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In the 
 Land of the Salaam 
 
 By 
 
 BERT WILSON 
 
 Secretary of the 
 
 United Christian Missionary Society 
 
 and Author of 
 
 DAD'S LETTERS ON A WORLD JOURNEY 
 
 POWELL & WHITE 
 Cincinnati, Ohio 
 
:£>V3 
 
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 COPYRIGHT 1921 
 POWELL & WHITE 
 
 tftt 
 
 2\ &* 
 
 ©W.A653206 
 
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THE WORD BEFORE 
 
 Some of the material in this volume was 
 sent home as travel stories during my stay in 
 India, and was published in World Call, The 
 Lookout, The Front Rank, Girls' Circle and 
 Boys' Comrade. 
 
 Appreciation is hereby expressed to those 
 publications for permission to use a part of that 
 material, somewhat revised, in this volume. 
 
 September, 1921. B. W. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 Chapter I— "SALAAM!" 
 
 In the Land of the Salaam 11 
 
 Indian Hospitality 17 
 
 A Banquet of the Brahmans 22 
 
 Chapter II— HARDA 
 
 How Harda is Tackling the Sunday-school 
 
 Job 31 
 
 A New Testament Mary, One of Several 38 
 
 A School Program for a City of Twenty 
 
 Thousand 44 
 
 The Church 50 
 
 The Doctor Sahib 52 
 
 Chapter III— MAHOBA 
 
 In the City of a Thousand Temples 61 
 
 A Hospital Set on a Hill 70 
 
 The Mother of One Hundred Fifty-six 74 
 
 Chapter IV— MAUDAHA 
 
 A Stirring in the Mulberry Trees 81 
 
 Jagganath, the "Witness Bearer" 87 
 
 Chapter V— RATH 
 
 At the Jungle Station of Rath 93 
 
 An Interview with Pt. Nandkishare Sharma 97 
 
Chapter VI— KULPAHAR p age 
 
 Kulpahar, the Place of Many Mountains 103 
 
 Does It Pay? 118 
 
 Shyan Bhabini 119 
 
 Chapter VII— DAMOH 
 
 Christmas Sunday at Damoh 127 
 
 Scenario for a Moving Picture 134 
 
 A Gospel Farm 137 
 
 A Day With the Hustling Doctor Mary 143 
 
 The Pioneeress of Damoh 149 
 
 Chapter VIII— HATTA 
 A Bungalow and an Opportunity 157 
 
 Chapter IX— BINA 
 
 In the Shadow of the Great Stupa 163 
 
 The Miss Sahibs at Work 169 
 
 Chapter X— JHANSI 
 
 The Iron God Paves the Way 179 
 
 The Future Program 187 
 
 Chapter XI— PENDRA ROAD 
 
 A Cross Section of the New Jerusalem 191 
 
 A "T. B." Lighthouse 197 
 
 Chapter XII— BILASPUR 
 
 In the Villages Round About 203 
 
 Burgess Memorial Girls' School 219 
 
 Dr. Jenny's Work Shop 226 
 
 Mamma Ji Kingsbury 228 
 
Chapter XIII— MUNGELI p age 
 
 Evangelism With its Boots on 237 
 
 By Ox-Cart to Piparkhuta 242 
 
 Among Thieves at Kesaruadih 245 
 
 On Horseback to Patharia 247 
 
 Big Doings at Bhulan 250 
 
 What They Said to me at Pendridih 254 
 
 A Busy Sunday at Mungeli 267 
 
 Evangelistic Work for Women 272 
 
 Medical and Dispensary Work 275 
 
 Among the Lepers 276 
 
 The Women Lepers 278 
 
 "And As Ye Go, Teach" 279 
 
 Chapter XIV— JUBBULPORE 
 
 The Bible College 285 
 
 The Jubbulpore Church 289 
 
 The "Jub" Printing Press 290 
 
 The Annual Convention 293 
 
 The Watch Dog of the Treasury 301 
 
 Chapter XV— 
 A TRIBUTE AND SOME PROBLEMS 
 
 The Mem Sahibs 307 
 
 The Problems of the Missionaries 316 
 
 Interesting Facts About India 323 
 
 Purely Personal 326 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Page 
 Women with water pots on their heads com- 
 ing and going Frontispiece 
 
 High School Boys in their Daily Drill 48 
 
 Image of the Goddess Kali, in the Hills Back 
 
 of Mahoba 64 
 
 Mr. Rothermel and his "Evangelistic Outfit" 84 
 
 "After the Opening Exercises, the Women 
 go out in the Yard for the Teaching of 
 the Lesson" 112 
 
 Hay Stacks on the "Gospel Farm" 138 
 
 Dr. Mary McGavran and Purdah Women 144 
 
 "What a happy, jolly crowd they were when 
 they swarmed out in the great front 
 yard 224 
 
 Mamma Ji Kingsbury and her Ox-carts 231 
 
 Baptizing in a River near Mungeli 256 
 
 Dr. Miller and Hira Lai about their Work 272 
 
 The Missionaries' Children at the Jubbul- 
 
 pore Convention 304 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 'SALAAM" 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 "SALAAM" 
 
 IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 India might well be called the Land of the 
 Salaam. At least it is the salaamingest land I 
 have ever seen. Out in the middle west in the 
 U. S. A. it was considered good breeding if you 
 saluted your neighbor by the way; not so in Cin- 
 cinnati or St. Louis, unless you know him. In 
 India one is salaamed on every hand. 
 
 "Salaam, Sahib. Carry your baggage out?" 
 called out a half dozen coolies upon my arrival 
 at Calcutta. One fellow took my trunk upon 
 his head, a suitcase on top of that, a grip in 
 each hand, and went down the gangway. 
 
 "Salaam, Sahib," said the gari men as we 
 came out on the street, looking for a taxi to 
 take my baggage to the railroad station. No 
 taxi was in sight except the two-wheeled ox- 
 carts. 
 
 "Salaam, Sahib," said the old keeper at 
 Carey's Chapel in Calcutta, as we went to have 
 a look at the beginning place of modern mis- 
 sions in India. Here is the church that Carey 
 
 [11] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 1 
 
 built, in good repair, with services being held 
 there every Sunday. On the inside we saw the 
 baptistry which Carey built. It is in the floor, 
 in front of the pulpit where everyone in the 
 church can see it. In this baptistry Adoniram 
 Judson was baptized, upon his arrival in India. 
 
 "Salaam, Sahib," said the ticket agent as 
 we called for tickets to Serampore, where Carey 
 later moved and started the new work and the 
 Bible College. Serampore is about fifteen miles 
 from Calcutta, and a splendidly located sub- 
 urban city. Here we visited the old home of 
 William Carey. It is a large roomy building, 
 now being occupied by the President of the 
 College. 
 
 Carey lived in this home from 1823 to 1834, 
 the year of his death. He erected the college 
 building in 1818. It is large and roomy in the 
 colonial style. The auditorium will seat a 
 thousand people. It is rather remarkable that 
 this far-seeing pioneer had the vision to plan 
 his Bible College for a hundred years in the 
 future, for only recently the attendance has 
 reached nearly six hundred. 
 
 It will be understood that this is a regular 
 Arts College and that the Bible Department has 
 only a limited number of students. 
 
 The great iron gate at the entrance of the 
 grounds was given by the King of Denmark, and 
 the large double iron stairway in the college 
 building was also given by him. This tract of 
 ground was originally ceded to Denmark, and it 
 [12] 
 
'SALAAM' 
 
 was necessary for Mr. Carey to secure his grants 
 for the land through the King. He was pleased 
 with Carey and the work he was doing, hence 
 made these gifts to the school. 
 
 "Salaam, Sahib," said the coolie, who had 
 carried my baggage to the train when I started 
 to Jubbulpore. I had paid him the regular price 
 but he wanted more. A pice is one-half of a 
 cent, and when I gave it to him he salaamed in 
 farewell. 
 
 "Salaam, Sahib, tea, sir?" said the steward 
 of the dining car, as our train stopped at one of 
 the stations. He came back along the cars and 
 found out how many wanted tea, and had it pre- 
 pared ready to serve when the train made the 
 next stop. 
 
 Those Indian sleepers are different. They 
 call each compartment a carriage. Each second 
 class compartment has in it five berths. These 
 are like big leather sofas, only not nearly so 
 soft. They run end-ways of the train, are sta- 
 tionary, and there is no porter to make up or 
 make down the beds. The passenger takes his 
 own pillow, sheets, and blankets, makes up his 
 own bed, crawls in and pulls the "drapery of 
 his couch about him and lies down to pleasant 
 dreams," or unpleasant dreams as the case may 
 be. 
 
 "Salaam, Sahib," said the syce of Miss 
 Jeter's tonga at Jubbulpore, when I emerged 
 from the crowd ready to go to my stopping place. 
 
 [13] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 The syce is the man who tends to the horse, 
 and he is a very interesting individual. He 
 feeds and waters the horse, hitches him up and 
 drives up to the door. When you start, the syce 
 goes out and opens the gate. He then hops on 
 a little seat behind the cart. You wonder 
 why he is along, but at the first stop, it is plain. 
 There are no hitching-posts in most places, and 
 the syce is the portable hitching-post. When 
 you are ready to go to the next place, the syce 
 has the horse ready. 
 
 "Salaam, Sahib, have a stick?" said one of 
 the Bible College boys at Jubbulpore, as I walked 
 out on the hockey field where a hot game was on. 
 Hockey is nothing more than old-fashioned 
 "shinny" modernized. When a boy I used to 
 play "shinny" in the country school, so I took 
 a stick and sailed in. I made a dash for the ball 
 and heaved a heavy stroke for a three bagger, 
 but found myself lying on the ground and the 
 ball going in the other direction. "A haughty 
 spirit before a fall," but not after! 
 
 "Salaam, Sahib," called out two little Hindu 
 girls on their way to school one morning. They 
 were barefooted, had on their gay-colored saris, 
 nose-rings, earrings, toe rings, bracelets, and 
 anklets. India is a land where jewelry abounds 
 on every hand, and on almost every arm, ear, 
 nose, toe and ankle. 
 
 [14] 
 
"SALAAM 3 
 
 "Salaam, Sahib," said a Mohammedan pa- 
 triarch with long whiskers, as he came to Dr. 
 Drummond's hospital for medicine for his wife. 
 He bowed with great respect and wanted to 
 know about the wheat crop and cotton crop in 
 America. He also asked why the price of cot- 
 ton was so high in America. When I replied 
 that it was no doubt due to the war, he shrugged 
 his shoulders and made an outward gesture with 
 both hands as if to say, "the war explains every- 
 thing." 
 
 "Salaam, Sahib," said the cook at Harda 
 in the mission bungalow where I was staying. 
 He had prepared some extra dishes for the new 
 Sahib and greeted me with a profound salaam 
 as 1 went to the table for the first time. 
 
 "Salaam, Sahib," said a high school boy in 
 one of the homes where I went with Miss Thomp- 
 son. I was a seven days' wonder to him. How 
 did they do this and that and the other in 
 America? And would I show him my camera? 
 And could he come and make me a visit? 
 
 He came to see me, and I showed him my 
 typewriter, my watch and my camera. He had 
 brought two others with him. When I offered to 
 take a picture of them, he replied, "Oh, no, sir. 
 That would be very bad to take a picture, if we 
 are not properly dressed. May we go home and 
 put on our better clothes and come back in half 
 an hour?" 
 
 When they returned, they had on all kinds 
 of jewelry, and one brought a small, gaudy- 
 CIS] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 1 
 
 colored looking glass. The high school boy 
 came barefooted ; said he did not have any shoes, 
 and would I lend him a pair of my shoes while 
 he had his photo taken? When I brought a 
 pair of number nines, he fished an old pair of 
 socks out of his pocket but they were too small, 
 and he had his photo taken sockless, but in the 
 American Sahib's shoes. 
 
 "Salaam, Sahib," saluted the village barber 
 as he came to the bungalow to cut my hair. He 
 cut my hair for four annas — about eight cents, 
 and thought he was well paid even without a 
 tip. 
 
 "Salaam, Sahib," called the girls in the 
 home at Kulpahar. "Give our salaams to your 
 Mem Sahib, and to all your Miss Sahibs." 
 
 And thus was I salaamed through India. 
 The boy on the street, the merchant in his place 
 of business, the postmaster, the telegraph oper- 
 ator, the master of the schools, the Mohammedan 
 beggar, the syce, the cook, the cook's wife, the 
 weaver, the leper, the sweeper, the banker, the 
 shoe mender, the barber, all saluted me and 
 bade me farewell with cordial and courteous 
 salaams. 
 
 It is not an English custom, but strictly an 
 Indian custom of salute and goodbye. In a short 
 address in a church one day I told them that the 
 Christians in America sent their best greetings. 
 The interpreter translated this by saying they 
 sent their big salaams. 
 
 [16] 
 
'SALAAM* 
 
 And on many occasions I was asked to con- 
 vey to the American Christians their bari-bahut, 
 big-big salaams. It is a pleasure, therefore, to 
 pass on, through this volume, the best wishes 
 and greetings from the very interesting people 
 who live and love and toil in the Land of the 
 Salaam. 
 
 INDIAN HOSPITALITY 
 
 Good old Kentucky hospitality has an al- 
 most world-wide reputation, but the hospitality 
 of "The Old Kentucky Home" has nothing on 
 the hospitality of the humble Indian homes 
 which I visited. During the first week of my stay 
 in India came an invitation to eat at the home 
 of the grandmother of the church at Harda. This 
 good woman's son, Isaac, tall and straight and 
 efficient, is the pastor of our Harda church. They 
 met us a block off and showed us the way by the 
 light of a lantern. 
 
 "Ah, Sahib, we are glad to welcome you to 
 our home. It's a simple home, but you are wel- 
 come. We are glad to give you some of our 
 simple Indian khanna (food)." We removed our 
 shoes, and entering, sat on a small rug on the 
 floor. Brass plates were placed in front of us. 
 "Will the Sahib wash his hands?" It is the cus- 
 tom before eating in India. A little brass bowl 
 was brought for this purpose. Our plates were 
 heaped full of rice, and then the hot curry was 
 poured over it. "Shall we bring a spoon for the 
 
 [17] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 Sahib, or will he eat with his fingers, Indian 
 style?" (No spoon of course was available had 
 it been called for). Chapatis, (Indian bread) 
 were passed around. "Will not the Sahib have 
 more curry and rice and more chapatis? Surely 
 the Sahib does not like our food or he would eat 
 more." (The first heaping plate full was enough 
 for two hungry harvest hands). 
 
 "Salaam, Sahib, we thank you for honoring 
 us by visiting our home and eating with us." 
 
 At Mahoba an invitation came from the one 
 hundred and fifty girls to eat with them at the 
 boarding school. Remarks of wonder and aston- 
 ishment from the small girls that the Sahib 
 could get the food into his mouth with his 
 fingers. Bows and thanks and salaams from the 
 matron and teachers that the visitor had sat on 
 the ground with them and eaten his food out of 
 the same great brass kettle. 
 
 At Damoh a big Christmas dinner on the 
 lawn of the church. The new Sahib must cer- 
 tainly come and eat the Hindustani food. Great 
 kettles of rice were cooked over a big log fire. 
 A carpet was brought for the Sahib to sit upon. 
 The whole church, with the missionaries, sat 
 upon the ground in fine fellowship, and ate the 
 simple meal. Ah, the Sahib wants a second 
 plate of curry and rice! Surely he likes our food 
 when he asks for a second helping. 
 
 In the jungle camp at Damoh. One great 
 kettle, larger than a bushel basket, full of rice. 
 
 [18] 
 
'SALAAM' 
 
 The second great kettle, full of curry and the 
 meat from two deer, cut up into small pieces. 
 
 "Sahib, you shot the deer and all the boys 
 want you to come down and eat rice and deer 
 curry with them." What hospitality these boys 
 showed. Deer curry and rice, to them, was the 
 par excellence of culinary achievement. Under 
 the great banyan tree, with one hundred and 
 fifty hungry boys, I ate deer curry and rice to my 
 own, and to their intense satisfaction. 
 
 And here comes the Indian policeman who 
 lives in the village three miles away. Will not 
 the Sahibs eat New Year's dinner at his home? 
 It would please and honor him. We went, two 
 of us on bicycles, while the third, with the ladies, 
 made the trip on the Rajah's elephant. Salaams, 
 and bows, and handshakes, and beaming coun- 
 tenance, for never before had a Sahib eaten in 
 this home. The young wife did not show up 
 during the meal. That would have been im- 
 proper. The policeman did not sit with us but 
 acted as bearer and attended to our every want. 
 
 In a little mud house, in another far village, 
 I sat on the dirt floor and ate with a grey-haired 
 Indian Christian. His daughter, barefooted, yet 
 modest in her simple Indian costume, served the 
 meal. I said to her, "Bai, your curry and rice is 
 very good." She replied. "Ah, Sahib, it is the 
 food of the poor." I said to her, "Yes, but it is 
 good enough for a king." She replied instantly, 
 "Oh, I have heard that the king has very fine 
 food." 
 
 [19] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 And will I ever forget the hospitality at 
 Piparkhuta, nearly twenty miles beyond Mun- 
 geli, fifty miles or more from a railroad? Mr. 
 Saum had told them they must not prepare a 
 meal. But at the conference of the few Chris- 
 tians there, I noticed the hands of two big awk- 
 ward fellows who had lately become Christians. 
 Those hands were a golden-rod yellow, the un- 
 mistakable stains of curry powder. No soap and 
 water had been used to remove the stains from 
 those lily hands! Meeting over. "Sahib," said 
 these two men, "You have had a long journey. 
 You must come to our house and eat just a little 
 before you start back." Protestations from Mr. 
 Saum. Stubborn insistence from these two men, 
 mixed with anxious hospitality. We went. But 
 if the reader can imagine the effect of those 
 hands upon the average man's gastronomic 
 apparatus, he will know that we went, praying 
 that the Lord would give us extraordinary di- 
 gestive powers after that meal. We needed both 
 grace and courage to finish what it was necessary 
 for us to begin. 
 
 And the reverse of this at Bilaspur, at the 
 home of a high caste Brahman — the man who 
 bade Mary Kingsbury welcome to Bilaspur thirty- 
 eight years ago. A well-to-do man, lawyer, col- 
 lege graduate, author of two or three books. 
 We sat on chairs in his home on Sunday after- 
 noon and discussed matters of education and 
 politics and world affairs. He spoke very good 
 
 [20] 
 
'SALAAM' 
 
 English and before leaving, insisted that we 
 should have tea with him. The tea was served, 
 not by his wife or daughters, for even in that 
 well-to-do home it would have been improper 
 for them to have come into the room. Improper 
 for me even to have inquired about their health. 
 He spoke of the women as "females." His son 
 served the tea. Not in Indian style, but in En- 
 glish style. But the hospitality of the occasion 
 was Indian to the core. 
 
 Yes, I sat on the ground and ate out of the 
 same kettle with people who had formerly been 
 sweepers, the untouchables, who are both the 
 low caste and the outcaste of India. I ate the 
 food of those formerly chamars, the leather 
 workers, who are sometimes called the scaveng- 
 ers of India. Both the sweepers and the chamars 
 had been lifted from their degradation by the 
 power of Christianity, and it was no dishonor to 
 me to sit with them and to eat with them, and to 
 partake of their friendly and earnest hospitality. 
 With a dividing space of some three feet, I sat 
 in the same room, and ate with the Brahmans, 
 the high caste people of India. But whether 
 they are high or low, rich or poor, educated or 
 uneducated, there is about the Indian people, 
 an innate courtesy and hospitality, a rare grace 
 which is rapidly diminishing in the complex 
 life of our American civilization. It would be 
 safe to say that there is as much hospitality in 
 a one-room Indian mud house, as there is in a 
 
 [21] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 fourth-story efficiency flat in Cincinnati or St. 
 Louis. 
 
 A BANQUET OF THE BRAHMANS 
 
 1 
 
 One day while sitting on the veranda of the 
 mission bungalow at Harda, a man came up 
 and handed me this note: 
 
 "The following gentlemen are re- 
 quested to favor us with their company 
 at a party to be given to Mr. Wilson in 
 Mr. Paulkner's garden this evening ex- 
 actly at 5 : 00 P. M. All are expected to 
 be present at a photo to be taken at the 
 time specified above.' , 
 
 S. G. Paulkner, 
 Secretary Mr. Wilson's dinner committee. 
 
 Then followed a list of names of gentlemen 
 who were invited to the dinner. The custom is 
 for the note to be carried from one invited guest 
 to another until all have been seen. So I marked 
 the word "Seen" against my name, and the note 
 went its rounds to all our Harda missionaries, 
 four of our Indian Christians, three leading Mo- 
 hammedan citizens, and to about thirty promin- 
 ent Brahmans of the city. 
 
 As we crossed the railroad track on the way 
 to the dinner, a guide met us and went before 
 to show the way to the gardens. After the 
 [22] 
 
'SALAAM' 
 
 usual red tape and delay in taking the photo, 
 great care being taken that the guests were 
 seated in the order of their importance, we were 
 invited to go inside the house. We removed 
 our shoes at the door, and were surprised and 
 pleased to discover that the floor was covered 
 with nice carpets. They had been borrowed for 
 the occasion. We were seated at the end of the 
 room, on the floor, with some long pillow-like 
 affairs at our backs to lean on. The rest of the 
 guests were seated in front of us, and around a 
 large lamp which was placed in the middle of 
 the room on the floor. Then the musicians 
 brought in their instruments. These consisted 
 of a harmonium, like a small baby organ, only 
 flat, so that it can be played sitting on the floor. 
 It is played with one hand, while the other is 
 used in giving it wind. Two small drums were 
 used, being strung up on the outside with small 
 stout ropes, and tightened to tune by taking a 
 hammer and pounding down some wooden blocks 
 until the right tension had been secured. 
 
 One man played both of these instruments, 
 one with each hand, and simultaneously. The 
 singer sat on the floor, and when the usual tun- 
 ing-up was done, they began the performance of 
 the evening. One man was very careful to ex- 
 plain that this was called sangi — scientific 
 singing. The first song was a description of the 
 rainy season. It told of the husband being gone, 
 the wife gloomy and discouraged, and complain- 
 ing. It is a very interesting thing how so much 
 
 [23] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 of the Indian music takes on the moods of both 
 the people and nature about them. 
 
 Another was a song to be sung early in the 
 morning, about three or four o'clock. The music 
 is set according to the hour, and in keeping with 
 the moods of the morning. It was explained 
 that all of these were very old tunes, and very 
 classical. That the old tunes were supposed to 
 be the best, that no new ones were being written. 
 
 Then a high school professor gave a solilo- 
 quy of an old defeated king. It told of his bat- 
 tles, his falling defences, and his utter defeat, 
 and then at his death he exclaimed: "If I again 
 take birth in another body, I will defeat those 
 wicked enemies of mine." Both the recitation 
 and the music breathed the native atmosphere 
 of the Indian people. 
 
 Then came the hour for dinner. I had 
 noticed that as the Indians came in each one 
 carried a package under his arm, which he placed 
 on the floor, or hung up on a hook on the wall. 
 I was interested in what they contained. Soon 
 several of the Brahmans threw aside their cloaks 
 and began peeling off their shirts, right in the 
 presence of Miss Thompson and Mrs. Harnar. 
 One of the men spoke rather sharply, and out 
 filed the whole crowd onto the veranda, with 
 their little packages under their arms. 
 
 Then it was explained to us that the Brah- 
 mans have a habit of eating their food with 
 
 [24] 
 
'SALAAM' 
 
 either wool or silk next to their bodies. So at 
 meal time they remove their street clothes and 
 put on their silk garments, which usually con- 
 sist of a silk dhoti wrapped around their bodies 
 from the waist down, the chest being left ex- 
 posed. 
 
 When all were ready we were escorted to 
 another building, a few yards away. At the door 
 of this building we were furnished water with 
 which to wash our hands. It is the custom of the 
 Indian people to eat only after their hands have 
 been washed. We entered the long, narrow 
 dining room and were seated on small platforms 
 about three inches high. They were simply little 
 wooden seats and in front of each seat the 
 ground floor was painted with red and white 
 paints, each guest's floor space being marked off 
 for him. 
 
 There was room for us five missionaries at 
 the one end. At our right side were the four 
 Indian Christians. At our left were the three 
 Mohammedans. How were the Brahmans going 
 to get around the point that they would not eat 
 with any one else? It was easy. Between the 
 Christians and Mohammedans they had marked 
 off a little space nearly three feet wide. Beyond 
 that the Brahmans were seated. They were all 
 stripped to the waist, and their clean brown 
 bodies looked like so many bronze statues set 
 along the walls. 
 
 There were no Indian women, and the 
 gentlemen did the serving. They placed large 
 
 [25] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 clean banana leaves on the floor in front of us. 
 These were our plates. Then the food was 
 brought in and placed on the banana leaves. 
 There were fourteen kinds of vegetables. 
 
 3 
 
 When all was ready there was silence and 
 the Brahmans chanted their grace in unison. 
 The leader then announced that they would re- 
 main silent until I had said the Christian grace. 
 They were as reverent and courteous during my 
 prayer as any body of Christians could possibly 
 be. We of course ate with our fingers, as is the 
 custom throughout all India. We had no sooner 
 started than the leader came to us and said that 
 it was the custom of the Brahmans when eating 
 to be calm, quiet and undisturbed, to have no 
 worries of any kind upon their minds, and he re- 
 quested that as their guests we eat leisurely and 
 happily, that we might best enjoy their hospi- 
 tality. It was a splendid meal a-la-India, and I 
 ate some of everything they put before me. 
 
 After the banquet was finished, the Brah- 
 mans sang a couple of their songs. They then 
 asked us to sing an American song. We stood 
 and sang "America" and it pleased them greatly 
 because it is the same tune as the British "God 
 Save the King." When we filed out of the din- 
 ing-room we were again given water to wash 
 our hands. Back in the sitting room, perfume 
 and small cloves and seeds were passed. We 
 then had a long discussion on many points of 
 
 [26] 
 
'SALAAM' 
 
 interest. I discovered that most of these Indian 
 gentlemen could speak fairly good English. The 
 principal point of discussion was the English 
 rule and democracy. They wanted to know what 
 America thought of the Indians ; whether or not 
 they thought of them as wild pagans or as cul- 
 tured and progressive people. They also wanted 
 to know if the American people did not feel that 
 the Indians should be given self government. 
 
 Among them were two or three extremists 
 and they were watching carefully for any word 
 from me that they could construe as meaning 
 that it would be a wise thing for the British to 
 withdraw and leave the affairs of government 
 to the Indians. I tried to point out to them that 
 education and democracy had always gone hand 
 in hand, and that it was practically impossible 
 to have a democratic form of government with 
 eighty-five or ninety percent of the people 
 illiterate; that .one of the great needs of India 
 at the present time is education, and that the 
 leading Indians should use every influence they 
 possess to assist the British government in de- 
 veloping an educational system that would after 
 a while produce a generation that would be 
 capable of self government. 
 
 Some of them were not very well pleased, 
 because they did not get as much encouragement 
 from me as they had hoped. However, when I 
 left I had a high regard for the intelligence, 
 capability, and astuteness of these courteous 
 Indian gentlemen. 
 
 [27] 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 HARDA 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 HARDA 
 
 HOW HARDA IS TACKLING THE SUNDAY 
 SCHOOL JOB 
 
 I got up at 6:30 and was visiting the first 
 Sunday-school at 7:30. The children were 
 all there on time. It was a boys' Sunday-school. 
 Some churches in America are losing the boys 
 out of the Sunday-school; not so the church in 
 India. 
 
 I went to the first class and counted the 
 boys present. There were twenty-one, all sitting 
 on the floor. All were barefooted, and all had a 
 leaflet containing the Bible story, and a good 
 picture. A native leader was telling the story 
 and getting the "reaction" from those boys in a 
 fine way. 
 
 The next class had twenty-eight boys in it. 
 It was the same lesson, the "Feeding of the Five 
 Thousand." The teacher was an expert in boy- 
 psychology. He told the story in such a way 
 that those little Hindu boys could almost see 
 the picture. Then he carefully asked questions, 
 as to what the boy in the story had, how many 
 
 [31] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 fishes, where did he likely get them, to whom 
 did he give them, and why, and what did the 
 Master do to them, and could a boy help the 
 Master today? Those boys answered the ques- 
 tions with a snap of the eye not often seen 
 among Sunday-school boys in America. Atten- 
 tion and order? It was never thought of. 
 
 The next class had thirty-six boys. This 
 class was in an open room with a tile roof. Just 
 as I came up, a mongoose almost broke up the 
 meeting. A mongoose is an animal about three 
 times as large as a tree squirrel. He was chas- 
 ing another mongoose and the dirt came tum- 
 bling through the tile roof as the animals 
 squealed and fought. All the boys stood up in 
 an instant and peeped up through the roof to 
 see the fun. Just then the fight ceased and the 
 mongoose stuck his head down through a big 
 crack to see what was going on below. 
 
 I got over to the girls' Sunday-school about 
 a half mile away a little after 8 : 00 o'clock. In 
 the first class there were thirty-six. They were 
 dressed up in all their Sunday jewelry, and some 
 of them in not much else. They were singing 
 a Christian song with great enthusiasm. Their 
 little brown eyes shone as they took part in the 
 exercises of the morning. 
 
 Another class had twenty girls. And 
 another double class called the Marathi class, 
 
 [32] 
 
HARDA 
 
 because the girls speak that language, had forty- 
 four. 
 
 There were six women teachers in this 
 school, all Indian Christians, and one hundred 
 and fifteen girls. An interesting thing about 
 this school was the offering. Most of the girls 
 are poor and cannot give much, but nearly every- 
 one gave something. What they gave was not 
 real money but kauries. These are small shells 
 and it takes about sixty of them to make a penny. 
 They have a value in the money market, and 
 each Monday the treasurer takes them into the 
 bazaar and exchanges them for money. When 
 the secretary gave the report, she announced the 
 amount of money from each class and the number 
 of kauries. I bought the whole collection to take 
 home with me as curios, for an anna — two cents. 
 
 3 
 
 The next Sunday-school was nearly a mile 
 away, and I got there a little after 8:30. They 
 were just finishing a prayer, and the people all 
 said "Amen" as it was finished. That is a very 
 fine custom in India. At the church service when 
 the minister closes his prayer the whole audi- 
 ence says a reverent "Amen." 
 
 As they sang a song, I noticed that all the 
 children were singing from memory, while the 
 adults had song books. When they had respon- 
 sive readings, the men read one verse and the 
 
 [33] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 women the next. And be it said to the credit of 
 those Indian women, they read their part as 
 well as the men. 
 
 As they finished the song, just before going 
 to classes, a sparrow fell down from a nest over 
 the window near the pulpit. I noticed a little 
 chap about ten watching the bird, with a tender 
 look in his brown eyes. As they marched to 
 their classes, he slipped out of the line, picked 
 up the bird, and put it on the window sill in his 
 class room. These people have a high regard 
 for life of all kinds, and boys do not kill birds 
 just for sport. 
 
 I visited the mothers' class, and it was a 
 real mothers' class. There were fifteen present, 
 and seven of them had their babes in their arms. 
 Another class was the High School class taught 
 by Mr. Harnar, one of the missionaries at Harda. 
 This is the only class in all the Sunday-schools 
 that is taught in English. The boys prefer that 
 as most of them are studying English in High 
 School. 
 
 This was at the central school, and is held in 
 the church. There were 122 present. Three of 
 the classes were held on the porches of the 
 church and two on the veranda of the High 
 School, which is about a half block away. Thus 
 did I attend three Sunday-schools before break- 
 fast, two of them beginning at 7: 30 and the other 
 at 8:30. 
 
 But that was only the beginning of the Sun- 
 day-schools in Harda that day. In another 
 
 [34] 
 
HARDA 
 
 section of town there was a Sunday-school for 
 the middle school boys, and thirty-three were 
 present. Off in another direction there was an 
 Urdu school for the children who speak Urdu, 
 with an attendance of twenty-two. 
 
 Across the railroad tracks there was another 
 for the railroad people, all natives, and fifty-six 
 were present. In another part of the town was 
 the "Anna Pura" Sunday-school for the laboring 
 class. This is in a small rented building which 
 the Mission rents for one rupee per month — 
 about forty cents. Twelve were present. 
 
 Then there was the "Khera Pura" School. 
 This is away out in the corner of town where 
 the sweepers' Sunday-school is held. Twenty- 
 three were present. 
 
 The "Mahar" school had thirteen in still 
 another part of town, and in the beggar section 
 of the village a school is maintained for the beg- 
 gars, who work at basket making when begging 
 is not good. Twenty were in attendance and 
 several kauries were put in the offering. 
 
 Mrs. Harnar runs another school in English, 
 for the English-speaking people of the town. 
 These are mostly Anglo-Indians or "Eurasians" 
 as they are sometimes called. Most of these 
 people are railroad employees. 
 
 Out in the country fourteen miles were held 
 two more Sunday-schools for the villagers there. 
 And they reported one hundred people present. 
 In another direction thirteen miles were two 
 
 [351 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 others in which there were one hundred and 
 twelve in attendance. 
 
 Altogether there were fifteen Sunday- 
 schools in and around Harda, and the actual 
 attendance at these schools was seven hundred 
 and thirty-three. Most of them began at 7:30 
 in the morning, and a few at 8: 30. Why do they 
 go so early? Because that best fits into their 
 habits of life. They have but two meals a day, 
 most of them, and the first comes somewhere 
 about noon. 
 
 So all these Sunday-schools are held before 
 breakfast. And how does the missionary adjust 
 himself to this program? He takes chota-hazri 
 — "little breakfast" consisting of a cup of tea 
 and a piece of toast "very early in the morning," 
 and then goes to Sunday-school. He gets back 
 and has his breakfast about 10:30. 
 
 At the close of the central Sunday-school 
 the communion service was held. Pastor Isaac 
 presided and read a part of the fourteenth chap- 
 ter of John. Then there was a silent prayer. 
 Then a spiritual song, and I have seldom heard 
 a whole audience enter more heartily into the 
 spirit of a song. There is no organ in the 
 church, but everybody sang, from the least to 
 the greatest. If putting an organ in would spoil 
 that singing, then I would be "anti-organ" at 
 least for this one church. 
 
 [36] 
 
HARDA 
 
 The individual communion service is used 
 and there was the utmost quiet and reverence 
 while the emblems were being passed. On the 
 wall of this church is the following inscription: 
 
 "In memory of G. L. Wharton, 
 
 Pioneer Missionary, of the 
 
 Christian Mission, and 
 
 Organizer of the Work in Harda." 
 
 As I sat in that quiet service, it seemed that the 
 spirit of Wharton was brooding over that meet- 
 ing and was glad, and that the Spirit of Whar- 
 ton's Master was actually present. 
 
 I ended up this busy day by speaking to the 
 church in the afternoon at 4:30, and to the Eng- 
 lish-speaking people at 6 : 00. The Harda church 
 was crowded to its capacity, with some extra 
 seats carried in. There was the greatest in- 
 terest as I tried to impress the obligations of the 
 Great Commission upon this church, to go out 
 and bring the message of Christ to their own 
 people. 
 
 There are five hundred villages around 
 Harda, and no other mission is here but ours. 
 If the church at home does its full duty, and the 
 church in Harda does likewise, this district some 
 day will be a part of the kingdom of our Lord. 
 
 [37^ 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 — — . > 
 
 A NEW TESTAMENT MARY, ONE OF SEVERAL 
 — 1— 
 
 The India Mission seems to be long on 
 Marys. There is Mary Clarke, Mary Kingsbury, 
 Mary McGavran, Mary Longdon, and Mary 
 Thompson. 
 
 When G. L. Wharton, our pioneer mission- 
 ary to India, visited Australia, a young school 
 ma'am heard him tell of the need for workers 
 in India. The pastor of the church said to her, 
 ''Mary, why don't you go?" She replied, "I 
 would like to go if I could." 
 
 When she first came to Harda, the meetings 
 of the very small church were being held in the 
 Wharton bungalow. There was one small 
 school in the bazaar, and two very small schools 
 in rented buildings. A small rented building 
 in the bazaar was the home of the hospital. 
 
 Having been a teacher in Australia, Mary 
 Thompson began her career in India in the 
 school room. But in addition to that work, she 
 felt that the mothers in the homes must be 
 taught also. So she began a systematic program 
 of visiting in the homes of the people. Many of 
 the women were not friendly at first, especially 
 the Mohammedan women. They were preju- 
 diced, and their husbands did not want their 
 wives to learn from foreign women. But gradu- 
 ally the simple life of faith opened up the doors 
 and the hearts of the Harda women. 
 [38] 
 
HARDA 
 
 She secured the help of a faithful Bible 
 woman in the person of Saru Bai. This woman 
 is of a high type, a woman of great faith and 
 devotion, who spends much time in prayer. 
 These two made up an evangelistic team, and 
 they have worked together since 1892, the second 
 year of Miss Thompson's residence in India. 
 
 They secured a tent, and a yoke of oxen, 
 and toured among the villages. Sometimes they 
 would stay for a period of three or four weeks. 
 They sang gospel songs, read and sold the 
 Scriptures, and talked to the people about Jesus. 
 They felt that their chief work was introducing 
 people to Christ, for many, if not quite all, had 
 never heard of Him before. In this way through 
 the years she built up a wide acquaintance with 
 nearly all the villages within ten or fifteen miles 
 of Harda. 
 
 The man who drove her oxcart — the gari 
 walla — was not a Christian, could not read nor 
 write, and was as fine an old pagan as might be 
 found anywhere. Miss Thompson preached, or 
 rather talked to him about Christ on many a 
 long trip into the country. She taught him to 
 read and write, and one day she was rewarded 
 by the man asking for baptism. 
 
 One day I had time to go with Miss Thomp- 
 son to see how she now does her work in Harda. 
 We started out to visit some of the women in 
 
 [39] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 their homes. Some of them were rather shy of 
 strangers, she thought, but they might allow 
 her guest to come in with her. Great was my 
 surprise as well as hers, to know that every 
 home except one to which we went was open to 
 us. "If the Miss Sahib brings anyone to our 
 homes, it must be all right." 
 
 In one home the woman sat on the floor, 
 and motioned us to sit down on an old bed. We 
 sat down and Miss Thompson explained that I 
 was new to the country and wanted to see her 
 friends. I saw at once the anklets and bracelets 
 and earrings the woman had on, and I began 
 to count them out loud and express my surprise 
 at seeing so many of them. The woman un- 
 limbered in a hurry. Was the new Sahib in- 
 terested in her jewelry? Well, she could meet 
 him on that ground! She had more than that! 
 Much more! And out came her jewelry. There 
 had been a wedding in the home recently. There 
 had been about two thousand rupees worth of 
 jewelry given to the bride. And a woman across 
 the street had a fine silk sari — native dress — and 
 it was embroidered in gold! And would the son 
 run across the street and have the neighbor 
 bring over her sari, and her jewelry, and show 
 to the new Sahib? 
 
 Well, in almost less time than it takes to 
 tell it, eight or ten women brought in dresses 
 and jewelry, and we had a regular early morn- 
 ing fashion show. When the jewelry was all 
 displayed, Miss Thompson sang, and told them 
 
 [40] 
 
HARDA 
 
 about Christianity, and then had prayer. I do 
 not know what she said, but I know that God 
 seemed very near. 
 
 In another part of town, we went to see 
 some weavers. The men were weaving, and 
 not a woman in sight. I began counting the 
 jewelry on a dirty little baby's arms and legs, 
 and soon a band of five or six barefooted women 
 were hovering around with their babies, whose 
 jewelry I also had to count. It is not the custom 
 for the new Sahib to kiss the babies. Little boys 
 and girls crowded in, the weaving stopped, and 
 I don't know just how it was done, but Miss 
 Thompson had shifted the conversation to re- 
 ligion, and was getting in some fine work. 
 
 And so it went all forenoon. She seemed to 
 bring a ray of sunshine into these gloomy homes. 
 They all seemed to recognize her spiritual pur- 
 pose. One little boy whose home she visited, 
 said to her: "Won't you pray before you go? 
 Father is sick, and he always feels better after 
 you pray." 
 
 In another home she was teaching a girl 
 about Christianity, and suddenly the girl burst 
 out laughing. When asked the reason, the girl 
 replied: "It seems so funny. Here you are 
 teaching me about Jesus and the foolishness of 
 idolatry, and there is mother on the other side 
 of the room washing idols." 
 
 One day she sang a certain song in a Mo- 
 hammedan home. The woman told her she had 
 heard that song at a wedding. She requested 
 
 [41] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 that she be taught the song. "Many times," says 
 Miss Thompson, "I have gone past that home 
 and heard the Mohammedan woman singing 
 that Christian song." 
 
 She now has a list of about one hundred 
 homes which she and Saru Bai visit regularly. 
 She teaches the women to read, knit, sew, and 
 never fails to teach them of Christ. Others 
 come into these homes also when she goes, so 
 that her work is thus increased two or three 
 fold. I saw an elderly woman baptized in Harda, 
 who had been won by this kind of faithful work. 
 
 On Saturday evening in her home, Miss 
 Thompson conducts classes for the Christian 
 women. She gives them faithful instruction 
 regarding their homes, the care of the children, 
 and how to win other women to Christ. 
 
 One non-Christian woman once criticised 
 Miss Thompson for not coming to see her for a 
 long time. Miss Thompson replied: "I taught 
 you to clean up your house and your children, 
 and you did not do it. What's the use of my 
 teaching you when you will not obey? I am 
 never coming to see you again until you send 
 me word that you have cleaned up." It takes 
 a good deal of moral courage to do a thing like 
 that. But it worked. Not long after, she was 
 invited to make a visit to that home and found 
 it clean and neat. 
 
 3 
 
 Mary does not have a lamb, but she has a 
 fine yoke of oxen, and a good two-wheeled cart. 
 
 [42] 
 
HARDA 
 
 If you ask why she doesn't use a horse instead, 
 her reply is that her oxen can go places that a 
 horse cannot go. 
 
 One of her tours is about as follows under 
 the present plan. She makes preparation for a 
 three days' trip. Her folding cot is tied to the 
 side of the cart. Cooking vessels are put into 
 a box and also fastened to the side. Cushions, 
 food, copies of the gospels, song books, and other 
 things for the trip are packed under the seat. 
 Boiled drinking water for the three days is 
 taken in large earthen jugs. She takes enough 
 bread for the trip, a lantern and plenty of oil. 
 
 Then Saru Bai's things are packed in. They 
 make their start on the first morning about 4 : 30. 
 They reach the first village at day-break. The 
 women are already up. India gets up in the 
 morning, even though it might be "nicer to lie in 
 bed." Other women come in, and usually from 
 six to ten women are taught in this first early 
 meeting. Then they go into another home and 
 several other women gather. Miss Thompson 
 has taught from ten to twenty women before 
 some American Christian women are out of bed. 
 By the time eight or nine homes have been 
 visited, the majority of the women of the town 
 have been taught. She will thus reach at least 
 two villages before noon, and one or two in the 
 afternoon. On the second day about the same, 
 and on the third day on her way back to Harda, 
 two or three more, arriving home at dark. Where 
 did she sleep? In a tent, or in the oxcart by the 
 
 [43] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 roadside, or possibly in a native house. There 
 are no hotels. 
 
 Does she get discouraged doing that kind of 
 hard work? If she should, it would not be sur- 
 prising. She seems to never tire of the work. 
 She loves it, and she loves the people, and, "love 
 never faileth. ,, 
 
 A SCHOOL PROGRAM FOR A CITY OF 
 TWENTY-THOUSAND 
 
 In this splendid Indian city the government 
 has no provision whatever for the education of 
 the girls. Its only provision for the boys is the 
 maintenance of a middle school. Because of this 
 neglect, the mission finds its opportunity. 
 
 A well organized primary school for girls is 
 conducted near the bazaar, which had an at- 
 tendance of more than one hundred and forty. 
 There were nine teachers, all Christians, and 
 instruction is given in the five primary grades. 
 There are three departments of this school, the 
 Hindi, the Urdu, and the Marathi. There are 
 about fifteen Mohammedan girls in the Urdu 
 class. The girls in this school come from many 
 of the best homes, and are gaily dressed in their 
 saris of all colors, with their bracelets, anklets, 
 ear-rings, toe-rings and nose-rings. School is 
 held five days of the week, beginning at 10:30 
 in the morning and lasting five hours. 
 
 [44] 
 
HARDA 
 
 Some of the girls from the high caste 
 families are escorted to the school by three old 
 women who are the servants. These women 
 stay at the school all day and carry water to the 
 girls when they are thirsty. These high caste 
 girls would not take a drink of water from their 
 Christian teachers or even from Mrs. Harnar, 
 the missionary who supervises the school. 
 
 There is a school near the railroad tracks 
 for the children of railroad employees. There 
 were fifty-eight in this school, with four fine 
 teachers. The boys as well as the girls wear 
 earrings and bracelets. They all come bare- 
 footed to school. On the walls of the one-room 
 school building were large colored pictures of 
 wild animals. One boy told the story of "David 
 and Goliath" and a little girl gave the Hindi 
 version of "The Little Red Hen." A woman 
 teacher instructs the girls and the younger boys. 
 
 The boys' primary school had an attendance 
 of two hundred and nine. This includes the first 
 five grades. There are ten teachers employed. 
 Only ten percent of the boys are allowed free 
 education. The others are required to pay at 
 least one anna per month as fees. 
 
 In the program given by the school, the boys 
 recited large portions of the Scriptures from 
 memory. One recited the thirteenth chapter of 
 First Corinthians; another the fourteenth chap- 
 
 [45] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 ter of John; another the Ten Commandments; 
 another the Parable of the Sower; another the 
 Prodigal Son; another the story of John the 
 Baptist; and another the story of Daniel. Some- 
 times as they recited, the teacher would stop 
 one and have another take up the story where 
 he left off. These Christian teachers seem very 
 anxious to teach the Bible to their pupils. In all 
 of its educational requirements, the school is 
 up to government standards, and receives a 
 grant from the government. 
 
 In the Urdu primary school there are sixty 
 enrolled, with five teachers. This school is 
 maintained for the children of the Urdu-speak- 
 ing people. They sang a song in honor of King 
 George V. The British flag was hanging in the 
 school room. This school, of course, is kept up 
 to government requirement the same as the 
 others. 
 
 3 
 
 In all, the Mission is running six different 
 schools, from the primary grade up through the 
 high school. The total attendance is around 
 eight hundred. Of this number there are about 
 one hundred and sixty girls. The girls attend 
 school five days in the week, and the boys_ six 
 days. All the boys, except about fifty, pay fees. 
 
 In the primary schools there is Bible in- 
 struction thirty minutes every day. In the middle 
 school and high school, the Bible teaching has 
 a forty minute period. 
 
 [46] 
 
HARDA 
 
 This school program is modeled after the 
 government plan, five years of primary school, 
 four years of middle school, and three years of 
 high school. They are all government aided 
 schools and follow the government curriculum. 
 They are also inspected from time to time, by 
 the educational department of the government. 
 At stated times the government examinations 
 are held, and these schools have a very high 
 record in the proportion of pupils that success- 
 fully passed this examination. The high school 
 stood the highest of any school in the whole 
 Nerbudda area. 
 
 THE HARDA HIGH 
 
 The nearest high school to Harda on the 
 east, is fifty-five miles. On the west it is sixty- 
 three miles. On the north seventy-five miles, 
 and on the south one hundred miles. The urgent 
 necessity, therefore, for this school may be 
 easily seen. Harda High is a good school, and 
 it is the only high school maintained by our Mis- 
 sion in India. For the purpose of this report 
 the middle school and the high school will be 
 considered together. 
 
 The total attendance is about two hundred, 
 half of which are in the high school proper. At 
 least half of the boys come from outside of 
 Harda. There are boys in attendance from 
 Damoh, Bilaspur, Jubbulpore and Mungeli. 
 
 [47] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 There are boys from fifteen Mohammedan homes, 
 six from Parsi homes, and one hundred and sixty 
 from Hindu homes. The support of the school 
 comes from three sources, government grant, 
 fees, and mission appropriation. Each of these 
 supplies about one-third of the money to main- 
 tain the school. 
 
 The church should take a square look at this 
 high school it is helping to maintain in such an 
 important and strategic center. There are thir- 
 teen Indian teachers, including the drill master 
 and the drawing master. Some of these teachers 
 are Mohammedan and Hindu, as it is impossible 
 to secure enough Christian teachers who have 
 had advanced training. However, the Bible 
 teaching is done by a well trained Christian who 
 gives full time to that work, going from class to 
 class at different periods of the day. 
 
 The present building, a half block from the 
 church, contains but four rooms. There is no 
 room for the library, so it is stuck out in the hall. 
 During the school hours the four class rooms 
 are occupied, two classes meet on the veranda, 
 and two or three other classes are being held in 
 the church. There is no assembly room in the 
 high school, and when any public services are 
 held, thy must go to the church. 
 
 Under these adverse circumstances the 
 school has been maintained for many years. But 
 through these years, the school has been kept at 
 a high state of efficiency. Some of the teachers 
 have been sent away for special instruction and 
 
 [48] 
 
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HARDA 
 
 two or three of them have the A. B. degree. The 
 educational department of the district gives 
 prizes for the best drawing, writing, map draw- 
 ing, etc. One year Harda High took first in 
 drawing, first in penmanship and second in map 
 drawing. Eight students took the examinations 
 of the Bombay Art School and six of them 
 passed. 
 
 The drill master is a man of excellent train- 
 ing and wears several medals. He gives the 
 boys thorough, systematic drill, which is com- 
 pulsory in the school. He also supervises their 
 play in foot ball, basket ball, base ball, hockey, 
 cricket, races, jumping. Teams from this school 
 are sent to the tournaments, aiid it takes a 
 speedy bunch of contestants to carry off more 
 blue ribbons than does Harda High. The guid- 
 ing hand in this important school program 
 while I was there was that of Mr. Frank Harnar. 
 (W. H. Scott was in America during my visit. 
 They are to co-operate in the enlargement pro- 
 gram of the high school.) 
 
 The enlargement program of Harda High 
 involves a new building on a new site. The 
 site is already secured and paid for, a beautiful 
 plot of ground, well located, containing from six 
 to ten acres. The proposed building will have 
 eight class rooms, an auditorium, which will 
 also be used for an examination hall, two offices, 
 library rooms, rooms for the head master, store 
 rooms, two bath rooms and plenty of veranda 
 space. It will be of brick construction, the floor 
 
 [49] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 will be of flagstone on concrete, and the roof will 
 likely be Allahabad tile. This new building when 
 complete, will accommodate about four hundred 
 boys. This would care for both the middle 
 school and the high school for years to come. 
 Mr. Harnar feels that when the new building is 
 erected the attendance will greatly increase, as 
 some pupils were turned away during the past 
 year. 
 
 The new site will give ample room for play- 
 grounds and when the whole thing is finished, 
 the Harda High will be second to none in 
 Central Provinces. In all of this program the 
 government will furnish one-third of the money 
 and one-third of the running expenses after the 
 new school is in operation. This plan has had 
 the official vote of the Mission and of the Ex- 
 ecutive Committee and the erection of the 
 building will be pushed as rapidly as possible. 
 
 THE CHURCH 
 
 The regular church program at Harda is 
 being pushed with vigor. It supports its own 
 pastor who gives full time to the work. The 
 church membership numbers one hundred and 
 seven. Mr. Isaac, the pastor, has invented a 
 new collection box. It is a large flat box with 
 compartments, each compartment is for one 
 family. Each family's name is written on the 
 compartment and there is a small opening just 
 below the name where the offerings may be de- 
 posited. It was an unusual sight to see the 
 
 [50] 
 
HARDA 
 
 deacons passing these large collection boxes, but 
 the members took particular interest in seeing 
 that their offerings got in the right compart- 
 ment. A year's financial report of the church 
 showed the following: 
 
 Receipts — 
 
 Balance on hand Jan. 1 rupees 467 
 
 From missionaries " 216 
 
 From Indians " 412 
 
 TOTAL " 1095 
 
 Disbursements — 
 
 To Foreign Society " 40 
 
 " Kota (Indian Home Mission) " 90 
 
 " Convention Expense " 10 
 
 " Bible Society " 20 
 
 " Tract Society " 20 
 
 " S. S. Union " 10 
 
 " Benevolences " 40 
 
 " Total "for others" " 230 
 
 Pastor " 310 
 
 Church Expense " 231 
 
 Grand Total " 771 
 
 Balance in Treasury " 324 
 
 Officers and pastors of American churches 
 may find food for thought here as they study 
 the budget system. It is not improbable that 
 this Harda church, composed of these poor 
 people, is giving more actual cash to support 
 the gospel than some well-to-do churches with 
 a larger membership at home. 
 
 A significant series of evangelistic meetings 
 were held in Harda. The town hall was secured 
 for the meeting. Four of the high school 
 teachers, two Brahmans and two Mohammedans, 
 took an active interest in these services. They 
 
 [51] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 passed the invitations throughout the town, they 
 looked after the lighting, and acted as ushers, 
 and kept good order. 
 
 About two hundred and fifty people were 
 present each night. The most substantial 
 people of the town were present during the four 
 nights of the meeting. Mohammedans and high 
 caste Hindus, business men, lawyers, merchants, 
 and bankers were in the audience. The Indian 
 preacher spoke on the following subjects: 
 
 1 — Christ and the Prophets. 
 
 2 — Sin and its Consequences. 
 
 3 — Christ and the Sinner. 
 
 4 — Christ the Saviour of the World. 
 
 One night the people desired to ask questions. 
 The preacher stood before the audience and 
 answered most difficult questions and defended 
 and advocated Christianity in a splendid way. 
 The meetings stirred the people to think more 
 carefully about matters religious and it also dis- 
 armed much of the prejudice in the minds of 
 some of the people. 
 
 The evangelists also visit the surrounding 
 villages, and their work, along with the work of 
 Miss Thompson, Dr. Drummond, and the in- 
 fluence of the schools, is introducing a large 
 number of people to the Christian religion. 
 
 THE DOCTOR SAHIB 
 1 
 One day was set apart for me to accompany 
 Doctor Drummond Sahib on his daily work. We 
 
 [52] 
 
HARDA 
 
 were on the way before 7:00 o'clock. As we 
 went down the street in the tonga, a man stopped 
 us. 
 
 "Salaam, Sahib, come to my house at once, 
 my brother is sick." We went. I went with him 
 into a little front room where the sick man with 
 a fever lay on a dirty cot. He held out his hand 
 to have his pulse taken. Then the man's sister 
 was brought in with rheumatism, and she, too, 
 had her pulse taken. Then a girl of fifteen with 
 a swollen neck was ushered in, and she stuck out 
 her hand to have the Sahib feel of her pulse. 
 That's the style in India, everybody thinks he 
 will get better if the Sahib feels his pulse. 
 
 As we left, a boy stopped us a half square 
 down the street, and wanted him to come to see a 
 man with the fever. Another boy salaamed to us 
 who had had a timber fall on his neck. A grain 
 merchant wanted him to go and see his wife. 
 Another man came out of his little mud house 
 and said he had someone sick in his house and 
 that he had been waiting two days for the Sahib 
 to pass that way. As we passed through the 
 bazaar several others wanted help for various 
 ills. There must have been at least a dozen 
 different people on the street that morning ask- 
 ing for help, before we arrived at the hospital. 
 
 It happened to be a rainy morning, (this 
 was during my first week, and it did not rain 
 again during the five months I was there) and 
 when we reached the dispensary veranda there 
 were only two men there. In less than three 
 
 [53] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 minutes there were a dozen. And what a motley 
 crowd it was. One fellow with his leg off half 
 to his knee, hobbling up on a bamboo crutch; a 
 school boy with a big bottle for medicine; an- 
 other boy with a sore ear. A gray-bearded 
 grandfather wanted him to go and see his wife. 
 A woman with a cataract in her eye; an opera- 
 tion is necessary. Another woman with a nude 
 baby astride her hip, the baby with sore eyes. 
 A Mohammedan patriarch wanted the Sahib to 
 go and pull his wife's tooth. A farmer with an 
 oxcart drove in six miles for medicine for his 
 wife and two children. I never knew before that 
 there could be so many diseases. In a week's 
 time people with malaria, typhoid, smallpox, 
 eczema, sore eyes, itch, leprosy, plague, tumor, 
 dyspepsia, and I suppose a hundred other ills 
 came pouring into the dispensary for treatment. 
 
 The assistant records each person's name, 
 age, caste, disease, and number, and a ticket is 
 given. If a man returns he must bring this 
 ticket. 
 
 As the evangelist began his morning ser- 
 mon, everyone present leaned forward. The 
 old grandfather seemed to absorb every gesture. 
 The one-legged man had an expectant look as if 
 he hoped to be miraculously healed. The speaker 
 spoke with earnestness and directness on the 
 incident of Christ washing the disciples' feet. 
 He emphasized faithfulness, service and hu- 
 mility. He told of the progress of Christianity in 
 Africa and China, and said that the gospel was 
 
 [54] 
 
HARDA 
 
 not for high caste nor low caste, but for all. He 
 urged them to accept the teaching and when 
 they understood it to accept and publicly confess 
 Christ. 
 
 To me it was a dramatic scene. The rain 
 pattering upon the tile roof — brown Hindu and 
 Mohammedan men and women sitting on their 
 haunches listening to a Christian sermon. In 
 the yard a half dozen ox-carts; beyond them a 
 block away, a public well, and women with water 
 pots on their heads coming and going in the 
 rain. By the side of the well a washerwoman 
 pounding out her washing on the rocks. Out on 
 the road the herdsman taking the cows and 
 goats to pasture for the day. A man and wife 
 walking up the road, the man under an umbrella, 
 the woman ten feet behind taking the rain. The 
 old Mussulman patriarch stirring uneasily as 
 the evangelist pressed home the claims of a 
 divine Christ upon their lives. And then the 
 prayer. I could not understand it, but it touched 
 my heart. And then the crowd at the drug room 
 to get their medicines. 
 
 When they scattered to go back into their 
 humble homes I am quite sure that they carried 
 more with them than what was contained in the 
 bottles. Their hearts must certainly have been 
 stirred with new sensations of service, and 
 sympathy, and unselfishness as was mine. 
 
 [55] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 As the work has enlarged through the 
 years, the hospital had to enlarge also. So the 
 second hospital was erected where the opera- 
 tions are performed and the in-patients are kept. 
 A trained nurse — native — looks after the 
 patients. On the wall a tablet reads: 
 
 "The J. W. McCleave Memorial Hospital." 
 
 The old hospital is used as a dispensary, a drug 
 store, and the compounder fiHs all the prescrip- 
 tions there. On the veranda of the old building, 
 the preaching service is held every morning. 
 After the patients get their tickets for their 
 medicines, they wait for this service. The Doctor 
 thinks they need healing for their souls as well 
 as their bodies. Thousands of people every year 
 hear the Gospel message that otherwise would 
 never hear it. 
 
 All of this medical work is co-ordinated as 
 far as possible with the evangelistic program of 
 the station. The names of villagers who come 
 are given to the evangelists, so that when they 
 visit those villages they have friends who know 
 something of the work. The Bible women also 
 are informed, and two approaches are thus often 
 possible to the hearts of the people. 
 
 The largest record thus far at the hospital 
 was an average of ninety-six patients a day for 
 a whole year, or a grand total of thirty-five 
 thousand and forty treatments. And the records 
 
 [56] 
 
HARDA 
 
 show that the treatments were actually given to 
 twelve thousand different patients. And yet 
 there are young M. D.'s in America going through 
 a starvation period of four or five years waiting 
 for a practice. Is it any wonder that the whole 
 town salaams the Doctor Drummond Sahib as 
 he goes up and down their streets? 
 
 [57] 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 MAHOBA 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 MAHOBA 
 
 IN THE CITY OF A THOUSAND TEMPLES 
 
 Mahoba has been called the city of a thous- 
 and temples. An off-hand census quickly 
 demonstrates that this is no figure of speech. 
 On Mr. Thompson's compound there is an old 
 suttee pyre, a temple, and two temples or shrines 
 over the fence to the left. 
 
 To the right of these grounds is the hospital, 
 on which I counted four suttee pyres. In front 
 of the hospital and across the street is the church 
 grounds, where there are two small temples, two 
 suttee pyres and another just across the lot line. 
 In front of the church on the dispensary grounds 
 is a small temple or shrine. 
 
 In front of the dispensary is the large yard 
 and home where Misses Ford, Dill and Pope live. 
 In this yard — and front yard at that — there are 
 four old suttee pyres and a dirty old temple just 
 over the fence. In the corner of this yard, facing 
 the lake, is an old open summer house used by 
 some Rajah of the olden days. The view of the 
 lake and surrounding country from this point 
 
 [61] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 is very beautiful, but from there I counted six 
 suttee pyres and a dozen temples and shrines. 
 
 It was in this little summer house that 
 Adelaide Gail Frost wrote her famous song, 
 "India, Sad India." It is no wonder that the 
 heart of this good woman was moved to write 
 in such an environment of idolatry and super- 
 stition. 
 
 Back of the mission grounds and some 
 distance away is the Christian cemetery. It is 
 located at the foot of a rocky hill, covered with 
 great boulders. Here is the beautiful white 
 tomb of Dr. Martha Smith who wrought in and 
 around Mahoba from 1903 to 1914. She is still 
 remembered for her great work and her sym- 
 pathetic interest in the welfare of the native 
 people. 
 
 To the right of this graveyard is quite a 
 large temple, and at its base, under a great 
 banyan tree, is a sacred pool. It is fed by a 
 clear spring coming out of the rocks on the hill- 
 side. At this pool two women and a nude child 
 of about seven were hovered around a little pile 
 of ashes and coals. We asked them why they 
 were there. They had come to worship and 
 bathe. Nearby was an old man who had come 
 out of the city and climbed the slope to this 
 Hindu pool of Siloam. 
 
 Under the trees was a big ugly image of 
 black stone and it was still damp, as some wor- 
 shiper had poured water over it from the pool. 
 In the temple court were a number of small 
 
 [62] 
 
MAHOBA 
 
 shrines and small dirty broken gods. No priest 
 or caretaker was to be found. 
 
 Farther up the hill is another popular temple. 
 In this temple is a big image of the god Hanu- 
 man. He is a hideous looking old fellow nearly 
 the size of a man, painted a deep red, the kind of 
 red that the farmers use in painting their barns. 
 An old lady and a small girl with nothing on but 
 bracelets and anklets, were staying in the temple 
 house. She said they had come up for only a 
 few days . This place of worship is reached 
 by a long row of stone steps from the valley be- 
 low and when the big annual religious fair is 
 held thousands of Hindus climb these stone steps 
 to get a view of Hanuman and do their obeisance 
 to him. 
 
 On another hillside is a great stone image 
 of the god Kali. She is carved out of a great 
 rock and is fifteen feet high. The necklace is 
 carved in such a way as to represent human 
 skulls. Even the gods out here wear jewelry. 
 She has great stone legs and arms and looks like 
 a thing of strength and power. This is nearly 
 a mile away from the nearest house and yet there 
 were evidences that worshipers had been there 
 that morning. Not far away were other places 
 of worship. In one old temple there were about 
 a hundred gods, some broken, and others with 
 an arm or leg off. They were all thrown in 
 
 [63] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 promiscuously, and one of the missionaries 
 remarked that it looked like "scrambled gods." 
 And yet at 10 : 30 in the morning those old gods 
 were still damp, water having been carried up 
 and poured upon them from the sacred wells 
 some distance below. It always seems that some 
 one has just been there and left, at nearly every 
 one of these places of worship. 
 
 As we climbed up and down over these hills 
 it seemed as if there was a Hindu god peering 
 out at us from nearly every rock. Dozens of rocks 
 on these hillsides had images carved in them. 
 Little shrines here and there every few feet, and 
 under "every green tree" almost, there was a 
 place where a man could bow down to either 
 wood or stone. A big bunch of long-tailed 
 monkeys sighted us and for some time kept at 
 a safe distance in front, scrambling over these 
 gods, sometimes standing upon them, having no 
 respect whatever for their divinity. 
 
 There were several large temples, and in 
 one or two of them were separate stalls for the 
 gods. And out in the middle of the lake was a 
 large temple, which could not be reached ex- 
 cept in a boat. This town and community is 
 certainly the "garden of the gods." 
 
 But one fact impressed itself upon my mind 
 very strongly. Nearly every shrine, temple, and 
 place of worship was in a state of decay. Some 
 of the larger temples are fairly well kept, but 
 that is the exception. The janitors evidently 
 have been on strike for the last hundred years. 
 
 [64] 
 
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MAHOBA 
 
 The gods are old and broken and some of them 
 even wear whiskers of moss. No new ones are 
 being made. The old thing is the sacred thing 
 here. 
 
 It is in such a city and community that the 
 missionaries are introducing the Christian re- 
 ligion. The golden age of the gods of stone is 
 passing and the new age is gradually being 
 ushered in. The main emphasis of all work in 
 the station and out-stations is evangelistic. It 
 is intensive evangelism, through personal work 
 and preaching for direct results. The only man 
 on the station is C. N. Thompson, who is 
 secretary and treasurer of the Mission, general 
 manager, and director of the evangelistic work. 
 Special emphasis and work is being done in two 
 castes, the Koris and Basors. These people live 
 in little groups, or mahallahs, in different parts 
 of town. They are really little towns within a 
 town. The idea is to get the head man of each 
 caste and several families to accept Christianity 
 and use them in turn to win the rest of the 
 caste. A splendid start has been made along 
 this line. 
 
 The same general plan of intensive evangel- 
 ism is being pushed in the two out-stations, 
 Kabrai and Shri Nagar. Mr. Thompson visits 
 each of these stations twice each month to en- 
 courage the evangelists and to keep in close 
 
 [65] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 touch with the work. It is the plan to put as 
 much responsibility upon the Indian church as 
 it can successfully carry. 
 
 In the medical work the compounders and 
 nurses are continually reminded that theirs is a 
 spiritual task. Not a single patient is to pass 
 without being told the plan of salvation. The 
 educational work is primarily for the making of 
 Christians. All in the station feel that while a 
 high intellectual standard should be maintained, 
 unless the students are clearly given the teach- 
 ings of Christ, their efforts would be in vain. 
 The Christian teachers are urged to become 
 acquainted with the parents of the children 
 and visit them regularly in the interest of Chris- 
 tianity. 
 
 The Sunday services, conducted by the 
 Indian pastor, are not unlike the regular Sun- 
 day services elsewhere. But the Mahoba prayer 
 meeting is a service of unusual fervency and 
 spiritual power. The new program of intensive 
 evangelism is manifest in the prayer meeting. 
 Not only the missionaries, but the Indian Chris- 
 tians, are praying definitely for the winning of 
 their fellow Indians to the new religion. And 
 how they exhort one another to good works! 
 And — is it possible for the American church to 
 really understand — these Indian Christians 
 upon their knees in the church, fervently pray 
 for the coming of a mass movement, when not 
 only a few, but hundreds will be won from their 
 idolatry every year. 
 
 [66] 
 
MAHOBA 
 
 Furthermore, surely it will not be thought 
 sacrilegious to pull aside the curtain and let the 
 church catch a glimse of the weekly private 
 prayer meeting of all the missionaries on the 
 station. After the evening meal came Miss Pope, 
 the trained nurse, who has supervision of the 
 hospital, the in-patients, and the Indian nurses. 
 Also Miss Ford, who has the care and manage- 
 ment of the girls' boarding school. Dr. Bertha 
 Thompson had been busy every hour of the 
 day with her home, the patients at the hospital, 
 and the many people at the dispensary. These 
 three ladies, with Mr. Thompson, made just a 
 little group of four people. Not even enough to 
 have the inspiration of numbers. They gave a 
 weekly report of their work, talked over their 
 problems, and, tread softly here, upon their 
 knees, reached out in prayer for help and 
 guidance. Will I ever forget that little prayer 
 meeting in Central India? How they prayed 
 for the church at home. That it would send out 
 more laborers. How they prayed for the Indian 
 leaders, that they might remain true and faith- 
 ful. And with what faith and earnestness they 
 prayed for definite conversions among their 
 Indian acquaintances. There was unity and 
 power in that little prayer meeting. It seemed 
 that such faith and zeal and earnest prayer could 
 not go unanswered. 
 
 [67] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 4 
 
 The next morning "Clint" Thompson pulled 
 me out of bed at 3:30, and by 4:00 we were on 
 the road to the out-station of Kabrai, fourteen 
 miles away. As we pulled out into the fine 
 macadamized road we saw a very wonderful star 
 in the East. The stars seemed to shine more 
 brightly than at home. The Great Dipper was 
 turned upside down. The Southern Cross was 
 shining out in wonderful brilliancy. There was 
 not* a cloud in the sky, nor scarcely a breath of 
 air stirring. The clatter of the ponies' feet 
 echoed among the trees and hills. 
 
 We passed many old dilapidated temples. 
 In the day time they look dirty, forsaken and un- 
 kept, but at night they seem like the tombs of lost 
 Hindu souls. Two miles out we overtook a man, 
 scarcely discernible in the darkness, walking 
 with a dirty old shawl wrapped around his head, 
 his face entirely covered. Farther on the first 
 streaks of dawn appeared. We overtook two ox- 
 carts, farmers going out to their farms for the 
 day. A little farther we met a man going towards 
 town, his oxcart piled full of bones. It seemed 
 quite in order to meet the bone man on his way 
 to the market at this early hour. 
 
 As the stars began to fade away we came to 
 a great banyan tree and underneath it was a 
 fire. Around the fire were five men who had 
 stayed there for the night. Their robes were 
 drawn up over their heads and in the grey dawn 
 they looked like somber tombs. But one fellow 
 
 [68] 
 
MAHOBA 
 
 was already awake, singing one of the weird 
 Hindi songs, in a minor key. Most of the Indian 
 music seems to be in the minor key and some 
 of it that I have heard was in no key at all. 
 
 Then we began to see people coming out of 
 the fields. They had been there all night to 
 drive the wild animals away from the growing 
 crops. From now until harvest time these 
 farmers must each ''watch in the fields at night." 
 They build a small platform five or six feet high 
 and from this watchtower they frighten away 
 the deer, wild pigs, and other enemies of the 
 crops. The people come shivering out of the 
 fields to go back to their villages some two or 
 three miles away for their morning meal. 
 
 The sun came up between two high, rocky 
 hills. At the end of one of the hills, standing out 
 in bold relief, was a great rock, the shape of a 
 liuge bear, with its front feet up on a large 
 boulder. It looked as if the bear had come out 
 to see the rising sun. What a clear, beautiful 
 sunrise it was, as the sun started on its course, 
 with a halo of golden glory around its head. 
 
 Just after sunrise we arrived at the out- 
 station and called on the native evangelist there. 
 He and his good wife are doing their best to 
 establish and make permanent the work. There 
 have been a few converts and the communion 
 service is held in his little home. There is a 
 small Sunday-school of about a dozen people. 
 The work is just in its beginning but the outlook 
 is hopeful. He told of the head maji of the 
 
 [69] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 — . — . — < 
 
 gardeners' caste, who had come to see him the 
 week before and had a long talk about becoming 
 a Christian. There were about twenty other 
 people whom we had taught and held conferences 
 with, who were considering becoming Christians 
 all at the same time. A Brahman, who was the 
 headmaster of the school, was almost ready to 
 take the step. 
 
 What did we see at Kabrai after our long 
 journey? An Indian preacher, a couple of mud 
 houses, and a few Christians with the ordinary 
 Indian village as the background. But that is 
 not all that "Clint" Thompson saw. In his eye 
 was the picture of the whole gardeners' caste 
 being baptized; of the Brahman head master 
 making the confession. In short, the vision of 
 a redeemed Kabrai. And not only Kabrai, but 
 a score of other villages in the Mahoba district, 
 transformed by the love of Christ. 
 
 A HOSPITAL SET ON A HILL 
 
 Tne Mahoba hospital building, located on 
 the top of a hill, is easily seen from every direc- 
 tion. It was built during the time that Dr. Ada 
 McNeill Gordon was located in Mahoba. Dr. 
 Bertha Thompson was giving attention to the 
 in-patients and looking after the dispensary 
 across the street. With the care of her two 
 children and the stream of people coming to the; 
 
 [70] 
 
MAHOBA 
 
 dispensary day after day, she was a busy woman. 
 During the previous year some fifteen thousand 
 treatments had been given at the dispensary. 
 There were three thousand new cases. The 
 people are required to pay the value of the 
 medicines and for services rendered, according 
 to their ability. If they are unable to pay they 
 of course receive treatment just the same. 
 
 The people come from the city of Mahoba 
 and from villages in all directions, from three 
 to thirty miles. One man had walked twenty- 
 two miles for treatment. He had to have a 
 cataract removed from an eye. After the 
 tickets were given out for medicine, a preaching 
 service was held. The assistant at the dis- 
 pensary preached on the text, "Be sure your sin 
 will find you out." At the close, when he was try- 
 ing to sell copies of the gospels, one man said, "I 
 can't read, so I will not buy." The preacher 
 replied, "When you receive a letter who reads 
 it for you?" The man said, "Oh, I go around over 
 the village until I find some man that can read. 
 Then he reads my letters for me." "All right," 
 said the preacher, "this gospel is a letter from 
 God to you and you must get some one in your 
 village to read it to you." A number of the gos- 
 pels were sold after this talk. 
 
 Now and then Dr. Thompson has special 
 calls. One day a man sent her the following 
 note: 
 
 [71] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 "Madam: 
 
 My wife is troubled too much and feeling 
 very bad. For humanity's sake and to save the 
 life of a fellow creature, see her as soon as you 
 can. 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 (Signed) Ram Singh." 
 
 One night a non-Christian patient died at 
 the hospital. Dr. Thompson was called at 1:00 
 A. M. and found the relatives starting up the 
 wild, weird wail of the Hindus. She commanded 
 them to stop it immediately, and to her great 
 surprise, as well as theirs, they obeyed her. 
 
 The trained nurse in charge of the hospital 
 proper, the in-patients, and the Indian nurses, 
 is Miss Caroline Pope. She has the work well 
 organized and everything is kept spick and 
 span, for Miss Pope is a spick and span sort of 
 a girl. She showed me the linen room, where 
 everything is kept as clean and neat as a new 
 pin. She also introduced me to the diet kitchen 
 where the most scrupulous care is observed in 
 the preparation of food for the patients. A 
 buffalo cow is kept so that patients may have 
 pure milk. In August there were thirty-nine 
 in-patients; in September, thirty-seven; in 
 October, forty-one; in November, forty- two. 
 Individual charts are kept daily on every patient 
 by the Indian nurses, so that Miss Pope and the 
 doctor may quickly discover the symptoms and 
 progress of each case. 
 
 [72] 
 
MAHOBA 
 
 Four nurses are under training, also two 
 compounders, and they are given the most care- 
 ful instructions along all lines. 
 
 The operating room is in Class A for 
 India. Modern sterilizers are in use, and every- 
 thing in order so they can get ready for an 
 operation in a hurry. They can quickly steril- 
 ize sheets, towels and sponges, and the surgical 
 instruments. There is a good lot of surgical 
 instruments, well cared for and ready for busi- 
 ness. When the doctor wants to have an emer- 
 gency operation Miss Pope and her assistants 
 lose no time in making preparations for the job. 
 
 There is a purdah room in the corner of the 
 hospital buildings, with a separate entrance to 
 this room, where the purdah women may come 
 and go without coming in contact with the other 
 patients. The women seem to like this arrange- 
 ment. Their husbands also like it. They know 
 that they may send their women there and they 
 will receive the best of treatment without their 
 customs and ideas of privacy being violated. In 
 case it is necessary for a purdah woman to re- 
 main in the hospital she has her own private 
 room and care. 
 
 Thus the women of high caste and low 
 caste, rich and poor, are being cured of both 
 their physical and spiritual ills in this house of 
 healing on the Mahoba hills. 
 
 [73] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 THE MOTHER OF ONE HUNDRED AND 
 FIFTY-SIX 
 
 The old woman who lived in a shoe would 
 be considered small potatoes out here in Mahoba 
 when compared to Lucile Ford, manager and 
 mother of the Girls' Orphanage and Boarding 
 School. She comes from a family of nine girls, 
 which is almost a small boarding school in itself. 
 There are one hundred and fifty-six girls, and 
 she is the only missionary who is working 
 among them. She has a large staff of native 
 women who are her helpers. There are girls 
 here from every mission station we have in 
 India. Some come in from the jungle country, 
 some are orphans, and some pay for the privi- 
 ledge of attending school here. If any reader 
 is interested in how they feed such a large 
 family let him read what I was interested in 
 finding out. 
 
 They have rice two meals a day. That is 
 the main article of food. They eat about eighty 
 pounds of rice a day. That makes a ton each 
 month. Sometimes they ship in a whole car- 
 load of rice for this school. There is a large 
 granary where they keep the rice and wheat 
 and pulse. 
 
 There is a large kitchen at one end of the 
 building. In this kitchen are the native stoves 
 which consist of some brick built up against the 
 wall on two sides and across the top a large 
 
 [74] 
 
MAHOBA 
 
 sheet of iron. The large brass cooking kettles 
 are placed on this and a fire built underneath. 
 
 The other foods are cooked in the same way. 
 Why these simple stoves? Because they only 
 cost two or three dollars to build and the people 
 know how to use them. The larger girls are 
 taught to do the cooking. They cook on these 
 same big iron sheets their chapatis — cakes of un- 
 leavened bread. It is wheat flour mixed with 
 water and cooked in pieces about like a pan- 
 cake. They cook about thirteen dozen of these 
 chapatis every day. 
 
 Where do they get the flour? Well, they 
 buy the wheat at the bazaar and grind it in their 
 own mills. There is a grinding room near the 
 kitchen. In this grinding room there are eight 
 chakkis — little stone mills. One large flat stone 
 on top of another with a small hole down in the 
 center where the wheat is put in. On the upper 
 stone there is a handle with which it is turned. 
 
 The girls do all the grinding. Two girls 
 work at one mill, and each mill must grind two 
 seers — about two quarts every day. Thus flour 
 comes much cheaper than buying it at the store. 
 Early in the morning the grinders for the day 
 get up and do the work before breakfast. They 
 retire at seven at night so that it is not a hard- 
 ship for them to be about early. 
 
 When the girls had finished their break- 
 fast they washed their own plates in large 
 cement tanks. They put them in the plate room 
 and the dishes were ready for the next meal, 
 
 [75] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 No doubt American girls would be glad if their 
 dishes could be done that quickly. 
 
 I then had a chance to visit their bedrooms. 
 The beds are made on the floor, built up with 
 brick and cement about a foot high. The nearest 
 thing I could think of, that they looked like, was 
 a row of flat cement tombstones about a foot 
 apart. The girls each have a large heavy rug 
 which they lay on this bed, and two blankets for 
 use in colder weather. Do you say that they 
 ought to have real beds? Those are real beds 
 to them. Better than they have ^ever slept in 
 before. If you gave them our kind they would 
 not sleep in them; at least the majority would 
 not. 
 
 Every night Lucile goes out to see that they 
 are all in bed and that everything is in order for 
 the night. When the influenza epidemic was on 
 there were seventy-five girls sick at one time. 
 Then Miss Ford abandoned her own comfortable 
 bed in the mission bungalow and lived with those 
 suffering girls. She slept there with them several 
 nights, at least she was there trying to sleep, but 
 up at any call, to mother and help those who 
 needed her. 
 
 /Miss Ford is a shark on sanitary conditions 
 and sees to it that nothing is left undone to keep 
 the place as clean as possible. This not only 
 applies to the grounds, but also to the girls them- 
 selves. The lake is about a block away and the 
 girls are required to go regularly to the lake to 
 bathe. She also sees to it that they brush their 
 
 [76] 
 
MAHOBA 
 
 teeth. I wondered where she got enough tooth 
 brushes and powder for such a large family. 
 Nature furnishes the brushes — their fingers — 
 and Miss Ford has taught them how to make 
 their own powder. Many of the older readers 
 remember how to make tooth powder out of 
 charcoal. Well, that is what is done here. In 
 these native stoves there is charcoal in abund- 
 ance, and it is still a question in Miss Ford's 
 mind if that is not really better than Colgate's 
 or Pepsodent. And it does not cost a cent, or a 
 pice, as they would say out here. 
 
 There is a little hospital ward for any who 
 may be sick and they are given the best attention. 
 There are also rooms for the native teachers, 
 where they sleep and keep their own things. 
 There are two or three open places where the 
 children play and exercise, much of it directed 
 play. They play all kinds of girl games — drop 
 the handkerchief, hide and seek, swing, London 
 Bridge is falling down, and many native games. 
 
 At nine o'clock all the girls go to school. 
 They are properly graded according to govern- 
 ment requirements, and all of the branches are 
 taught. For this service of education the Govern- 
 ment gives the school a grant-in-aid of fifty 
 rupees a month. I was present at the chapel 
 hour of the school. One of the teachers read 
 the daily reading in connection with the Sunday- 
 school lesson, and they sang a Christian song, 
 and had prayer. The teachers rotate in leading 
 this chapel service. 
 
 [77] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 Lucile Ford got much of her training in St. 
 Louis at the Orphanage of the National Benev- 
 olent Association. "Uncle Jimmy" Mohorter 
 can testify to her devotion and faithfulness. I 
 asked her how she liked these little brown 
 children as compared with those in St. Louis. 
 She said: "They're all the same to me. They are 
 the dearest little things, and I love them just as 
 much as I did those in America." 
 
 When Sunday comes Mother Ford and her 
 one hundred and fifty-six children put on their 
 best Sunday clothes and go to Sunday-school. 
 They march two by two down around the beauti- 
 ful shade trees on the lake front to the nice big 
 brick church. They certainly add much to the 
 singing as nearly all the girls know these songs 
 by heart. They fill up one whole side of the 
 church. 
 
 The hope of India is largely wrapped up in 
 the girls and women. Without educated girls 
 and women the Christian homes of India will 
 never be what they ought to be. This institu- 
 tion is making a real contribution to the pro- 
 gram of establishing the Kingdom in the needy 
 land of India. 
 
 I knew "Lucy" Ford as a student in Cotner 
 College. I knew her then as one of the most 
 faithful, conscientious, and unselfish girls in the 
 school. I have seen her at Mahoba, and have 
 felt something of her spirit. May her tribe in- 
 crease. 
 
 [78] 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 MAUDAHA 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 MAUDAHA 
 
 A STIRRING IN THE MULBERRY TREES 
 
 It is hard to record the impressions which 
 come trooping through the mind in visiting a 
 place like Maudaha, an unattractive village, with 
 a population that is hostile, and with a mixture 
 of both Mohammedans and Hindus. One is 
 immediately confronted with the difficulties and 
 the seeming impossibility of the task. The 
 Mission bungalow is located a half mile out of 
 town, but there is a small cement building in the 
 town, used for a dispensary for part of the time. 
 Near this building are the homes of the evan- 
 gelists. I was awakened early in the morning 
 by a rising bell and heard S. G. Rothermel bust- 
 ling about in his usual manner. I hustled out as 
 quickly as possible and found a group of some 
 twenty or thirty people assembled on the 
 veranda for morning prayers and Bible instruc- 
 tion. The meeting lasted a half hour. A song 
 or two and prayers and then a Bible lesson taught 
 by one of the evangelists. These people are all 
 new in the Christian life and it was necessary 
 
 [81] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 to instruct them line upon line, precept upon pre- 
 cept. During the days following I found that 
 this was the regular daily program. 
 
 Rothermel is demonstrating a new kind of 
 evangelism. It used to be considered good mis- 
 sion policy to make many tours, camp at a given 
 place, preach to all the villages within a radius 
 of six miles, then move camp and repeat the 
 process. In this way the Indian evangelists got 
 the idea that they were merely seed sowers and 
 not reapers. These villages could only be 
 reached once or twice a year which was not 
 enough for sufficient teaching to win the people 
 from their idolatry. The result was that the 
 evangelists had almost come to the place where 
 they did not expect converts. 
 
 Rothermel's plan is to have more concen- 
 tration. He believes not only in preaching to the 
 masses but directly to the individual. He set as 
 the aim of the station, twelve baptisms in a given 
 year. The Indian preachers did not believe it 
 could be done. But he has emphasized this idea 
 of definite personal work constantly, and it is 
 beginning to bear fruit. The first year of the 
 new program there were six baptisms, three 
 from caste. The second year there were ten 
 baptisms, four from caste. The third year there 
 were seven baptisms, six from caste. The fourth 
 year there were twenty-five baptisms, all but one 
 from caste. The whole church is now at work 
 with a new hope. 
 
 [82] 
 
 
MAUD AH A 
 
 Two out-stations were established with one 
 native evangelist living in one and two in the 
 other, with their families. Sunday-school at 
 Maudaha had an average attendance of about 
 one hundred. In one of the out-stations many 
 of the children are afraid to come to Sunday- 
 school because their parents have threatened 
 to punish them if they do. 
 
 Once a month these workers come in to 
 Maudaha for the conference of all workers last- 
 ing from Friday through the following Monday. 
 The workers are required to give a monthly re- 
 port in writing. In addition to this each one 
 gives a verbal report telling of the discourage- 
 ments, as well as the hopeful things. Classes of 
 instruction are held and lectures are given on 
 Bible study and evangelism. On Sunday all of the 
 workers have the fellowship of the communion 
 and the preaching service. On Monday night a 
 social is held, in which all the Christians partici- 
 pate. Rothermel did some sleight of hand per- 
 formances; I did one or two; and then the Indian 
 Christians pulled off some stunts that would have 
 done credit to an American High School or 
 College crowd. Refreshments were served and 
 everybody went out for another month of the 
 hardest kind of work. 
 
 The evangelistic outfit of an Indian mis- 
 sionary is most interesting indeed. First of 
 course is his New Testament, but a close second 
 
 [83] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 is a good pair of scissors to cut off the hair and 
 beads of the Hindus who accept the teaching of 
 the New Testament. In addition to these, 
 Rothermel had a lot more evangelistic para- 
 phernalia. He has a tonga, that is, a horse and 
 a two- wheel cart; he has a motorcycle, with a 
 side car ; he has a bicycle ; he has a yoke of oxen 
 and an oxcart. There is also a yoke of large 
 buffaloes and a cart to transport the tents and 
 baggage when they go on tours. In these various 
 ways he is able to get out to the great multitude 
 of people who live in the villages around 
 Maudaha. However there is nearly three months 
 during the rainy season when he cannot reach 
 the villages by any of these means of travel. He 
 must go on foot, or on horseback. But go he 
 must and does, and his faith goes forward to 
 the day when the mass movement will come in 
 that section of India and large numbers will be 
 won from the old life to the new. 
 
 3 
 Mrs. Rothermel is a physician, but with the 
 care of her children and her home, has not been 
 able to give as much time to medical work as she 
 had hoped. Every morning the people come for 
 medicine to the veranda of her home. She spends 
 an hour or more in looking after their needs. 
 She also supervises a little school for the child- 
 ren. This school is taught by two Indian teachers 
 and is held under a banyan tree near the Mission 
 bungalow. 
 
 [84] 
 
MAUD AH A 
 
 4 
 
 Mr. Rothermel is also assisting in the 
 organization of co-operative credit societies or 
 banks. Three of these organizations are now 
 perfected. One among the chamars, one among 
 the Christians, and one among the basors — the 
 sweepers, basket makers and swine herders. 
 
 A conference was held with a new group of 
 chamars for the organization of a fourth society. 
 About a dozen tall fellows, with their interesting 
 headdress on, sat down upon the veranda to com- 
 plete the organization. The agent was present, 
 who goes from place to place and assists when 
 all of the preliminary plans have been made. 
 The organizations are semi-official and the 
 people fully understand that they are signing 
 a legal document when they put their names to 
 the notes or mortgages. 
 
 During the time that the matters were being 
 fully explained by Mr. Rothermel and the agent, 
 the missionary kept sandwiching in some gospel 
 teaching. He would say something like this: 
 ''What would the high caste Brahman do if you 
 would try to get a loan from him?" They would 
 reply, "He would charge us seventy-five percent 
 or kick us out." "And what would the rich Mo- 
 hammedans say to you?" And they would reply, 
 "They would kick us out, too." "Aha," ex- 
 claimed Rothermel, "the Brahmans and the 
 Mohammedans are your own people and yet they 
 oppose you and treat you like slaves, and here 
 
 [85] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 you are on my porch and the Mission is helping 
 you to secure a loan to feed your families until 
 harvest time. Who is your real friend?" And 
 they replied in concert, "Sahib, Sahib, you are 
 our friend; you are our father and mother." 
 "Yes," replied Rothermel, "but why do I do it? 
 It's because of my religion; it's Jesus Christ in 
 my heart. The Christians always help the poor. 
 They are doing this at Rath and Mahoba as well 
 as for you. Now, who are your friends?" And 
 the men replied, "The Christians, Sahib, the 
 Christians are our friends." Then Rothermel 
 pressed the point home. "Well then, you ought 
 to be Christians, and you ought to tell all of your 
 friends and your neighbors about the Jesus 
 religion. Your whole caste ought to become 
 Christians. Every day you ought to give three 
 cheers for the Christians." 
 
 All this between explanations of the legal 
 papers, getting the small committee of three 
 appointed out of their own number, who should 
 act for the group, agreeing upon how much each 
 man could borrow, and in getting the promises 
 from each man as well as the whole group, that 
 the money would be used for the purpose for 
 which it was borrowed and that the money would 
 be collected and repaid immediately after har- 
 vest. And when all was fully understood the 
 signatures were placed upon the legal document. 
 Only one man of the twelve could write his 
 name. The others signed by their thumb prints. 
 The agent would press their thumbs on the ink 
 
 [86] 
 
MAUD AH A 
 
 pad then press them firmly on the margin of 
 the paper and write each man's name under- 
 neath his own thumb prints. These men put 
 their thumb prints on this document as seriously 
 as if they had been signing the Declaration of 
 Independence, or a new Constitution for India. 
 The largest borrower received rupees twenty and 
 the smallest amount received was rupees six. 
 The money was all in silver rupees, and each 
 man tested his money out on the cement veranda 
 to see that it had the proper ring. They can 
 detect counterfeit money instantly. 
 
 As these men bade the Christian Sahib 
 salaam and went off down the long dusty road 
 they seemed happy because they had found what 
 to them was a real friend. How much they knew 
 and comprehended about their Unseen Friend 
 is problematical, yet sometime, if the present 
 program in Maudaha continues, they will surely 
 know and understand. 
 
 JAGGANATH, THE "WITNESS BEARER" 
 
 There is a saying in the New Testament that 
 it takes the simple things to confound the 
 mighty. To form the acquaintance of a plain 
 simple man named Jagganath, at Maudaha, is a 
 confirmation of the truth of that statement. 
 
 Jagganath came many years ago as a young 
 man and worked for Mr. Davis, who was Mr. 
 Rothermel's predecessor at Maudaha. He did not 
 become a Christian, although he had been taught 
 
 [87] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 many years. Mr. Rothermel inherited him and 
 found that he was "gospel hardened." His work 
 was unsatisfactory and finally he was discharged. 
 Later he was re-employed but still resisted the 
 gospel. He became very ill with influenza. The 
 evangelists visited him, supplied the family with 
 food and water and were kind to him in every 
 way. The Bible women helped cook the food 
 and assisted his wife in her care of him. 
 
 Finally Jagganath called in his relatives and 
 told them that he was convinced, through the 
 kindness of the Bible women, the evangelists and 
 the missionary, that Christianity was true, and 
 that whether he got well or not he would become 
 a Christian. They scolded him, threatened him, 
 but he insisted that his purpose would not 
 change. One night while he was still sick they 
 set fire to his house and burned it to the ground, 
 and as he dragged himself out of the burning 
 building he resolved to become a Christian at 
 the first opportunity. He did so. And when he 
 was fully recovered he requested the Mission to 
 allow him to become a preacher. 
 
 Jagganath become a preacher? It was un- 
 thinkable. He was illiterate, could neither read 
 nor write, and his looks — well, he would take 
 last place in a beauty contest. But his heart 
 was right and they soon found that he was in 
 earnest. He insisted that he could tell the "Jesus 
 story" to his friends. He did not know enough 
 to be a preacher or an evangelist, but finally the 
 church, because of his earnestness and consecra- 
 
 [88] 
 
MAUD AH A 
 
 tion, decided to give him employment. They 
 had to create a new office for him. They called 
 him "Witness-bearer." His chief business was 
 to go among the people and sit down with them 
 and tell them what the Christian religion meant 
 to him. 
 
 He could not preach to the crowd, but he 
 could sit down with a man by the wayside and 
 make him understand, by his personal testimony. 
 He did what his new title implied, bore witness 
 every day and many hours a day to the new 
 Christian joy in his own heart. And what was 
 the result? Mr. Rothermel says that he has won 
 more converts than any other one man in the 
 station. Through his efforts fifteen chamars 
 have come out of caste and accepted Christianity. 
 
 It might not be a bad policy for the church 
 at home to add a new office, that of witness- 
 bearer, to the officiary of the church. But how 
 much better it would be if every member would 
 voluntarily live up to the teachings of Jesus 
 when he said "Ye are my witnesses." 
 
 It is my judgment that it is a necessary 
 thing in all mission lands to have men entirely 
 free from institutional work such as schools, 
 hospitals, printing presses, etc., who can give 
 undivided attention to the evangelistic work. 
 The program at Maudaha is most certainly com- 
 mendable and is bound to bring an abundant 
 harvest in the years to come. 
 
 [89] 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 RATH 
 
CHAPTER V 
 RATH 
 
 AT THE JUNGLE STATION OF RATH 
 
 Twenty-nine miles off the railroad lies the 
 jungle station of Rath. It is reached by tonga 
 and oxcart. I was lucky enough to be taken 
 from Maudaha to Rath in Mr. Rothermel's 
 motorcycle. 
 
 But one missionary family, that of John 
 Bierma, lives in this interior village of about 
 eleven thousand. It is a beautiful little village, 
 nicely laid out streets, quite a number of better 
 built houses, and the people are friendly. How- 
 ever, as far as missionary accomplishments are 
 concerned, we are just at the beginning. There 
 is a neat little church building, with a member- 
 ship of about ten families. There are four Sun- 
 day-schools, with an average attendance of about 
 two hundred. No day schools are conducted 
 either in Rath, or in the outside villages. There 
 is only one out-station in connection with the 
 work at Rath. 
 
 [93] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 Two evangelists are busy all the time 
 preaching to the people in Rath and in the 
 villages. I made a trip with Mr. Bierma, reach- 
 ing the first village, some four miles away, for 
 a service at 7:00 A. M. It was necessary to 
 arrive early before the people went to the fields. 
 About forty people gathered under a banyan tree 
 in the center of the town to hear the songs and 
 the teaching. Several goats, dogs and buffaloes 
 were also present. The people listened eagerly. 
 
 When the service was over, the evangelists 
 offered Gospels for sale, and a few people bought 
 them. One old man shook his head and said, 
 "Why should I buy, I cannot read." That was 
 literally true of all but five people in the total 
 population of about two hundred. There is not 
 now, and never has been, a school in this village. 
 Do you ask why Mr. Bierma does not establish 
 a school there? This is the answer. In the 
 Rath district there are two hundred and thirty- 
 four such villages. There are schools of some kind 
 in only eighty-three of them. That leaves one 
 hundred and fifty-one villages entirely without 
 a school of any kind. It would take one hun- 
 dred and fifty-one teachers, that number of 
 buildings, besides text books, slates, etc., to solve 
 this neglected educational problem. Mr. Bierma 
 has neither time nor money, nor the teachers, to 
 do the job. He is the only missionary of any 
 church in this whole district, which has a popula- 
 tion of nearly one hundred and fifty thousand. 
 
 [94] 
 
RATH 
 
 The whole job is yet before us in this jungle 
 station. 
 
 2 
 
 A rather interesting experiment is being 
 conducted in the city of Rath. There had never 
 been a public library in the history of the town. 
 Furthermore, there is not a public library in any 
 of the two hundred and thirty-four villages in 
 the district. About two years ago, the question 
 of the organization of a Library Association was 
 agitated. Problem : How could the co-operation 
 of Hindus, Mohammedans and Christians be 
 secured? Easy enough. Representatives of each 
 on the Library Committee. When the Committee 
 was organized it voluntarily elected Mr. Bierma 
 as president. The next step was the formation 
 and adoption of a constitution. Mr. Bierma 
 wrote out a constitution, with the constitution of 
 the United Christian Missionary Society before 
 him as a model. This was read to the committee 
 and unanimously adopted. 
 
 The club is composed of all "those worthy 
 literate men (note that nothing is said of 
 women) who support the project by contribu- 
 tions paid each month, or paid one year's total 
 in advance." The monthly fees are rupees 1:8 
 to two annas, depending upon the standing and 
 ability of the donor. A building up town was 
 rented which provided for a library room, a 
 game room, and a place for the co-operative 
 society to meet. This young library has two 
 
 [95] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 hundred volumes. It has one hundred Hindi 
 books, fifty English books, and fifty books in 
 Urdu. Daily papers, in English and Hindi, come 
 to the library. The librarian elected was one of 
 the Christian men of the Rath church. There 
 has been no stampede of the people to get these 
 books from the library, although a number of the 
 people have taken out cards and have read some 
 of the books. One of the great problems is to 
 secure interesting, readable books in Hindi. 
 Both the Mohammedans and Hindus, as well as 
 the Christians, are rather proud of the new 
 letter heads and envelopes, bearing the follow- 
 ing imprint: "Public Library Institute, Rath, 
 United Provinces." And they may well be proud, 
 for is it not the only library in the whole dis- 
 trict? 
 
 Another approach to the people is the in- 
 fluence of the co-operative credit societies. The 
 purpose of these organizations is to lend money 
 to the people at a cheap rate of interest, to assist 
 them to buy seed grain for their crops. Four of 
 these have now been organized with one hundred 
 and eighty-four men as charter members. Thus 
 these men are freed from the covetousness of 
 the professional money lenders. Each society 
 is usually formed from the men of one caste. 
 The group then becomes responsible for the 
 loan of each member. The head men of the 
 caste sign the notes and the whole caste is re- 
 
 [96] 
 
RATH 
 
 sponsible for each man paying back his loan. 
 With this kind of an arrangement, some of the 
 well to do Indian men of the better type will 
 loan money to the credit society, knowing that 
 they run but little risk in so doing. 
 
 Some fifteen acres of ground have been 
 secured to assist the Christian people to make 
 a living. A new type of sugar corn has been 
 introduced, also potato raising, and the raising 
 of seed wheat on a small scale. It is the hope 
 that the people will receive the proper training 
 so that they can later take land and make a liv- 
 ing for themselves. By these different approaches 
 to the hearts of the people some are being won 
 to the Kingdom. Within the past few months 
 eight have been baptized, six of them from caste. 
 
 . AN INTERVIEW WITH PT. NANDKISHARE 
 SHARMA 
 
 While at Rath I had the pleasure of inter- 
 viewing and being interviewed by an Indian 
 gentleman who is one of the divisional superin- 
 tendents of agriculture in the district. His 
 official title is as follows: "Pt. Nandkishare 
 Sharma, Honorary Magistrate, United Provinces, 
 Agriculture Service." He traveled twenty miles 
 on horseback and in oxcart to see me. He was 
 a wide-awake, practical and cultured gentleman. 
 He spoke both Hindi and English fluently. He 
 attended the service in the church and when I 
 needed an interpreter for my speech he gladly 
 
 [97] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 1 
 
 volunteered, and in his interpretation elaborated 
 upon, and polished up my speech so that it was 
 quite respectable. He did not fail to tell the 
 people what I ought to have said, when I failed 
 to say it. 
 
 In our interview he told me many interest- 
 ing things about the people and the farm prob- 
 lems of India. The government maintains 
 twenty small demonstration farms in the United 
 Provinces. They only plan one such farm for each 
 one thousand square miles. On these farms they 
 only show a small advance at one time, so the 
 people can comprehend it. The growing of 
 wheat is demonstrated in the old way and the 
 new way, in little fields side by side. Then when 
 people come to visit the farm, seeing is believing. 
 
 There are no silos in India. The farms are 
 too small. The average farm for all the United 
 Provinces is not more than four or five acres, 
 and this is about the average for all of India. 
 This man thinks it is a great disadvantage to 
 the farm to have the people living in the 
 villages; that the farms would be greatly en- 
 riched and better kept, and would be much more 
 productive, if the people lived on the farms. 
 
 He says that seventy per cent of the people 
 make their living by agriculture. Yet ninety- 
 eight per cent of the people live in the cities, 
 towns and villages. The farms have deteriorated 
 for generations. In the last few years he thinks 
 a new era has begun. Demonstration farms, 
 the selection of seeds, and better methods of 
 
 [98] 
 
RATH 
 
 farming have been introduced. The average 
 yield of wheat per acre for the whole Province 
 is seven bushels. On the demonstration farms 
 the average yield is twenty-six bushels. He says 
 the American missionaries have helped greatly 
 along this line. 
 
 This gentleman thinks that agricultural 
 missionaries would be very useful in that part 
 of India. The new program is only in its be- 
 ginning and will take much persuasion and 
 demonstration to get the slow-moving people to 
 change from the old to the new. He very naively 
 suggested that these agricultural men who come 
 should have women ("females") as their wives, 
 who are canning experts. They could teach the 
 Indian women how to can and preserve food. 
 They do not know the advantage of canning and 
 do not know how to do it. Hence before the next 
 crop is ready for harvest the people are out of 
 food and have to borrow. It is his experience 
 that the women, when shown, take on the new 
 things quicker than the men. But he says that 
 only the "females'" can teach these women. 
 
 He thinks the missionaries are doing a 
 splendid service in India. They help in times of 
 famine; they teach the children; they establish 
 hospitals, where medicine is dispensed; and they 
 are friendly to the people. He thinks the Ameri- 
 can missionaries are more economical and set 
 better examples before the people than do the 
 English officials. While he himself is a Hindu, 
 he thinks that Christianity is more unselfish 
 
 [99] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 than Hinduism. He says that thousands of 
 people are losing interest in their old religion, 
 their old beliefs, and their old superstitions,. 
 He is not sure that Christianity will come to 
 reign throughout India, but he is sure that it has 
 a fine, leavening influence upon all the people, 
 rich and poor alike. 
 
 It is a very interesting life in these jungle 
 stations in the outer districts. But it is most 
 certainly not a monotonous life. Every day a 
 new responsibility, and every day insistent 
 claims upon the Christian man's time and sym- 
 pathy. These families who are living alone must 
 get very homesick now and then, for they go 
 weeks and sometimes months without seeing 
 another white face. The two Bierma girls, 
 about five and seven, have no playmates but the 
 brown-faced boys and girls of Rath. But He 
 who promised to be with them always is a con- 
 stant companion, and some good day the King- 
 dom shall grow and prosper in the jungle. 
 
 [100] 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 KULPAHAR 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 KULPAHAR 
 
 KULPAHAR, THE PLACE OF MANY MOUNTAINS 
 
 The institution at Kulpahar may well be 
 called an institution of the women, by the 
 women, and for the women. It was founded and 
 has been maintained by the Woman's Board. Its 
 management and oversight is by the women 
 missionaries. The inmates are women and girls 
 and small boys under six years of age. It is the 
 only institution of its kind we have in India. 
 
 Agriculturally, it is almost a young farm. 
 The grounds cover about twenty acres. The 
 women have two yoke of oxen to do the farm 
 work, and a third yoke for the use of the evan- 
 gelists. The evangelistic work outside of the in- 
 stitution is directed by an evangelistic mission- 
 ary, a man, and of course by the use of native 
 men evangelists. But all of the institutional work 
 is managed by the women. 
 
 Miss Zonetta Vance showed me around the 
 farm. The first thing we saw was a large patch 
 of peanuts. The ground was plowed by the oxen 
 
 [103] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 but the women planted them, the women hoed 
 them, the women digged them, and the women 
 market them. Some are sold to the women 
 themselves, some in the villages, and some are 
 sold to the missionaries in other stations. 
 
 We next went to inspect the lime kiln, where 
 about twenty people were employed in building 
 up the materials ready to burn. It takes about 
 a week to build and another to burn the kiln. 
 
 The mixing of the lime and sand for build- 
 ing purposes is a very interesting process. They 
 have a large circular ditch about eighteen inches 
 deep. In this they pour one part lime and two 
 parts sand and then pour water in the ditch. It 
 is then mixed by the use of a great stone wheel 
 drawn round and round by a yoke of oxen. The 
 wheel is about a foot thick. It took seventeen 
 men to roll that stone wheel out from town 
 where it was bought. 
 
 There is a brick yard about a mile away 
 where the tile brick for the roofs for buildings 
 is burned. They make there the tile for the 
 roofs for all the buildings except for the mis- 
 sionary homes. 
 
 The ladies raised a good sized patch of 
 kaffir corn. It was a great sight to see them har- 
 vesting this crop. Early in the morning Miss 
 Vance and Miss Clarke started across the road 
 with about thirty or forty women, each armed 
 with a small knife with which to cut the ripened 
 grain. Such chattering and buzzing you never 
 heard unless you have been in India. They 
 
 [104] 
 
 
KULPAHAR 
 
 entered the tall grain and pulled down the heads 
 in order to cut them off, and piled them on large 
 pieces of cloth in which they were later tied up 
 and carried on their heads back to the com- 
 pound. For two or three hours they were as 
 busy as bees. Each woman seemed to be spurred 
 on to her best efforts by the rest of the crowd 
 and all worked with a hearty good will. 
 
 The rest of the grounds was a place of ex- 
 traordinary interest. There were three patches 
 of potatoes, a part of them grown from govern- 
 ment seed. There was more than an acre of 
 chana, a pulse, or lentil, that has a seed like 
 a small pea. The tops can be cut twice and used 
 for greens. The seed is ground up into flour. 
 There was another field of a special kind of 
 grass, which can be cut at least six times a year 
 for hay and fodder. 
 
 There were several nice tomato patches and 
 the tomatoes were ripe the middle of December, 
 and they are certainly fine eating. There was 
 also a fine patch of caster-oil beans. They make 
 these up into crude axle grease for the oxcarts, 
 but they also refine some of it for medicine and 
 for sale. 
 
 There are also little patches of butter beans, 
 sweet corn for roasting ears, beds of peas, tur- 
 nips, kohlrabi, and a gooseberry patch. This last 
 might be called a gooseberry-adapted, for the 
 fruit is much like a ground cherry. There was 
 also a cabbage patch. And Miss Mattie Burgess, 
 who has been twenty-seven years in India, might 
 
 [105] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 well be called the "Indian Mrs. Wiggs of the Cab- 
 bage Patch." It was an interesting sight to see 
 her in the garden with a little native hoe and a 
 water pot looking after the seed beds in a 
 motherly sort of a way, to see that the ground 
 was in proper condition, and that the tiny grow- 
 ing sprouts were getting enough water to drink. 
 
 In the orchard there was an orange grove 
 with about thirty fine trees and the fruit was 
 just ripe. These Indian oranges are much like 
 tangerines. I stood in the midst of this fine 
 grove and ate two oranges from the tops of those 
 beautiful young trees. There were several large 
 holes in the ground, fertilized, ready for the 
 planting of more orange trees. There were a 
 few peach trees but the ladies had discovered 
 that peaches do not thrive well and they are 
 planting the orchards with other kinds of fruit. 
 
 There was a small guava grove, also some 
 custard apple trees, and some mango trees. The 
 mango is the great fruit crop of India. There 
 were four banana patches on the compound. 
 There were also lime trees, lemon, figs, pome- 
 granates, and karaunda, a fruit like cranberry. 
 There were also a few pomelo trees, an enlarged 
 edition of grape fruit. There were palms and 
 palm fruit. There were three mahuva trees. 
 This is a rare fruit, the plants having been 
 obtained from the government botanical gardens. 
 From the time the fruit comes on the trees until 
 it is ripened and picked, the women watch these 
 orchards day and night, to keep the crows, the 
 
 [106] 
 
KULPAHAR 
 
 monkeys and the flying foxes from destroying 
 the fruit. 
 
 These gardens and the orchards are all 
 irrigated. The irrigation process is supervised 
 by the lady missionaries. The water for the 
 irrigation is drawn from a great well in the 
 center of the grounds. It is drawn by a yoke 
 of oxen in a huge leather bucket as large as a 
 half barrel. One woman drives the oxen and 
 two women empty the water into the large 
 cement tank. They work four hours each morn- 
 ing and two hours in the afternoon every day 
 during the dry season to keep enough water for 
 the crops. 
 
 In India the men wear a topi to protect the 
 head from the sun, and it is improper to even 
 take off your hat to the ladies when you are in 
 the sun. But I confess that after seeing this 
 wonderful compound, with the gardens, the 
 orchards, the irrigation process, the building 
 program, and all of the other manifold work 
 being carried on, I wanted to get in the shade of 
 a banyan tree somewhere, and take off my hat 
 to these ladies who are doing such a fine job 
 along lines that are commonly supposed to be 
 the work of men. It should be kept in mind that 
 the work upon this small farm is being done by 
 the women of the institution, under the direction 
 of the lady missionaries. They move the dirt 
 for the mud buildings, they cut the grass, they 
 keep the ground in good shape, and a person 
 entering this institution, not knowing what it 
 
 [107] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 was, would naturally think that it was a small 
 government demonstration farm. 
 
 But this agricultural program is only one 
 phase of the great work that is being carried on 
 at Kulpahar. There is a school for the women. 
 They gather in the church building for morning 
 prayers at 7:30. They sing a morning song. 
 They then have roll call. Miss Mary Clarke has 
 charge of these morning exercises and each 
 woman answers to her name "sab kiya," which 
 means "all done." That is, that they have done 
 all of the work in their little homes before they 
 came to school. They have washed their dishes, 
 cleaned out their fire-places, swept the floors, 
 and done their hair, etc. Whenever a woman 
 fails to answer "sab kiya" Miss Clarke knows she 
 has been loafing on the job. After the prayers 
 and the reports, the orders are given for the 
 work of the day. Some are to work in the 
 gardens, some to clean the yards, others to look 
 after the orchards. The women are much more 
 contented when they have something definite 
 to do, and these wise lady missionaries see to it 
 that the schedule of the day keeps their hands 
 and minds busy. 
 
 In the afternoon the regular school work 
 begins. There are six classes of girls and women. 
 These classes are organized along the regular 
 school lines and go up through the fourth grade. 
 
 [108] 
 
KULPAHAR 
 
 There is a class for new girls and women who 
 have just come into the home and cannot read 
 or write. 
 
 There is also a class for the blind. They 
 have little brass slates made by a firm in Chicago. 
 The teacher went to a special school for the 
 blind and learned how to teach. They have both 
 a first year class and a second year class. One 
 girl wrote for me and read with her fingers, 
 "Jesus said unto them, I am the living bread." 
 Their reading book is a big book with the "blind" 
 letters containing the Gospel of Luke and the 
 Acts of the Apostles. A number of these blind 
 women have accepted Christ and are regular 
 members of the church. 
 
 There is also a children's school for little 
 boys and girls about five and six years of age, or 
 under. Native teachers were in charge of about 
 fifty children. They led the children in acting 
 out the songs. The chief purpose of this kinder- 
 garten school is to teach the children to play. 
 Someone has said that the only animal that 
 doesn't know how to play in India is the Indian 
 child. Considerable time of the missionaries 
 and the teachers in all of our Indian schools is 
 given to teaching the children to play. Strange 
 feelings of emotion came over me as I saw those 
 little brown faced boys and girls standing in a 
 row, at attention, and singing "God Save the 
 King." 
 
 There is really no proper place in the in- 
 stitution for these boys and girls, for the in- 
 
 [109] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 stitution primarily is a woman's home. Plans 
 are under way for the erection of "a little boy's 
 home," across the road from the present build- 
 ing. These boys are too small to attend board- 
 ing school at Damoh, and it was thought wise 
 to build such a home at Kulpahar, so that at their 
 tender age they might have the supervision and 
 care of the lady missionaries. This home, when 
 completed, including a neat bungalow for the 
 women in charge, will cost about eight thousand 
 dollars. 
 
 3 
 
 The Sunday program is different. Nearly 
 two hundred women sat on the floor with their 
 white saris on. They were practically all bare- 
 footed. This church building is a long, clean 
 room with whitewashed walls. The women sang 
 without the organ and they lifted the tunes 
 vociferously. Many of them had song books. 
 After the opening exercises the women go out 
 in the yard for the teaching of the lesson. They 
 sit in the sun because it is warmer at that 
 time of the year, and there is no heating plant 
 in the building. It was a very beautiful sight 
 to see those little groups in their white dresses, 
 seated all over the yard, with their Indian 
 teachers standing before them teaching the 
 lesson. Miss Clarke reported that every woman 
 in the institution was present at Sunday-school. 
 And every woman had studied her lesson before 
 she came to the class. The reason for this is 
 
 [110] 
 
KULPAHAR 
 
 that in their plans for their daily Bible lesson 
 they study the Sunday-school lesson regularly 
 every Friday. Including the children there are 
 about two hundred in the institution. 
 
 Following the classes in the yard a review 
 of the lesson is conducted as part of the closing 
 exercises. This is done by one of the Bible 
 women who asks questions about the lesson. 
 She is very expert at this and the women in the 
 audience answered promptly and in most cases 
 correctly. 
 
 Later on there was a communion service 
 held. This is conducted by the native evangel- 
 ists, one of whom, a gray-haired man, has 
 been many years in the work and is considered 
 the pastor of the church. He read from the New 
 Testament, explained the meaning of the com- 
 munion, and the women were very quiet and 
 reverent while the service was going on. Many 
 of them are members of the church and they 
 enjoy that service more than any other during 
 the entire week. 
 
 Another part of this institution is the girls' 
 compound and training home. Each house is 
 large enough for four girls. These are nice, 
 neat little rooms, and the girls take a pride in 
 keeping their homes neat and nicely decorated. 
 Each group of four does its own cooking. They 
 have a little flour mill — two stones with which 
 they grind their wheat. They have their own 
 little cooking pots and little stove on the floor 
 which they make themselves. One girl had her 
 
 [111] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 room very nicely decorated with pictures, among 
 them an Easter card from Northampton, Massa- 
 chusetts. 
 
 A very interesting part of the work at 
 Kulpahar is the embroidery and sewing depart- 
 ment. Twelve women use most of their spare 
 time in making and repairing the clothing for 
 the fifty children. 
 
 There was regular class work in needle 
 work and embroidery, and Miss Thorpe, a young 
 missionary, was in charge of this class. She 
 had forty in the class and they worked two hours 
 in the morning and two hours in the afternoon 
 under her supervision. The girls all sat on the 
 floor in a big airy sewing room. A table sat in 
 front next to the teacher's desk upon which 
 thread was kept and other materials. Miss 
 Thorpe says she has to keep a constant watch 
 upon the girls for many of them do not want to 
 wear their thimbles. The beginners are taught 
 hemstitching and the more advanced ones do 
 the more intricate work. Some of the finer 
 pieces of embroidery take three or four weeks 
 for one girl to finish. 
 
 The fine linen and cotton materials are 
 ordered wholesale from Ireland and Calcutta. 
 The patterns are received from a Boston firm 
 and are filed in a pattern cabinet. The designs 
 are drawn in a big book and a record is carefully 
 kept as to what designs go on certain pieces of 
 
 [112] 
 
KULPAHAR 
 
 cloth. A careful record is kept on these pieces 
 of embroidery, the price of the cloth, the stamp- 
 ing, the labor and the laundry, so that when a 
 piece comes out of the shop they are able to 
 accurately estimate the cost of its production. 
 
 After the girls learn this work they are paid 
 for their labor so that they may become self- 
 supporting. The regular allowance for the girls 
 is six rupees per month for food and clothing. 
 Little books are kept for each girl to check up on 
 what she does, and how her account stands, and 
 she can see her record at any time. They take 
 their own money, buy their own grain, grind it, 
 cook it, and they are thus taught the manage- 
 ment and care of their own homes. If they de- 
 sire to buy fish, meat, and extra vegetables in the 
 market, they may do so. 
 
 The Kulpahar embroidery has now become 
 quite famous. They get orders from nearly all 
 parts of India. So much so that they are unable 
 to supply all of the orders. People often write in 
 and send patterns and ask that the pattern be 
 worked upon the cloth. Parcels of their em- 
 broidery work are often shipped upon approval 
 to different parts of India. People who know 
 about the work will write in and request that 
 certain pieces be shipped to them upon approval, 
 but they rarely ever come back because to see 
 these fine pieces of embroidery is almost sure to 
 mean a sale. One order came from a woman 
 near Calcutta, seven hundred miles away. She 
 had heard of the work while visiting at Darjeel- 
 
 [113] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 ing, which is a thousand miles away. Another 
 woman took a parcel of the embroidery work 
 to Australia, and the wife of an English official 
 who had formerly lived in India, wrote back 
 from England ordering some special pieces. 
 They have done work for the wives of the 
 English officials, one order coming from the 
 Major General's wife. 
 
 One day while I was there, the wife of the 
 Internal Revenue Collector came to buy some 
 embroidery. She had bought some for her wed- 
 ding; she had also bought most of her first 
 baby's clothes, and now she wanted some for 
 Christmas presents for her friends. 
 
 All of this embroidery is washed and ironed 
 before it is sold. The ladies have in mind the 
 building of a large wash room for this finer 
 work. They also need a shop for selling it so 
 that it will be separate from their homes, as there 
 are many people who come to inspect and buy. 
 They feel that such a modest building could be 
 partly paid for from the profits. It is proverbial 
 that women can stretch a dollar and make it go 
 farther than anybody else. It is certainly a 
 marvel that these women are able to run such 
 an institution as Kulpahar with the small amount 
 of money appropriated from year to year by the 
 Mission. They seem to multiply every dollar 
 they receive, by their careful management and 
 wise supervision. 
 
 [114] 
 
KULPAHAR 
 
 5 
 
 The medical and dispensary work at Kul- 
 pahar is under the direction of a woman medical 
 missionary, Dr. Osee Dill. She comes from 
 Mahoba once a week, but she or some other 
 should be located there full time. Treatments 
 are given to the women at the institution in the 
 town about two miles away during the rest of 
 the day. Dr. Dill treats all kinds of cases. She 
 took special clinical work at Tulane University, 
 New Orleans, for diseases of the eye. She treats 
 many cases of trachoma and corneal ulcers. 
 One morning as one of the women had her teeth 
 pulled, a dozen other women who were waiting 
 for treatment, crowded around to see the fun. 
 The woman yelled as if she were being murdered. 
 
 One day a woman walked a distance of 
 five miles carrying her fifteen months' old 
 baby on her hip to give it to the home. Her 
 husband was dead, she was very poor and had 
 been compelled to work in the fields and carry 
 water for a living. She belonged to the water 
 carriers' caste. The child was poorly fed, and 
 in giving it over to Miss Clarke, the mother 
 said, "You will get some roti — bread — to eat." 
 She said she was sorry to leave the child, but 
 that "God had spoiled her joy." She did not kiss 
 her baby goodbye, but went off down the dusty 
 road with a heavy heart, and perhaps will never 
 come back to see her baby again. Another 
 woman came bringing a girl. She had found 
 this girl on the road and the girl had asked 
 
 [115] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 the woman to show her the way. She was from 
 a village twelve miles distant and had walked 
 all the way. She didn't know her own age, but 
 was perhaps ten years old. 
 
 Nearly every day something of this kind 
 occurs. One such case seems to the observer to 
 be the composite tragedy of all paganism. 
 
 Every now and then the comedy side shows 
 up. For instance, some long-tongued woman in 
 the Home takes a notion that she can run things 
 better than the missionaries. She becomes 
 unruly. Miss Clarke, in an off-hand way, said 
 that once or twice they had been compelled to 
 put a woman in jail. They locked her up in a 
 little house off by herself for nearly a day, and 
 after that they had no more trouble with her. 
 They hated to do it but it seemed necessary to 
 maintain order, decorum, and authority in the 
 Home. 
 
 6 
 
 The Kulpahar Home is also serving the 
 Mission in another most necessary way. It 
 furnishes Christian wives for many of the 
 Christian young men in most of our Mission 
 Stations. These Christian young men would 
 be unable to get Christian wives, were it not 
 for the institution at Kulpahar. If they married 
 non-Christian wives the influence of the home 
 would be such that they might be lost to the 
 church. The kind of training the girls get at 
 Kulpahar prepares them to be home-makers 
 [116] 
 
KULPAHAR 
 
 and helpers for farmers. The girls who marry 
 Indian farmers are much more efficient and 
 therefore happier if they have had the splendid 
 training of this home. Mr. Grainger reports that 
 while he was in Mungeli, he arranged for the 
 marriage of twenty-five men with girls from 
 Kulpahar, and every one of the girls made good. 
 It is necessary to establish Christian homes in 
 order to make permanent the Christian program 
 in India. 
 
 The women of America who have been main- 
 taining the Industrial Home at Kulpahar have 
 been doing a great humanitarian service. They 
 have brought light where there was darkness. 
 They have changed sorrow into joy. They have 
 helped to change idol worshipers into Christians. 
 They have helped to erect and maintain a Home 
 that has saved and redeemed thousands of 
 women and girls and which has set a higher 
 standard of life to a great multitude of other 
 women who have caught something of the in- 
 spiration and ideals of that wonderful institu- 
 tion. 
 
 Kulpahar, the place of many mountains; a 
 place of beauty; a place of industry; a place of 
 sanctity; a place of religion and redemption; a 
 place where the flower of American civilization, 
 woman, is lending its beauty and its fragrance 
 to the down-trodden women of India, and caus- 
 ing them to walk up the Delectable Mountains 
 into the place of purity and of holiness. 
 
 [117] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 DOES IT PAY? 
 Conference With Two Evangelists at Kulpahar. 
 
 The people are eager to listen and to learn. 
 They buy the gospels and read them and then 
 come back and ask what it all means. From 
 this these evangelists think that the people are 
 anxious to know more about Christianity. The 
 people often say, "If you have any better book 
 than this please sell it to us also." 
 
 These evangelists go into thirteen villages 
 regularly to preach and teach. They start early 
 in the morning and reach the villages just after 
 sunrise. They do their best work at this time 
 of the day because the men have not yet gone to 
 the fields to work. They talk to the people in 
 their homes, they talk to the crowds in the village 
 streets, they sing the gospel songs, read the New 
 Testament, and get the people to understand 
 what Christianity means. In som^ villages they 
 separate and have two services at the same time. 
 
 In their discussions with the people they 
 have to explain who Jesus is, and whose Son he 
 is, and why Christianity is better than other 
 religions. One of the evangelists was formerly 
 a Mohammedan, and the Mohammedans ask him 
 many questions, and they usually end up by say- 
 ing that the Mohammedan religion is the best 
 of all. They say that a good many of the people 
 believe in Christ but are afraid to make a public 
 confession for fear of persecution. Many of the 
 people to whom they go are ignprant. . They 
 
 [118] 
 
KVLPAHAR 
 
 cannot read nor write. And many of the villages 
 where they preach have no public schools of any 
 kind. The mission, of course, is unable to supply 
 teachers for all of the villages. 
 
 In the larger villages the government main- 
 tains schools for boys but none for girls. They 
 say there are only two schools for girls in the 
 Kulpahar tahsil, a district with a population of 
 about one hundred thousand. As they go from 
 village to village, they do not meet much opposi- 
 tion and are rarely ever persecuted. Many people 
 hear them gladly but not all who hear are willing 
 to take their stand openly for Christianity. 
 
 However these evangelists think that Chris- 
 tianity will sometime reign in India. Many of 
 the Hindus often tell them they believe Chris- 
 tianity will conquer all other religions. It is 
 written in the Koran that some day there will 
 be but one religion. And even many of the 
 learned Mohammedans think that some day it 
 will be the Christian religion. 
 
 These evangelists say that in their little 
 homes at night they pray for the Board and for 
 all those connected with it. They also pray for 
 the Christians in America and for the churches 
 here. They also pray that the Kingdom of Christ 
 will come throughout all the land of India. 
 
 SHYAN BHABINI 
 One of the real saints among our workers 
 is Shyan Bhabini, matron of the Home at Kulpa- 
 har. I have seen something of the radiance 
 
 [119] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 in her face and her joy at the work she was 
 doing, and requested that she come to the mis- 
 sion bungalow for an interview. On Saturday 
 afternoon, sitting on the veranda, she told me a 
 wonderful story of devotion and perseverance, 
 such as I have rarely ever heard before. This is 
 her story: 
 
 Her parents were Hindus and all of her re- 
 latives were, and still are the strictest of the 
 Hindus. While her parents were strict Hindus, 
 they sent her to the mission school to learn 
 to knit and sew, for they were of a good family 
 and wanted her to have the best in life. They 
 were of the Bengali tribe. They told her when 
 she went to this mission school, that she must 
 not learn the new religion, that she must forget 
 everything she was told about Christ. 
 
 Her missionary teacher was very kind and 
 she learned to love her. She requested to be 
 taught the stories that the other girls were learn- 
 ing, and little by little she learned about Christ 
 and finally secured a New Testament of her own. 
 At the age of eleven or twelve she decided she 
 wanted to become a Christian and expressed her 
 desire to her parents. They objected, saying she 
 was under age and that she ought not to think 
 of such a thing. 
 
 Upon confiding this to the missionaries she 
 was told that she could believe in Christ in her 
 own home even if her parents did not allow her 
 to publicly accept Him. Finally her mother took 
 her away to a place where there were no mis- 
 
 [120] 
 
KULPAHAR 
 
 sionaries. This brought a great sorrow to 
 her heart but she still believed in Jesus. Her 
 mother got her half married and told her she 
 would be better off when arrangements were 
 completed for her wedding. But her brother 
 found out that the man was no good and drove 
 him away. Finally her mother died and she 
 went to live with her brother. Her brother had 
 been in the University and was well educated. 
 He married a rich man's daughter, who later 
 died and Bhabini took the baby girl and brought 
 her up as if she were her own daughter. 
 
 Prom time to time she talked to her brother 
 about Christianity. He was afraid she would 
 become a Christian and gave her anti-Christian 
 books to read. She said, "One volume was a 
 horrid book by Thomas Paine. How I hated that 
 book." 
 
 After seven years her brother was married 
 again. Bhabini kept on praying that the oppor- 
 tunity might come for her to become a Chris- 
 tian and do Christian work. The brother's wife 
 at one time got very sick. Ten doctors were 
 called in for consultation and they all said that 
 she would die. Bhabini loved her and prayed 
 earnestly for her recovery. She said, "I prayed 
 for her and she lived, and is living now. I 
 learned by praying that Christ is true. He is the 
 only incarnation of God. I hold him tight. And 
 I believe in Him with all my heart, and I told 
 my brother so." 
 
 [121] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 "My brother then did not interfere with me. 
 He said, 'You can believe in Christ and worship 
 Him but don't go outside and become a Chris- 
 tian for if you do you will bring disgrace upon 
 me and your dead father and mother.' 
 
 "As the years passed we went to live in a 
 community where there were missionaries. My 
 brother allowed the missionaries to come into 
 the home to teach his wife and young daughter. 
 I had to help care for the family which kept me 
 in the home and prevented me from publicly 
 becoming a Christian. Year after year I kept 
 thinking I would get all the work done so that 
 I could be free to live my own life. I was the 
 house keeper in the home and looked after the 
 accounts. 
 
 "At last when I was thirty-four years old, 
 when it seemed that I never would get all the 
 work done, I decided to run away with a mis- 
 sionary and become a Christian. Whenever 
 the missionary came to the home, my brother's 
 wife watched me so I never could get to talk 
 privately. I finally, by strategy, got alone with 
 the missionary and told her that I wanted to 
 run away. I fixed up all of my accounts and left 
 a copy for my brother. I left a letter telling 
 them how the accounts were kept and then tell- 
 ing my brother that I could no longer resist 
 going out into the world and publicly becoming 
 a Christian and living my life for Him. 
 
 "One night I slipped out and ran away. I 
 met the missionary, and she took me to Deoghar 
 
 [122] 
 
KULPAHAR 
 
 where I was baptized October 16, 1902. Through 
 these long years I had read and studied so that I 
 was useful at once to the mission. I did zenana 
 work for a while, was a teacher in one of the 
 schools, and later a teacher and worker in an 
 orphanage. 
 
 "Finally I came to Kulpahar where I did 
 zenana work and school work and tried to teach 
 the women in the bazaars the story of Christ. 
 Now I am the matron of the Home here. I guess 
 I am like a mother to the girls, for they all call 
 me 'ma.' I live with them and love them. They 
 tell their troubles to me and I advise them and 
 help them the best I can. Many of the women 
 who come here have been turned out of their 
 homes. They have been treated like slaves. 
 They are very thankful for this home." 
 
 I asked Bhabini if she could see any change 
 come over the women after they come into this 
 Home. "Ah, sir," said she, "the wonderful thing 
 Jesus does here is to help change the middle- 
 aged women. It is not so wonderful to see how 
 Jesus influences the children, but it is marvelous 
 to see the change come over the middle-aged 
 women whose forefathers for generations have 
 been Hindus. Their faith is changed, their char- 
 acter is changed, their whole lives are changed. 
 They learn to read and write. They become new 
 creatures in Christ Jesus. 
 
 "India is becoming Christian. The Hindus 
 are imitating the Christians. All of the new 
 things that are coming in, are they not the fruits 
 
 [123] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 of the Christian religion? India is becoming 
 Christian. I have prayed for it. I believe it, I 
 know it, and some day India will be Christ's." 
 
 After hearing this wonderful story I asked 
 Bhabini to let me take her picture. She refused, 
 saying she had promised her brother that she 
 would never allow the Christians to take her 
 photograph. She said she had kept that promise 
 to her Hindu brother through all the years. When 
 I suggested that I might take her photograph 
 when she was not looking, she gave me such a 
 look that made me understand that should I do 
 so I would be helping her to break the promise 
 she had made to her brother. But I left her with 
 the conviction that the above picture of her 
 heart and soul is of more worth to the Kingdom 
 than would have been the photograph of her 
 outward appearance. 
 
 [124] 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 DAMOH 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 DAMOH 
 
 CHRISTMAS SUNDAY AT DAMOH 
 
 Christmas Sunday at Damon is past but 
 the memory of it will linger for a long time. It 
 was so like and so unlike anything I had ever 
 seen before that I feel many will be interested in 
 it. 
 
 Before 7: 30 I was walking across some fields 
 with Mrs. Ray Rice to a village two miles away 
 where she has conducted a Sunday-school for the 
 last three years. As we entered the edge of the 
 village we met one of the boys going into the 
 fields, and Mrs. Rice asked him if he were not 
 coming to Sunday-school. He had to work and 
 could not come. As we went through the town 
 she called to a boy here and a girl there, and told 
 them to hustle up, it was time to begin. 
 
 Imagine my surprise when we got to the 
 place of the school to find it an open place by the 
 side of a native house under a tree. The little 
 old house was made of mud and plastered on the 
 outside, and whitewashed, so it made a fairly 
 respectable appearance. 
 
 [127] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 One boy had a paper with a song written on 
 it, and I asked him if he could read. He, a 
 second boy, and a man, were the only ones in 
 the entire village that could read or write. The 
 session was a very short one, as the trip was to 
 be made into Damoh where all the schools were 
 congregating at the church for the big Christmas 
 program. 
 
 As we started down the narrow street, a 
 crowd of boys and girls followed us. One little 
 girl about ten, came running to join the crowd, 
 carrying her clothes in her arms. She dressed 
 on the way and no one seemed to pay any atten- 
 tion to her. The count showed thirty-eight from 
 this school on their way to Damoh. When we 
 arrived at the church a strange sight met my 
 eyes. Here came Sunday-schools down every 
 street. Seven outside schools came in. They 
 entered the church in order, and by schools, and 
 were seated on the floor. 
 
 All those boys and girls had on jewelry, 
 even though they had but the scantiest clothing. 
 One little girl had five bracelets on one arm, a 
 gold head star with gold chains running down 
 to her ears, three anklets, four toe rings, and 
 two gold ear-rings. She said she did not put on 
 much as she was coming out in a big crowd. 
 
 2 
 
 When the Superintendent called for order, 
 a quiet hush came over the great crowd. The 
 first song was in Hindi, "Silent Night," sung by 
 
 [128] 
 
DAMOH 
 
 one of the schools. They stood as they sang. 
 Small girls had their baby sisters on their hips. 
 These Indian babies are like little monkeys. They 
 clamp their little legs around the hip and body 
 of an older brother or sister, and hang on. 
 Practically all of these children were barefooted. 
 December here is about like October at home. 
 
 Another school sang a song, "Our Hearts 
 Are Inclined Towards Jesus." Another, "Jesus 
 Christ Saves Our Souls." Then the Taparya 
 school took the house down. It is the "hut" 
 Sunday-school. The people are of the poorest, 
 and they live in grass huts. They are of the 
 coolie class and are looked down upon by their 
 fellows. There were twenty-two of them. One 
 boy had on a little dirty short shirt, and an ank- 
 let. A baby on its sister's hip had on three 
 bracelets only, but it was half-way tucked under 
 its sister's sari. None of them had had their 
 hair combed and their mothers had forgotten to 
 wash their faces also. But that crowd t)f "hut" 
 children stood up and sang in good time and 
 clear voices "Jesus Christ Healed All the Sick." 
 
 There was only one girls' Sunday-school in 
 the whole crowd. They rose with their brightly 
 colored saris draped up over their heads and 
 sang "As the Wise Men Followed the Star." A 
 school that was late came in at this juncture, all 
 the space was taken, so they sat down in the 
 center aisle. 
 
 Then three boys sang a prayer song written 
 by a Hindu. This man comes to Sunday-school, 
 
 [129] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 knows much about Christianity, is a great ad- 
 mirer of Christ, and says he will soon make the 
 confession. The prayer is as follows: 
 
 "Oh God, I pray thee to offer thy soul to me 
 as thy machinery is clean and neat, I pray, O 
 Lord, to make mine also. I am all empty handed, 
 there is nothing whatsoever in me, hence be- 
 stowing thy good soul on me, kindly enable me 
 to do thy good services. At every time and in 
 every deed I commit some mistakes, so kindly 
 forgive our mistakes and faults. The Devil tries 
 its best to betray us, to bring us into the wrong 
 path, hence we pray, O Lord, to keep us separate 
 from it (Devil.) Is it possible for us to get thy 
 soul as some of our prophets who have gone be- 
 fore us have done, we hope thou shalt decide 
 this very soon. We ask all this in thy name. 
 Amen." 
 
 Seven boys recited the story of the birth of 
 Christ from the Scriptures. One chap gave that 
 part where it tells of the shepherds in the fields, 
 "and the glory of the Lord shone round about 
 them and they were sore afraid." But he ended 
 by saying in a loud, clear voice, "God Save the 
 King." The boys closed this part by singing a 
 song, "Don't Ask us From Whence Jesus Came, 
 He was From the Beginning." 
 
 A low caste school then sang "King Jesus 
 Christ Came." These poor people are the lowest 
 of the low. They are a depressed and an op- 
 pressed class. The government makes no pro- 
 vision whatever for their education. They did 
 
 [130] 
 
DAMOH 
 
 not end their song by saying "God Save the 
 King." 
 
 To say that these children were "packed in 
 like sardines" is putting it literally and not 
 figuratively. When the count was made it 
 showed six hundred and forty-one in that church. 
 There are a lot of the curious who were looking 
 through the window, but they were not included 
 in the count. 
 
 And what a motley array these six hundred 
 and forty-one were! No less than twenty differ- 
 ent castes were represented. There were the 
 following: 
 
 Baniya caste — the merchants' caste. 
 Koris caste — the weavers' caste. 
 Darzi caste — the tailors. 
 Barhai caste — the carpenters. 
 Brahmans — the Pharisees of India. 
 Takurs — the farmers. 
 Lodhi caste — other farmers. 
 Kumar — pottery makers. 
 Kacchi — gardeners. 
 Ahir caste — cattle herders. 
 Sonars — gold workers. 
 Chamars — leather workers. 
 Basors — basket makers. 
 
 There were several others, but this will give 
 some idea. And each caste has its rules and 
 regulations. There is perhaps not another place 
 in all India where so many castes could sit down 
 
 [131] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 together, except in the church of Jesus Christ. 
 Some members of these castes would not help 
 others if it were a case of life and death. All 
 India is separated with this miserable caste sys- 
 tem, which is retarding every progressive move 
 that is being made for the good of the country. 
 
 When the program was over the treats were 
 given out at the hospital nearly a block away. 
 Each one got a half-pound package of dates. I 
 stood in line and watched the faces of the kiddies 
 as they discovered that they had something good 
 to eat as a present. None of that crowd had had 
 any breakfast before coming to Sunday-school. 
 Hence the growing boys and girls out here al- 
 ways carry a full grown appetite with them. 
 Most of the people in this section have only two 
 meals a day. 
 
 After the Sunday-school was dismissed, the 
 communion service was held. The native pastor 
 had charge, and four of the native deacons served 
 the audience. It was done as quietly and rever- 
 ently, and in as good order as in any American 
 church. The individual cups were used, and they 
 all partook at the same time, the pastor leading. 
 
 3 
 
 In the afternoon at 4:30 at the Boys' school 
 were held the two Christian Endeavor services. 
 The Junior Society was held in the yard, as the 
 boys prefer sitting in the sun to keep warm. 
 There were one hundred and seventy-one boys 
 in the Junior Society. They were all barefooted. 
 
 [132] 
 
DAMOH 
 
 The leader read the Christmas lesson from Luke, 
 and a little fellow twelve years old led the music. 
 He did a good job of it, too. Most all of the 
 other boys sang from memory. When the time 
 came for sentence prayers, there were two boys 
 on their feet nearly all the time taking part. 
 
 The Senior Society had fifty boys present. 
 Nearly all had songbooks. Their ages were from 
 thirteen to eighteen. I was asked to make a little 
 talk to them, and I told them the Christian En- 
 deavorers in America sent their salaams to those 
 of India. Then one of the boys got up and moved 
 that they send their salaams to the Christian 
 Endeavor Societies in America for the help they 
 had given to the Damoh Orphanage. They sent 
 "bahut salaams," which means "big salaams." 
 The boy who made this motion is one of the best 
 in the school. In the famine days years ago, his 
 mother walked here from Harda, a distance of 
 about three hundred miles, and carried him on 
 her head and hip. It took her three weeks to 
 make the trip. The boy was saved, and is now 
 a reliable Christian and one of the best in the 
 carpenter shop. Nearly every boy here has an 
 interesting history. 
 
 It was a busy day, Christmas Sunday, De- 
 cember 21, 1919. But my faith was strengthened 
 as to the value of missionary work as never be- 
 fore. 
 
 [133] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 SCENARIO FOR A MOVING PICTURE, 
 
 ENTITLED 
 
 "ALL IN THE DAY'S WORK AT THE 
 
 DAMOH BOYS' SCHOOL" 
 
 Bugle — rising bell 5:45 A. M. Boys swarm 
 out of their dormitories buzzing like bumblebees. 
 Washing of faces. Brushing of teeth. Blankets 
 folded. Rooms cleaned. Ready for inspection 
 by 6:30. 
 
 Morning prayers. One hundred and sixty- 
 eight boys present. "Blessed Assurance." 1 
 Timothy. Prayer. Setting up exercises by all 
 boys, led by Ray Rice. 
 
 3 
 
 7:00 o'clock. Time for work. Ninety boys 
 in English course, study an hour and a quarter. 
 Apprentice boys begin work in shop. Other boys 
 march out to the farm. Tailor shop begins work. 
 Twelve to fifteen tailors make and repair cloth- 
 ing for the boys. 
 
 9:45. Breakfast. Three cooks prepare the 
 meal. Two hundred and twenty boys seated in 
 long rows on the ground. Rice passed around 
 in big baskets. Boys eat like hungry wolves. 
 
 [134] 
 
DAMOH 
 
 New Sahib questions Alfred the house father 
 and finds the monthly accounts for food. Over 
 a ton of rice; one-half ton of wheat; nine bushels 
 of dal; one hundred pounds of salt; one half 
 bushel of red peppers; peck of garlic; peck of 
 onions; coriander in the bulk for seasoning; 
 forty- four pounds of sugar; eighteen pounds of 
 sago; sixty pounds of sweet oil instead of lard. 
 All this cooked in big brass kettles over four fire 
 places. Wood for cooking for the year is rupees 
 350. Breakfast over. Every boy washes his own 
 plate. 
 
 5 
 10:30 to 4:30. Everybody goes to school. 
 Five primary grades; four grades of middle 
 school, government standard. Ten teachers. 
 Several classes seated on the grass in the sun. 
 Head master wears a Prince Albert coat buttoned 
 in the middle from the top to bottom. Three 
 water carriers, busy all day filling up the big 
 tanks for the boys. Inspection of classes by Mr. 
 Rice, head master, and new Sahib. Teachers 
 proud of the record of their classes. Class drill 
 period for exercise and recreation. Drill pre- 
 scribed by government. 
 
 Athletics and play. Basket ball, base ball, 
 foot ball, races, broad jump, high jump, hockey 
 game. New Sahib makes a home run but is 
 penalized for "sticks," — lifting hockey club above 
 his shoulders. 
 
 [135] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 Evening eats. Breakfast menu repeated 
 with variations. Boys all ask for a second plate 
 of curry and rice. Happy and cheerful and more 
 highly conversational in devouring the second 
 course than the first. Inspection by the house 
 father to see that the cooking vessels are kept 
 clean, and sanitary conditions observed. Kitchen, 
 building and grounds kept in as good order as a 
 military camp. Dish washing. Morning program 
 repeated. Taps. Boys "hit the hay" each wrap- 
 ped in his own two blankets and one rug which 
 are checked against him. "The sawing of wood" 
 soon begins. Curtain. 
 
 8 
 
 The leading spirit and generalissimo be- 
 hind the scenes is Ray E. Rice. He was a lover 
 and leader of boys before he went to India. He 
 has two fine boys of his own. He loves those 
 Indian boys and is doing everything possible to 
 develop them in every way. His work is begin- 
 ning to reach out beyond the borders of Damon. 
 He has been appointed by the president of the 
 School Boys' League of Honor as Deputy League 
 Commissioner. This School Boys' League of 
 Honor is a stepping stone in India to the Boy 
 Scout Movement. It is organized and supported 
 by the educational department of the govern- 
 ment. Mr. Rice's work, as far as his time will 
 permit, is to establish League troops in different 
 schools. 
 
 [136] 
 
DAMOH 
 
 There are one hundred and six schools in 
 the district. Mr. Rice's appointment being 
 official, he can go into these schools and call 
 meetings of the teachers and the boys and 
 organize them. These organizations are a new 
 thing under the sun in the Damoh district, but 
 the teachers and the boys have co-operated 
 splendidly. These Leagues have their rules, 
 their regular meetings, hold contests, etc. Under 
 Mr. Rice's supervision, three annual track and 
 field meets have been held. The Damoh school 
 has carried off the honors in two of these meets. 
 It is not an unusual thing to see Mr. Rice jump 
 on his bicycle, ride fifteen to twenty miles, 
 organize a new League of Honor, and come rid- 
 ing back at night with a black buck tied on the 
 horns of his bicycle. 
 
 Thus a new light is coming into the lives of 
 the boys of the Damoh district. A new idea of 
 co-operation and team work is being implanted 
 in their early years, and this is being done by 
 a man who loves and believes in boys, who has 
 the boy spirit himself, who will undoubtedly be 
 a boy at eighty, and who is willing to spend his 
 years from now until then, in the training and 
 the development of his boy friends in India. 
 
 A GOSPEL FARM 
 
 1 
 
 Is the running of a farm spiritual or secular? 
 
 Must the missionary "preach the gospel" and do 
 
 nothing else in carrying out all of the implica- 
 
 [137] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 tions of the Great Commission? Was Paul still 
 the apostle when he was a tent maker? Some 
 one has coined the phrase "the gospel of dirt." 
 Most certainly the Damon farm is a gospel farm, 
 and the "pure" gospel at that. 
 
 There are four hundred acres in this farm. 
 Seventy acres are under cultivation. The rest 
 is for hay and grazing land and "scrub jungle." 
 C. E. Benlehr is the farmer-missionary in charge. 
 There are two talaus — artificial lakes for irriga- 
 tion purposes. 
 
 Mr. Benlehr is seeing to it that not only two 
 blades of grass grow where only one grew before, 
 but that three bushels of wheat grow where only 
 one grew before, and that fine orange trees grow 
 where none grew before. In other words he is 
 making of that farm an example of what the 
 people may do on their own little farms if they 
 will only try. And for the asking they may have 
 all the help and advice and experience at Mr. 
 Benlehr's command. 
 
 The main crops on the farm are rice, wheat, 
 peanuts, sweet oil seed, and hay. In the orchard 
 are grown oranges, limes, papaiyas, pears, 
 plums, guavas, mulberries and mangoes. There 
 are sixty fine orange trees, all budded. The 
 orchard is a commercial asset to the farm. The 
 fruit is sold to the fruit dealers and the profits 
 assist in the development of the farm. 
 
 The garden produces tomatoes, cabbage, 
 cauliflower, egg plant, turnips, onions, carrots, 
 radishes, peas, beans, and lettuce. 
 
 [138] 
 
a 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 -a 
 
 G 
 O 
 en 
 
 « 
 
DAMOH 
 
 The Damoh farm has government recogni- 
 tion as a seed farm for the district, and a recog- 
 nition certificate has been granted. The seed 
 has the same status as the seed grown on the 
 government seed farms. That means that it 
 has been developed until it is pure seed. Most 
 of the grain, therefore, is sold as seed grain 
 which brings a higher price. But the people 
 thus get better seed and are able to produce 
 more in their own fields. 
 
 The rice fields are well kept and irrigated 
 from one of the lakes. When the crop was 
 ready for harvest the government sent a man to 
 measure up and test the fields officially for the 
 yield per acre. It was found that the Damoh 
 rice yielded three times the average for the dis- 
 trict. This rice has been developed and selected 
 for ten years, until it is of first class quality. 
 People often come to the government officials 
 and want to buy the kind of seed rice which is 
 raised on the farm. 
 
 On account of this fine record in the raising 
 of rice and wheat and other kinds of grain, the 
 government has given the Damoh farm a medal 
 as a token of recognition of one which has 
 helped to improve the agriculture of the dis- 
 trict. The government puts out but very little 
 literature about better farming because most of 
 the people cannot read. It is necessary for the 
 people really to see, to understand the possibili- 
 ties of better farming. 
 
 [139] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 There is a fine herd of cattle on the farm. 
 These cattle are of a better breed than the 
 average Indian cattle. From this herd milk 
 is furnished for the boys at the boarding school 
 which is located upon the farm. Good, strong 
 work oxen are also secured from this herd. After 
 one has seen the tens of thousands of little scrub 
 Indian cattle, he can realize what a wise thing 
 it is for the manager of the Damoh farm to 
 demonstrate the possibilities of better breeding. 
 
 There is another fine thing about this gospel 
 farm. It is an experiment farm for the boys in 
 the boarding school. Every morning a large 
 number of the boys march out to the farm, 
 two by two, for their two hours' daily work. They 
 learn how to plow deeper and better than their 
 fathers plowed. They help hoe the gardens, they 
 hoe and dig the peanuts, they fix the fences, they 
 learn the proper system of irrigation, they are 
 taught how to select the best seeds. They are 
 taught how to prune and care for the orchards. 
 In short they are taught how to become success- 
 ful farmers, and gardeners, and fruit growers. 
 
 In addition to the work of the boys, Mr. 
 Benlehr now has the policy of share farming. 
 That is, about thirty farmers are allowed to rent 
 certain portions of land on the shares. Some of 
 these are Christians and some non-Christians. 
 These farmers are assisted and advised in the 
 cultivation of their crops so that they become ac- 
 
 [140] 
 
DAMOH 
 
 quainted with the best methods of farming. 
 More than one farmer has not only learned a 
 better method of farming, but also a better re- 
 ligion. Some of the men sign up for the land by 
 putting their thumb prints on the contract. In 
 addition to these farmers many of the village 
 people are employed from time to time in help- 
 ing to repair the lake, build the ridges for the 
 rice fields, clear the jungle land, etc. Thus a 
 large number of people, in one way and another, 
 come in contact every year with the farm and 
 its splendid influence. 
 
 3 
 
 Besides the work on the farm, there is also 
 a work shop, including both blacksmithing and 
 carpentering. This gives practical help and a 
 definite training for life to many of the boys at 
 the school. There are two Indian teachers, both 
 reared and trained at the orphanage, for the 
 work in the shop. Ten boys are taking full time 
 instruction in their apprenticeship, and twenty- 
 six other boys are taking part time instruction 
 along with their regular school work. The boys 
 who finish these courses are well trained and 
 can get good jobs and good pay anywhere they 
 go. 
 
 In this workshop they make chairs, tables, 
 doors, windows, building timber, benches, desks, 
 book shelves, furniture. I saw furniture out 
 of the Damoh shops in every one of our thirteen 
 stations. Orders come now from many parts of 
 
 [141] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 India. Government officials and rich Indian 
 gentlemen have ordered furniture from as far 
 away as Calcutta. After the boys have received 
 their training they of course share in the profits 
 of the shop. 
 
 Three of the boys from the Damoh farm 
 and shops were in Palestine during the war. 
 They helped to build the railway from the Suez 
 Canal to Jerusalem. Several of them also 
 served in Mesopotamia. They told wonderful 
 tales of the war and Jerusalem, about the Tigris 
 and Euphrates and the great out-side world, 
 when they returned after their great adventure. 
 They were looked upon with more wonder and 
 awe than was Columbus after he had discovered 
 America. 
 
 No wonder Mr. Benlehr believes in the re- 
 ligion of the hammer and the plow. No wonder 
 he takes delight in preaching the gospel of work, 
 which is surely the gospel of Christ. No wonder 
 he is jealous for the good name and influence of 
 the gospel farm. He is also jealous for the crops. 
 When the fruit is ripening, guards are placed in 
 the orchard at night to frighten away the flying 
 foxes, and if a wild boar dares to put his nose 
 in the peanut patch on one night, Mr. Benlehr 
 will lay for him the next night and put a bullet 
 through his heart. 
 
 4 
 
 The chief output of the farm of course is 
 boys and men. Men who can go out into life 
 . [142] 
 
DAMOH 
 
 upon their own resources and make it go; men 
 who have learned the principles of farming, but 
 who have also learned the principles of Chris- 
 tian living. More than one Christian home, in 
 our different Mission stations, has been estab- 
 lished by the men who have received their train- 
 ing at Damoh. Homes that are self-supporting; 
 homes from which come some of the officers of 
 our Indian churches; homes that are regular 
 contributors of life and money to the support of 
 these churches; homes that are the backbone 
 and the mainstay of the whole Christian pro- 
 gram of India. Surely a farm with such an out- 
 put may properly be called a gospel farm. 
 
 A DAY WITH THE HUSTLING DR. MARY 
 
 That portion of the human race, the con- 
 ceited males, who are carrying around the idea 
 that they only are able to do the big jobs in the 
 world's work, need only to take a trip to the 
 mission fields to have that conceit taken out of 
 them. Just to follow Dr. Mary McGavran around 
 for one day and see and try to comprehend all 
 the work that she is doing was a full day's work 
 for me. 
 
 At 7:30 in the morning she was having 
 morning prayers at her hospital with the three 
 nurses and the watchman. The meeting was 
 held in the drug room by the oil stove. They 
 read in turn from the Book of Matthew for the 
 
 [143] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 Scripture lesson. They had just finished Mark, 
 Luke and Galatians. The head nurse led in the 
 morning prayer. 
 
 For a half hour immediately following 
 prayers the Doctor teaches a course in mid- 
 wifery. A simple book of fourteen chapters is 
 being used and the two nurses have just com- 
 pleted the course and are ready for their ex- 
 aminations. These nurses will take the govern- 
 ment examinations given by the civil surgeon. 
 Dr. McGavran says that the nurses learn this 
 course much easier after they have had two or 
 three babies of their own. 
 
 The Doctor also finds time to give a course 
 in first aid to the government school teachers. 
 In this way she is able to multiply her work 
 through the instrumentality and influence of 
 these teachers. 
 
 The records of the hospital were carefully 
 kept in a large book so that it was easy to dis- 
 cover the amount of work being done and the 
 treatments given from month to month. The 
 records showed the following number of treat- 
 ments for the months prior to my visit: 
 
 January 641 June 775 
 
 February 1021 July 1737 
 
 March 1115 August 2618 
 
 April 2310 September ....2797 
 
 May 1553 October 2530 
 
 October 1 to October 15 showed an average 
 of one hundred and thirty treatments per day. 
 [144] 
 
c 
 
 1> 
 
 E 
 
 o 
 
 no 
 
 u 
 
 T3 
 C 
 
 c 
 
 03 
 > 
 
 o 
 
DAMOH 
 
 About four-fifths of the people who come are 
 women and children. 
 
 The Doctor has an eye to business. All the 
 patients who are able are required to pay a fee. 
 That helps to maintain the expenses of the 
 hospital and the patients who pay listen to the 
 gospel teaching better. She buys small bottles 
 in large quantities, in which they may carry their 
 medicines away, and sells them to the patients 
 for two or three pice each. She has a fine well- 
 stocked drug room, but she makes no prescrip- 
 tions to diminish the stock unless it is necessary. 
 
 A moving picture of the crowd that files 
 into this hospital dispensary, from day to day, 
 would be worth going miles to see. An active 
 imagination might be able to conjure up a part 
 of the scene. When the door was open ready 
 for business there was a considerable crowd in 
 the yard, but they were compelled to come in in 
 an orderly way. 
 
 Man with sore eyes; boy with a bottle for 
 medicine; little girl with sore eyes; Moham- 
 medan boy wants medicine for his sick mother, 
 and describes the mother's sickness. Tall man, 
 with whiskers, white turban, his wife has chills, 
 he shook himself to show the doctor how she 
 chilled; said she had fire in the stomach. Man 
 whose wife had presented him with a baby boy 
 ten years ago. Could the Miss Sahib give him 
 
 [145] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 some medicine so his wife could have another 
 child and how much would she charge? 
 
 Teacher of history and geography in govern- 
 ment middle school. I asked him: "Since you 
 work for the government, why don't you go to the 
 government dispensary?" "Sahib, it's no use. 
 Here we get good care. The medicines are use- 
 ful. There they give a bottle full of medicine 
 and it is nearly all water. Here we get a little 
 medicine but it has big healing quality. The 
 Hindu Doctor don't ask us much. Miss Sahib 
 asks what is going on at our homes and she 
 knows our needs." 
 
 Boy about seventeen, after more medicine 
 for his little brother. It has been necessary to 
 give him bitter medicine. The Doctor asked if 
 the boy had kept it down. He said, "Yes, he 
 had told his brother that Miss Sahib would cut 
 off his ears if he threw it up!" 
 
 Women with 100 rupees worth of jewely 
 had traveled fifteen miles in an oxcart, accom- 
 panied by four male relatives and a son; four- 
 teen bracelets on her arms. 
 
 Blind girl — could not the Doctor do some- 
 thing to make her see? Woman with a baby on 
 her hip. The mother had on a silver belt cost- 
 ing forty-five rupees. Dog fight in the yard, 
 participated in by five stray Indian dogs. 
 
 A purdah tonga drives up, enclosing two 
 purdah women, curtains down on all four sides. 
 Women, with thick veils over their faces enter 
 purdah rooms at the hospital. Doctor enters 
 
 [146] 
 
DAMOH 
 
 room to give treatment; I stay out, but get photo- 
 graph as they are ready to leave. 
 
 Old man — has had hiccoughs for ten days. 
 Doctor plans to scare it out of him. Man from a 
 village accompanied by his three wives. Wives 
 very shy. Oxcart drives up from a village fif- 
 teen miles away. Three or four other oxcarts 
 from villages near and far. Another woman 
 accompanied by men, needs operation. Men re- 
 fuse to have operation performed. Lead woman 
 away, who will probably die within a month. 
 Nurse comes in from drug room to inquire about 
 certain medicine. Doctor gives order quickly. 
 Boy with something wrong with his ear. Ex- 
 amination out in the sun where there is plenty 
 of light. Two women patients grinding wheat 
 between two stones in one of the wards, staying 
 for several weeks, do their own cooking. Pro- 
 cession finished, prescriptions all written. Teach- 
 ing service out in the yard. 
 
 Talk on the prodigal son by the head nurse, 
 using large picture to illustrate. Story adapted 
 to India. Malgazar had two sons. Prodigal 
 went away because his father would have been 
 ashamed to have him act that way in his house. 
 Story of feeding the swine. Mohammedan 
 woman in the audience turned up her nose. 
 Didn't tell of killing the fatted calf. Said they 
 made a big feast. Boy returned, father bade 
 him salaam. Everybody was happy. Songs by 
 the nurses and some of the audience. Prescrip- 
 tions filled and people scatter to their little 
 
 [147] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 homes. Doctor gets on her horse and rides home 
 to breakfast at 11: 30 A. M. 
 
 Totals for the morning as follows: 
 
 Christians 27 
 
 Mohammedans 23 
 
 Hindus 35 
 
 Total 85 
 
 Women and children 64 
 
 New cases 16 
 
 Number of villages represented 10 
 
 Farthest distance traveled by patients — fifty 
 miles from two directions, both ways one hun- 
 dred miles. 
 
 In addition to the work at the hospital the 
 Doctor looks after the health of the more than 
 two hundred boys at the boarding school and 
 orphanage. She has a compounder under her 
 instruction. Thereis also a trained compounder 
 who looks after the drug room at the boarding 
 school and carries out the Doctor's instruction 
 in the care of the boys. Besides this regular 
 trips are made on horse back, or bicycle, or ox- 
 cart, to some outside villages. On these trips 
 she is accompanied by a nurse and a Bible 
 woman. In this way thousands of people are 
 reached every year who would not travel to 
 Damoh. 
 
 [148] 
 
DAMOH 
 
 A great and effectual door is being opened 
 by the work and influence of such women as 
 Doctor Mary McGavran. She loves the Stars 
 and Stripes but she works under the Union Jack 
 which floats over India. But the flag she loves 
 the best is the Christian Conquest flag, which 
 she thinks is sometime to have the supremacy, 
 not only over the peoples of India, but over the 
 peoples of the entire world. 
 
 THE PIONEERESS OF DAMOH 
 
 At the present time Miss Josepha Franklin's 
 work is of a three-fold character. She has charge 
 of the women's evangelistic work in and around 
 Damoh, the management of the girls' school, and 
 the oversight of the work among Christian 
 women. 
 
 1 
 
 In the woman's evangelistic work Miss 
 Franklin was assisted by five Bible women. Four 
 of these were orphan girls rescued during the 
 great famine. One was rescued by Miss Franklin 
 herself and sent to Deoghar to be educated. Miss 
 Franklin and these Bible women visit eighty- 
 three different homes each week. These are in 
 six mahallahs, or caste sections of the town. 
 Work is also started in fourteen villages around 
 Damoh. Of the eighty-three homes regularly 
 visited, nine are strictly purdah. These purdah 
 women never see any men but their own hus- 
 bands and relatives and are never permitted to 
 
 [1491 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 go out except when thickly veiled and behind 
 curtains. In these eighty-three homes two hun- 
 dred and thirty-two girls and women are taught 
 the Bible and Christian hymns weekly, 
 
 Most of the women, to begin with, are illit- 
 erate, but they are taught to read through the 
 second reader. After that they are given Luke's 
 Gospel as their reading book. Miss Franklin is 
 having a year's course of lessons from the Book 
 of Luke taught in these homes. £)nce a week 
 she meets with her Bible women and goes over 
 the courses with them so that the lessons are 
 thoroughly taught. Open air meetings are also 
 held in the mahallahs, where men as well as 
 women congregate to hear the Bible stories. 
 Often after hearing one of these Bible stories 
 the people will discuss it and make the applica- 
 tion themselves. Once after hearing the story 
 of the ten talents one man said, "The third agent 
 was afraid to invest his master's money in busi- 
 ness for fear he would fail and be blamed for 
 poor business methods." An old woman told 
 her son that he was just like the man who buried 
 his talent, "because," said she, "you are too 
 cowardly to risk anything and too lazy to work." 
 
 The work in the villages is like that in the 
 town, both house to house and open air teaching. 
 On bazaar days — market days — in certain towns 
 they co-operate with Dr. McGavran in dispens- 
 ing medicines and gospel teaching. The people 
 always come for medicine when the doctor is 
 there, but when the doctor cannot come and the 
 
 [150] 
 
DAMOH 
 
 people know that Miss Franklin and her women 
 are present, they ask that they be "taught wis- 
 dom." They sing hymns, teach the people to 
 sing, teach the Bible stories, and in this way 
 large groups of people from near and far hear 
 the word of God. 
 
 The girls' school was opened in 1900 by Miss 
 Franklin for non-Christian girls. At the pres- 
 ent time, however, both Christian girls and non- 
 Christian girls are in attendance. The school is 
 now held in the church, but plans are under way 
 for erecting a school building on the lot adjoin- 
 ing the church. There are sixty high caste girls 
 enrolled in the school. The oldest of the girls 
 are from ten to twelve, and many of them are 
 either married or arrangements already made 
 for their marriage. The teachers are all Chris- 
 tians, having also been rescued in the early 
 famine days. About twenty of the girls are 
 Christians or daughters of Christians. 
 
 The Hindu girls are daughters of merchants, 
 land owners, and government officials. Many of 
 them wear fine jewelry and their personal serv- 
 ants escort them to school, stay during school 
 hours, and then escort them home again. The 
 school is run according to government standards 
 and receives a small grant from the govern- 
 ment. However, the Bible is taught every day. 
 The girls from the second class up read the Bible 
 regularly. A weekly conference of the teachers 
 
 [161] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 is held and the best methods of teaching are dis- 
 cussed and used. The school has also a first aid 
 and hygiene class taught by Doctor McGavran. 
 
 3 
 
 Someone has said that permanent progress 
 in any nation or any race can be measured by 
 the development of their women. Every mission 
 fully understands this point. Therefore, the 
 plans everywhere are for the constant instruc- 
 tion and direction of the women after they be- 
 come Christians. Miss Franklin has a pre- 
 scribed course of study for the women co- 
 workers, teachers, Bible women, nurses, etc. 
 These are in five different classes, with special 
 subjects to stimulate and enlarge the vision of 
 these workers. 
 
 There are about fifty Christian families in 
 Damoh and the women of these families are 
 organized into a Christian Woman's Society. 
 The main work of this Society is to train the 
 Christian women for all kinds of work. They 
 are given instruction about the care of their 
 children, sanitation in the home, how to interest 
 their neighbors in Christianity, and how to in- 
 struct and hold their children for the church. 
 They have a Sunday-school committee, an 
 educational committee, and a social and sick 
 committee. They make regular reports about 
 the progress of the work which they are doing. 
 
 Miss Franklin has been twenty-two years 
 in Damoh and a total of twenty-seven years in 
 
 [152] 
 
DAMOH 
 
 India. She has taught for four years in the 
 Bible College at Jubbulpore. She has passed 
 through the two great famines of 1896 and 1900. 
 She helped start the work in Damoh before the 
 railway was there. No mission work had ever 
 been done there before. She has seen from 
 the beginning the growth of the orphanage 
 and boarding school, the development of the 
 farm, the erection and growth of the hospital 
 work, the ever-widening influence of the evan- 
 gelistic and the school work, and yet she is of 
 the firm conviction that if all the work is to be- 
 come permanent and lasting, the women and 
 girls must keep pace with the boys and men. To 
 the accomplishment of this task she has com- 
 mitted her life. And the testimony of the suc- 
 cess of her work is visible on every hand. 
 
 U53] 
 

CHAPTER VIII 
 
 HATTA 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 HATTA 
 
 A BUNGALOW AND AN OPPORTUNITY 
 
 Hatta, twenty-four miles north of Damon, 
 off the railroad, consists of not much more than 
 a bungalow and an opportunity. Our mission 
 policy there has been of the skip-stop variety. 
 We have been in and out of Hatta a half dozen 
 different times. Whenever there was lack of 
 missionaries at other stations the man was pulled 
 out of Hatta and sent elsewhere. When rein- 
 forcements came Hatta would be temporarily 
 reopened. This policy has been going on for 
 sixteen years, and nobody in particular is to 
 blame, because there were not sufficient workers 
 to man all the stations. 
 
 The result at Hatta can be easily foretold. 
 There is a bungalow at Hatta as good as any we 
 have in India; well located, in a fine yard of 
 three or four acres. There is a school house in 
 Hatta, but no school. There is a small house 
 owned by the mission, across the road from the 
 school house and renting for eight annas a 
 month. There is no organized church at Hatta. 
 There is no Sunday-school. Practically the only 
 
 [157] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 Christians are the employed workers, the evan- 
 gelists and their families, and the cook's family. 
 When the missionary is removed, all the Chris- 
 tians go with him. 
 
 David Rioch was located at Hatta at the 
 time of my visit. He had four evangelists as his 
 assistants and they were preaching regularly 
 in Hatta and many of the villages round about. 
 On their evangelistic tours they go into certain 
 centers and remain about two weeks and preach 
 to all the nearby villages. Then they move 
 camp and repeat the process, thus covering a 
 wide area with the evangelistic message. But 
 since my visit Mr. Rioch has been transferred 
 to Mungeli. The bungalow stands empty, the 
 school house is closed, the Christians are re- 
 moved and all that remains is the opportunity 
 and a challenge. 
 
 What is the definite opportunity and chal- 
 lenge? Hatta has a population of four thousand 
 five hundred. The Hatta Tahsil, or district, has 
 in it four hundred and thirty-six villages, with 
 a total population of one hundred and twenty- 
 two thousand one hundred and forty-nine. There 
 are one hundred and twenty people to the 
 square mile; there are at least ten main castes, 
 Brahmans, Ahirs, Chamars, Gonds, Kurmis, 
 Kacchis, etc. This whole district is now without 
 a missionary. Mrs. Rioch, who is a physician, 
 and who gave medical assistance to the people, 
 Is of course at Mungeli with her husband. There 
 
 [158] 
 
HATTA 
 
 is no mission of any other communion in the 
 district. 
 
 Here is a great unoccupied field, for the 
 present at least, entirely neglected. The people 
 are there, the opportunity is there, the chal- 
 lenge is there, and the obligation is unmistakably 
 there. For we have already put our hands to 
 the plow. The future will reveal what we shall 
 do both with the bungalow and the opportunity. 
 
 [159] 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 BINA 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 BINA 
 
 IN THE SHADOW OF THE GREAT STUPA 
 
 Not far from Bina is located the ruins of the 
 Great Stupa, or Tope. These ancient ruins are 
 some of the last remains of Buddhism. They 
 now form one of the most picturesque as well as 
 one of the most interesting monuments of India. 
 The dome which is forty-two feet high and one 
 hundred and six feet in diameter, rises from a 
 plinth of fourteen feet. The Tope was crowned 
 by an altar or pedestal surrounded by a rail, and 
 must once have been nearly one hundred feet 
 high. Not far from the Great Stupa are other 
 Stupas of like design. In one of these Stupas 
 was found relics of the two famous disciples of 
 Buddha. There are also the ruins of a Buddhist 
 temple here, said to be the oldest structural 
 temple in existence. 
 
 Here also are the remains of several courts, 
 surrounded by monastic cells. On the eastern 
 side of what was evidently the principal court is 
 a lofty shrine containing an image of Buddha, 
 seated in that familiar attitude, beneath the 
 Bodhi tree, when touching the earth with his 
 
 [163] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 right hand, he called on her to bear witness for 
 him against Mara, the evil one. Nine out of ten 
 visitors imagine that this shrine is not Buddhist 
 at all but Hindu, for its style is precisely that of 
 a Hindu temple. Were it not for the statue of 
 Buddha and some of the images in the niches 
 around its outer walls, there would be nothing to 
 indicate its Buddhist character. This indicates 
 that Buddhism had come deeply under the in- 
 fluence of Hinduism, even in the matter of its 
 architecture. 
 
 The fact that Buddhism seems to have lost 
 out completely in the conflict with Hinduism, 
 does not discourage our Christian forces at Bina. 
 The great conflict is on there and from all indi- 
 cations Christianity is making headway while 
 Hinduism seems to be on the decline. Seven live, 
 energetic Sunday-schools are doing business in 
 different sections of Bina. The Sunday-school 
 for the sweepers had an attendance of sixteen. 
 The girls' Sunday-school had an attendance of 
 twenty-five. The upper primary had thirty; the 
 Anglo-Vernacular, twenty-five. The Christian 
 Sunday-school at the church had forty- two, 
 another had thirty-eight; and the "poor Sunday- 
 school" had but five. At this school grain is dis- 
 tributed to the needy people. 
 
 There is a church service in the morning in 
 English, attended by a few of the English-speak- 
 ing people of the town. There is a Hindi service 
 
 [164] 
 
BINA 
 
 and communion in the afternoon. T. N. Hill 
 directs this aggressive program of enlargement. 
 He has three or four evangelists as his assist- 
 ants, who work in the town and outside of the 
 town as well. At certain seasons of the year 
 they go on evangelistic camping tours. On 
 these tours they pitch their tents almost under 
 the shadow of the Great Stupa. From a central 
 village they cover an area, in a circle of four or 
 five miles, reaching ten or twelve villages with 
 the message. They usually speak in from four 
 to six villages a day. In a twenty days' camping 
 trip they would reach from fifty to eighty vill- 
 ages. On such a tour they spoke personally to 
 some nine hundred men and six hundred women. 
 This was the only preaching done in these 
 villages for a whole year. 
 
 In a poor section of the city Mr. Hill and his 
 helpers held a service for the members of the 
 basor caste. They work in bamboo, making 
 baskets and other articles for sale. They are 
 low caste and their children are not allowed to 
 go to school with the others. Fifteen people 
 gathered under a tree for the service. One old 
 woman sat by a fire to keep warm in the early 
 morning. Several goats and dogs were also in 
 attendance. They gave good attention to the 
 singing, but the sermon was beyond their com- 
 prehension. A number of these people were at 
 the point where they were about ready to break 
 caste and accept Christianity. 
 
 [165] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 Another service was held for the butchers. 
 They are but little above the chamars' caste. 
 This service was also held under a tree with but 
 ten people present. They listened eagerly to 
 everything that was said. They did not under- 
 stand fully that the New Testament was better 
 than any other book. No books were bought 
 that morning as most, if not all of those present 
 were unable to read. 
 
 However these people, as well as the 
 sweepers, and those in the villages, gladly hear 
 the message. They have a natural interest in 
 any white man who comes along. They show 
 him courtesy and reverence. They also have a 
 keen interest in the babu, an educated Indian, 
 whom they think has absorbed the wisdom 
 and learning of the white man. Hence when 
 the babu speaks they give him careful attention. 
 So, little by little, the message is getting into 
 their minds and hearts, and Mr. "Tom" Hill feels 
 that in their intensive, constructive program for 
 the next ten years, great progress will be made 
 at Bina. 
 
 Mr. Elsam seemed to be kept busy in keep- 
 ing the school and the dispensary running 
 smoothly. He had just started a school for the 
 sweepers and had about twenty-five on the roll. 
 These bright-eyed boys and girls, although the 
 poorest of the poor, seemed as intelligent and as 
 quick to learn as the children of the high caste 
 
 [166] 
 
BINA 
 
 Brahmans. Yet the government makes no pro- 
 vision whatever for the education of these child- 
 ren. Many of the people would object to it if 
 they did. 
 
 The girls* upper primary school had thirty- 
 eight enrolled. Three teachers were employed, 
 and they seemed to be doing good work. They 
 are strong in mental arithmetic. The Indian 
 schools teach the multiplication table up to the 
 25's. These girls knew everything up to the 16's. 
 
 The Anglo- Vernacular, that is, the Hindi- 
 English middle school, had twenty-one in the 
 classes. It is held in a rented building and the 
 three teachers were busy with their pupils. 
 
 The boys' upper primary school was held in 
 the church. This school is held from 10:00 
 o'clock to 4:00. The enrollment is eighty-nine 
 and most of these boys come from the high caste 
 and Mohammedan homes. In all of these 
 schools, as in the other stations, the Bible is 
 systematically taught. 
 
 It is only fair to give the church at home a 
 glimpse of the shadow as well as the sunshine. 
 Just a short time before my arrival in India, a 
 young chap, who claimed to have been a teacher, 
 drifted in from another mission. The need for 
 qualified teachers is very great in all mission 
 stations, and this fellow was given temporary 
 employment. He looked like a desperado and 
 his main qualification seemed to be that he could 
 carry a tune a little better than some of the rest 
 of the teachers, who couldn't sing at all. His 
 
 [167] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 influence in the school was bad from the begin- 
 ning. There was indignation in the camp one 
 morning when it was found that this fellow had 
 persuaded one of the other teachers who was 
 lukewarm in his Christian life to accompany 
 him to a dance in one of the neighboring villages. 
 This new chap had dressed up like an Indian 
 dancing girl, but it was not reported whether he 
 excelled in the bunny-hug, the turkey trot, or the 
 shimmy. However he had quite successfully 
 disgraced both himself and the mission. When 
 brought to task about the matter, they had as 
 their alibi that they were thus trying to get on 
 good terms with the village people and win them 
 to Christianity. But the alibi didn't work, and 
 these fellows got their walking papers before 
 breakfast. 
 
 3 
 
 Mr. Elsam was also responsible for the con- 
 duct of the small hospital and dispensary. A Dr. 
 Babu — sub-assistant surgeon, is in active charge. 
 After receiving his training he took the govern- 
 ment examination and has had considerable ex- 
 perience. He is a tall fellow, with thick black 
 whiskers and very much interested in his work. 
 He is assisted by the compounder and a nurse 
 who is the wife of the compounder. 
 
 The buildings are located in an outer section 
 of Bina, across the railroad tracks from the other 
 mission property. Most of the patients come 
 from this neglected part of the city. The hos- 
 
 [168] 
 
BINA 
 
 pital certainly is located at the place where it is 
 needed the most. Practically all of the patients 
 come from this immediate neighborhood. About 
 three thousand different people were in attend- 
 ance last year. When a group of eight or ten 
 receive their treatments, a service is held by the 
 compounder. 
 
 The annual government grant is rupees five 
 hundred. The municipality of Bina gives three 
 hundred annually, and the district board donates 
 two hundred. These gifts, along with the fees, 
 make the institution practically self-supporting. 
 
 THE MISS SAHIBS AT WORK 
 
 Just across the street from this hospital, 
 away out in the edge of town, is the bungalow 
 occupied by Miss Lena Russell and Miss Lulu 
 Garton. This is their home. They live there 
 alone. These two college girls, in the midst of 
 grossest idolatry, are assisting in the campaign 
 against Hinduism. How these and other re- 
 fined, Christian, single women keep up their 
 courage and their zeal, and their faith, through 
 the long dreary months and years, is a constant 
 source of wonder. At the 11:00 o'clock break- 
 fast table I asked them what they did at night, 
 after the hard day's work was done. "Oh we 
 sit and read and sometimes talk about the work 
 of the day." I asked them, "But living here 
 
 [169] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 all alone, do you ever laugh and sing and joke in 
 the evening?" "Well, not very often," was their 
 reply. 
 
 But the work and their devotion to and 
 absorption in it, seem to be their very life. The 
 joy of life is the work of life to them, and so 
 early in the paorning they gathered with their 
 three Bible women on the little porch of the 
 school house for prayer. What could these girls 
 do with only three poorly educated Bible women? 
 Well, a part of the joy of their lives is in the 
 teaching, training, encouraging and directing 
 these three women. And when, after prayer 
 they formed two groups and started out to do 
 their work, I pegged along after one group to 
 find out what they did. 
 
 They went into the home of a blacksmith 
 to teach the women there. The man had two 
 wives. The older woman had a lot of jewelry and 
 put on a gold nose ring nearly as large around 
 as a saucer and had me take her photograph. 
 The younger wife had three children and showed 
 every deference and respect to the older woman. 
 She scoured the brass cooking pots with mud, 
 cleaned up around the yard and seemed to be 
 doing more than her share of the work. 
 
 While Miss Garton was teaching them, a 
 beggar came to the gate with his begging bowl. 
 He was a Brahman beggar, a big strong fellow, 
 and he stopped at the gate and rang a little bell 
 which he carried with him. One of the women 
 went immediately into the house, brought out a 
 
 [170] 
 
BIN A 
 
 couple of handfuls of grain and gave it to the 
 fellow and he passed on. These religious tramps 
 are thus encouraged in their laziness. 
 
 At a second house there were three women 
 and five children and an old lady who was the 
 mother-in-law. They asked if I was Miss Gar- 
 ton's husband. When told that my Mem Sahib 
 was in America and that we had eight daughters, 
 the old lady shook her head and said, "That 
 wouldn't please us in Hindustan." The Bible 
 women talked at this house of the "Feeding of 
 the five thousand." 
 
 In the third house the man was at home 
 and seemed quite interested in what the ladies 
 were trying to explain to his "female." He 
 wanted to do part of the talking himself. He 
 brought out an ugly looking elephant god, about 
 the size of a teddy bear. "What can he do?" I 
 asked him. He replied, "He can do each and 
 everything." "Can he make it rain?" "Yes sir, 
 he can do everything." "But," said I, "What if 
 he gets broken." "I don't know, sir, he can do 
 each and everything is my belief." Miss Garton 
 said to him, "We worship the real God who made 
 the earth, the Creator of the world." The man 
 insisted, "No Miss Sahib, this god was in the be- 
 ginning. He can do all things." After consider- 
 able discussion, the man said, "If I go to heaven, 
 will I recognize my brother? He died and I loved 
 him. I do not know if he can get to heaven or 
 not." Miss Garton tried to explain to him some- 
 thing about Christianity and finally said, "If you 
 
 [171] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 believe in Christ he can save you." The man 
 looked puzzled and said, "Yes, Miss Sahib, but 
 all beliefs are different. It's according to your 
 belief. It's hard to know." 
 
 Miss Russell says that they go into about 
 thirty-six homes. Recently three or four homes 
 refused to allow them to come. When they 
 pressed the women for the reason they were 
 told that the man who owned the houses ordered 
 them not to allow the Christians to come. In 
 another section of the city they visit regularly 
 twelve homes. In still another section, where 
 they hold a Sunday-school, they teach all the 
 women by gathering them in groups. Sometimes 
 the men sit and listen and ask many questions. 
 When they explain matters thoroughly to them, 
 they often reply, "Oh that's big wisdom, it is 
 not for us. We can't understand it." And some- 
 times after they tell the gospel story, the women 
 will take a long breath and say, "Ram, Ram, 
 Ram." But on the whole the women are friendly. 
 One woman asked Miss Russell, "Where have 
 you been? I thought you were displeased, be- 
 cause you haven't been here for a long time." 
 
 With such busy lives as these, teaching the 
 women in the home, encouraging their Bible 
 women, keeping the girls' school up to standard, 
 teaching and organizing the Sunday-schools 
 among the poor people of the city, these young 
 women find no time to get lonesome or dis- 
 couraged. The task, to some, may seem unim- 
 portant, but it is absolutely necessary if Chris- 
 
 [172] 
 
BINA 
 
 tianity is to come out victor in its conflict with 
 Hinduism. 
 
 The two married women at Bina are as busy- 
 as their husbands. Mrs. Hill assists in the Sun- 
 day-school and helps teach and encourage the 
 Christian women. She looks after her husband, 
 darns his socks and looks after the home. When 
 he goes on a three weeks' tour, she piles in the 
 oxcart and goes along. "Tom" has a fine yoke 
 of big white oxen. On these journeys Mrs. Hill 
 has charge of the meetings for women. She 
 tells them Bible stories, sells portions of the 
 Scriptures to them, and teaches them how to 
 sing the Christian songs. 
 
 Her mothers' class was the largest in the 
 Sunday-school. These women came, many of 
 them carrying their babies, and sat on the grass 
 in the sun while the lesson was being taught. 
 Mrs. Hill talks to them about the care of their 
 children, urges them to become Christians, and 
 to tell their husbands about the new religion. 
 Thus her influence and her teaching goes weekly 
 back into many an Indian home, where these 
 women discuss with one another and their 
 families what the Mem Sahib said and did on 
 Sunday. 
 
 Mrs. Elsam is busy with the church work 
 also, in addition to the care of her home. She 
 is a motherly sort of a woman and the girls and 
 women come to her with all of their troubles. 
 
 [173] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 She is also the station and inter-station match- 
 maker. She sees to it that the Christian men 
 fall in love with Christian women when they are 
 ready to venture on the sea of matrimony. She 
 also sees to it that the Christian girls show a 
 preference for husbands who are members of the 
 church. Many a Christian home has been estab- 
 lished by the wise suggestions of Mrs. Elsam. 
 She had a fine courtship in process between 
 the chief evangelist of Bina and a fine girl in the 
 embroidery department at Kulpahar. The girl 
 was allowed to make a trip to Bina to inspect 
 her intended and be inspected by him, under the 
 careful chaperonage of Mrs. Elsam. The affair 
 seemed to be highly satisfactory to all three of 
 them. Mrs. Elsam gave the bride two cups and 
 saucers, a copy of "Pilgrims Progress," and I 
 gave her a new silver rupee. A few weeks later 
 the wedding took place, and the young couple, 
 no doubt, "lived happily ever afterwards." 
 
 Buddhism in India has had its day and 
 ceased to be. All that is left of it is the Great 
 Stupa, Buddha's tower and other ancient relics 
 and ruins, which hark back to its ancient glory. 
 Its vitality was expended in its attempt to reach 
 the state of Nirvana, which if ever reached, 
 would mean a state of inertia, inactivity and 
 mental nothingness. 
 
 Not so the Christian religion. Its great 
 words are verbs, go, teach, preach, make dis- 
 
 [174] 
 
BINA 
 
 ciples. Its geography not an easy place to sit in 
 contemplation, but all the world, every nation, 
 from the rising sun unto the going down there- 
 of. In India, therefore, Christianity is on the go, 
 increasing far more rapidly than Hinduism; in- 
 creasing at a greater ratio than the increase of 
 the population; and increasing in the last ten 
 years at a more rapid rate than in any previous 
 decade. This progress is only a prophecy of the 
 coming day, when the shadow of the Great Stupa 
 shall fall within the shadow of the Cross. 
 
 [175] 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 JHANSI 
 
CHAPTER X 
 JHANSI 
 
 THE IRON GOD PAVES THE WAY 
 
 Here is a city where the gods of stone and 
 brass make way for the god of iron. A city that 
 resounds to the clang of iron and steel from 
 early morning until late at night. A city where 
 men stand in reverence and awe before the red- 
 hot moulten ore; where they fashion it into 
 huge plates of iron and steel, and where, by the 
 magic power of machinery, they build it into 
 the great iron horses of commerce. A city of 
 about seventy thousand, where every third man 
 is employed in the great railroad shops repair- 
 ing and constructing cars and engines for nearly 
 all the central part of India. 
 
 Men whose forefathers for generations con- 
 structed nothing more intricate than a mud 
 house, an oxcart, or a wooden plow, are now 
 skilled mechanics, cogs in the great modern in- 
 dustrial machine. The boiler maker, with his 
 electric bit and hammer, performing miracles 
 during the day, does not bow down at night to 
 a dusty, crude stone god. These great engines 
 and the process of their making, are the mes- 
 
 [179] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 sengers of a new order to the people of Jhansi. 
 Every new engine, growing from the raw ma- 
 terial into its completed form, has become a 
 twentieth century juggernaut, driven by their 
 own hands across their superstitions, their pro- 
 vincialisms and their customs of caste. The 
 ignorant, narrow priests, with their faces turned 
 toward the past, are no longer able to dictate to 
 these progressive high priests of the god of iron, 
 who reign supreme in this huge, throbbing 
 temple of industry and power. 
 
 The first and foremost work in such a place 
 as this would naturally be a school for the sons 
 of those who work in iron. W. E. Gordon is 
 busily engaged in the conduct of such a school, 
 two hundred and forty boys being enrolled in the 
 primary and middle grades. Ninety per cent of 
 all these boys are the children of railroad em- 
 ployees, and since the government does not 
 furnish education for these children, the rail- 
 roads pay to the mission rupees one hundred 
 per month for the support of this school. 
 
 Eleven teachers are employed, nine of whom 
 are Christians, seven having received their 
 training at Damoh. The mission can not always 
 secure Christian teachers for every class. The 
 building is owned by the mission and was built 
 originally for about one hundred boys, but now 
 it is entirely inadequate. The school is not 
 
 [180] 
 
JHANSI 
 
 recognized by the government as a standard 
 school on account of the poor equipment. Only 
 two of the teachers in the English department are 
 up to government standard. The primary class 
 met on the porch of the building and the children 
 were learning their letters by the use of tamarind 
 seeds. The teacher had nearly a half bushel of 
 these seeds for this purpose. All the teachers 
 and classes are doing their best under the circum- 
 stances and are very proud of the school. Several 
 of the rooms still had the decorations up which 
 were used for the Christmas program. 
 
 Mr. Gordon and the head master are firm 
 believers in systematic exercise for the boys. The 
 morning drill was well conducted, showing that 
 the masters had been quite thorough in their 
 work. At the recess period, forty or fifty boys 
 had a tug of war and other interesting games 
 were participated in by these energetic, growing 
 boys. Mr. Gordon thinks that these boys of the 
 railroad employees are much freer from their 
 superstitions than the average boys of India. 
 The religious approach to them is much easier. 
 
 At the chapel period I had the opportunity 
 of making a speech to the older boys. By the 
 use of the Graflex I illustrated to them the idea 
 of thoroughness and cleanliness in body, mind 
 and heart. Mr. Gordon, at the close of my ad- 
 dress, required the English class to write up 
 my speech for the English lesson. Here is the 
 paper that received the highest grade : 
 
 [181] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 ADVICE OF MR. WILSON, SECRETARY OF MIS- 
 SIONARY SOCIETY IN AMERICA, ON HIS 
 VISIT TO THE INDIAN STUDENTS. 
 
 Mr. Wilson told us that the students must 
 have three chief things in them. Of these, first, 
 is, to have a good physical strength; unless a stu- 
 dent has a good physical strength in him, he can- 
 not do any enterprising work and always looks 
 to be sad and seems to have no energy in him. 
 Then Mr. Wilson said that God has not given us 
 bodies to disfigure ourselves, but to preserve and 
 beautify them, with the help of some exercise. 
 He told us that, in his country in America it is a 
 great offense to disfigure oneself, and the person 
 who does it is duly punished. He then gave us 
 an example of the "Sadhu" who was achieving 
 his object with the severest kind of penance by 
 seating himself on pointed iron spikes. Mr. Wil- 
 son talked with the "Sadhu" on the point and re- 
 proved him for the sin that he had been making 
 against his body which God has given a man to 
 preserve and not to destroy. 
 
 The second thing he told us is, that the stu- 
 dents should have a clear brain, so that they 
 might understand and grasp whatever is taught 
 in the class, because if they have a good stout 
 body and no good brain, then there is no use 
 for the body. Therefore they should try to have 
 them both side by side. 
 
 The third thing a student should have in 
 him is a pure mind and merciful heart. Unless 
 he has a pure mind and merciful heart he can- 
 not have the noble thoughts and sympathies for 
 the sufferer. Mr. Wilson then gave us an ex- 
 ample, which he saw, during tours through 
 Central Provinces, that a poor woman brought 
 her young child to the missionary of the place to 
 be protected and reared up, as she could not sup- 
 port both child and herself. The missionary who 
 was a great humane woman, took the child from 
 her and promised to care for him. She did this 
 kind act because she was taught and knew the 
 value of mercy and was, besides, a pure hearted 
 woman. 
 
 Then he made a striking comparison be- 
 tween his camera, which he said was of the 
 finest quality in the world, and the body. The 
 [182] 
 
JHANSI 
 
 leather that surrounded the camera he com- 
 pared to the human skin, the plate to the brain 
 and the lens to the mind. As some object, good 
 or evil is reflected through the lens to the plate, 
 so any thought, good or bad, is reflected at once 
 from the mind to the brain. Then concluding 
 his speech he said that a student should try to 
 be like a camera with strong body, diligent mind, 
 and merciful and pure heart. 
 
 Another chap, however, did not seem to 
 grasp the speech quite as well as this one. His 
 essay read as follows : 
 
 Mr. Wilson came to see our school. He gave 
 a salaam to us of American boys and said that 
 when I was coming to India the American boys 
 requested me, "When you returned to America 
 say something to us about Indian boys." He 
 gave a instrict lecture in which he taught strong 
 body, developed mind and clean, sympathy and 
 kind heart by the help of his camera. The leather 
 of camera was very good it is like our body its 
 lens is also good like our mind and its inner part 
 like our heart so we should make our body as a 
 camebra as it is good in sight of everybody. If 
 we do so then we will be as so good in sight of 
 everybody as camebra. He said a story about a 
 cruel heart. He saw a man in Harda who has a 
 old wife he kicked her till she was young he kept 
 her so in the same way a man may be turned 
 only when his body mind and heart are in good 
 order as the maker of this camera has used best 
 metearial in making it. 
 
 A few blocks from this boys' school Miss 
 Ora Haight conducts a school for girls. It is in a 
 rented building, but was swept out carefully and 
 kept very neat and clean. It is a school of forty- 
 four girls, with three teachers, and goes only 
 
 [183] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 through the first standard of the primary grade. 
 These are the daughters of the railroad people 
 and the shop people. The grant for this school 
 is rupees two hundred and twelve per month. 
 One of the teachers in this school has only 
 studied through the third standard primary 
 grade, and yet she is the best teacher available. 
 It will thus be seen how difficult it is to get 
 properly trained teachers for our schools. How- 
 ever, there is talk of the establishment of a gov- 
 ernment normal school in Jhansi, where teachers 
 may receive the proper training. 
 
 These teachers take the little girls outside 
 for their daily drill. They have a scarf drill, a 
 fan drill, and several interesting little marches. 
 The space for these exercises was in front of a 
 great stone idol painted in hideous colors, but 
 no one seemed to pay any attention to him, nor 
 to be even conscious of his presence. 
 
 Miss Haight was also conducting a school 
 near the railroad shops. It was in a section of 
 the city of five thousand or more people, where 
 there was no government or railroad school. 
 There were seventy boys in this school, with but 
 two teachers, an Indian Christian and his wife. 
 The building was kept up in good shape and the 
 yard was kept clean. A bunch of banana trees 
 was growing in the yard. 
 
 The two narrow long rooms of the school 
 building were crowded full of children. They 
 say it would be easy to have twice that number 
 
 [184] 
 
JHANSI 
 
 of children if they had the room and the teach- 
 ers. Miss Haight and the teachers not only 
 give careful instruction to the children at the 
 school but they visit their homes and get the 
 parents interested in the school, and the church 
 as well. 
 
 3 
 
 In one of the buildings, back of the boys' 
 school, Dr. Ada McNeill Gordon runs a dispens- 
 ary. This work was formerly done in the rear 
 of the mission bungalow, but it is the hope to 
 develop a modest dispensary, in connection with 
 the boys' school, to keep them fit and to serve 
 the people in that section of the city. A small 
 stock of drugs is kept there and the average 
 attendance is from ten to thirty per day. It is 
 not the plan to build up a hospital here, for 
 there is already a woman's union hospital about 
 three miles away in a different part of the city. 
 There is also a government dispensary and a 
 railroad dispensary, but the latter, of course, 
 ministers only to men. The work Dr. Gordon is 
 doing is largely for women and children, and 
 being in a section where no one else is at work, 
 is meeting the real needs of the people. 
 
 Dr. Gordon and Miss Haight have been tak- 
 ing an active part in the temperance movement. 
 The agitation is on for a "dry India." Many of 
 the leading Hindus and Mohammedans have 
 joined with the Christians in the temperance 
 movement. They have made speeches and cir- 
 
 [185] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 culated petitions for the closing of the liquor 
 shops and petitioned the government to revoke 
 the licenses of all liquor dealers who have dis- 
 obeyed the law. It will be remembered that the 
 English government is responsible for the liquor 
 trade of India. And the same stubborn resistance 
 to the prohibition agitation is shown by the 
 English officials in India, as is shown by the 
 politicians, the government, and even the state 
 church in England itself. What a paradox it is 
 that Hindus and Mohammedans, members of be- 
 lated and non-Christian races, should be com- 
 pelled to petition a Christian nation which rules 
 over them, to free their nation from the curse 
 of the liquor traffic. And how inconsistent it is 
 for Great Britain to collect revenue from a busi- 
 ness which debauches and destroys the people 
 whom they have set their hands to uplift. 
 
 The Jhansi church is small in numbers, but 
 earnest and harmonious. The native pastor and 
 the other Christian workers are doing everything 
 they can to build up and strengthen the church. 
 Mr. Gordon is an earnest believer in having the 
 social activities of the people center around the 
 church. He is trying to make arrangements for 
 a reading room, a game room, tennis court, bad- 
 minton court, and other recreational features; 
 also for dormitories for a limited number of 
 single men, who by such means would be pro- 
 vided with a clean and wholesome environment. 
 
 [186] 
 
JHANSI 
 
 It is the hope to build up among the railroad em- 
 ployees, a strong self-supporting church. Their 
 salaries are higher than the average salaries of 
 India, and their minds are more open to the 
 message. With the proper equipment and wise 
 leadership a great work may develop there in 
 the next few years. 
 
 THE FUTURE PROGRAM 
 
 The big program of the future is the de- 
 velopment of an adequate educational program. 
 Already a beautiful plot of ten and a half acres 
 has been secured just in the rear of the two 
 mission bungalows. The railroad has agreed 
 to give rupees fifteen thousand for the erection 
 of a new school on condition that the mission 
 puts in a like sum. The railroad also agrees to 
 give an annual grant of rupees one thousand 
 two hundred for the maintenance of the school. 
 Such a school, of course, would be modern in 
 every respect, and along with the spacious play- 
 ground would have a wide influence for good. 
 
 It may be asked, "Why will the railroad 
 make such a large grant for the erection and 
 maintenance of the school ?" There are two 
 reasons. First, they feel an obligation to furnish 
 educational advantages for the children of their 
 employees. There may also be a selfish motive 
 here, for they are looking forward to the secur- 
 ing of young men for their employ, and the 
 young men who have the best education make 
 
 [187] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 their best skilled workmen. The second reason 
 is that the owners of the railroad know that the 
 missionary will give better supervision and 
 management to the school than can be obtained 
 in any other way. Practically every missionary 
 is a college graduate. He has not only educa- 
 tional advantages, but he has educational ideals, 
 and he is constantly bringing the teachers and 
 the whole school up to these higher ideals. Both 
 the government and the railroads fully under- 
 stand that the best superintendents obtainable 
 for their schools are the missionaries, and the 
 giving of liberal grants for the support of such 
 schools is the common custom. It is simuly a 
 matter of forethought and wisdom that these 
 grants are made. 
 
 On the other hand these schools give the 
 missionaries an opportunity to give religious in- 
 struction, for it is fully understood that system- 
 atic Bible study will be given. Hence there is 
 a half hour of Christian teaching in every class, 
 every day, in all the mission schools. 
 
 The details for the co-operation in the 
 carrying out of the enlarged school program 
 have not been fully worked out. But the plans for 
 the future will no doubt include some such pro- 
 gram as suggested above. 
 
 [188] 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 PENDRA ROAD 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 PENDRA ROAD 
 
 A CROSS SECTION OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 
 
 In 1900 Mr. and Mrs. Neils Madsen started 
 in at Pendra Road. There were no Christians 
 there, and it was in a jungle part of the country 
 and far from prospective. They built their own 
 little house of leaves, grass, and branches, and 
 lived in it, while a larger and better house was 
 growing. Houses are not built in a hurry in 
 India; they have to grow. 
 
 The villages of India are very hard places 
 for the Christians to live in. Their castes op- 
 press them, their social customs make them out- 
 casts, and the owners of the villages often 
 persecute them. Mr. and Mrs. Madsen conceived 
 the idea of building a Christian village out of 
 their new converts. They secured a piece of 
 ground, and when the first family was baptized, 
 they helped in the planning and erection of a 
 little home. 
 
 When others came, homes were erected for 
 them, or rather they were encouraged and as- 
 sisted to erect homes of their own. After a while 
 
 [191] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 the idea of "home" began to grow in their minds. 
 The Hindi language has no word for home. 
 They say "I am going to my house." The home 
 idea is not there at all. When these people were 
 able to build large houses, they simply built them 
 around the small ones until finished. Then they 
 went inside, tore down and carried out the old 
 house, and the job was done. 
 
 I visited this village, and found that the 
 streets had been laid out, so that the houses 
 were not crowded up against one another. A 
 group of people were at work grading the streets, 
 to get them in good shape before the rains began 
 in the spring. Scores of Indian villages visited 
 had not a single graded street. 
 
 The village now has a population of about 
 two hundred. There are forty-six men, forty- 
 eight women, and one hundred and nine chil- 
 dren. All of the houses in the village are owned 
 by the people themselves, except a few furnished 
 by the mission for the teachers and evangelists. 
 Practically all the men are cultivators, most of 
 them own their own oxen or buffaloes, and their 
 carts. They go out to their fields in the morning, 
 do their work and come back to their families at 
 night. Many of the women, when necessary, 
 also go to the fields to labor, as is the Indian 
 custom. 
 
 No one but a Christian can build a home 
 in this village. It is most refreshing to visit an 
 Indian village where there are no idols under 
 the trees, no temples, and no signs of the pre- 
 
 [192] 
 
PENDRA ROAD 
 
 valent idolatry which is to be found on every 
 hand. I visited a number of these homes. The 
 contrast between them and the Hindu homes is 
 striking. Their homes are well kept, swept nice 
 and clean, with pictures of various kinds on the 
 walls. To be sure many of them are crude, but 
 they are groping their way. 
 
 On the outside walls of several of these 
 houses are Scripture verses made of the mud of 
 which the walls are plastered. They are then 
 whitewashed, so that it gives a very neat and 
 clean appearance. Their little stone mills with 
 which they grind their grain, are either on the 
 verandas or in the houses. Their little stoves 
 on the floor, made of mud and stones, have been 
 built without any cost whatever. 
 
 2 
 
 A village school is maintained for the chil- 
 dren of these Christians. Out of the one hundred 
 and nine children, fifty-nine are in school, only 
 six children of school age are not in the school. 
 Many villages about this size have no schools, 
 not even a person in the whole village being able 
 to read or write. 
 
 Instead of the temple, there is a small build- 
 ing in the center of the village which might be 
 called the town hall. It really has two principal 
 functions. First, it is a place of prayer. It 
 simply has a roof, and a floor. There are no 
 seats, as the Indians prefer to sit on the floor. 
 Every night the men of the town gather here, 
 with Mr. Madsen, and they sing a few songs 
 
 [193] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 and have prayer. From twenty to thirty men 
 meet every night for this prayer meeting. 
 
 In the morning a prayer meeting for women 
 is held. There were twenty-one women present 
 and five children. They were just finishing read- 
 ing all of John's writings. They read around the 
 circle, and all the women present could read from 
 their Bibles except two. If it were a Hindu 
 village the order would be reversed, and not more 
 than two out of twenty-one could read, and the 
 strong probability would be that not even the 
 two could read. Several of the women lead in 
 earnest, simple prayer. 
 
 Second, this building is a panchaiyat meet- 
 ing place. That means a place where a com- 
 mittee meets representing the whole village, or 
 where the villagers themselves come to decide 
 matters relating to the welfare of the village. In 
 case two women get into a quarrel, that is a 
 matter which concerns the whole village. Such 
 a case recently occurred. The men met, heard 
 the case, called the women in for their testimony, 
 made their decision, wrote it down in a book, 
 and then sent the clerk with the book to the 
 homes of the women. The clerk read the de- 
 cision to them, and their husbands agreed that 
 they would see that their wives lived up to it. 
 That decision is their law, and all cases so de- 
 cided are carefully recorded. 
 
 3 
 
 In this meeting place they also decide about 
 the marriage of their children. The question of 
 
 [194] 
 
PENDRA ROAD 
 
 the marriage of two young people is not their 
 own individual affair, or their family affair, but 
 an affair of the whole village. The Christian 
 religion need not change their marriage plans 
 in this respect. The day before I arrived, two 
 grandfathers called a meeting to arrange for the 
 marriage of their grandchildren. 
 
 All the men of the village came together, 
 the young man of twenty and the young woman 
 of seventeen not being present. When the meet- 
 ing was convened they sat in perfect silence for 
 several minutes with their heads down, very 
 humble. Finally Mr. Madsen said: 
 
 "Why doesn't someone speak?" 
 
 A man replied with his head down: "How 
 can we speak? Who is worthy to speak on such 
 an occasion as this?" 
 
 Mr. Madsen said: "Well if there is nothing 
 to speak about, let's go home." 
 
 After a little, a man said: "There is some- 
 thing, and you know what it is." 
 
 Another pause, and at last a man announced 
 that the meeting was for the purpose of arrang- 
 ing the marriage of these two young folks. Then 
 the real meeting began. What gifts shall the 
 man's family make to the girl? Some worthy 
 gift to bind him to her, so the temptation will 
 not be so great for him to put her away, if he 
 gets angry. The villagers decided that four 
 pieces of cloth, enough for four saris should be 
 given, one sari for the girl, and the others for her 
 family. (One for the mother-in-law.) 
 
 [195] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 In addition, the man should give rupees 
 fifteen. Some to be deposited in the name of the 
 girl, some to be given to her to buy cooking pots 
 and kettles, and the rest to be used to buy a 
 modest feast for the occasion. 
 
 Then the question arose as to whether the 
 boy could support the girl. That also concerns 
 the whole village. The family represented that 
 he could do certain work for which he got cer- 
 tain wages, but that he for the present would 
 live with his family which would make it easier 
 to support her. To all these arrangements the 
 two families agreed. The meeting took formal 
 action, and the two young people were notified 
 that their marriage arrangements were all made 
 for them. All they had to do was to get married. 
 He had never called on her in her home, nor 
 taken her out riding, or walking, nor even taken 
 her home from church. The social customs are 
 all against that procedure in India. If the young 
 fellow does not properly provide for his new 
 wife he has the whole village to face for his 
 neglect. 
 
 One night I was called to meet the villagers 
 in the panchaiyat house. They had some Indian 
 music, two stringed instruments, and a long 
 bamboo flute. After the music, a man got up 
 and made a speech telling me that they were 
 glad to welcome me, that I had come a long way 
 to see them, and that they were very glad I was 
 
 [196] 
 
PENDRA ROAD 
 
 there. He said that since I had brought to them 
 the salaams of the people of America, they also 
 wanted me to convey to the Christians of 
 America their best salaams, and to say that they 
 were trying to do everything in their power not 
 to bring dishonor upon the name of Christ. 
 
 This village is very much better than a non- 
 Christian village in its moral conditions, its 
 sanitary conditions, its educational advantages 
 for the children, in its great advance in the 
 home life, and the fine religious atmosphere that 
 emanates from those daily prayer meetings. 
 Truly, compared to the Hindu villages, it is a 
 cross section of the new Jerusalem come down 
 out of heaven to bless the land of India. 
 
 And it most certainly is greatly needed in 
 the Pendra Road area. The next mission station 
 north is one hundred and thirty-five miles. The 
 next east is two hundred miles, the next south 
 is sixty-four, and west is one hundred miles. 
 And hundreds of villages in this great section 
 have no gospel preaching, and no provision being 
 made at the present time to take the message 
 to them. 
 
 A "T. B." LIGHTHOUSE 
 
 Like a lighthouse on the shores of the sea 
 is the Tuberculosis Sanatorium at Pendra Road. 
 Or, a better figure, what the lifeline is to the 
 drowning man who is going down for the third 
 time. Who has looked upon the face of a man 
 or a woman with tuberculosis, and has not read 
 there the hopelessness of despair? j- 197 -j 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 Five years ago no such institution existed 
 throughout all the Central Provinces. Both the 
 government and the missions had overlooked 
 the care of the unfortunate people with tuber- 
 culosis. That statement of need to our Woman's 
 Board in America had an immediate answer in 
 life and money and buildings, and the result is 
 the present splendid institution, with Dr. Mary 
 Longdon and Miss Andrus, a trained nurse, act- 
 ively and enthusiastically engaged in the great 
 task. 
 
 There is a fine administration building; 
 there is a new bungalow for the ladies ; there are 
 three units of the hospital building and dormi- 
 tories, with plans for more as the demands may 
 justify. There is the cook house, and the dining 
 room and nurses' quarters. All of these build- 
 ings, with the exception of the bungalow and the 
 administration building are inclosed by a brick 
 wall in a five-acre tract, beautifully laid out and 
 covered with great forest trees. Each of the 
 wards or houses will accommodate about twenty 
 patients. On the outside are the neat, private 
 wards for those who desire such. 
 
 And talk about city planning! This whole 
 layout is as neatly and carefully done as if a high 
 priced landscape gardener had been on the job. 
 The bungalow, the administration building, and 
 the ward houses on the outside, are in harmony 
 with the modest and yet substantial buildings 
 on the inside of the wall. They are all roofed 
 with red tile. Even the brick wall surrounding 
 
 [198] 
 
PENDRA ROAD 
 
 the grounds is in harmony, color scheme and all, 
 with the buildings. Dr. Longdon's dream of a 
 neat substantial, well organized home for hope- 
 less women is actually coming true before her 
 very eyes. 
 
 But to Dr. Longdon the women are not hope- 
 less, and she is inspiring within them the idea 
 that their cases are not hopeless. Most of the 
 women thus far have been from our own mission. 
 The first year there were eighteen patients ; the 
 second year, twenty; and the third year, twenty- 
 two. The theory of this institution is: 
 
 First, that the patients must get rich food 
 and plenty of it. Hence each woman gets one 
 quart of milk per day, meat three times a week, 
 eggs every other day, and plenty of curry and 
 rice. The milk of the patients costs rupees one 
 hundred per month. It is put up in bottles and 
 jugs according to the direction of Dr. Longdon 
 and is brought six miles in buffalo cart or oxcart. 
 
 Second, that they should have plenty of 
 fresh air. Hence the ward buildings are erected 
 without walls. The roof and the pillars which 
 support it, and the clean cement floor is all. 
 Good fresh ozone thus comes into these homes 
 day and night. They are thus compelled to 
 breathe fresh air. 
 
 Third, to keep their hands and minds busy. 
 So the women must grind their own grain, do 
 their own washing, carry water from the well, 
 hoe the gardens, keep the buildings clean, cut 
 the grass. In short do as much as their strength 
 will allow. [- 199 -j 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 Fourth, to maintain in their hearts a strong 
 Christian hope. Hence, there is a church service 
 in the Sanatorium every Sunday. In one corner 
 of the administration building is a neat little 
 chapel. The communion service is held here 
 each Sunday. They use the individual cups. A 
 neat little organ assists them in the music — a 
 gift of Mrs. T. W. Phillips, Jr., of Pennsylvania. 
 
 With this program of treatment even the 
 hopeless need not despair. Three women nurses 
 who have been carefully trained for this partic- 
 ular work, assist the missionaries. Charts are 
 kept of each patient, showing the temperature, 
 etc., every day. And the work has not been with- 
 out its good results. Last year they dismissed 
 twenty-five cases in which the disease is sup- 
 posed to have been permanently checked. 
 
 The fee for each patient is rupees ten per 
 month. The actual cost for the maintenance of 
 each patient is about rupees twelve per month. 
 In case the patient cannot pay at all, the mission 
 supplies the treatment, and the care of the 
 patient is just as good as if the full cost were 
 being paid. One of the plans to keep down the 
 cost of maintenance is the establishment of a 
 poultry yard to supply the institution with good 
 fresh eggs. There are already some fine white 
 leghorns as a starter. Pure food, fresh air, work, 
 religion! What a fine combination to change 
 darkness into light; sorrow into joy; and de- 
 spair into hope. 
 
 [200] 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 BILASPUR 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 BILASPUR 
 
 IN THE VILLAGES ROUND ABOUT 
 
 I took a very interesting tour among the 
 villages round about Bilaspur. In a large num- 
 ber of these villages we now have a few Chris- 
 tians. In company with J. E. Moody I went on 
 a five days' trip, camping in our tent at night, 
 moving camp every day to another group of vil- 
 lages. Our tent was taken out in a buffalo cart. 
 Moody and I rode horseback, and on bicycle, 
 alternating from time to time. 
 
 One village we entered has seven Christians, 
 another twenty, another two, still another 
 eleven, etc. In nearly every village the evan- 
 gelists would tell us of one or two or more people 
 who were about ready for baptism. 
 
 At the village of Napaniya there is a good 
 church building, as such buildings go out here. 
 It is the best building in town by far. It is made 
 of mud walls and a dirt floor, and has a tile roof. 
 Those who advocate that the church should be 
 the finest building in town could have their de- 
 sires satisfied here at Napaniya. 
 
 [203] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 We had a meeting with the Christians 
 at ten A. M. About fifteen men and women, and 
 as many children gathered for the service. One 
 man had gone back into caste, but was now re- 
 pentant, and wanted to be forgiven and taken 
 back into the church. Another was letting his 
 hair grow, which is the first sign that a man is 
 drifting back to the old life. But most of the 
 Christians are doing their best to remain true. 
 A service is held every Sunday, one of the evan- 
 gelists coming for the purpose. Ten boys of the 
 village can read and write, the evangelist teach- 
 ing them in a night school when he comes here 
 for the service. 
 
 That night after supper we had a meeting 
 in Sawatal, the village near our camping place. 
 There are thirty-two Christians, and one of the 
 evangelists is located here with his family. The 
 meeting was held on the veranda of his house. 
 Both of the Malgazars were present. Neither of 
 them are Christians, but they are friendly to 
 the work, and one of them played a drum as part 
 of the music. The porch was crowded full of 
 people, perhaps a hundred, sitting on the ground 
 in true Indian style. 
 
 As Moody preached to them by the dim light 
 of the lantern, I could see them nod their heads 
 in assent to what he was saying. Now and then 
 an old chap would answer back, or ask a 
 question right out in the meeting. When Moody 
 was explaining the wisdom of Christian nations 
 this old man said, "Yes, you may have wis- 
 
 [204] 
 
BILASPUR 
 
 dom to make a watch or a camera, but you 
 couldn't make an oxcart, and drive the oxen to 
 it, without saying bad words." When it comes 
 to an oxcart, or buffalo cart, these men are right 
 at home, and they like to have the evangelists 
 talk down on the plane where they are living. 
 
 As we walked back to our tent that night, 
 an old man who has been a Christian for many 
 years carried the lantern and showed us the way. 
 As we came to the three great tamarind trees 
 under which our tent was pitched, the old man 
 stopped and said: 
 
 "Sahib, when Ram goes away from India, 
 Christianity will come. As long as the people 
 say, 'Ram, Ram, Ram/ Christ cannot enter their 
 hearts." 
 
 We were on the road soon after sunrise 
 the next morning. We arrived at the village of 
 Kukusda for the meeting at 8:45. The people 
 gathered under a tree in the center of the town. 
 There are twenty-six Christians here,who have 
 only recently come out of caste. As we ap- 
 proached the edge of the village, Moody said to 
 me: 
 
 "You are going to see here one of the darkest 
 pictures you will see in all India." He was right 
 about the shadow, but to me there was also a 
 gleam of sunshine and hope. There is no school 
 here. The mission is running all the schools it 
 can find teachers for now. Not a person in this 
 whole village can read or write. About thirty 
 people gathered under the tree and only two in 
 
 [205] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 the crowd had on shoes. It was a motley look- 
 ing crowd and one could plainly see that the 
 years of oppression and lack of education had 
 made an indelible impression not only on their 
 brown-skinned bodies, but also upon their hearts 
 and souls. 
 
 A Sunday-school is held here every Sunday 
 under this village tree, by one of the evangelists. 
 He comes here for an hour, and then goes on to 
 another village on his circuit. The time of our 
 visit was the time for the annual Thanksgiving 
 offering. They have been taught from the be- 
 ginning to give a Thanksgiving offering of money 
 or grain, for the many gifts that they are re- 
 ceiving from God. As I looked over that crowd 
 and saw their poverty stricken faces, I did not 
 believe anyone there would give a penny. 
 
 But the evangelists read the Bible, prayed, 
 sang some songs in which the whole crowd 
 joined, made some short talks to them about 
 Christ, and about the Thanksgiving idea. Mr. 
 Moody and I also said a few words, and a place 
 was cleared on the ground where it had been 
 swept clean that morning, for the offering. They 
 do not "pass the hat" in India, but each one 
 goes up and puts his offering on the altar, which 
 in this case was the bare ground. There was no 
 urging by the evangelists, there was no song, 
 the people simply waited and watched for the 
 offerings. As in everything else in India, they 
 moved slowly. 
 
 [206] 
 
BILASPUR 
 
 Finally an old fellow got up and walked a 
 few steps away, fumbled in his dhoti — Indian 
 substitute for pants — came back and put one 
 silver rupee on the ground. That offering would 
 be the equal of fifty dollars for a man of moderate 
 circumstances in America. A woman came up 
 and put four annas — about ten cents — on the 
 ground. Then came others, an anna, a pice — 
 half a cent — three annas, and a poor fellow who 
 could not walk crawled up and put an anna in 
 the offering. He is doomed to crawl to the end 
 of his days, but he wanted to put something 
 down as his Thanksgiving offering to God! 
 
 As the offering proceeded leisurely, two men 
 got up and -went away. I said to myself, "Well, 
 there are two fellows much like some of our 
 American Christians. ,, 
 
 But soon they returned, each carrying a big 
 basket of rice on his head. They came forward 
 and poured it on the ground beside the money. 
 They had no money, but out of their scanty store 
 they had given grain. If an American farmer 
 would give a fifty bushel load of wheat at the 
 present high prices, his offering would not mean 
 so much as what those two Indian Christians 
 gave that morning. In all there were eighteen 
 offerings, out of a total membership of twenty- 
 six, which includes the children. No doubt 
 every member was represented in that offering. 
 The every member canvass has nothing to show 
 these poor people. 
 
 [207] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 When I said farewell as we were leaving, 
 which means saying "salaams," one man stopped 
 me, and said, "Take our salaams to the Chris- 
 tians in America." To the ministers and churches 
 of America, I pass on the salaams from this 
 struggling band of Christians. 
 
 At 11:25, we were in another village named 
 Latta. We had crossed the river three times 
 that morning, I riding on Ajax, a white "charger" 
 and Moody removing his shoes and wading, 
 while a native carried his bicycle. Latta is a 
 village that in the past has been noted for its 
 thievery. Many of the people belonged to the 
 thieving caste. Since our mission work began 
 and a number of the people have become Chris- 
 tians, a new ideal has entered the village. Only 
 two or three convictions have been made for 
 thievery in the last two or three years. 
 
 The population of this town is about two 
 hundred and fifty. There is no public well or any 
 other well in the village. The people carry water 
 for cooking and drinking purposes from a river 
 nearly a mile away. A Sunday-school is main- 
 tained here on the veranda of the evangelist's 
 house. Ten boys go to a government school 
 about two miles away. There is a man who has 
 read as far as the fourth grade. All the rest of 
 the population is illiterate. 
 
 The people all sat on the ground, except 
 three Brahman brothers. They sat on a small 
 
 [208] 
 
BILASPUR 
 
 bench, and being high caste, the rest of the 
 crowd thought it was entirely proper for them 
 to do so. As I took down some notes of the 
 meeting, one of these Brahmans almost broke 
 up the meeting by examining my fountain pen. 
 He could not understand how I could write with- 
 out dipping it in ink. 
 
 We arrived at our camp near sundown. 
 While the cook was getting our evening meal 
 ready, I did some work around the tent, wrote 
 up my notes, and a letter or two. It became dusk 
 and I missed Mr. Moody. The cook told me he 
 had gone to the nearby village. I sauntered up 
 the dusty road, and came into the edge of town. 
 I heard talking up "main street," and soon a 
 strange sight met my eyes. 
 
 There was Moody sitting right in the middle 
 of the street on a little low bed which they had 
 brought out for him. Around him was a crowd 
 of one hundred or more people. A little fire of 
 grass and straw was burning, replenished from 
 time to time by an old man, who seemed to have 
 appointed himself for the occasion. Moody was 
 telling them the gospel story, and explaining the 
 benefits of Christianity, and the difference be- 
 tween our pure Christ, and the idols which they 
 worship. 
 
 As the fire flashed up and lit their brown 
 faces, long shadows stretched out into the outer 
 darkness. It seemed typical of the darkness in 
 which these people have lived for generations. 
 What matter if our supper did get cold? Here 
 
 [209] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 were folks who were getting the story for the 
 first time perhaps. A village woman called 
 aloud to her son. He answered in a loud voice 
 from the crowd. They hushed him up, hustled 
 him out, and the meeting proceeded. 
 
 As I lay down upon my cot that night, it was 
 with a new hope for India. The Kingdom is com- 
 ing in India. To be sure, it is coming slowly, 
 but it is coming. How much faster it might 
 come, if all of us were as devoted as some of 
 these simple-minded Christians who have just 
 found the light. 
 
 Our meeting in the village of Amora was 
 held soon after sunrise. It was held as usual on 
 the veranda of the evangelist's house, there be- 
 ing no church building here. About thirty people 
 were present and as many more were spectators 
 from afar. Three old Hindu women sat on their 
 haunches across the road on a high piece of 
 ground and took keen interest. A considerable 
 crowd sat at a distance, but close enough to ob- 
 serve and hear. 
 
 One of the village Christians read the Scrip- 
 ture lesson. The Malgazar was present. When 
 he saw the man read from the Bible, in a clear 
 voice unafraid, his face was a study. These 
 owners of the Indian villages seem to think that 
 the only use for the average villager is to pay 
 him excessive interest on debts, and obey all his 
 commands without protest. Many of them op- 
 
 [210] 
 
BILASPUR 
 
 pose Christianity because they think the people 
 will become educated and thus get out from under 
 their control. 
 
 As the meeting proceeded, people passed 
 with waterpots on their heads, going to the 
 river for water. Many passed also with their 
 hand-made wooden tooth brushes, going to the 
 river to bathe and to brush their teeth. They 
 break off a piece of wood about the size of a 
 lead pencil, cut and tear one end so that it has 
 some semblance to a brush. When one brush is 
 worn out, it costs them nothing to get another. 
 Our Indian cousins can teach America a good 
 many points on keeping down the high cost of 
 living. 
 
 The evangelist preached a short sermon, 
 then the offering was made. Every Christian 
 present made an offering. On the veranda, Sun- 
 day-school is held every Sunday, with an aver- 
 age attendance of about twenty-five. They also 
 observe the weekly communion service. 
 
 A number of problems showed up here. One 
 was in connection with a young man who is a 
 Christian. His wife recently left him, and says 
 she will not return and live with a Christian. 
 He says that his relatives urge him every day to 
 go back into caste. Recently the Malgazar, 
 thinking that the time had come to get the man 
 to renounce Christianity, offered him thirty 
 rupees worth of rice with which to plant his 
 fields, if he would go back into caste. When he 
 refused, the Malgazar beat him, and the man did 
 
 [211] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 not dare to fight back. To do so would mean 
 that the police would take the word of the Mal- 
 gazar, and he would have been arrested for as- 
 sault and battery, and very likely severely 
 punished. Because of this situation, many of 
 the Christians will bear a beating patiently, 
 knowing that to resist means much more trouble. 
 
 Another problem came up in connection 
 with this man in regard to the marriage of 
 his younger brothers. Since he is the oldest the 
 brothers must look to him to help make the 
 arrangements. None of the families in the 
 village will consider marrying their daughters 
 to Christians. The boys are not old enough to 
 worry about being married, but the idea centuries 
 old in India regarding early marriage arrange- 
 ments is not easily forgotten by the new Chris- 
 tians. So when the Hindu relatives come and 
 say to this young man: 
 
 "You are to blame for your brothers not get- 
 ting good wives," it makes it hard for him to 
 withstand them. 
 
 The man, however, says he will not go back 
 into caste if they kill him. It is a hard fight he 
 is putting up, and many a Christian in America 
 would fall under temptations not half so great. 
 This is an indication of what kind of problems 
 the busy missionary is dealing with every day. 
 They may seem trivial to us, but they are not so 
 to a man whose back is bleeding from the 
 brutality of a non-Christian religious fanatic. 
 It tries the soul of the missionary many a. time 
 
 [212] 
 
BILASPUR 
 
 to know what is the wise procedure in these 
 difficulty cases. 
 
 After the meeting we made a trip around 
 town to see the sights. One of the most interest- 
 ing was a visit to see a potter at work. He was 
 busy with his big wheel and his mud. On this 
 wheel he fashioned waterpots, vases, etc., in 
 rapid succession. He makes the wheel himself, 
 gets the mud and water free, uses his hands to 
 do the work, so that all he makes is clear profit. 
 
 Prom there we went to call upon the two 
 richest men in town. They received us cordially. 
 They showed us their houses, large rooms with 
 dirt floors, and the place where they do their 
 cooking on little stoves made of brick and mud. 
 A stove like that costs nothing. These men are 
 the only ones in the village who have any large 
 supply of grain stored away. They showed us 
 the big bins made especially for that purpose. 
 They do not have outside granaries. These large 
 bins are made of mud and plaster, built up off 
 the ground a couple of feet to keep out the white 
 ants. They are sealed at the top when full. A 
 guard sleeps at the door of this house every 
 night. 
 
 When the planting season comes, practic- 
 ally the whole village comes to rent grain for 
 their fields. They must pay back about fifty per 
 cent. That is, if a man gets a bushel, he must 
 pay back a bushel and a half. It makes the 
 
 [213] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 holder of the grain practically dictator of the 
 affairs of the village. 
 
 As we went to the home of the Malgazar, a 
 crowd of about twenty followed us. It was 
 no breach of Indian etiquette for this crowd to 
 stand in the open court yard and watch us as 
 we conversed on the open veranda. When we 
 left and went to the government school, the 
 crowd increased to thirty or forty. At the school 
 we found two classes meeting on the veranda. I 
 asked the boys to do some problems in arith- 
 metic, and they did not seem at all embarrassed 
 because a crowd of villagers were looking on. In 
 this village there are two hundred and eighteen 
 children of school age, only one hundred and 
 thirty-five are in school, and fifty of these come 
 from other villages. However, this is a very 
 high average for India, as thousands of the 
 villages have no school of any kind. 
 
 The teachers, with the exception of the head 
 master, have read only through the fourth grade. 
 Yet they are called masters, and have the train- 
 ing of the Indian boys and girls in their charge. 
 At first only high caste boys could come to the 
 school, but the government has urged the masters 
 to get all castes into school if possible. To do 
 so, they have even offered a small reward to 
 masters who get all castes into the regular 
 classes. This reward runs from twenty-five to 
 seventy-five rupees per year. That kind of 
 urgency goes farther in India than any other. 
 It was refreshing therefore to have the Brah- 
 
 [214] 
 
BI LAS PUR 
 
 man head master tell me with a good deal of 
 pride that he had seven or eight different castes 
 in his school. He called off the different castes 
 and had the children from each one stand as he 
 did so. 
 
 On our return trip to Bilaspur we visited 
 several other villages, held services, preached 
 to the people, and encouraged those who are al- 
 ready Christians. Our buffalo cart broke down 
 one night two miles out of town, with our tent 
 and baggage. We had to go out and camp there 
 for the night on the open plains. But we were 
 not lonesome for the jackals sang us a number 
 of their evening songs. 
 
 As our bicycle and horse carried us back 
 into Bilaspur, after several days in the small 
 villages, I thanked God for the start that had 
 already been made among those poor people. 
 For say what you will, the Christian as little as 
 he knows to begin with, has a hope and an out- 
 look on life here and now, that his Indian fellows 
 do not have. And I had a new appreciation of 
 the missionary, and the heart and courage and 
 zeal with which he tackles the most difficult 
 problem in the world. 
 
 His work is slow, but it is sure, for back of 
 the "shadows" is God "keeping watch," and at 
 his side is the Unseen Friend who is keeping 
 his promise, "Lo, I am with you always." 
 
 [215] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 6 
 
 Mr. Moody has about ten well trained 
 Indian evangelists as his helpers. The Biiaspur 
 church has as its pastor a fine spiritual leader 
 who is increasing in wisdom and usefulness. 
 Ten Sunday-schools are conducted in and around 
 Biiaspur. The average attendance for all of 
 these Sunday-schools for the month of January 
 was one thousand and thirty-fiv^e. 
 
 The church building is one of the best we 
 have in India. It is Of brick and cement with a 
 seating capacity of about five hundred. A Sun- 
 day afternoon service in this beautiful church is 
 an extraordinary sight. Both the American flag 
 and a big Union Jack hang above the platform. 
 The platform was decorated with flowers and 
 palms. The communion table just in front, with 
 spotless white linen, made a fine contrast. 
 
 In the right wing sat the girls from the 
 primary department of the boarding school. In 
 the left wing, the beginners in their clean 
 colored dresses. The entire left side of the church 
 was filled with the larger girls from the board- 
 ing school in the upper primary, the middle, 
 English, and normal schools. On the right side 
 were the men and boys. A number of Hindus 
 were also present. The Indian pastor was in 
 charge of the service, Dr. Jenny Crozier leading 
 the singing. 
 
 The special Thanksgiving offering was 
 taken consisting as usual of money, eggs, 
 chickens and grain. Some of the men, as they 
 
 [216] 
 
BILASPUR 
 
 put down their money on the table, salaamed to 
 it, a custom carried over from a heathen practice 
 when making gifts. It took twelve minutes to 
 make the offering and the total was rupees two 
 hundred and sixty-five, two annas, nine pice. 
 
 At the invitation song three men came for- 
 ward to make the confession. They came from a 
 far village which we had visited a few days be- 
 fore. They stood before that large audience and 
 boldly confessed their belief in Christ. Moody 
 charged them never to go back into caste, and 
 never to give up Christ. He impressed upon 
 them the fact that it was no small thing to come 
 out thus publicly and take their stand for Chris- 
 tianity. 
 
 The baptistry is a large cement tank on the 
 outside of the church. These men were ready 
 to be baptized at the same hour. Standing beside 
 that baptistry, with a great crowd looking on, 
 these men bowed their heads while Moody took 
 his scissors and cut off the tuft of hair from the 
 top of their heads. To cut off that chota means 
 that they break with Hinduism. He also cut off 
 the string of beads from around their necks and 
 gave them to me as souvenirs. The cutting off 
 of these beads indicates their willingness to 
 break caste. Then they were baptized. 
 
 To take this stand required as much courage 
 as it did for our boys to go "over the top" in 
 
 [217] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 France. For they broke with everything that 
 life holds dear; they broke with their religion; 
 with their caste; with their neighbors; with 
 their families; with the social order; with the 
 Malgazar, who is almost the economic slave 
 master of the people. That night they walked 
 the long journey back to their homes. 
 
 The next afternoon found one of these men 
 back at Bilaspur, his shoulders and back bruised 
 from the severe beating administered by the 
 Malgazar. The Malgazar had called him early on 
 Monday morning, and when the man acknowl- 
 edged that he had become a Christian, the Mal- 
 gazar flew into a rage, beat him and threatened 
 to kill him. He had walked the long distance 
 back to Bilaspur to ask the Sahib what he should 
 do. Moody got on his motorcycle, went to see 
 the Malgazar, had a long conference with him, 
 told him the man would be a better citizen than 
 he was before, that he would pay his taxes, obey 
 the law, and cause no trouble. Finally the Mal- 
 gazar consented that he would give the man no 
 further trouble. 
 
 These are some of the difficulties which the 
 new Indian Christians face and which the mis- 
 sionaries must face with them. It is not always 
 an easy thing for a missionary to urge a man to 
 publicly confess Christ on one day, when he is 
 practically sure that the next day the new con- 
 vert will be severely beaten for taking the stand. 
 Many of these men most certainly understand 
 what it means to "suffer persecution." 
 
 [218] 
 
BILASPUR 
 
 BURGESS MEMORIAL GIRLS' SCHOOL 
 
 I saw no better school during my five 
 months in India than the Burgess Memorial. 
 Miss Emma J. Ennis doubles the eight hour day 
 in order to properly look after the two hundred 
 and sixty or more girls in attendance. There are 
 two hundred and eighteen girls in boarding at 
 the dormitory. There is a primary school of one 
 hundred and eighty-four. There is an Anglo- 
 Vernacular school with an attendance of sixty, 
 and there is a normal school with an attendance 
 of twenty. 
 
 This is the only normal school for girls in 
 the Chatisgarh-Bilaspur-Mungeli district. There 
 are girls in attendance from several other Mis- 
 sions in Central Provinces. The normal school 
 is well-organized, kept up to government stand- 
 ard in every respect, and all of the Indian 
 teachers have had special training for this 
 particular work. 
 
 The plot of ground upon which the school 
 is located contains about six acres. The bunga- 
 low for the missionaries is located upon this 
 plot, and the Bilaspur church occupies one cor- 
 ner. For the present the primary and normal 
 schools are located in the town, several blocks 
 away. The present buildings are inadequate to 
 house all the schools. However, plans are under 
 way for the erection of the new Burgess Me- 
 
 [219] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 morial which will accommodate about five hun- 
 dred girls. This building when completed will be 
 one of the best of its kind in all the Central 
 Provinces, having fine class rooms on the ground 
 floor, with dormitories and teachers' rooms 
 occupying the second floor. 
 
 The question as to what to do with the girls 
 when they are ready for high school is a prob- 
 lem. The mission can hardly afford to main- 
 tain a high school for just a few girls. The 
 large majority of the girls of India never get be- 
 yond the primary grades. That girl is lucky in- 
 deed who is able to finish the upper primary and 
 the middle school. It is extraordinary if she 
 ever finishes high school. There are a good 
 many high schools for boys in Central Provinces, 
 but there are perhaps not more than twenty-five 
 girls in all the mission schools of that whole 
 area who are ready for high school. It is en- 
 tirely proper, therefore, that these missions 
 should be considering the advisability of main- 
 taining one good union high school for girls, 
 rather than trying to support a half dozen such 
 schools by the separate missions. Our mission 
 most certainly would and should join in such a 
 union enterprise. 
 
 Miss Ennis is an apostle of orderliness, 
 cleanliness, and thoroughness. She not only 
 sees to it that the teachers are well qualified and 
 are thorough in their school room instruction, 
 but she also sees to it that the girls take their 
 baths every day, brush their teeth, keep their 
 [220] 
 
BILASPUR 
 
 rooms clean, and that the cooks properly pre- 
 pare and cook their food. 
 
 What a hungry lot of girls they were as they 
 sat down in long rows to eat their simple meal. 
 The waiters heaped their brass plates full of 
 well-cooked rice and steaming hot curry and 
 these girls ate with their fingers and chatted 
 among themselves as school girls do at home. 
 When the meal was over, what clatter and din 
 they made as they rushed out to the big cement 
 tanks to wash their own plates and put them 
 away for the next meal. It takes two tons of rice 
 per month to supply this female family larder. 
 
 The following rules may be interesting to 
 the lady readers of this volume. Gentlemen 
 may omit. 
 
 1. Each boarder will be expected to bring 
 the following: 
 
 1 tin trunk with a lock and key. 
 
 1 thali. 
 
 4 skirts. 
 
 1 glass. 
 
 3 saris (one white.) 
 
 1 small bag. 
 
 4 pajamas. 
 
 1 Bible. 
 
 3 chemise. 
 
 1 Hymn book. 
 
 2 night dresses. 
 
 4 jackets. 
 
 
 Little girls may bring jackets instead of dresses, 
 skirts and saris. 
 
 2. Students must not lend clothes to fellow 
 students. 
 
 [221] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 3. Every article of clothing must bear the 
 owner's name. 
 
 4. Each student will write a letter home 
 once in two weeks. 
 
 5. Lamps and lanterns may not be re- 
 moved from the places where they 
 hang. 
 
 6. Every girl must attend morning and 
 evening prayers. 
 
 7. Beds must be placed in the sun every 
 day. 
 
 8. One hour of daily household duties 
 shall be required of each student. 
 
 9. For every article of clothing found in 
 the bath room, a fine of two pice will 
 be imposed. 
 
 10. No girl will be allowed to wear or to 
 keep expensive ornaments in the 
 school. 
 
 11. Only parents, guardians and persons 
 bearing the written authority of such, 
 will be allowed to visit the girls. 
 
 12. Training will be given in English and 
 Indian etiquette. 
 
 13. Perfect silence is required after the re- 
 tiring bell at 9 : 00 P. M. 
 
 3 
 
 What a happy, jolly crowd they were at play 
 time in the evening when they swarmed out in 
 the great front yard and scampered about under 
 those beautiful trees. How surprised and 
 
 [222] 
 
BILASPUR 
 
 abashed they were when the new Sahib came out 
 to play with them. A new Sahib playing with 
 the girls and hastily climbing trees when they 
 chased him? What a scandal! It has not been 
 done in India since the world began! Yet when 
 I told them, through an interpreter, how I played 
 with my own girls in America and romped with 
 them in the yard, it wasn't five minutes until 
 they were as much at ease as if I had been their 
 own father. 
 
 These Indian teachers and girls know how 
 to give an evening's entertainment that would do 
 credit to an amateur stock company. The little 
 program they put on in the school room one 
 evening was a howling success from start to 
 finish. Nobody went to sleep during that per- 
 formance. It was vaudeville and burlesque, and 
 serio-comic and tragedy and dramatics all mixed 
 together, and after every performance the girls 
 cheered and laughed with hearty glee, and then 
 watched with breathless expectation for the next 
 number to appear. 
 
 The spirit of the war and the lyrics of the 
 war had penetrated to the very heart of India. 
 "Pack up your troubles" and "Johnny Get Your 
 Gun" were somewhat tame to some of the songs 
 which these girls got off. One was entitled — 
 
 "The Kaiser's Nightmare," 
 and the first verse was as follows: 
 
 I'm called the crazy Kaiser 
 
 In the East and in the West. 
 
 To break the peace of Europe 
 
 I did my level best. [223] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 I possessed a mighty navy 
 Which should have swept the seas, 
 But they have met the British fleet 
 Mine Gott! Where are they now? 
 
 Another number was entitled "The Clipping 
 of the Kaiser's Moustache." A girl marched in 
 with a cap on like the Kaiser's and with a turned- 
 up moustache, but she had added to the make-up, 
 some long brown whiskers. She had a pillow 
 under her belt, showing that in their conception 
 of the Kaiser he was a squatty-looking man. A 
 group then sang the following song to the tune 
 of "Tom Brown's Baby Had a Cold Upon It's 
 Chest." 
 
 Kaiser William had a wonderful moustache 
 
 Kaiser William had a wonderful moustache 
 
 Kaiser William had a wonderful moustache 
 
 We went and clipped it off. 
 
 Chorus : 
 
 India, Canada, and Australia, 
 
 Italy, Belgium, America, 
 
 France and England all did march along 
 
 And cut his whiskers off. 
 
 A little girl stood beside the made-up Kaiser 
 and at the end of each verse and the chorus, 
 gave his whiskers a jerk and twist. 
 
 And will I ever forget that sunset scene at 
 Burgess Memorial? The girls sitting in long 
 rows upon the grass. The sun sinking, with its 
 
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BILASPUR 
 
 golden glow, into the West. Not a breeze 
 blowing. In that quiet out-of-doors amphi- 
 theatre, these girls, not yet one generation re- 
 moved from paganism, gave an evening con- 
 cert. A special chorus sang two or three beauti- 
 ful selections, and then the whole group sang 
 some of the great Christian hymns. 
 
 The week before I had seen the poverty, the 
 ignorance, the dirt and squalor in the far vil- 
 lages, in which thousands of boys and girls were 
 growing up, with never an opportunity for 
 educational advantage. No schools, no books, 
 no daily papers, nothing but mud houses, dirty 
 streets, their idolatry, and hard work. The 
 women and girls, like mere chattel slaves, 
 doomed forever to a place of inferiority. 
 
 But here at Bilaspur was a contrast. Girls 
 being educated, dressed in their modest clean 
 clothes. Girls being taught Christianity who no 
 longer bow down to idols of wood and stone. 
 Girls being lifted above the sordid slavery which 
 has oppressed them for generations. Girls really 
 being educated up to the place where they can 
 stand side by side with the best men of their 
 race and be counted as their equals. In short, 
 girls at last having their chance, and having 
 their chance because Miss Ennis, and others with 
 like devotion are with rare tact and persever- 
 ance and consecration paying the price for the 
 up-lift and the advancement and liberation of 
 their brown sisters of Hindustan. 
 
 [225] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 DR. JENNY'S WORKSHOP 
 
 The Mission hospital at Bilaspur is like a 
 city set on a hill. It is a woman's hospital and 
 Dr. Jenny Crozier has visions of multiplying 
 its influence and power. The next such hospital, 
 traveling south, is one hundred and twenty miles 
 away; west, two hundred and fifty miles; north, 
 two hundred and fifty miles; and traveling east, 
 there is no other before reaching Calcutta. There 
 is a government hospital in Bilaspur and a few 
 government hospitals in that area. However, 
 these hospitals are usually under the manage- 
 ment of Indian doctors and it is not unfair to 
 say that as a whole their work cannot compare 
 with that of the American trained physician. 
 
 The present staff consists of Dr. Crozier and 
 an assistant surgeon, a fine Indian girl who took 
 special training and who received a certificate 
 as "sub-assistant surgeon." There are two com- 
 pounders for the drug room. One fully trained 
 nurse, another who has nearly completed her 
 course, with four others in training as nurses 
 and "dressers." 
 
 While this is a woman's hospital, men pa- 
 tients are treated at the dispensary though not 
 received as in-patients. The report for the pre- 
 ceding year showed three hundred and sixty-five 
 in-patients; two hundred and twenty-five opera- 
 tions; two thousand five hundred and seven 
 male patients at the dispensary; two thousand 
 and eighty- four female patients; a total of five 
 [226] 
 
BILASPUR 
 
 thousand four hundred and ninety-one, no per- 
 son being counted twice. 
 
 The grounds are beautifully laid out, con- 
 taining about ten acres. At one end is the 
 doctor's bungalow. Not far away are the private 
 wards for those who desire to do their own cook- 
 ing when they have to stay for several weeks. 
 At the other end of the grounds near the street, 
 is the dispensary and hospital building, and not 
 far from this is the main ward where from thirty 
 to fifty patients may be accommodated. Then 
 there are buildings for the nurses and assistants. 
 There are fine big trees all over the yard. 
 
 The patients in these Indian hospitals are 
 always an interesting study. Besides the com- 
 mon, ordinary cases which drift into every hos- 
 pital, there are always special cases of more than 
 ordinary interest. In one of the private wards 
 was a purdah woman whose husband had 
 brought her seventy miles for treatment. She 
 had been there five days and was very much 
 better. I asked the man why he had come that 
 long distance. 
 
 He said, "I heard that Miss Doctor Sahib 
 had very fine medicine and I thought she could 
 heal my wife." This is only one of many similar 
 cases where people hear of the good work of the 
 medical missionaries and travel long distances 
 for treatment. I asked for permission to take a 
 photograph of himself and his wife to show the 
 people at home. I told him that people would be 
 interested to see the photograph of a man and 
 
 [227] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 woman who had traveled seventy miles for 
 medical treatment. Great was Dr. Crozier's sur- 
 prise when the man agreed. He stood by her 
 little bed and allowed her to remove the purdah 
 veil while the photograph was being taken. 
 
 It is not infrequent for some Rajah, or 
 well-to-do Indian to send for the Doctor to make 
 a long journey to treat some member of the 
 family. In such cases these well-to-do folk pay 
 a large fee for the attention given them. 
 
 Dr. Crozier feels that there should be a reg- 
 ular nurses' training school at Bilaspur to sup- 
 ply nurses for our work. The hospital could well 
 be repaired and enlarged, and with a better plant 
 its influence and good name could be greatly in- 
 creased. 
 
 (Note: A good friend has recently made a 
 pledge of twenty-five thousand dollars for the 
 erection of a Nurses' Training School and the 
 enlargement and equipment of the hospital.) 
 
 MAMMA JI KINGSBURY 
 
 It is a great record to have spent thirty-nine 
 years as a missionary, thirty-seven of those years 
 in the same station. It is the high record of 
 missionaries among Disciples of Christ. There 
 may be some in other churches who have a 
 longer record, but there are very, very few. 
 
 Mary Kingsbury has seen our work grow 
 from its very beginning. She was with G. L. 
 Wharton in the beginning of the work at Harda. 
 Bilaspur was the second station, Mungeli the 
 
 [228] 
 
BILASPUR 
 
 third, and Damon was the fourth. Then others 
 were opened as the church at home saw the 
 vision, and sent the men and the money. Now 
 there are thirteen stations, and a wonderful work 
 is being done along educational, industrial, 
 zenana, medical and evangelistic lines. Further- 
 more, she has seen the work open in China, 
 Japan, Africa, Philippine Islands, Tibet, Mexico 
 and Latin America. 
 
 Her long period of service in Bilaspur has 
 given her a host of friends in the church, among 
 the Hindus, and among the English officials. 
 People come to her for advice on all kinds of 
 questions. What would she do about a certain 
 law-suit? And should this cloth merchant give 
 up business and go out and take control of a 
 village? How can this man get along better in 
 business? Another is poor, and being oppressed. 
 Would the Miss Sahib please listen to his troubles 
 and tell him what to do? Imagine the tales of 
 woe she has listened to through thirty-nine 
 years. 
 
 Miss Kingsbury helped to organize the first 
 Sunday-school in Bilaspur. She also organized 
 the Girls' School and the Orphanage which has 
 done such a great work for the helpless children 
 of Bilaspur and vicinity. She has never turned 
 an orphan child away in all the years she has 
 been in India. She laid the foundations, and for 
 many years was the manager of the great school 
 and orphanage now known as the Burgess Me- 
 morial School. 
 
 [229] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 Since her last furlough it was necessary for 
 a younger woman to take charge of the heavy 
 responsibility of school and orphanage, so she 
 has been assigned to do zenana work. She is 
 therefore, a missionary to the women who are 
 "behind the veil." They call them "purdah" 
 women. Their husbands will not allow them to 
 go out without a veil over their faces. If they go 
 to the hospital, they go in a closed cart, and the 
 doctor must receive them in the purdah room. 
 All other hospitals are equipped with such a 
 room. It is easy to imagine the good cheer and 
 the touch from the outside world that she brings 
 to these slaves of the Indian social order. Their 
 minds and hearts are veiled the same as their 
 faces. Most of them cannot read and write. One 
 of Bilaspur's most educated and advanced 
 citizens has a wife whom Miss Kingsbury has 
 taught to read and write. The men now 'often 
 invite her to go into their homes and teach their 
 women folks. She always explains that if she 
 goes she will teach them the Bible, but no objec- 
 tion has ever been offered to that. 
 
 Often as she goes into these homes, the 
 word passes quickly from one house to another, 
 and she will have an audience of from six to ten 
 women listening to her kindly talk and her 
 stories of Jesus, who came to save women as 
 well as men. 
 
 The reader must not imagine that she does 
 all this work herself, or alone. She is truly 
 apostolic, in that she believes that she must 
 
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BILASPUR 
 
 multiply herself through the work of others. 
 Hence, she has under her guidance, training and 
 direction, a force of ten Bible women. Three of 
 these live in Bilaspur, and seven live in the vill- 
 ages round about. They spend about five hours 
 a day at this work. They go two by two into the 
 villages, get the children together, teach them 
 songs and Bible stories in the mornings. Then 
 they go to visit the women in their homes, in 
 the afternoons. In this way hundreds of women 
 are reached with the gospel message, who would 
 never hear it from the men. In India, it takes 
 women to reach women. 
 
 I was introduced to Miss Kingsbury's ox- 
 cart, and her gari-wala — the driver of the oxen. 
 There was a mission school four miles in the 
 country, and she and one of her helpers felt 
 that I should see it. She keeps an ox-cart in- 
 stead of a horse-cart, because she feels that it 
 is more suitable and more reliable. The oxen 
 can go over roads that are impossible for the 
 horse, so one day I climbed aboard the bail- 
 garu The gari-wala seated astride of the 
 tongue, cranked up the tails of the oxen and we 
 were off. Miss Kingsbury thought we would 
 make four miles in forty-five minutes, but we 
 finally anchored alongside of the school in an 
 hour and ten minutes. 
 
 The Indian head-master had misunderstood 
 the announcement that we were to be there that 
 day, and had dismissed the school on account 
 of it being one of the many Hindu holidays, but 
 
 [231] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 when he saw that the Miss Sahib, along with the 
 new Sahib had honored him by making a visit 
 to his school, he sent messengers scurrying 
 around the village and soon had about two- 
 thirds of his pupils rounded up, and seated on 
 the floor in the school room. They gave a pro- 
 gram and demonstrated some of the work that is 
 being done. The head-master is a Christian 
 man and is doing everything he can, not only to 
 teach the children the regular prescribed govern- 
 ment course, but also to teach them the 
 principles of the Christian religion. Miss Kings- 
 bury has helped to organize and supervise a 
 number of such schools in the villages around 
 Bilaspur. 
 
 Through many years, Miss Kingsbury has 
 conducted a good sized matrimonial bureau. Let 
 the reader remember that in India no boy or girl 
 makes his own marriage arrangements. That is 
 always done by the parents or other relatives. 
 Marriage arrangements are made for tens of 
 thousands of boys and girls before they are ten 
 years of age. Hence, it has been entirely in 
 keeping with Indian custom for Mamma Ji 
 Kingsbury to make arrangements for the mar- 
 riage of her girls. 
 
 Since many of them were Christians, she 
 planned of course to marry them to Christian 
 men. It worked out about like this: A man 
 would send her word that he wished a wife. She 
 would look up his record, and if it was satis- 
 
 [232] 
 
BILASPUR 
 
 factory and he had the ability to support a wife, 
 she would ask him to call. She would then pick 
 out some girl whom she thought would make a 
 suitable wife for the man. She would arrange 
 a meeting between them on her front veranda, 
 she always being present. After a conversation 
 of twenty to thirty minutes Miss Kingsbury and 
 the girl would retire for consulation. If they 
 were pleased with each other that settled the 
 matter and arrangements would be made for the 
 marriage. 
 
 Miss Kingsbury has arranged over a hun- 
 dred marriages, and she says that most of them 
 have turned out well. She could give the "marry- 
 ing parsons" a good many fine points about the 
 business. Her biggest job along this line was 
 that time when another missionary arrived one 
 day with fourteen young men from Damoh. 
 Damoh specializes on boys, Bilaspur on girls. It 
 took two days to arrange all the meetings for the 
 fourteen couples. With several it was a case of 
 love at first sight. When all the arrangements 
 were made, the fourteen couples marched over 
 to the church, where the ceremony was per- 
 formed. One of the pastors of one of our largest 
 Indian churches was married in that group. He 
 is to be ordained during the coming year. 
 
 The confidence, faith, devotion and respect 
 which the Indian people have in Mary Kings- 
 bury is summed up in the statement of the man 
 who bade her welcome to Bilaspur thirty-seven 
 
 [233] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 years ago. While he is still a Hindu, he has be- 
 friended her and the mission in many ways. One 
 day he said to me : 
 
 "Miss Kingsbury is the most unselfish per- 
 son I have ever met. She loves India, and India 
 loves her. She is welcome in any home, rich or 
 poor, high caste or low caste." 
 
 [234] 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 MUNGELI 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 MUNGELI 
 
 EVANGELISM WITH ITS BOOTS ON 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF FOSTERPUR 
 
 1 
 
 The story of the growth and development 
 of Fosterpur reads almost like a romance. It 
 also reads like a chapter from the Acts of the 
 Apostles. 
 
 In February, 1917, at Set Ganga, a village 
 about nine miles west of Mungeli, there was 
 held a meeting of the leaders of the Chungia 
 Chamars to consider the advisability of the 
 whole caste becoming Christians. Never before 
 had such a meeting been held in that section of 
 the country with such a purpose in view. Nothing 
 definite came of this but it left an open door for 
 later development. 
 
 In December, 1917, M. J. Shah, a well trained 
 and devoted Indian preacher was moved from 
 Harda with the special object of opening up and 
 establishing the work in that section west of 
 Mungeli. 
 
 In March, 1918, ten acres of ground were 
 bought for a new out-station. There was some 
 opposition to our buying the land. This was 
 finally overcome by loaning the village pro- 
 
 [237] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 prietors rupees two thousand on mortgage, and 
 buying the land of them. In early May of 1918, 
 the foundation was begun for a small temporary 
 home for Mr. Shah. At the same time the per- 
 sonal work and the preaching to the people 
 nearby was carried on. In the latter part of 
 May of that same year, a chamar, a noted char- 
 acter, made a public confession of Christ and was 
 baptized, the first fruits of the Kingdom in that 
 section. A little later three others from this 
 section heard the gospel while taking treatment 
 in the Mungeli hospital and became Christians. 
 
 2 
 
 The work increased and grew. In Septem- 
 ber, 1918, two more men with their wives who 
 lived near Fosterpur, accepted Christianity, 
 and two others living at Piparkhuta became 
 Christians, and before the end of September their 
 wives had followed in their footsteps. 
 
 Still others followed and by the end of De- 
 cember, 1918, twenty had been baptized from the 
 villages around Fosterpur. Thus the founda- 
 tions for the buildings and the foundations of 
 the Kingdom were being laid at the same time. 
 
 During the year 1919, most of the building 
 work was completed. This was supervised 
 jointly by Mr. Saum and Mr. Shah. A mud 
 school building was erected and a school opened 
 in January, 1919. A nice neat double house (not 
 a St. Louis flat) was erected for the home of the 
 master of the school and the assistant evan- 
 gelist. The permanent home of Mr. Shah was 
 
 [238] 
 
MUNGELI 
 
 also erected. The walls are of stone, most of 
 which came out of our own land. It has a tile 
 roof. It is built in Indian style and is a neat, 
 commodious, yet unpretentious home. One room 
 is kept for the use of the missionaries as they 
 travel in that area in supervising the work. 
 
 In July, 1919, the little congregation was 
 formally organized on the veranda of Mr. Shah's 
 home. Since then regular services and Sunday- 
 school have been held, pending the erection of 
 the church building. The Christians live in nine 
 different villages and by the end of December, 
 1919, there were forty-seven Christians living in 
 these different villages. 
 
 Another phase of the evolution of Fosterpur 
 was in the heart of a man named Foster, who 
 lives in Missouri. He began the support of a 
 missionary in India. His vision and liberality 
 increased as he came to know the needs and op- 
 portunity there. So the money for both the land 
 and the building was the gift of Mr. Foster, and 
 the new out-station was named Fosterpur in his 
 honor. Thus it will be seen that the develop- 
 ment of the work on the foreign fields keeps 
 pace with the vision and consecration of the 
 church at home. 
 
 During the year 1919 there was a famine in 
 that area and the workers at Fosterpur gave 
 valuable assistance to the people in need. A 
 number of children were cared for and the mis- 
 
 [239] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 sion supervised a government famine-relief 
 station at Set Ganga. 
 
 The following facts indicate the situation 
 at Fosterpur at the beginning of the year 1920. 
 Twenty-two families are represented among the 
 Christians living in nine different villages. The 
 number of children in these families is thirty- 
 five. The number of school pupils enrolled is 
 forty-two. The number of farmers among the 
 converts is twelve, and they own about seventy 
 acres of land. The average being a little less 
 than six acres which is more than the average 
 for all India. A number of the Christians have 
 been taught to read and write so that permanent 
 progress is being made. Mr. Shah and his helpers, 
 along with his wife who directs the woman's 
 work, now visit forty different villages where 
 they teach and preach regularly. 
 
 At the time of my visit there were several 
 fine patches of wheat on the ten acre farm. One 
 patch was beardless wheat which the govern- 
 ment had requested the mission to introduce. 
 The Indian farmers nearby are being asked to 
 introduce this better variety of wheat, as it will 
 yield considerably more to the acre. 
 
 4 
 
 A crowd of about one hundred gathered 
 around Mr. Shah's veranda for the program and 
 Thanksgiving offering. Before the program had 
 finished the crowd had increased to at least two 
 hundred. People brought money and grain as 
 their offerings. One man carried over a bushel 
 
 [240] 
 
MUNGELI 
 
 of grain nearly nine miles. This was carried in 
 two large baskets, one at each end of a bamboo 
 pole over his shoulder. A widow who had re- 
 cently been baptized sent her son a distance of 
 eight miles with her offering of more than a gal- 
 lon of grain. The school children each made an 
 offering. 
 
 Mr. Shah gave an interesting account of how 
 the people are learning to give to help support 
 their new religion. A little earthen jar has been 
 put in practically every Christian home, and the 
 women are asked to put one handful of grain in 
 this jar every time they prepare a meal. It is 
 called "the jar of religion." By that method, in 
 one month the women gave rupees one, three 
 annas, two pice worth of grain. 
 
 When the Christians had finished their of- 
 ferings, Mr. Shah made a statement to the Hin- 
 dus present. He told of the work in the com- 
 munity and what the money and grain would be 
 used for. He also told what the school, the 
 farm, and the medicines were doing for the up- 
 lift of the people. He said that all of it had 
 been done and the offerings given, in the name 
 of Christ, to bring relief and help to the people, 
 and told the Hindus that their offerings were 
 not solicited, but would be gladly accepted and 
 used with the oth^r offerings if they desired to 
 give. 
 
 Then a strange and unheard of thing oc- 
 curred. At least fifty Hindus marched up to the 
 table and made gifts. Two or three of them were 
 
 [241] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 Malgazars. The Christians were amazed that 
 the Hindus gave so freely. 
 
 Three things are major factors in the 
 evolution of Fosterpur; money, prayer and life. 
 The beginnings of the enterprise have been 
 eminently successful. Only the One who knows 
 all things can foresee the ultimate results. The 
 success of this new work is most certainly a 
 prophecy of what might be done in many fields 
 if the workers and their support were available. 
 
 BY OX-CART TO PIPARKHUTA 
 
 Piparkhuta is a village about seventeen 
 miles west of Mungeli, eight miles beyond 
 Fosterpur. We made the trip to Fosterpur in a 
 buggy. There are five Christian families at 
 Piparkhuta and Mr. Saum felt that they would 
 be greatly disappointed if we did not visit them 
 while in that section of the country. When we 
 were ready to start for Piparkhuta we piled into 
 the ox-cart and started on the long dusty road at 
 the rate of about three miles an hour. After more 
 than two hours of dusty travelling we came to a 
 road leading out across the fields. Here a man 
 met us who had come out two miles on foot to 
 bid us welcome to his home and to the vil- 
 lage. A few minutes later we came to the river. 
 The oxen were unhitched and allowed to graze, 
 and the man carried Mr. Saum and me across 
 the river on his back. 
 
 A little further on a young man came out to 
 meet us, and by the time we were at the edge of 
 
 [242] 
 
MUNGELI 
 
 the town several other persons met us and es- 
 corted us back into the village. These Chris- 
 tians are the relatives of Bickram, one of the 
 hospital assistants in Mungeli. It was through 
 his influence that they became Christians. He 
 had gone out the day before to talk to other 
 friends and relatives about becoming Christians. 
 We sat down in a little mud house and had 
 a conference with the Christians. Other people 
 came in and listened to the conversation. There 
 are many problems in connection with the work 
 in a village of this kind. The Christians are 
 often perplexed as to what is the wise thing to 
 do, and as soon as a missionary arrives they con- 
 front him with many intricate and complex 
 problems which are at times very difficult to 
 solve. One such problem was in connection with 
 a girl about eleven years of age. She had been 
 promised in marriage to a man of another vil- 
 lage. Now her father was a Christian. If the 
 girl goes to school in Mungeli she will become 
 better educated than the man, become a Chris- 
 tian, and will not be satisfied with the man and 
 his ideals when he comes to demand her in mar- 
 riage. What should the father do in this case? 
 When the engagement took place the boy's 
 father had given to the girl's father twenty-five 
 rupees to bind the contract. The girl was only 
 four years of age when this transaction took 
 place. To get her released would now cost her 
 father forty or fifty rupees and he did not have 
 the money to pay. Problem number one: As 
 
 [243] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 a Christian man what should he do? Problem 
 number two: As an adviser of his converts, 
 what could a missionary say to help him out of 
 his difficulty? 
 
 Another problem was this : One of the men 
 has six acres of ground. He mortgaged it dur- 
 ing the famine for forty rupees. If he doesn't 
 pay the government tax for three years he loses 
 the land, and it goes to the Malgazar, who will 
 pay the tax. The man has two dependents and he 
 is now a Christian. The land is worth about 
 twenty rupees per acre, or a total of one hundred 
 and twenty rupees, but it is so tied up that he 
 cannot sell it. He has no oxen, he has no plow, 
 and he has no grain, and he is not in position to 
 pay the forty rupees which he borrowed. Neither 
 does he want to lose what money he has invested 
 in the land. The problem is, what shall the mis- 
 sionary advise this man to do? 
 
 It is not enough to say, "Let the mission ad- 
 vance the money and pay the man's debt." That 
 would be easy enough if there were but one man 
 to deal with, but there are so many men with so 
 many different problems that it is impossible 
 for the mission to finance them in their times 
 of difficulty. On the other hand, the problem of 
 establishing and maintaining a little church in 
 that village, and in many other villages, is de- 
 pendent upon the solution of the economic prob- 
 lems of the Christians located there. 
 
 [244] 
 
MUNGELI 
 
 AMONG THIEVES AT KESARUADIH 
 A very interesting work is being carried on 
 among the people of the thieving caste at 
 Kesaruadih. Practically all of the people who 
 live here in a village of about twenty houses be- 
 long to the thieving caste. Many of them were 
 religiously working at the job. They were not 
 only thieves themselves, but taught their chil- 
 dren to steal. To escape detection was considered 
 by them very honorable. They became such a 
 nuisance that they were put under police sur- 
 veillance. The men were not allowed to leave 
 their village without reporting to the police 
 where they were going and how long they were 
 going to stay. They were also required to re- 
 port to the police at the village to which they 
 were going. 
 
 Our mission began work there a few years 
 ago. The police laughed at our native evangel- 
 ists when they first went in. They said no good 
 could be done among those thieves. They were 
 perfectly willing for the experiment to be tried 
 out. After some time a few of the men became 
 Christians, later some of the women, and at the 
 time of my visit there were twenty Christians 
 from among the thieving caste at Kesaruadih. 
 There were Christians in ten houses, or half the 
 houses in the village. The Christians gathered 
 together for conference in the little two room 
 house of the evangelist. This man had lived 
 here for nearly a year. He conducts a Sunday- 
 school in his little home every Sunday, and also 
 
 [245] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 a communion service. He conducts a day school 
 for an hour each day for the children who desire 
 to come. He also goes to seven or eight villages 
 and teaches regularly. 
 
 It was a queer looking crowd that sat down 
 with Mr. Saum and me on the floor of that little 
 Indian home. How humble these Christians 
 seemed who had lately come out of the thieving 
 caste, and how proud this evangelist was to have 
 the new Sahib from America visit his little home 
 far from the mission station. On the walls were 
 a number of colored pages clipped from the 
 catalog of a famous mail order house from 
 Chicago. Quite a number of American post cards 
 were also on the walls, one being a beautiful 
 picture of Niagara Falls. 
 
 After we had talked for some time, one of 
 the men made a little speech to me. In sub- 
 stance this is about what he said: "Sahib, all 
 of us here used to belong to the thieving caste. 
 We were thieves. We taught our children to 
 steal. We didn't know any better. But the white 
 Sahib came and taught us about Jesus. The 
 evangelist came often and told us the story over 
 and over again. Finally some of us became 
 Christians. We found out we could make more 
 money by being Christians than we could by 
 stealing and now we no longer steal. We send 
 our children to school. Five of the men here 
 send their boys to the Mungeli boarding school. 
 Some of them may be preachers. Sahib we 
 thank you for sending us the story of Jesus. We 
 
 [246] 
 
MUNGELI 
 
 are all praying for you, and we are praying that 
 before long all the houses in Kesaruadih will 
 have Christians in them. We want our village 
 entirely changed from a thieving village to a 
 Christian village." 
 
 What transformations come into the lives 
 of these poor people, when a great compelling 
 ideal has entered their souls. The policemen 
 say that one evangelist or one missionary is 
 worth five policemen in Kesaruadih. People who 
 have known the past history of that village now 
 travel miles to see and know something of the 
 strange thing that has come to pass. There is 
 but one power that could bring about this trans- 
 formation, and that is the gospel "which is the 
 power of God unto salvation" even to a thieving 
 village in the heart of India. 
 
 ON HORSEBACK TO PATHARIA 
 
 We made the trip from Kesaruadih to Pa- 
 tharia on horseback, where we stayed all night, 
 sleeping in a little mud school-house. This is a 
 village of about a thousand people. It is plan- 
 ned to establish a dispensary here. Two Chris- 
 tian teachers and their wives live here and con- 
 duct the school. The head master is very much 
 interested in the school, and reports splendid 
 progress and interest among the people of the 
 village. There are several Christian families 
 here. 
 
 The Malgazar who owns this village is a 
 Mohammedan. He not only owns the land upon 
 
 [247] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 which the village is located but he owns about 
 two hundred acres surrounding the village. Many 
 of the people who live in the village work on his 
 land or rent land from him on the shares. It 
 would be well here for the reader to get an idea 
 about the land situation in India. Perhaps it 
 may most easily be illustrated by this tall, proud 
 Mohammedan Malgazar who not only owns Pa- 
 tharia, but owns eleven other villages either 
 partially or entirely. 
 
 Mr. Saum sent for him to call upon us. He 
 came over and sat in the little school-house with 
 us while the school was being conducted in the 
 open court outside. He asked questions about 
 my camera, about the rifle, and about the farm- 
 ing tools in America, and about our system of 
 taxation. Then I asked him some questions. His 
 ancestors have been Malgazars for several 
 generations. These men pay to the government 
 large sums of money in taxes. The govern- 
 ment must look to them for their own taxes and 
 for assistance in collecting the head tax of the 
 people who work on their land. 
 
 He gave the following list of villages he 
 owned and the number of acres around the vill- 
 ages: 
 
 First village .1600 acres....one-half interest 
 
 Second village 800 acres....one-half interest 
 
 Third village 1400 acres.. ..full interest 
 
 Fourth village 1100 acres....full interest 
 
 Fifth village 900 acres.. ..full interest 
 
 Sixth village 1000 acres.. ..full interest 
 
 [248] 
 
MUNGELI 
 
 Seventh village.... 325 acres.... full interest 
 
 Eighth village 650 acres.... full interest 
 
 Ninth village 800 acres.. ..half interest 
 
 Tenth village 600 acres.. .one-eighth interest 
 
 Eleventh village.. 1150 acres.... one-eighth interest 
 Patharia village.. 200 acres.... full interest. 
 
 Thus this one man, either partially or en- 
 tirely, owns and controls over ten thousand 
 acres of land. More than seventy per cent of 
 the people of India are engaged in agriculture. 
 The average Indian farm is not more than five 
 acres. It can readily be seen, therefore, the in- 
 equality existing between this man and the 
 average Indian farmer. No wonder he is looked 
 upon as a big man. 
 
 Being a Mohammedan and devout and rich, 
 he has already made a trip to Mecca and is very 
 proud of it. He has actually looked upon the 
 Holy City of the Mohammedans with his own 
 eyes. He was invited by the English government 
 to attend the Durbar at Delhi in 1911, when the 
 King was crowned Emperor of the Indian Em- 
 pire. This man is very proud of having been 
 present upon that historic occasion, and, ''stand- 
 ing up before the Rajah Sahib, King George V." 
 
 It will not take much imagination for the 
 reader to understand some of the difficulties in 
 the way of building up a strong church and a 
 strong Christian influence in a village where 
 such a man is the dominating factor. He was 
 very courteous, as the leading influential Indians 
 always are, but back of his courtesy is his Mo- 
 
 [249] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 hammedan fanaticism, and no loyal Moham- 
 medan ever allows Christianity to have full 
 sway without his secret or open opposition. 
 
 BIG DOINGS AT BHULAN 
 1 
 
 We continued from Patharia to Bhulan on 
 horseback. It was necessary to ride for several 
 miles upon the ridges between the fields to get 
 to Bhulan. There are not many good roads 
 in that section of the country. When we were 
 about a mile out of the village we met two men, 
 the chief men of the village who had come out 
 to greet us. They bade us salaam and welcome. 
 A half mile further on we met the teachers and 
 the whole school which had come out to give us 
 a cordial greeting. There are eighty-two in the 
 school and it was a fine sight to see them all 
 bow and salaam as we rode up. 
 
 The mission school is the only school in 
 this village. This is our banner school for that 
 area and a number of the children of Christian 
 parents come from other villages for their educa- 
 tion. 
 
 We have a good school building here which 
 is also used for a church building. There are 
 four teachers with their wives. The school 
 and the church have a most excellent influence 
 in the community. The people are friendly and 
 there is but very little opposition to the work. 
 
 This was a big day at Bhulan for it was the 
 time for the Thanksgiving offering, and the 
 
 [250] 
 
MUNGELI 
 
 Christians from the surrounding villages were 
 all present. It was also an occasion of extra- 
 ordinary importance to them because the Secre- 
 tary Sahib from America was present. After the 
 usual greetings we all went into the school-house 
 where the program was to be given. Many of 
 the non-Christian people were present and the 
 building was jammed to the doors. A number of 
 Christian songs were sung and the children re- 
 cited many portions of the Scriptures. Four non- 
 Christian boys recited the Beatitudes and gave 
 the Lord's Prayer in Hindi. I made a short talk 
 through an interpreter on "The Purpose and 
 Meaning of Thanksgiving." 
 
 Following the program the Thanksgiving 
 offering was taken. This was managed by the 
 Indian evangelists who preach in and around 
 Bhulan. They read the list of names of the 
 church members and as each name was read the 
 man and wife and children came forward to- 
 gether and put their offerings upon the table. 
 One man and wife and his mother gave about 
 four rupees, which is a large offering for people 
 in their financial circumstances. One young 
 woman gave a rupee, which was a very large 
 offering but was explained on the ground that 
 she was a "second generation Christian." That 
 expression has a world of meaning in India. 
 Everything that goes with growth and progress 
 and education and leadership and Christian 
 stability is involved when they say "second 
 generation Christian." 
 
 [251] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 Some of the mothers brought their babies 
 with money in their little chubby hands to place 
 upon the offering table. Some farmers gave 
 slips of paper indicating that they would give 
 a certain amount of grain. One farmer who was 
 considered rather "close," announced that he 
 would give five and a half rupees' worth of grain, 
 and the whole crowd cheered. Another man 
 gave one rupees' worth of grain and one rupee 
 in cash. This was a fine offering for him and 
 the crowd cheered again. The total amount of 
 the offering, in cash and grain, amounted to 
 forty rupees. Practically every Christian had a 
 part in the offering and they were all happy over 
 the results. 
 
 2 
 
 Following this we were to have a big basket 
 dinner. It did not consist of fried chicken and 
 apple pie and four kinds of cake. It consisted of 
 plain curry and rice, the simple, yet nutritious 
 food of these common people. One old man stole 
 a march on the entertainment committee and 
 informed Mr. Saum and me that we were to eat 
 dinner at his house. We went with him, took 
 off our shoes, sat on the floor and were just 
 finishing a big plate of curry and rice when a 
 committee of five appeared upon the scene. There 
 was war brewing. This committee informed us 
 that this man had no right to invite us to his 
 house, that the plan was for us to eat with the 
 rest of the crowd; that they were all waiting, 
 they had eaten nothing, and that they would not 
 [252] 
 
MUNGEL1 
 
 eat unless Mr. Saum and I came to eat with them. 
 Saum is a wise man and he poured oil upon the 
 troubled waters by telling them that we had mis- 
 understood, and that now we had eaten with this 
 man we would also go over and eat with them. 
 This was satisfactory all around and we soon 
 were seated on the long veranda and the waiters 
 were dishing out heaping plates of curry and 
 rice to the hungry crowd. 
 
 One tall, slim old fellow who was blind, was 
 seated on the edge of the veranda, by the side of 
 a post. They ran out of plates by the time they 
 had reached him, and the only thing left was a 
 wash basin. They filled it nearly half full of 
 curry and rice. I thought it would kill the old 
 man if he ate this first course, but to my surprise 
 he was calling for the second order before I had 
 gotten started. He cleaned up his second order 
 and held up the wash basin for a third helping. 
 The waiter gave him a scolding for making a hog 
 out of himself, but gave him a small portion for 
 the third time. When the old man had finished 
 he leaned up against the veranda post and was 
 sound asleep in two minutes. 
 
 Following the dinner hour we had a good 
 visit in the yard and they asked me many ques- 
 tions about America, my family, the churches, 
 how we farmed, the ocean voyage, etc. They 
 were very much interested when I reported to 
 them that our churches were growing in mis- 
 sionary vision, year by year. They say they 
 want their Indian churches and Christians to 
 do the same. j- 2 531 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 When they all grouped together for the 
 photograph they stood under the large sign 
 which they had put up to welcome me. It was 
 on a piece of cloth twelve feet long and three feet 
 wide. It was held in place by two bamboo posts. 
 The Hindi inscription on the sign read "Victory 
 to Jesus" and after the photograph had been 
 taken they all joined reverently in giving the 
 cheer of "Victory to Jesus." They often give 
 that cheer at a baptismal service or when a new 
 convert comes out to confess Christ. They also 
 give it at conferences where they meet together 
 to encourage one another in the Christian life. 
 As I bade them goodbye that day, perhaps never 
 to see them again, I felt that if all the Christians 
 in the world were as true as these Indian Chris- 
 tians "Victory to Jesus" would really come. 
 
 WHAT THEY SAID TO ME AT PENDRIDIH 
 (Note: Dih in Pendridih is pronounced dee.) 
 
 Many years ago the mission saw its oppor- 
 tunity and bought the village of Pendridih and 
 about two hundred acres of land surrounding it. 
 This made it possible for the mission to appoint 
 the Malgazar for the village and for him to be 
 so recognized before the law. Mr. Saum is the 
 Christian Malgazar of the village of Pendridih. 
 The people of that section, therefore, have the 
 opportunity of seeing the growth and develop- 
 ment of a Christian community and of seeing the 
 people who live in the village get a square deal 
 when they borrow seed for their crops. 
 
 [254] 
 
MUNGELI 
 
 This farm is a constant example to the near- 
 by farmers. It always produces more bushels 
 per acre than those of the Hindu farmers. At 
 the Raipur fair, corresponding to a state fair at 
 home, the Pendridih farm took first prize on 
 wheat. No wonder the people are anxious to get 
 prize seed wheat for their fields. The farm also 
 received a medal for the production of rice. The 
 agricultural department of the province has 
 arranged to make Pendridih a distribution 
 center for improved seed grain. 
 
 The mission also maintains a co-operative 
 bank in Pendridih. Thus the people, when 
 necessity arises, are able to secure a loan with- 
 out the extortionate rate of interest demanded 
 by the money lenders. 
 
 The village is about nine miles from Mun- 
 geli. The church there has about one hundred 
 and thirty members. They have their own native 
 preacher, and support him with their own gifts. 
 They have a fairly good church building but it is 
 now too small for their needs, and they are plan- 
 ning to erect a new building which will cost 
 about one thousand dollars. Of this amount the 
 Indian Christians will be able to raise about four 
 hundred dollars and the mission will assist them 
 with the other six hundred dollars. 
 
 The school at Pendridih is a good one. There 
 are five teachers and the head master and all 
 of them are enthusiastic. They have five or six 
 different castes represented in the school. 
 
 [255] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 The whole Christian community, with many 
 others, met in the church to bid me welcome 
 and to assist in the program of education which 
 I was to receive. This program consisted of a 
 number of addresses or talks by different people 
 representing different phases of the work. Here 
 is what they said to me (verbatim) as I sat in 
 that quaint little Indian church at Pendrihih. 
 
 One of the teachers arose and told the 
 reason of the meeting: 
 
 "May it be known to all you good people 
 that we all who are seated here, whether of this 
 place or from other places, may you know that 
 this is not a prayer meeting, nor church, nor 
 Christians, but it is the time of the growth of 
 our work. And all of us present here have come 
 to receive and give advice to each other, and to 
 pray for the advance of God's Kingdom and have 
 met with our Secretary, Wilson Sahib, who is 
 of the Home Board Committee. It was his great 
 desire that he might meet the Indian Christians 
 and teach them concerning the growth of the 
 Kingdom of God, and learn the methods here, 
 and knowing the conditions here, present it to 
 the Home Board. And now opportunity is given, 
 first, that we all stand up to show him honor. 
 May God bless him, and lreer> him during his 
 journey, this is the prayer of us all here." 
 
 As this man finished the whole audience 
 arose and gave me a most cordial and unani- 
 mous salaam. 
 
 [256] 
 
MUNGELI 
 
 3 
 
 Rama stood up, bowed to me and the audi- 
 ence, and spoke as follows: 
 
 "About twenty years ago Gordon Sahib 
 bought this village for rupees one thousand 
 eight hundred, and had the farm work begun. 
 The farming was begun, and then for some 
 reason was stopped. Then again in 1913, 0. J. 
 Grainger Sahib said, 'This work shall be opened 
 up again.' Having mercy he himself gave about 
 rupees two hundred to this work and hired 
 workers. Then every year God's blessing was 
 upon this work. People found numerous ad- 
 vantages from this work, as, 
 
 "1- — Gradually the value of the farm in- 
 creased until instead of rupees one thousand 
 eight hundred, it is now worth about rupees ten 
 thousand, and every year the capital increases. 
 The village capital now saved in hand is about 
 rupees two thousand five hundred. 
 
 "2 — Now on occasions the Christians are 
 helped with seeds, which they formerly did not 
 receive, and because they had no seed had heavy 
 losses. Our Christians who worked by the day 
 for their living have now work for every month 
 of the year. Formerly part of the year they had 
 to leave their homes to hunt for work. 
 
 "3 — It is an advantage, not only to the mis- 
 sion and Christians, but non-Christians also are 
 given seeds and work, thus affording us an op- 
 portunity to preach the gospel to them and give 
 
 [257] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 them Christian influence and show them our 
 sympathy. 
 
 "4 — In this village we Christians live with 
 great peace. Christians living in other villages 
 have not this peace. They have many petty 
 persecutions and temptations. With this ex- 
 perience we bear witness and petition; when 
 there are such advantages upon this farm, why 
 does not our Society buy other farms? The 
 growth and development, spiritual and secular, 
 the spread of the Kingdom of God, the monthly 
 growth, we petition and hope that our Mission- 
 ary Society will buy such villages as will in- 
 crease the wealth and strengthen the church." 
 
 4 
 
 Damaru Nichol is the fine, tall, intelligent 
 pastor of the Pendridih church. He said: 
 
 "Although we were born amongst believers 
 in ghosts and goblins, idol-worshippers and 
 poor, and where it is sad to think of our condi- 
 tion in life, but we thank God that He has called 
 us out from that condition and has chosen us, 
 that being His, we may work for Him. 
 
 "We know that we are not perfect and are 
 not worthy of all things, but with the help of 
 God we are growing gradually and are beginning 
 to understand our duty and responsibility. The 
 proof of this is when five or six years ago the 
 church was very weak in service, giving, and all 
 kinds of church work. They thought that all 
 such work was for the Sahib, or co-workers. I 
 remember that one month the collection was 
 
 [258] 
 
MUNGELI 
 
 only eight pice! (This would be equal to about 
 six mills.) In those days O. J. Grainger Sahib 
 who was then the missionary in charge, said to 
 me, 'It would be well for you people to separate 
 your work, accounts, church councils, etc., from 
 the Mungeli church.' And so it was done. 
 
 "Then people perceive that responsibilities 
 have come upon us. We must care for our church 
 and slowly this work began. Now the collec- 
 tions have increased to rupees from twelve to 
 fifteen per month. Have begun to care for the 
 poor and have undertaken one special work. 
 See! Our church house is small, broken down, 
 and is in danger of falling. We have promised 
 to collect money on a new church. And the 
 church has collected about rupees five hundred. 
 Although the building will be about rupees two 
 thousand five hundred, nevertheless the church 
 will begin work when they have collected 
 rupees one thousand. After that we do not 
 know where we will get money to finish it. But 
 we know that this is the work of God and that 
 He will finish it. With faith we begin work. 
 We ask our Missionary Society to help us in this 
 work. 
 
 "We do other work also connected with the 
 mission, preach the gospel, especially to re- 
 latives of the Christians, and to those whom we 
 know, and bring them into the church. And 
 gradually the work is growing in every direction. 
 May God help us." 
 
 [259] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 5 
 
 Following this a tall farmer arose, named 
 Ghasiya, and spoke about the heeds of their 
 children : 
 
 "First we thank God and the missionaries 
 that by the mercy of God and the teaching of 
 the missionaries, having left our former con- 
 ditions in which our ancestors were entangled, 
 we have come into our present condition. 
 
 "Our parents worshipped idols and were, 
 swamped in the mire of sin. They were like 
 animals, that is, they were contaminated by 
 idol-worship, but we have left that condition. 
 
 "In the beginning of the Mungeli work there 
 were five of us boys between ten and twelve 
 years in the Mungeli school. At that time Jack- 
 son Sahib came. Every evening he seated us 
 on his veranda and taught us religion. Then we 
 five boys promised that 'This religion seems to 
 be true and we will sure become Christians.' 
 Then after Mr. Jackson, Gordon Sahib came, and 
 according to our promise we were baptized by 
 him. Then we came into the true religion and 
 this is now our religion. In this way our 
 brethren and sisters in the church have come 
 into this religion, and now we have many chil- 
 dren who are in Damoh, Harda, Bilaspur, Ma- 
 hoba and Kulpahar schools. 
 
 "Therefore we all request the missionaries 
 and Secretary Wilson Sahib that they will see 
 that our children have even better opportunity 
 than we have. That they may not remain as 
 we are, but that in good things they may go be- 
 
 [260] 
 
MUNGEL1 
 
 yond us. By the greatness of God, through their 
 enthusiasm, more may be done. Therefore, 
 through Secretary Wilson Sahib, we send word 
 to all brethren there, concerning our children 
 that you may make great effort that our chil- 
 dren may advance more than we have done. May 
 God give blessings." 
 
 6 
 
 Sukhru, the evangelist, who lives and works 
 at the thieving village of Kesaruadih, spoke 
 briefly: 
 
 "1 — Former condition of the Kesaruadih 
 people: 
 
 "They kept bad company — therefore they 
 were a bad lot. They were thieves — therefore 
 the police were constantly after them, and all 
 the people around look upon them with con- 
 tempt. They were like sheep without a shep- 
 herd. 
 
 "2 — When these people, because of their 
 troubles, became Christians, from that time their 
 conditions began to improve, and the very people 
 who had formerly persecuted them understood 
 that they are now all right; and began to re- 
 spect them. The people in villages round-about, 
 formerly would not allow them to come into 
 their villages, but now those same people allow 
 them to come and treat them with respect. About 
 two years ago these people became Christians. 
 At first people said that these Kesaruadih people 
 never would become good, but now those very 
 people have begun to call them good. 
 
 [261] . 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 "3 — Their children were wild and ignorant. 
 And in regard to them it was thought that 'as 
 the parents are, so will the children be.' But in- 
 stead of this the children have become good. 
 For about a year the boys have been in the 
 Mungeli hostel, and are learning well in school. 
 Their parents have begun to pay school fees at 
 the rate of annas eight per month for each boy. 
 Megnath gives Rs. one for his two boys. Rohigo 
 gives Rs. one for his son and his adopted son. 
 Bisalu gives annas eight for his boy. In this way 
 the boys read in the Mungeli school. One man 
 is too poor to give anything for fees for his boy. 
 
 "4 — On Sunday these people stop all work, 
 attend Sunday-school, and both morning and 
 evening service. They give annas two per month. 
 Some have begun to see the light, because they 
 are thinking about spiritual things. 
 
 "5 — The people of Kesaruadih all give 
 thanks to the mission because they have learned 
 to live good lives and are now in good condition." 
 
 7 
 
 Vishli, the head master of the school, made 
 the following report and address: 
 
 "The enrollment of the school is eighty- two. 
 New pupils twenty-five. Total about one hun- 
 dred. The average attendance is seventy-five 
 per cent. Eight girls are in this school. The 
 monthly fees received for pupils average about 
 rupees two. Many pupils are excused from pay- 
 ing fees because they are so poor. 
 
 "Sometimes the school committee or the 
 Tasildar Sahib each year urges the children to 
 
 [262] 
 
MUNGELI 
 
 attend school. Besides this mission officers 
 come (Miss Sahib comes regularly) and at the 
 present time his honor, Secretary Wilson Sahib 
 has come. We have been blessed by his coming. 
 
 "There are children from about six villages 
 enrolled in this school. Some of these villages 
 are one mile, or two miles distant. There are the 
 following castes: Christians, Brahmans, Kur- 
 umis, Gondas, Telis, Rawats, Pankas, Chamars, 
 Buniyas, and Garas. 
 
 "Six persons belong to the school staff. 
 There are two women and three men teachers 
 and one janitor. All of us thank God first and the 
 missionary Sahib, that they have brought us up, 
 cared for us, taught us things physical and 
 spiritual, and made us such men that we are 
 now able to make a living. You have given us 
 advantages that have enabled us to get certifi- 
 cates from the government, or honor from the 
 mission, and now we are able to work. 
 
 "In this station are all village schools. 
 Schools are open only in the morning, so the 
 children may have time for their work in the 
 fields, or take the cattle out to graze. It takes 
 a good while to go and come. 
 
 "At eight o'clock the teachers and pupils 
 all meet for prayer, then all go to their respect- 
 ive classes and we have about four and a half 
 hours of school. Half an hour each day the 
 Bible is taught to each class so that the pupils 
 receive both temporal and spiritual instruction. 
 So then they learn good behavior. 
 
 [263] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 "The teaching staff of this school receives 
 rupees sixty-two — annas eight, monthly salary. 
 We thank the Society for spending so much for 
 us. This school also receives a small grant from 
 the government. We also thank the missions 
 and the station committee for the revival meet- 
 ings and master's conferences sometimes given 
 us that we may meet those of other places. We 
 are thus able to teach our children with pleasure. 
 
 "When the teachers have time they visit 
 the parents of pupils, instructing them in re- 
 ligious things, and in sickness give them such 
 help as is right. Besides this the teachers help 
 in the church work, helping in the Endeavor, 
 Sunday-schools, etc. 
 
 "We have a good group of teachers. I give 
 something about their qualifications: 
 
 "Laksmi Bai, teacher. Her age is twenty- 
 three years. She is herself from the Bilaspur 
 Girls' Boarding School. She is from the sixth 
 Hindi class. She has taught in this school about 
 three years. She teaches the infant class. There 
 are twenty-five pupils in her class enrolled and 
 some new pupils not yet enrolled. She has such 
 a pleasant manner of teaching that her pupils 
 never wish to be absent. She loves her pupils 
 and gives them every kind of help that is right. 
 She is a good singer, and her pupils know good 
 songs and stories. The pupils are pleased with 
 her and are kind to one another. She teaches 
 three and a half hours then dismisses her class. 
 
 "She can also sew. If the honorable Wilson 
 Sahib should be in need of a handkerchief then 
 
 [264] 
 
MUNGELI 
 
 we may be able to send him one of her make. 
 When necessary she helps in the making of 
 clothes for the poor children and also teaches 
 a class in Sunday-school. She is also very clever 
 in her housework. She makes good chipatis 
 (bread.) She has a memory and reads the news- 
 papers and the Christian Sahayak. 
 
 "Samuel, assistant master. His age is 
 twenty years. Has read in the government mid- 
 dle English school at Bilaspur until fourth En- 
 glish. We are happy that this education so far 
 has been at his father's expense. His father and 
 mother are old Christians here. He has worked 
 with me in this school nearly one year. There 
 are fifteen pupils enrolled in his class. Every 
 morning early he walks one mile to call the 
 pupils. The advantage in this is that he gets 
 exercise and also visits the parents. He re- 
 turns in time for his school work. 
 
 "He teaches the second class. He is a good 
 teacher. Sometimes he talks a little English 
 with his teaching. He works hard for his school, 
 helps with the register and monthly report. He 
 teaches four and a half hours. He loves hockey 
 and football. He has another accomplishment, 
 that is, he loves fishing. He also gives great 
 thought to religious matters. He is kind to all. 
 We hear that the mission will send him to Rai- 
 pur for a special course in farming. We rejoice 
 with the mission that he will be given this op- 
 portunity. 
 
 "Prem Bai. She is the wife of Damaru 
 Nichol. Her age is about thirty-two years. She 
 
 [265] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 was educated in the Mahoba boarding school, 
 Damoh, and Jubbulpore Bible College. Passed 
 the sixth Hindi and Bible College course. She has 
 taught in this school about two and a half years. 
 She teaches the third Hindi. There are fourteen 
 pupils enrolled in her class. She loves her chil- 
 dren very much. One of her own children is in 
 each class. After school is out she does her 
 housework. She visits with all the people about, 
 she sews, using a machine, she makes butter 
 and cooks well. 
 
 "Kishori Lai, assistant teacher. His age is 
 about twenty-eight years. He passed the sixth 
 Hindi and knows considerable English also. He 
 attended school in Damoh and Harda. He has 
 taught here three years. He teaches the fourth 
 Hindi class. He has fourteen pupils enrolled. 
 He especially loves small children. When school 
 closes he helps in the house work. He is also a 
 deacon in the church. He also likes to help in 
 other work. He finds it easy to make two pice 
 out of one pice. He who wishes to be rich may 
 learn of him. 
 
 "Bishli, head master. I also am a clod of 
 earth. I received my town certificate while Mr. 
 Adams was in Bilaspur. I teach the fifth Hindi 
 class. I try to make the pupils strong physically 
 and mentally. I also help in the church work. 
 I love small children. I can swim well and ride 
 horseback a little. There is much more to say 
 but I now close." 
 
 [266] 
 
MUNGELI 
 
 8 
 After this splendid program I was called 
 upon to speak. I will leave it to the imagination 
 of the reader to supply what I said of encourage- 
 ment and commendation of the splendid work 
 and vision of the Indian Christians at Pendridih. 
 And while the imagination is at work the reader 
 might well look forward to the transformation 
 that would take place in India if there were ten 
 thousand such villages as Pendridih. 
 
 A BUSY SUNDAY AT MUNGELI 
 1 
 
 The communion service was held at 8:00 
 o'clock in the morning. The good, commodious 
 church was full. Hira Lai and Bickram acted as 
 deacons. The individual communion cups were 
 used. No sermon was preached at this early 
 morning service. 
 
 Then followed the Sunday-school, with 
 Bickram, the hospital assistant, as superintend- 
 ent. When the birthday offerings were called 
 for, several boys came forward and as they de- 
 posited their offerings in the birthday box they 
 announced in a loud voice how old they were. 
 Then the lesson leaves were passed and a Hindi 
 lesson was read in concert, the women reading as 
 well as the men. Following the opening exer- 
 cises the classes had a study period of forty-five 
 minutes. 
 
 They marched out of the church and sat in 
 groups upon the grass in the warm sun. One 
 teacher had a tripod with a large Sunday-school 
 
 [267] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 map upon it from which he taught the lesson. 
 The teachers seemed well prepared and all of 
 the classes seemed to take a real interest in the 
 lesson. 
 
 2 
 
 In the afternoon the annual Thanksgiving 
 service was held. This is held in February, and 
 not in November as is done in America. It will 
 be necessary to give the account of this service 
 somewhat in detail that the reader may fully 
 understand all that it involves. 
 
 A great crowd was present for the service, 
 ten different villages being represented in the 
 audience. Some people came a distance of fif- 
 teen miles. Even before the service began a 
 couple of chickens squawked which was an in- 
 dication that the offering was to be a liberal one. 
 A blind woman was led to her place by the ushers 
 and her son later walked across the church and 
 put some money in her hand for the offering. 
 "Great events cast their shadows before them." 
 
 Everybody joined heartily in the singing. 
 Hira Lai read the Scriptures and Miss Franklin 
 was called upon for prayer. At the close of her 
 prayer another chicken let out a hearty squawk. 
 Four boys from Kesaruadih sang. Some special 
 Indian music was given by an orchestra con- 
 sisting of a tabla — two small drums — two violins, 
 and one soloist. The music had been arranged 
 by and was under the direction of Mrs. G. E. 
 Miller. 
 
 Mr. Shah preached a fine sermon telling of 
 the growth of the church at Mungeli and at 
 
 [268] 
 
MUNGELI 
 
 Posterpur, and at several other villages in that 
 vicinity. He told how faithful the people had 
 been in their lives, and in their giving. One 
 poor ignorant woman had learned the story of 
 Zaccheus. She in turn taught it to her husband 
 and he now tells this story of Jesus dealing with 
 Zaccheus wherever he goes. Following this 
 speech, Ganesh, another fine Indian preacher 
 made an address. 
 
 Then came the offering. Hira Lai read the 
 names of the Christians, calling his own name 
 first, and he and his wife and children put their 
 offerings upon the table. One woman brought 
 an egg, another woman four eggs, others brought 
 offerings of little sacks of grain. A blind man 
 brought up a chicken and placed it upon the 
 platform. Others brought their chickens and 
 gave them freely. A large group of Hindus who 
 had walked in four miles for the service, and who 
 were sitting in the rear of the church, stood up 
 to watch the people make their offerings. 
 
 One man left the church and went home 
 and returned with his offering. Another gave 
 rupees one in money, and rupees one six in 
 grain. A man brought an offering of seven annas 
 for his new baby boy. He lived seven miles 
 away. A woman gave two more eggs. Another 
 man who had eight children and an income of 
 rupees ten per month made an offering. Most 
 of these people give monthly to the church but 
 these offerings were extra. The boarding school 
 boys marched up and every one gave an offering. 
 The missionaries also made their offering. The 
 
 [269] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 lepers sent word that they would give rupees 
 fourteen, ten annas, out of their weekly allow- 
 ances. 
 
 When the opportunity was given several of 
 the Hindus came forward and deposited their 
 gifts upon the table. When it was all counted up 
 eggs, chickens, grain and money, the total offer- 
 ing amounted to rupees one hundred and twenty- 
 five, eleven annas, four pice, and when they re- 
 ceived the reports from all of the out-stations, 
 including Fosterpur, Bhulan and Pendridih, the 
 total Thanksgiving offering amounted to rupees 
 three hundred and thirty seven and one anna. 
 
 It was a great service and everybody was 
 happy. Following the service I had a conversa- 
 tion with the group of Hindus present. I told 
 them that we were hoping that their village 
 would become a Christian village and that they 
 would some time co-operate in helping to give 
 Christianity to all the people in the Mungeli dis- 
 trict. 
 
 No man could spend such a busy Sunday 
 with the Indian Christians who live in and 
 around Mungeli without coming to have a high 
 regard for their ability, their devotion, their 
 consecration and their work. They are rapidly 
 growing in the grace and knowledge of the truth. 
 With such leaders as Hira Lai and Mr. Shah, and 
 with their increasing growth in liberality, the 
 time may not be far away when the church at 
 Mungeli may become a self-supporting, a self- 
 governing, and a self-propagating church. May 
 that day speedily come. 
 
 [270] 
 
MUNGELI 
 
 3 
 
 Many years ago a new convert was enrolled 
 by the name of Samuel Biswas. He was a Ben- 
 gali and was better educated than the average 
 Indian. He was a man who came to be a good 
 preacher but his influence and work widened 
 through the years. He was well acquainted with 
 the Indian law regarding land, inheritances, 
 marriages, etc. In later years he developed into 
 a sort of lawyer-preacher. Many of the new 
 converts would have lost all of their property 
 had it not been for Samuel Biswas. 
 
 For a while he spent most of his time in 
 keeping the Indian Christians out of the courts, 
 protecting them from both physical and legal 
 assault, getting their land titles cleared up, going 
 through the tedious processes of getting their 
 marriage and inheritance technicalities straight- 
 ened out, and a lot of other things which made it 
 possible for the Christian community to stand its 
 ground, and take root in the various villages. 
 He did all this disagreeable work with a patience 
 and fidelity which cannot be too highly appreci- 
 ated. No missionary could have done that piece 
 of work as he did it. He was ever on the alert 
 to encourage the Christians to see that they had 
 their rights and to help make strong the Indian 
 church, so that after a while it would be able to 
 stand alone. 
 
 Three workers stand out in my mind as 
 among the strongest of our Indian leaders. M. 
 J. Shah, the wide awake evangelist and leader. 
 Hira Lai, the hospital assistant and effective 
 
 [271] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 personal worker. Samuel Biswas, lawyer, ad- 
 visor, advocate and preacher. 
 (Note: Word has just come that Biswas, after a 
 serious illness, has passed away.) 
 
 EVANGELISTIC WORK FOR WOMEN 
 1 
 
 A very thorough and systematic program of 
 evangelistic work among the women is also be- 
 ing carried on. This work is under the direction 
 of Miss Neva Nicholson. Miss Nicholson has 
 seven regular Bible women under her super- 
 vision, with one or two substitutes when needed. 
 Two of these Bible women live in Mungeli, but 
 the others live in the out-stations and work 
 among the women there. Miss Nicholson goes 
 to the out-stations, helps to plan and direct the 
 work and encourages the workers. She also 
 gets a monthly report from each worker. She 
 has a panchaiyat — a committee meeting or con- 
 ference of the women from time to time, to talk 
 over and decide on all matters relating to the 
 work. 
 
 In December a three days' conference was 
 held in Mungeli with all of the Bible women 
 present and the women teachers of the schools. 
 All other Christian women were invited to this 
 conference. The conference was held in the 
 bungalow where Miss Nicholson and Miss Frank- 
 lin live. They removed the chairs and sat on the 
 floor so the women would feel perfectly at ease. 
 They entertained the women during the con- 
 ference and gave them their food. 
 
 [272] 
 
u 
 O 
 
 <u 
 
 43 
 
 3 
 
 O 
 
 C3 
 
 £ 
 
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MUNGELI 
 
 Mrs. Shah presided at the meetings and 
 gave talks and suggestions concerning the best 
 methods of work. Bible classes were held, re- 
 ports of the year given, and a new plan for carry- 
 ing out their work was agreed upon. 
 
 One plan was to have the women workers 
 urge their hearers to an immediate acceptance 
 of Christ. Also to report on how their message 
 and work were helping and developing the Chris- 
 tian women whom they visited. One worker re- 
 ported that one of the Christian women, when 
 she went to the fields to gather grain, told Bible 
 stories to her companions. 
 
 At this conference definite aims were set 
 for the year. These aims were as follows : 
 
 1 — The winning of one hundred Christian 
 
 women. 
 2 — To secure one hundred girls for enroll- 
 ment in the schools. 
 3 — One hundred and fifty villages to be 
 visited at least three times during the 
 year. 
 4 — The mother of each child in all the 
 
 schools, to be visited. 
 
 5 — To get- every Christian woman to do 
 
 some special service for which she is 
 
 not paid. 
 
 Each out-station has a certain number of 
 
 villages allotted to it. Thus a new hope is given 
 
 to these Bible women, and as they work they 
 
 have a definite plan for reporting their labors. 
 
 They report the number of readers of the New 
 
 Testament, the number of houses they visit, the 
 
 [273] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 number of villages visited, the number of school 
 children visited, the number of new girl pupils 
 secured, the number of volunteer workers, the 
 number of new Christian women won, and the 
 total number of hearers for the month. When 
 each out-station reports to Miss Nicholson, at the 
 end of the month, she compiles the records for 
 all and sends the report to each woman under 
 her direction. Thus each woman has a report 
 of her own work and a report of all of the 
 other women as well. This plan stimulates 
 activity and lends unity and encouragement to 
 all the workers. Miss Nicholson reports that 
 under this new plan more villages were visited 
 in one month than had been visited in any six 
 months before. A total number of two thousand 
 six hundred and forty-six hearers were reported 
 in a single month. 
 
 2 
 
 This kind of work takes constant care and 
 oversight. A regular series of Bible lessons is 
 prepared and taught to these Bible women to 
 teach their hearers. A series of Bible stories is 
 arranged for the use of these workers. The 
 women often find a crowd in the field, as they 
 travel from one village to another. They stop, 
 sing a few songs, tell the Bible stories, and the 
 people usually hear them gladly. They often 
 ask them to tarry longer and tell them more. 
 
 Dr. Jennie Fleming (who was in America 
 during my visit to India) also assists in the evan- 
 gelistic work at Mungeli. She makes many 
 tours among the villages to teach the people 
 
 [274] 
 
MUNGELI 
 
 about Christianity. She carries a little com- 
 munion set with her. When she goes into a 
 village where there are a few Christians, the 
 communion service is observed. 
 
 The lady missionaries go in all kinds of 
 weather and in all sorts of ways to supervise 
 and direct and manage the work under their 
 care. They go in ox-carts, in buffalo carts, in 
 horse tonga, on horseback, on foot, and some- 
 times in a sedan chair, called in India a "dandy," 
 carried by four men. As Dr. Fleming returned 
 from furlough she was provided with a Ford car 
 by some of her friends. But however they go, 
 it is with brave hearts and steady hands and 
 confident purpose and with unfaltering faith that 
 their contribution is necessary for the uplift of 
 India's belated womanhood, and for the whole 
 program of India's ultimate redemption. 
 
 MEDICAL AND DISPENSARY WORK 
 
 Dr. George E. Miller was the medical mis- 
 sionary in charge at Mungeli. He was ably 
 assisted by Hira Lai. Twenty-eight people as- 
 sembled early one morning for medical treat- 
 ment. They were carefully examined, their 
 names recorded, their prescriptions written out 
 in proper form. Before they filed into the drug 
 room to have these prescriptions filled, Hira Lai 
 read from the Scriptures to them and taught 
 them the meaning of what he read. Others 
 came while he was speaking so that the morning 
 attendance was from forty to fifty. Sometimes 
 it runs much higher than this. In addition to 
 
 [275] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 the Mungeli hospital two dispensaries are main- 
 tained at out-stations, besides the work among 
 the lepers at Mungeli and the women's leper 
 asylum, about a mile from Pendridih. The 
 total number of treatments last year was sixteen 
 thousand five hundred. The new cases num- 
 bered ten thousand two hundred and thirty. 
 
 The dispensary at Barela, twelve miles east, 
 has been in operation for a dozen years with the 
 same compounder, Dhansai, in charge. He is a 
 steady, reliable fellow and has ministered to the 
 simple needs of the people. He has thus gained 
 their good will and has helped to win a number 
 of Christians in several different villages. He 
 also has an assistant compounder, and the wives 
 of these two men are Bible women under the 
 direction of Miss Nicholson. 
 
 The mission owns about two acres of land 
 here upon which the dispensary building, the 
 school-house, and the houses of the workers are 
 located. There are thirty-seven Christians in 
 this section living in four different villages. 
 Pour of them are farmers who own thirty-three 
 acres of land. 
 
 When cases come to the dispensary which 
 Dhansai is unable to care for, they are sent to 
 the hospital at Mungeli. But many people re- 
 ceive simple remedies at Barela who would not 
 take the long journey to Mungeli. 
 
 AMONG THE LEPERS 
 
 One Sunday I went with Hira Lai to the 
 Leper Asylum, on the outskirts of Mungeli. There 
 [276] 
 
MUNGEL1 
 
 are seventy-six lepers there. Most of them are 
 Christians. They sat out on the grass in one 
 large Sunday-school class, while Hira Lai taught 
 them the lesson. 
 
 Following this they moved into a nearby 
 building which is used as a church auditorium. 
 One side of this building is entirely open. The 
 platform is separated from the rest of the build- 
 ing by a railing, so that those who conduct the 
 service may not come in contact with the lepers. 
 
 These people joined in the singing of the 
 songs with vigor and vociferation. When Hira 
 Lai read the New Testament lesson a number of 
 the lepers opened their own New Testaments and 
 followed him in the reading. He made a short 
 talk, to them and they listened eagerly. Follow- 
 ing his talk the communion was served. They 
 have a regular leper church in the institution, 
 with the communion every Sunday and two leper 
 deacons pass the emblems. One man who was 
 formerly an evangelist, is a sort of leper pastor 
 to these poor people. 
 
 Before we adjourned some of them requested 
 that the new Sahib talk to them a little. I hardly 
 knew what to say, but as I was trying to get 
 started one of them said, "Sahib, please kill a 
 wild boar and send some meat up to us." These 
 poor people rarely get meat and to them there 
 was nothing ridiculous about asking for some 
 wild boar meat immediately following a com- 
 munion service. I tried to bring them a word 
 of cheer, but they were so much more cheerful 
 than most people could have possibly been under 
 
 [277] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 the circumstances, that I felt my talk didn't have 
 much in it for them. 
 
 As I finished talking one man said, "Sahib, 
 take our bahut salaams (big salaams) back to 
 the people of America." Their hope and good 
 cheer and happiness were all a mystery to me 
 as I looked upon them and knew that they were 
 doomed to remain in that institution to the end 
 of their days. 
 
 As we were walking back from this service 
 I remarked: "Hira Lai, I can't understand why 
 those people are so cheerful." He replied in- 
 stantly, "Sahib, the secret of it all is Jesus. When 
 they become Christians they are happier in their 
 minds. The Christians here are easier managed 
 and seem much more contented than the non- 
 Christians." 
 
 THE WOMEN LEPERS 
 
 About a mile from Pendridih is a leper asy- 
 lum for women. Thirty-six women are in this 
 institution, and all but four are Christians. They 
 sat on the floor and sang their Hindi songs with 
 enthusiasm. One song was "I Wear in My Heart 
 the Necklace of Jesus," and another, "My Mind is 
 Inclined Toward Jesus." They also sang a song 
 praising the king, and an improvised song for the 
 occasion praising me, saying that they were glad 
 that their "father and mother" had come into 
 their midst. 
 
 Dr. Miller visits this institution regularly, 
 giving such medical treatment as is needed. 
 
 These leper women all had on considerable 
 jewelry. As this was the season for the Thanks- 
 
 [278] 
 
MUNGELI 
 
 giving offering Mr. Saum told them how the 
 others had given. After he had lead in prayer, 
 three or four of these women prayed, thanking 
 the Lord for clothing and food and the care they 
 were receiving. 
 
 Damaru asked the women if they wanted to 
 give and they replied "yes." He asked them if 
 they wanted to give by having their names 
 called, or if all should give the same amount. 
 One old lady said she thought each one should 
 give four annas; another thought that three 
 annas would be the right amount. There was 
 silence for a while and a gray-haired old woman 
 said, "Why should we reduce it from four annas 
 to three? Jesus has done so much for us we 
 would never miss it." So they agreed on four 
 and the offering was taken. 
 
 The missionaries and the Indian leaders say 
 that these women are never so happy as when 
 they are giving to help somebody else to know 
 the "Jesus story." I have not found so great 
 faith or liberality; no, not in Texas, nor Missouri, 
 nor Nebraska, nor Tennessee. 
 
 "AND AS YE GO, TEACH" 
 
 1 
 
 The educational work in and around Mun- 
 geli is under the direction of Miss Stella Frank- 
 lin. Miss Franklin has spent almost a quarter of 
 a century in India. There are five primary 
 schools under her supervision. The splendid 
 school at Pendridih has been given attention 
 elsewhere in this volume. The schools at Bhu- 
 
 [279] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 Ian, Patharia and Fosterpur are wisely guided 
 and kept up to the required standard by Miss 
 Franklin. The primary school at Mungeli, of 
 nearly one hundred pupils, and the boys' board- 
 ing school are a part of Miss Franklin's work. 
 All of these schools are inspected and examined 
 by the government, and all are maintained ac- 
 cording to government standards. Two of the 
 schools receive a small government grant. 
 
 The total enrollment in all these schools is 
 about four hundred and fifty. The pupils come 
 from twenty-one different villages. About ninety 
 of the more advanced boys and girls of Chris- 
 tian parents are attending the mission boarding 
 school elsewhere. 
 
 Miss Franklin is very proud of the fact that 
 the four teachers in the primary school at Mun- 
 geli are all Christians. Also that fifty-six of the 
 pupils are either Christians or the children of 
 Christian parents. The head teacher in this 
 school has finished the eighth grade and one 
 year of the normal school. Another teacher has 
 finished the seventh Hindi course, and the other 
 two the upper primary fifth grade. 
 
 Miss Franklin is a thorough believer in 
 teaching the Bible in a systematic way to all the 
 classes. Most of these pupils can recite lengthy 
 passages of the Scriptures from memory. It was 
 interesting to hear some of the boys from the 
 thieving village recite the Beatitudes. Another 
 boy about six years of age told the story of 
 Joseph. Another boy of ten recited the story of 
 Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was the 
 
 [280] 
 
MUNGELI 
 
 son of a cattle man. Preceding Christmas the 
 children commit to memory the Christmas story. 
 
 Regular courses of systematic Bible lessons, 
 standardized in such a way that they may be 
 used in all the schools, is being worked out by 
 Miss Franklin. The course for the beginners' 
 class contains simple stories from the Old Testa- 
 ment and the new Testament. The second and 
 third grades have a more advanced course of 
 stories, mostly from the Book of Luke. The 
 fourth grade has lessons from the Book of 
 of Mark, arranged and adapted to meet the 
 needs of the pupils. In looking over this course 
 of studies I ran across the following: "Note to 
 teacher: Your class will not understand the 
 reasoning in verses Mark 2:6-10, but you can 
 tell the children how Christ did two things for 
 the sick man; first, forgave him his sins, second, 
 healed him." The fifth grade course is from the 
 Book of Matthew. 
 
 It can be seen that with such a thorough 
 educational course and with systematic Bible in- 
 struction, a ground work is being laid for a better 
 citizenship among the people of India. 
 
 2 
 
 The boys' boarding school in Mungeli has 
 an enrollment of twenty-three. It was opened 
 to help educate the village Christian boys 
 and to aid in training plain mission workers 
 to meet our greater needs. It is a united effort 
 to develop the sons of the new Christians living 
 in scattered villages where there are no schools. 
 These new Christians would not allow their boys 
 
 [281] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 to be sent as far away as Damon, and until this 
 boarding school was started many of these 
 parents were indifferent to their boys' education. 
 
 The dormitories are run on a very simple 
 plan. No servants of any kind are employed. A 
 committee is appointed each month to do the 
 buying for the school. They bring all of their 
 rice from the village bazaar. A committee of 
 the larger boys looks after the cooking. They 
 carry water, wash their own clothes, keep the 
 yards clean, hoe their own gardens. They were 
 very proud of about fifty chickens they were 
 raising. The house father has classes for the 
 boys from two to four o'clock. Three of the boys 
 are learning to sew and may become tailors. 
 
 The parents of these boys are mostly 
 farmers. They are encouraged to pay fees in 
 grain at the two harvest times. The parents al- 
 so provide their clothing. By this co-operation 
 the sons of Christian parents are being given 
 Christian training to prepare them for the better 
 things of life. 
 
 To all of these schools, Miss Franklin goes 
 regularly. She examines each class personally 
 to see that the proper instruction is being given, 
 also examines them on the progress in Bible 
 teaching, and prepares the pupils of all the 
 schools for the final government examinations. 
 
 The record of our mission schools is that 
 the pupils pass better examinations and are bet- 
 ter trained than the pupils in an equal number 
 of government schools. There are reasons. Miss 
 Stella Franklin is one of them. 
 
 [282] 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 JUBBULPORE 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 JUBBULPORE 
 
 BIBLE COLLEGE 
 1 
 
 Alexander Campbell organized Bethany 
 College in 1840. He knew that the great cause 
 for which he stood could not permanently suc- 
 ceed without properly trained men to carry it 
 on. The missionaries in India know that same 
 thing. Therefore, they organized a Bible College 
 at Harda in 1902. Of the first class trained by 
 G. L. Wharton, the following are still with us 
 in the work: M. J. Shah, Yakub Masih, and 
 John Pana. 
 
 Later the institution was transferred to 
 Jubbulpore, as that city is nearer the center of all 
 our work. The building is set in the midst of a 
 fine campus, adorned with great trees. It is well 
 constructed of brick and cement and there are 
 plenty of rooms for the classes. The equipment 
 is sufficient with the exception of the needed 
 volumes for the library. There is room on the 
 campus for plenty of playgrounds. The Jubbul- 
 pore church was constructed in connection with 
 the Bible College and the two make a very 
 beautiful and imposing appearance. 
 
 [285] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 The average attendance for a number of 
 years at the Bible College has been about twenty- 
 five. While this is not a large number, it must 
 be remembered that the constituency from which 
 to draw the students is limited. Furthermore, 
 there are some of our own colleges in America 
 that do not have many more than twenty-five 
 students studying for the ministry. 
 
 A part of the work is given in Hindi and is 
 known as the Hindi course. The men in this 
 course have had all the vernacular work given 
 in the Indian public schools. Some of them 
 have also had some instruction in English. They 
 have all had a period of service in the mission 
 before coming to the Bible College. These men 
 get three years of training. They study Bible 
 Geography, Introduction to the Old Testament, 
 Introduction to the New Testament, History 
 of Bible Lands, Old Testament History, New 
 Testament History, Church History, Elementary 
 Psychology and Elementary Logic. They also 
 are instructed in Homiletics and Christian 
 Teaching and Doctrine. In addition to this they 
 have an eighteen months' course in Hinduism 
 and Mohammedanism. During this training they 
 are given practical work in bazaar preaching 
 and the Jubbulpore Sunday-schools. 
 
 The men in the English course have all had 
 the equivalent of high school training before 
 entering the Bible College and do all their work 
 in English. This course is arranged in order to 
 attract the best qualified men to enter the Bible 
 
 [286] 
 
JUBBULPORE 
 
 College. It is necessary to get some men for the 
 ministry whose training fits them to stand up to 
 the well educated Hindus and Mohammedans. 
 
 They are given a three years' course. In 
 the first year they take courses in History, 
 Psychology, Sociology, Introduction to the 
 History of Religion, Introduction to the Study of 
 the Old Testament and the New Testament. 
 This first year course is planned to prepare them 
 for an understanding of the second year's work 
 which consists of a thorough study of the Old 
 and New Testament, of the Christian Message, 
 and of the non-Christian religions of India. The 
 third year's course is a practical application of 
 the Christian message to the needs of India. 
 
 O. J. Grainger, principal of the Bible Col- 
 lege, says that the work given to these men in 
 the English course is of a college grade from the 
 standpoint of any good college of America. He 
 says you will have to hunt a long time among 
 college freshmen in America to find men who 
 could do that grade of work in a foreign tongue 
 any better than those English course men did 
 their first year's work. He says, "I had work 
 under Aylesworth and Dungan in Cotner and 
 under Dean McDairmid and Wakefield and Zol- 
 lars in Hiram. The work we are giving in 
 Jubbulpore is the equivalent of what I got from 
 these men. The men have never had less than 
 three and usually four years work." 
 
 [287] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 Mr. Grainger and W. C. McDougall were 
 giving full time to the work in the Bible College. 
 Faye Livengood was teaching one class. Miss 
 Mary Louise Jeter was giving part time to the 
 Bible College, teaching classes for the women 
 who are wives of the men students. There were 
 eight women in the school. These women are 
 given a sufficient training so that they will be 
 able to carry on the work of Bible women. 
 
 I visited a number of the classes. A class 
 of from six to eight is not what ordinarily chal- 
 lenges the teacher to do his best work. Yet it 
 is my conviction that no more thorough work 
 is being done any where than by these faith- 
 ful teachers in this small Bible College. The 
 students were working like Trojans to ab- 
 sorb the teaching, to master the subjects and to 
 make their grades. They carry their books 
 home at night and come to the early morning 
 classes with minds hungry for knowledge and 
 training. It's a long, tedious process but the 
 men and women who have taken this kind of 
 training are now among our most successful 
 preachers and evangelists. 
 
 This is not a spectacular work. It does not 
 have the inspiration of numbers. Some men, as 
 in America, want to be trained for preachers 
 who would better be plowing corn or raising rice. 
 Yet the instructors in the Bible College are 
 sticking to the task year after year and doing 
 the best they can with the material that is sent 
 to them. They know their work is fundamental. 
 [288] 
 
JUBBULPORE 
 
 They know that the Kingdom cannot advance 
 without this work. They have seen their stud- 
 ents go out and make good in life because of the 
 thorough training they have received. Mr. 
 Grainger well expressed the feeling of all of 
 them when he said: 
 
 "We men who have been doing this work 
 don't feel one bit discouraged. It is hard work. 
 So is all the work. We feel that we have gotten 
 somewhere and have done something worth 
 while." 
 
 THE JUBBULPORE CHURCH 
 
 As has been stated before, the church build- 
 ing is in connection with the Bible College. It 
 is a fine, commodious church and well arranged 
 for service and work. It gives a restful feeling 
 to sit down in that splendid church and see the 
 entire platform banked with potted plants and 
 palms. One would know he was in the far East 
 if he should wake up some Sunday morning in 
 that church. 
 
 The membership, as I remember it, is about 
 seventy-five or one hundred. This church is 
 ministered to by both the missionaries and the 
 more advanced students in the Bible College. 
 Many a Bible College student has tried out his 
 preaching ability in the Jubbulpore church. 
 Many a new Sahib, after the first year's language 
 study, has attempted his first sermon in Hindi 
 in this church, both to the delight of his fellow 
 missionaries and to the Indians, but not always 
 
 [289] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 to the delight of himself. I saw one such Sahib 
 making his first attempt. He waded in, backed 
 up, stuttered, and began all over again, but 
 stayed with it until he had finished his sermon. 
 The changing expression on his wife's face dur- 
 ing the process, was worth going miles to see. 
 And how courteous the Indian preachers were in 
 encouraging him and congratulating him on his 
 first attempt. 
 
 In addition to the main Sunday-school in the 
 Church, there are eight other Sunday-schools in 
 different parts of Jubbulpore. The Bible College 
 students assist in these Sunday-schools, which 
 gives them practical experience along with their 
 class work. 
 
 There is also an out-station at Barela, a 
 village about ten miles away. Miss Jeter con- 
 ducts a girls' school at Barela, where she goes 
 regularly to supervise her Indian helpers. The 
 missionaries also make frequent trips to Barela, 
 preach in the bazaar and give out simple medi- 
 cines to the people in need. 
 
 THE "JUB" PRINTING PRESS 
 1 
 
 There is no better institution in all our 
 work in India than the "Jub" printing press. 
 There are about twenty-five men regularly em- 
 ployed in the press. It is housed in a good build- 
 ing for the purpose of printing and publishing. 
 G. W. Brown established the printing press and 
 was in charge from the time of its beginning to 
 
 [290] 
 
JUBBULPORE 
 
 1917, in connection with his work as Principal 
 of the Bible College. Many of the workmen in 
 the press are Indian Christians who have been 
 trained by the missionaries for this particular 
 work. 
 
 The Hindi paper, The Christian Sahayak, 
 has a very wide influence. It is a weekly paper 
 of sixteen pages. Fourteen of these pages are 
 always in Hindi, with two pages of English notes 
 and news. The contents of the paper show a 
 wide range of interest. Two pages are for news 
 of the world, two for news of India, two each for 
 the Sunday-school notes and Christian En- 
 deavor notes, two contain stories for children 
 and two on religious news, both local and world 
 wide. Then there are two pages for some strong, 
 solid article on a religious subject. 
 
 The circulation is about one thousand. This 
 does not seem large, but it means a great deal 
 more than that number would mean in America. 
 This paper is taken wherever there are Indian 
 Christians who can read Hindi. It goes to all 
 parts of India, even to the extremes of Assam. 
 It goes to the Fijis and to East Africa and to 
 Mesopotamia. It followed the Indian troops to 
 East Africa. They even sent for a time some 
 copies to Trinidad on the north coast of South 
 America. It is taken by Indian Christians of 
 every communion and is read by many mission- 
 aries also. O. J. Grainger was editor following 
 Mr. Brown, and at the present time Mr. Mc- 
 Dougall is editor. 
 
 [291] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 Mr. Alexander is the manager of the print- 
 ing press. He has a well trained Indian fore- 
 man who takes the responsibility of managing 
 the men in the shop and looking after all of the 
 details of the work. 
 
 The regular output of the press is about 
 four million pages per year. 
 
 TRANSLATIONS 
 2 
 
 The following translations into Hindi have 
 been printed on the "Jub" press: Hurlbert's Bible 
 Geography, The Church of Christ by a Layman, 
 Ainslie's God and Me, Newcomb's Elementary 
 Theology. Mr. Brown also wrote an original 
 work in Hindi on Logic and one on Psychology. 
 
 Miss Mary Thompson wrote a pamphlet on 
 the life of Chandra Lela. 
 
 Mrs. Scott, of Harda, wrote a Hindi transla- 
 tion of The Other Wise Man. 
 
 Miss Josepha Franklin wrote a Teacher's 
 Manual for Lessons in the Gospel of Matthew. 
 
 O. J. Grainger translated into the Hindi, The 
 Life of Mohammed, and The Second Year of 
 Graded Sunday-school Lessons for Beginners. He 
 translated into Hindi about one hundred hymns 
 and was Editor-in-Chief for a Union Hymn Book 
 gotten out by the Chattisgarh Missionary As- 
 sociation. He also wrote in Hindi an original 
 book on the Gospel of John giving special atten- 
 tion to its teaching as to the Divinity of Christ. 
 
 [292] 
 
JUBBULPORE 
 
 All of the above translations were printed 
 on our Jubbulpore press. The press has also 
 published a lot of books and pamphlets written by 
 persons of other missions. It publishes a series 
 of Sunday-school lesson leaflets. The weekly 
 output was five thousand three hundred. One 
 course is on the International Lessons and one 
 on the Graded Lessons. These are used by many 
 Sunday-schools outside of our own mission. 
 Considerable printing is also done for the North 
 India Bible and Tract Society. A number of 
 periodicals are also published for several other 
 missions of the Hindi speaking area. The neces- 
 sary printing for all of our own stations is done 
 at Jubbulpore. 
 
 The printing of the Christian literature is 
 done at a loss, but there is an increased amount 
 of job work coming to the press which makes 
 up for the losses on some of the other publica- 
 tions. The need for Christian literature of all 
 kinds is very great. The mission could well 
 afford to set aside one man who would give all 
 his time to the production of the right kind of 
 literature for the Hindi speaking people. 
 
 THE ANNUAL CONVENTION 
 
 (Note: To the reader. It is my earnest desire 
 
 that you do not skip this section of the book.) 
 
 1 
 
 The annual convention at Jubbulpore is the 
 
 high time of the year. It is the time when all 
 
 the missionaries leave their own work for a 
 
 [293] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 week and meet to confer upon the problems and 
 progress of all the work in all the stations. It is 
 the one big event for all of them. It is looked 
 back upon with satisfaction and joy for a six 
 months' period, and for the next six months it 
 is looked forward to with intense eagerness. 
 
 What salutations, salaams, and handshakes 
 on the first day of the convention! Here come 
 the families that have been living all alone, 
 far out from the railroad. How hungry they are 
 to see the faces of their fellow workers. Here 
 come the doctors and nurses, who have toiled 
 through the year, early and late, to be away from 
 the grind for a little while and gather new in- 
 spiration for the work when they return. Here 
 come the school people, the zenana workers, 
 the evangelistic missionaries, and those from 
 institutional work, to throw off the burden 
 and care and revel in the fellowship and devo- 
 tion of their Anglo-Saxon friends. 
 
 And what interesting stories they tell; of a 
 hard case cured, or a Brahman convert, or a 
 break among the chamars, or the enlarged 
 vision of their Indian co-workers, or a new 
 friendliness among hitherto bitter opponents, of 
 progress, encouragement and hope along many 
 lines. And how human they are. One tells of 
 putting a bullet through a crocodile's neck at 
 sixty yards, another of the slaughter of a wild 
 boar that was destroying the garden, another 
 brought down a sambar, while a young Sahib 
 proudly relates his marksmanship by bringing 
 
 [294] 
 
JVBBULPORE 
 
 in his first wildcat; and still another tells the 
 story of dropping a black buck with a .22 rifle at 
 a hundred yards. 
 
 And here come the missionary children, 
 little folks who for a year have played with no 
 one except little brown Indian boys and girls. 
 They scarcely know how to play with their white 
 friends. And the older children ; some of them of 
 high school and junior college grades, who have 
 been denied the companionship of their kind. 
 How happy they are together, at this annual con- 
 vention time. 
 
 And here is a Mem Sahib with her new 
 baby, born since the last convention. No white 
 persons have ever seen it except the two or three 
 on the station where she lives. How proudly 
 she exhibits her tiny Sahib, or Miss Sahib to the 
 admiring folks from the other stations. And 
 how careful she is to keep his little head from 
 being exposed to the Indian sun. 
 
 The tents have been put up all over the fine 
 campus of the Bible College, and here come the 
 carts of baggage and bedding which these folks 
 must of necessity bring along with them. As 
 they unload, the tennis rackets are noticeable 
 among other paraphernalia. For at the con- 
 vention there are scheduled periods of play as 
 well as work. And how these over-worked folks 
 do need to relax a little and forget their cares 
 in wholesome play. 
 
 Do you ask how such a large group of about 
 seventy-five is fed? A well organized catering 
 
 [295] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 committee has looked forward to such a time as 
 this. Each family has been instructed to bring 
 along its cook and bearer. The cooks are organ- 
 ized under that chief of Indian cooks, China- 
 swamy, who for a time was G. L. Wharton's 
 cook in Harda, and in these later years has been 
 cook for Dr. Drummond. What fine curry and 
 rice he can put up. The waiters are also organ- 
 ized for their work. The buying is done whole- 
 sale and jams have been put up during the year 
 for this event. The whole plan is carefully 
 worked out by Mrs. Nellie Alexander (wife of W. 
 B.) who is chairman of the committee. A special 
 building, with open sides contains the long 
 tables where the meals are served. Such good 
 natured chattering and visiting and banter goes 
 on under that roof as the meals are being served. 
 
 And the program, how thoughtfully it has 
 been worked out. What might be termed the 
 minor phases of the program have had as care- 
 ful attention as the major. Every afternoon 
 there was a children's hour. The committee that 
 worked out the program had put much time and 
 thought upon it. There was also a children's 
 supper hour, so that the youngsters could have 
 an earlier supper and retire for the night. Then 
 there was an evening with the "junior" mission- 
 aries, in which these young people prepared the 
 program. It was one of two nights of relaxation 
 for the week. 
 
 [296] 
 
JUBBULPORE 
 
 That wide-awake bunch of "junior" mission- 
 aries put on a great show. After several games 
 and original stunts, it was announced that the 
 main part of the program would be the Shylock 
 scene from "The Merchant of Venice." It's easy 
 to get the costumes for such a scene in India. 
 The Shylock, with his whiskers, has been done 
 much more poorly in college plays at home. The 
 Portia was fine. In fact every part was not only 
 well portrayed in dress, but the elocution and 
 presentation of all the parts were exceptionally 
 well done under the circumstances. Where they 
 learned how to do it, and how to dress the parts, 
 is not much of a mystery. The fathers and 
 mothers of these young people are all college 
 graduates, who have studied the best in English 
 literature and who, before going to India had 
 opportunity of seeing the best that the American 
 stage produces. What a tragedy it would be if 
 these growing boys and girls on the mission 
 field did not have as their parents, men and 
 women of superior training. 
 
 What about the other night of relaxation? 
 Honesty compels me to tell the whole story. 
 The folks at home have a right to know what 
 these missionaries do when they get together, 
 so the truth must out! It was a "dress up" night. 
 And it is an annual affair at these conventions. 
 Not a burlesque dress up affair, but a real social 
 evening when it is announced and expected that 
 it will be a full dress occasion. All are expected 
 
 [297] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 to wear their best clothes, real evening clothes, 
 if they are lucky enough to possess them. 
 
 It was a great night. Two or three not far 
 removed from college, came forth unashamed in 
 real evening clothes. Others came with their 
 long-tailed coats. And the women, both married 
 and single, how sweet they looked. Some of them 
 I am sure, had their wedding dresses on and 
 others with dresses they had worn when they 
 were graduated from college. How thankful I 
 was for that occasion. For what excuse was there 
 for carrying a Prince Albert around the world 
 if there was no chance to blossom forth in it, at 
 least once, on the whole journey. 
 
 All the niceties of social etiquette were ob- 
 served during the evening. The young people 
 entered into the spirit of the occasion as well as 
 the grown-ups. It was held in the large bunga- 
 low which is occupied by three families, Graing- 
 ers, Livengoods and Alexanders. This large 
 bungalow is well adapted to such an occasion. 
 There were piano selections, recitations, solos, 
 quartettes and group singing. The hosts and 
 hostesses received their guests as they came and 
 bade them goodnight as they left. My own con- 
 viction is that this night is worth as much to the 
 mission as any entire day of the convention. 
 The psychology of the thing is right. For such 
 a night is really a little section of the best of the 
 American social order which is a part of the 
 training these people have absorbed before go- 
 ing out on their difficult mission. How their 
 [298] 
 
JUBBULPORE 
 
 minds must have gone back to their college days, 
 their commencement days, their wedding days, 
 to socials and entertainments in the church, and 
 to the other fine influences which gave them the 
 vision and led them to the commitment of their 
 lives, to this, the greatest work in the world. 
 Here's my unqualified indorsement of the "dress 
 up" night of the Jubbulpore convention. 
 
 The work of the convention proper might 
 well be studied by the convention committees of 
 our district, state, and national conventions. It 
 is not a convention merely for speech-making 
 and for hearing reports. It is a convention 
 where the real business of the mission is care- 
 fully considered, discussed and passed upon. If 
 anything is omitted, it is the speeches and not 
 the business. The important committees met 
 two or three days in advance of the convention 
 and went carefully over every phase of the work 
 committed to them, item by item. When a com- 
 mittee report was brought in it had had careful, 
 constructive consideration by all the members 
 of the committee. The report was read in full 
 to the whole convention and time was given for 
 questions, for explanation, and for frank and full 
 discussion on any and every point. There was 
 no desire nor attempt to "railroad" things 
 through. When a report was finally adopted 
 and a course of action agreed upon, it was the 
 result of the combined wisdom of the whole 
 
 [299] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 mission, and the workers as they went back to 
 their stations following the convention, to carry 
 out the plans agreed upon, knew in doing so, 
 that they had the sanction and wisdom and 
 prayers of the entire mission back of them. 
 
 What a variety of subjects were discussed 
 at this convention. There was a committee on 
 co-workers (Indian workers) which had to do 
 with the salaries, assignments and supervision 
 of all the Indian employees. How carefully they 
 had to work out every detail so that no injustice 
 would be done to any worker, and that each 
 should be placed where the most effective work 
 could be done. There was a committee on 
 education, orphanages and Kulpahar Industrial 
 Home. There was a "little boys' committee" to 
 recommend how little boys were to be cared for 
 who are too small to attend the Damoh orphan- 
 age and boarding school. There were committees 
 on a school for American children, men's evan- 
 gelistic work, women's evangelistic work, and 
 industrial work. There were committees on 
 finance, medical work, language and literature, 
 location and needs of the field. These committees 
 gave hours and hours of careful study to their 
 work. And when the 5 : 00 o'clock hour for ten- 
 nis came, if the work was undone, they cut out 
 the tennis rather than the work. 
 
 The morning sessions of the convention be- 
 gan at 8:00 o'clock. A half hour devotional 
 period was held, followed by an address. The 
 rest of the forenoon was given entirely over to 
 [300] 
 
JUBBULPORE 
 
 convention business. Convention business was 
 scheduled on the program, everyone knew that 
 the chief work of the convention was the busi- 
 ness, and they attended strictly to business from 
 day to day until every matter, from every station, 
 and from every department of the work had been 
 attended to. 
 
 It has been my privilege as well as duty, in 
 the last few years, to attend many conventions, 
 county, district, state and national, but I have 
 attended no convention anywhere that was as 
 well organized and that attended as strictly to 
 business as the Jubbulpore convention. In its 
 detail committee work, in the time given for the 
 discussion of committee reports, in the desire of 
 those present to be fully acquainted with the 
 details of every report, in the wise constructive 
 program for the future, in the unity and harmony 
 of all the workers, it seemed to me to be pretty 
 n early a model convention. 
 
 THE WATCH DOG OF THE TREASURY 
 
 Three or four years ago, the work became 
 so large and complex that it seemed wise to set 
 aside one man to give most of his time as secre- 
 tary and treasurer of the mission. They elected 
 Mr. W. B. Alexander. The work of such a man 
 will undoubtedly be of interest to people who 
 are furnishing the money to maintain the work 
 of our Indian mission, 
 
 [301] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 In the first place Mr. Alexander is under 
 bond as the treasurer of the mission. He handles 
 considerably more than one hundred thousand 
 dollars every year. When the checks arrive, 
 from month to month, he has to use his judg- 
 ment in securing the best rate of exchange, as 
 the exchange situation is in a constant state of 
 fluctuation. In handling these checks he is not 
 always able to get the actual cash in Jubbulpore. 
 If the best rate is quoted from Calcutta, he wires 
 instructions to sell and to ship the money. The 
 paper money thus shipped is usually clipped in 
 two, one half of it being expressed on one day, 
 and the corresponding half on the second day 
 to prevent thievery. When both packages arrive 
 safely, it is necessary for the notes to be pasted 
 together again. When Mr. Alexander ships 
 money from Jubbulpore to the different stations, 
 it is clipped and sent in the same way. 
 
 A careful plan has been worked out to keep 
 each station informed as to the state of the funds 
 allotted to it for the year. In times past some 
 of them did not know how their accounts stood 
 until the end of the year. Mr. Alexander's plan 
 provides a monthly report for each mission sta- 
 tion and each missionary within the station. On 
 this report is entered the amount which has been 
 granted for each department of the work for the 
 year. There is also entered the amount that has 
 been drawn to date, In this way each worker 
 
 [302] 
 
JUBBULPORE 
 
 knows the exact condition of his available funds 
 each month. This system of reporting from the 
 central office saves the workers of the various 
 stations much bookkeeping and releases them 
 for the real work which they were appointed to 
 do. 
 
 Mr. Alexander is also free to go on call to 
 the various stations to give special advice and 
 help. He gives valuable counsel in building 
 operations. He lends encouragement when 
 special problems are pressing, and knowing the 
 needs of all the stations, he helps the workers in 
 each to get a glimpse of the program and the 
 opportunity of all. He is in no sense a dictator 
 either in desire or practice. He is the servant 
 of the mission, a wise counsellor, and helper, and 
 sympathizer with the work and problems of 
 every missionary in every station. Thus unity 
 of purpose runs through the whole mission. 
 
 The office is a busy place. He has two or 
 three fairly well trained Indian helpers. His 
 bookkeeper saves him an endless amount of 
 labor. His stenographer could easily be fifty 
 per cent more efficient, but it is very difficult to 
 find a competent Indian stenographer. Then he 
 has an all-around man who does everything 
 that the rest of them do not and cannot do. This 
 man hires the procession of oxcarts and tongas to 
 meet the incoming trains at convention time, he 
 goes into the bazaar and gets better prices on 
 almost any commodity than anybody else can do. 
 He acts as messenger in going to the bank for 
 
 [303] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 money. He frequently goes to the bank and 
 brings from one thousand to five thousand rup- 
 ees. Mr. Alexander has perfect confidence in 
 him. 
 
 Following the war the army offered for sale 
 a large quantity of blankets at a greatly reduced 
 price. Mr. Alexander bought up a large quantity 
 of these and sold them at cost to the Indian 
 workers in the different stations. There was a 
 great demand for them and for several months 
 following he was receiving thanks and salaams 
 from these workers who had been saved a great 
 deal of money just by a little interest and 
 thoughtfulness. 
 
 Besides keeping in touch with the mission 
 he carries on the official correspondence with 
 the Board at home. He must inform the Board 
 of the decisions of the convention, report the 
 progress being made on the building projects, 
 keep the Society treasurer informed of the con- 
 dition of funds sent out for special purposes, re- 
 port the demand and need for more workers, and 
 in many other ways keep the Society constantly 
 informed about the work. No busier man; no 
 more humble man; and no more useful man is 
 to be found in our Indian mission than its de- 
 voted secretary and treasurer. 
 
 [304] 
 
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CHAPTER XV 
 
 A TRIBUTE AND SOME PROBLEMS 
 
 [305] 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 A TRIBUTE AND SOME PROBLEMS 
 
 THE MEM SAHIBS 
 
 (Note: It has not been possible for me, in this 
 volume, to mention the work of every married 
 woman by name. But I have not been un- 
 mindful of the work they are doing. This 
 section, therefore, is a heartfelt tribute to all 
 such faithful workers in every station.) 
 
 I have not yet seen a statement in mission- 
 ary literature bearing on the subject of the 
 married women missionaries. These mission- 
 aries in India are known as the Mem Sahibs. 
 Their influence is great, and their work is as 
 important as that of any other worker, although 
 sometimes that may not seem apparent to the 
 casual observer. My topi is off to every Mem 
 Sahib in India. 
 
 In the first place a Mem Sahib is the man- 
 ager of the home. That means more than it 
 does in America, for she must look after two or 
 three Indian servants, and in many cases thick- 
 headed servants at that. 
 
 [307] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 One of these is a cook, and he must be in- 
 structed how to prepare American food in the 
 good old-fashioned American way, and to do 
 this is a task of no mean proportion. This cook 
 is always a man and not a woman, and he has 
 to take his instructions from a woman, and not 
 a man. From time immemorial, the man in 
 India has looked upon woman as an inferior, and 
 now he must listen carefully to a woman ex- 
 plain to him how to make coffee and toast and 
 tea, and how to peel potatoes and cook meat, and 
 make doughnuts and pies. And this foreign 
 woman continuously and everlastingly insists 
 that the cook shall wash his hands before the 
 preparation of every meal ; that he shall keep all 
 of the food scrupulously clean, that he scour his 
 cooking vessels after every meal and that he 
 wash the dishes in clean water. 
 
 She also insists that he actually boil the 
 drinking water, and bring it up and pour it in 
 the large earthen water jars, and strain it through 
 a piece of cloth before her very eyes. This is 
 not only done one day, but three hundred and 
 sixty-five days of every year. The Mem Sahib 
 sees to it that there is no neglect on this point, 
 otherwise there would be many additional mis- 
 sionary graves "in the land of the salaam." 
 
 If the reader should ask why the Mem 
 Sahib does not do this work herself, the reply is 
 that she lias too much sense, for in that hot 
 climate no white woman could last ten years 
 who did her own cooking. 
 
 [308] 
 
A TRIBUTE AND SOME PROBLEMS 
 
 Another problem of the Mem Sahib is that of 
 matching wits daily with the cook. This is a 
 problem with two aspects. First, she must send 
 the cook to the bazaar to buy the meat and 
 vegetables. She has to keep a constant eye upon 
 the price, otherwise the cook may be getting one 
 price for the food and the man in the bazaar 
 another. She also must know that he delivers 
 all the food he buys to her own kitchen rather 
 than a part of it to his. In the second place, in 
 the preparation and serving of the meals, she 
 must know that enough only is being prepared 
 and served for her own family and not that of 
 the cook also. The cook receives his regular 
 pay and is supposed to board himself. But a 
 cook who is on to his job will many times save 
 enough out of the meals of the missionary to run 
 his own family. She must keep the sugar locked 
 up, and other such articles for the table, and 
 when it is time for a meal she gets out her 
 bunch of keys and doles out enough for the meal 
 and then puts the padlock on again. If there is 
 any butter left, she must know it, otherwise it 
 will be "all gone'* before the next meal. 
 
 Then there is the sweeper and water carrier. 
 He looks after the garbage cans, does the sweep- 
 ing, carries the water, for in most places the 
 water must come from a well some distance away 
 from the bungalow. The Mem Sahib must see 
 to it that this individual does his work properly 
 and keeps everything in good, sanitary condition 
 around the bathrooms. 
 
 [309] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 And, if she has children, she must have a 
 bai — an Indian woman to help look after them. 
 This is necessary, if she is to do any missionary 
 work outside the home. These bais must have 
 careful instruction as to the proper care of the 
 children. The little white babies, if they go out 
 in the sun, must wear a topi, and the growing 
 boys and girls likewise must wear topis when 
 they go out. The children must not be allowed 
 to drink water that is not boiled. There is a con- 
 stant fear in the heart of every Mem Sahib, lest 
 the Indian helper fail to properly care for the 
 child, and some calamity befall it. 
 
 Another problem, which is a source of worry 
 to the missionary mother, is the lack of white 
 companions for her children. In most cases, 
 they must play alone or with the Indian boys 
 and girls. As the boys and girls grow older, this 
 is a constant source of danger. How her children 
 may grow up into normal boys and girls with- 
 out being contaminated by the vices of India 
 is a worry and strain upon the missionary 
 mother's mind and heart. 
 
 On the other hand, every missionary child 
 preaches a dozen sermons every day. It preaches 
 the sermon of cleanliness, both in its person and 
 clothing. The idea of using Ivory soap and 
 clear water on every child every day has never 
 entered the Indian mother's mind since the world 
 began. The missionary child also preaches a 
 sermon on education, for he is taught as soon as 
 he is able to learn, both in the home and at 
 
 [310] 
 
A TRIBUTE AND SOME PROBLEMS 
 
 school. He preaches a sermon on sanitation, a 
 sermon on health, a sermon on play, for the 
 Indian boy and girl scarcely know how to play. 
 In short, the missionary home and the mission- 
 ary child and mother are the teachers of a new 
 social order, and their circle of influence widens 
 with every passing year. 
 
 In many stations the Mem Sahib is the 
 teacher of her own children. There are no 
 public schools for white children and it is not 
 wise to send them to the same schools with the 
 Indian children. Her home is, therefore, a 
 schoolroom, and along with her other daily tasks, 
 she must wrestle with arithmetic, reading, writ- 
 ing, spelling, geography and history. She is al- 
 ways faced with the difficulty of getting good 
 magazines and books for her children. There is 
 no magazine counter or book store in the town 
 where she lives. Most of these must come from 
 America. And looking after the selection of the 
 proper kind, of both children's and adult maga- 
 zines and books and keeping up the subscription 
 lists is no small task. Many times I was asked 
 as to what was the best magazine for children 
 from seven to ten, and also for older boys and 
 girls. How welcome John Martin's Book and 
 St. Nicholas are to the growing children in far 
 away lands. 
 
 Then there is a peculiar psychological 
 problem with which the missionary mother is 
 
 [311] 
 
IN T HE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 constantly confronted. That is, of keeping the 
 home with the American atmosphere about it, 
 so that the children will grow up to be normal 
 American boys and girls. They are American, 
 and they must continue to be American. They 
 can neither be English nor Indian. They are 
 away from their American friends, from a five 
 to an eight year period between furloughs. The 
 missionary mother must keep enough of the 
 American spirit and atmosphere and habits of 
 thought about the home, that when the children 
 return to America for furlough or for high school 
 and college, they will fit into the life of Ameri- 
 can boys and girls without being thought "queer." 
 Not a few missionary children have had many a 
 heartache while they were becoming adjusted 
 to the American life and ways because this point 
 was overlooked by their parents. 
 
 The home of the Mem Sahib is really the 
 center for the Christian community where she 
 lives, in fact, in many cases, it is the center of 
 things progressive for the whole community, for 
 her home is established before there is a hospital, 
 a school, a Sunday-school, or a Church. The 
 first idea as to what the white man is like, and 
 how he lives, comes from the Christian home. 
 People learn early to come to the mission bunga- 
 low for advice and help, when in distress. The 
 more advanced people come to borrow books, 
 and many times to discuss matters of politics 
 and religion, with the missionary. People com- 
 ing to a village and wanting to know how an 
 
 [312] 
 
A TRIBUTE AND SOME PROBLEMS 
 
 American lives, will go to the mission bunga- 
 low, as one of the places of interest. To all of 
 these, and many more who come, the missionary 
 home is the center of a new world. Her home 
 must express to all who come, both high 
 caste and low caste, the finest and the best 
 of what Christian civilization means, and what 
 the Christian home should be. The Mem Sahib, 
 therefore, and her home, must always be ready 
 for inspection, nearly twenty-four hours a day, 
 for people come early and late with their many 
 problems and questions. 
 
 The Mem Sahib may also be considered al- 
 most "a bird of passage" for in the hot season 
 she must "lift up her eyes unto the hills." More 
 than that, she must go to the hills with the chil- 
 dren for two or three months during the terrible 
 hot days that come annually in India. She, 
 therefore, must really establish a new home for 
 the time being, up in the foothills of the Himal- 
 ayas. There she starts her school over again. 
 However, in most "hill stations," there is a 
 school for missionary children and it is a great 
 relief to the missionary mother to start her 
 children to school with their own kind. Often 
 she is compelled to go back to the plains and 
 begin her work, leaving the children in board- 
 ing school for a few weeks to finish the term. 
 
 A smoothly running home has a reflex 
 influence upon the work of her husband. If 
 he is a. doctor, his hands are busy nearly six- 
 teen hours a day, with the many calls upon his 
 
 [313] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 time and sympathy. If he is a school man, the 
 constant care of the school, the supervision of 
 the teachers and keeping the whole school up to 
 government standards, takes all of his time. If 
 he is an evangelist, he must make many tours 
 with his Indian preachers, being away from 
 home for days and sometimes weeks. The Mem 
 Sahib who is able to look after the details of the 
 home and keep her husband in good humor and 
 always fit for his work, releases his energies and 
 time in such a way that the largest amount of 
 good may be accomplished. Not to be able to do 
 this, hinders the work in many ways. It will be 
 seen, therefore, that she is making a constant 
 contribution to the great work outside of her 
 own home every day of the year. 
 
 3 
 
 Having read thus far the reader may con- 
 clude that the Mem Sahib does no real mission- 
 ary work. If she did nothing else than what has 
 been indicated above it would be a missionary 
 task well worth while. However, this is not all 
 that she does, as I can testify. In addition to all 
 that has been mentioned heretofore, a number of 
 the Mem Sahibs were doing the following things: 
 
 One had charge of the girls' school work in 
 her station, and looked after the supervision of 
 the Indian teachers and all the details of the 
 school. Another had charge of a Sunday-school 
 in a village about two miles away and every 
 
 [314] 
 
A TRIBUTE AND SOME PROBLEMS 
 
 Sunday walked out to that school, across the 
 fields, to care for her little school. She has 
 some time also for visiting the homes of the 
 people. Three other Mem Sahibs were medical 
 missionaries. One looked after the dispensary 
 and the necessary medical work at the hospital, 
 treating from thirty to fifty patients a day with 
 the help of her assistants. Another carried on 
 a dispensary on the front porch and in the front 
 yard of her own home, from fifteen to twenty 
 people a day coming for treatment in the morn- 
 ing. She also looked after a little school with 
 two Indian women teachers, under a tree in her 
 front yard. The other traveled with her hus- 
 band on evangelistic tours and gave out medicine 
 to the people. She is now looking after the 
 hospital in one of our stations. Another super- 
 vised the work of the Bible women, and had some 
 time to visit the homes along with some of these 
 Bible women, and teach the people the truths 
 of Christianity. Still other Mem Sahibs had 
 some time to visit among the homes of the 
 Indian women. They also had frequent meet- 
 ings in their own homes with the Christian 
 women of the station, encouraging them in their 
 Christian lives and teaching them the proper 
 care of their children and their homes. Others 
 have rendered useful service in helping the 
 Christian young women to find Christian hus- 
 bands. Many of the women go on tours with 
 their husbands among the villages and tell Bible 
 stories to the children and women while their 
 
 [315] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 husbands are preaching to the men in the village 
 streets. 
 
 In these ways and a thousand others, the 
 Mem Sahibs are giving a good account of them- 
 selves in the "land of the salaam." They are 
 rendering invaluable service. They are doing a 
 work that nobody else can do. Their contribu- 
 tion to the Kingdom of God is as important as 
 that of any other worker. Their faith and hope 
 and courage and zeal have not been surpassed 
 by priest or prophet. They have stood up under 
 the most difficult circumstances with as much 
 heroism as any group of women who have ever 
 lived. They may say with J. G. Holland: 
 
 "In the fell clutch of circumstance 
 I have not winced nor cried aloud." 
 
 Many of them have grown gray in the 
 service of India. They have grown gray work- 
 ing at the most difficult task in the world. Yet 
 everyone of them looks forward to the day for 
 which they all pray, when India shall be re- 
 deemed. And strange as it may seem, every one 
 of them is praying that her own children shall 
 be willing to give their lives also, that India may 
 have the more abundant life which is to be found 
 only in the Christian religion. 
 
 THE PROBLEMS OF THE MISSIONARIES 
 
 There is an old saying, "tell your troubles 
 to the policeman." It seems to me it would be 
 better to tell the problems of the missionaries to 
 
 [316] 
 
A TRIBUTE AND SOME PROBLEMS 
 
 the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood should not 
 only know the successes of the missionaries but 
 it should also know the problems which daily 
 confront our workers on the other side of the 
 world. In this way only can intelligent prayer 
 be offered for the solution of these problems, and 
 the Brotherhood enter sympathetically into the 
 life and work of our representatives on the other 
 side. There are four problems which need con- 
 sideration. 
 
 1 
 THE LAND PROBLEM 
 
 The land system in India is a constant 
 handicap to the missionary program. About 
 ninety-eight per cent of the people live in vil- 
 lages. In most cases, the village is owned by one 
 man who is called the Malgazar. He not only 
 owns the land upon which the village is located, 
 but usually all of the land surrounding the vil- 
 lage. The people build and own their little mud 
 houses, but they do not own the lot upon which 
 the house is built. 
 
 The villagers, therefore, work and live upon 
 the land owned by the Malgazar. They are very 
 poor. Most of them usually have eaten up all 
 their grain before the next harvest comes on. 
 Many times they have to borrow seed from the 
 Malgazar to put in their crops. He charges them 
 from twenty-five per cent to fifty per cent for 
 every loan. When they finally get their share 
 
 [317] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 of the crop, they have to pay back a part of it at 
 once for what they have borrowed. This puts 
 them constantly in debt to the Malgazar and they 
 are virtually economic slaves. 
 
 Now when the missionary and evangelist 
 preach in such a village and a man of family ex- 
 presses a desire to follow Christ, the Malgazar 
 must be reckoned with. In many cases, he is 
 bitterly opposed to Christianity and informs the 
 prospective convert that if he follows the new 
 religion he cannot borrow any grain nor rent 
 any more land. Many new Christians have been 
 beaten and run out of town by such hard-hearted 
 task masters, and many others no doubt have 
 been kept from accepting Christ because of the 
 economic pressure put upon them. This land 
 system which has been in vogue for many gen- 
 erations is one of the big factors in keeping back 
 a more rapid progress of Christianity. 
 
 THE EDUCATIONAL PROBLEM 
 
 The educational problem has two phases. 
 
 The first involves the question as to how 
 far the missions should go in the establishment 
 of schools. The educational program of the 
 government is entirely inadequate. Compulsory 
 education in India, as we have it in America, 
 would be entirely impossible because there would 
 not be enough teachers to care for the schools if 
 they should be organized. There are thousands 
 
 [318] 
 
A TRIBUTE AND SOME PROBLEMS 
 
 of villages where there is no school and never 
 has been. The missionary, therefore, has an 
 opportunity on every hand, to organize schools, 
 and a good attendance is assured, almost as soon 
 as school begins. The entire missionary force, 
 as well as native Christian force, could easily 
 be used in the organization and conduct of 
 schools for non-Christian people. 
 
 On the other hand, most of the missions are 
 now feeling that their first obligation is to 
 furnish schools for the children of the Christian 
 community, so that the children of the Indian 
 Christians may be properly trained for Christian 
 leadership in later years. After that is done, 
 they feel that such other educational work may 
 be carried on for non-Christians as time and 
 force will permit. However, at the present time, 
 many schools are carried on, including middle 
 schools and high schools, where the majority of 
 the students are non-Christians. In many Jowns 
 of from five to twenty thousand the whole school 
 program is organized and conducted and largely 
 supported by the mission. 
 
 This leads to the second phase of the prob- 
 lem. 
 
 The radical Indian leaders are demanding a 
 larger place in the conduct of the government. 
 They are demanding that certain phases of the 
 government shall be transferred to them, to be 
 under their entire supervision and direction. In 
 all probability, education will be a transferred 
 subject. This will mean that the missionaries 
 
 [319] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 will be compelled to deal directly with Indians 
 in the management of the missionary schools. 
 These Indians will, no doubt, demand that the 
 teaching of the Bible be taken out of the regular 
 curriculum of the mission schools, the Bible now 
 being one of the required subjects. The question 
 will then face all the missions as to whether 
 they will be willing to carry on such schools and 
 teach the Bible as a voluntary subject, or re- 
 organize their whole educational program and 
 furnish only enough schools to care for the 
 Christian community, and give the rest of their 
 time and energies to more direct evangelistic 
 effort. 
 
 3 
 
 THE PROBLEM OF EVANGELISM 
 
 There are two prevalent ideas concerning 
 evangelism. One is the plan of "touring among 
 the villages." This is almost entirely a process 
 of seed sowing. The missionary and evangelists 
 go from village to village, gathering the people 
 together for an hour or so, preaching to them, 
 and then passing on to the next village. Such 
 tours last from two to six weeks, during certain 
 seasons of the year. Many villages are reached 
 on such a tour and thousands of people hear the 
 Gospel message who otherwise would never hear 
 it. However, such a visit may be the only one 
 during an entire year, and the stay is not long 
 enough for the people to sufficiently understand 
 
 [320] 
 
A TRIBUTE AND SOME PROBLEMS 
 
 and accept the message. Hence, the possibility 
 of many converts is remote. 
 
 On the other hand, many feel that the plan 
 of touring among the villages should be almost 
 if not entirely abandoned. They feel that direct, 
 definite, personal work with individuals, families 
 and castes should be carried on. The mission- 
 aries who are pursuing this course are having 
 good results and baptizing many new converts. 
 The whole evangelistic program in India needs 
 to be revitalized along this line. The Indian 
 preachers and evangelists need to be taught how 
 to do definite, personal work in winning their 
 fellows from an idolatrous religion, to a personal 
 acceptance of Christ as their Saviour. 
 
 However, this is not easily done. It is hard 
 sometimes for a native preacher and even a mis- 
 sionary to persuade a man to definitely take the 
 stand for Christ, when he knows that the very 
 day he does take that stand the man will prob- 
 ably be beaten and run out of town. He knows 
 also if this happens, that he has a new convert on 
 his hands, who is out of a job and who must be 
 cared for by the mission until he is able to find 
 some other employment. If the Indian people 
 were as free to accept Christ as are the people 
 of America the missionaries could easily have 
 a hundred converts where they now have but 
 one. 
 
 [321] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 THE PROBLEM OF INDIAN WORKERS 
 
 Perhaps the most vital need in our whole 
 mission is that of properly trained and conse- 
 crated Indian teachers and preachers. There is 
 a preacher shortage in India more urgent than 
 in America. Most of the converts have come 
 from the poor class of people. They have not 
 had previous educational advantages. There- 
 fore, their training is a big problem. It is no 
 easy task to take an illiterate Indian Christian 
 without any background of efficiency and educa- 
 tion and leadership and train him to be an 
 effective preacher and leader. It is not easy to 
 take a young man who has only finished the 
 primary grade and train him to be an acceptable 
 evangelist who can be trusted to carry on the 
 work among the villages. It is no easy matter 
 to take ignorant, though willing, Indian women 
 and teach them to be effective Bible women. And 
 it is a perennial problem to train both the men 
 and women who will successfully carry on the 
 work of the mission schools. 
 
 Yet the missionaries fully understand that 
 the entire success of their work depends upon 
 the raising up of a corps of trained Indian 
 leaders, who will carry on the work of the 
 schools, the churches, the hospitals and among 
 the women. How happy they are when such a 
 man has been trained so that he can and will 
 take the place of responsibility and leadership 
 
 [322] 
 
A TRIBUTE AND SOME PROBLEMS 
 
 and acceptably carry out the program that is set 
 before him. 
 
 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT INDIA 
 
 The latest compiled statistics give the popu- 
 lation of India by religions, as follows: 
 
 Christians 5,000,000 
 
 Hindus 234,000,000 
 
 Mohammedans 71,000,000 
 
 Buddhists 12,000,000 
 
 Animists 11,000,000 
 
 Others 7,000,000 
 
 Total 340,000,000 
 
 The area of India is about one-half that 
 of the United States. The United States has 
 thirty-nine persons to the square mile, while 
 India has one hundred and sixty-three. 
 
 Owing to the successive swarms of invaders, 
 there are seven distinct races in India, speaking 
 about one hundred and eighty different lan- 
 guages and about one hundred additional dia- 
 lects. This land of many tongues is a great 
 stumbling block to the missionary program. 
 Twelve different languages are each the speech 
 of five million people or more, as indicated be- 
 low: 
 
 [323] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 Malayalam, spoken by.... 7,000,000 people 
 
 Burmese, spoken by 8,000,000 
 
 Oriya, spoken by 10,000,000 
 
 Kanarese, spoken by 11,000,000 
 
 Gujarati, spoken by 11,000,000 
 
 Rajasthani, spoken by..-14,000,000 
 
 Panjabi, spoken by 16,000,000 
 
 Tamil, spoken by 18,000,000 
 
 Marathi, spoken by 20,000,000 
 
 Telegu, spoken by 24,000,000 
 
 Bengali, spoken by 48,000,000 
 
 Hindi, spoken by 96,000,000 
 
 India is one of the largest exporters of hides 
 in the world. 
 
 More than seventy per cent of India's popu- 
 lation is engaged in agriculture. It is the largest 
 rice producer in the world. It is second only to 
 the United States in the production of cotton. 
 
 In the last ten years, the factories of India 
 have nearly doubled. 
 
 The average daily wage before the war in 
 India, among the rural population, was about 
 three cents, and among the urban population 
 about eleven cents. For the same class of labor 
 in the United States, the average is about two 
 dollars and fifty cents. The average weekly 
 wage for skilled labor in the United States was 
 thirty dollars and in India only two dollars. 
 
 The latest available figures show that eighty- 
 nine per cent of the men of India are illiterate 
 and ninety-nine per cent of the women. The per- 
 
 [324] 
 
A TRIBUTE AND SOME PROBLEMS 
 
 centage of illiteracy among religions is as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 Jains 28 per cent literate 
 
 Sikhs 7 " 
 
 Christians 22 " 
 
 Buddhists 23 " 
 
 Animists 1 " 
 
 Mohammedans 4 " 
 
 Hindus 6 " 
 
 The large per cent of illiteracy among 
 Christians, is due to the fact that the converts 
 are mostly from the low caste people, who have 
 never had any educational opportunities, before 
 becoming Christians. 
 
 In India, there are more than two and a half 
 million wives, under ten years of age, and nine 
 million under fifteen years of age. The follow- 
 ing table shows the proportion of girls of 
 various ages, who are married: 
 
 Under 5 years 1 in 72 
 
 From 5 to 10 years 1 in 10 
 
 From 10 to 15 years....more than 2 in 5 
 From 15 to 20 years 4 in 5 
 
 In India, one Christian woman out of every 
 eight can read, but only one woman out of a 
 hundred, among the non-Christian women can 
 read. 
 
 There are one hundred and eighty-five mis- 
 sion hospitals and three hundred foreign mis- 
 sionary doctors in India. One hundred and sixty 
 of these doctors are women. 
 
 [325] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 There are about fourteen thousand Protes- 
 tant missionary schools, of all grades, attended 
 by about seven hundred thousand pupils. 
 
 The total attendance of all public schools 
 for 1917 was reported over seven million two 
 hundred thousand. Less than one fifth of these 
 pupils were girls. 
 
 PURELY PERSONAL 
 
 The work of some of our India missionaries 
 has not been mentioned in this volume because 
 they were home on furlough during the time of 
 my visit. I have attempted to write what I saw 
 and felt. However, a general word about those 
 on furlough will not be out of order. 
 
 Mrs. George Springer who worked so effec- 
 tively for many years at Mahoba is now located 
 at Maudaha. She just arrived in India, fresh from 
 her experiences in the war, about a month before 
 I left. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. W. G. Menzies, who toiled so 
 faithfully at Rath, returned just prior to the 
 Jubbulpore Convention and were located at 
 Pendra Road during the furlough of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Madsen. 
 
 W. H. Scott and wife, formerly principal of 
 the Harda High School, were also absent on fur- 
 lough, but are now back in Harda working with 
 Mr. Harnar where two families are needed for 
 the school work instead of one. 
 
 E. C. Davis and wife of Kulpahar, who look 
 after the evangelistic work there, were also in 
 
 [326] 
 
A TRIBUTE AND SOME PROBLEMS 
 
 America. I slept for several nights in their 
 bungalow. He has been a handy man in the 
 erection of buildings, and has helped in the con- 
 struction of several building enterprises in the 
 different stations. 
 
 Miss Olive Griffith, for many years located 
 at Damoh, has now returned and is helping in 
 the work at Jhansi, while Miss Haight is on fur- 
 lough. 
 
 Dr. Jennie Fleming, who does such splendid 
 work among the villages around Mungeli, was 
 also taking a much needed rest in the home land, 
 as were likewise Miss Furman, of Bilaspur, and 
 Miss Cowdrey, of Kulpahar. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Harry Schaefer, of Bilaspur, 
 are now back at the task there while Mr. and Mrs. 
 J. E. Moody are on furlough. 
 
 Both Miss Minnie Johnson, a trained nurse 
 working in Bilaspur, and Miss Ina Hartsook were 
 taking an extended furlough because of a break- 
 down in health. 
 
 And last but not least, Mr. and Mrs. D. O. 
 Cunningham. He had acted as the Principal of 
 the Harda High School, as Secretary of the mis- 
 sion, and also had a large part in the organiza- 
 tion of the enlarged program of evangelism at 
 Bilaspur. For health reasons, he was taking a 
 prolonged furlough from his work in India, but 
 his mind and heart were not idle. The Boards 
 had called him as the Recruitment Secretary for 
 all the fields. For two years he had visited our 
 colleges and gave the call and the challenge of 
 
 [327] 
 
IN THE LAND OF THE SALAAM 
 
 the great mission fields to hundreds of students. 
 He had toiled unceasingly to find the right type 
 of young men and young women for this work. 
 
 No finer piece of work had ever been done 
 by any Recruitment Secretary of any mission 
 board. The news of his death was received with 
 the profoundest sorrow by his host of Indian 
 friends. They loved him. His zeal and optimism 
 had permeated the whole Indian Christian com- 
 munity. His influence will be felt for many 
 years. 
 
 In addition to these an even dozen new 
 workers have gone out since I left India. Some 
 future writer will be able to record their diffi- 
 culties and their victories. 
 
 But to all the workers, both new and old, 
 who toil in the "land of the salaam" go out our 
 hearts, our hopes, our prayers and sometimes 
 even our tears, and to them all we send out across 
 the world our bahut salaams. 
 
 [328] 
 
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