frighten her. Some said, ' The 
 Sahib will feed you on beef, and marry you to a 
 Santal.' Others said, ' The Christians only want to 
 break your caste, and then they will let you go on 
 and shift for yourself.' She came to our native 
 
122 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 preacher, and asked about all these matters, wishing to 
 know the true facts of the case. They soon answered 
 her satisfactorily." 
 
 " Last evening we had a capital temperance meet- 
 ing. There is nothing like steady systematic effort to 
 put down all opposition. Our meeting on the first 
 Monday of each month is as regular a thing as the 
 Communion, and is doing good. Five joined us last 
 evening. I am kept constantly busy with meetings 
 for converts, lectures, inquirers' meetings, preachers' 
 classes, temperance meetings, and so on. Among 
 other things I assisted at a Eoman Catholic funeral 
 a short time ago. My Sunday School prospers. Did 
 I tell you that the first thing printed in our 
 mission press was the tract ' Come to Jesus ' in 
 Santali ? " 
 
 ''Oct. 15th. — This is a lovely Friday morning. A 
 cool north breeze is coming in so softly and sweetly 
 at the doors. How we have longed for it through 
 six months of heat and rain ! You can hardly 
 imagine how delighted we always are at the first 
 approach of the cold season in India. We sniff the 
 cool breeze with peculiar pleasure, and gather strength 
 every moment. You have no idea how one of these 
 hot seasons, followed up by the rains, drains the 
 vigour of one's constitution. The steady heat steal- 
 thily sucks the very life out of one's blood and bones, 
 until he looks like a Panama fever patient, or still 
 worse sometimes, like an Andersonville prisoner. 
 Thank God for the north wind which brings the 
 cold ! Every breath is laden with praise." 
 
 Dr. Phillips still continued his periodical con- 
 
IN LABOURS ABUNDANT 123 
 
 tiributions to tlie American newspapers, and in the 
 following letter he gives the reader a glimpse of 
 Santipore in 1871 : — 
 
 " Would you not like to be here with us at this our 
 jungle station, where for a week past revival meet- 
 ings have been in progress ? This village affords a 
 striking illustration of the power of the Gospel in 
 a heathen land. Here tigers and wild elephants 
 formerly roamed at their leisure. Where the little 
 chapel now stands, and the bungalow and schoolhouse, 
 and where our brethren live, were, not many years 
 ago, the lairs and hiding-places of wild beasts. Over 
 these beautiful fields, now covered with waving grain, 
 the high jungle used to stand thick and dark. How 
 changed it all is now ! Listen to the merry voices of 
 happy school boys and girls ! Hear them sing the 
 praises of Jesus who has done marvellous things ! 
 Alike in the early morning, at the noontide hour, in 
 the calm of the evening, and in the dead of night, 
 there may be heard rising from some of these dwell- 
 ings the voice of earnest prayer. Thank God for the 
 wonderful change ! " 
 
 In the autumn of 1872 the effects of prolonged 
 overwork showed themselves in a complete break- 
 down. For many weeks the missionary's life was 
 trembling in the balance, and day and night the 
 orphan girls stood beside his pillow cooling his head 
 with ice. A sidelight is thrown upon the difficulties 
 and hardships of an Indian missionary's position, 
 when we remember that this ice had to be brought 
 from Calcutta, a distance of seventy-five miles, by 
 relays of coolie^. By the beginning of October the 
 
124 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 brain fever had subsided, and he was removed to 
 the hills. "Daejeeling, 
 
 "Oc<. 19th, 1872. 
 " A long, fearful attack of brain fever has pro- 
 strated me for weeks. I had hardly strength to 
 reach this mountain station two weeks ago, but am 
 now gaining fast. This week I have seen the highest 
 mountain on the globe, Mount Everest, 29,000 feet 
 above the sea-level. How I wish you could iiave been 
 with us to look at that grand old height capped with 
 snow ! We started at nine in the morning and went 
 seven miles to the summit of Mount Senchal, the 
 highest point in these parts. Twenty minutes before 
 sunrise, while the moon was still shining, we reached 
 the top and began observations. A kind friend had 
 lent us a good telescope which helped much. Several 
 minutes before the sun appeared above the horizon, its 
 beams tipped the head of Kinchinjunja, the highest 
 snowy range to the north. It was like a flame 
 bursting forth on the white head, and was a most 
 magnificent sight. Soon other peaks caught it, and 
 the eastern slopes began to be bathed in sunshine. 
 A thick belt of cloud lay across the western horizon, 
 and we feared that the Nepaul range, of which Everest 
 is head, would be completely hidden. But as the sun 
 rose higher the cloud broke away, and we had a 
 wonderfully clear view of the celebrated mount. For 
 an hour we feasted our eyes on its grand proportions." 
 
 Not until the beginning of the following year was 
 Dr. Phillips able again to take up his much-loved 
 Santal work. 
 
JAMES L. PHILLIPS IN HIS YOUNGER DAYS. 
 
 From a Photograph by Aljian & Co, 
 
IN LABOURS ABUNDANT 127 
 
 " Camp, Barikeel, 
 ''Feb. nil, 1873. 
 
 " I feel like shouting, as good Deacon Dudley used 
 
 to say, for the privilege of once more travelling amongst 
 
 the Santals. The heat is coming on so fast that this 
 
 trip of three weeks is the last I shall have for months. 
 
 To-day we have come from a large Santal village, twelve 
 
 miles east of this. The road is poor, and our rude 
 
 little cart with the tent and traps did not get here till 
 
 nearly sunset. Bullocks are slow anywhere, but on cross 
 
 country trips they barely crawl over the ground." 
 
 The keen interest which Dr. Phillips always felt 
 and manifested in the work of teaching the children, 
 whether in day or Sunday Schools, appears again and 
 again in his diaries and letters. At a later period in 
 his life we shall see more of the high aspirations and 
 aims which were continually present in his mind for 
 the amelioration of the native children of India. At 
 present we can only note in passing the interest which, 
 beginning in the days of childhood, steadily grew and 
 increased until it culminated in that overwhelming 
 energy which hastened him to a premature grave. 
 Writing from Midnapore on March 8th, 1873, he 
 alludes to this part of his work. 
 
 " In January we had our convention at Bhimpore. 
 It was a good time. The different schools that came 
 to our camp for examination did very well, and we 
 had games and gymnastics with the people and teachers 
 each day. Some of the teachers seemed in earnest 
 about seeking Christ, and at one meeting twenty-five 
 spoke, "and two asked for our prayers. When shall 
 
128 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 we see them all coining to the Saviour's feet ? It was 
 very gratifying to see girls in almost every one of the 
 village schools." 
 
 One of those heavy trials which seem to be the 
 necessary accompaniments of life in the tropics now 
 visited the missionary's home, and cast over it a cloud 
 which did not disperse for many a weary day. Let 
 Dr. Phillips tell the pathetic story. 
 
 " MiDNAPORE, 
 
 "March Zlst, 1873. 
 
 " Our home is dark to-day, for the shadow of a great 
 sorrow has fallen on it. Last night our darling Nellie 
 left us for Jesus' arms. She sank rapidly, and all that 
 could be done failed to help her. At a few minutes 
 past midnight our sweet child breathed her last. All 
 is well. The Will of the Lord be done ! We feel the 
 sustaining grace of God to be very precious now. The 
 world looked so bright with the children all so well 
 and happy. That baby, too, was my special pet. Her 
 sweet face, her merry prattle, her tiny feet every now 
 and then trotting into my study, had taken captive 
 my willing heart, and God only knows how that 
 precious child has helped me to bear my heavy burdens 
 these months past. The little cot is empty, and my 
 darling pet is gone. You know how at times a wild 
 wave of sorrow comes rolling over the heart, and even 
 faith in God and the blessed hereafter does not stay 
 the flowing tears. But I am comforted with the 
 words, ' What I do thou knowest not now, but thou 
 shalt know hereafter.' We had the funeral by sunset, 
 and the service in Bengali by our native preacher. 
 At the close our children repeated texts of Scripture." 
 
IN LABOURS ABUNDANT 129 
 
 " Aiig, 2nd. 
 " Had a hard day with a bad headache. In the 
 afternoon we all took tea in the jungle for a change. 
 Nell went with us the last time. How I miss my 
 darling every day and everywhere ! All is well." 
 
 While Dr. Phillips was thus spending and being 
 spent for the native Bengalis and Santals, he was not 
 forgetful of the needs of the Europeans on the stations. 
 The neglected condition of many of these colonists — 
 isolated from their countrymen, too often forgotten 
 amid the pressing claims of the heathen, oftentimes 
 without the means of grace, and having no services to 
 attend except those conducted in a foreign language and 
 adapted rather to the needs of natives than to Euro- 
 peans — appealed strongly to the heart of Dr. Phillips. 
 
 " My mind is much exercised about starting an 
 English service. I am disposed to think that I am 
 being led into the right path about this, that we 
 should have a family service at our house. At such 
 a service I should feel perfectly free, and the work 
 would not be so exhausting as Church service. Con- 
 gregational singing, responsive reading of the Scrip- 
 tures, and the recital of the Lord's Prayer in concert, 
 all this would help to make the meeting like a home 
 service. I am ashamed and confused before God, and 
 condemned at the bar of my own conscience, for so 
 neglecting my neighbours. I cannot see how a true 
 missionary can do his duty without working for the 
 souls of these station people. Does God know any 
 difference between black and white ? Am I sent to 
 a particular class or colour, or to all sinners whom I 
 9 
 
I30 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 can reach, and upon whom it is in my power to exert 
 any influence ? I have sinned, and God helping me 
 I shall commence work amongst my English friends 
 and neighbours." 
 
 This service was duly started, and was afterwards 
 regularly maintained, the attendance being very en- 
 couraging, and the general results proving the wisdom 
 of the methods adopted by the missionary. 
 
 It will be remembered that Midnapore was in the 
 direct pilgrim road, and that as a boy, Dr. Phillips 
 had seen the hosts of devotees passing along to the 
 great festivals, some of them measuring their length 
 on the sandy road, others performing penances and 
 undergoing hardships too hideous for description. 
 Now that he was once again amidst the old sights, it 
 was with less curiosity but with far deeper sadness of 
 heart that he witnessed these periodical exhibitions 
 by which paganism still held the people. 
 
 " I see this unnumbered host of immortals madly 
 rushing down to ruin, and I would that my voice 
 could reach every ear, and that God would give me a 
 word for every heart. Such a scene as I daily wit- 
 ness on this old pilgrim road to Jagannath is enough 
 to make any Christian's heart cry aloud to God for 
 help. Every hour crowds of these poor deluded 
 creatures are passing by the chapel door. Old men 
 with bending frames and blistered feet ; young men 
 with resolute tread ; tender women, duped by cunning 
 libertines wearing the badge of a sensual priesthood ; 
 all these go by day and by night along this way of 
 death. As we call out to them, they halt a moment, 
 listen to a few words, and then lift up once more the 
 
IN LABOURS ABUNDANT 131 
 
 fanatical shout, ' Jai Jagannath samiku jai.' So the 
 motley crowd hastens on, many of whom will never 
 return along that hard road, worn smooth by a million 
 feet. Many a man and woman of this shouting 
 company will lie down and die, unattended, alone, and 
 helpless, while the priest will pass on, smiling over 
 the coin that he had wrested from the dying grasp of 
 the fallen pilgrim. Then the dogs, the jackals, the 
 crows, and the vultures will hold high carnival over 
 their easy prey, and the poor, pagan, pilgrim soul will 
 pass on to the righteous judgment of the Great Father 
 of all men." 
 
 "Dec. ilst, 1873. 
 
 "We left Midnapore at sunrise on December 16th. 
 Our little mud shanty here has been almost devoured 
 by white ants. We are now at work among the 
 Santals, and are very busy putting up a mud hut to 
 live in. The people gave us a very hearty welcome. 
 As we have brought some of our orphan girls with us, 
 we have quite a congregation to start with. We 
 celebrated the day by marrying off two of our girls, 
 and last Saturday three others were given away. 
 Last April another three were married ; so that now 
 eight in all have left us for homes of their own. 
 May God bless them all, and make them a blessing to 
 others ! All are members of the Church, and have 
 been a real help to us in our work. Now in other 
 places they are working for the Eedeemer. 
 
 " Each day is devoted to travelling and preaching, 
 from village to village. One poor old woman, a con- 
 firmed cripple, was first impressed by hearing us 
 repeat the Lord's Prayer day by day in the little school 
 
132 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 close by her house. Though she could not read a 
 word, she soon learned to pray, and is now a member 
 of this Church. I may be permitted to speak here of 
 a little incident in our quiet jungle life that has 
 cheered us not a little. You may know that almost 
 all our Santal Christians are tillers of the soil. The 
 rainfall had been slight, and their crops, consisting 
 of corn, rice, and the like, were suffering severely. 
 Several brethren were very much depressed in spirits, 
 and their faith began to droop. 
 
 " Last Wednesday morning at our daily prayer 
 meeting I felt moved to say that God had not for- 
 gotten His creatures like the Hindu Brahma, but was 
 a hearer of prayer, and ready always to send down 
 blessings iipon all who asked for them in faith. I 
 proposed to the dejected ones that we should hold a 
 special service that day at one o'clock, when all would 
 be in from their work, and offer prayer for rain. A 
 goodly number met together, and the petitions were 
 direct and fervent. God graciously hearkened to our 
 cry for rain. We were scarcely home from chapel 
 before the drops began to fall, and it proved to be 
 the heaviest shower we had had for weeks. Since 
 then we have had abundance of rain, and now the 
 Bhimpore fields and those of the neighbouring villages 
 too are looking wonderfully changed, and the crops 
 bid fair to turn out well. This direct answer to 
 prayer has greatly cheered our Santal brethren, and 
 taught them to pray for other blessings, temporal and 
 spiritual. I have held a Bible class for three weeks. 
 It is very difficult to get the natives to attend to any 
 duty regularly. They are drawn away by the merest 
 
IN LABOURS ABUNDANT 133 
 
 straw. 1 have got very well through the hard work 
 of the past year, and I count the following among the 
 reasons : — 
 
 " 1st. God's help in answer to prayer. 
 
 " 2ndly. A long walk every evening in the jungle 
 whenever it could be managed, instead of going into 
 the hot bazars to preach. 
 
 " Srdly. Exchanging tea for cocoa. 
 
 " 4thly. Using a standing desk for several hours 
 daily. 
 
 " 5thly. Avoiding late night work. 
 
 " 6thly. Making over the charge of nearly all week- 
 day services to native helpers." 
 
 Dr. Phillips had now been enabled to work and 
 live in the heart of the jungle for eighteen months, 
 and had also completed ten years' service as an Indian 
 missionary. Although his heart was daily more 
 closely bound to the Indian Mission, and particularly 
 to his work amongst the Santals, yet his physical 
 powers had been gravely and increasingly overstrained. 
 His head and hand could do no more ; but the former 
 was racked by almost incessant pain, and the latter 
 had developed paralytic symptoms. The doctors 
 ordered him to return to America at once ; and at 
 the beginning of the year 1875 he left the dear 
 old mud house at Bhimpore, with its spreading 
 banyan trees, and sailed for New York. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ON FURLOUGH IN AMERICA. 
 
 WE have but scanty records of Dr. Phillips' 
 journey to America, and of the earlier part of 
 his furlough in that country. We have to content our- 
 selves therefore with such brief and occasional glimpses 
 of his movements as are afforded by the following 
 extracts from his letters and diaries. From Calcutta 
 to London he served as surgeon on the steamer. 
 
 "London, 
 "April 23rd, 1875. 
 
 " My medical work was very light on board ship, 
 
 and I was able to answer all calls, which is a better 
 
 record than I feared I should make, being such a 
 
 poor sailor. We arrived here on the 18th, and leave 
 
 at once for Liverpool, whence we sail on Thursday the 
 
 29 th for New York. Moody and Sankey are doing 
 
 well here." 
 
 "New York, 
 "May 20th, 1875. 
 
 "We arrived here on the 13th, and received a 
 hearty welcome from our friends. So far I have no 
 plans for the first year, but I am going to visit all my 
 friends out West, to do what I can quietly and 
 
ON FURLOUGH IN AMERICA 135 
 
 personally for the mission, and to get work on a farm. 
 Yesterday I attended the Beecher trial, and was mucli 
 interested. The jury will probably acquit him." 
 
 "Chicago, 
 "June nth, 1875. 
 
 " Dear John [his brother] met me at the depot here, 
 and seemed so glad to see me. He and I have been 
 having a good time together this week. He is a noble, 
 good fellow, and has grown much in every way. My 
 hand seems to be no better, and I write with great 
 difficulty. The doctors gave me little hope of its 
 improving, and sometimes even now the pen falls from 
 my fingers through sheer weakness of the muscles. 
 It is a species of palsy, and may grow worse." 
 
 " Brttnswick, 
 "July 9th, 1875. 
 
 " This is Commencement week at my dear old 
 college, and I felt that I could not stay away. The 
 fifteen years since I graduated have made a great 
 change, both in the college and in the town. Yet 
 everybody seems happy to see me, and it is quite a 
 pleasure to be here. Only one old woman I knew 
 in the Poor House is now left. She is ninety-five, and 
 remembers me well. At the close of a service in 
 Lewistown the other day, a lady introduced herself to 
 me as my first convert at the Poor House, and gave me 
 the text which had touched her heart. I had the 
 pleasure of hearing Longfellow's beautiful poem, ' In 
 Memoriam ' which was read at this Commencement. 
 I have been urged to accept the chair of Latin and 
 
136 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 Oriental languages at Brunswick, but I would not leave 
 the Indian Mission for any post in America. I visited 
 dear Mother Upham,and found she has failed very much, 
 but her heart is as happy and her hope is brighter than 
 ever. It is something to be thankful for all through 
 one's life, to have known such a Christian as she is." 
 
 Dr. Phillips' ideas of taking a rest were both charac- 
 teristic and peculiar. He constantly visited churches, 
 attended conferences, and at every possible opportunity 
 delivered addresses on missions. The conference held at 
 Caledonia, Nova Scotia, much cheered him, and he wrote 
 that " it was a delightful meeting, and these brethren 
 and sisters are taking hold of the work very nobly indeed. 
 They seem enthusiastically interested in our Foreign 
 Missionary Society, and bid fair to begin good work in 
 all the churches. The Lord bless and cheer them ! I 
 have been asked to become Corresponding Secretary 
 for our Free Baptist Mission Board, and have promised 
 to do what I can until some other person is found." 
 
 It would be difficult to find a more striking example 
 of enthusiastic zeal overcoming all considerations of 
 prudence and of personal comfort, than this broken-down 
 missionary, suffering from brain fag and threatened with 
 paralysis of the hand, undertaking a post so arduous 
 and exacting. Before commencing his new work, he 
 was induced to spend a few weeks in the mountains, 
 whence he wrote a very interesting newspaper article 
 from which we take the following extract : — 
 
 "Eest Days in the North Woods. 
 " There is no place for a man with a tired head 
 
ON FURLOUGH IN AMERICA 137 
 
 like the hills and the woods, if I am any judge. The 
 fashionable resorts by the sea cannot tempt me when 
 I have a good chance to plunge into the forest 
 primeval. Tramping in the woods, climbing the 
 rough hills, dropping a line into the clear brooks, 
 or bowling across the charming little lakes of the 
 forest of Northern New York, never fail to bring back 
 strength and courage to the weary limbs and the 
 fainting heart. I have known wonderful cures effected 
 by the agency of Nature alone, under God's gracious 
 benediction. Vis medicatrix naturcc is something 
 our learned doctors are prone to forget amid their 
 legions of pills and potions. We are now camped out 
 vmder the beautiful trees beside one of the lovely 
 streams in the Adirondacks. On the edge of this 
 stream, behind a cluster of balsams and cedars, stands 
 our shanty. It is well covered with spruce bark, so 
 there is no danger of our being drenched by the rain. 
 Easpberries and blueberries are found in abundance 
 along the road. A day or two ago we camped out 
 near a trout stream many miles from everywhere, and 
 in three and a half hours had caught 185 beautiful 
 speckled trout. This is no ' fish ' story. We slept 
 at night on soft balsam boughs, under the stars, 
 with a glorious log fire blazing and crackling at 
 our feet. There are bears and deer in this jungle, but 
 they keep well away. I have not had a shot at one 
 yet. These woods seem but small, compared with the 
 Indian jungle. In tramping miles you may not see as 
 many birds. ... I had my head shaved, but the 
 mosquitoes troubled me so much that I was obliged to 
 cover it with a kind of tar to keep them off." 
 
138 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 After this resting time, during which his general 
 health was considerably recruited, Dr. Phillips com- 
 menced his new official and deputation work with 
 characteristic zest and enthusiasm. The record is here 
 given as far as possible in his own words. 
 
 "Cape Sable, U.S., 
 "Sept. 6th, 1876. 
 
 " Here I am on the very jumping-off place of the 
 Dominion of Canada, the most southern point in Nova 
 Scotia. There is a magnificent lighthouse here on the 
 Cape, and the steam-tug whistle is being constructed 
 beside it. The lighthouse is kept by a widow and her 
 son, who gave me a hearty welcome. On the sitting- 
 room wall I was astonished to discover my own thin, 
 bony face, one of a group taken over twelve years 
 ago." 
 
 This visit to Nova Scotia terminated with an 
 accident, in which Dr. Phillips narrowly escaped 
 with his life. As it was, he received very severe 
 injuries, which he good - humouredly underrates in 
 the following communication to his denominational 
 paper : — 
 
 " Perhaps my Nova Scotia friends have been 
 wondering at my silence. Well, the fact is that a 
 broken arm cannot hold as much as a pencil yet, so 
 I am going to send you a lefthanded talk about my 
 tour. Mr. Crowell had arranged for me to go direct 
 from Boston to Yarmouth in the ss. Dominion, but 
 that very week the vessel was laid up for repairs, 
 which obliged us to go by way of St. John. About 
 
ON FURLOUGH IN AMERICA 139 
 
 midway between Digby and Yarmouth the post coach 
 went over on one side, landing us all most indiscrimin- 
 ately on the ground, save those who were shut up inside. 
 There were sixteen or more passengers, and it might 
 have been a benevolent plan to equally divide the 
 bruises and breaks incidental to such charming 
 catastrophes. Unfortunately, however, your corre- 
 spondent had to serve as scapegoat for the whole party, 
 and nearly all the damages were heaped upon him, 
 probably because he was a heathen Hindu. I received 
 serious injuries in my right arm, across the ribs, and on 
 one leg, and was otherwise hurt more or less. I at 
 first thought that one of my wrist bones was merely 
 dislocated, but soon felt pretty sure that there was a 
 fracture. Now there can be no doubt of this. The 
 long bone of the forearm was broken directly across, 
 and it will be weeks and months yet before I shall be 
 able to use it again, if indeed ever, as before. For 
 the first week I had to do my work sitting, and for more 
 than a month my arm had to be carried in a sling. 
 The splints are still on it. 
 
 " In my opinion, human avarice was the immediate 
 cause of this accident. Men are too greedy to be 
 rich. In addition to a coach full of passengers, and 
 half a dozen on the outside, there were quite a 
 number of heavy trunks added to the load. Had the 
 big ones on the top lost their moorings when we went 
 over, an undertaker's services would probably have 
 been all that I should have required. The coach was 
 overloaded and top-heavy, and it went over on a good 
 road with a sober driver doing his part well. It may 
 be comforting to future sufferers on this line to know 
 
I40 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 that the proprietors sent a man round to pay me back 
 the fare ! " 
 
 For many weeks Dr. Phillips was compelled to lay 
 aside all work, and to spend his time in complete 
 inaction, a thing to him most distasteful, though it 
 may be that this compulsory time of total rest was 
 not without a beneticial effect upon his general health. 
 Not till the beginning of 1877 do we find him again 
 able to resume his multifarious occupations. 
 
 "Grand Manan, 
 ''Jan. 5th, 1877. 
 
 " Among the fishermen of this large island off' 
 Maine I shall speak five times, and then return to 
 Fredericton. Next, I hope to visit the churches in 
 New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and the 
 West. A great many boys and girls attend my 
 meetings, and I often think that in the near future 
 New Brunswick will be sending out her own 
 missionaries. This very day I have received a letter 
 from a young man who wishes to go out to India. 
 At Fredericton a young lady teacher said, ' I will go.' 
 We shall not have very long to wait for helpers from 
 New Brunswick. I have yielded to the persuasions 
 of many friends to deliver a secular lecture on India 
 at Lewistown. Tickets were 35 cents, the proceeds 
 to be appropriated for a telescope for us to take when 
 we return to India. We had a good house, and I 
 spoke for two hours. The telescope will be for my 
 Santal schools. The people seemed pleased with my 
 lecture, and I hope the information will be worth 
 something to them. Wherever I go, the people 
 
ON FURLOUGH IN AMERICA 141 
 
 welcome me, and show real intelligent interest in my 
 work, which cheers me very much. So far the 
 women have come out well. At each church an 
 auxiliary has been formed. I have organised twenty- 
 nine women's societies, with 530 members." 
 
 "March, 1877. 
 
 " A very cheering feature of my winter tour 
 through New 15runswick was the hearty reception 
 which the women of our churches gave to the 
 missionary work for their benighted sisters in India. 
 It added to my labour to hold special services for 
 them, but for this I was richly repaid. In some 
 places it was necessary to hold a women's meeting in 
 connection with the public lecture directly at its 
 close ; but as a rule these meetings were at another 
 hour, either before or after the lecture. Those 
 succeeded best, perhaps, which were held on the day 
 following, and these were usually well attended by 
 women. When I went to New Brunswick for my 
 winter work, it was with the prayer and hope that I 
 might find someone for India. Before my tour was 
 half done, the Lord graciously gave me the assurance 
 that my prayer was heard, and this cheered me very 
 much. After that I was expecting to hear someone 
 volunteer to go. You can hardly conceive how my 
 heart leaped with joy at hearing the first person in 
 New Brunswick say, ' I will go.' My work was dis- 
 tributed among all the districts into which the Free 
 Baptist Churches are divided. Many times in years 
 to come I shall recall the glad greetings and warm 
 welcomes that cheered me wherever I went. Every 
 
142 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 Christian worker's success depends upon his faith in 
 God, and in the work He has commissioned him to 
 do. How squarely and forcibly this applies to our 
 denominational work in British India ! Tor these forty 
 years past we have been reaping as we have sown. 
 Had we attempted greater things, and had we ex- 
 pected greater things, who can doubt that our record 
 would have been a brighter and nobler one in that 
 heathen land. I do wish we had an undenominational 
 missionary society. I have so often felt and said this." 
 
 "Harper's Ferry, 
 "March 7th, 1877. 
 
 " Last week I wrote you from Washington. The 
 city was full of people. I was very fortunate to 
 reach the Capitol just in time to see the electoral 
 count completed. The filibusterers did all they could 
 to stave off the count ; but the republicans, assisted 
 by the better part of the democratic members, were 
 too strong for them. I was in the Capitol from 6.30 
 on Thursday evening till 4.20 on Friday morning. I 
 spent an hour or so in the Senate Chamber, and the 
 rest of the time in the House. I was on the floor of 
 the House, and had a chat with Professor Seelye, a 
 member for Massachusetts. You may remember that 
 he made a tour through India several years ago 
 lecturing to the educated Hindus. In the Senate I 
 talked with Senator Congkling from Utica, whom I 
 knew while a student at Whitestown. Hayes is 
 President. If he chooses a good Cabinet, I think his 
 administration will be a success. While in Washing- 
 ton, I was the guest of an old Whitestown student of 
 
ON FURLOUGH IN AMERICA 143 
 
 twenty years ago. I called with my hostess at the 
 White House, and had a little chat with President 
 and Mrs. Hayes. She is a noble-looking lady, with a 
 full, plain, sensible face. It is said that she will 
 introduce a dress reform in Washington, while she has 
 already instituted a temperance reform. On Saturday 
 afternoon we called on President Grant. He said he 
 should be glad to get through and retire to private 
 life again. I do not doiibt it. The Freedman's 
 College here is doing finely. This school has sent out 
 over a hundred teachers and preachers since it began. 
 This winter there has been quite a revival among the 
 students. Some of these are very black, while others 
 are so white that you would never suspect colour in 
 them. Not a kink in their hair, and lips as thin as 
 ours. What sinister marks of slavery ! Give thanks 
 that the peculiar institution of the South is gone 
 for ever. I long to see some of these young 
 men start out as missionaries to their own race in 
 Africa. 
 
 " That Nova Scotia visit injured me much, and 
 though I am getting over it nicely, my wrist may never 
 be as strong as before. The effects of that old fever, 
 the partial paralysis of the muscles, are still felt, so 
 that it is very difficult to write. I am using my left 
 hand altogether for writing, but am now able to shake 
 hands with the right without pain. My work is 
 pressing, and I often wonder how I shall carry it all 
 through. I need great wisdom from above to find the 
 right ones for our mission, to raise money for our 
 school, and to select my successor in the secretarial 
 office. 
 
144 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 " Pascoag, R.I., 
 "MaylOih, 1877. 
 
 " The brightest feature of our work here now is the 
 introduction of the new plan of systematic beneficence. 
 I have to go to New York this week to speak for the 
 American Tract Society at their anniversary next 
 Saturday evening, and John, who is with us, will, I 
 hope, accompany me. I am to preach the divinity 
 sermons at Bates University next month, and have 
 chosen for my topic ' Helps for the home pastor from 
 the foreign field.' I shall try to show that the foreign 
 mission work is helpful to the ministry, and to the 
 Churches at home." 
 
 " May 26th, 1877. — In the Board meeting at Boston 
 last Tuesday, I said to the brethren, that so important 
 did I deem the proposed Bible School, and so vital 
 to the permanent prosperity of the Indian mission, 
 that I could not feel it my duty to return until the 
 endowment fund was raised. Every member of the 
 Board present approved of my sentiments. The 
 matter of 500 dollars, which I saved the Society by 
 coming from Calcutta to London as ship's surgeon, 
 was brought to the attention of the Board by an out- 
 side party without my request or wish, and the 
 Board voted to pay me that sum. I told them that 
 I could not accept it for myself, but would make it 
 my donation to the Bible School. This pleased them 
 much, but pleased me far more, for I had no money 
 to give, but was very anxious to contribute something." 
 
 Here we have the first mention of the Bible School, 
 which was to form such an important part of the work 
 
ON FURLOUGH IN AMERICA 
 
 '45 
 
 of Dr. Phillips in India. The Missionary Society with 
 which he was connected adopted his proposals, and 
 authorised him to collect money for the purpose. This 
 he at once commenced to do with his customary en- 
 thusiasm and energy. It needs, perhaps, to be 
 remembered that the Free Baptist Mission, of which 
 Dr. Phillips was an agent, was a comparatively poor 
 Society, and that the work of raising the necessary 
 funds for endowing his proposed institution for train- 
 ing native preachers in India was thus one of 
 greater difficulty, and involved much greater toil, than 
 would otherwise have been the case. One of the 
 visits paid by Dr. Phillips in connection with this 
 new enterprise was to Whitestown College. 
 
 "Unadilla Forks, N.Y., 
 ''Oct. 1st, 1877. 
 
 " Yesterday I preached on missions twice. In the 
 morning at Columbus Quarter, where you know I 
 kept my first school, and in the evening at Unadilla 
 Forks. The Whitestown quarterly meeting met at, 
 this place on Saturday and Sunday. Last Thursday 
 I lectured at Whitestown Seminary, Uncle James 
 introducing me in swell style. On Friday evening 
 I lectured at Checkerville, now called Washington 
 Mills, where in 1855 I preached my first sermon." 
 
 In a newspaper report, dated October 11th, 1877, 
 he wrote — 
 
 " Our triennial general conference opened its session 
 at Fairport, New York. To this body I was a dele- 
 gate from the Indian yearly meeting. The chief 
 
146 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 business devolving upon me was to present the 
 claims of our mission in India for larger sympathy 
 and help. The principal topic that my instructions from 
 the mission field made it my duty to bring before the 
 conference, and to urge upon the attention of our 
 Churches, was the Bible School for the training of 
 native helpers. Ample opportunity was given me to 
 lay this matter before the general conference, and 
 upwards of 7000 dollars (£1400) was raised on the 
 spot towards the Bible School endowment. Eeckon- 
 ing what was raised before the conference and what 
 has been raised since, now upwards of 17,000 dollars 
 (£3400) has been realised for this good enterprise. 
 The plan is to make the endowment at least 25,000 
 dollars (£5000). The annual interest on this sum 
 would enable us to open the Bible School and to 
 begin a systematic course of study for our native 
 helpers. Some of the rich have contributed to this 
 sum, but I need hardly say that almost the whole of 
 it has come from the poor and the working classes. 
 Now we are on the home stretch with the goal in 
 view. How soon the remainder of this sum will be 
 raised depends upon the ministers." 
 
 Although Dr. Phillips was thus throwing his whole 
 energies into the work of raising funds to endow the 
 much-needed training institution for native helpers, 
 he had at first not the slightest idea of undertaking 
 its direction. Not until the desirability of his doing 
 so was pressed upon him by those whose judgment he 
 felt bound to respect, did he begin to contemplate the 
 relinquishment of his Santal work for the educational 
 position for which subsequent experience proved him 
 
ON FURLOUGH IN AMERICA 147 
 
 to be so peculiarly fitted. When the matter was 
 officially laid before him he thus replied : — 
 
 " Notwithstanding my extreme reluctance to leave 
 the Santal work, I think that what you say seems 
 natural and just. I think, too, that the position of 
 President of the Bible School is one of greater import- 
 ance than that of missionary to the Santals, and one 
 on which more depends. If I am the right man for 
 it, I will take it and do my best, but it will cost both 
 my wdfe and me some pain to give up the Santal work." 
 
 The following year was one of arduous work in 
 the interests of the foreign missions of his denomi- 
 nation. Unfortunately, nothing but the scantiest 
 outline is before us, and we can do no more than give 
 the brief sunmiary made by Dr. Phillips at its close. 
 
 " This has been a full, busy year. During the first 
 six months I travelled through Ohio, Iowa, Minnesota, 
 Wisconsin, and Michigan, being on the road day and 
 night, and driving through mud, snow, and rain in 
 all sorts of conveyances. The main object of my 
 lecturing tours was the raising of funds for the Bible 
 School and the awakening of missionary interest in 
 the churches. I have spoken in many colleges and 
 other seats of learning, amongst them Oberlin and 
 Wellesley Universities. Many of the church members 
 seemed interested in mission work while I was talking 
 to them, but I fear that they fell fast asleep again 
 the moment I was out of sight. I say it calmly, that 
 if my death in America could only have moved the 
 people to action in behalf of the heathen, I would 
 have willingly died. Many Christian workers I find, 
 who though they may have faults, have push and 
 
148 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 pluck, faith and zeal. Others are so sadly easy, so 
 very slow, and so immovably stupid ! I feel at times 
 that I would like to send a ' pint of lightning ' through 
 them all from Dan to Beersheba. If anyone fancies 
 that the position of a foreign missionary on deputa- 
 tion work is an easy one, let him try it. He will 
 find it is no sinecure. The last one of the 25,000 
 dollars for the Bible School was received in August. 
 Attending Board meetings, yearly meetings, and anni- 
 versaries, lecturing, preaching, writing, and packing 
 occupied the time till October. On the evening of 
 the 4th of that month the New York Church gave us 
 a pleasant reception, at which many friends were 
 present. On the 5th we rushed over to Bloomfield, 
 where I married two people, and then back to the 
 wharf just in time to embark on the Circassia. Many 
 dear friends saw us off at noon. On the 15 th we 
 reached Scotland vid the north of Ireland, and on the 
 21st we attended the Mildmay Mission Conference in 
 London, where I saw Eobert Moffat. The opening 
 address by Sir William Muir, a distinguished Christian 
 civilian from India, was in excellent taste. We were 
 present at the closing meeting at Exeter Hall, leaving 
 the same night for Liverpool, where we embarked on 
 the City of London. The days spent on board ship 
 en route for India were mainly occupied in teaching 
 Oriya and Bengali to some outgoing missionaries." 
 
 "Calcutta, 
 "Nov. 28th, 1878. 
 
 " The first land that greeted our eyes this morning 
 was the thin point of Saugor Island, at the mouth of 
 
ON FURLOUGH IN AMERICA 149 
 
 the Ganges. What memories that strip of land stirs 
 in our hearts ! What multitudes of human sacrifices 
 that island has witnessed ! It was for many years a 
 favourite spot for offering up infants to the goddess 
 Ganga. Many an innocent babe has here been flung 
 by its own mother into the muddy waters of the 
 sacred stream. Here, too, many a Hindu widow has 
 perished in the flames that consumed the dead body 
 of her husband. This island was indeed a habitation 
 of cruelty until the Gospel reached it. Missionaries 
 from Calcutta came here to attend the annual fairs 
 and festivals of the Hindus. The standard of the 
 Cross was here lifted up in the very face of the 
 pagan gods. The name of the world's Kedeemer rang 
 out upon the air, filled with the noise and confusion 
 of heathen worship. What has been the result ? 
 To-day infanticide is unknown, and a suttee is never 
 heard of. The light has entered in and driven out 
 the darkness. Thanks be to Him who is Himself the 
 light of the world ! So shall it be at last in every 
 dark land, for the mouth of the Lord hath 
 spoken it." 
 
 On reaching Calcutta, Dr. Phillips and his party 
 were guests of the Eev. J. M. Thoburn, and on 
 Sunday the missionary was once more preaching the 
 Gospel in India. On the following day he attended 
 a reception given in his honour by General Litchfield. 
 A few more days were spent at Calcutta, and then, on 
 December 7th, Dr. Phillips once more found himself 
 in his old home at Midnapore. He began bazar 
 preaching at once, and lost no time in visiting 
 
ISO LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 the jungle villages. The closing words of his 
 diary for 1878 are very characteristic of the 
 spirit of humble gratitude in which he viewed 
 his work — 
 
 " The Lord has mercifully spared us another year. 
 How little I have done, and how poorly that little ! 
 Help me, dear Lord, to do more and better next 
 year." 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE BIBLE SCHOOL. 
 
 EARLY in 1879, Dr. Phillips was encamped at 
 Bhimpore, where the annual week of prayer 
 observed in all mission churches was held. Some 
 considerable time had elapsed since the missionary 
 was last in that neighbourhood, and he thus describes 
 the welcome which awaited him — 
 
 " As we rode into the village alone that chill day 
 in a pelting rain a sign nailed to a tree on the 
 outskirts of the village caught my eye. On it in 
 large letters was written in Santal, ' Welcome ' ; and 
 as I sat beside the pleasant fire in my mud house 
 drying my wet clothes, and one by one the men and 
 women, learning of my arrival, came in, I felt it was 
 truly a real welcome, for from their full hearts, and 
 some with tearful eyes, they bade me welcome back 
 to Bhimpore. It rained all day and all night, but 
 the next morning was one of the brightest. It was 
 such a pleasure to go from house to house through 
 the village and talk with the people. Ministers who 
 do no pastoral work of this sort little know the joy it 
 imparts or the help it brings for other duties. I have 
 often thought that a minister who neglects to visit 
 his parishioners can at best be but half a man in the 
 
 151 
 
152 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 pulpit. That Saturday's tour from house to house 
 after the apostolic manner helped me wonderfully in 
 the work of the Sabbath. Instead of preaching on 
 general principles, I was enabled, I trust, to give the 
 flock what they needed." 
 
 The long wished-for Bible School soon became an 
 accomplished fact. On May 1st it was opened, with 
 Dr. Phillips as its first Principal. There was half an 
 hour spent in prayer at dawn, attended by all the 
 students who had arrived in town, and by several 
 friends of the School. The public service began at 
 8 o'clock, and occupied two hours. Commencing 
 with the doxology, hymns were sung in Bengali, 
 Oriya, Santal, and English at fixed intervals between 
 the other exercises. Passages from the Bible were 
 read by one of the native preachers, and prayers were 
 offered in all the languages just mentioned. Dr. 
 Phillips then delivered an address, setting forth the 
 objects and aims of this new institution, after which 
 followed several practical and interesting addresses by 
 missionaries and native preachers. Nearly all the 
 members of the mission at Midnapore were present 
 on this occasion. After the opening service, the names 
 of the new students were registered, the courses of 
 lessons arranged, and preparation made for commencing 
 work on the following morning. The day closed with 
 another devotional meeting in the mission chapel. 
 
 The Bible School began in an old building which 
 had formerly seen much service as Sepoy quarters, 
 smallpox hospital, Santal school, orphanage, etc., and 
 which was situated conveniently near Dr. Phillips' 
 bungalow. 
 
THE BIBLE SCHOOL 153 
 
 The School commenced with sixteen native preachers, 
 one of whom served as a kind of pupil teacher. The 
 first year's work was regarded as entirely preparatory, 
 the regular course of study not commencing until 
 March 1880, Three days later the students, half 
 of whom were Santals, began going to the bazars 
 with other native preachers, not to speak, but to 
 listen, for it was a fixed principle with Dr. Phillips 
 that no man could be a good speaker until he was 
 a good listener. On May 5 th the Principal has thus 
 early to record his first failure — 
 
 " Gyanendra Lai Sen was absent to-day from lessons, 
 and it is said he will not come again, having told his 
 mother that his skull was too thick for all these new 
 studies in the Bible School ! Vale ! " 
 
 Only four days later the diary records the death of 
 one of the students. The following extracts from the 
 record which Dr. Phillips kept with painstaking consci- 
 entiousness, will give some idea of the varied labours 
 and experiences incidental to his new undertaking : — 
 
 "May 13th. — The first debate in the Bible School 
 was held this evening. Topic — ' Which has done 
 more for the elevation of India, Christianity or 
 science ? ' The disputants were : — For Christianity, 
 Debuath and Joseph ; for science, Samuel and Dakhu, 
 Several took part in this discussion, but most of the 
 students proved shy." 
 
 " 3fay 1 8th. — Our Bible School students are work- 
 ing well in the Sunday School as teachers. Dharma 
 and Matai have opened a little day school at Aligange, 
 teaching a couple of hours every afternoon. They 
 bring their students to the Sunday School. I hope 
 
154 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 to see the students doing much missionary work in 
 this pagan city." 
 
 "May llnd. — Munshi AbduUa, the Mohammedan 
 preacher, and for several years a patient of mine, 
 came into the Bible School this morning, and studied 
 the Scriptures with us with great interest. He has 
 been a diligent student of the Bible for several 
 years, and I have sometimes thought that he really 
 believed in the Lord Jesus Christ," 
 
 " June 2nd. — All the students brought in a written 
 synopsis of the first three chapters of St. Mark's 
 Gospel, which we studied last month. Some of these 
 papers were quite good, being the first of the kind 
 that they have done. To-day I have paid the 
 students their stipends for May. The single men 
 receive from three to four rupees, and the married 
 men from five to six rupees per month. All of them 
 are regarded as probationers until they have passed 
 their entrance examination in October." 
 
 It should here be noticed that this stipend, or 
 rather allowance, was in no sense regarded as a 
 payment either for attending the Bible School or 
 for assisting in mission work, but was simply an 
 allowance barely sufficient to enable the men to 
 maintain themselves during the time of their attend- 
 ance at the Bible School. In other words, the 
 payment was in lieu of residence. 
 
 On the 17th June, Dr. Jeremiah and Mrs. Phillips, 
 after more than forty years of arduous labour in 
 India, left the mission field, Dr. Phillips accom- 
 panied his parents to Calcutta, whence they sailed 
 for London in the ss. Cifi/ of Carthage. Dr. Bacheler 
 
THE BIBLE SCHOOL 155 
 
 took the Piiucipal's place in the meantime. The 
 aged missionary only survived his arrival in America 
 a few months, and in the December of the same year 
 he passed to his reward. 
 
 When the news reached Midnapore the grief of 
 the now orphaned missionary was shared by all the 
 natives. A widow, with loud wailing, told how 
 " Phillips sahib " helped her to come to Christ thirty- 
 six years before, and how forlorn and friendless she 
 felt now that he was gone. One of the Bible students 
 said, " He found me, he brought me here, he saved 
 me." An old blind man exclaimed, " He was our 
 friend, he found us in the jungles, he came to us 
 with Christ's love in his heart and Christ's Word 
 in his mouth." A Hindu, whom the departed 
 missionary had taken in as an orphan lad during 
 the fearful famine of fourteen years before, brought 
 tears to many eyes when he said, " He died for us ; 
 his work for us in heat and cold, by day and night, 
 has cost him his life, I feel that he has died for us ; 
 let us be worthy of such love," 
 
 On receipt of the news, Dr, Phillips at once wrote 
 to his widowed stepmother in terms which show 
 better than any description the relationship existing 
 between them — 
 
 " My dear Mother, — You once said that should 
 dear Father be taken home, and you left alone, you 
 would like to come here and work on as long as the 
 Lord gives you strength. Do you feel so still ? I 
 know all of us would be delighted to have you come 
 and live with us. Almost forty years ago you took 
 
156 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 charge of me, and is it not fairly my turn now to 
 take charge of you ? . . . Though my heart is heavy 
 at the thought that you are now a widow and we 
 children fatherless, yet I cannot mourn that our dear 
 one is free from pain, and is forever with the Lord. 
 Dear Father's noble life will not cease to shine on our 
 path. We shall await so anxiously your account of 
 his last days. Let me know what your plans are, 
 and how I can help you. May you feel that the 
 everlasting arms are beneath you ! God bless and 
 comfort you ! " 
 
 Meanwhile the Bible School had been making good 
 progress. Proud Brahmins' and Santals from the 
 jungles, sons of both Christian and heathen parents, 
 were pursuing their studies side by side, and working 
 together for their common Saviour. Only a part of 
 the year was devoted to study, the cold season being 
 spent in the districts preaching, teaching, and dis- 
 tributing books and tracts. During the term time, 
 all who were able preached in the bazars ; some 
 students frequently spending the Sunday in sowing 
 the good seed in the neighbouring villages, while 
 others conducted Sunday Schools in different parts of 
 the city, holding some of them on the verandahs 
 and in the open courts. Many a native woman, closely 
 confined to the zenana, crept silently to her door, left 
 ajar, to listen to the singing of the children. An 
 idea of the work of the Bible School, when it had 
 become fully organised and developed, will be gathered 
 from the following extracts from the Annual Eeport 
 for 1883:— 
 
THE BIBLE SCHOOL 157 
 
 " Another very pleasant year of Bible study has 
 been granted us. The chief book has ever been the 
 Word of God, and the study of it has been sweet and 
 inspiriting. The young men have given me much 
 joy by their cheerful devotion to the work of the 
 School, and I have had frequent occasions of hearty 
 thanksgiving to our Heavenly Father for many and 
 marked proofs of His love and long-suffering. The 
 two higher classes have done well in Scripture exegesis 
 and homiletics, and the highest class has derived much 
 benefit and inspiration from the study of Church 
 history. This class has written weekly essays on 
 simple topics of practical importance, e.g. The duty of 
 parents towards their children ; The marks of a 
 successful Sunday School teacher ; The benefits of 
 persecution ; The right attitude of the Church to- 
 wards the temperance movement ; etc. Tuesday 
 morning lectures have been continued as before, and 
 have dealt with practical themes, e.g. Native helpers ; 
 The blue ribbon ; The fruits of Christian effort ; and 
 the like. The men have been examined on these 
 lectures, and I have been much pleased by their 
 ready answers. In several instances they have asked 
 for the repetition of the lectures delivered in previous 
 years, thus proving their interest in the topics brought 
 before them. Sometimes I have, without previous 
 notice, examined the men on lectures delivered two 
 years ago, and have been much gratified to discover 
 how retentive their memories were. It goes without 
 saying that some of the subjects introduced into these 
 lectures are of a character which call for frequent 
 mention in such a school as ours, such as matters of 
 
158 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 private and social morality, which it has been my 
 constant endeavour to keep fresh in the men's minds. 
 This year I have had three lectures on astronomy, 
 taking up the easier points which men who are to be 
 teachers of men ought to know. The large and 
 beautiful telescope presented by a friend in Providence, 
 Ehode Island, has been invaluable, for it has not only 
 opened up new worlds to the men, but — which is 
 even of more importance — has dislodged the lifelong 
 superstitions inherited from their ignorant ancestors. 
 This year the telescope was used on many clear and 
 delightful evenings during the hot season, and I cannot 
 doubt that it served to direct the thoughts of the 
 students more pointedly and powerfully to Him who 
 is the great Creator and Preserver of this wonderful 
 universe. The Carey Missionary Society has made 
 steady progress during the year. The monthly meet- 
 ings have been well attended, and the members have 
 manifested genuine zeal in their work, and remarkable 
 liberality in their contributions. The weekly-offerings 
 plan works admirably, and is winning favour from all. 
 The funds of the Society have been devoted to mis- 
 sionary work." 
 
 A few more extracts from the early records of the 
 Bible School will serve to show the many-sided 
 character and the practical common sense of Dr. 
 Phillips. We take them without special reference to 
 dates : — 
 
 "July 4:th, 1879. — Independence Day. Holiday in 
 the Bible School ! The first holiday ! We hung out 
 the ' Stars and Stripes ' as usual. As missionaries 
 have to encounter wild beasts, it is important that 
 
THE BIBLE SCHOOL 159 
 
 they should know how to shoot, so Dr. Bacheler, 
 Mr. Burkholder, and I had some rifle practice in the 
 morning. In the evening Mr. Burkholder taught the 
 students American baseball, he and I playing with 
 them. So far as I know, this is the first time that 
 the game has been played in India." 
 
 " October 14:th, 1879. — This evening we have had a 
 new exercise, and one which I hope to continue, i.e. 
 the telling of a parable or a miracle. A student stood 
 up before us all, and told the story of Christ raising 
 Jairus' daughter from the dead, and then another 
 related the parable of the Prodigal Son. After each 
 had spoken, all the auditors had an opportunity for 
 pointing out errors or omissions in the account given. 
 The exercise proved thoroughly interesting and useful. 
 I want these young men to tell the story of Christ's 
 wonderful words and works." 
 
 " Octoher 17th, 1879. — There is much for which I 
 am very thankful on this closing day of the first session 
 of our Bible School. Strength of body has been 
 granted me for my work, and the students have 
 devoted themselves as a rule well to their books. I 
 have not been obliged to dismiss a single man, and 
 only five of the twenty-one young men admitted 
 to the School have left it, three Oriyas and two Ben- 
 galis. Above all, there has been an excellent religious 
 spirit in the School, and the only student admitted 
 unbaptized has now been baptized, and is living an 
 exemplary life. Surely there is much for which I 
 should be thankful. The students seem to have 
 enjoyed their work in the bazars and villages. Now 
 they go home for a fortnight's rest ; after which they 
 
i6o LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 will begin touring in the districts with some of the 
 missionaries." 
 
 " May 15th, 1880. — I am teaching three hours a day 
 this year. Often it requires three hours more to 
 prepare for my classes ; but I am enjoying my work 
 much." 
 
 " May 2Uh, 1880. — This being the Queen's birthday, 
 we had a holiday in the Bible School. I worked hard 
 at my report, and have finished it. The students had 
 a fine game at baseball in the evening." 
 
 On the 25th of May in this year (1880) Dr. Phillips 
 contracted a severe chill, and after a week of great 
 suffering, was ordered by his medical adviser to go to 
 Darjeeling for a period of complete rest. Not until 
 August 10 th was he able to resume his work. In 
 the meantime, Mrs. Phillips, with the help of native 
 pundits, carried on the work with considerable success, 
 while Miss Hattie Phillips conducted a class for the 
 wives of the married students. Dr. Bacheler superin- 
 tending the whole work. Thus when the Principal 
 resumed his place in the institution he was able to 
 record with intense gratification that the work had 
 suffered less through his prolonged illness than might 
 have been expected. 
 
 " August ?>lst, 1880. — This evening we have had an 
 exercise in public Scripture reading at the chapel. 
 Four of the students read — Ptham, the story of the 
 Prodigal Son ; Ben, the account of the Transfiguration ; 
 Daniel, the parable of the Sower ; and Kisum, the 
 first chapter of Isaiah. Each reader having read 
 his passage aloud, takes his seat to listen to correc- 
 tions in pronunciation, tone, etc. After this he rises 
 
THE BIBLE SCHOOL i6i 
 
 again, and tells the story in his own language, when 
 he is again subjected to free and friendly criticisms, 
 covering points in grammar, omissions or additions in 
 the narration, etc. This exercise will do the students 
 much good. They need to learn how to tell the 
 Gospel story well." 
 
 "July 4ith, 1881. — To-day I secured a grant of a 
 large compound for our proposed Bible School Hall, 
 dormitories, etc. Through the kindness of certain 
 officials I have secured 85 Bughiis of land for our 
 educational work at a merely pepper-corn rent." 
 
 "March 27th, 1882. — Dr. Bacheler, Mr. Burk- 
 holder, and I had a meeting of the Bible School Local 
 Committee for fixing the stipends of students. I am 
 far from satisfied with this plan, and wish I could find 
 some way for the men to earn what we give them 
 every month. We should not encourage beggary, or 
 break down the self-respect of the men by giving 
 them a monthly stipend. Inveniam viam aut 
 faciain." 
 
 In the summer of 1884 Dr. Phillips was once 
 again compelled to lay aside his Bible School work 
 through a serious break-down in health. On July 
 31st we find this significant entry in his diary — 
 
 " The fever has made my head so bad that I cannot 
 do my work. I have not been able to teach an hour 
 this week. Mr. Burkholder has helped me much, 
 and the School has been held at the chapel. There 
 seems no help for it, but I must run off" to sea for a 
 thorough change of air, so as to get this fever poison 
 out of my blood. It seems hard to send my students 
 to the four winds, but, being alone in the School, I 
 
i62 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 have no Vice-Principal to leave in charge. The Will 
 of the Lord be done ! " 
 
 Not till the 2nd October was he able once again to 
 continue the diary of his labours in the training 
 school for native helpers, 
 
 "Oct. ?>lst, 1884. — Completed the teaching of the 
 whole Bible in my senior class. This study has been 
 sweet, and my soul has feasted richly for these six 
 years." 
 
 "July 4:th, 1885 (Independence Day). — This 
 evening I invited all the students and their wives 
 and children to dinner. It was served in native 
 fashion on my south verandah. The Eev. E. S. 
 Summers, B.A., of the English Baptist Mission, 
 Serampore, came with the Eev. G. H. Eouse, M.A., 
 LL.B., of the English Baptist Mission, Calcutta. 
 They gave hearty cheers for "Washington, Lincoln, 
 and Garfield, and pleased our young men much. 
 Each year since this School was opened I have 
 invited the students to dine with us on this day, 
 and jfind it very pleasant indeed." 
 
 Dr. Phillips was Principal of the Bible School for 
 seven years in all, during which time he was unceas- 
 ingly working for the mission churches and Sunday 
 Schools, and labouring to spread the Gospel amongst 
 all classes of society. At the same time he practised 
 daily as a medical man, and found that in healing the 
 body he often gained an opportunity of pointing the 
 patient to the Great Physician, who alone can heal 
 the diseases of the soul. One of his most interesting 
 patients was a man of good social position, but suffer- 
 ing from leprosy. The following account is condensed 
 
THE BIBLE SCHOOL 163 
 
 from a sketch of this man's career which Dr. Phillips 
 contributed to a periodical : — 
 
 " One of the very first patients I had upon joining 
 my station at Midnapore, Bengal, twenty-five years 
 ago, was a Mohammedan Molvi, who officiated in a 
 little mosque in the Sepoy bazar near our bungalow. 
 He was a leper. My first meeting with him was 
 pleasant. He knew a little English, and seeing me 
 beside the garden gate one morning as he was riding 
 by on his pony, he said, ' Good morning,' and inquired 
 kindly how I was, and how I liked my station. To 
 my question as to how he was, he answered very 
 cheerfully, ' By the grace of Jesus Christ, I am pretty 
 well, thank you.' This answer startled me at once, 
 and stirred within me a strong desire to know the 
 man better. I did not then know that he was a 
 leper ; but this was easily determined upon a subse- 
 quent interview at the mission dispensary, where he 
 became a regular patient, and was treated for years. 
 The Molvi's home was a humble house with clay 
 walls, and a thatch of rice straw, and less than half a 
 mile from the American mission premises. We visited 
 each other often, and it was a great pleasure to study 
 the Scriptures with this intelligent man. I very soon 
 came to feel that he was a devoted pupil, sitting at 
 the feet of our adorable Master. As we could get on 
 but poorly in English, I used the Bengali New Testa- 
 ment, and he the Hindustani printed in the Persian 
 character, with which he was more familiar, though 
 he spoke Bengali fluently. Those half-hours on his 
 mud verandah or in my study I shall never forget, 
 for they were always delightful and helpful to me. 
 
i64 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 Frequently I found verses marked in his book, and 
 he would call my attention to them, sometimes com- 
 paring verse with verse, Gospel with prophecy, history 
 with prediction, dwelling upon the etymology of words, 
 locality of events, spiritual significance of story and 
 parable, always admiring and reverencing and praising 
 the life and words of our Lord. My ten years were 
 almost gone, and the first furlough home was about 
 due, when one morning I walked over and bade my 
 leper friend good-bye. Fully an hour did we talk 
 concerning the Bible and its saving truths, and I once 
 more bade him heed its lessons. But the sun was 
 waxing hot, and, our ' salaam ' over, I had reached his 
 gate when I heard him calling me back. ' Doctor,' 
 said he, ' cannot you tarry long enough to hear some 
 lines I wrote the other day ? ' From his Testament 
 he drew a sheet upon which in the beautiful Persian 
 characters he had written several stanzas. How many 
 times I have wished that I had taken a copy of those 
 lines ! They told of the heart's hunger and of the 
 Bread of Life, of the world's sin and of God's salva- 
 tion, and there was one line which came so beautifully 
 and with increasing emphasis into each succeeding 
 stanza that I have cherished it after these intervening 
 years with peculiar pleasure. A free translation of it 
 would be this : ' Beside Thee alone, Jesus, Messiah, 
 my soul has no hope.' 
 
 " This Molvi friend of mine has long since gone. 
 He died during my absence at Midnapore, and as far 
 as I know he never made a public profession of his 
 faith in Christ. India has many like him to-day in 
 nominally Hindu and Mohammedan ranks, and like 
 
THE BIBLE SCHOOL 165 
 
 Nicodemus they are secret disciples. Christian mis- 
 sions are doing much for lepers and all the suffering 
 classes in every land. Brahminism, Buddhism, and 
 Mohammedanism provide neither sympathy nor suc- 
 cour for the unfortunate. It was left for Christianity 
 to bring succour for all the woes to which human 
 flesh is heir." 
 
 But there was a darker side to the picture, as every 
 missionary in India knows full well. Dr. Phillips 
 again and again rejoices in the evidence that the seed 
 was growing secretly in the hearts of many of his 
 hearers, still we find frequent entries in his diaries 
 lamenting the falling off of others, and the cropping 
 up anew of old habits and vices. He speaks also in 
 strong terms of the evil example set by many of the 
 European residents in India, who are naturally enough 
 regarded by the natives as living examples of Chris- 
 tianity, and who by their habits of drinking and self- 
 indulgence have too often led the natives to look 
 down upon Christianity as a religion less moral than 
 their own. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 TEMPEKANCE AND PASTORAL WORK. 
 
 DR. PHILLIPS was an enthusiastic temperance 
 worker, and if he occasionally expressed him- 
 self with unusual vigour in his denunciation of the 
 use of intoxicants, it must be remembered that he 
 had abundant reason to feel strongly on the subject. 
 The missionary who sees his new converts drawn 
 back into heathenism by this vice, and who daily 
 witnesses the terrible havoc wrought amongst the 
 Europeans by it, is not greatly to be blamed, if he is 
 unable always to speak with perfect calmness on the 
 subject. A few extracts from some of Dr. Phillips' 
 public letters will serve to illustrate his feelings on 
 this point : — 
 
 " Our community has been startled this month 
 by a very sad and suggestive event. An English 
 magistrate belonging to a subdivision of this district 
 committed suicide on the 14th inst., under the 
 influence of strong drink. The case is one of the 
 saddest I ever knew. The poor man struggled long, 
 and with some success, against his temptation, till the 
 social drinking habits of another Englishman, who 
 was his guest, overcame all the resistance his nature 
 could make, and he fell never to rise again. Who 
 
 166 
 
TEMPERANCE AND PASTORAL WORK 167 
 
 can tell how bravely he fought the drink demon inch 
 by inch till the last foothold yielded ; and who can 
 describe in words strong, and sharp enough, the 
 condiict of those who put the wine to such a man's 
 lips ? A freshly-turfed grave in St. John's Church- 
 yard tells a pitifully sad tale. I called on Keshub 
 Chunder Sen, and had a free talk with him. Oh 
 that he would become a Christian, and lead his people 
 out into the light ! He is doing a good work in the 
 line of temperance, being the president of a society 
 called the Band of Hope. Over 500 baboos are 
 already enrolled, and their pledge excludes all forms 
 of tobacco as well as all intoxicating drinks and 
 drugs. This is surely cheering. The secretary of 
 this society has asked me to lecture for them when I 
 come to Calcutta again, I gladly consented to do so, 
 for I wish to encourage every movement of this sort 
 among the natives." 
 
 " I have to-day seen one of the Bengal Government 
 ' out-stills,' You might have smelt it a mile away, 
 A putrid stench in the nostrils of all decent citizens ! 
 At its doors sat lads learning to drink. Men who love 
 the intoxicating draught, and full-grown drunkards 
 who learned and loved long ago, are pouring their 
 meagre earnings into the hands of these miserable 
 brewers and distillers. May the Government soon 
 grow ashamed of such shops ! It is now sixteen yeara 
 since I began work in Midnapore. There were liquor 
 shops and drunkards when I came, but there are 
 vastly more now. It is my firm conviction that 
 drunkenness has increased fiftyfold in the district 
 since the introduction of this abominable out-still 
 
i68 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 system. I used to say that the chances of meeting or 
 being molested by a drunkard were greater in either 
 London or New York than in Midnapore, but I can 
 say this no longer, for in these days our zenana and 
 school teachers frequently experience serious incon- 
 venience from drunken people in the streets and 
 villages, and on certain days it is hardly safe to 
 venture out. The only plea on behalf of the out- 
 still system seems to be this — it pays. There is a 
 little question which the Government should ponder 
 over — Is it right ? 
 
 " Let me give you a case. A missionary inquired 
 of a collector whether anything could be done towards 
 ousting a liquor shop which a native with an eye to 
 business had planted near the mission training school 
 for teachers. The answer was a decided negative, 
 because this would interfere with the revenue. More 
 recently another missionary has been addressed by a 
 collector, anxious to increase the district revenue, on 
 the subject of planting a distillery within the limits of 
 a Christian village belonging to the mission. In this 
 case, fortunately, the missionary had a right to resist, 
 and did successfully resist, the wishes of the Govern- 
 ment. There is a woe pronounced upon him who 
 puts strong drink to his neighbour's lips, but this is 
 what the Government is doing on a scale vast and 
 appalling. Multitudes of young men are being 
 tempted and taught to drink intoxicating liquor, and 
 everybody knows how this habit when formed will 
 break up industry, honesty, and every other good 
 element of character. India will need a hundredfold 
 more gaols and insane asylums at no distant future if 
 
TEMPERANCE AND PASTORAL WORK 169 
 
 this out-still system is left unchecked to work out its 
 illegitimate results. Since the introduction of the 
 system in this district there has been a greatly 
 marked increase of drunkenness. Our rules are very 
 strict, and we dismiss teachers at once who are 
 proved to be given to strong drink, whether moderate 
 drinkers or drunkards. The other day we were 
 obliged to dismiss a very promising young man, one of 
 the cleverest Santals I ever met. The Government 
 had planted a distillery in his village, and he had 
 learned to drink. 
 
 " I could give you many instances in point. I 
 never used to see so many people drunk at the 
 country markets as I do now. The product of the 
 distilleries, planted well-nigh everywhere by the out- 
 still system, is vastly worse than the home-made beer 
 of the Santals. The foul, abominable stuff served out 
 to customers by these Bengali distillers is sending 
 hosts of poor people to a drunkard's grave. The 
 Santals in this district are not allowed to brew 
 their home-made beer as formerly. Illicit manu- 
 facture is guarded against, and severe penalties are 
 inflicted upon offenders. Hence these Santals who 
 drink are driven to the Government distilleries to 
 purchase the miserable stuff I have described. Every 
 well-wisher of the Santals would delight to see, not 
 only a large reduction in the out-still system, but, 
 I believe, a complete revolution in the present system 
 as well." 
 
 In 1884 the health of Mrs. Phillips made it 
 necessary that she should return to America with the 
 children, for wliom Dr. Phillips was anxious to secure 
 
I70 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 greater educational advantages than were available 
 in the district of Midnapore. To a man of his 
 affectionate disposition, whose whole interest may be 
 said to have been divided between his work and his 
 children, this separation was necessarily a very sad 
 one. The burden of loneliness was now to be added 
 to the already heavy weight of responsibility and care 
 which pressed upon him, and too often weakened his 
 health. 
 
 The first recorded principle of sociology ever laid 
 down tells us upon the highest authority that it is 
 not good for man to be alone. In no case is this 
 more true than in that of the foreign missionary. 
 Living in complete or partial isolation from European 
 or civilised society, often with a distance of scores of 
 miles stretching between himself and the nearest 
 white man, that white man being perhaps one whose 
 ideas and aspirations are altogether apart from those 
 of a missionary, surrounded by all the ignorance, the 
 vice, and the cruelty which invariably accompany 
 heathenism, the Christian worker comes to lean more 
 and more for support and cheer upon the society of 
 his wife and family. When these are removed, as is 
 so often the case, it is little to be wondered at if the 
 man's heart sometimes sinks within him, and fits of 
 depression destroy his happiness and mar his useful- 
 ness. This may be less marked in the case of a 
 celibate missionary who has become inured by long 
 habit to a life of solitude, but it is inevitable and too 
 often disastrous in the case of a married man who 
 finds himself deprived of all that made his home 
 bright and helpful. 
 
TEMPERANCE AND PASTORAL WORK 171 
 
 Dr. Phillips found consolation in work. During 
 the remaining time of his stay in India, he was engaged 
 as busily as ever in the work of the Bible School 
 and in the many wider interests which he advocated 
 both by speech and pen. After seeing his family off, 
 he wrote thus to Mrs. Phillips — 
 
 " At five o'clock this morning I reached our own 
 dear home. Thank God, Tom [his sister's husband] 
 was here ; but you were not here, nor the four darling 
 children, whom I seem to miss more and more. Your 
 letters by the pilot have come, and I have cried like 
 a baby over all four of them. Yes, it all seems so 
 new and strange. These twenty years our heavenly 
 Father has let us live and work together." 
 
 Signs of ill-health again appeared, and in his next 
 letter to the Morning Star we find a sadly significant 
 statement — 
 
 " My illness has made a serious break in this year's 
 work, but during my absence in the hills, faithful 
 hearts and hands bore the burden of the Bible School. 
 Had it not been for those few weeks in the bracing 
 atmosphere of Darjeeling, I fear it would have been 
 quite impossible for me to carry on and complete the 
 work of this session. The prayers of beloved friends 
 here and at home were heard in my behalf, and 
 strength was given me for my labours. Another 
 year I am hoping if practicable to divide the session 
 of seven months into two parts, putting one month's 
 rest in the middle of it. By rest I mean a change 
 of place and work, such as Contai, Dantoon, Silda, or 
 Tumlook would give me for a month." 
 
 Dr. Phillips from the commencement of his ministry 
 
172 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 had held strong views on the subject of women's work. 
 It will be remembered that he came much under the 
 influence of Mrs. Upham, who was one of the first in 
 America to break through the conventionalities, and to 
 take a part in public ministrations which had hitherto 
 been reserved for men alone. In the Bible School 
 Dr. Phillips sought as far as practicable to train native 
 women, as well as men, for the work of teachers and 
 evangelists, and he frequently took occasion to express 
 the strong views which he held on the subject. One 
 example may serve to illustrate this — 
 
 " The women's meeting during our quarterly meet- 
 ings was particularly stirring and full of interest. 
 Eeports of women's work from various parts of the 
 district were presented at the public meeting. What 
 a stir there will be when all our native Christian 
 women become thoroughly aroused and heartily en- 
 gaged in Christian work ! India's evangelisation 
 depends, I believe, not a little on them. God grant 
 them faith and the zeal that is according to know- 
 ledge for pushing on the glorious triumphs of the 
 Cross among the heathen ! I hope we may be able 
 to do more in this mission toward the training of 
 young women for the several branches of Christian 
 service. The education and elevation of women is 
 one of the living themes in India just now. Christian 
 missions directly and indirectly have done much 
 towards elevating the poor, ignorant, superstitious 
 woman, who is often man's slave rather than his 
 companion, into her true place in society. 
 
 " All missionary societies are labouring for the 
 education of Hindu girls. To-morrow the London 
 
TEMPERANCE AND PASTORAL WORK 173 
 
 Missionary Society holds a meeting in one of the 
 largest halls of the city for the presentation of prizes 
 to several girls' schools. The Commissioner will 
 preside, and hundreds of Hindu girls will sing sweet 
 Christian hymns, and recite prose and poetry. What 
 a change since Mrs. Millins began her work for native 
 women in 1856 ! I was quite startled to-day on 
 noticing a signboard over a door in College Street 
 announcing the residence of a native woman as a 
 midwife with a diploma. There are several such now 
 in Calcutta, and many Bengali girls are now studying 
 for the university examinations. This month there is 
 announced a Bengali monthly magazine conducted by 
 native Christian women. Verily the world doth grow." 
 
 His increasing sense of loneliness he kept pretty 
 much to himself, but now and again indications of it 
 appear in his diary. 
 
 " Sabbath evening. Our congregation is gone, and 
 the old home is as still as a graveyard. This separa- 
 tion is teaching us lessons we never learned before, 
 and so our parting works for our good." 
 
 Once more an attack of fever laid him low, and he 
 was obliged to retire to the hills in Ceylon for six 
 weeks' rest and change. 
 
 "August Slst, 1884. — From the hill-top I got my 
 first view of Pedro, the highest peak in Ceylon. This 
 has been a very eventful day for me. Having waited 
 a week for fine weather, and this being my last oppor- 
 tunity, I was determined to climb to the top of 
 Ceylon. My English chum was none too enthusiastic, 
 but finding me quite resolved upon the expedition he 
 decided to come along. Through cloud and rain, mist 
 
174 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 and mud, we pushed on our way. I kept up his 
 courage by shouting ' Excelsior ! ' I am at the top 
 of Ceylon — on the map — now, the very northern 
 point, with the blue sea stretching out before me, but 
 my heart is eager to cross it again and to resume my 
 work at Midnapore." 
 
 Dr. Phillips, after his return from Ceylon, stayed 
 some months longer at Midnapore, where he spent his 
 last term in the Bible School. The reluctant conclusion 
 had now forced itself upon him, that his only chance 
 of remaining in India lay in his removal to a cooler 
 district. An invitation to take the oversight of a 
 congregation at Simla came providentially at this 
 time, and with much reluctance he tore himself away 
 from the educational work to which he had devoted 
 himself with so much enthusiasm, and removed to the 
 hills in the summer of 1885. 
 
 ''July 28th, 1885. — My writing day chances to be 
 the last in Midnapore for the present, so I must not 
 let it pass by without beginning a brief letter. The 
 month has been an unusually full one, but a very 
 pleasant one withal. Our glorious Independence Day 
 was celebrated as heretofore by giving the children 
 of the Industrial and Kagged Schools a treat. Our 
 American friends would have rejoiced to see the 
 happy faces of no less than 450 children as they 
 sat on our long, wide, south verandah singing beautiful 
 hymns and reciting Bible texts. Mrs. Millar and Mrs. 
 George had reason to be proud of their pupils on that 
 day. Who can tell how much some of those very 
 children may one day do towards advancing the king- 
 dom of Christ in their native land ? If the work of 
 
TEMPERANCE AND PASTORAL WORK 175 
 
 Christian missions in India proves anything beyond the 
 possibility of doubt, it is that it pays to work for the 
 children of the heathen. The good seed dropped into 
 this fertile soil must ultimately yield a glorious harvest." 
 The closing exercises of the Bible School took place 
 on the same day, commencing at seven in the morn- 
 ing. Hymns were sung in Bengali, Oriya, and Santa! , 
 and four addresses were delivered by native preachers. 
 The subjects, if a little detached, are suggestive of the 
 wide and practical character of the kind of preaching 
 given in the School. They were these, " What the 
 Church has gained by persecution " ; " Lessons from the 
 missionary life of St. Paul"; " The means of increasing 
 liberality in the Church " ; and " Present fruit of 
 Martin Luther's work." An alumni address was given 
 by one of the 1884 students upon the subject, " Fulfil- 
 ment of prophecy relating to the Jews." With the 
 doxology in English, and a prayer by the Principal, 
 Dr. Phillips' work as head of the Bible School at 
 Midnapore came to an end. A pathetic farewell from 
 the students followed, and he left for Simla the 
 same evening. The following extracts from his letters 
 will explain the circumstances which led him to take 
 up this new work : — 
 
 "Simla. 
 ''Aug. 5th, 1885. 
 
 " Several weeks before leaving Midnapore I had 
 been fighting fever, and I could not have held out 
 much longer. You will recollect my saying that if I 
 could but get work in the hills for a part of the year, 
 the way would seem clearer before me. Eepeated calls 
 to Darjeeling were hardly the right thing, for they 
 
176 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 came for help during the cold months, when I could 
 work on at Midnapore. The other point is this, the 
 Simla call came to me when I was on my back with 
 fever, and praying for light. 
 
 " It seemed clearly the hand of the Lord opening 
 my way before me. I was almost despairing of my 
 Indian work, when this light broke upon me, and how 
 could I do other than follow it ? This mountain air 
 and this bracing cold are sweeping the fever out of 
 my system, and making me feel like a new man. 
 Indeed, if it were not for this Himalaya sanitarium, 
 I should despair of working long for India. Simla 
 is the summer capital of India, situated 7000 
 feet above the sea, and more than 1000 miles north 
 of Calcutta. During seven months of the year 
 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, the 
 Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjaub, and the Com- 
 mander-in-Chief of all Her Majesty's forces in the 
 East, make this mountain retreat their home ; and 
 these three headquarters have so many branches and 
 ramifications, that their coming means the coming of 
 a great multitude of minor departments, with hundreds 
 of assistants, clerks, etc. I can understand now, as 
 never before, why the sad howl was raised in England 
 several years ago against this annual migration to the 
 hills, for it involves immense expenditure from the 
 public exchequer, such that no Parliamentary opposi- 
 tion could afford to let slip by without angry challenge 
 and determined protest. It is probable, however, 
 that whether Liberals or Conservatives rule at home, 
 Simla will continue to be the summer capital of British 
 India. These five years enormous sums have been 
 
TEMPERANCE AND PASTORAL WORK 177 
 
 expended in erecting Government buildings on these 
 slopes and spurs of the lower Himalayas, and the din 
 of hammer and chisel, pick and shovel, reach my ears 
 as I write in the quiet room in the manse. Uncounted 
 wealth is pouring into the place, for both natives and 
 foreigners are quick to see that it pays to build, to 
 trade, and to live beneath the benign aegis of the 
 Vice-regal rule. Notwithstanding all party howls at 
 home, the Government is right in choosing this hill 
 sanitarium for its officers during the sweltering heat 
 of the summer. It is well that men who have much 
 to do should work in the most healthful climate avail- 
 able ; and as far as beauty of natural scenery or 
 salubrious climate are concerned, it is said that even 
 Europe affords no better sanitarium than does this 
 Himalayan station in India. 
 
 " My present charge is a very pleasant one. The 
 church to which I minister is a Union one, and is now 
 in its seventeenth year. It was founded by a godly 
 man who used to bring all evangelical Christians here 
 to the worship' and service of our common Saviour. 
 We have three churches, the Anglican, Roman Catholic, 
 and Union Church," 
 
 " In recent years our best periodicals, both religious 
 and secular, have been deploring the lack of power in 
 the pulpit. Eight weeks in Simla as the pastor of 
 Union Church have stirred many dormant thoughts 
 on this theme. I have been musing much, and while 
 I have mused the fire has burned. Pastors of old 
 England, Wales, Scotland, and Germany have come 
 to my mind. Men whom the common people flock 
 12 
 
178 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 to hear. Whoever will be at the pains of considering 
 their ministry and marking its salient points of 
 strength and success, will agree with that eloquent 
 Scottish preacher, who taught in Edinburgh that a 
 house-going minister makes a church-going people. 
 It is sad to note that some who come out to India 
 forget this good old principle, and so fall an easy prey 
 to discouragement and doubt." 
 
 With the approach of the cooler weather, the 
 exodus from Simla began to take place, and Dr. 
 Phillips' term of office drew rapidly to its close. He 
 had now practically decided to return to his wife and 
 family in America. How much he longed to go the 
 following letter plainly shows : — 
 
 " One more weary week is gone, and only two more 
 are left me here. We had an orphan children's meet- 
 ing this afternoon. Some of my brightest and best 
 children have gone already to the plains, and others 
 are leaving soon. This is breaking up with us forever 
 so far as the earth is concerned. God bless these 
 beautiful children, keeping their tender feet from 
 the thorns which abound in their path ! The days are 
 flying now, and soon the last will be gone, and I shall 
 be on my way towards my dear ones in America. 
 The Lord has blessed us to-day. Only one more 
 Sabbath here. This letter will probably be my last 
 from India for some time. I hope to sail from Bom- 
 bay on the 6th of next month in the ss. Peshawur, of 
 the Peninsula and Oriental Company's line, for London, 
 touching at the Suez Canal, Malta, and Plymouth. 
 If all is well, I hope to reach New York by the 20 th 
 December (1885). 
 
TEMPERANCE AND PASTORAL WORK 179 
 
 " I often wish the sun would stand still a while, and 
 so give me time to overtake my work, for it seems as 
 though there was no such thing as clearing the 
 docket ; but it is true in missionary life, where there 
 is hard work to be done, that love for the work brings 
 zeal and zest, and though sometimes one grows weary 
 in the work, one never grows weary of it. An orator 
 at a university meeting once exclaimed in fervent 
 eloquence, ' We want missionary graves in India ! ' 
 How it came to me I do not know, but it has been 
 much in my mind of late. Graves ! Are they not 
 here already at Sambhalpore, Midnapore, Bala- 
 sore, and Jellasore ? Yes, of men and women who 
 counted not their lives too dear to them for the sake of 
 India. Did I think that my dying now would stir 
 my people to do their duty to my dear India, I would 
 gladly turn away from the expected happiness of 
 meeting my loved ones beyond the sea, and would 
 die at once if it were God's will, so that these inviting 
 fields which have waited so long for the toiler might 
 at last be tilled, and the golden harvest gathered in." 
 
 A few days before quitting India, he wrote to his 
 wife — 
 
 " A telegram from Balasore has come, ' Conmiittee 
 say. Go to America,' so I start next Monday morning 
 for you and the babas. I am to give my seventh and 
 last lecture on the Lord's Prayer at 5 p.m. My good- 
 byes have begun, but I dread those that follow. My 
 last children's meeting I held yesterday afternoon, 
 and my text was, ' Of such is the kingdom of heaven.' 
 May all those children meet me before the throne ! 
 How tired I am ! " 
 
i8o LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 On the 14th November he left Bombay, and after 
 a good passage went ashore at Suez, upon which he 
 passed the unflattering comment, " It is a horrible 
 hole ; and one sees scarcely anything but dirt, drink, 
 and devilry." While in the Arabian Sea he composed 
 an address to Christian workers, of which the three 
 key-words were, " Be willing," " Be watchful," " Be 
 winning." 
 
 A brief entry in his diary at this time is very 
 characteristic of the man — 
 
 " A baby has been fretting badly to-day. I have 
 been helping the mother and nurse to take care of 
 her. She likes to lie in my arms." 
 
 "New York, 
 " Christmas Day, 1885. 
 
 " I am so happy. My heart was singing the dox- 
 
 ology before I got out of bed. We are steaming in 
 
 fast." 
 
 " East Providence, 
 ''Dec. 26th, 1885. 
 
 " At my heart's home, with my own dear ones. 
 We are all singing the doxology together." 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 WOKK IN AMERICA. 
 
 DE. PHILLIPS was not to remain idle for any 
 length of time in America. He had not landed 
 a fortnight, when, on January 5th, 1886, he was 
 urged to accept a unanimous call asking him to 
 become pastor of a church at Auburn, Ehode Island. 
 This invitation he decided to accept, and on April 
 3rd he wrote from his new sphere of work — 
 
 " Three delightful months have passed away in 
 this suburban town, with these dear friends and their 
 little ones. I have had most charming afternoon 
 meetings with the children at my own house. Ten 
 or eleven boys prayed to-day. Our Sunday School 
 is flourishing, and we have organised a society for 
 the purpose of helping one another. As we could 
 not agree upon any English name for it, we have 
 decided to call it ' Upakarak,' a very expressive 
 Bengali word for ' helper.' I enjoy attending the 
 ministers' meetings in Providence, and do so very 
 regularly." 
 
 The next letter gives us the first intimation of a 
 work of an entirely different description, in which he 
 was to engage with considerable success, and once more 
 to prove the many-sided qualities of his character. 
 
i82 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 "July 24:th, 1886. — Mr. J. Pendleton of Westerly 
 called in the morning, and wishes me to take up the 
 post of chaplain to the State Prison and Charitable 
 and Penal Institutions of Ehode Island. This will be 
 downright missionary work, and just what my heart 
 longs for. There are seven institutions in all — a 
 prison, two houses of correction, two reformatory 
 schools, a lunatic asylum, and a poor house, containing 
 about 2000 souls. All the buildings are situated on 
 a farm bought for this purpose in Cranston. But I 
 cannot decide to-day." 
 
 On October 26 th the triennial conference of the 
 denomination with which Dr. Phillips was associated 
 met at Marion, Ohio, and, to his immense astonish- 
 ment, he was elected Moderator at the opening 
 session, an honour which was as well deserved as it 
 was unexpected. He remained two months longer 
 in charge of the congregation at Auburn, which was 
 forever afterwards a source of tender memories, his 
 work amongst the children having been especially 
 successful. But a wider and more difficult work lay 
 before him. In December he commenced his work 
 as chaplain of the Ehode Island Charitable and Penal 
 Institutions. 
 
 " The big moving waggon took all our earthly 
 effects in two loads from Auburn, and dumped them 
 down in the old Bray ton House, near Sackanossett 
 railway station. There is no abiding city for us. 
 The call to these poor creatures in prison was so 
 clear, that I have left my beloved church and the 
 dear children at Auburn, and have accepted the 
 chaplaincy which was offered me five months ago." 
 
WORK IN AMERICA 183 
 
 The new year saw him absorbed m his new sphere 
 of labours, and his diaries and letters are filled with 
 narratives and descriptions of the most pathetic char- 
 acter. 
 
 " Oh for courage and strength to work well this 
 new year ! I preached in the prison-house on 
 Sunday morning after an hour's prayer meeting. The 
 men pay capital attention. I tried to cheer them 
 up by pointing them to Christ. At half-past two I 
 speak at the almshouse, and an hour later to the 
 boys. I really enjoy visiting the boys of the reforma- 
 tory school. Some of them seem very lonely. I 
 found one down in the old engine-house fast asleep, 
 and cuddled in his arms lay our little kitten, which 
 was lost weeks ago. 
 
 " The day before he said to our little Johnny, 
 ' Johnny, did you ever have a very pretty plump little 
 kitten, with shiny black and white fur ? ' ' Yes ; 
 where is it ? ' asked Johnny. ' Oh, I was going by 
 your house and just took it up in my arms, and 
 brought it home with me, and I thought I would 
 keep it a day or two, for it felt so nice and warm ; 
 and do you know I keep it here in this old boiler- 
 house with me, and I give it part of my breakfast 
 and dinner. It sleeps in my arms, and it is the only 
 thing on earth I love, or that loves me. Now, 
 Johnny, do you want your kitten back again ? ' Of 
 course Johnny could not take the little fellow's only 
 treasure from him." 
 
 One serious case with which Dr. Phillips had to 
 deal in his capacity as chaplain was that of Emily and 
 Maria Dorsey, who were accomplices with Maria's 
 
i84 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 husband in murdering their father for the sake of his 
 money. The chaplain's notes in his private diary of 
 this and other notorious cases are painful reading, 
 and, if their publication were advisable, would point 
 many a moral, and would contribute not a little to 
 our knowledge of the causes of moral declension. 
 But there were pleasanter sides to Dr. Phillips' work 
 in Ehode Island. 
 
 " From the prison I went to the almshouses, where 
 the poor old creatures are delighted to see me. One 
 old man, on the very border of eternity, is continually 
 praying for the proud, wicked son who turned him 
 out of doors, because he did not want an old man in 
 his home to serve as a check to his life of gaiety 
 and vanity. None of my people take my hand so 
 tenderly as does a poor imbecile lad. He has written 
 some verses about heaven, which brouglit the tears to 
 my eyes ; and after he had read them to me he said : 
 ' Chaplain, I do not know things here ; shall I know 
 them up there ? Oh, chaplain, will God let me know 
 wdien He takes me from here, and lets me stay with 
 Him ? Shall I know ? ' I tried to comfort him, 
 and then hurried away to our usual prayer meeting 
 with the women, where Mother Graham's cracked voice 
 seemed tuned by the angels to-day. How she did 
 sing her good old Methodist hymns ! She will leave 
 us soon, and then what a vacancy there will be in the 
 women's ward ! My next visit was to the lunatic 
 asylum, where one of the most violent patients is 
 Gappy Smith. He thinks I am a member of Congress, 
 and inquires about affairs at Washington every time 
 I go. To-day there was a terrible disturbance in his 
 
WORK IN AMERICA 185 
 
 ward, and 1 said, ' Look here. Gappy, we wish to sing 
 and pray now, so call the house to order.' Instantly 
 he sprang upon a bench, and told every mother's son 
 of them to keep still while the chaplain prayed ; and 
 instantly the falling of a pin might have been heard. 
 Cappy's unique but successful method considerably 
 disconcerted me, but the patients remained very quiet 
 till the end." 
 
 Shortly afterwards. Dr. Phillips attended a National 
 Prison Congress at Toronto, where he took a prominent 
 part in the discussions. A retired medical officer from 
 India was present, and was asked by the president to 
 give some account of prison management in British 
 India. Having done so, he was asked what he thought 
 of the reformed prisoner, and he promptly replied, 
 " I think of the reformed prisoner as I do of the con- 
 verted heathen. I think they both are myths." 
 Dr. Phillips, commenting on the subject, wrote — 
 " Well, I had been hoping that men of that stamp 
 were pretty nearly extinct. If twenty years in India 
 fails to open our eyes, we may well resume our efforts 
 when such men get back to India or America. The 
 genial doctor and I were stopping at the same hotel, 
 and I was glad to find that he knew several worthy 
 missionaries in India, although he had never seen a 
 convert from heathenism. It was a painful yet 
 pleasant duty to undeceive him, to tell him what our 
 converts have done, and are doing for their own 
 country ; to recite the story of those who so bravely 
 suffered, and cheerfully gave their lives for Christ's 
 sake during the dark days of the Sepoy rebellion in 
 1857, and to recount the names of noble men I have 
 
i86 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 known in Her Majesty's medical service in India who 
 have been hearty supporters of Christian missions and 
 fast friends of the native converts. Here let me say 
 that every missionary ought to do his best to inform 
 and interest all Europeans and Americans residing in 
 his district in the work he is carrying on. No mock 
 modesty should deter him from supplying his neigh- 
 bours with full reports of the educational, medical, 
 literary, and evangelistic efforts being made for the good 
 of the pagan and Mohammedan people. Every foreign 
 resident should be requested to aid in conducting and 
 increasing our missionary enterprises. I believe we 
 have justly incurred blame in some instances through 
 failing in this duty. Thank God for the many noble 
 friends we have among the Government ofticers of 
 India, whether civil, military, or medical ! " 
 
 Dr. Phillips was keenly alive to the duty of 
 ministering to the temporal as well as to the spiritual 
 needs of the prisoners, and his diaries show how con- 
 stantly he used his influence to obtain honest work 
 for them when their time expired. 
 
 "June, 11th, 1887. — Went into Providence at 
 6 a.m., and got back at 3 p.m. The Women's Chris- 
 tian Temperance Union, and the Women's Educational 
 and Industrial Union, helped me nobly ; but so many 
 Christians take no interest whatever in these poor 
 creatures." 
 
 A few other entries from the diary for this year 
 will indicate some of the multifarious occupations of 
 the Ehode Island chaplain. 
 
 "September 10th. — In the morning I attended a 
 warders' meeting at the Normal School Theatre, and 
 
WORK IN AMERICA 187 
 
 learned a new French system, invented by M. 
 Alphouse Bertillon, for identifying criminals by 
 means of accurate measurements of the head, foot, 
 fingers," etc. 
 
 " Sahirday, Septeiiibcr 11th {Toronto, Canada). — At 
 9 a.m. went to the women's reformatory, where 
 I addressed the Sunday teachers, and afterwards 
 100 poor women, and 50 girls with a screen between 
 them. At 10 a.m. visited the central prison, and 
 addressed 300 men. At 11 a.m. heard the Bishop 
 of Huron preach an excellent sermon on prison 
 reform from Isaiah Ixi. 1. At 3 p.m. addressed the 
 Peace Society at the pavilion in the Horticultural 
 Hall. 
 
 " Took tea with Dr. Eosebrugh, and met Dr. Lovell 
 of the Kingston Prison. In the evening I heard Dr. 
 Kellogg preach from Hebrews ix. 27. At 9 p.m. I 
 addressed the Y.M.C.A. in their new hall." 
 
 Shortly after the National Prison Congress, Dr. 
 Phillips returned to Ehode Island, where he entered 
 with his customary vigour upon a temperance cam- 
 paign. He was compelled to take a very prominent 
 part in temperance work, because his curious parish 
 was mainly composed of victims of drink. Much 
 might be written of his labours on behalf of the 
 inmates in seeking to find employment for them when 
 they should be discharged. 
 
 The scenes in the great audience hall at Ehode 
 Island could never be forgotten. The prisoners used 
 to walk up and down the long aisle with their chains 
 clanking at every step, and sat with wild hungry eyes 
 riveted on him while he spoke to them of a Heavenly 
 
i88 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 Eedeemer, and of a home where all fetters are 
 broken, and all captives released. Every one of them 
 learned sooner or later to regard him as a friend 
 who really cared for their welfare, both spiritual and 
 temporal. 
 
 This work had continued for eighteen months, when 
 a sudden invitation came to him from Philadelphia, 
 asking him to undertake the general secretaryship of 
 the Evangelical Alliance there, and to superintend the 
 home mission work in that great city. He looked 
 upon this as a larger opportunity for service, and the 
 prospect of wider usefulness was always one which 
 had great attraction for him. The malarial climate 
 of Howard, Ehode Island, had considerably lowered 
 his health, and several times he had been temporarily 
 disabled by sharp attacks of fever, so that the prospect 
 of a change was additionally welcome. 
 
 But it was with deep regret that he left his parish 
 of prisoners, lunatics, and paupers of all ages. When 
 he bade them good-bye, there were tears of genuine 
 sorrow in eyes unaccustomed to weeping. Eighteen 
 months had been spent as chaplain of these charitable 
 and penal institutions, and now the opening days of 
 1889 found him in his new work. 
 
 "January 1st, 1889 {Philadelphia). — lieached here 
 at 4.30 p.m., and met the Executive Committee of 
 the Evangelical Alliance at 1224 Chestnut Street for a 
 season of prayer, which was most refreshing. Thank 
 God for all ! " 
 
 He now found himself pleading with learned minis- 
 ters of aristocratic churches to save the degraded 
 masses in the city, whose very name spoke con- 
 
WORK IN AMERICA 189 
 
 tinually of brotherly love. The ease with which he 
 stepped from the very lowest to the very highest 
 places in society was a marvel to all his friends, but 
 he never seemed to forget that he was a " child of a 
 King," born for royal service. 
 
 In April Dr. Phillips was able to announce that 
 in nineteen out of the twenty districts into which 
 Philadelphia was divided, branch alliances had been 
 organised. The preliminary work being accomplished, 
 he was very anxious to begin, and to vigorously 
 push on a systematic house-to-house visitation. The 
 summer was approaching, but he urged that much 
 might be effected before the extreme heat was upon 
 them. Not for a moment could he agree to postpone 
 his efforts for reaching non-churchgoers till autumn. 
 He advised that the active co-operation of the con- 
 gregations of all the denominations should be secured 
 in the prompt appointment of visitors. 
 In a circular on the subject he wrote — 
 " It would give me great joy to meet these visitors, 
 and instruct them in relation to their important work, 
 and I should seek an early opportunity of doing this 
 by arranging with the secretary for a meeting. If 
 there be any serious obstacles in the way of beginning 
 this house-to-house visitation at once, be good enough 
 to inform me, and let us see whether these cannot be 
 removed or overcome by prayer and planning. I 
 shall be happy to confer with you at this office any 
 day between 2 and 3 p.m., or elsewhere at another 
 hour if you wish. I would humbly and earnestly 
 implore you to join hands with us in feeding the 
 hungry multitude with the bread that Christ has 
 
igo LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 blessed. Co-operation is the remedy for competition, 
 which is one of the greatest obstacles in the way of 
 Christian workers. When non-churchgoers are led to 
 think that churches are competing for attendance and 
 members, as business houses compete for customers, 
 they infer that the churches are selfish, and that out- 
 siders are wanted, not for their own sakes, but for the 
 sake of the churches. Thus the force of the invita- 
 tion is largely lost. If churches co-operate in 
 extending it their disinterestedness would appear, 
 and the invitation would be far more effective. 
 Co-operation will result in increased mutual acquaint- 
 ance, and hence in increased Christian confidence and 
 fellowship, and then unity of spirit and purpose will 
 afford the world that evidence of the divinity of 
 Christ's religion of which He spoke when He prayed 
 that His followers might be one, that the world might 
 know that the Father had sent Him. Such co-oper- 
 ative work will quicken the religious life of the 
 community, will raise the spiritual temperature of 
 churches, and will strengthen each." 
 
 The work of Dr. Phillips as secretary of the Phila- 
 delphia Evangelical Alliance was necessarily largely 
 composed of office routine. Writing letters, arranging 
 meetings, stimulating the various churches and con- 
 gregations to actively assist in city work, and the 
 constant and wearisome collecting of various funds — 
 these constituted the principal occupations of the 
 secretary. True, he preached much on Sundays, and 
 occasionally lectured on his much-loved Indian work ; 
 but the entries in his diaries seem to indicate that 
 although he fulfilled the various duties of his new 
 
WORK IN AMERICA 191 
 
 office faithfully and patiently, he often found it an 
 irksome and uncongenial task. 
 
 His diaries contain but the briefest outline of each 
 day's engagements, and very rarely indeed does the 
 writer indulge in description or anecdote. Of the 
 year 1889 there is, therefore, very little to tell, for a 
 bare recital of meetings held and business transacted 
 would prove but dull and uninteresting reading. A 
 few extracts must, therefore, serve to indicate the 
 work of the year — 
 
 " May 7th. — Called on half a dozen people, but 
 found all ' out,' save one old lady rich and ripe for the 
 grave, who calmly answered that she was ' too full 
 now,' and sent me away without a penny for the 
 Evangelical Alliance." 
 
 "May 20th. — The monthly meeting of the Execu- 
 tive Committee at 4 p.m. Two hours of mere talk ; 
 not one man on the Committee volunteering to raise 
 or even try to raise a dollar ! Lord send us light in 
 this darkness. Make Thy way straight before my 
 face." 
 
 "May 21st. — No money comes in. Is the Lord 
 teaching us to trust Him alone ? At 4 p.m. we had 
 our Citizens' Committee at the office, which was 
 cheering, save for the general wail for money. The 
 door seems shutting against us on all sides." 
 
 "May 21th. — The prospect looks dark, but the 
 Lord reigns, and all is well. Philippians iv. 6 has 
 been a great comfort to me to-day. Oh for more 
 faith ; but this has been a very dark day," 
 
 "May 28th. — Thank God for answering my prayer, 
 and sending me a token of good to-day. Our good 
 
ig2 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 friends have sent in 265 dollars for our Alliance 
 to-day." 
 
 " June l^ith. — Called at 's through the kindness 
 
 of Mr. Morton, to whom Dr. Hoffman gave me a note 
 of introduction, but the rich man shook his head and 
 walked off to his desk. When will our rich learn 
 that it pays to preach the Gospel to the poor ? 
 When shall we succeed in convincing them that the 
 surest and speediest solution of the labour question, 
 and all other questions in America, lies in the thorough 
 evangelisation of the masses ? " 
 
 "July '21st {Sunday, Harrisburg, Pa). — In the 
 morning I preached in the Free Baptist Church from 
 Acts XV. 3, talking about the Santals. In the after- 
 noon we read the Bible and the Missionary Review. 
 At 5.30 p.m. I attended a Y.M.C.A., and helped with 
 the singing of Gospel hymns. A Methodist Episcopal 
 minister gave an address, a brief and sharp one, but 
 too loud and high. In the evening Mr. Burkholder 
 and I attended the Pine Street Presbyterian Church, 
 and heard Dr. Chambers preach a fine missionary 
 sermon. Thank God for this day of rest ! " 
 
 ''July 28th {Sunday). — Went to the Eastern Peni- 
 tentiary at 9 a.m., and preached to the eight sections of 
 solitary prisoners in their cells, whom I could not see, 
 not one of them." 
 
 " July 31s<. — Office duty from noon to 3 p.m. ; but 
 it is dull work in these dull days, when all our 
 workers are out of town. Lord grant me faith to 
 wait." 
 
 " Aug. 18th {Sunday). — I went to the Moyamensing 
 Prison at 9 a.m., where I was asked to preach. X 
 
WORK IN AMERICA 193 
 
 spoke a few miuutes from Matthew ix. 2. I could 
 see a part of the faces of two of the men only, the 
 prisoners being in their cells with the door but partly 
 opened. What a farce is this way of conducting a 
 religious service ! An old man, very quaint in his 
 way, addressed the women prisoners by themselves 
 afterwards." 
 
 ''Sept. oOth. — Finished my paper for the Phila- 
 delphia Ministerial Union, on the Evangelical Alliance 
 methods, and read it to the ministers at the Baptist 
 Public Eooms at 11 a.m. Several stirring speeches 
 followed, and I hope we have gained a point or two. 
 But these Philadelphia friends are so slow. At 
 
 3 p.m. a meeting of the Executive Committee of the 
 Evangelical Alliance, in the Y.M.C.A. parlour, and at 
 
 4 p.m. a Citizens' Meeting, for the election of officers, 
 at the Y.M.C.A. lecture room. In the evening a 
 public anniversary meeting of the Evangelical Alliance 
 was held at the Y.M.C.A. Hall. Grand speeches by 
 Dodge, Parkhurst, and Hubert, but only a hundred 
 people there to hear them ! God help us ! " 
 
 "Nov. 5th. — At 3.30 p.m. attended a meeting of 
 branch three, at the Salem Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, and after two hours of spirited discussion the 
 good brethren organised for work. Thank God, Epis- 
 copalians, Methodists, and Presbyterians prayed and 
 planned together for His glory, and I hope this central 
 branch of our Alliance will get to work in hearty 
 earnest soon." 
 
 During this year Dr. Phillips preached seventy-two 
 sermons, and delivered 228 addresses and speeches. In 
 accordance with his usual practice, the closing pages 
 ^3 
 
194 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 of his diary contain carefully tabulated lists of these 
 sermons and speeches, with particulars of dates, places, 
 and texts. 
 
 The opening weeks of 1890 found Dr. Phillips 
 still busily engaged in seeking to advance the interests 
 of the Philadelphia Evangelical Alliance, but it was 
 with a sense of intense relief that the long strain of 
 disappointed hopes, and of apparently fruitless efforts, 
 were well-nigh at an end. A new call had come to 
 him, and his heart was bright with the expectation of 
 engaging once more in Indian mission work. How 
 the call came must form the subject of a new chapter, 
 and the story of his work in Philadelphia practically 
 ends with the entry in his diary for February 3rd, 
 1890— 
 
 " Dr. Webb called at the office, and I made over 
 the Evangelical Alliance papers, etc., to him." 
 
CHAPTER XIIL 
 
 FOR THE CHILDREN OF INDIA. 
 
 ALL the time that Dr. Phillips was engaged in 
 ministering to the paupers and prisoners of 
 Ehode Island, and in faithfully discharging his un- 
 congenial duties as secretary to the Philadelphia 
 Evangelical Alliance, his heart was really elsewhere. 
 
 No one who watched him would have guessed the 
 secret, for he completely mastered this desire, and was 
 able to suppress any dislike that he felt for his work, 
 and to throw himself with singular energy into the 
 task which lay nearest to his hand. The work of 
 each individual day was done as if it was the only 
 work which he expected to do in his life. The 
 love of Christ was a fire burning in his bones, and it 
 shone forth in his face and speech until the souls of 
 felons and the cold emptiness of formal churches 
 caught the glow. Yet at night when the house was 
 still, and he sat alone at the close of the day's labours, 
 his thoughts travelled far beyond his environment, 
 and his mental eye scanned a distant scene across the 
 sea. His heart was in the land of his birth, and he 
 was once more discussing Christianity with the culti- 
 vated Hindus, and preaching the Gospel to the savage 
 Santals. " Dear India," as he always called it, was 
 
 195 
 
196 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 to him a delightful memory and an ever-present hope, 
 and it was to the little ones of India that at this 
 time his heart chiefly turned. He was soon to have 
 his heart's desire ; and the man who had faced the 
 dangers of the jungles, who had trained up natives 
 as preachers of the Gospel, who had proved himself 
 equally apt in the prison wards and in the secretarial 
 oflice, was to end his career in a work which he 
 rightly judged to be higher and more important 
 than aught else — the Christian training of little 
 children. 
 
 " For years," he wrote at this time, " I have had 
 a sort of golden dream, a dream of working for the 
 children of my own dear India." 
 
 Through successive seasons of tropical toil, and 
 throughout his subsequent labours among the destitute 
 and the criminal. Dr. Phillips kept a heart fresh 
 enough to become an ideal missionary to little children. 
 The call to this new work came in October 1889, 
 and on the 7th of this month he wrote in his 
 diary — 
 
 " A call came to-day from my dear India to the 
 new post of general secretary to the India Sunday 
 School Union. The Lord help me to decide this 
 aright. My heart is praying, ' Make Thy way straight 
 before my face.' " 
 
 In a letter to his friend Bishop Thoburn of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church he wrote — 
 
 " A letter from Dr. T. J. Scott startled me this week 
 with a call to the general secretaryship of our India 
 Sunday School Union. . . . Please send me your own 
 impressions of the nature and duties of the post, and 
 
FOR THE CHILDREN OF INDIA 197 
 
 say whether you think I could fill the bill. ... I am 
 sure there is nothing in the line of missionary service 
 to which my heart could more fervently respond." 
 
 He repeated this last statement in his first annual 
 report — 
 
 " No call could have been more unexpected, but 
 surely none could have been more welcome." 
 
 We must go back a little to understand how this 
 call came to be sent. The first Sunday School in 
 India was formed at Serampore on July 9th, 1803, 
 those who attended it being chiefly the children of 
 converted natives or those who had lost caste. But 
 the Sunday School as an agency for evangelisation was 
 little appreciated until the India Sunday School 
 Union was established in 1876. The prophet of this 
 new movement was Dr. T. J. Scott of Bareilly, to 
 whom belongs nearly all the honour of pushing the 
 idea into prominence, and of planning with unwearied 
 patience for its development throughout the land. 
 Into his labours Dr. PhiUips entered, and in so doing, 
 he entered also into the sympathies of his fellow 
 missionaries in the field, into those of the British and 
 American Sunday School Unions, and finally into the 
 hearts of the young folk of the International Bible 
 Eeading Association,^ who straightway put their hands 
 into their pockets and with their pence provided Dr. 
 Phillips' salary. The story of the negotiations which 
 finally led to the appointment of Dr. Phillips has 
 been told by Dr. Scott in the India Sunday School 
 Journal for 1893, a magazine edited by Dr. Phillips. 
 
 1 The International Bible Reading Association has its headquarters 
 at 56 Old Bailey, London. Total membership for 1898, 650,000. 
 
igS LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 From its pages the following account has been 
 condensed : — 
 
 The difficulty of pushing on the work of the India 
 Sunday School Union without a secretary set apart 
 for the work had long been felt and discussed, but the 
 naatter did not take practical form until the Sunday 
 School Convention held at Cawnpore in January 
 1888, when Dr. Wherry moved the appointment of 
 a secretary, and suggested that the Sunday School 
 Unions of England and America might undertake his 
 support. Negotiations with this view began to take 
 place. The English Committee of the Sunday School 
 Union stated that they were of opinion that the ap- 
 pointment of a Sunday School missionary for India 
 would be very desirable, and that if a suitable person 
 could be found, they would be prepared to guarantee 
 a portion of his salary. At the great World's Sunday 
 School Convention, held at London in June 1889, 
 Dr. Scott's report on the India Sunday School Union 
 was listened to with much attention. It closed with 
 an earnest appeal that a secretary might be sent, who 
 " should visit all parts of India, urge the importance 
 of Sunday School work, stir up an interest, form an 
 auxiliary Union, grapple with the question of Sunday 
 School literature and appliances, and establish some 
 kind of Sunday School Journal for India." The 
 salary was the chief difficulty, but the Convention 
 unanimously adopted the idea, and " recommended 
 that an organising secretary be appointed for Sunday 
 School extension and work in India." The India 
 Sunday School Union then felt justified in seeking 
 for a suitable man. At the suggestion of several 
 
FOR THE CHILDREN OF INDIA 199 
 
 prominent Indian missionaries, Dr. Scott wrote, as 
 
 we have already seen, to Dr. Phillips, and received 
 
 a reply, dated — 
 
 "Philadelphia, 
 ''Oct. 8th, 1889. 
 
 " I am very glad that our India Sunday School 
 Union has taken the step you write of, and can 
 sincerely say that should my brethren in India call 
 me to the work of general secretary, I should give the 
 matter the most prayerful and earnest consideration. 
 India is my heart's first love, and only stern necessity 
 has kept me away so long from her interesting and 
 promising fields. I am happy to say that my dear 
 wife's health has so far improved during the past 
 year, that I might be justified soon in leaving my 
 family and resuming work in India. In case you call 
 me, please clearly define my duties, state time and 
 place of beginning work, and business details, so that 
 I can send you a definite answer." 
 
 In January 1890 the Committee of the Inter- 
 national Bible Eeading Association undertook to pro- 
 vide the funds for the secretary's salary. On this 
 the Sunday School Union wrote to America stating 
 that they were prepared to undertake the whole 
 support of the Mission, leaving America to take 
 up similar work in some other country. To this 
 they agreed, and in February a committee of the 
 Sunday School Union was appointed to conduct the 
 Mission. 
 
 On 27th March the Indian Committee held its 
 first meeting (Lord Kinnaird in the chair), when a 
 
200 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 letter from Dr. T. J. Scott was read recommending 
 Dr. J. L. Phillips. Other commmiications were also 
 read, and it was resolved to offer the appointment to 
 Dr. Phillips. His letter of acceptance was dated 
 21st April 1890. 
 
 The circulars appealing for contributions to the 
 Indian fund were sent out to I.B.E.A. branches in 
 March 1890, and by the end of June the first year's 
 salary was more than covered by the receipts in hand. 
 
 In July 1890 the Sunday School Union thus refer 
 to their engagement of Dr. Phillips — 
 
 " On all hands the Committee are receiving the 
 most gratifying testimonies to his peculiar fitness for 
 the post. His long acquaintance with India, his 
 knowledge of its languages, his enthusiastic love for 
 its people, his power by his platform utterances to 
 awaken the sympathy and enthusiasm of others, and 
 most of all his own earnest love for Christ and 
 souls, combine to make him the very man for the 
 post." 
 
 But we must return to Dr. Phillips in Philadelphia. 
 The moment the letter from the Committee had been 
 read, his wife saw no alternative, but simply said, 
 " You must go ; there is nothing else to be done." In 
 view of the fact that some criticisms were passed 
 upon his action in again leaving home, she wishes it 
 to be placed upon record that he again and again said 
 to her, " If you say so, I will settle in America and 
 not go." But, hard as it was to break up the home, 
 she felt that he was pre-eminently fitted for the new 
 position, and that it was his clear duty to accept it. 
 For the next few weeks he was busily occupied in 
 
FOR THE CHILDREN OF INDIA 201 
 
 winding up the affairs of his secretarial office, and in 
 paying farewell visits to the various churches. 
 
 "Oberlin, 
 "May 26th, 1890. 
 
 " I have just given a lecture to 1400 students 
 in the College chapel. There is a beautiful Christian 
 influence here, and a more responsive audience I 
 never had. I shall yet see some of these young 
 people in foreign lands. My work among the 
 churches is over. I have visited Indiana, Tennessee, 
 Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, and Pennsyl- 
 vania in behalf of missions. I am glad to have 
 had this opportunity of seeing a little missionary 
 enthusiasm in these places. I start for dear India 
 in August, but I shall have several weeks' work in 
 England and Scotland on my way to Bombay. 
 
 " There are days when my heart so longs for my 
 own sweet home, that only prayer and duty can hold 
 me to my post. Human as I am, and very weak too, 
 I shall often feel in days to come, when seas roll 
 between me and my dear ones, that only prayer and 
 faith can hold me true and firm to my high Captain's 
 orders. You know how I hate a babyish, whining 
 disposition in a man, and how I admire Christian 
 pluck in everybody. So many times, when the flesh 
 has been weak and I have sighed for home, and 
 longed to rest, I have read over once more St. Paul's 
 wonderful words to Timothy, and girded up my loins 
 for a fresh effort. Somehow I feel that I shall need 
 great grace and strong faith, and much humility and 
 self-denial for this new work in India. My heart 
 
202 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 loves it, and I do not shrink from it, but God 
 knows how weak I feel in the presence of so great 
 a work. Let every thought of this new work, to 
 which the Lord is calling me, fill our hearts with 
 prayer." 
 
 The page in his diary that chronicles " my last day 
 at home " is pathetic reading. Half an hour before 
 starting to catch the night train to Cleveland, the 
 parting words were spoken. 
 
 " Ours was a sad, hard parting," wrote Dr. Phillips ; 
 " we were all together, and tried to sing, * God be 
 with you till we meet again,' repeated the traveller's 
 psalm (121), and then knelt in prayer. We all 
 prayed, and it was a precious hour. Every thought 
 of home is now a prayer for God's blessing on my 
 dear ones." 
 
 The ss. Etruria made a quick and easy passage to 
 Liverpool, and Dr. Phillips was able to record with 
 satisfaction that he did not miss a single meal. 
 
 " The Atlantic was like a millpond. I never saw it 
 so before. Even the sea may be merciful." 
 
 They passed Queenstown on Friday, August 22nd, 
 and on the following day reached Liverpool, where 
 Dr. Phillips was welcomed by Mr. Millar, one of the 
 secretaries of the Sunday School Union. He remained 
 in England until the end of October, when he started 
 for India, the intervening days being occupied with 
 much preparatory business, and with meetings in 
 various parts of Great Britain. Among other places, 
 he visited in turn Bristol, Cardiff, Norwich, Rochester, 
 Brighton, Bolton, Manchester, Bradford, Sheffield, 
 
FOR THE CHILDREN OF INDIA 203 
 
 Newcastle, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Leicester, 
 and Nottingham. A few more characteristic entries 
 in his diary will be interesting. 
 
 " Monday, September 1st. — Mr. Charles Boyer came 
 to the Sunday School Union for me at 10 a.m., and 
 we walked miles in the East End of London in the 
 streets of the poor, where he gathers in the boys and 
 girls to the Sunday Schools. We visited Ben Jonson's 
 Board School, which has over 2000 boys and girls, 
 and I spoke to the top class of each side. We 
 spent four full hours in this * Jack the Ripper ' 
 district, and considered its conditions and claims. The 
 poor are better housed than in New York, Chicago, 
 Philadelphia, or Boston." 
 
 "September 2\st {Norwich). — Mr. John Clark came 
 at 9.30 a.m., and took me to the Sun Lane Sunday 
 School, where I spoke three times. Then we drove 
 to the Carrow School, where I spoke twice. Both 
 of these are capital schools, well managed and admir- 
 ably housed. In the afternoon Mr. Clark showed 
 me the New City and Princess Street Sunday Schools, 
 both of which I addressed. In the evening I preached 
 at St. Mary's Chapel. This has been a delightful day, 
 but I find myself very tired to-night." 
 
 "September 25th {Brighton). — At 7.30 p.m. I 
 addressed a public meeting at North Street Chapel 
 (the late Countess of Huntingdon's), and worked in a 
 strait jacket, for the old deacons charged us not to 
 laugh or applaud ! " 
 
 "September 28th. — This is the twenty -eighth anni- 
 versary of my ordination in New York, and has been 
 a day of much thought and prayer. Lord fill me with 
 
204 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 Thy Spirit, and give me many souls in my dear 
 India." 
 
 " October l^th, Sunday {Aberdeen). — In the evening, 
 at six o'clock, I went to the II.T. Church and heard 
 
 lecture on * New theories of the life of Christ.' 
 
 He took up Strauss, Eenan, Ecce Homo, Robert 
 Elsmere, etc., and spoke and read for ninety minutes ; 
 and then he read a hymn of five verses, all of which 
 we sang ; then he prayed, read three verses of the 
 72nd Psalm, which was also sung, and then pronounced 
 the benediction ! Great is the endurance of a Scottish 
 congregation ; but why teach our people what critics 
 and freethinkers write ? " 
 
 "October 2Qth, Sunday (London). — My last Sabbath 
 in dear England has gone. Thank God for the 
 opportunities I have had of pleading for my own dear 
 India in England, Wales, and Scotland, and for His 
 gracious help and blessing in the work during the past 
 two months ! " 
 
 After seventy days' pleasant work in England, 
 Wales, and Scotland, Dr. Phillips packed up his boxes 
 on October 31st, and left them at 56 Old Bailey, for 
 Mr. Millar to put on board the ss. Pckin, and taking 
 only some hand luggage, left Holborn Viaduct Station 
 at 11 a.m., whence he proceeded to Paris, which he 
 reached at 7 p.m. Paris, Lyons, Geneva, Florence, 
 Eome, and Naples were all visited on his way to 
 India, and everywhere he brimmed over with en- 
 thusiasm for Christ and the children. 
 
 " Nov. 2nd, Sunday (Paris). — At 9 a.m. attended 
 the Sunday School at the Church of the Holy Spirit, 
 and at M. Sautter's request addressed the children, he 
 
FOR THE CHILDREN OF INDIA 205 
 
 interpreting in French. In the evening I went to 
 the McAll Mission, and preached to the French con- 
 gregation, M. Sautter interpreting for me. Thank 
 God for the joy of preaching in this city the glorious 
 Gospel of His Son ! " 
 
 "Nov. 10th {Rome). — We visited St. Peter's, which 
 impressed me much, and the Sistine Chapel, and the 
 art galleries of the Vatican, all of which I greatly 
 enjoyed, particularly the masterpieces of Eaphael, 
 Michael Angelo, and others. The face of the demoniac 
 boy in the Transfiguration scene by Eaphael, I shall 
 never forget. In the evening I addressed a drawing- 
 room meeting at Dr. Young's, and enjoyed telling 
 thirty or more Christian friends of various Churches 
 about our Sunday School mission in India. Thank 
 God for favouring me with this opportunity of meeting 
 the saints that are at Eome also ! " 
 
 Dr. Phillips sailed in the P. and 0. steamship Felcin 
 from Brindisi, on Sunday, November 16th, bound for 
 Bombay, having during his brief Continental trip 
 preached three sermons and delivered ten addresses. 
 The Pekin anchored off the Apollo Bunder at three 
 o'clock on a Sunday afternoon, and that night Dr. 
 Phillips reported himself " too happy to sleep." He 
 subsequently wrote in the India Sunday School 
 Journal — 
 
 " God bless my dear India ! How glad I am to be 
 back ! Glad on leaving London ; gladder when, from 
 the deck of the big mail steamer, I saw the shores of 
 Europe fade away ; but gladdest when my feet touched 
 dear India's soil here last Sunday afternoon. Hardly 
 had the Pehin dropped anchor before a steam yacht 
 
2o6 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 was seen coming from the shore, and very soon Mr. 
 Carroll of the Sunday School Union was on deck, 
 helping me to reach my first appointment. Before I 
 had been on shore an hour, I was looking into a group 
 of happy faces in the Free Baptist Church. It was a 
 special meeting of the Bombay International Bible 
 Beading Association. Fitting indeed that I should 
 speak first to them and tell them of the I.B.E.A. 
 members in Great Britain, whose prayers and pennies 
 had nobly helped the Sunday School Union in launch- 
 ing this Indian mission." 
 
 Dr. Phillips was now in his element, for the work 
 of seeking to save the children absorbed his whole 
 being, and fulfilled his ambitions True, he did not 
 regard Sunday School organisation as an end in itself, 
 though it will be seen with what ability and success he 
 gave himself to its accomplishment ; but he viewed it 
 as a means to the one great end of leading the millions 
 of India to the feet of the world's Eedeemer. " I 
 hope," he said, " if God spares my life, to see all India 
 thoroughly organised for Sunday School work." 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 WOEKING FOR THE CHILDREN. 
 
 WHEN Dr. Phillips was first approached on the 
 subject of undertaking the secretaryship of 
 the India Sunday School Union, it will be remembered 
 that he wrote to a friend upon whose judgment he 
 relied, asking if he thought he could " fill the bill." 
 
 How large was the bill requiring to be filled will 
 be readily perceived by anyone who takes the trouble 
 to study the geography of India, remembering 
 that Dr. Phillips' field covered the entire country, 
 with all its teeming millions of inhabitants, and 
 included the missions of all the evangelical denomina- 
 tions. Each year, until his lamented death in 1895, 
 Dr. Phillips undertook a lengthened tour. The 
 largest of the tours covered a distance of 15,253 miles, 
 and the six tours together covered 52,030 miles. Dr. 
 Phillips spent 1400 days in India, so that the average 
 distance travelled per day was more than thirty-seven 
 miles. The continual wearing toil involved in these 
 tours will perhaps be better realised if we remember 
 that they were equivalent to one and a half mile's 
 travel every hour, both day and night, for nearly four 
 years. Although Dr. Phillips was a bad sailor, and 
 always viewed a sea voyage with apprehension, he 
 
 207 
 
2o8 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 spent sixty- three days on shipboard, and travelled 
 13,000 miles by water, crossing the Bay of Bengal 
 nine times during the four years. This does not 
 include his voyage to Europe. During the 1400 
 days spent in India, Dr. Phillips delivered 1600 
 addresses, the outlines or " briefs " of which are all 
 neatly recorded in his notebooks. Thus it will be 
 seen that on an average he delivered one address on 
 every week day, and two every Sunday throughout 
 his Sunday School career. The very magnitude of 
 his task, and the brevity of the records which remain, 
 makes anything like a detailed and continuous descrip- 
 tion impossible. In the majority of cases two or 
 three brief lines in his diary are all that remain to 
 tell of long journeys undertaken, of organisations 
 planned, and of important meetings held. 
 
 Before he had been in India a month. Dr. Phillips 
 had started off upon his first tour. Passing through 
 the Central Provinces he reached Allahabad, and 
 thence proceeded to Lahore in the Punjaub. Eeturn- 
 ing to Allahabad, he followed the course of the Ganges 
 to Calcutta, after which he visited his old field of 
 operations in Orissa, and then returned to Calcutta, 
 so terminating a tour of 2908 miles in a little less 
 than a month. The visit to his old home at Balasore 
 on December 31st, was one of exceptional interest for 
 Dr. Phillips, and in his " Jottings " in the India 
 Sunday School Journal he thus describes his visit — 
 
 " Christmas for the Oriya Sunday School children was 
 a delightful treat, capitally managed. How good it 
 seemed to look once more into the happy faces of 
 hundreds of Oriya Christians here in my native place, 
 
WORKING FOR THE CHILDREN 209 
 
 and to stand again in the chapel pulpit. Several 
 more promising workers have finished their course 
 since I was here last, seven years ago, but, thank God, 
 others have taken their places, and the work goes on. 
 In Orissa, as elsewhere all over India, our leading 
 native helpers to-day, both men and women, are those 
 who were brought up and trained from childhood in 
 our Sunday Schools. Nothing can quite take the place 
 of this early religious instruction. The army of our 
 high Captain for India s conquest is now sitting at the 
 feet of our Sunday School teachers. With what dignity 
 is the task of the humble Bible teacher invested, 
 when we consider that his pupil may become one of 
 India's shining and successful evangelists ; and so with 
 high hope and a cheerful outlook let all Sunday 
 School workers close the old year and begin the new. 
 The business of our lives is the teaching of God's 
 Word, concerning which He has said, ' it shall not 
 return unto Me void.' Let us all keep these seven 
 words at the top through the days of 1891." 
 
 In the January of 1891, Dr. Phillips was again on 
 tour. This time he undertook an extended series of 
 journeys, practically covering the whole of India, and 
 amounting in all to 13,110 miles. Starting from 
 Calcutta, he first visited Moradabad, Jabalpur, Poona, 
 and Bangalore, on the way to Madras, whence he 
 returned by sea to Calcutta. He then proceeded to 
 Burmah, where he travelled from Eangoon to Man- 
 dalay, whence he returned to his headquarters at 
 Calcutta. Visits to Orissa and Sekhim followed, and 
 then he passed through the Central Provinces to 
 Bombay. Returning thence, he journeyed by way of 
 14 
 
2IO LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 Ajmere, Lucknow, Amritsar, and Gorakhpur to Cal- 
 cutta. A second visit to Orissa completed his journeys 
 for 1891. A few of his "Jottings on Tour" will 
 serve to show the kind of work which occupied him 
 as he journeyed to and fro throughout the country. 
 
 "Bangalore, 
 
 " 27id February 1891. 
 
 " The Wesleyan Sunday School and one of the 
 Tamil Sunday Schools in the bazar were visited while 
 at Bangalore, and excellent work was done in both. 
 The blackboard exercises in the former are very 
 important, and I trust will be introduced in many 
 other schools. By pen and pencil let us appeal to 
 the people more. I have been surprised and de- 
 lighted many times in many schools to find how 
 accurately points put on the blackboard were re- 
 membered and reproduced after many days." 
 
 "Madras, Feb. 2Qih. 
 " The organisation of the Madras auxiliary of our 
 India Sunday School Union will be hailed with de- 
 light by all our friends here and at home. The 
 president is a strong and successful missionary of the 
 Church Missionary Society, whose heart goes with his 
 head and hands in this movement. A delightful 
 feature of the Sunday School Convention here was 
 the presence and participation of so many native 
 Christian workers. When our native friends rally 
 round the standard of this new Sunday School move- 
 ment it will make more rapid progress, and accomplish 
 far more." 
 
WORKING FOR THE CHILDREN 211 
 
 It may here be noted, as showing the extent to 
 which Sunday School work had now been organised, 
 that in the annual report of the India Sunday School 
 Union for 1890 nine auxiliaries are recognised — the 
 North India, South India, Bombay, Eajputana, Bengal, 
 Furrahabad, Lahore, and Punjaub Sunday School Unions, 
 and the mission Sunday School at Madras. In the 
 work of reorganisation and consolidation which was 
 now in progress, three of these societies coalesced 
 with the others, thus reducing the number to six. 
 
 In February 1891, Dr. Phillips opened a Saturday 
 afternoon class at the Union Chapel, Calcutta, for the 
 study of the International Sunday School lessons. It 
 was attended by Bengali teachers, both male and 
 female, sixty-three being present on the opening day, 
 which number steadly increased until upwards of a 
 hundred native teachers, from seven or more missions, 
 thus regularly met to prepare for the work of the 
 following Sunday. Of his visit to Burmah in this 
 year Dr. Phillips wrote — 
 
 " In King Thebaw's fort, now occupied by Govern- 
 ment buildings, I was heartily welcomed to the 
 American mission house, which was my home for three 
 days. The high brick wall around this fort, surrounded 
 by a moat, is said to be 1| miles long on each 
 side. On Saturday I was permitted to address a 
 Band of Hope. Would that we had like bands all 
 over India ! How glad I was to find one here, 
 nearly 400 miles north of Eangoon ! Our Sunday 
 School meetings here, as elsewhere, brought Christians 
 of all Churches together, and into pleasant and profit- 
 able co-operation for the common weal. It is de- 
 
212 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 lightful to see how much all Christians have in 
 common, how much they really agree in doctrine and 
 life, and how well they can work together for the 
 glory of our common Lord. Sometimes we find so 
 many things concerning which we agree that we have 
 neither time nor taste for the smaller matters where 
 we very cordially differ from one another. It was 
 very cheering to mark the general unanimity shown 
 among the Christian workers in Burmah as to the 
 desirability of perfecting and enlarging the Sunday 
 School system, both among Europeans and natives. 
 With such a decided sentiment in its favour, it was 
 easy to plan for and carry out the first general Sun- 
 day School Convention ever held in Burmah. This 
 was held on the 8 th and 9 th of April, and proved 
 an occasion of much cheer to our friends." 
 
 The end of June found Dr. Phillips at Pooree, 
 Orissa's former shrine, beside the sea. For seven 
 centuries the temple of Jagannath has stood on this 
 Orissa coast, and countless multitudes from every part 
 of India have come to bow down before the " ninth 
 incarnation of Vishnu." Happily the pilgrimage to 
 Pooree is not now what it was when, as a little boy, 
 James Phillips used to count the crowds that rushed 
 so eagerly past his father's gate. There are now but 
 few pilgrims, and there is even less enthusiasm. The 
 air used to ring with the shouts, " Jai Jagannath 
 Swami," but now the cry is rarely heard. At Santi- 
 pore, which Dr. Phillips visited in the following 
 month, he found much to remind him of his early 
 days. 
 
 " But seven miles from Patna, across the river, is 
 
WORKING FOR THE CHILDREN 213 
 
 the mission farm of 200 acres. Here my beloved 
 father did much of his last and best work before 
 returning home to die. The Santal villages are near 
 by ; and here, as at Patna, he began translating the 
 Scriptures into the wild and weird tongue of these 
 junglemen. The church is chiefly Oriya, but some of 
 its good working members are Santals. The Santal 
 service early on Sabbath morning was cheering, as 
 were also the Oriya service followed by the Lord's 
 Supper, and the fine Sunday School in the afternoon. 
 There are little Sunday Schools in the vicinity, and an 
 open door for the enlargement of this work. The 
 children abound here, and a missionary's wife might 
 find a delightful duty in teaching them." 
 
 " Bhimjjore, July 19th. — Twenty miles north-west 
 of Midnapore is this Santal village, where the first 
 Santal church in the American Mission was organised 
 years ago. The first chapel, of mud walls and thatched 
 roof, was built by the early converts with their own 
 hands, without a rupee from the Mission. It was 
 dedicated to God's service on July 17th, 1870, and on 
 this twenty-first anniversary I recalled that glad day 
 with great pleasure. There is a training school here for 
 Santal teachers, and a girls' school also. From fifty 
 to seventy jungle schools are kept up in the surround- 
 ing country. Sunday Schools of a very rudimentary 
 character are sustained in these jungle schools, but 
 the station Sunday School is doing finely. It has a 
 weekly teachers' meeting for studying the International 
 lesson. My Sabbath among those Santal Christians 
 was a delightful one." 
 
 In August the missionary spent some time at the 
 
214 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 Union Church manse at Darjeeling, in the hills, to 
 which he had been driven by a severe attack of fever. 
 Nineteen years had elapsed since he paid his former 
 visit to this place, and it is in a spirit of triumphant 
 gratitude that he notes the changes and advances 
 which the passing years had witnessed. But the 
 work for which he was now responsible kept as usual 
 the chief place in his thoughts, and his " Jottings " 
 give abundant proof of this. 
 
 " The weekly Bible class on Friday afternoon is 
 spent in studying the International Sunday School 
 lessons, and we have found them wonderfully practical 
 and refreshing. The lessons of this half-year cannot 
 be taught — and I am very glad they cannot — without 
 prayerful and patient study and faithful preparation. 
 A teachers' class in every Sunday School, European 
 and native, throughout India, would help on our work 
 more than anything just now. Let us hear of scores 
 and hundreds of these classes being begun this year. 
 A very cheering feature of my Darjeeling visit this 
 time has been the presence of children at the public 
 services in the church. One Sabbath morning the 
 service was specially adapted to them, and the dear 
 boys and girls and their friends quite filled the house. 
 Would that we all might learn and never forget the 
 lesson that special efforts for children mean help and 
 blessing for older folks as well, and that all that is 
 done in love and faith for these little ones brings 
 peace and prosperity to the whole Church and con- 
 gregation ! " 
 
 As an instance of the practical work quietly accom- 
 plished by Dr. Phillips in his tours throughout India, 
 
WORKING FOR THE CHILDREN 215 
 
 it may here be mentioned that his visit to Kahmpong 
 in October (1891) so stirred up the students in the 
 Normal School that nine local Sunday Schools were 
 started by these lads at places varying from three to 
 seven miles distant. Towards the close of the year 
 a very successful convention of Sunday School workers 
 in the North- West Provinces and Oudh was held at 
 Allahabad, under the direction of the India Sunday 
 School Union. It need hardly be said that the organ- 
 ising secretary did the lion's share of the work. 
 
 In his report for 1891, Dr. Pliillips was able to 
 report that he had travelled over 14,000 miles in the 
 interests of the work ; that three Sunday School Con- 
 ventions had been held at Madras, Eangoon, and Alla- 
 habad ; that four new auxiliary Sunday School Unions 
 had been organised ; that the India Sunday School 
 Journal had been successfully launched ; and that in 
 every way the work was full of promise. There were 
 now 4608 Sunday Schools in India, with 8910 teachers, 
 and 152,002 scholars. 
 
 The year 1892 saw even more extended activity 
 on the part of the untiring secretary. During the 
 year he journeyed over 15,253 miles, extending his 
 sphere of operations from Eangoon on the east, to 
 Kurrachee on the west, and from the Himalayas in the 
 north, to Ceylon in the south. A glance at the route 
 map for this year shows that he traversed practically 
 all parts of India, with the exceptions of Eajputana 
 and the Punjaub. From the India Sunday School 
 Joiirnal for 1892 the following items are selected: — 
 
 " Dr. Parker of Lucknow says that thousands of 
 those who have come out from Hinduism and accepted 
 
2i6 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 Christianity during the past year in connection with 
 his mission at Oudh and Eoholkahani had been in 
 Sunday Schools for years. These, then, are no sudden 
 conversions, but rather the natural results of early 
 training in the elements of the Christian faith. Here 
 is a lesson for every Sunday School teacher, and for 
 all our missions throughout India ! Here is an illus- 
 tration of how the Sunday School proves to be a 
 missionary agency, and here is argument and illus- 
 tration combined for improving and extending our 
 Sunday School system everywhere in this popular 
 and promising field." 
 
 " Nagpur, January 21st. — Fifty-four hours by train 
 bring us to the chief city of the Central Provinces. 
 Along the road I saw Kols working on the road, and 
 thought what an open door there was for someone 
 to plant Sunday Schools among these children of the 
 jungle. The day is coming when it will no longer be 
 thought strange for an engineer or station-master, civil 
 surgeon or a magistrate, or any other earnest Christian, 
 to call boys and girls together on his verandah or 
 under a tree, for an hour of Bible study, with prayer 
 and praise, on the Sabbath. I wish now that the 
 notion had never existed that such work was an 
 encroachment on the prerogative of the ' padri sahib ' 
 (missionary). Let us oust this idea from India. Let 
 ministers and missionaries seek out helpers every- 
 where, and welcome them as fellow-workers." 
 
 " Gunter, April 4th. — Sixteen hours in a very com- 
 fortable bundy, drawn part of the way by coolies and 
 part of the way by bullocks, brought me from Ongole 
 to the railway station of Santamagulla, and from there 
 
WORKING FOR THE CHILDREN 217 
 
 the slowest train I have seen in India brought me 
 here. The cow-catcher should be kept at the back 
 end of this train, lest the cows run over the guard ! " 
 
 " Madras, April 8th. — On Wednesday I was invited 
 to the anniversary of the Anglo-Tamil Sunday School 
 at the Wesleyan Mission at St. Thomas' Mount. The 
 annual report, read by the superintendent, was very 
 encouraging. Of the 183 boys on the roll, there were 
 Eurasians, 4 ; Protestant native Christians, 10 ; Eoman 
 Catholics, 2 ; Mohammedans, 1 3 ; Brahmins, 7 ; Ksha- 
 trias, 12 ; Sudras, 129 ; and no caste, 6. I commend 
 this analysis to our Sunday School workers, as every- 
 where it proves what a leveller the Sunday School is, 
 and how children of all classes may meet on common 
 ground for the study of the Bible." 
 
 While at Ongole, Dr. Phillips met with an extra- 
 ordinary instance of the power of a child's influ- 
 ence. A missionary, Mr. Kierman of Vinukonda, had 
 visited a village called Meelagungarum, where the 
 natives refused to receive him. Six months later a 
 deputation of natives came to him, and asked him to 
 revisit the village. On his arrival he found seventy- 
 five persons who said that they were Christians, and 
 wished to be baptized. Among the number he noticed 
 a small boy. Thinking him too young to appreciate 
 the importance of the step he was taking, the mis- 
 sionary asked him to wait and learn more about Christ 
 before he received baptism ; but the adult natives 
 insisted that he should be baptized, and astonished 
 the missionary by telling him that it was this little 
 boy who had taught them about Christ. It appeared 
 that he had formerly lived in another village, where 
 
2i8 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 he had received Christian instruction, and had com- 
 mitted to memory a few hymns. He had come to 
 Meelagungarum, and had told the people what he had 
 learnt, and repeated to them the few hymns that he 
 knew. The result was that seventy-five of their 
 number were baptized, among whom was the little 
 boy who had led them to Christ. 
 
 In July Dr. Phillips undertook a three weeks' 
 Sunday School campaign in Ceylon, which he did not 
 reach without serious discomfort. 
 
 " I freely confess that I have no love for sea trips 
 during our South- West monsoon. The one of sixteen 
 mortal hours in that British India cattle and coolie 
 tub plying between Tuticorin and Colombo was enough 
 for me. Such pitching and rolling and tumbling I 
 never experienced at sea in a distance of but 150 
 miles. The bleating of goats and sheep, the pitiful 
 lowing of cows and bullocks, and above all the howling 
 of Hindus and Mohammedans, who, in fear and frenzy, 
 were invoking the mercy of all their gods, with the 
 accompaniment of wind and wave, while the waves 
 drenched our decks, and kept us lively all night till 
 w^e gained the lee of this beautiful breakwater, — all 
 this and more, that makes me giddy to recall, has 
 made me cry out, ' Oh for a railway across Adam's 
 bridge ! Soon may it link Ceylon and India ! ' 
 
 " This place revived many pleasant memories, for it 
 was into this port that our good ship Elcano came in 
 May 1865 after a five months' dreadful and disastrous 
 voyage from America, having lost her captain in a 
 terrible gale. How beautiful this emerald isle looked 
 to us no words can tell ! Of that ship's company of 
 
WORKING FOR THE CHILDREN 219 
 
 ten missionaries, five have reached the desired haven 
 above. But others are toiling still for India's 
 millions. As I stood in the high pulpit of the old 
 church in the Fort, the same in which I preached 
 twenty-seven years ago, I could not but recount the 
 many and manifold mercies of God ; and all day long 
 on that Sabbath my heart was singing the 107th 
 Psalm, ' Oh that men w^ould praise the Lord for His 
 goodness.' " 
 
 "Bombay, October 20tJi. — How sorrow finds us 
 everywhere in this world of sin ! On the train from 
 the North- West here, I was reminded of this over and 
 over again. One day I had with me in the next 
 compartment poor Private Allen, under sentence of 
 death for shooting Lieutenant Green. Another day a 
 fellow-passenger was an afflicted father from Lucknow, 
 whose boy had been stung to death by wasps, while in 
 the hills at school. As there is sorrow everywhere, 
 there is also sympathy and succour. Like our Lord, 
 we should be going about doing good. But the suffer- 
 ings and sorrows of the little ones impress me most in 
 my tours about India. Only the glorious Gospel of 
 Christ can heal these, and to us, the Sunday School 
 army. He grants the high privilege of preaching the 
 Gospel in the willing ear of childhood." 
 
 During the year 1892 three Sunday School Con- 
 ventions were held at Colombo, Eangoon, and Luck- 
 now. The India Sunday School Journal became 
 self-supporting, the number of auxiliary unions was 
 increased to nine, and the entire standard of the work 
 had been raised throughout the country. Much 
 had been done towards bringing out Sunday School 
 
220 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 literature in English and in the vernaculars, and a 
 gratifying growth was observable in all departments of 
 the work. It had been a year of happy work, a full 
 and fruitful year, and the organisation of the Sunday 
 School system had been pushed on vigorously. The 
 total number of Sunday Schools had grown to 5548, 
 and there were now 10,715 teachers with 197,754 
 scholars. 
 
 In 1893, Dr. Phillips was absent from India from 
 March to November, during which he visited the 
 Holy Land, Europe, and America. But notwith- 
 standing his absence during the greater part of the 
 year, he contrived in the remaining months to travel 
 over no less than 4880 miles of Indian territory. 
 The first few weeks of the year were busily occupied 
 with his usual work, and with preparations for an 
 extended absence, and on Saturday, February 25 th, 
 he set sail from Bombay in the P. and 0. ss. Victoria, 
 the sudden and frequent attacks of dizziness showing 
 only too plainly that he had started none too soon. 
 One of his fellow - passengers was Bishop Barry, 
 ex- Primate of Australia, and another was Dr. F. E. 
 Clark, the founder of the Young People's Society of 
 Christian Endeavour. After two days at sea. Dr. 
 Phillips was able to note in his diary — 
 
 " My head is better, and I have been playing with 
 the dear children on the deck." 
 
 His interest in the children continually manifested 
 itself during this voyage. Almost every day his 
 diary contains some reference to them, and on March 
 4 th he writes — 
 
 " I had some sports for the children in the after- 
 
WORKING FOR THE CHILDREN 221 
 
 noon. I got 25s. by a collection, and had fourteen 
 events in the programme for the little ones." 
 
 On the 6 th they reached Cairo, where Dr. Phillips 
 stayed until the 13 th, the week being spent in visiting 
 the pyramids, museums, and other objects of interest 
 in Egypt. Next he went to Alexandria, where he 
 met many European and American visitors, and was 
 especially struck by one unfortunate fact. 
 
 " I am astonished on seeing English, Scotch, and 
 American Christians taking, not wine only, but even 
 whisky at hotel tables openly. Even ladies are 
 sipping their whisky with a relish. It is the absurd 
 notion that as the water of the Nile is not fit to 
 drink, hence all water in Egypt must be bad. It 
 is, of course, to the advantage of the hotel proprietors 
 to propound this flimsy theory. There are no healthier 
 or finer men in Egypt than the American missionaries, 
 all of whom are strict total abstainers. How wrong 
 and how wicked for temperance travellers from home 
 to tamper thus with strong drink in these Eastern 
 lands ! " 
 
 On March 16th, Dr. Phillips proceeded by steamer 
 to Jaffa, and at 5.30 the next evening he arrived 
 at Jerusalem. 
 
 " Thrice before in vain have I tried to see the 
 Holy Land. Words cannot tell how thankful I am 
 for this opportunity. It seems as though, amid these 
 historic and sacred surroundings, I have been gather- 
 ing illustration and inspiration for the work of a life- 
 time. ... As if going to Jerusalem were not strange 
 enough, we have had a snowstorm, seven inches of 
 snow falling in a few hours, so that the visitors were 
 
&UE Pi gim^ ism ~" ~ - 
 
 numaaHHiTT. !2iiHi fRK^ imiki m tlBi iTrijiii fomaaEBy.aaBd 
 
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 bteK ntji. «!«mia: n». ',r to ^r 
 
 
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 TTITTIt-^ _1 __ . .. .,. . _ .. .... .., 
 
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224 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 at Norwich, Brighton, Cardiff, Derby, Birmingham, 
 Nottingham, Bristol, Bedford, and other important 
 provincial towns. 
 
 In reviewing his work during this short stay in 
 England, he wrote — 
 
 " I have spoken for our dear India in the hope of 
 securing true volunteers for all missions. I verily 
 expect to meet some of the children and young folk I 
 have been addressing in England and Wales in India 
 and Ceylon by and by. This bright hope has cheered 
 me much during the six weeks of work I am closing 
 to-day." 
 
 He crossed the Atlantic in the ss. Etruria, and 
 arrived at New York, after an uneventful passage, on 
 Sunday, June 18 th. There he was met by his brother 
 John, and five days later he was once again reunited 
 with his family at Oberlin, Ohio. It is very character- 
 istic of the man that the following day's entry in his 
 diary ends thus — " Began talking and planning." 
 
 Some quiet weeks were spent in a farmhouse, and 
 then followed another spell of preaching and lecturing 
 in various parts of the States. Dr. Phillips, notwith- 
 standing his unobtrusive modesty and self-depreciation, 
 had by this time, unknown to himself, secured a high 
 and honourable status amongst American scholars, as 
 well as in circles of Christian service. On August 
 26th he notes in his diary — 
 
 " In the evening I received the startling news that 
 my name had been brought before the Fellows and 
 Overseers of Bates College at their meeting this week 
 for electing a president, and so the election of Professor 
 George Chase had been defeated. I am sorry, and 
 
WORKING FOR THE CHILDREN 225 
 
 wonder what the men were thinking of, for every- 
 one who knows me should know that I would not 
 give up my dear India for all the colleges in 
 America." 
 
 During his stay in the United States, Dr. Phillips 
 was present at the second World's Sunday School 
 Convention, held at St. Louis, and it goes without 
 saying that he eagerly availed himself of every 
 opportunity for pleading the cause of his Indian work. 
 After visiting Chicago, he went on to Cleveland, 
 where he met with an adventure. 
 
 " In all my 35,000 miles of touring throughout all 
 India, Burmah, and Ceylon during the twenty-seven 
 months of my last term, I never once fell among 
 robbers. Not in India, but in Indiana, the night 
 before last, however, the record was broken, and for 
 the first time in my life I was detained by robbers. 
 Our Atlantic express from Chicago to Cleveland was 
 held up for an hour about midnight between two 
 small stations, and the Adam's express car was blown 
 up with dynamite, and robbed of thousands of dollars. 
 This lawless gang of twenty or more masked men did 
 not disturb the five sleeping cars full of passengers, 
 but made off with their booty. I hope they will be 
 caught and punished." 
 
 On September 23 rd, he left America for the last 
 time, accompanied by Mrs. Phillips, and embarked on 
 the ss. Etruria for Queenstown, which was reached on 
 the 29 th. A month was now spent in visiting various 
 parts of Scotland and England, holding meetings, and 
 seeking to interest the public in his work ; and on 
 October 31st, Dr. and Mrs. Phillips journeyed to 
 
 15 
 
226 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 France, joining the P. and 0. ss. Carthage for India at 
 Marseilles. 
 
 On November 20th (1893) the earnest Sunday 
 School worker once more set foot on Indian soil. 
 
 " November 20th (Bombay). — Thank God I am safely 
 back in my own dear India ! Now for grace for years 
 of strong, patient, loving service for the dear little 
 ones." 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 
 
 IN estimating the character of any man, it needs to 
 be remembered that the record of a life, with its 
 varied ambitions and activities, is a far more eloquent 
 tribute than any eulogy that might be pronounced 
 upon him. The best testimony to the spirit which 
 animated Dr. Phillips is the life he led and the 
 work he accomplished. The preceding chapters wdll 
 abundantly suffice to show the high aspirations and 
 the lofty aims which possessed and absorbed his entire 
 energies, and at the same time will indicate the mental 
 qualities and habits of life which characterised this 
 untiring worker. 
 
 Dr. Phillips was essentially a methodical man. His 
 diaries were entered up with painstaking diligence 
 day by day, even the smallest details being often 
 noted and preserved ; while the most elaborate records 
 and summaries were kept of his journeyings and work, 
 the precise number of miles travelled each day, the 
 addresses and sermons delivered, with their texts or 
 subjects, and his numerous articles contributed to 
 various journals and magazines, — all these are to be 
 found recorded in his diaries and notebooks. He 
 preserved the notes of every speech he made, tran- 
 
 227 
 
228 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 scribing them from the backs of envelopes into small 
 volumes of " briefs." 
 
 He was equally methodical in money matters, 
 keeping a careful record week by week of his income 
 and expenditure ; and a careful examination of these 
 accounts shows with what economy and carefulness 
 he used the funds which passed through his hands, 
 reckoning himself as a steward who must some day 
 give account. A world of self-denial, about which he 
 said nothing, may be read between the lines of these 
 accounts. 
 
 He attached especial importance to the keeping 
 of diaries, urging his children to follow his example 
 in this matter, and grieving bitterly when the white 
 ants got at some of his old journals. He was accus- 
 tomed to say, " True Christians must be business 
 men." 
 
 Dr. Phillips was quite as careful in matters of corre- 
 spondence. Business letters received his instant and 
 conscientious attention, and his epistles to his family 
 were written with equal regularity, however pressed 
 and wearied he might be. Wherever he was he 
 always wrote to his son Willie on Wednesday, to his 
 elder daughter on Thursday, and to his younger 
 daughter on Saturday. 
 
 Yet with all this he was one of the most uncon- 
 ventional of men. He utterly rejected clerical garb, 
 holding that " religion was an everyday thing, and not 
 to be dressed up for." It was partly because he was 
 anxious to identify himself with his hearers, and to 
 raise no barrier between himself and them, that he so 
 scrupulously avoided anything which might suggest a 
 
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 229 
 
 spirit of professionalism. So successful was he in 
 this, that a large proportion of those who heard him 
 address public meetings, and met him in social life, 
 never suspected that he was an ordained minister, still 
 less did they suspect that the plain unassuming man 
 who made himself so entirely one of the people had 
 taken the degrees of M.A., LL.B., and M.D. during 
 his university course, and had subsequently received 
 the degree of D.D. as a recognition of his distinguished 
 missionary career. 
 
 His methodical character showed itself conspicuously 
 in his remarkable punctuality. In the course of his 
 Sunday School work he travelled over the country in 
 every sort of conveyance that was in use, by train, 
 coasting steamer, poling boat, bullock waggon, etc., 
 yet during his 25,000 miles of such travel he was 
 never once late for an appointment. Nothing but 
 living under strict rule and self-discipline could have 
 enabled him during those years of wandering through- 
 out India, never to fail in an appointment, nor to miss 
 train or steamer. 
 
 Self-discipline was indeed one of the keynotes of 
 his entire career. He ruled not only his outer, but 
 also his inner life. He never spoke evil of any man. 
 He both lived at peace with everyone, and sought to 
 bring others to peace as well. Many could tell, if 
 they would, how to him might be applied the words 
 of our Lord, " Blessed are the peacemakers : for they 
 shall be called the children of God." He was simply 
 absorbed in his work, and used jokingly to call himself 
 " I. 0." (India's own). " It seems always to be my 
 lot," he once said, " to hurry through the world. I 
 
230 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 sometimes think that I shall die with a jerk some day 
 unexpectedly." 
 
 Once between Lucknow and Allahabad he had four 
 hours of fever in the train, but he persisted in his 
 journey, and fulfilled his engagements at its close. 
 He lived to see his plan of a complete Sunday School 
 organisation, covering all India, Burmah, Ceylon, and 
 the Straits Settlements, completed ; and this organisa- 
 tion was almost entirely carried out by himself. He 
 once remarked to Dr. Scott, " My wrist is utterly 
 worn out with writing " ; and it will be remembered 
 that during his earlier Indian career he suffered from 
 partial paralysis of his hand. 
 
 He was a man of remarkable moral courage, and 
 never hesitated to speak boldly for what he believed 
 to be right, even though he might risk the loss of 
 friends and supporters by doing so. Upon the ques- 
 tion of the drink traffic he uttered no uncertain sound, 
 both on the platform and in the press ; and he was 
 equally ready to denounce smoking, to which he had 
 an intense aversion. But with all his outspoken 
 boldness he was one of the gentlest of men — in the 
 best sense of the word, a gentleman. 
 
 All who knew him tell how gentle and considerate 
 he was in the home, and of the pleasant messages he 
 invariably sent back after he had left, never forgetting 
 the children. He was emphatically a lover of children. 
 He was quick to notice them, always ready with 
 pleasant words, and seemed never to forget their 
 names. His private diaries let us into the secret of 
 this recollection. It was his custom whenever visiting 
 a new family to make a careful note of the names of 
 
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 231 
 
 the children, with particulars of their ages. The 
 following entry, which occurred in his diary for 
 October 7th, 1890, when he stayed for a day with a 
 family at Halifax, will serve to illustrate this : — 
 
 " The cherubs in the home — 
 
 " Ethel Carter, 4 years old. 
 " Maude Carter, 2 years old. 
 " God bless them ! " 
 
 One who voyaged with him writes : " He loved 
 children, and the children loved him. I used to send 
 my two wee folk on deck to him in the early morning 
 on the Victoria, and he used to chatter with them in 
 Bengali about the big fish with mouths ' so large,' 
 illustrating with his hands. Then one by one the 
 twenty-two children on board would gather round 
 him ; and though he never felt well when at sea, yet 
 the doctor was the very life of all their games, their 
 story-telling, and their services. . . . How glad we 
 used to be to welcome him home again ! His cheery 
 voice used to ring through the house. Notwithstand- 
 ing the heavy work which his secretaryship entailed, 
 he was always ready to play with our little ones, or 
 to lend a helping hand to anyone who needed it." 
 
 A touching story is told of a little girl, who said on 
 learning of Dr. Phillips' death — 
 
 " Oh, mother, won't it be nice for Mrs. L 's 
 
 little baby to have uncle to play with in heaven ! " 
 
 A fellow - missionary states concerning Dr. 
 Phillips— 
 
 " I should say that the features which made him 
 successful were, that — 
 
232 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 " 1st. He was always cheerful, more especially 
 when he had an audience of children. 
 
 " 2ndly. He was never discouraged. Missionaries 
 sometimes see dark hours, but I never knew Dr. 
 Phillips not to be sufficient for the occasion. In 
 times of difficulty he used to say, ' There v/ill be 
 success in the end. The work is God's, and that 
 means that it must succeed.' 
 
 " 3rdly. He never despaired of anyone, but held 
 on to a man as long as there was life, 
 
 " 4thly, He had a wonderful power of finding 
 work to do. While others were longing for work, 
 and could see nothing that they could undertake, Dr. 
 Phillips was always finding noble work to carry out 
 for Christ. 
 
 " 5thly. He had learned the great secret of suc- 
 cess — he loved children. His face, his words, taught 
 you that he loved you, and therefore you loved him. 
 
 " 6thly. He believed in the durability of the 
 work. He used to say that one soul brought to 
 Christ would endure for ever, and work for men. 
 ' Let us be Christ's ; and remember that being His, we 
 shall abide forever to do His will and work.' " 
 
 Perhaps it need hardly be added that Dr. Phillips 
 was a man of prayer. Those who knew him best, and 
 had opportunities of marking his private life, never 
 failed to be impressed with the prayerful spirit which 
 pervaded his daily life. In his house at Calcutta he 
 was in the habit of going up to the fiat roof for what 
 he called his " morning watch," and as he paced to 
 and fro absorbed in prayer and meditation, he wore a 
 path on the masonry which did not disappear for 
 
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 233 
 
 many months after his death. He never felt that he 
 had done his duty by anybody until he had prayed 
 with him. Almost every entry in his diary concludes 
 with a brief prayer. 
 
 His friends noted how he grew in grace. He was 
 naturally imperious, irritable, and self-willed, but in 
 his latter days nothing was more noticeable than the 
 patient calmness with which he used to bear annoy- 
 ances, and his gentle and unobtrusive bearing. Mrs. 
 Phillips tells how, after her absence in America, she 
 was impressed by the change that had come over him. 
 The old, independent, " cocksure " air had entirely 
 gone. It was not the teaching of Mrs. Uphani, as some 
 have wrongly inferred, but the slow growth of long 
 years, which developed the fine Christian character so 
 admired in the great Sunday School missionary. 
 
 Dr. Phillips was ever mindful of the apostolic 
 injunction, that a man should learn to rule his own 
 household well before attempting to govern a Church. 
 Thus we find that amid all the overwhelming cares of 
 his public and ministerial work, he never forgot the 
 claims of his family. His diaries are filled with ex- 
 pressions of solicitude for the welfare of those nearest 
 to him. Scarcely a day passes without the record of 
 some loving thought or wish for them. Especially 
 was this the case in his later years. 
 
 As his children grew into young manhood and 
 womanhood, instead of considering his responsibility 
 lessened, as too many parents do, he became increas- 
 ingly anxious, both for their temporal and spiritual 
 welfare. The ill-health of his eldest son, and the 
 difficulty he found in gaining a permanent footing in 
 
234 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 the business world, specially called forth the affec- 
 tionate solicitude of his father. 
 
 Dr. Phillips had five children. William Owen was 
 born in 1868; Mary Ann Sophia followed a year later ; 
 Nellie Upham, who was early called away, was born 
 in 1871; John Otes, in 1874; and Julia Edith, in 
 1876. 
 
 We have already noted how, thrice a week. Dr. 
 Phillips regularly wrote to his children. Many 
 hundreds of these family letters still exist, and have 
 been carefully read for the purpose of the present 
 biography ; but space only permits the inclusion 
 of very few. These, however, will serve to show the 
 merry, lighthearted spirit of the writer, his intense 
 sympathy with children, and his affectionate solicitude 
 for the highest welfare of those to whom he wrote. 
 First we give some specimens of his letters to his 
 younger children, 
 
 "Calcutta, 
 " Juiie Uth, ISSl. 
 
 " My dear , — I wish you could have been with 
 
 me yesterday afternoon. We went to a Jewish syna- 
 gogue, and saw a young couple married. All was 
 done in Hebrew, and was so queer. The bride was 
 so pretty, and there were several very handsome 
 Jewish women in the gallery. The Eabbi was a 
 noble-looking man. The groom put three coins, gold, 
 silver, and copper, into a little china cup of wine, both 
 the groom and bride sipping the wine. Then he 
 took back the three coins and put them into his 
 pocket, after which he put the cup on the floor and 
 crushed it with his boot. The Hebrew singing was 
 
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 235 
 
 so funny. All the gentlemen wore their hats in the 
 synagogue ! Perhaps some day I will take you to 
 this very synagogue. Are you feeling better ? I must 
 go now. God bless you ! — Your loving Papa." 
 
 "MiDNAPORK, 
 
 ''April IWi, 1884. 
 
 " My daeling , — I am going to write you a 
 
 Canine and Felme letter to-day. Ask mama what 
 these two words mean. 
 
 " 1st. Canine — 
 
 " (1) Snow is all right and behaves well, like the good 
 dog he is. He sits beside my chair at table, and when 
 he thinks that I have forgotten him, he stands up and 
 touches my arm with his paw. He likes brown bread 
 and chicken bones, and does not like Tabby overmuch. 
 
 " (2) Don, the black dog at Dr. Bacheler's house, was 
 naughty and bit poor old Dharma. So Mr. Griffin 
 tried his new gun on him, and he has not barked or 
 bitten since. 
 
 "2ndly. Feline — 
 
 "(1) Tab has a pretty kitten in Aunt Julia's bath- 
 room. She had two, but one did not like this world, 
 and the kites carried it up higher. Tab sits beside 
 Snow on the other side of my chair, and begs for 
 milk and meat. She thinks brown bread and potatoes 
 good enough for Snow. 
 
 " (2) Tom (Miss Millar's cat) was naughty over in the 
 
 other house, so Mr. G used him for a ritle target. 
 
 He has not been naughty any more. Ask your 
 mama why. Now you will write me a nice little 
 letter. Papa wants to see you very much." 
 
236 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 "ss. Dacca, 
 "August 2nd, 1884. 
 
 " My darling , — I am on a big ship bound for 
 
 Madras. Tliere are eighteen geese, twelve sheep, two 
 kids, one hog, two pigs, and a nice baby elephant on 
 board. The baby eats plantains and rice, and lots of 
 sugar-cane. I am too sick to say more to-day. — 
 Your loving Papa." 
 
 "Colombo, Ceylon, 
 " August loth, 1884, 
 
 " My darling , — Papa has had fever to-day, 
 
 and while I was on the couch, such a nice little doctor 
 came to see me. Her name is Ethel Maud Scott, 
 and she is five years old. She kissed my hot lips, 
 and put her soft hands on my aching head, and said 
 she was sorry I had fever. Then she looked up so 
 pleasantly, and said, ' Dr. Phillips, if you will take 
 some of Mama's nice sugar pills, and let me put 
 some Eau de Cologne on a handkerchief and lay it on 
 your forehead, you will get well.' When I asked her 
 who it was that made sick people well, she said very 
 quickly, ' God ' ; and she promised to pray for me, 
 and ask Jesus to make me well. She has learned 
 crotchet (I am afraid I have spelt that word wrong, 
 ask Mama), and when she saw the pen-wiper on 
 my table so full of ink, she said, ' I will just make 
 
 you a nice new one, and then you may tell 
 
 that Ethel Maud Scott made it.' Ethel is a sweet 
 child all day long ; but when it comes time to go to 
 bed, she sometimes howls and kicks, and then her 
 papa has to take her off in his arms. This is not 
 
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 237 
 
 nice, is it 1 Now, my darling is a bigger soldier than 
 Ethel, and must try to be a very nice lady all day 
 long, and in the evening too. — Your loving 
 
 " Papa." 
 
 The following letters are to his older children : — 
 
 ' ' MiDNAPORE, 
 
 " April 19th, 1888. 
 
 " My deak — , — -We are feeling very anxious 
 
 about dear Mama, and feel like flying to help her. 
 Are you good to her ? Please answer this question, 
 and remember these few little things — 
 
 Istly. Don't disobey Mama. 
 
 2ndly. Don't tease her. 
 
 3rdly. Don't make her sad. 
 
 4thly. Help her cheerfully. 
 
 5thly. Help her promptly. 
 
 6thly. Give up to her politely. 
 
 7thly. Make her glad every day. 
 
 — Your loving Papa." 
 
 "Kandy, Ceylon, 
 " September 17th. 
 
 " My DEAPt , — I am so sad to learn that dear 
 
 Mama is not very well. It is such a comfort to me 
 to think that you are doing your very best to help 
 her every day. When you are tempted, my dear boy, 
 as, of course, you will be, to be careless, and idle, and 
 lazy, will you please stop and think that I am 
 praying for you, and hoping that you are Mama's 
 right-hand man, always earnest and eager, prompt, 
 polite, and patient in helping her, so making her 
 
238 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 burden lighter and her heart happier. Piemember 
 that I am trusting you, and expecting you to make 
 home bright and beautiful by your loving obedience 
 and hearty helpfulness. Please always tell me freely 
 
 how you are getting on. Do you and get on 
 
 pleasantly ? Let people see how nobly two mission- 
 ary boys can love and help each other." 
 
 " MiDNAPORE, 
 
 " April 2'ird, 1885. 
 
 " My darling , — Your pencil note of March 
 
 5th came in on the 17th instant. Please do not use 
 pencil in writing letters, for it gets young ladies into 
 hasty and slovenly habits in letter-writing. Once a 
 week you can afford me a pen and ink chat of half an 
 hour. Cannot you try and learn to write a neat little 
 letter, my child, for this will be an introduction for 
 you into good society many a time. Your spelling 
 improves, and so does your way of putting things. . . . 
 Please write neatly, correctly, and thoughtfully, and let 
 me see improvement in each letter that comes. I 
 find only one word spelt wrongly in this, and I send 
 it back on a slip. I see you would like to come and 
 help me, would you ? Well, I would love to have 
 you. My books need dusting, my papers and pamphlets 
 (those heloved pamphlets Mama used to laugh about) 
 need sorting and putting up. All these and more 
 call for help." 
 
 " Newhaven, Connecticut, 
 "April, 1888. 
 
 " My darling , — Just a few lines on your day 
 
 before I sleep. How good God has been to you ! It 
 
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 239 
 
 seems hardly possible that twenty years ago this day 
 you came to our home. Such a lovely day it was ! 
 The dear old peepul tree in front of the house was in 
 fresh new tender leaf, and the moonlight evening I 
 well recollect, when I held my first baby in my arms 
 and thanked God for him. And how wonderfully he 
 has blessed you since then ! My dear boy, you cannot 
 repay all of God's love, but you may prove your 
 sincere gratitude by devoting yourself to earnest 
 efforts for His glory in helping your fellow-men. . . . 
 Let us pray that the Lord may open your way before 
 you. I well recollect how He opened my way for me, 
 when I went to Brunswick in 1857 an entire stranger. 
 If you devote yourself to Him, He will never fail you. 
 Eead Matthew vi. 33, and study its meaning, parti- 
 cularly that strange word ' first ' on which the whole 
 verse turns. Your needs are all guaranteed to you 
 provided you follow Christ fully and make His service 
 your chief concern. Now, good-night, my dear boy, 
 and may the Lord guide you through the new year 
 you begin to-night." 
 
 "Brighton, 
 
 '' September 2bth, 1890. 
 
 " My darling , — God bless you, my dear child, 
 
 for writing so faithfully during these weary weeks. 
 While Mama's letters for the very first time in our 
 twenty-eight years of correspondence have been sus- 
 pended for a season, I cannot tell you what a comfort 
 your good chats have been to me. This evening I have 
 spoken for our dear India again. The meeting was 
 in the Countess of Huntingdon's chapel — a very stiff 
 place. Two or three officials belonging to it came to me 
 
240 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 expressing the earnest hope that I should say nothing 
 that would provoke merriment. They also charged us 
 about being facetious, and hoped there would be no 
 expression of applause. Well, I never worked in such 
 a strait jacket ; but I survived, and hope some good 
 was done. Several times, however, my very sedate 
 audience smiled audibly, and a few once or twice 
 began to cheer ! " 
 
 "Almora, 
 ''June 7th, 1894. 
 
 " My darling -, — How very sad and cast down 
 
 I feel for not getting a letter from you by last mail, 
 
 and only a post-card from you the mail before ! 
 
 Should this thing go on, I shall have to buy a lot of 
 
 this black-edged paper for constant use. A lady in 
 
 Calcutta, whose monthly epistle I do not preserve, uses 
 
 this sombre sheet, and I am able to clip just this wee 
 
 bit of it for conveying to your worldly and eager mind 
 
 some sense of the depth of grief your recent neglect 
 
 has been causing your paternal relative. Please take 
 
 warning in season." 
 
 " Camp, Badhisol, Midnaporf, 
 " January 10th, 1895. 
 
 " My darling , — Don't you wish you could come 
 
 and share our quiet under these ten beautiful mangoes? 
 I wish you could. Now the sun is setting, and I am 
 looking into the glowing west and thinking of the 
 precious babas who used to be with us in these 
 delightful camps under the banyan and mango, bam- 
 boo and palm, and who are now so far away. In 
 imagination I hear H.'s merry voice, as she swings and 
 begs Will to do it, and John's heartv shout as he 
 
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 241 
 
 gallops up the road and calls for the sice ; and I fancy 
 you are all with us once more around the home altar 
 of prayer, where I taught you to pray and look up 
 for blessing. On the top bough of the mango tree 
 sits a beautiful blue bird, and amidst the dense leaves 
 a red-beaked woodpecker is repeating its lonely note, 
 which is heard at noonday when all else is still, and 
 tired nature is hushed into an Eastern nap. This 
 little fellow is a beauty, and I have come to know him 
 better this time than ever before. The pretty brown 
 turtle doves are cooing in the trees, and all seems so 
 beautiful, but ' only man is vile.' Thank God for the 
 privilege of pointing sinners to our adorable Lord ! — 
 Your loving Papa." 
 
 16 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 CLOSING DAYS. 
 
 " /^ OD is good to let me come back and renew 
 VJT work here at headquarters." So wrote Dr. 
 Phillips on December 19th, 1893, when he once 
 again reached his office at Calcutta. 
 
 " The long journey from Bombay was relieved by 
 meeting old friends at several points, and the energetic 
 secretary of the Bengal auxiliary was at Howrah to 
 welcome us. His Sunday Schools for the Hindu and 
 Mohammedan children were the first I looked into, 
 and the faces of these eager little ones seemed like 
 a real benediction." 
 
 Six days later he was in his native land of Orissa, 
 of which he says — 
 
 " Orissa has some beautiful Sunday Schools, and it 
 is always a joy to look into one of them, as I did here 
 yesterday, A missionary lady is the superintendent. 
 There is a preparation class for teachers, which is 
 largely attended. Mr. Jewson's ' Lessons on the Life 
 of Our Lord ' is used here. The Cuttack Mission 
 Press prints this. At the request of the Oriya pastor, 
 I occupied the pulpit yesterday, and spoke of the 
 responsibility of parents and teachers. This evening 
 the children and the friends have had their Christmas 
 
CLOSING DAYS 243 
 
 tree, and having looked in upon their merry joy, I 
 must move on northward." 
 
 To reach his next station at Midnapore two days 
 later, he had to journey seventy-six miles in a palan- 
 keen, being carried by native bearers. So the broken 
 year came to an end. 
 
 " Three-fourths of this year," wrote Dr. Phillips in 
 his annual report, " have been spent away from our 
 field. Only January, February, and December have 
 been devoted to the pressing demands of our growing 
 work in India. On returning from Europe, I found 
 much for which to be thankful. The blessing of God 
 has been upon this work for His little ones, and signs 
 of progress are seen on every hand. May we all 
 understand something of our Master's words when 
 He said, ' It is not the will of your Father which 
 is in heaven that one of these little ones should 
 perish.' " 
 
 The report goes on to speak of progress in all 
 directions ; of all the auxiliaries honest and gratifying 
 work is recorded ; and the statistics, which include 
 only those schools connected with the India Sunday 
 School Union, show that a gratifying increase had 
 taken place. 
 
 Unfortunately, Dr. Phillips returned from his 
 absence exhausted rather than refreshed. His 
 diary for the closing weeks of December contains 
 too many entries of this kind : " My head still 
 swimming, so dizzy, so tired and weak " ; " My 
 head still so weak and giddy " ; " My head still 
 suffering " ; and similar expressions, which gave indi- 
 cations of that gradual undermining of his con- 
 
244 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 stitution which was to end ere long in his pre- 
 mature death. 
 
 The year 1894 saw the " triangulation " of India 
 once more accompHshed by Dr. Phillips in his tours, 
 which reached a total of 13,509 miles. We can give 
 but occasional and fleeting glimpses of the untiring 
 worker during these journeyings. We draw chiefly 
 upon his " Jottings," published in the India Sunday 
 School Journal. 
 
 "Calcutta, 
 "Febncary 27th, 1874. 
 
 " There have been many happy, happy gatherings 
 of children this month in Calcutta. The prize-giving 
 anniversaries are, of course, popular. I was glad to 
 be able to look in upon that of Miss Neele's school, 
 that of the Union Chapel, and that of the American 
 Women's Union Society. It is well to have special 
 sermons for children, and for parents and teachers on 
 such anniversary occasions. A pleasant hour was 
 spent in Miss M'Donald's school for Bengali Christian 
 girls, and the same Sabbath I was prompted to visit 
 the Bengali Sunday School, Free Church of Scotland, 
 and one of Miss Hunt's schools for Hindu girls. 
 Whenever I see these beautiful Sunday Schools for 
 Christian children, I cannot repress the thought, 
 ' What helpers these boys and girls should become 
 in our broad and promising field ! ' The annual 
 meeting of the Bengal Sunday School Union, com- 
 bined with the regular social quarterly meeting, 
 was held last evening at St. Andrew's Kirk Hall, 
 and proved an occasion of more than ordinary 
 interest." 
 
CLOSING DAYS 245 
 
 "LUDHIANA, PUNJAUB, 
 "March \2th. 
 
 " In the little graveyard of this mission compound, 
 I found the names of quite a number of missionaries, 
 and among them that of Joseph H. Meyers, one of 
 those who came to India with me nearly twenty- 
 nine years ago. His was but a short term of 
 service of four and a half years, but he toiled faith- 
 fully, and his work abides. Of that party of ten 
 who came round the Cape in a sailing ship, only 
 five remain. Half our number have already entered 
 into rest, but five of us are still in the field. 
 In these days larger parties are coming out from 
 home, for the passage has been reduced to but a 
 third or fourth of its former length. Beside the 
 grave of our comrade who gladly gave himself for 
 our dear India's weal, I prayed for all our workers 
 now bearing the burden and heat of the day. God 
 grant us all grace to be good ministers of Jesus 
 
 Christ ! " 
 
 "Jallander City, 
 "March I5th. 
 
 " The new feature, and most cheering one, I saw 
 here, is a nice little Sunday School for the servants' 
 children, conducted by Miss Carrie Newton and her 
 brother Van. These missionary children, not yet in 
 their teens, are working enthusiastically for the boys 
 and girls of the compound. There were eleven pupils 
 present, and they had made a good start in learning 
 to sing and repeat Bible verses. Could such classes 
 increase throughout the land, we should have more 
 Christian servants and better, and there would be 
 
246 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 fewer complaints, I believe, of the imtrustworthiness 
 
 of those we have." 
 
 "Peshaavar, Aiwil 5th. 
 
 " This is the very top of India, and on the 
 Afghanistan frontier. I could not resist the repeated 
 request of the veteran missionary of the C.M.S. that 
 I should visit this frontier station, though I had not 
 planned to do so on this tour. These brethren are 
 more than a hundred miles from the nearest missionary 
 station. Mr. and Mrs. Thwaites gave us a cordial 
 welcome. Near their bungalow I found a hostel for 
 Vasthu lads attending the high school of the C.M.S., 
 which I had the pleasure of addressing. Three 
 missionary families came in for a pleasant drawing- 
 room service or Sunday School Bible reading, and this 
 morning I have been putting the claims of this work 
 for the children of the land before the Hindustani 
 Church. There is an open door here for discreet and 
 diligent effort in behalf of the little ones. Let this 
 frontier station be faithfully remembered in our 
 
 prayers ! " 
 
 "Almora, June 8th. 
 
 " Why does not somebody say a kind word for the 
 Dak Bungalow ? We have found these very comfort- 
 able indeed, and well kept. It is pleasing to find 
 that friends of temperance and others are supplying 
 periodical religious literature to these rest-houses, main- 
 tained by the Government. Back numbers of standard 
 periodicals judiciously placed would undoubtedly cheer 
 many travellers who halt a day or two in these 
 bungalows. Why may we not look for rich fruit from 
 this seed-sowing ? " 
 
CLOSING DAYS 247 
 
 " Chavagacherry, Ceylon, 
 
 "Auffnd 25(11. 
 
 "After thirty-five liours of continuous travel from 
 Matele in the royal mail coach drawn by ponies and 
 bullocks, I was glad to be here. It is a pleasure to 
 say a few words to the native helpers here before 
 going on for the night. How Ceylon needs railways ! 
 I am delighted to hear that the prospects of the 
 Hindu-Ceylon Eailway are brightening. It would be 
 a boon indeed to this beautiful island." 
 
 Dr. Phillips' " Jottings," valuable and interesting as 
 they are, yet prove lacking in one particular as a true 
 and faithful account of his work. They say practically 
 nothing of results. His modesty did not allow him 
 to tell either the amount of work he accomplished or 
 the benefits which resulted from his efforts. It is 
 fitting then at this point, in order to supply this 
 deficiency, to insert one or two quotations from the 
 reports of the local auxiliaries which he visited. In 
 the report of the Bombay Sunday School Union, 
 December 1894, it is stated — 
 
 " For some weeks prior to the arrival here of our 
 bright, active, and big-hearted general secretary, plans 
 were being formed to hold a general convention for 
 the Bombay Presidency ; but despite many telegrams 
 and pressing letters, despite influences and arguments, 
 it was decided to drop the convention. One week 
 after this solemn decision, Dr. Phillips arrived, and at 
 once set to work to find out what could be done to 
 get the Bombay Sunday School workers together. He 
 worked quietly yet powerfully, and by that same 
 
248 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 evening he had gathered together a committee repre- 
 senting all the churches, who, guided and helped by 
 the doctor, agreed to hold some special meetings, 
 which were in reality nothing but a convention, and 
 a truly delightful and profitable time it was. . . . We 
 thank God for the Sunday School work, for the 
 Bombay Sunday School Union, and especially for the 
 gifted and fitted Dr. Phillips." 
 
 From Moulmein it was reported that — " In all the 
 schools there are at least 500 children that now 
 receive some light of the Gospel, who were not 
 cared for before Dr. Phillips came." 
 
 From Poona came similar testimony : — " Most 
 people who are engaged as Dr. Phillips is, in 
 advancing the interest of some particular cause, as 
 that of Sunday Schools or temperance, are usually 
 successful in arousing temporary enthusiasm on the 
 part of those who listen to their appeals, and also in 
 awakening and strengthening desires to do something 
 to help on the good work ; but they either make 
 no suggestions as to methods and plans by which 
 these desires may be turned into actions, or if sugges- 
 tions are made they are frequently impracticable, or 
 in some way unsuited for existing circumstances, and 
 hence little or no permanent good is accomplished ; but 
 I think all who have attended Dr. Phillips' meetings 
 or conversed with him will admit that they are with- 
 out excuse if they fail to act upon the simple and 
 feasible plans which he so plainly points out to them." 
 
 The records for the year 1894 show that he 
 preached ninety-seven sermons, and delivered 305 
 addresses. 
 
CLOSING DAYS 249 
 
 The first entry in the diary for 1895 was this — 
 
 " Thanks for this bright beginning of the new 
 year," an entry eloquent of the hopefulness and 
 optimism of " a heart at leisure from itself." January 
 8 th saw him busily packing up for a visit to Orissa, 
 and next day he was encamped near Midnapore, 
 having pitched his tent under some mango trees 
 near a ruined indigo factory. 
 
 " Thank God," he writes, " for the quiet and rest 
 of this spot on the skirt of a jungle in which herds 
 of wild elepliants are now roaming " ; and again, 
 " Thank God for this sweet, heavenly, quiet camp. 
 It is so restful and healing to my sore and tired 
 head." 
 
 Thus some days were passed in the solitude of the 
 jungle ; the much - needed rest being only broken 
 by a little missionary work among the Santals. 
 Here Dr. Phillips spent his fiftieth birthday, and 
 on the 27th of the month he was back in Calcutta 
 once more, absorbed in his official work. Seven 
 days later he set out on a long -projected visit 
 to Assam, with the characteristic remark, " It seems 
 good to be on the warpath again." The experience 
 was a new one to Dr. Phillips, and he was now quite 
 out of the beaten track, travelling from place to 
 place on elephants, and living in huts of bamboo 
 and straw. Isolated missionaries were visited, and 
 in many cases vaccinated as well. Numerous ad- 
 dresses were delivered through interpreters, and the 
 Sunday School work generally was organised and 
 extended. 
 
250 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 "Kasikhagka, Assam, 
 ''February Uh, 1895. 
 
 " For four years I have been looking forward to 
 seeing the work in Assam. Besides the calls and 
 claims of other parts of my broad field, perhaps the 
 reputation of Assam for fever has had something to 
 do with keeping me out of it. But this is a good 
 month here, and I could not longer postpone my 
 visit. . . . 
 
 " The assistant commissioner's elephant w^as our 
 beast of burden ; but being old, and having a sulky 
 driver, it made hardly two miles an hour. This 
 three days' meeting has been one full and refresh- 
 ing. These Garo Christians seem so intelligent, so 
 independent, and enterprising. More than 800 
 have come from distances ranging from ten to 
 seventeen miles. We met or overtook several parties 
 coming to the meeting, walking single file through 
 the open fields or the tall grass of the jungle, the 
 infants bound to the women's backs and the older 
 children strapped to the men's backs. All these 
 visitors, wonderful to say, are entertained by the local 
 church, which provides both shelter and food. I have 
 seen nothing to match this hospitality in any land. 
 One day seventeen maunds ^ of rice were distributed, 
 with a corresponding amount of meat and vegetables, 
 and fuel for cooking. The meetings have been most 
 enthusiastic. The Garo singing of our English tunes 
 is remarkable. I could not discover one native tune 
 of their own jungle life. It seems a pity to have all 
 these wild native melodies lost by the Karens and 
 
 ^ All Indian mauud equals 82f pounds. 
 
CLOSING DAYS 251 
 
 others. Some of those retained by the Santals and 
 other jungle tribes are really beautiful. Cheering 
 reports came in from the churches. The number of 
 baptisms during the year in this Garo Association was 
 upwards of 200, making the present number of com- 
 municants nearly 2400. There are 13 churches in 
 this association, with over 30 Sunday Schools, con- 
 taining more than 1600 pupils. . . . Like other hill 
 and jungle tribes, the Garos exhibit independence and 
 manliness in providing for their own pastors and 
 teachers. The churches are mainly independent of 
 foreign aid, and more than half of the evangelists are 
 supported by the churches. These men are models of 
 self-denial. One of them came to the missionary in 
 charge only yesterday, saying, ' I have a bit of land, 
 and can get on with five rupees a month now and six 
 for coolie hire.' He was getting nine rupees a month, 
 besides the allowance for coolies, and voluntarily gave 
 up four of his nine. Another illustration of the same 
 spirit of disinterestedness was told me by my good 
 host. A young Garo, who had studied in America 
 several years, held a post in the Normal School at 
 Tura at thirty rupees a month. This he voluntarily 
 relinquished for the work of a travelling evangelist 
 among his own people, on twelve rupees a month." 
 
 After leaving Kasikhagra, Dr. Phillips proceeded by 
 elephant and pony to Golpara and thence by steamer 
 to Ding Ghat, whence a journey of twenty-five miles 
 in a bullock cart brought him to Nowgong. Here he 
 found a good Sunday School and Sunday congregation. 
 He then went to Shillong, a charming hill station 5000 
 
252 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 feet above the sea. On his way he stopped at Gaupati 
 for a few hours' rest, and seized the opportunity to talk 
 to a few native Christians about Sunday School work. 
 At Shillong he gave many addresses to the Kasi 
 Christians, and was delighted to find a capital Sunday 
 School, with an attendance of over 300 children in 
 seventeen classes. As an illustration of his common 
 sense, it may be mentioned that he notes with great 
 satisfaction the lowness of the benches for the infant 
 class. On other occasions he frequently urged the 
 cruelty of placing small children upon high and un- 
 comfortable benches. After thirty-two miles' travel he 
 reached Cherrapunji, where he found a native theo- 
 logical school and a well-equipped hospital with a 
 medical missionary in charge. All these were in con- 
 nection with the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Mission. 
 
 " Tokens of cheer," he wrote, " and signs of real 
 thrift appear on every side, and I believe there is a 
 glorious future before the faithful toilers of the Welsh 
 Churches ; and now after three very pleasant weeks 
 in Assam, I set my face Calcutta-ward again. The 
 Bengal Sunday School Union may well be proud of 
 this American and Welsh Mission constituency in 
 Assam." 
 
 On his way home he journeyed first on horseback, 
 then in a basket on a man's back, then by railway, 
 next in a rowing boat, then by steamboat, and finally 
 by the mail train, until he reached Calcutta, after six 
 days' travelling, just in time to take part in a united 
 meeting of the English Sunday Schools, held at the 
 Town Hall. 
 
 An extract from his address may here be given, 
 
CLOSING DAYS 253 
 
 which will serve to show his bright and happy style 
 when talking to children. 
 
 " Who was it that said, ' Suffer little children to come 
 unto Me?' ('Jesus.') Another name? ('Christ.') 
 Another ? (' Son of God.') Another ? (' Emmanuel.') 
 Yes, that is the name I want. That is a name we do 
 not hear enough about. What is the meaning of the 
 name ? (' God with us.') I want to send you away 
 with the word Emmanuel for this year's motto. 
 Eemember it through the year, the name of Jesus — 
 Emmanuel, God with us. I wish every boy and girl 
 to feel that it is really so, that God is with him every- 
 where. If Jesus is with you, He sees everything 
 you do. 
 
 " A naughty boy wanted some fruit growing in a 
 man's orchard. The boy waited till it was quite dark, 
 and then looked carefully to see if anyone was looking 
 on. Was anyone ? (' Yes, he forgot to look iq).') 
 Jesus saw him ; so Jesus looks on in your home at all 
 times. Jesus, God with us, is our true pilot. Going 
 down the Brahmaputra the steamer stuck in the river 
 because a man thought he was a pilot but did not 
 know the way. How many boys make wrecks of their 
 lives by forsaking Jesus. Last night in the train I 
 travelled with an old Sunday scholar. Poor fellow, 
 how I pitied him as he swore and cursed ! I was 
 ashamed of him. He did not know who I was, or that 
 I was watching him. Eemember, that wherever you 
 are, and when you are tempted, Jesus is Emmanuel, 
 hearing all you say, willing to guide you in every trial. 
 A speaker has referred to his brother in Bombay. 
 When I went there, after having been in India ten 
 
254 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 years, I saw a great many people standing on the quay. 
 I said, ' I wonder whether I can make out one face.' 
 At last I did. It was the face of a very good friend, 
 but that face was not there when I landed ten years 
 later. But by and by the last journey will be done, 
 and we shall have reached home. Then Somebody 
 will be there who knows us. Jesus, Emmanuel, will 
 be there. What a glad welcome we shall have ! " 
 
 Dr. Phillips remained at Calcutta a month, being 
 busily occupied with his usual clerical and literary 
 work. At this time he was in correspondence with 
 Mr. H. G. Wilson, M.P., who was endeavouring to 
 arouse the British conscience to a sense of the iniquities 
 connected with the cantonment system in India. 
 
 On March 23rd, Dr. Phillips set out upon what was 
 to prove his last missionary journey. This time he 
 went farther afield than usual, visiting the Straits 
 Settlements and the Island of Java. 
 
 "Singapore, Straits Settlements, 
 "April 10th, 1895. 
 
 " More than four years ago, I promised Mr. Munsom 
 of the American Mission here that I would embrace 
 the very first opportunity for visiting Malasia in the 
 interests of Sunday Schools. Plans for our work in 
 North India so changed that I had a month for the 
 Straits Settlements, and gladly took ship for Singapore, 
 the headquarters of the British possessions in these 
 waters. At this season the sea is quiet, and the voyage 
 in the ss. Lightning was very pleasant. . . . We 
 sighted the Andaman Islands. Is anyone doing any- 
 thing there to teach the poor prisoners of Him who 
 
CLOSING DAYS 
 
 255 
 
 came to set the prisoner free ? What fine Sunday 
 Schools might be held in all the gaols and prisons of 
 these Eastern lands, if only voluntary, eager, intelli- 
 gent teachers could be found for the difficult task ! 
 
 " On a very pleasant day we halted at Penang, and 
 arrangements were made for special Sunday School 
 services on my return trip. At this point scores of 
 Sepoys from Upper India left us, but the deck was 
 quickly filled again by such an eager crowd of Chinese 
 bound for Hong Kong. The Christian workers here 
 in Singapore have given our cause a very hearty 
 welcome. Last Sabbath I had the pleasure of looking 
 into seven Sunday Schools, the Anglican, Methodist, 
 and Presbyterian missions, and of the Brethren. All 
 these are, as compared with like schools in India, small 
 and new, but a capital start has been made, and I 
 look for sturdy growth. The cheerful courage of 
 the teacher and superintendents is very promising, 
 and with their peculiar difficulties to face they are 
 pushing on well. The Anglo-Chinese school for boys 
 is indeed a very bright spot, and I enjoyed visiting 
 it. Over 500 lads are there, being trained for useful 
 lives. The Chinese and Malay schools for girls are 
 also doing a grand work." 
 
 During this stay at Singapore, Dr. Phillips not only 
 visited the missionary day schools and Sunday Schools, 
 but he preached in the churches, held drawing-room 
 meetings in private houses, conducted a conference 
 of Sunday School workers, and took a leading part 
 at a public meeting held in the interest of the work 
 which he had so much at heart. He found children 
 
256 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 being taught in four languages — English, Malay, 
 
 Chinese, and Tamil. Some of the Sunday Schools 
 
 were held in the streets through lack of buildings, 
 
 and these never failed to attract scores, although the 
 
 personality of the attendance varied frequently. 
 
 On April 10th, Dr. Phillips embarked on board the 
 
 ss. Godavery, en route for Batavia, Java, which he 
 
 reached in company with some German missionaries 
 
 on the 10 th. Here he found a welcome at the house 
 
 of a Dutch schoolmaster. 
 
 "Batavia, Java, 
 ''April 19th, 1895. 
 
 " Through the kindness of several Dutch friends, 
 who speak a little English, and an Englishman en- 
 gaged in Bible work, I have been able to sow a little 
 seed here, and have promised to come again next 
 spring and do more. The Dutch churches have 
 Sunday Schools, but there is room for much growth, 
 for improved methods, and for missionary enthusiasm. 
 There are said to be about eighty English people in 
 Batavia, but no regular service is kept up. The 
 pretty little church, that I was told had not been 
 opened for service since August, is sadly in need of a 
 faithful caretaker, the pulpit, pews, prayer and hymn 
 books being given up to the ravages of tropical 
 insects. Owing to the zeal of the good Bible agents, 
 we have had an English service this evening. Last 
 Sabbath (Easter) this church could not be opened 
 owing to the absence of the Standing Committee 
 in the hills. Oh for one wideawake Christian in 
 Batavia to keep the doors of this house open ! How 
 dare Englishmen shut up God's house ? " 
 
CLOSING DAYS 257 
 
 "Depok, Java, 
 "April \Wi. 
 
 " The very brightest thing I have seen in Dutch 
 India so far has been here, twenty-one miles from 
 Batavia by train. A seminary for training evangelists 
 is here, and I found forty young men studying the 
 Bible under a German principal and his assistants. 
 These men came from the islands of the broad and 
 beautiful Malasian Archipelago, viz. Borneo, Celebes, 
 Java, New Guinea, Sumatra, etc. Before me on these 
 forms were two men of a darker hue than their fellows, 
 from Dutch New Guinea, several sons of the savages 
 of Borneo, and quite a number of the descendants of 
 the once cannibal Batuks of the western coast of 
 Sumatra. All these men, who are to lift up the 
 standard of our King, were seated beside each other." 
 
 Leaving Batavia on the 20th, Dr. Phillips reached 
 Singapore on the 22nd, and on the 28th was able to 
 pay his promised visit to Penang. Concerning this 
 visit he wrote — 
 
 " Eeachiug here about noon on Sunday, I was able 
 to visit the Tamil school of the American Mission, 
 and in the evening to address its English congrega- 
 tion. Yesterday and to-day I have been looking into 
 some schools, and am delighted to find an Anglo- 
 Chinese high school like that at Singapore. Two 
 special meetings have been held in behalf of Sunday 
 Schools, and a Sunday School Union has been organ- 
 ised under encouraging auspices. There is a great 
 and inviting field here for work among the young, 
 and these American and European Christians are 
 17 
 
258 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 determined to occupy it. The languages, as at Singa- 
 pore, are Chinese, Malay, Tamil, and English. English 
 is bound to win, and is increasing rapidly." 
 
 Dr. Phillips left Penang on May 1st, and on the 
 7 th was back again at Calcutta. After a very full 
 week, occupied with much business, he set out on the 
 evening of May 14th to rejoin Mrs. Phillips in the 
 hills, reaching Missoorie after three days' weary 
 travelling on the railway. 
 
 On the following day he was seized with the 
 severest attack of fever that he had experienced for 
 many years, the cold stage lasting three hours. For 
 several days he continued very weak, though no grave 
 effects were anticipated. The brief entries in his 
 diary mention the visits of various doctors, and on 
 May 25 th he records the fact that he purchased a 
 walking-stick : while the weakness thus hinted at is 
 more than corroborated by the unusual brevity of his 
 notes, and the feeble, straggling handwriting. 
 
 He remained at the " Midlands," the residence of 
 his friend Mr. Parsons, unable to do much work, but 
 enjoying short walks and occasional rides on the hill- 
 sides. On June 2nd he was sufficiently well to 
 address a Sunday School, and to preach a children's 
 sermon at the Missoorie Union Church ; and during 
 the week he attended the meetings of the Christian 
 Convention in the Baring Institute. 
 
 On the next Sunday he gave an early morning 
 address to the soldiers in their prayer-room, and also 
 talked a little to the Sunday School children. The 
 week that followed was spent quietly, taking short 
 rides and reading in the woods ; and on Friday, June 
 
259 
 
CLOSING DAYS 261 
 
 14th, he wrote what proved to be his last magazine 
 article. On the following Sunday he gave three short 
 addresses to small gatherings of children, and on the 
 next day, Monday, June 17th, he conducted his last 
 public service. 
 
 It was a small drawing-room meeting, held in the 
 interests of his much - loved Sunday School work. 
 The rain was falling fast, so that comparatively few 
 people came ; but he noted with satisfaction that the 
 girls of the school were present. 
 
 On this day the diaries which he had kept with 
 such diligent faithfulness throughout his life reached 
 their close, and the last feeble lines he was able to 
 write before the pen fell from his trembling fingers 
 form a worthy close to the long record — 
 
 " May God bless the Sunday School message to the 
 young ! " 
 
 A week of terrible physical suffering followed, and 
 at ten o'clock on the morning of June 25th, 1895, 
 the untiring worker passed to his rest. 
 
 A lady who visited him during his last brief illness 
 writes — 
 
 " I was with him a short time on his last Sabbath 
 here. 
 
 " He asked for the reading of a hymn which was 
 inside the cover of his Bible. 
 
 ' Lord, speak to me, that I may speak 
 
 In living echoes of Thy tone ; 
 As Thou hast sought, so let me seek 
 Thine erring children, lost and lone.' 
 
 " He was suffering greatly, and the noise of some 
 children outside disturbed him ; yet when I proposed 
 
262 
 
 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 quieting them, he said, ' Oh no, don't ! They have 
 been so good all day.' He preferred their freedom to 
 his own ease from pain." 
 
 On the day following his death, the funeral pro- 
 cession passed along the mountain path between 
 
 ui;. I'HiLLii's gi;avk. 
 
 Landour and Missoorie. The children of the various 
 schools in the neighbourhood stood by the wayside, 
 with uncovered heads, till the procession passed, and 
 then joined it to the cemetery. Ministers of various 
 denominations took part in the service at the Union 
 
CLOSING DAYS 263 
 
 Chapel. The rain was falling fast as the large 
 gathering of friends stood around the grave into 
 which the young men of the schools gently lowered 
 the coffin of their greatest friend. 
 
 Before us lie many records of funeral sermons 
 and memorial tributes in religious newspapers and 
 magazines, together with a remarkably large number 
 of letters of condolence from Christian workers of 
 many denominations, and of localities far apart from 
 one another. All with one voice speak of the saintly 
 spirit and indomitable energy which characterised the 
 India Sunday School secretary. One tribute here 
 must suffice as a specimen of all the rest. It is by 
 Senator Eeed, late Speaker of the House of Eepre- 
 sentatives at Boston, and its eloquent words form a 
 fitting conclusion to the present sketch of a noble and 
 consecrated life. 
 
 " A great many years ago, when I was a boy in 
 college, I used to read the Morning Star in the rooms 
 of James Liddell Phillips. He was a true, earnest, 
 devoted believer, as thoroughly without guile or self- 
 seeking as any man I ever knew. 
 
 " How he fared and what he did to further the faith 
 that was in him is well known to-day. I always held 
 him in my heart as the one man I knew who, faithful 
 to his belief, and without a desire for reward in this 
 world, gave up country and friends, health and com- 
 fort, for a life unknown alike to fame and pleasure. I 
 used often to wonder if there might not be as he grew 
 older underneath that seeming content some of those 
 vague longings for a different life which afflicted those 
 of us whose paths from the cradle to the grave were 
 
264 LIFE OF J. L. PHILLIPS 
 
 unlike his. It is one of the pleasant recollections 
 that I treasure, that I had the opportunity to find out 
 if my vague conjectures were true or not. He came 
 to my house with his wife, whose devotion to the same 
 cause must have been to him a succour and much help, 
 to stay with me during the meeting of the Churches 
 of his denomination. On the evening arranged when 
 he was to speak to a great audience, a violent attack 
 of jungle fever confined him to his room for that 
 night and several days after. His patience in sick- 
 ness and his regret for the disappointment at not 
 meeting his audience were without a shadow of self- 
 regard. My tribute to his memory is my sincere 
 admiration for his unselfish life of self-sacrifice and 
 devotion — a life of self-sacrifice and devotion so deep 
 and full and rich that to his dying day he never had 
 thought that he was doing anything nobler than the 
 simple duty which created beings owe to their 
 Creator," 
 
 THE END. 
 
 I'RIKTRH BV MORKISON ANP OIBB LIMITED, KDINBTIROH 
 
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