I ■« u'A M/i f f^!i ■!"!'i! y,-i I ' LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Chaprr....... Copyright No. Slielf...bla_E 7 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. WORKS OF SALENI ARMSTRONG-HOPKINS, M.D. Motto and Resolutions of a Little Gikl. A Divine Call to Foreign Missionary Service. Seven Thoughts in Seven Garbs. Record of Daily Work. Extra -uterine Fcetation. Fruit of Suffering. Pork and Mustard. Heart Echoes from the Silence of Secret Prater. Within the Purdah. Heroes and Heroines of Zion. In the Zenana Homes of Indian Princes. Record op Daily Work and Diary. (In its Revised, Al- tered and Enlarged Form.) Prayer Inspired by Promise. Khetwadi Castle : Sequel to "Pork and Mustard." In Secret. My Esther. Living Out Loud : Sequel to "Khetwadi Castle". J^^vJuyvt^ ClU44'UAAA}My^-r^^ Khetwadi Castle SEQUEL TO "PORK AND MUSTARD" VOIvUNlK II SALENI ARMSTRONG-HOPKINS, M.D. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY REV. WILLIAM TAYLOR, D.D., LL.D. BISHOP OF AFRICA SYRACUSE, N. Y. C. W. BARDEEN, PUBLISHER 1900 ■TWO COPIES HEcmVED, Library of Ceisgr98% Office of ttee MAR 1-1900 gegistar of CopyrtghtSt 55900 COPYRIGHT, 1898 BY SALENI ARMSTRONG-HOPKINS, M.U. COPYRIGHT. 1900 BY SALENI ARMSTRONG-HOPKINS, M.D. All Rights Resektbd c^/^\'^ V ^ U §c tttte and lut ntnu, ^^"bov mxA Uvt alwiaa; %nA ntUmt r\\ unX ^oaA: ^00Am^^ i& 0v«atttcisiisi, (^00Am&^ isi tht ^xtixWt gO0d. DEDICATION Khetwadi Castle is affectionately inscribed to Miss WiUimina L. Armstrong, the dearly beloved sister, for whom the author would gladly have sacrificed her all of earthly life and happiness; yet had no power to save from sorrow, persecu- tion and distress, since she could not help being her sister. PEEFACE It is for the sake of the blessed cause, to which the author has consecrated her hf e ; for the sake of the dear Indian people, whom she seeks to help ; and for the sake of her adorable Lord Jesus Christ, whom she delights to serve; that the following pages have been written. In thus laying bare before the world the skele- ton of her own disappointments, failures, strug- gles, sicknesses, privations and sorrows, she has been obhged to trample under foot and ignore her own strong shrinking from publicity — her own personal disinclination, reluctance and pride. In perusing these pages readers will find much of a purely personal nature ; but, in all Christian kindness, they will remember that the author's life was so closely associated, so interwoven, with the lives of the dear people whose sufferings and needs she sought to relieve, or mitigate, that it is impossible to relate a true history of their lives — to portray truthfully their circumstances and surroundings, without saying many things that are personal to herself. For this cause she craves the kind indulgence of her readers. S. A-H. INTRODUCTION The Author of " Khetwadi Castle", Mrs. Saleni Armstrong- Hopkins, M. D., has been known to me for many years. I first heard about her, and about her ' ' Divine CaU to Foreign Missionary Service ", from the late Rev. Jasan G. Miller, who then resided in Lincoln, Nebraska, During the winter of 1879-80 I wrote a letter to Miss Saleni Armstrong, inviting her to go as a missionary teacher to South America. This offer she declined, saying that her call was to the Foreign field, and that she must obey the Divine voice in letter and in spirit. Subsequently I wrote her occasionally ; and, from time to time, received letters from her. During her senior year in The Woman's Medi- cal CoUege of Pennsylvania, on August 12th, 1884, I visited Miss Armstrong and her sister, Willa, at the home of Dr. A. Victoria Scott, No. 329 South Twelfth street, Philadelphia, where they were boarding at the time. During this visit I became more than ever con- vinced that the two sisters had, indeed, been called of God to foreign missionary service ; and I promised to send either, or both of them to Africa, India, or wherever they felt called of God to go, and whenever they were ready to go, provided they had the heroic spirit, and felt it to be the Lord's wiU, that they go to the foreign (11) 13 KHETWADI CASTLE field upon my heroic, self-supporting basis. When this time arrived, however, the elder sis- ter having graduated in medicine and spent some months as assistant resident physician in a Bos- ton hospital, I was in Africa. Nevertheless my promise to the two missionary sisters was re- deemed by my Transit and Building Fund Com- mittee, in New York City ; and, on the 27th day of November, 1886, Miss Saleni Armstrong, M.D., and her sister, Miss Willimina L. Arm- strong, sailed from New York, en route to India, as herein stated. I have read " Khetwadi Castle " from begin- ning to end with great and increasing interest. Even to one unfamiliar with Indian life and mis- sionary labor, this must prove a most interesting book; but to me, knowing the ground as I do, it is especially so. The two books, " Within the Purdah ", and " Khetwadi Castle ", contain a marvelous exhibit of facts, illustrative of the missions opened, the methods employed, and the success achieved without the purdah, and opened to the inspec- tion of the outside world. Our Author conducts us in person to all the sights and scenes " With- in the Purdah" of heathendom. God bless the Author, her younger missionary sister, and all their labors and writings to the good of the world. f^-v k.-"t;."" . CHAPTEK VIII A FINANCIAL VENTURE Soon after Bishop Ninde left India, a mis- sionary from Singapore, Mr. Oldham by name, came to Bombay, obtained an interview, and extended to me an urgent inviation to go to Singapore as a medical missionary. He par- ticularly wanted a medical woman who would be willing to accept a regular missionary salary from the Western Branch of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, because that branch had pledged a sufficient amount of money to sup- port one medical missionary in Singapore, pro- vided a suitable person could be found. Al- though he pressed me very much to accept this position, I decHned; teUing him I had come to India on the self-supporting basis; and, more- over, that I had no idea Mrs. Prescott or Mrs. Nind would consider me a ' ' suitable per- son. " However, he, together with Dr. Stone, Mrs. Stone, and Miss De Line, urged this mat- ter so strongly that I finally consented, very reluctantly, to allow Mr. Oldham to write to Mrs. Nind asking for me to be sent to Sing- apore. This I did without the sHghtest idea that I would be accepted, but acting simply and purely on the principle I had always adopted, of (89) 90 KHETWADI CASTLE leaving myself freely in the hands of God, and putting no barriers of my own in the face of His providence. After this I thought no more of the matter, feeling confident that nothing would be done. As there was no other opening, and as I had no means to pay my transportation to any city in the interior; or, indeed, to any other place; I still remained in Bombay, waiting for practice. For three months no patients came, except a few charity patients, brought in by the mission- aries; and the missionaries themselves in the same house with us, to whom I could, of course, make no charge. About this time my dear pastor. Rev. J. Sumner Stone, M.D., advised me to open an office and a dispensary in the heart of Bom- bay native city. This I did, going to consid- erable expense to have a room (No. 185 Samuel street, Khoja Mohla) cleaned, whitewashed, and made habitable, in that great, dirty, hot, crowded native centre. When all was ready, and a large sign hung at the front door, I waited for patients, but in vain. For six months I kept this place open; but soon found that there were so many free dis- pensaries in Bombay, that no poor native, or rich native either, for that matter, would consent to pay any sort of a fee at a pubhc dispensary. They expected to receive even their drugs with- out charge. During the month of February, however, my sister and I had received two hun- m =1 Ch a 01 -u o Ph J ^ 3 ^ E3 s -^ .^ o -cs >3 f-c J3 Ch rt bD p .s 03 'S t5 3 O eg o X > a; ■T3 1=1 CI c8 (S -73 03 C > eS o s > 'So Oh 13 PI fl ^^ -+3 O) . b 0) 05 " b CC ^ " to CS Q ^ m CD d. 3 >-. o o 03 w r1 lU ^ .2 m -^ .2 fl ^ o Oh ^ rQ 02 m 3J W -4-S 1 3 H W w rt Fh ^ 1— 1 > 1— I a" w O -4J ^ », a ■-J3 s PM S ^ bo n:3 a. a -(J 02 A FINANCIAL VENTURE 95 dred dollars from our father in America, which enabled us to settle up all bills and to start anew. At the end of five months I was still without practice, and my dear friends, Dr. and Mrs. Stone, advised me to make another venture ; to start a hospital, and a medical missionary train- ing school for nurses, in Bombay, just between the native and the European cities, so as to draw patients from both places. In company with these two dear friends, I drove up and down, in and out, through the streets of Bombay, in search of a suitable building. This we at length found in the wonderful building known as ' ' Khetwadi Castle", No. 83, Khetwadi back road; only a few steps from Grrant Road, within easy walk- ing distance of Grant Road Methodist Episcopal Church and parsonage, only about five minutes walk from the sea ; yet quite near enough to the native city for all practical purj)oses. This splendid, great building we were able to secure for the very moderate rental of one hun- dred and fifty rupees per mensem. A proper lease was drawn up and signed by all parties con- cerned, and Khetwadi Castle was thus secured to me for a period of one year, with the refusal of it for a longer period. The difficulty now confronting us was that of furnishing this immense building, but my dear friends, Dr. and Mrs. Stone, again came to my rescue; purchasing, with their own private funds, sufficient coir matting to cover the floors of the entire castle, and kindly volunteering to 96 KHETWADI CASTLE loan me their parsonage furniture until such time as it might be required in the new parson- age now in process of construction ; when, as we ail hoped, the newly founded hospital and medi- cal missionary training school would prove so successful, that I should be able to furnish the castle by means of the income received there- from. In addition to all this. Dr. and Mrs. Stone pro- posed to board with us in our Castle home. They were already patients of mine, so they would be the first patients in my hospital ; and the amount of their weekly board would be sufficient to supply a basis of support until other patients came in, and our work should thus be- come sufficiently established to be self-supporting. Who can estimate the value of such friend- ships as these ? No words can express the love and gratitude which I must ever cherish for these two most true and faithful friends. Dr. Stone kindly advertised my new institution in all the leading periodicals of India, and thus the existence of ' ' Khetwadi Castle Private Hos- pital for Women and Children ' ' and ' ' Khetwadi Castle Medical Missionary Training School for Nurses ' ' soon became an established and weU- known fact throughout India. Patients and student nurses soon began to flock to Khetwadi Castle from all directions; until my training school numbered eight, as many as we required for the purpose of the hospital; and, as for patients — wealthy, high- A FINANCIAL VENTURE 97 caste Hindu and Mohammedan ladies, Parsee ladies and children, Eurasian, English, European and American women from all parts, became patients in Khetwadi Castle Hospital wards; besides which, missionaries of all denominations were with us almost continuously, either as stu- dent nurses, patients or guests. My office practice, too, became very large in- deed, and my out practice almost greater than I was able to manage. Thus the dear Lord prospered us in our Khet- wadi Castle Home, Hospital and Training School. CHAPTER IX KHETWADI CASTLE In the beginning Khetwadi Castle was erected by a society of Parsee gentlemen, and was in- tended to serve the purpose of some Parsee public institution — just what sort of an institu- tion I do not know. After the great building had been finished, however, there was a disa- greement between the members of the society, the association disbanded, and the whole project of the institution was abandoned. The property remained in the hands of a number of Parsee trustees, who decided to rent the place until the association should be reorganized and the final proper use of the building decided upon. AU efforts to rent this immense building, however, proved futile ; it being far too large a structure for the purpose of a private residence, and each separate room being too large for any private family use. Thus it happened that this great building, though erected several years before, had never been used, except for a very short time, during which a Parsee family occupied it tem- porarily ; and it was, therefore, practically new. Khetwadi Castle was an ideal castle of im- mense proportions; having twenty-two very large rooms, in one of which five hundred people could be comfortably seated without removing (98) KHETWADI CASTLE 101 ordinary drawing-room furniture; in another, sixteen single hospital beds, with as many chairs and small tables, were easily arranged. And yet another room was sufficiently large to serve as a lecture, class. Sabbath school or prayer meeting room. As a matter of fact, any one of the twenty-two large rooms in the castle, with two exceptions, was sufficiently large for any such purpose. Indeed, the room which we utiHzed as a lecture room, was one of the smaller rooms of the castle. In addition to these twenty-two large apartments, there were, in the castle, fif- teen bath rooms ; besides, in the back yard were the servants' quarters, the carriage house and the stable. In the castle there was one room which, but for its size, seemed like a penitentiary cell. Its two great windows, reaching from the floor to within a short distance of the lofty ceiling, had heavy iron bars extending across them at short intervals, thus rendering the room as secure as any prison ceU could be. The two immense fold- ing doors, which opened into this room, were also arranged to fasten on the outer side by means of heavy padlocks. What the purpose of such a room could be, in such an institutional building, I am at a loss to know. There was also a secret room in the castle, which could scarcely be discovered by any person to whom the secret had not been revealed. It was situated in the long, L-shaped back wing, between an upper and a lower room — the ceihng 102 KHETWADI CASTLE of the house being so very lofty as to render this arrangement possible. The room had no window whatever, and only one door, which opened at the side of the house, midway between the first and second stories, beneath the back porch, and about half way up an outside stair- way. This door was quite unnoticeable ; having no knob, latch or other sign of a door. A keyhole could be found, but only by careful inspection. When the right key was turned, the door flew open, admitting you to a large, dark, nearly square room, with a rather low ceiling. This room was used by me as a store-room, having lamps always ready in the place so that it could be lighted up easily. The outer aspect of our Khetwadi Castle was very stately and imposing. It was a brick build- ing, plastered on the outer side, according to In- dian fashion, and painted a delicate straw color, with cornice and foundation of gray ; the latter being painted in imitation of its stone founda- tion. The castle was, in height, two stories and a half only ; but each story was so exceedingly lofty as to render the building as high as the majority of four story buildings in America. The main, or front, part of the castle was an immense square structure, with a large square veranda reaching out from the centre of its front, under which was the carriage drive, in the form of a half circle extending from the two front gateways. Above this veranda the building ex- tended upward to the full height of the great KHETWADI CASTLE 105 house, SO that a fine hght room was formed above the ceiKng of this porch. At the back and right- hand corner of this front building extended a long wing, hke the upper part of a capital L; and fine, broad verandas, both above and below, extended the full length of this wing and across the back part of the main building. The roof was flat, and finished around the edge with low square pillars and heavy iron railing ; each corner of the house having an immense round pillar, giving the whole building a massive, castle-hke appearance. The half-story was merely an im- mense garret; which was never finished, and never in use. It extended over the whole build- ing, the wing as well as the front ; but could only be reached by means of a ladder, and through a door above the veranda of the upper story. A rather low stone wall surrounded the building, allowing a roomy and convenient back yard, and an attractive and prettily arranged front, where several mango, custard-apple, and other orna- mental trees, furnished shade; while perennial shrubs and flowers served to beautify the whole place. Had Khetwadi Castle been planned and built expressly for me, and intended to serve the pur- pose of a home, private hospital for women and children, medical missionary training school for nurses, and a free dispensary and school for sweepers, such as mine, and in a country hke India, it could scarcely have been more suitably, conveniently, or wisely arranged. I often re- 106 KHETWADI CASTLE marked that it seemed as if it had been made on purpose for us ; for every room just seemed suited to the use to which we appropriated it. Indeed, it almost seems as if it were so built and so intended, when we remember that, after our hospital was closed and we left Bombay, the cas- tle could not again be rented ; and was, later on, torn down and a smaller building erected in its place. CHAPTEE X A RENEWAL OF HOSTILITIES After our beloved Bishop Ninde, and his beauti- ful daughter, had set sail from Bombay for Amer- ica, the missionaries of Bombay, without an exception, and the Methodist people of that city seemed, for a time, to have forgotten their pre- judicies against us, and were kind, courteous, and considerate toward my sister and myself, making us feel quite at home among them. When Mr. Oldham wrote to Mrs. Nind, asking that I be appointed medical missionary in Singa- pore, she wrote a very emphatic and decisive refusal to give her consent to any such appoint- ment; and, not only so, but she also wrote, as wiU be seen presently, to Eev. Mr. Eudisill, of Mad- ras. This latter letter, as wiU also be inferred from Mrs. Stone's letter to Bishop Thoburn, was freely and extensively circulated among Metho- dist missionaries throughout India, greatly to my damage. About this time Bishop Thoburn sent his second installment of official letters to many, if not to aU, of the most influential mem- bers of the South India Conference, charging me with debt and dishonesty. Before we sailed from New York, I received news from Washington that father's pension was about to be granted. On the strength of this (111) 112 KHETWADI CASTLE assurance, I wrote letters to each of the friends to whom I was indebted, in which I told theni to find enclosed a check for the amount due. All these letters I signed myself, and, addressing the envelopes, gave them into father's hands, so that he might enclose the checks, as explained in the last chapter of " Pork and Mustard ". From the time of our arrival in India, before settling in Khetwadi Castle, I had been running in debt for the board of my sister and myself ; but father had received his pension, paid up aU our debts in America, and sent us several hun- dred doUars. All this occurred before Dr. Tho- burn wrote his second installment of official let- ters charging me with debt ; so that, when these letters reached India, we were not at all in debt. It was in reply to these official letters from Bishop Thoburn that my dear patient, Mrs. Kate E. Stone, wife of the Rev. J. Sumner Stone, M.D., who was then my pastor, wrote to Bishop Tho- burn the fuU, and exhaustive letter, which ap- pears in the following chapter. REV. J. Sl'MNKR STONE. M. 1).. AM) .MRS. K.VTE E. STONE CHAPTEE XI AN APPEAL AND A VINDICATION (From Mrs. Kate E. Stone to Rev. James M. Thoburn, D.D.) Bombay, July 11, 1887. My Dear Dr. Thohurn : I am writing you to-day concerning Dr. Arm- strong and her sister. Your official letter reached us last week, and I feel I owe it to you to write all I know of these ladies. Most unfortunately for them, and I am sure with distress to yourself, you have met not their friends, but those who, if not enemies, have known little or nothing of them. You were perfectly right in warning the mis- sion against one you thought dangerous; but. Dr. Thoburn, don't you think you should have had more definite charges to warrant your writ- ing an official letter ? I know it was asked of you, and not voluntary on your part, and not written without some in- vestigation. But, Dr. Thoburn, had it been your sister's character so impunged, would it have been too long to have waited for a letter from one of so unimpeachable character as Eev. J, G. Miller, to whom we referred you ? We referred you to him not because we could refer to none other, but because he had known her longer and better, and could have most exhaustively answered your scruples. (115) 116 KHETWADI CASTLE Don't think, dear Dr. Thoburn, that I am taking a stand against you — 1 have most genuine appreciation of your judgment, and I love you as a father; but I am here in the same house with Dr. Armstrong, I love her and have con- fidence in her ; I have had opportunity in more ways than one of learning her history; and, knowing so much, I am able as perhaps no other can be, to detect the shallowness of the charges against her. I think I owe it to you as well as to her to sift the charges and show you how httle they amount to, although they read so strongly. I know there is no one in all the world who will more gladly rectify a mistake and right an unintentional wrong than yourself. In the first place, Dr. Thoburn, you know it is exceedingly difiicult to fight a rumor, and the character of a Christian worker who brings un- exceptional testimonials ought not to be im- peached by such. The general charges of dishonesty and untruth- fulness seem to be mere rumors. The charge of debt to Dr. Kidder is the only direct and authenticated charge that has reached India. Dr. Armstrong did owe five hundred doUars to the Educational Fund, but she thought it was fully discharged when she came as a mis- sionary. * I send you a copy of her notes to Dr. *Iti8 specified in the document referred to as follows : "In the event of my entering and continuing in the foreign mission- ary work of the M. E. Church neither interest or principal is to be charged on my loans." AN APPEAL AND A VINDICATION 117 Kidder, and the conditions of the loans made. Dr. Kidder probably forgets that Dr. Armstrong wrote him immediately after her graduation and thanked him for his kindness and help ; in her letter she stated when she expected to leave for India. Just before leaving America she v/rote to Dr. Kidder and left the directed letter to be forwarded to him, and until your letter came she did not know he had not received it. Her hand is so crippled (from constant use of the pen in years agone) that she cannot write at all now. Had she been able to write I think the case would long since have been straightened out. 2nd. Eumor of her indebtedness in Philadel- phia : Dr. Armstrong was in debt to friends who had again and again rendered her assistance ; but every debt was paid, or arranged to be paid, before she sailed. I have seen her receipts and with them have come the kindest of letters expressing affection for her, interest in her work, and surprise at so early payment ; for almost if not all her debts were contracted with a full understanding that they would not be paid until she was able. There are none to whom she would more confidently refer you than her supposed creditors. I enclose copies of letters received from them. 3rd. Charges of untruthfulness: Can you authenticate any ? Her circular sent to Dr. Kidder was not a circular but a stenographic letter. Her hand (from writer's cramp) was 118 KHETWADI CASTLE then giving ^way. She thinks it did not read exactly as your letter gives it, but such a state- ment is not without foundation. Overtures were made to her by those whom she at least con- sidered representatives of Boards. A Baptist Church in New York City offered to send her. From an Episcopal Church in Philadelphia she received what she thought an unequivocal call: — A lady (she forgets her name) representing herself as a member of the Mission Board of such Church called, in her official capacity, up- on Dr. Armstrong. She told her that two of their missionaries had failed them and asked if Dr. Armstrong and her sister would go in their places. The next call came through Dr. Bodley, Dean of the College, and Dr. Armstrong certainly considered it official. Dr. Bodley called Dr. Armstrong into her room and told her that she had received letters from the Missionary Board of the Methodist Church South asking for Medi- cal Missionaries, and asked her if she would accept the call. Her father received a call for her from a Presbyterian Church Board in Omaha, which Board agreed to send her, her sister, and her nurse. She can't send names to authenti- cate this, but could in a few months, or as soon as it could be got from America. Bishop War- ren, on the train between Plattsmouth and Lin- coln, interviewed her and asked her to go as a missionary to the Freedmen in the South. This was in the year that the Nebraska Annual Con- ference was held in Nebraska City. Bishop AN APPEAL AND A VINDICATION 119 Warren will remember. She received through Mrs. Newman an official invitation to go to Salt Lake City. She received from Bishop Taylor several years ago an invitation to go to South America. She received a written application from Mrs. Alderman, Secretary of the New England Branch of the Woman's Foreign Mis- sionary Society, to take Dr. Swain's place in North India. An authenticated copy of Mrs. Alderman's letter I enclose. Miss Belle Hart, Secretary of the Baltimore Branch, pressed her to go to China, but offered to send her to India if such were her preference. This was in January, 1886. Dr. Armstrong asked for an accompanying nurse, and Miss Hart said that as far as in her official capacity she could, she would promise to send a nurse with her. She (Dr. Armstrong) spoke to Miss Hart about her sister, and Miss Hart said that she couldn't promise authoritatively, but as far as it was in her power she would assure her that her sister should f oUow her when fully prepared. Immedi- ately after Dr. Armstrong's graduation she was interviewed by Mrs. Price of Philadelphia. This was in March or April of 1885. Mrs. Price was chairman of the Committee on Can- didates — of the Philadelphia Branch of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society. Mrs. Price urged her to send in her application to that Branch immediately, saying, ' ' You belong to us, having graduated here and holding your church membership in Philadelphia." In the 120 KHETWADI CASTLE summer of 1886 the Corresponding Secretary of one of the Western Branches (Miss M. H. Walters, now missionary in Salt Lake City) spent several weeks with Dr. Armstrong, and repeatedly expressed a wish that she go out under that Branch. Bishop Taylor sent her several letters inviting her to. work in India, as well as elsewhere, and after the last General Conference he called upon her and told her that at any time he would be ready to send her, or herself and sister. Mrs. Hartsock of Baltimore Branch is an earnest friend of Dr. Armstrong, and she refers you to her. I enclose a letter from Mrs. Keen. Dr. Armstrong does not boast of these things, but these citations wiU show that she had a little ground for making such a statement, especially in a letter to intimate friends who know much of her history. Dr. Bodley's charges do not harmonize with a letter which I send you.* I do not think her words were mahcious, but I think that she had read Mrs. Newman's letter and account of Dr. Armstrong's hfe. She knew that there were mistakes made in this letter, and thinking Dr. Armstrong was responsible for its pubMcation and false statements, she had no other conclusion but that Dr. Armstrong was untruthful. Mrs. Newman's letter even made Doctor graduate at a wrong time. Dr. Armstrong was in no way responsible for Mrs. Newman's letter. She received the manuscript and word of its proposed *See Chapter XV, in "Pork and Mustard." AN APPEAL AND A VINDICATION 121 publication from Mrs. Newman. She immedi- ately wrote correcting mistakes, but received a letter (I send you a copy)* telling her to her dis- may that the letter had been published and cir- culated before her corrections had been received. What could she do ? Mrs. Newman has been, and is, her warmest friend, but she depended on her memory for her data. I have answered everything I think but Mrs. Alderman's letter attached to your official letter. The " Resident Physician " whom Mrs. Alderman interviewed was the self- same Dr. Whitney to whom she referred in her last sentence. The term of the physicians in the New England Hospital is not of long duration, and there is thus continu- ous change. Dr. Whitney's term was almost ended when Dr. Armstrong entered. Dr. Whit- ney was younger than Dr. Armstrong, a scoffer of religion and was very unfriendly. Her spite was augmented by a difference of opinion regard- ing the treatment of a patient, Mrs. Gardner of Hotel Berkely, Boston, to whom Dr. Armstrong refers you, and a letter from whom I enclose. The Resident Physician during almost the whole of Dr. Armstrong's term, was Dr. M. E. Pagel- sen. She refers you to her, and I enclose a let- ter from her. She refers you also to Dr. Hobart, who is either at the New England Hospital, or can be reached by a letter forwarded from there. Dr. Bodley, Dean of the Woman's Medical College of Philadelphia, would satisfy you that at least one of Dr. Whitney's charges, that of * See Chapter XXI, in " Pork and Mustard." 122 KHETWADI CASTLE Medical incapacity, is absolutely false. In regard to Dr. AriQstrong's soliciting the Woman's For- eign Missionary Society to accept her, since her ar- rival in India, I will say, Dr. Armstrong has not made one such application. At Dr. Stone's urgent and repeated request, she consented to allow him to write to Mrs. Skidmore, and some time after, at our renewed soUcitation, she wrote or dictated a letter to Miss Belle Hart, expressing her willing- ness to go under the Board. She did not do this until she knew her debts had all been paid, until her work in Bombay was opening out nicely, and when much pressure was brought to bear upon her by myself, my husband, Miss De Line, Miss Lay- ton and others. We thought that the Methodist Church should have the honor and advantage of her work. Her work is opening up grandly, and has promise of being a mighty agency for the advancement of the Master's cause. Dr. Armstrong is not narrow minded, and is a help in every department of our work. The letter I send you is the one of Mrs. Alderman's, which Dr. Armstrong showed to Brother Oldham. She did not request him to ask for her for Singapore, and but partially consented after several inter- views, during which he much pressed the mat- ter, as he will testify. She knows of no other application. The Nizam's minister visited her at the house of Miss De Line, in reference to her opening out her work in Hyderabad City. Her work in Bombay has every promise of success. She is well located, and is getting into practice. AN APPEAL AND A VINDICATION 123 The private hospital is designed to furnish the basis for the training school, though it is hoped to make it self-supporting. Dr. Armstrong feels keenly the attacks made upon her, but she is not in the least embittered, nor has she lost confidence in the God, who is able to bring to pass her vindication. My dear Dr. Thoburn, I dislike exceedingly to write such a letter, but don't you think after writing as you have, you owe it to yourself, to her and to the Master's cause, to make a thor- ough and exhaustive investigation, and give her the full benefit of her defence ? Her work in India may be much interfered with if she has to bear such suspicion, I send you addresses of her friends, with those marked by a star who have been her creditors. She has many more letters and references, but I select these. I think your wife boarded with the Mrs. Kirby referred to, when she was at college. I trust you will find reason to change your opinion of Dr. Armstrong, and if so, I know you will most eagerly undo any wrongs done her. With most affectionate regards to Mrs. Tho- burn and yourself, Very sincerely, K. E. Stone. 124 KHETWADI CASTLE Here follows the list of names and addresses referred to in the foregoing letter : Dr. Mary F. Hobart, New England Hospital, Eoxbury District, Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. M. E. Pagelsen, New England Hospital, Eoxbury District, Boston, Massachusetts. Mrs. Ellen K. Gardner, Hotel Berkley, Boston, Massachusetts. Mrs. Mary Patterson Manly, Waban Cottage, Wellesley College, Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Sarah M. Wilbur, A.M., Westerly, Rhode Island. Dr. Mary N. Baker, 803 Eighteenth Street, New York City. *Dr. A. Victoria Scott, 329 South Twelfth Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mrs. C. G. Boughton, 1118 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mrs. George Griffin, 2011 North Twelfth Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. *Dr. Mary J. S. Dixon, 1603 Girard Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Dr. Kirby, 606 North Broad Street, Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania. *Miss Sarah R. Bowman, West Chester, Penn- sylvania. Mrs. Mary E. Hartsock, 99 Mulberry Street, Baltimore, Maryland. Mrs. La Fetra, Temperance Cafe, Washing- ton, D. C. Miss Sarepta Gould, Berville, Michigan. *I. T. Martin, Esq., 1514 Farnham Street, Davenport, Iowa, Eev. Samuel W. Heald, Care Mr. I. T. Martin, Davenport, Iowa. AN APPEAL AND A VINDICATION 125 Mrs. Mattie B. Power, Second and High Streets, Keokuk, Iowa. Mrs. I. S. D. Spurlock, Plattsmouth, Nebraska. Mrs. D. C. Fleming, Weeping Water, Nebraska. Mrs. David Newman, 1724 L Street, Lincobi, Nebraska. Dr. Charlotte N. Norton, 1730 D Street, Lin- coln, Nebraska. Mrs. (Eev.) E. M. J. Cooly, Lincoln, Nebraska. Mrs. M. E. Eoberts (widow), Lincoln, Nebraska. Mrs. Sarepta Geiger, Lincoln, Nebraska. *Kev. J. G. Miller, South Pasadena, California, P. S. Since my "vindication" has been in readiness to be sent to you a letter touching the subject has been received from Mrs. M. C. Nind.f I send a copy of this letter in the same envelope with Mrs. Alderman's letter. What do you think of the comparison ? I shall not attempt to fully answer Mrs. Alder- man's statements of "romance", etc. I could do so, I think, most satisfactorily, for the proofs are in my hands, with even the papers made out by the Homes from which the children were taken, and other papers signed by the parties to whom the children were consigned. It is an easily authenticated "romance", and the "truth" of it can be easily established. Mrs. Alderman's statements are at least not strictly accurate. Dr. Armstrong took eleven children at the one time, three from Philadelphia, eight from Chi- f This Mrs. Mary C. Kind is not the wife of Bishop W. X. Ninde, nor is she a relative of his. 126 KHETWADI CASTLE cago. She slept not at all on the train, and ate but once a day when the children were sleeping. Memory is an exceedingly treacherous thing to depend upon, and it is not improbable that Mrs. Alderman's memory has made it appear to her that such statements were made as she repre- sents in her letter to Mrs. Nind. Doubtless in this way could be also explained her statements of " not wanting Dr. Arm- strong", calling ''as a matter of courtesy". She probably has forgotten the letter I send, but it is a rather emphatic denial to say, ' ' It is an utter and unmitigated falsehood ". Dr. Armstrong spent the first night of her journey westward with Mrs. Hartsock in Balti- more, she spent also one night in Chicago. I cannot think it credible that any one could be tempted to tell such an easily detected falsehood as Mrs. Alderman represents. Her whole trip, as all must have known, occupied all the time from April 13th until June 1st, the time of her term at the Hospital. It was because of hard work during the whole of her vacation that she requested a month's delay in entering the Hos- pital. On her return trip she did make a multi- tude of calls — probably the number mentioned by Mrs. Alderman, as is easily conceivable when I tell you that she was gathering evidence to establish her father's claim to a pension. She visited very, very many — not only called upon these folks, but took their evidence. Each visit or caU could really be multiphed by three, as the AN APPEAL AND A VINDICATION J 27 affidavit of each had to be taken at an attorney's office — then each evidence had to be recorded by the county clerk in the county records. It wouldn't require very vivid imagination to fancy that her statement of visits might have a ' ' word of truth in it ". She lectured also at many places on her return trip, and stopped at Washington to have all her accumulated evidence examined and recorded. She acted as attorney for her father until just before leaving America. Mrs. Alderman's quotations are inexplicable to me. I have been in the same house with ' ' the woman ' ' for eight months, and have had oppor- tunity of observing her conduct under all cir- cumstances ; and I must say that I have met no one who has more unmistakably exemplified the spirit of Jesus. The Lord is manifestly owning her work, and I have no doubt that her work will be established and her name vindicated, notwithstanding the unaccountable attacks upon her. Mrs. Nind quotes you and Dr. Kidder as authorities in establishing Dr. Armstrong's un- worthiness, while you quote her. Don't you see how probable it is that the devil has had a hand in scattering aU this rumor, and that good people have been more cautious than charitable ? I have not been able to get this off as soon as I expected ; since, as both your official letter and Mrs. Nind's were circulated in India, I thought it wise to send the vindication to each individual who had seen the charges ; and I did not wish to have these good people wait two months, as 128 KHETWADI CASTLE they would have done had I sent the vindication to you first. Since Mrs. Nind's letter has come, I have determined not to send Mrs. Alderman's letter, but to send an authenticated copy of the same. Dr. Armstrong speaks very highly of Mrs. Mnd, and is at a loss to explain' her letter. Please investigate the matter fully and if, as I believe, Dr. Armstrong is the victim of malicious or careless tongues, it is in your power to vin- dicate her, I believe that if you knew her you would esteem it a privilege to stand by her. I have fullest confidence in her, and I have good opportunity to study her well; and I had been prepared to take a stand against her; for before seeing her I had been acquainted with the reports concerning her. We were glad to hear of Crawford's improved health, and pray he may be completely restored. With much love to Mrs. Thoburn and yourself. Very sincerely, K. E. Stone. Note: — The foregoing letter from Mrs. Kate E. Stone, to Rev. James M. Thoburn, D.D., was written July 11, 1887. This letter Dr. Thoburn never answered. At least, if he did, I am not aware of it ; and I know that Mrs. Stone received no answer while she remained in India; nor were the papers which she forwarded to him, together with this letter, returned until many months after they were due. FAC-SIjMILI'; of BeCOSTA-S copy op MRS. jMARY. C. KIND'S LETTER TO THE REV. A. VV. RUDISrLL a^-hi^.x^ , A-v iiJ:<.../'t -fCtt.^ !i-i&f.,a^ c/ i^i^ iU.~4^^~yu^ /,^ ^ J',, ,, ef^^y^.-.^ -tZ^- /, . A .../ efeiJ' ^«^ ^/- ^^ ^cjLu C^„ur^.j Ly. ^^ r./-c£ /?. / A^ /r-/^ -^ (J^^^CJ ^^J^;/ uX^^--^- Jj...r;.,.,Z.^ t^-^yZ^.„ „.^...^C. a^ ■it'J' ^ -^c ^ 0<- ^-4"^^'^— /•; /^- c;^"^,", /5. .^ ly^-. *i^.,^f_ /»>*-,, ^2^__> ^,.A^ ij. ■^^^- /,...c c^-^y £ ' y I ^1 ^^1^^^ AN APPEAL AND A VINDICATION 137 made, — This is a very important field. Dr. Swain you will remember was our first Missionary, — and her name always heads the fist of Medical Missionary ladies. I hope you are improving in health. 3:^ Yours Most Sincerely In Christian love Mrs. M. K. Alderman. The following are extracts from letters re- ceived from creditors, which Mrs. Stone for- warded to Dr. Thoburn, as stated in her letter to him : Philadelphia, February 23, 18 87. Dr. Armstrong, Dear Friend: Yours was received several days since, with enclosure, for which accept thanks. Your count covers all indebtedness. I return the note to you. I hoped you would call on us as you passed through Philadelphia. * * * I would like very much to hear something of your work in the East, but no doubt you have many letters to write. Do not forget to take care of your own health. Yours truly, M. J. Scarlett Dixon. Philadelphia, March 28, 1887. Dear Dr. Armstrong : Your letter at hand this A. M. We received your check for amount due us in full — some time 138 KHETWADI CASTLE ago ; did not acknowledge, as we did not know your address. Accept our thanks for same. I am very glad indeed to hear from you in that far off land; and we should be pleased to hear from you again, and your work in India. I hope you are pleasantly located, and enjoying the work so providentially assigned you. To have the ability to minister to the body as well as the soul, to heal and elevate poor suffering humanity at the same time, is certainly a great gift and privilege. I hope you may be very suc- cessful in your good and noble calling. * * * Mr. Chillman and Miss Wilson join me in kind- est wishes and regards to you. Hoping at some future time to hear from you, I close. Very truly your friend, Mary E. Stewart. (Extracts from a long letter from Dr. A. Victoria Scott.) 329 South 12th Street, Philadelphia, Pa. I was surprised by your cheque for fifty-five dollars ($55.00) and have sent receipt to your father. Please accept thanks for cheque, I did not expect it so soon. * * * I am glad to know you are happy in your work. That is what we all ought to be every- where, and the busier we are, the happier we are. '" * * AN APPEAL AND A VINDICATION 139 Write me fully of your work, or write a let- ter to the Heathen Woman's Friend. Then all your friends can hear at once, for it is asking a great deal of you to write long letters to each separately. * * * West Chester, Penna., June 1, '87. My dear Dr. Solent : It was charming to get thy letter to-day, from far off Bombay, and I congratulate you upon being actually there. I hope the journey thither was not as fatigueing as one would fancy. When we meet, (i. e. you come to see me) I shall hear all about the journey, as well as everything before and after it. Writing seems impossible to one of thy imperative duties, even if hands were not required to do it ; but no2v is a good time to practice what I preach, viz. the proper use of Postals, as brief almost as a tele- gram, and much better than no letter. So prom- ise me one a month, wont thee ? But how long I am withholding answers to several questions. First about the check. It came all right in Feb- ruary, enclosing thy letter from New York, dated November ! Perhaps they detained it needlessly in Washington ; I do not know, but was most glad to hear from thee. I did not even know you had sailed. I wrote to Nettie Scott for your address just a short time before thy letter arrived from Washington; and she replied that you ' ' were to sail for India, from New York, before 140 KHETWADI CASTLE Christmas. ' ' It was kind of thee to want me to see you oif in New York. I should have wanted to do so, but could not, as I was just then in midst of moving here — a stupendous work for my aching body to undertake. I shall never get rested from it. Help disap- pointed me, and callers hindered, until I was obliged to sit up two whole nights previous, to get everything ready for the chartered car — only thirty miles ; but my numerous valuable break- ables, and spillables, and crushables, had to be cared for. * * * Is it your father, with the fine beard in the beautiful photograph you sent me ? He looks like a philosopher, and also a prophet ! They are ex- quisite photos, and it was kind of you to send them. How long will you be in India ? Already I am planning for the return, and my visit. * * In my next I wiU write of my new home here, a sweet, Gothic stone cottage, which was built as rectory of the Episcopal Church forty years ago, and had to be sold, that they might build another rectory, near the new church. I had a legacy, and put it into this home for my old age; and I have ivilled it as a " Eest for Teachers ". My mission seems to be to buy and furnish it in as pretty and elegant a manner as. possible, and I hope to live long enough to beg funds to carry it on when I am gone. I am also begging a Library for it, and in that room am getting quite a museum of odd things. Of course thee and Willa will each donate a book, AN APPEAL AND A VINDICATION 143 after you return ? I especially want old books, that is, which have been read — and are worth reading again; and I want each one's name written in the book she gives. * '^ * Much love to you both from your attached, Sarah E. Bowman. P. S. The reason that I did not write a,t once, when check came, was that I did not know your address; what you gave was crossed off, and under it was written "address changed ". S.. K. B. (Letter from Mrs. Kate E. Stone to Rev. J. E. Robinson.) GrRANT EOAD, BOMBAY, AugUSt 3, 1887. My Dear Brother Robinson : Your letter of inquiries reached me yesterday when I was too busily engaged with home mail to give it immediate attention. As I read it and took in its import and in- definite charges, my first feeling was of chagrin and humihation that there could have been such action upon the part of a Christian, especially one of prominence in our church and missionary societies. It seemed to me to be a despicable, underhanded and dastardly attempt to vihfy Dr. Armstrong without giving her a chance to defend herself. I may be expressing myself too strongly, but this is whoUy an unofficial letter. I should feel the same, though perhaps express myself differ- ently, were I writing to Mrs. Alderman herself. 144: KHETWADI CASTLE Now: 1st. Who requested an official letter from any lady in America ? 2nd. Who in America could fancy it her bounden duty to write such a letter as you cite ? 3rd. Why should it be charge sufficient to prove Dr. Armstrong's unfitness for mission work if she had indulged in ' ' romance ' ' or ex- aggerated in regard to ' ' sleeplessness ' ' ? 4th. What proof, beyond her own sweeping statement, (which may go for its worth) has Mrs. Alderman that the taking of orphans West was all ' ' romance ' ' and her sleeplessness had ' ' not a word of truth in it " ? Now, Brother Eobinson, did I not know one word about the case, these four considerations, together with my estimate of Mrs. Alderman's character from one sentence in her own letter, would make of no weight whatever her insinua- tions. You perhaps noticed the sentence in Mrs. Alderman's letter referring to the fact fchat Miss Swain was the first Medical Missionary sent out, and ' ' her name heads the list of Medical Mis- sionaries ^\ My attention wasn't directed by any one else to this sentence. But as I read the sentence it seemed to me to contain a sly tempta- tion to ambition held out to Dr. Armstrong to induce her to accept this position, and I involun- tarily contracted a contempt for the Missionary Secretary who could hold out such a bait to a missionary. However, I fought my feeUngs, thinking I perhaps did the lady injustice, that AN APPEAL AND A VINDICATION 145 her words might have been unconsidered, etc. But the quotations from her now lead me to most unbounded contempt for one who could so quietly charge falsehood upon one whom she knew was already being persecuted on all sides. After considering the matter fully I am rejoic- ing in the assurance that the Lord has permitted this evil that the wrath of man (or woman) may praise Him, and that Dr. Armstrong's character and value as a laborer in His vineyard may be more fuUy established and recognized. 1st. The littleness of the charges seems to me to indicate the extremity of her enemies and of the enemy of souls. 2nd, The completeness of the vindication pos- sible throws the lie upon her assailants, and is thus a double weapon in her defence. 3rd. Surely the character of any future assail- ant will have to be established before her accusa- tions have any weight. If Mrs. Alderman should write such a letter against Mrs. Skidmore or Mrs. Keen, what weight do you suppose it would have ? Judg- ment would at least be suspended until the ex- planation had been given. It seems to me Dr. Armstrong ought to be accorded the same simple justice. Not one charge against her has in my opinion been substantiated, and yet she continues to be hunted to the death. I think it is a shame to Methodism and Christianity, yes, and humanity. If every thing said against her were true I yet 146 KHETWADI CASTLE can't see how any one owes it to himself, or the church, to persecute one who is perfectly inde- pendent in her work — and doesn't in any way ask the church to assume responsibilities for her. She holds her membership in the M. E. Church. If charges are to be brought against her, ought not they to be brought in the Disciphnary way ? Now for her vindication : — In the first place, let me explain that the whole conversation re- ported or quoted was invited by Mrs. Alderman herself — for this same Mrs. Alderman (who in Dr. Thoburn's official letter stated her almost total ignorance of Dr. Armstrong) not only wrote the letter you have read, and called at the New England Hospital as she herself states now, but she called several times during Dr. Arm- strong's absence from the Hospital, as we can prove if need be. When finally Mrs. Alderman found Dr. Armstrong at the Hospital, she natur- ally inquired the cause of her month's delay in coming. I think this detracts a httle from the statement, for if ' ' romance ' ' were recited, its recital was invited It was a natural and true thing to teU under any circumstances, but was divested of all spirit of brag by the fact that it was given purely with the intent to refute a very common charge, then in circulation and even at the moment intimated by Mrs. Alderman, that Dr. Armstrong was exceedingly dehcate, too much so to entertain the thought of going to India. To answer this inquiry and half -charge of Mrs. AN APPEAL AND A VINDICATION 147 Alderman, Dr. Armstrong told her of her work among orphan children. I am so glad the way has opened up for me to acquaint you with Dr. Armstrong's worth and true missionary spirit. I think nothing shows it more clearly than this work among ragamuffins. Dr. Armstrong was at one time engaged in city missionary work in Chicago, and again in New York City ; indeed wherever she has been she has had some such work. In this work she became especially interested in city waifs, and her heart was stirred with the conviction that if some childless homes and these waifs could be brought together the benefit would be mutual. She talked and wrote to her father about it so continually that finally her father agreed to take one boy himself, and her brother, fifty miles dis- tant, agreed to take another. This was about five years ago, possibly six. These two boys turned out so nicely that the neighbors were in- cited to do likewise, and tlie two boys could have been given to others again and again. But Dr. Armstrong was now too busy with her heavy medical studies to attend to the work. When she graduated, however, there remained for her two months of vacation before her term at the New England Hospital would begin ; and she determined that this was her one opportunity to do this missionary work. She knew it would be a tremendous undertaking to take wild, unre- strainable boys from the East to the West ; but, having received word from her father that nine 148 KHETWADI CASTLE families wanted each a boy, she determined to undertake it. She started on Monday morning from Philadelphia with three boys. She can refer you to the Philadelphia "Home", from which she got them, and to several who knew about the undertaking. Mrs. Hartsock in Baltimore will gladly substantiate the " romance ". In Washington the party stopped with Mrs. La Fetra, well known in church circles. Mrs. La Fetra will also substantiate the " romance ". She was very kind to the urchins, and I think will express an opinion that it would be next to impossible to sleep when taking such a trip in such company. At Chicago, Dr. Armstrong got eight more boys, and thus with a party of eleven boys, ages ranging from five to eight, untamed, untrained, wild as animals uncaged, she started on. Do you fancy that her story about sleeplessness on such a trip was without ' ' a shadow of truth ' ' in it. Such a party naturally attracted a little attention, and it would not be difficult to get multitudes to corroborate the statements I make. This is unnecessary, however, as the story can be fully established by the records of the ' ' Home for the Friendless ' ' in Chicago, When Dr. Armstrong reached home these lit- tle ones all had to be given out to Christian families, papers of agreement had to be signed, papers descriptive of the children and their former life had to be got in readiness. In fact multi- tudinous duties grew out of the enterprise as AN APPEAL AND A VINDICATION 149 you can plainly see would be the natural result. The party started on Monday morning and did not reach its destination until Saturday night, the last thirteen miles of the journey was by coach. Four weeks was little enough for the work just mentioned; her vacation was but two months, from March 11th to June 1st, She hurried back to Philadelphia, but found herself so nearly prostrated that she requested and was granted a month longer before going into the Hospital. Of course when Mrs, Alderman went to the Hospital again and again, she was told — ' ' Dr. Armstrong is not well and wiU not be here until next month. ' ' To refute the charge of invahd- ism, which Dr. Armstrong thought was injuring her, she repeated this experience. Before Dr. Armstrong and her sister came to India, this work was weU organized. Their father's wife, their step-mother, has property; their father not only has his pension, but a httle besides, and continues his practice of medicine, so the homestead was considered to be the girls'. They persuaded their father to dedicate it instead, as ' ' The Park Hill Orphanage ". He did so, giv- ing house, furniture, horse and carriage, cow and one hundred and sixty acres of good land. This Orphanage is a fact of undoubted substantiahty. I will send you the Constitution and By-Laws of it.* They are the work of Dr. Armstrong. I wiU send many notices of the same. Thus is *See Chapter XX, in "Pork and Mustard." 150 KHETWADI CASTLE the statement of ' ' romance ' ' exploded. My soul burns with indignation, I fear I am not in condition to write calmly, perhaps not so syllogis- tically as I ought. It will be the eloquence of earnestness if not of logic, however, so please excuse it. In regard to Mrs. Prescott, I did not write to you about that, for it was such a long story ; but I verily beMeve that Dr. Armstrong's whole grievous experience has been in consequence of a school-girl squabble many years ago. Bishop Mnde heard the whole story, and not only knew Mrs. Prescott ; but all other parties mentioned by Dr. Armstrong; and in Bishop Ninde's opinion Dr. Armstrong was fully justified in the course she took. Dr. Pudisill heard this story, and it was principally for his benefit that I sent Mrs. Hartsock's letter. It was such an ingenious, and yet so complete a substantiation of Dr. Armstrong's story, as Dr. Rudisill heard it. 1 knew that Dr. RudisiU had requested Dr. Tho- burn's official letter, and I was especially anxious that this seemingly unconquerable prejudice should be overcome. I will send you copies of letters which will explain the story I think. Brother Jacobs is now in Bombay for a change, and is for the present stopping with us. We will give him verbal explanations of any thing he fails to see into. Dr. RudisiU already knows the story, and pronounced the vindication tri- umphant ; so you are the only one who needs this letter. I hope it wiU be satisfactory. Hasn't AN APPEAL AND A VINDICATION 151 Dr. Armstrong had a history that reads hke a romance ? Has she not been persecuted most unaccountably ? I think Mrs. Hartsock's letter ^ referring to her privilege of fellowship with Christ in suffering almost ranks her with those martyred saints, whose physical suffering could scarcely be more painful than some of her ex- periences. Mrs. Newman's letter f appeared in one of the Church papers, I think it was the Central Christian Advocate. Dr. Armstrong never saw the article in print, and but a rough draft of it at all. I don't think we have a copy of it, but you could get it I think from some other source. I do not know what was the date of its publication. The book referred to by Mrs. Hartsock had the title of " Pork and Mustard ", and grew out of manuscripts written from time to time by Dr. Armstrong. It contained an ac- count of her call to India, four or five of her lectures, several of her poems, and aU were gathered together, at the urgency of friends, into a book. She was afterward urged to write a description of her lecturing tour, and some of her tribulations or experiences in preparing her- self for the field. In this part of the manuscript occurred the recital of her experience with Mrs. Prescott.:]: She was urged to put this in especially for the good it might do in opening up the eyes of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society at large to the disaster and damage one member * See Chapter XIII, in " Pork and Mustard", f See Chapter XXI, in " Pork and Mustard." I See Chapters VIII and XIII, in " Pork and Mustard." 152 KHETWADI CASTLE could do in prejudicing the whole society, or at least in putting obstacles in the way of a candi- date. All her friends urged the publication of these chapters with the exception of Mrs. Hart- sock, who urged her " to take out " of her ' ' book all that reflects on any body, and then I think ' Pork and Mustard ' will taste good. ' ' The book was accepted by Walden and Stowe, and was to have been printed at the end of the year. Dr. Armstrong, however, felt as if she could not have the book printed, for she was one day ready to put in these chapters, and the next per- suaded that they should be left out. She finally withdrew it and it has never been published, but is here in manuscript. Dear Brother Robinson, I wrote this letter a week ago, and am very sorry it has been delayed ; but I have been so busy, and Dr. Armstrong has been so busy, that I found it impossible to get in readiness some of the proofs that I wanted. Dr. Armstrong has been sick for two days — overtaxed herself in trying to resuscitate a dying child; and, then when faint and half sick, was exposed to the sun until she has been quite sick, and only to-night have I had the heart to harass her brain over this harrowing business. To her surprise, and to my deMght we find in looking over her papers (so carelessly preserved) super- abundant proof of all I have affirmed. I shall not expatiate on these proofs, they speak for themselves. More than all this, it has been Dr. Armstrong's AN APPEAL AND A VINDICATION 153 custom to keep a half -hourly record of her hfe. She found it easier to do this than to keep a regular or ordinary journal. In this record book, which we have been looking into to-night, is a complete history of her trip West with the orphans.* I want her to send it to you; but, in the form it is in, it contains so many private and personal matters that she cannot bear to send it. I will send one page however as a sample of the exactness of the record, and give you my word for it that it is only one page of a book of such records. I think the Lord Himself and none other led her to keep by her these letters and records. She destroyed many letters when she came to India, for they were bulky, but some she valued too much to destroy, and others she hadn't opportunity to review, and thus she has these with her. Dr. Armstrong has confidence in Mrs. Mnd, and thinks that Mrs. Mnd beUeves everything she may have written against her. She thinks, however, that almost aU Mrs. Mnd's information is derived through Mrs. Prescott ; and, in Doctor's opinion, Mrs. Prescott is false to the core. She is as decided in her denunciation of Mrs. Pres- cott as she is in her commendation and excuses of Mrs. Mnd. I must confess the weight of testimony is against Mrs. Prescott. I wonder if she would be willing to submit to the investiga- tion Dr. Armstrong has had to endure. I am sorry. Brother Robinson, you did not send *See Chapter XVII, in "Pork and Mustard." 154 KHETWADI CASTLE the letter referred to to me ; I might then have answered it more satisfactorily. I have reason to think that the letter has been circulating through the Conference — and I guess that it was written by Mrs. Nind to Mrs. Rudisill. I do not know, this is my guess. Am I right ? I knew nothing of this until after I had written this letter, nor do I know much more now than I have guessed. I neglected to say that, on her way back to Philadelphia, Dr. Armstrong lectured at many places. In Michigan she stopped to collect evi- dence to establish her father's claim to a pension. This business was tremendous, as she had to get many evidences, and these had to be taken to an attorney to be sworn to — then to the County Clerk to be recorded. She stopped at Washing- ton and had the accumulated evidence recorded and the case called up. She was her father's sole attorney until a few months before she left for India. Now, Brother Robinson, this is purely a per- sonal and unofficial letter. It may help you to write your letter, and I will stand by you. If I were writing a letter home, however, I might write it a little differently. Please return the letter as soon as possible, also the enclosed manuscript of which Dr. Arm- strong has no copy. I do wish I had seen Mrs. Mnd's letter, or Mrs. Alderman's exact words. Did she say, as I infer from your letter, that the ' ' trip West with AN APPEAL AND A VINDICATION 155 orphans" was "romance", or what? And about sleeplessness, how could she make the statement that there was "not a shadow of truth" in it? Did she mean that Dr. Arm- strong did sleep — if so, how could she prove it? Or did she mean Dr. Armstrong's statement of the fact hadn't truth in it ? I have an idea that Mrs. Alderman has, perhaps unknowingly, enlarged on Dr. Armstrong's statement; so, al- though it seems such a condescension to inquire into a charge of such httleness, yet I have ques- tioned the Dr. about this. Doctor's statement to Mrs. Alderman in regard to sleeplessness was, "I slept not at aU on the train, nor did I eat save once in twenty-four hours when the chil- dren were asleep. ' ' When the party stopped in Baltimore and other places, as Doctor's "record " wiU show, they were very well cared for. Mrs. Al- derman's fancy must be vivid — I fancy anything she may have said could be easily explained. Have you forwarded my letter ? If so, when ? We have not heard of anyone else getting it. I am anxious it should make the rounds of India early, as I want to get it off to Dr. Thoburn as soon as possible. If you have not yet forwarded it to Dr. Rudisill, please send it back to me first, as Brother Jacobs is here and wiU be for a short time longer. Please send it registered and I wiU refund the cost. Please don't quote me in your home letter; use any proofs I may have given you — but, if my name is used, I prefer to append what is said in my letter to Dr. Thoburn. 156 KHETWADI CASTLE If Dr. Fraser is still with you, remember me kindly to him. I received his very kind letter and partially answered it, but have not got it finished, and I fear it is too late to send it. My husband sends salaams to Mrs. Robinson and the bairnies. I would like ever so much to have a copy of your "strong" letter home. I think the ears of some folks in the home land ought to be burning hotly. Dr. Stone joins me in kindest regards. Hoping Dr. A's affairs will be sometime allowed to settle themselves. Very sincerely, K. E. Stone. -^ / w -,«■ % ^^.=>x ^--^^^^ T CHAPTEE XII A YOUNG missionary's UNWEITTEN LABORS OF LOVE Having wandered with us through the great apartments of our Khetwadi Castle, you wiU crave an introduction to its inmates. First of all you must know my darling sister, Miss Wil- limina L. Armstrong, eleven years my junior, who accompanied me to India, and whose heart was so well-nigh broken at the separation from father, home, friends and country; but who still, in her sweet young womanhood, had the courage to forsake ah ; and, at His bidding, to go out to the foreign mission field unaided and alone, but for the one senior sister who had been a kind of mother to her from the days of her early childhood. She had spent three years in the Woman's Medical CoUege of Pensylvania, but was too young to graduate, and in India was not will- ing to assume the role of doctor, even though many uneducated medical students, with much less knowledge of that great science than she had acquired, were there practicing the pro- fession and receiving handsome fees for their professional services. To be a quack she could not, or rather, would not, in any land. Anxious to do something by means of which she might (159) . 160 KHETWADI CASTLE be able to pay her own expenses, and having, while in Philadelphia, graduated from the Mount Vernon Institute of Elocution and Languages, she, through the kind introduction of our mutual friend and pastor, Dr. J. Sumner Stone, obtained a position as teacher of Physical Culture and Elocution in four of the English Grovernment schools of Bombay. This position netted her a sufficient sum to cover all her own expenses, and enabled her to pay to me a reasonable sum for her board; which, of course, was a great help during those early days of struggle. These positions my sister held, giving the high- est satisfaction to the school authorities, pupils, and all concerned, until her injury by a serious sun- stroke. After her recovery from this, I prevailed upon her to resign the position, which she did. She then began independent mission work in the slums of Bombay Enghsh and native cities ; going, sometimes in company with another missionary worker and sometimes with Staff Captain Blanche B. Cox, to the darkest depths of native and European Slumdom. She visited unhappy prostitutes in their wretched brothels, carried the blessed Grospel of Jesus Christ, sing- ing songs of Zion, offering up earnest petitions to Almighty God, warning, reasoning, entreating, giving tender assurances of love, sympathy and interest, reaching the helping hand to the lost and perishing; and thus spending and being spent for God and humanity. These visits were paid, for the most part, in the late evening, or A YOUNG MISSIONARY 161 even at the dead of night, and were not without peril to the sweet young Hf e thus given to the Master's service. In addition to this work my sister soon gained a large number of wealthy, high- caste, zenana lady friends, whom she visited with more or less regularity. These homes she visited ostensibly as a friend, but really as a missionary, and as a zenana worker. First of all she had gone in com- pany with various other zenana missionary work- ers, and had acquainted herself with the character of their labors, until she became quite famihar with all phases of that department of missionary effort. Having thus become familiar with the work, and also with many wealthy zenana ladies, she built up for herself a regular mission field of her own, among the high-caste, wealthy zenana ladies of Bombay; a large number of whom were sufficiently famihar with the Enghsh lan- guage to be able to converse with her in her mother tongue. Where they were not thus well informed, however, it made little difference, as my sister very soon gained a sufficient knowl- edge of the Hindoostani, and Marathi languages, to be able to carry on conversation in them. Who can estimate the ultimate results of my sister's missionary labors in Bombay ? Were any souls saved ? Were any zenana ladies con- vinced of the truth of the Christian reUgion ? I know not ; and yet how could it be otherwise ? God has a record which will be revealed on His great day of accounts, and which must show re- sults. 162 KHETWADI CASTLE No reports of any kind were ever kept or forwarded to any society or board in America, or elsewhere, by either my sister or myself. While there we had httle leisure for letter or re- port writing. Our hands, hearts, brains and time were full, and much more than full with the many duties, responsibilities and labors which pressed upon us through every hour of every day. Is there any gauge by which influence can be measured ? Are there any scales in which kind words, loving deeds, sweet smiles, earnest prayers and the fragrance of a pure, fresh young life can be weighed ? If so, then, perhaps, my sister's labors may be computed, and the results of them estimated. MRS. JIARV ESTIllCR ISAAC :\10SES CHAPTER XIII MRS. MA.RY ESTHER ISAAC MOSES The regular missionary of the Parent Board, and the teacher and zenana missionaries of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, immediately after their arrival in India, must decide upon some one Indian language which is to become their own ; and the first duty which devolves upon them is to master that Indian tongue. This done, they are given a field of labor where the majority of the people speak the language with which they have famiharized themselves. With a physi- cian, a medical missionary, the case is different. A pastor may select his own church, or it is se- lected for him with reference to the language spoken by a majority of its communicants; a teacher may gather pupils from whatever caste or language she may decide upon ; a zenana mis- sionary may visit such zenana homes as she may select, where the inmates speak a language which is famihar to herself; but a physician must treat the patients who come to the office, must go to any and all homes where called, must attend upon the crowds of dispensary patients that daily flock to the dispensary ; and aU this without regard to wealth, caste, lan- guage, or any other distinction. In the one city (165) 166 KHETWADI CASTLE of Bombay twenty- seven different languages are spoken. It would be folly for any one to undertake to master so many languages in a single lifetime ; and yet it often happened that, during one afternoon, I treated patients in my office who spoke a dozen or more different tongues, or nearly as many languages as there were patients. The best, and only thing which remained for me to do was to secure the services of a competent hnguist, who would serve me in the capacity of interpreter. Such an one I found in the person of Mrs. Mary Esther Isaac Moses, a young widow, scarcely past her twentieth year. Her husband had been an engraver, a sculptor, and a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church ; but, after a lingering illness of three years duration, he died of consumption. The young widow, married when a girl of thirteen years, was left without means with which to support her five children, two of whom, the twins, were born shortly after the father's decease. Mrs. Moses speaks twelve languages — seven fluently, each as if it were her mother tongue. So fluent is she, so ready, and so efficient in every way; that, during my six and a half years residence in India, meeting people of many languages, I scarcely ever reahzed that I did not myself understand their various dialects. Certainly, I never felt a lack nor met an embar- rassment on account of not being famihar with the languages of the people. Often and often educated natives, princes, MRS. MARY ESTHER ISAAC MOSES 167 nawabs, rajahs, dewans— native gentlemen well versed in English, as well as in many languages of their own country, after conversing with me for some time, and listening to me as I conversed with their wives through my interpreter, would turn to me impulsively and, with a gesture of surprise, exclaim : "Of what nationality is this woman ? She speaks to me in my own language as if it were her mother tongue — ^better than I know how to speak it ! She knows aU the lan- guages that I know, and more than I know ! I cannot make her out. Does she know all language ? " As the hfe of Mrs. Moses is so closely inter- woven with the following history, a brief review of her early years cannot, I think, fail to inter- est my readers. Mary Esther Isaac was born August 15, 1866, in Bombay, India. She is of pure Jewish par- entage, although her ancestors have lived in In- dia for many generations. At the time of the Neroan persecution her forefathers came from the Holy Land and settled in India. So that, while she is an Indian, in a proper sense of the term, yet she is not a native. Just as you and I may caU ourselves Americans, and correctly so, although we are not American Indians. Nor have any of Esther's ancestors intermarried with the natives of India — that is to say, with Hindus or Mohammedans. They have always married and intermarried with Jews. Esther's mother is a weU educated woman. 168 KHETWADI CASTLE speaking many languages. Years ago, in Bom- bay Jewish school, she taught Hebrew, and also several of the languages peculiar to the people of India. Her mother's mother was a woman of great strength of character, energy, piety, and good judgment. When she became a widow, she, Esther's maternal grandmother, was employed as nurse in wealthy Bombay families, and sev- eral times travelled through Europe in charge of English children, or adult invalids. Once she came to America in charge of the small children of an American missionary, whose wife had recently died of cholera, in India. In early infancy Esther went to live with this grandmother, her father having died, and her mother being left with a large family to support by means of her own industry. Whether Esther inherited the strength of character, mental cahbre and courage of her grandmother; or whether she acquired such qualities by observation and intimate association with this strong and gifted woman, we cannot say ; but, certain it is, that she does possess in a great measure the traits and characteristics of this ancestor. From infancy she wore the costume peculiar to the children of Bombay Jews ; but, at the age of seven, she began to wear European dress. During early childhood little Esther attended an interdenominational mission school. When this school was disbanded, and while Esther was MRS. MARY ESTHER ISAAC MOSES 169 still a mere child, she was taught by private tutors. At the age of ten years she was sent to a Eoman Cathohc Convent. Not that her parents were Eoman Catholics, they were Christians; but there was no other school to which they were willing to send her, and her mother and grand- mother were anxious to give her the best possible opportunity for acquiring a thorough education. At the convent she was a general favorite, and proved to be so apt and efficient in the sick room that to her was entrusted the care of the sick, even while she was still a mere child. When Esther reached the age of thirteen years, her mother came to the convent for her, stating to the Mother Superior that her step- father was very ill and called for her incessantly, and that she could not refuse him a sight of her child. The Mother Superior seemed to suspect that this was merely an excuse to get the child away from the convent, and she used every argument available to persuade the mother to allow Esther to remain. Not suceeding in this, however, she finally gave her consent ; and, with many tears and regrets, parted with the bright- eyed little girl, whom she had learned to love so well. When Esther arrived at her home, her step- father seemed to be as well as usual, and she could not at first understand for what cause her parents had brought her home from the convent. They informed her, however, that she was soon to be married, explaining that a very worthy 170 KHETWADI CASTLE man, who was a Christian, and a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church, wished to make her his wife ; and they thought it was the best thing that could possibly happen to her; and so they had arranged the matter, and she was to be married in a few days. It never occurred to Esther that she could in any wise frustrate the wishes of her parents, and disobedience was a thing which had never en- tered her thought. Of course she had no feel- ing, or sentiment of any kind, in the matter. Her parents represented to her the many great and pleasant advantages of a marriage with this Christian gentleman; and she was presently taken to the bazaar to purchase her trousseau. This naturally afforded her much pleasure, and all the pretty new articles which were purchased quite diverted her thought from her school hfe, and she soon became absorbed in the strange, new prospect before her. That evening a gentle- man called at the house, and was introduced to her as Mr. Ballajee Moses, to whom she had been betrothed. He was a man of thirty-two. She could not then remember of ever having seen him before ; although her mother told her that he had met her many times in her childhood, and had admired her; and had long wished to have her for his wife. She describes herself as being shy, reserved, and silent in his presence ; but says that he treated her as a father might treat his dearly beloved child; and says he was always very kind, indulgent and considerate to- MRS. MARY ESTHER ISAAC MOSES 171 ward her. There was never any love making or courtship between them. In a few days after Esther's return home from the convent, a party of friends gathered, and the marriage ceremony was performed by the now sainted George Bowen ; under whose ministry Mr. Moses had been con- verted, and whom he ever afterward held in pro- foundest reverence, seeking to imitate him in all the details of his own life. Mr. Bowen seemed to Mr. Moses a pattern of true, manly and Chris- tian perfection. He undertook no business, decided no matter of importance, settled no dis- puted theological question, without first consult- ing his friend and religious father and teacher, Mr. Bowen. Mr. Moses proved to be a very grave, silent, studious man — the veriest book worm. He spent every spare moment in Bible and theologi- cal studies, much time in his devotions ; and sel- dom left home except at the caU of business, or to attend the means of grace. Esther, on the contrary, was but a child, full of life, hope, spirit, fun, and eager to see and know something of the world. It was impossible for her to be altogether happy in so uncongenial a companion- ship ; and yet, as the years passed by, the gen- uine kindness, forbearance, patience and fatherly care of her husband served to soften her heart toward him ; and, according to her own confes- sion, she had just begun to really care for him when he died. During the summer of 1886, as above stated. 172 KHETWADI CASTLE after a lingering illness of two years duration, Mr. Moses died of consumption ; leaving Esther a widow at the age of twenty, with five child- ren; and without any means of support. His small savings, through his own generosity, had, for the most part, been given out in loans to his poorer relatives; who, apparently, never in- tended to return the money. The small balance which remained was consumed during his long illness; and the people who owed him money refused to settle their accounts after his decease. Thus the young widow was left destitute. Through the influence of her friend, the Eev. George Bowen, she obtained a position as teacher in a Methodist Mission School, in Bombay. This school, as a matter of fact, was actually organized by Mrs. Moses herself. Her position here, however, did not prove to be permanent; and, seven months after her appointment, just as she had gotten it well organized, the school changed hands, and her services were no longer required. It was just at this juncture that I arrived in India, and discovered my need of an interpreter. The missionaries, in whose school she had taught, recommended her to me as a very fluent linguist ; but instructed me that I was not to pay her a larger salary than ten rupees per mensem ; and further advised that I insist upon her wearing a saree (native costume) instead of the European dress, which she was in the habit of wearing. They assured me that ten rupees a month was a MRS. MARY ESTHER ISAAC MOSES 173 sufficient amount with which to support herseK and family in native style ; and that, if I were to give her a larger salary, it would estabhsh a bad precedent, and would spoil her as a servant. They also explained to me how much better it was, in their opinion, for a native woman to wear the native costume ; and told me that she was utterly destitute, had an aged mother and five children to support, and that if I insisted upon her giving up her English dress, and taking to the native costume, she would be obliged to do so. I told my advisers that I could not dic- tate to the little woman in regard to her own personal dress ; that it made no difference to me whether she wore European or native costume, as long as she interpreted for me correctly, and proved to be an efficient and satisfactory assistant, I told them I could not on any account agree to dictate to her in such a matter, or even to men- tion, or advise, that she change her manner of dress. It is with real pain and sorrow that I recall the fact that I did not, also, refuse to heed the advice given in regard to salary. In justice to myself, however, I must say that I did not then know the value of a rupee, nor how far it would go toward the support of a family. I was new in India, I had not long handled Indian money; and as to the prices of food, and the like, in India, I never did learn them. When my missionary friends assured me that ten rupees would afford an ample support for my 174 KHETWADI CASTLE little interpreter, her mother and five children; I never thought of questioning the truth of the matter. I supposed they knew ; and so I offered Mrs. Moses ten rupees per month, which she ac- cepted. During the first year of Mrs, Moses' stay with me she was silent, reserved and non- committal. When she came to me for instruc- tions in regard to her work, I would beg her to take a chair by my side ; but she never consented to do so, always standing in my presence. Soon after I opened my Hospital, and Medical Mis- sionary Training School for Nurses, in Khetwadi Castle, Esther's youngest born, the second of the twins, who were born shortly after their father's decease, died; the first of these had died about the time of her coming to me, or prior to that date. Silently and sadly she allowed the second little form to go from her. I have since felt that I was, in some sense, almost guilty of its death. There were, at the time, so many burdens pressing upon me, my responsibilities were so heavy, and my labors so exhausting, that I had httle time to think of the wee baby at Esther's home, left in care of its aged grandmother. Indeed, I think I never remembered about it at all. Esther came to me in the early, early morning, and often remained until late at night. I really needed her every moment. I could not speak to a servant without her. I could not treat a patient, see a native caller, go to the home of a native patient, or conduct my medical work in MRS. MARY ESTHER ISAAC MOSES 175 the hospital, dispensary, office, or out-practice, without her — for she was my tongue. At the end of the first year of Esther's stay with me, I knew her no better than on the occasion of her first visit. During all the intervening months I had felt, more and more, that I did not ; and, somehow, could not know her. Silent, almost sad, she seemed ; uncommunicative, though al- ways respectful. One day, about this time, I discovered that she had something upon her mind which was troubhng her greatly, and I tried to draw her out to speak more freely to me. At length she said, ' ' Doctor, would you mind going around to see my httle boy ? I fear he is very ill, and that he is not able to be brought here to the hospital to see you. ' ' I said, ' ' Cer- tainly, Mrs. Moses, I shall be glad to do so. Why did you not teU me before ? You know that I attend the poor for nothing all around ; and that every day people are coming to me, whom I treat without charge. You know, too, that I always attend my own servants gratuitously. Of course, I shall be most glad to do anything in my power for you. ' ' A short drive brought us to a chall in the out- skirts of the native city. Here we climbed a long flight of narrow, rickety stairs ; and, finally, came to the two small rooms which constituted the home of my interpreter. Her aged mother was here — a very tall, very silent, old woman ; straight as a pole, with eyes that seemed to 1Y6 KHETWADI CASTLE search to the very depths of your soul ; yet hav- ing something about her hthe, ahnost stealthy carriage and tread, which would make you feel strangely. There were also in the room two little girls, aged four and six respectively, and one boy of three years, with a tremendously protruding abdomen, and little, slender, pipe- stem hmbs. He had great black eyes; straight, jet hair; scrofulous running ears, and a suspicious squeak- ing noise in the chest, which at once made me think that he would soon follow his father to the grave, with the same disease that had carried him thither. As gently a possible, I told his mother of my suspicion ; and was somewhat surprised to see her qnite overcome with grief. In trying to comfort, I told her that I did not consider the child past all help, though in a dangerous and critical condi- tion of health ; but with proper care, I thought, he might recover. I then advised her to give him plenty of good, fresh milk, fresh eggs, beef steak, good butter and, indeed, the very best and most nourishing food, and plenty of it. To my stiU further surprise Mrs. Moses became more agitated than ever. I think I never saw a mother, or a mortal, who seemed so utterly crushed and broken-hearted as did she upon that occasion. At a loss to understand the cause of her uncontrollable grief, I said to her : ' ' What is it? Why do you weep so? We will do the MRS. MARY ESTHER ISAAC MOSES 177 best we can for the child, and I hope that he will yet recover." Between her sobs she then said, "But, Doctor, don't you know? Don't you see that I cannot feed him as you say ? To save his life, I cannot give him the good food that you have ordered. " Then I understood. I saw, for the first time, the true situation; and realized that it was my own fault. Certainly, if she could not supply her child with properly nourishing food, such as would restore his health, and pro- long his Ufe, it was because I did not pay her a sufficiently large salary to enable her to do so. Then I began to realize that ten rupees a month ($3.25) was not money enough with which to support a family consisting of two adults and three children; but that they were actually suffering for food. I can never express the sorrow and grief I felt at this discovery ; and I immediately began to cast about in my mind as to what I could do to remedy this condition of things. I saw that the child was already too far gone to be easily, or readily restored to health; that he would need the most exquisite care and attention in order to bring him through. Presently I said to her, ' ' Now, Mrs. Moses, just give this httle boy to me ; and, if anything can be done to save his life, it shall be done. ' ' She was silent, but wept no more ; and I was still at a loss to know her mind. The following day my little Mrs. Moses came into the office leading her 178 KHETWADI CASTLE only son, the wee boy, whom she called, ' ' Son- nie ", though his real name was, Victor Earnest; but whom I always afterward called, " Moses ". It was several years after this before I knew or understood what a struggle, what pain and agony, that httle mother had suffered before she could surrender to me her only son ; but I am glad to know that she never since has had cause to re- gret having done so. I took him to my own room, bathed and clothed him with my own hands, and in the best and most healthful manner pos- sible. Then I ordered for him condensed milk every two hours, eggs, beef tea, chicken broth, and all the most nourishing articles of diet that could be obtained for his regular meals. Besides this, I prescribed tonic medicines ; and, within a few short months, I had the happiness of seeing the protruding, enlarged abdomen subside, and become normal; the emaciated muscles of his hmbs enlarge, and grow round and firm ; the scrofulous discharge cease, and all unnatural sounds in the chest disappear. Of course I assured my little interpreter that the child was still her son, and should always be that, calling her ' ' mamma ' ' ; but that I should call him my boy, and love him as my very own, which I did, and do. Almost immediately after taking little Moses to my home and heart, I had a room in our Khetwadi Castle cleaned and fitted up for Mrs. Moses, and her aged mother ; and I then invited her to come and bring her family, and five in my MRS. MARY ESTHER ISAAC MOSES 179 home. Later on, I gave to Mrs. Moses another separate room for herself; and they were all very comfortable with us. Prior to this, how- ever, Mrs. Moses placed her two little girls in the mission school of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Bombay; so that only herself, the little boy, and her mother remained with me. Still later, I insisted upon having Mrs. Moses board with me, and sit at our family table, as did all the members of my Medical Missionary Training School for Nurses ; and, although the old lady, Mrs. Moses' mother, never did come in and sit with us at our family table, yet we used always to send her food on a tray to her own room ; and thus I made sure that no member of the family suffered for want of food, or com- fortable abode ; even though I did not increase the salary of my interpreter. Gradually, from this time, Mrs. Moses became, while in my presence, somewhat more commu- nicative and less formal, reserved and silent. Often, as we drove from the house of one patient to that of another, she would question me in regard to the case, or the treatment. If it were a new case which we had just visited, she would often say, ' ' Doctor, what is the disease ? What caused it *? What remedy was it you used ? What result do you expect ? " Of course, I soon became interested in my little interpreter. I love medcine, and cannot choose but be interested in any one who takes an interest in the work in which I am, myself, so deeply interested. Nat- 180 KHETWADI CASTLE urally, therefore, I began to teach her ; and, dur- ing my medical rounds, the time was well filled in with medical talks. I explained to her the course of the various, and most common diseases, the method of examination, the diagnosis, treat- ment, prognosis, effect of treatment, care of the sick, and everything in connection with my work. The members of my Medical Missionary Train- ing School for Nurses usually gathered together in my office, or in the lecture room, during the afternoon or evening, for a medical lecture from me. On such occasions, Esther would usually be in the room, either cleaning instruments, putting them away, or otherwise employed. Several of my student nurses were Eurasians; one or two of whom were somewhat indolent, and would not exert themselves sufficiently to remember what was told them ; so that I was often obliged to tell them the same thing over and over again before they would remember it. This became very try- ing to me; and, sometimes, more with an object of putting my student nurses to shame, than with any expectation of getting the correct answer, after a question had gone the round of the nurses, and not one of them could answer it correctly, I would call Mrs. Moses and put the question to her. At such times I was often surprised by getting a perfectly correct and accurate answer. One day I sent Mrs. Moses out on an errand; and, during her absence, I needed something which I had given into her keeping. In my search for it, I went to her room and, finally, MRS. MARY ESTHER ISAAC MOSES 181 opened one of her bureau drawers, where I thought possibly she might have put the articla in question. Instead of finding what I wanted, I came across a large package of papers, which had been carefully pinned together. They con- sisted of pieces of brown wrapping paper, the white margins torn from newspapers, and all sorts of scraps. Upon examining this curious assortment more closely, I found that, upon these papers were written aU sorts of medical questions which she, from time to time, had put to me; and underneath each question was the answer which I had given her. This opened my eyes stiU further to the fact that my little inter- preter was really a student, and was interested in the work which so engrossed my own life. Upon her return I asked her if she would not Uke to become a member of my Medical Mission- ary Training School for Nurses. At first her face was hghtened up with a great joy; this expression, however, presently gave place to a look of sore disappointment and sorrow, as she said, ' ' Doctor, I would love to do it, but I cannot." ''Why, Mrs. Moses," said I, "what is there to prevent you from being a member of the school ? " " Why, ' ' said she, ' ' I cannot pay the fee. " " Oh, never mind that, I never thought of you paying any fees, I didn't ask you to be- come a member of the class with any such thought as that. I should never charge you any admission fee ; or any fee whatever, for anything in connection with the school. You are not hke 182 KHETWADI CASTLE the other girls, you are here in my service ; and if I choose to make you a member of the school, and to teach you, why, that is nobody's business; and I shall be delighted to have you come in and take the course. Moreover, if you excel the others in the studies of the two years course, you shall have the gold medal, which I have promised to the student who stands the best in all the branches of study and work at the end of the two years. ' ' From this time my little interpreter's heart seemed to open toward me like a flower toward the sun ; and all her nature seemed to grow more sweet and beautiful day by day. She not only became a member of my Medical Missionary Training School for Nurses, but she did win the gold medal ; standing, at the end of the two years, far and away above any other member of the class, and exceUing all others in every particular. She was the one student nurse in whom I could place perfect confidence, and upon whom I could rely at all times and under all circumstances. The most difficult medical, surgical and obstetri- cal cases were placed in her nurse care ; because I knew that I could trust her to carry out every direction in its minutest detail. She never failed me, never disappointed me, never ran any risks, never forgot or omitted any duty. She was ever faithful, true, thoroughly trustworthy, reliable and efficient. Gradually, I began, more and more, to reahze what a treasure I had in my httle interpreter, MRS. MARY ESTHER ISAAC MOSES 183 Mrs. Moses; and to appreciate her real worth and value, not only as an interpreter, but as a hospital nurse, and a general medical and surgi- cal assistant. From appreciating and valuing her, on account of her real worth and ability, I came gradually to love her tenderly as a woman ; and still later on, as my very own child. During the spring of 1889, when I fell so seri- ously ill in Khetwadi Castle, I began to see that my love for her was fully reciprocated. Night after night she watched over me, I could not persuade her to he down. She would rub my aching hmbs, press my temples, apply hot fomen- tations, and labor over me continually, almost night and day. When I was suffering, as she rubbed me, she would turn her face away ; and, presently, I would see or feel the hot tears as they roUed down her face and dropped, perhaps, upon my hand or hair. Not a word did she say, always seeking to conceal her anxiety ; yet, from time to time, I discovered it, and knew that her heart was mine. When, finally, I decided to leave Bombay, after all the iUness, suffering and trouble there, I did not at first know whether she would con- sent to accompany me to Lahore, or whether she would feel that she must remain with her mother and little girls in Bombay. In my own mind I decided that, in the latter case, I would not take away her dear and only son ; but would leave him with his mother, in Bombay. He had, by this time, grown quite well and strong, and I 184 KHETWADI CASTLE had become wonderfully attached to the little fellow, and he to me ; so that I could not think of parting from him without pain ; yet I knew that it would cause his mother greater pain to have him go; and so I decided to leave him. When I first told Mrs. Moses about my plan of going to Lahore, asking her if she would accom- pany me, she gave me no definite answer; and until the very day before starting I did not know whether or not I should have my httle interpre- ter with me. She had never in her Mfe before been outside of Bombay. I was, therefore, somewhat surprised when, on the very eve of starting for Lahore, she packed her box, and pre- pared to accompany me. Enough about Mrs. Moses for the present. You shall hear more of her, later on. CHAPTER XIV OUR KHETWADI CASTLE HOUSEHOLD Sunderbai Powar first came to me as a patient, and occupied one of our hospital beds until fully restored to health. She was, at that time, one of the assistant zenana missionary workers in the zenana missionary home, of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of Bombay. Later on, how- ever, after having left the mission house, and having made her home for a time with our dear friends. Rev. WiUiam and Mrs. Carrie Bruere, who were in charge of the mission work of one of the native churches of Bombay, she entered our Medical Missionary Training School for Nurses, and became an inmate of our Castle. Sunderbai ! How I love the name ! Its mean- ing is, appropriately, " Beautiful lady ". Such was our Sunderbai Powar in very truth. Beauti- ful in face, form, and feature ; beautiful in char- acter, beautiful in heart, and beautiful in life. A lady in the truest, highest, best sense of the word. Sunderbai Powar was, and is, a beauti- ful native Christian woman. Rukhmabai is the young, high-caste, Hindu woman who had the courage and strength of character to refuse to go from her father's home to the house of her mother-in-law, to hve with the (187) 188 KHETWADI CASTLE fast, dissipated man to whom, without her con- sent, she had been betrothed and wedded in her early childhood. During the great legal conflict which ensued, she enhsted the interest and sympathy of all Christian people throughout the world, while being the object of almost universal contempt, if not actual enmity, of Hindus throughout India. She, also, for a short period, was a member of our Medical Mis- sionary Training School for Nurses, though never an inmate of our Khetwadi Castle. Liv- ing at her own home, which was but a short distance from our Castle, she frequently came to our training school class, in order to gain what information she might be able to glean from lectures, bedside and clinical instruction, surgical operations, etc. Soon, however, her gTeat law suit coming to an end, she was sent, by kind and interested friends in Bombay, to London, England, to attend j\Iedical College. There she took a thorough medical training ; and, in due time, graduated with honors ; afterward return- ing to India to practice her profession. Miss Lillian Lucy Seitz, an Eurasian girl, was really the first regular student to enter our Woman's Medical Missionary Training School. She was admitted July 25, 1887 ; and entered the school with the intention of taking a fuU four years course, but soon became dissatisfied, and voluntarily withdrew before the expiration of two years. Poor Lillian ! Had it been possible for others to do her studying for her, as they OUR KHETWADI CASTLE HOUSEHOLD 189 did a large share of her labor, so that she could have acquired the necessary information, disci- pline, and experience without personal effort, she would have remained until the completion of her course ; but her distaste for study and, in- deed, for labor of any and all kinds, together with her appetite for novel reading and the like, proved, in her case, as such taste must ever prove, disastrous to success. Nurse Charlotte Gomes was a Hindu girl, who had been adopted in early childhood by a Church of England missionary lady, with whom she had acquired the rudiments of an ordinary edu- cation. She was a pretty, bright, affectionate native girl ; and soon became an excellent nurse, and much beloved by all, patients, servants and nurses. Nurse Tansley was an English girl, and came to India as an officer in the Salvation Army. For reasons of her own, unknown to me, she left the Army; and, later on, became a member of our Medical Missionary Training School for Nurses, and an inmate of the Castle. We all loved Miss Tansley. She made herself generally useful, although she never seemed well adapted to the routine work of a hospi- tal nurse; and, before she had been long with us. Bishop Thoburn came to India and offered her a position in a small inland mission station, which she accepted. Afterward, how- ever, Miss Tansley returned to Bombay and mar- ried the husband of one of my JKhetwadi Castle 190 KHETWADI CASTLE patients, who had died while under Miss Tansley's nurse-care. Mrs. Smith, a young Enghsh widow, from Madras, was one of our very latest comers, join- ing the Medical Missionary Training School a short time before my serious illness, which re- sulted in the closing of the institution. She was intelligent, competent, efficient; and would, I feel sure, have made an excellent nurse. Birdie, " My Birdie " — her real name was Miss Isabella Jane Belcham ; but I always called her ' ' My Birdie " . So small and dehcate she was ; but, withal, having such a sweet, womanly dig- nity, and possessing such rare qualities of mind and heart that, " To know her was to love her ". ' ' Birdie ' ' was, in fact, my housekeeper, hospital nurse and general assistant ; well-nigh invaluable to me she proved to be. Of pure English parent- age, " Birdie " was born in India. The Sepoy Rebellion occurred during her early infancy, and her mother concealed herself, together with this infant daughter, in a field of standing grain. It was late in the evening and dark ; and, as the mur- derous sepoys passed by, the mother was unable to quiet the crying of her baby. This attracted the attention of the sepoys who were intent up- on massacre; whereupon the mother distinctly heard one of them exclaim, ' ' That is the cry of an Enghsh child ! " In answer to this remark another sepoy exclaimed, " Don't you know the cry of a native child ? That is not an English baby, but a native child, crying. ' ' The murderers OUR KHETWADI CASTLE HOUSEHOLD 191 then passed on, and the mother and babe es- caped unhurt. Our dear friend and guest, Miss McNeal, an efficient missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a most earnest, consecrated and capable Christian woman, temperance worker and evangelist, was for several months a mem- ber of our Khetwadi Castle household. While with us she continued to carry on her beautiful mission work among the English soldiers of Bombay; holding Bible readings, prayer meet ings, and various other religious services at regu- lar and frequent intervals in the lecture room of our Khetwadi Castle. How thoroughly we ap- preciated and enjoyed her gracious presence it would be difficult to tell. Dr. and Mrs. Stone remained with us until the late autumn, when their new Grant Eoad Methodist Episcopal parsonage was completed. No words can express how sadly we missed them from our home circle; but their leaving India to return to America during the followng February was, to me, a terrible blow. Indeed, when they left India I felt that I sustained an irreparable loss; and was again a stranger and alone in a foreign land. In the course of my life I have often known the pain of being separated from dear friends; but never did I suffer more keenly than on this occasion. Eev. George Bowen, our beloved friend and counselor, was not at this time a member of our 192 KHETWADI CASTLE Khetwadi Castle household, nor indeed ever, until he came there a patient ill unto death. He was, however, our frequent visitor, and so dearly beloved by us all that we counted him as one of us. It was his custom to dine with us every Fri- day at 6 o'clock p. M. At 3:30 o'clock every Friday afternoon Brother Bowen gave a Bible reading in the lecture room of our Khetwadi Castle, for the benefit of my student nurses. My sister and I, however, were in the habit of attending this Bible reading service ; and many of our dear missionary friends, of Bombay, made it a point to be present. What an inspira- tion, help and blessing these Bible readings were, none who attended them could ever fail to re- member. Most punctually and regularly dear Brother Bowen came to fill this appointment. I believe, from the time the hospital was opened, on the 15th day of June, 1887, until Brother Bowen 's fatal iUness, he never once failed to be present at the hour appointed. On the 25th day of January, 1888, Mr. Bowen left Bombay for Poena, for the purpose of at- tending the South India Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he was a most beloved and revered member. Elected to the presidency of the Conference*, he assumed its duties and responsibilities with his usual earnestness ; although he was at that time extremely feeble, and just recovering from the *See " Within the Purdah", page 178, for picture of this Con- ference. OUR KHETWADI CASTLE HOUSEHOLD 193 effects of a fall from a tramway car, which had fractured his thigh bone and rendered him com- paratively helpless for a time. Now, however, he was able to move about even without his cane, which for some weeks past had been substituted for crutches. During the Conference he was also suffering from a heavy cold which he had recent- ly taken. In spite of all this he was, as usual, abundant in labors, and most efficient in all. On the following Sunday morning he preached to the Conference, delivering one of his deeply spiritual sermons on the subject of " Union with Christ ' ' ; and at noon he preached in Marathi to a mass-meeting of school children. Conference adjourned Tuesday evening, Jan- uary 31st. That night, in company with several other missionaries, Mr. Bowen left Poona for Bom- bay, by the 11 o'clock train; taking, as usual, an intermediate railway compartment, which was most crowded and uncomfortable. During the following day he was called upon to baptize several children in Grant Road Church. That same Wednesday evening he participated in the farewell meeting tendered Dr. and Mrs. Stone, who were about to take their departure for America, dehvering the fareweU address; and afterward he administered the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. AU this served to complete the work of pros- tration, and that night Mr. Bowen was taken seriously and fatally ill. The following day, Thursday, in comphance with Mr. Bowen 's own 194 KHETWADI CASTLE request, Dr. Stone sent for me. The medicine which I prescribed afforded such immediate re- Mef that he expressed his surprise at the benefit experienced. In spite of all that could be done, however, he grew rapidly worse, and on Friday Dr. Stone suggested that he be brought to Khet- wadi Castle Hospital; to which he readily and cheerfully agreed. Ordinarily prone to chafe under any special personal attention, he yet quietly and gracefully submitted to the vigilant watching and nurse-care which was so constantly afforded him in the Hospital. Of course we had given him the best and most pleasant pri- vate room in the Castle ; and not only did the nurses do everything in their power for the pro- motion of his health and comfort, but my sister constituted herself his special attendant, and it was her gentle hand that smoothed back his soft locks, bathed his face and hands, and arranged his pillows. She sat like a guardian angel by his side — anticipating every possible wish. What mortal could resist her tender and gracious ministrations ? When our beloved Brother Bowen was admitted to the Hospital, his friends and my friends said to me, ' ' You will have a hard time with Brother Bowen, he will never submit to be taken care of, and nursed, as you nurse your patients. ' ' But he did. When my sister said, ' ' You know I am just a httle girl, and you are like my father, ' ' he seemed glad to have it so ; and happy to fall into such loving, tender hands. OUR KHETWADI CASTLE HOUSEHOLD 195 Friday night the nurse on duty took him beef tea, chicken broth, milk, or some sort of nour- ishment every hour —something different each time, of course; and on the following morning she reported that he had spent a wakeful but a restful night. Saturday he seemed better in every way, expressing himself as being much easier, and quite on the mend. He seemed to think that he would be able to attend to ' ' The Guardian ", of which he was editor, during the coming week. At 11 o'clock Saturday evening I paid him my last professional visit for that day, examined his tongue, pulse, temperature, and inquired as to his various symptoms. He assured me that he was feeling extremely weU, and quite at ease; and I left him, going straight to my room, with the comfortable assurance that he was in a fair way to rapid recovery, there being no symptoms of a serious nature. During the night he took his nourishment regularly, at the hands of the night-nurse, every hour until 6 o'clock Sunday morning, when he refused it ; saying that he felt so easy and so restful that he preferred not dis- turbing himself to take the nourishment until the next hour. At 7 o'clock the day-nurse, Mrs. Moses, went to his room with a cup of broth, and was startled by his deathlike appearance. After watching him for a moment, she rushed away in search of me. I went to his room im- mediately, but only to find that our beloved friend and counselor, George Bowen, had gone to his 196 KHETWADI CASTI.E eternal reward. During the short period between 6 and 7 o'clock on that beautiful Sabbath morn- ing, while the weary soldier lay asleep, his great heart stood still, and ' ' He was not, for God took him ". What further remains to be said? " J. Prince and a Great Man Has Fallen^'' — such words as these served as a title to many an article written in his memory. Eather let us say, "A Prince and a Great Man Has Risen ". It seemed to us that the room, and the whole Castle, became sacred — a holy place, since, from within its walls, such a spirit had taken its flight heavenward, to God. CHAPTER XV SEVEN ADOPTED INFANTS You wonder how it happened that I adopted seven native chilJren while in India, and why I took so many of them during their early infancy — having at one time five under six months old ? No, I did not go about searching out orphaned, deserted children whom I might adopt as my own. I had no lack of labor, care, or responsi- bility; and I found plenty of use for all the money I was able to earn. You think it was an unwise thing for me to undertake so much at one time ? It may have been so, I never had any wisdom to spare, nor have I ever been over- stocked with worldly prudence. Many of my friends thought it unwise, and some of them criticised me severely afterward, when it was too late to undo what had already been done. When I fell iU, and was confined to my room for a period of three months, one of my student nurses went to the house of a friend to spend Sunday, and was exposed to a very malignant form of measles, which was epidemic in Bombay at the time. After being thus exposed she re- turned to the hospital and entered the nursery. The babies soon f eU iU with measles ; and I my- self was so iU, at the time, that my sister judged it unwise to mention the matter to me, fearing (197) 198 KHETWADI CASTLE that my anxiety for the children might increase my own peril. So it happened that the babies were all seriously ill before I knew anything about it. I then had them brought into my room and placed upon my bed, while I, sitting bolstered up, did what was possible for their rehef. Two of the little ones, however, died that same day, and another the following day — one, little Aaron, having died previously. Thus four of my dear little foundlings were taken from me. When this happened some of my friends were kind enough to say, ' ' It serves her right, she had no business undertaking so much! What did she want of all those babies, anyhow ? ' ' Small comfort, you say? Yes, small comfort, but that is a commodity which does not always come when we most need it. Perhaps I did deserve to suffer for my lack of wisdom; and yet, dear friend, if you had been there in my place, hearing a divine call constantly sounding in the ear of your soul, feeling a responsibihty resting upon you for the salvation of souls, and seeing suffering and want all about, I think, if you have a heart in your bosom, you would have done the same. I did not wish to adopt orphan children. I did not search for them, nor in any wise seek them out; but when they came to my door, as they did ; and when, in each particular case, it came to be a question of allowing a young life to per- ish at the hands of a murderous mother ; or that SEVEN ADOPTED INFANTS 199 of suffering an innocent babe to be kept in a condition of chronic starvation, and carried about in the bazaars, with its Httle naked, emaciated body exposed to pubUc view for pur- poses of alms-winning ; then I did not know how to refuse. To describe each particular case would be to write a volume ; but when such cases as these were presented to me, I could not forget the words which our Lord spoke, as coming from the King at the last great day, when He said, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto me ' ' ; and I could not turn them away, A few of the circumstances surrounding the early life and adoption of these children, briefly related, may not prove altogether uninteresting. MASTER EDWARD TRUMAN AARON Edward Truman Aaron was born in Bombay, December 7, 1887. His parents were both Mo- hammedans, but his father had died prior to his birth, leaving his mother a widow and destitute. She sold her baby, on the front veranda of Khet- wadi Castle, for twenty rupees, to one Kalu Kis- son and his wife, Lukshimbai, both of whom were of the sweeper caste. These people, how- ever, soon grew weary of his care, and begrudged the money spent for his food. He was brought to me on three occasions in a condition of chronic starvation, nigh unto death. 200 KHETWADI CASTLE Each time we nursed him back to hfe and health, afterward restoring him to his foster parents. On the 27th day of December, 1887, however, I adopted him, paying his foster parents sixty rupees to cover all expense incurred on his account. Adoption papers were written and signed May 21, 1888, and he was afterward baptized by Eev. William W. Bruere. Little Aaron, as we called him, was at that time so emaciated, wrinkled, shriveled, dark and ill that he looked as much like a mummy as a hving infant. We gave him every care, and he gradually improved, living un- til May 28, 1888, when he died in convulsions. Legal Agreement We, the undersigned, Kalu Kisson and Luk- shimbai, do hereby agree, and promise, concern- ing the child, Edward Truman Aaron, as follows : First, That, having this day received from the hands of Saleni Armstrong, M.D., the sum of sixty rupees only, that sum being equivalent, or nearly equivalent, to the amount of money which we have actually expended for the above named child, Edward Truman Aaron, we do hereby relinquish all claim upon the child, and do sol- emnly promise to make no further trouble what- soever in regard to him, Edward Truman Aaron. Secondly, That, at no time, or under any pretence what- soever, will we undertake to influence the child against the home of its adoption, or by any ]N[ASTER VICTOR ERNEST A[OSES SEVEN ADOPTED INFANTS 203 means to entice it away from the same. Thirdly, We do further agree to make no trouble, by hanging about the place, making frequent or long visits, or asking for additional sums of money. Signed this second day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty- eight. Signed, Kalu Kisson, lukshimbai. MASTER VICTOR ERNEST MOSES Master Victor Ernest Moses is the only son of Mrs. Mary Esther Moses, by her first husband, Abraham Ballajee Moses. Victor was born in Bombay, November 23, 1883, and is a Ben Israel, his mother being of pure Jewish descent, though her ancestors have resided in India for many generations; while his father was a Ben Israel, as indicated by his name, Abraham Ballajee Moses. I adopted little Victor, whom I used to call "Moses", on the iTth day of September, 1887; but the legal indenture papers were not signed until October 27, 1888. He was baptized by Bishop C. H. Fowler, in the great front haU of our Khetwadi Castle, on February 7, 1889. He is now attending coUege in America, with a view to returning as a missionary to India. He is a beautiful boy, and an earnest, devout Christian. 204 KHETWADI CASTLE Legal Agreement MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT made the twenty-seventh day of October, one thous- and eight hundred and eighty-eight, BETWEEN MARY ESTHER MOSES, the widow of BaUajee Moses, late of Bombay, Jew inhabitant, deceased, of the one part, and SALENI ARMSTRONG, of Philadelphia, America, but now residing in Bom- bay, of the other part : WHEREAS, it has been agreed between the parties hereto, that Victor Ernest Moses (the son of the said Ballajee Moses, deceased, and Mary Esther Moses) now of the age of five years, or thereabouts, shall be adopted, educated, and maintained by the said Saleni Armstrong, and that the said Mary Esther Moses shall have no further claim to the said Victor Ernest Moses. AND WHEREAS, in pursuance of such agree- ment, the said Victor Ernest Moses has, prior to the execution of this agreement, been given into the charge of the said Saleni Armstrong, NOW THESE PRESENTS WITNESS, and it is hereby mutually agreed and declared between and by the parties hereto as follows, that is to say: — 1. The said Saleni Armstrong shall maintain, clothe and educate the said Victor Ernest Moses in a suitable manner, until the said Victor Ernest Moses shall be of full age or shall be able to earn his own hvelihood, and for the purpose of his education, or otherwise, it shall be lawful for the said Saleni Armstrong at any time to send SEVEN ADOPTED INFANTS 205 the said Victor Ernest Moses to America or else- Av^here. 2. The said Mary Esther Moses shall not be entitled to the custody of, or to make any claim whatsoever over or in respect of, the said Victor Ernest Moses at any time. 3. In the event of the said Mary Esther Moses desiring at any time to resume the charge and custody of the said Victor Ernest Moses, it shall be lawful for, but not compulsory on, the said Saleni Armstrong to give up the charge of the said Victor Ernest Moses, and to hand him over to the custody of the said Mary Esther Moses ; and in such case the responsibihty of the said Saleni Armstrong, under this agreement, shall at once cease and determine. 4. In the event of the said Saleni Armstrong being willing at any time, at the request of the said Mary Esther Moses, to hand over charge of the said Victor Ernest Moses to the said Mary Esther Moses, the said Mary Esther Moses shall first reimburse the said Saleni Armstrong, with inter- est, aU charges and expenses incurred by her on account of the said Victor Ernest Moses, whether incurred for clothing, maintenance, education or otherwise howsoever; and shall also pay to the said Saleni Armstrong, in addition, a reason- able remuneration for the care, trouble and atten- tion bestowed by her in and about the bringing up and education of the said Victor Ernest Moses. 5. The sum payable to the said Saleni Arm- strong, under clause four of this agreement. 206 KHETWADI CASTLE shall not exceed in the whole the sum of rupees fifty per month, and shall not be less than rupees twenty-five per month. As witness the hands of the parties the day and year first above written. Signed, Mary Esther Moses. Saleni Armstrong. Witnesses, Isabella Jane Belcham, WiLLiMiNA L. Armstrong, Helen Richardson, Hannah Walker. ANGIE F. NEWMAN Angie F. Newman, whose original name was Annie Kemp, was an Eurasian child, born in Bombay, November 5th, 1885. Her mother's name was Sarah Petronilla Kemp. She and her husband, whose Christian name I do not know, were both Eurasians. After Mrs. Kemp's hus- band died, she became dissipated, immoral, and incapable of taking proper care of her baby daughter. In compliance with the importunity of interested missionary friends, I adopted little Annie, on the 9th day of August, 1888. She, too, was baptized by Bishop Fowler, February 7, 1889; but was stolen from me in December, 1889, by her disreputable, fallen, drunken mother, and sold outright — body and soul — to the highest bidder. r p. I MAS'l'llK ,I.\V (iKI') M!LIJ':K SEVEN ADOPTED INFANTS 209 MYRTLE EVANS Myrtle Evans was born in Bombay, May 23, 1888, in Miss Eichardson's Reformatory Hospi- tal. Her mother's name was Sarah Petronilla Kemp, Myrtle being half-sister to our little Angie. Myrtle Evans was an illegitimate child, born about two years after the decease of Mrs. Kemp's legal husband. The child's father was an European Turk. I adopted Myrtle August 9, 1888, when she was less than three months old, together with her half-sister, Annie, whom we named Angie F. Newman, after my beloved mother- friend, Mrs. Angie F. Newman, of Lincoln, Ne- braska. The adoption papers, however, were not signed until October 30, 1888. Myrtle was also baptized, with the other children, by Bishop Fowler, February T, 1889. Little Myrtle was a remarkably beautiful and attractive child; but, to the sorrow of all who knew her, she died April 6, 1889, of a malignant form of measles. MASTER JAY GEE MILLER Jay Gee Miller was born in Miss Eichardson's Reformatory Hospital, in Bombay, December 18, 1887. His father's name is unknown to me, but his mother's name was Mary Brunton. For his own sake I adopted the child when he was about three months old, I have not the ex- 210 KHETWADI CASTLE act date; but the papers of indenture were not signed until October 7, 1888. He, too, was bap- tized by Bishop Fowler, together with the other children, on February 7, 1889. He is now with me in America, attending public school; and, though still quite young and not sufficiently matured to plan for his future life, we hope and trust that he may yet be fitted for efficient mis- sion work among the people of his own country. TRUMAN MARTIN Truman Martin, whose original name was Frederick Percy Storrer, was a legitimate child, of pure Irish parentage. He was born in Bom- bay, June 11, 1888. His father, Henry Storrer, had previously deserted his wife, Truman's mother, Elizabeth Storrer, leaving her destitute, with five children to support. This she found impossible to do, except by means of vv^et-nurs- ing. The poor, stricken mother was deeply grieved at the thought of parting with her beauti- ful baby boy; but, in order to save her other children and herself from starvation, she finally reluctantly consented, in accordance with the importunity of her friends, to part v/ith her youngest born. She was, at that time, residing in Poena; and her friends wrote me begging that I take the child, which I finally consented to do; and, October 2, 1888, he was formally delivered to my care, the legal papers of inden- ture being signed October 13, 1888. Frederick was baptized by Rev, I. Anderson, A.M., Junior SEVEN ADOPTED INFANTS 211 Chaplain, Church of Scotland, in Poona, June 29, 1888. He was a sweet, lovely baby, but died of measles, on the 6th day of April, 1889. ESTHER MILLER At the dead of night Mrs. Isaac, the aged mother of my dear Mrs. Moses, came to our Castle door and begged the servants to call the doctor. I was summoned, and she presented to me a wee infant seven days old, which she had until now kept concealed behind her sari. She said, ' ' Dr. Sahib, three times I have rescued this child from the grave, three times its mother has undertaken to butcher it, each time I have snatched it away and saved its life. Now she is going away and she will surely kill it. She is de- termined to do so. I cannot take it, there is no one else who will. If you wiU take it you can save its hfe." I took it. I could not refuse. What would you have done ? The above circumstances occurred on the first day of October, 1888, the wee baby, whom we named Esther MiUer, having been born Septem- ber 24, 1888, seven days prior to this event. The name of Esther's mother was Pauline DeSouza. She was a Goanese. Esther's father, however, was a wealthy Parsee, having a wife and children of his own; but Pauline DeSouza was his domestic servant. Little Esther MiUer, named for a dear friend in America, was bap- tized by Bishop C. H. Fowler, on February 7, 1889. She died of measles on the 5th day of April, 1889. CHAPTER XVI ' ' IN HIS NAME AND FOR HIS SAKE ' ' In the dim and quiet chamber Of our Castle, in Bombay, One by one my four sweet babies In their last, long slumber lay. There was Esther, tiny Esther, Who had never seen the morn Had her mother's murderous purpose Been achieved, when she was born. But they wrested from her bosom Quick the child whose life was doomed ; And they brought her to the Castle — Knowing, I her care assumed. Wealthy Parsee, Esther's father. With a wife and children true ; But our little foundling's mother Was his servant, faithful, too. Goanese, this servant mother. Tall and dark and handsome she ; But with suUen, angry bearing, Such as one might fear to see. Swarthy, shrivelled, Parsee baby, Fruit of human sin and lust ; Wee black eyes and hair as dusky. What a mite of mortal dust ! (213/ "in his name and for his sake" 213 But we rubbed away the wrinkles From her limbs, so thin and bare ; And we gave to httle Esther All a mother's tender care. Xiacked she not for warm embraces, Nor for kisses on her cheek ; Nor for any tender token, Which a mother's love might speak. Lacked she not a creature comfort. In the nurs'ry large and bright, Anxiously we tended o'er her Every hour, by day, by night. Every need, before she felt it. Was supplied with gentle care ; For I thought — unto the Master I will glad this burden bear. Then I learned to love my baby For her own dear, httle sake ; And when Jesus took her from me Oh, how sore my heart did ache ! Only six months had been numbered Since they brought her to the door Of our great Khetwadi Castle, On fair India's coral shore. Only six months since I took her — Naked infant, seven days old — When the pale horse to our castle Came with rider, swift ^nd bold. ^ 214 KHETWADI CASTLE Vain we strove his course to hinder, Entered he our nurs'ry bright, Bore away our baby Esther Through the darkness of the night. Bore away to realms of glory Other infant foundlings, too. Each of whom I'd watched and tended With affection warm and true — Watched and tended for the Master, " In His Name " and " For His Sake " ; Trusting that the service rendered. Even thus, my Lord would take. There was Truman, dear, sweet Truman,, (Parents both from E'rin's shore) Fair and fragile as a lily, All his pains he patient bore. Left alone, his widowed mother. With four other children dear. She must needs give up her baby That she might another's rear. Thus our little Truman's mother Kept starvation from her brood. While some wealthy lady's infant Thrived upon her baby's food. Who can know the bitter a aguish. That did rend her mother- heart, When she signed the legal papers Which must sever them apart ? " IN HIS NAME AND FOR HIS SAKE " 215 What suppressed and smothered sorrow Trembled in her tender breast, When a stranger's infant suckled Where her own was wont to rest ! Who can know the pain, the torture. Who can count the tears she shed, When the bitter tidings reached her That her darhng babe was dead ? God alone such grief can measure, He alone her tears can count ; May He send such peace and comfort, As can flow but from His fount ! Pass we on to Myrtle's cradle: European-turk was she. With a mixture of Eurasian, Hence the olive cheek you see. Ask me not about her parents, So unworthy of the name. Not a word could say of either But would cause a blush of shame. Never came a sweeter baby Into this great world of woe ; Chnging arms, and nesthng figure — Oh, I loved her, loved her so ! Great brown eyes so full of meaning, Eloquent with love they seemed ; When she saw me toward her moving, How her face with rapture beamed ! 216 KHETWADI CASTLE Soft brown curls which clung and clustered O'r her ohve neck and brow; Dimpled chin and cheek and shoulder, AH forever quiet now. MeUow cooing, ripphng laughter, We may never hear them more ; For the Lord Himself hath called her To His bright, celestial shore. Did He know her cMnging nature, Beauteous face and graceful mien, Would involve her in more danger Than we e'er could have foreseen ? Did he take her from the trouble, And the sorrow of this life ; E'en to save her from its perils. From its dangers, and its strife ? We will trust it all to Jesus, Feeling sure He knoweth best ; And we'U question not His dealing, But in His great love we'll rest. Next we come to little Aaron, Whom his widowed mother sold — Sold away her new-born baby For a tiny bit of gold. Less than seven paltry dollars — Price for human infant paid ; E'en upon our Castle threshold Such a deal as this was made. " IN HIS NAME AND FOR HIS SAKE " 217 But the people who had bought him Soon grew weary of his care, And begrudged the small allowance Daily spended for his fare. Then they brought him to the Castle, Starving, dying of neglect; There was no one else to save him, How could I the child reject ? ^ ' In His Name ' ' I paid the money — Rupees sixty, all they sought ; Just three time what he had cost them. But I reckoned gold as naught — Naught, when measured in the balance 'Gainst a human being's hfe! And our babe had well-nigh perished At the hands of this man's wife. Long 'twould take to tell the story, How we nursed him day and night — OiUng, bathing, rubbing, feeding; Aye, it was a desp'rate fight To restore the little body. Wasted till no flesh was there. Milk we gave him through a dropper. Thrice each hour, with tenderest care. So unhke a human infant, Wasted, wrinkled, wan was he ; But for many months, untiring, He was nursed most tenderly. 218 KHETWADI CASTLE Then an angel from the Father Came, one hot and sultry night, Bore away our baby Aaron To the realms of endless light. Then I sat alone in sorrow. Disappointed, sore bereft ; Those wee forms all sweetly mantled For the tomb, by fingers deft. Then I questioned — " Why this sorrow, Why this grief and why this pain ? Did I take these foundhng children That /might some bliss obtain? " Nay, but then, I'd learned to love them, And the sacrifice was sweet ; And, somehow, I hoped to make them For the Master's service meet. •' ' All my labor has been wasted ! ' ' Thus, in bitterness, I thought ; " All the wealth of love I lavished. All my hours, spent for naught ! ' ' Pond 'ring still in prayerful sorrow. To my heart contentment came ; For I knew that I had done it " For His Sake " and " In His Name ". CHAPTER XVII OUR SERVANTS There were seventeen of them — besides ray- dear little housekeeper, Miss Isabella Jane Bel- cham, whom I alvv^ays called "Birdie", and Mrs. Moses, my fluent interpreter. Our quiet and dignified butler, who stood at the head of our large staff of domestic servants, was so competent, so kind; and, withal, so gen- tlemanly, that he commanded the respect of everybody about the place, servants, nurses, patients and guests. I never saw his equal, as butler, in any country. Never was his voice raised above his low-pitched, subdued ordinary tone; and yet the other servants fell into line, and obeyed his orders like well trained and mar- shalled soldiers of the regular army. A look, a gesture, or a whispered word was sufficient, and the hamal, boy, and other servants instantly obeyed. Nothing pleased him better than a house fuU of distinguished guests, and a big Khana liaziri. On such occasions it was only necessary to inform the butler of the number of guests to be served, and he could be relied upon for the rest. During the entire term of his ser- vice in Khetwadi Castle, which extended over a period of nearly two years duration, I never once needed to say, ' ' Butler, why did you do (221) . 222 KHETWADI CASTLE thus '? ' ' Or, ' ' Why did you not do so and so ? ' ^ He knew his work far better than I could tell him, and I never found occasion to reprove or correct him. The butler was a Hindu priest, and stood at the head of his caste. He was well educated in his own native tongue ; and had sufficient knowl- edge of the English language to be able to con- verse fluently, and to read and write fairly well in that tongue. During his leisure hours he could usually be found sitting underneath the hall stairway, in a quiet corner, reading our Eng- lish Bible, the Pilgrim's Progress, or some other religious work which he had borrowed from me, or from some member of our household. Fin- ally, however, our good butler fell seriously ill, and then his faithful assistants, rather than allow me to engage another servant in his place, did extra work, in order to hold his position for him until he should be sufficiently recovered to resume his former duties. When he grew seriously worse I had him brought and placed in one of our hospital beds, and he was nursed and cared for as a regular patient. During this time he confessed to me his faith in the Christian religion and in the Lord Jesus Christ, but explained that he had main- tained silence in regard to the matter for the sake of his wife and family. When he knew that death was near he decided that, for their sakes and especially for the sake of his wife, it would be best for him to die in his own home ; and so OUR SERVANTS 223 he was carried on a stretcher to his distant house in the native city, where his father's family re- sided, and where his own goods were stowed. After his removal I visited him several times every day until his death. During my last visit I asked him if there were any requests which he would hke to make before his death ; to which he repHed, ' ' No, Doctor Sahiba, only this, pray for me. Not here, not now, because, if before all these people I profess my belief in your rehgion, they will persecute my wife and give her trouble after I am gone ; but at home, at your family altar, and in private, pray for me — I know you do. I want you to knovr that I believe in the Christian re- hgion, and that I die trusting in Jesus Christ. ' ' These were his last words to me, and so he passed away. The liamal was a middle aged, care-v orn native man, whose duty it was to attend upon the door, set the table, wash the dishes, dust the furniture and the hke. " The boy " was a mere lad, but bright and intelhgent. He waited upon the table with the hamal, and made himself gener- ally useful about the place, cleaning lamps, run- ning of errands, washing windows, etc. Domingo, the cook, was a Goanese and a Roman Cathohc. He never left the kitchen for any purpose whatever, except once daily, in the early, early morning, to go to the bazaar for the purpose of purchasing food for that day's con- sumption. His httle assistant, a young native boy of his own caste, carried the provisions from 224 KHETWADI CASTLE the market to the Castle, and waited upon his master, the cook, in various and sundry ways. The Ayah (child's nurse, or lady's maid) is the only female domestic servant in India, except, indeed, it be the sweeper servant who may be either a woman or a man. In our Khetwadi Castle we required, and usually had in our em- ploy, several ayahs. There were two child's ayahs — one who did day duty in the nursery, from 6 A. M. until 8 p. m. ; and one who did night duty, from 8 p. m. until 6 a. m. These day and night ayahs, however, required constant assistance, and even more constant watching. They could not be trusted to attend to the Httle folks in accordance with instructions; and, as long as I was able to be out of bed, a night never passed during which I did not myself per- sonally visit the nursery once in every two hours, or oftener, in order to make sure that all was well there. We had seven children in the nursery, all of whom were under three years of age, five of them being less than six months old. It re- quired more than two hands, night or day, to supply the numerous wants of the nursery, and more than one nurse to preside successfully over our seven adopted babies. As often as possible I myself bathed the children in the evening, and my sister. Birdie, or some one of the nurses, looked after the bottles, and attended to the preparation of the condensed milk every two hours during the day. There was also the tall ayah, who assisted in the care of the children OUR SERVANTS 225 during the day, besides serving in the capacity of chamber-maid in the hospital, ' ' The black Ayah ' ' was a small, lithe, live, wide awake, dark-faced httle woman, so full of energy, wit, good humor and kind-heartedness as to render her a general favorite among the servants, and a source of entertainment and amusement to patients, nurses and guests ahke. No one ever seemed to know just what her specific duties were ; but that she was needed, always and everywhere, was apparent to all. Without anybody seeming to be aware of it the black Ayah really bossed, or perhaps it would be better to say led, the whole staff of servants in Khetwadi Castle, It was she who invented, suggested, and guided every new thought and enterprise. Had the black Ayah been less kind- hearted and generous, and more malicious, she would have proved a mischief-maker and gossip of the worst type. As it was, her influence al- ways seemed to be exerted in the right direction, and tended to harmony and good-feehng rather than the reverse ; and this, notwithstanding the fact that she as a great talker — the one ser- vant about the place who carried all the news and spread all tidings abroad. Prompted by her kind, friendly heart, she always seemed to place the best construction upon whatever inci- dent she wished to relate, and to attribute the best motives to all parties concerned; and, though a gossip, yet she seemed to be a harmless one. As a matter of fact we all Uked the little, 226 KHETWADI CASTLE Ugly, black Ayah, and admired her in spite of her plain face and many personal eccentricities. Bhanna, our good, one-eyed coachman, was a character ; and to describe him would be a diffi- cult task indeed. Though having marked char- acteristics of his own, and possessing a rare personality, yet, somehow, he seemed to be a very part of his rig — one and inseparable from his horse and carriage; while our horse Tom seemed to partake of the nature and personnel of his master Bhanna. They were both tall, lean, agile, spirited and quick in every motion. Bhanna loved his horse with an affection which was as genuine as it was deep. Bhanna had been Tom's master during his own young days, when Tom belonged to a dash- ing yoang officer in the English army ; and when he was so full of life and spirit that no coach- man, save Bhanna only, dare undertake to lead him to water, or to ride or drive him. With pride Bhanna would tell of the devastation to carriages, and the peril to life, which had come about through the uncontrollable feats of his favorite horse, Tom. His pale cheek would flush with pride, and his one dark eye flash, when he recounted the various instances in which Tom's strength, energy, and high spirits had proven too much for his master and disastrous to his carriage. Now, in his old age, for Tom was decidedly old and could no longer be fattened, he was still so spirited that I had found great difficulty in OUR SERVANTS 227 engaging any coachman who would venture to drive him, much less undertake the constant care of him. Bhanna, however, as soon as his eyes fell upon the horse, recognized his old army officer's blooded steed, the pride of his own prime ; and he at once begged for the position of coachman of the Castle. What a faithful ser- vant he proved to be ! I feel sure that Bhanna would have suffered for food himself rather than neglect Tom. Always ready, willing, obedient and loyal, Bhanna was an exceptional servant. When called to visit an out-patient, night or day, I usually stepped to the upper veranda and called to Bhanna, ' ' Gari taiyar curro ' ' (make ready the carriage) ; to which Bhanna would in- stantly reply, in his own peculiarly pleasant voice with its rising inflection, ' ' Hai, Dr. Sahib, gari ahhi taiyar hai .' " (I am here. Dr. Sir, the carriage is now ready.) And this in spite of the fact that he had not yet started, or was only just starting, to harness the horse. The reply was simply intended to convey the idea that the work would be done so quickly that it was equivalent to being then ready. And, indeed, it took Bhanna but a very few moments to prepare for a drive. Often, before I myself was fully ready, the carriage would be driven around to the front door ; and, in his green and scarlet uniform, Bhanna would stand at the door of our hand- some httle brougham, waiting for me to come. Bhanna was not long with us until he gave 228 KHETWADI CASTLE his heart to the Lord Jesus, and became an earnest Christian man, being baptized by our beloved Bishop Fowler, on Sunday, February 3, 1889, while the Bishop, Mrs. Fowler and their son, Carl, were guests in our Khetwadi Castle. The Bishop presented Bhanna with a Bible in the Marathi language, of which he was very proud; though he was quite unable to read. Afterward Bhanna often asked our good butler to read his Bible aloud to him, which the butler always seemed glad to do. There is not much to be said about our little Malee (gardener) a quiet, slow-spoken, sad-faced ; but, withal, rather ill-tempered servant, who attended to our compound (front and back yard, or lawns) and provided flowers for our dining table and hospital v/ards. Nor is there much to be said about the two Dirzees, who sat in the sewing-room, and pUed the needle from 9 o'clock a. m. until 6 o'clock p. M., preparing wardrobes for the seven small children who had, so recently, come to us without an article of clothing. It was no small task to provide even the simplest, plainest gar- ments for so many little folk, all at one time. Nor did it involve any trifling expense ; although the clothing which I provided for them was of the plainest, and simplest description, though necessarily of a good quality ; and, of course, in a climate hke that of India, a large number of changes was really necessary for each child. The Dirzees were both elderly men; quiet, sedate, industrious, and good seamsters. 3 ~H -1 — < -^ ■^ q o cc li.' CI u4 ^ OUR SERVANTS 231 The ChowMdar (night watchman) was, Kke the coachman, tall, lean, strong and active. He kept guard of Khetwadi Castle and its inmates from late evening until early morning, walking up and down, around and about the Castle, to see that nothing went wrong; pounding his heavy cudgel upon the ground at frequent inter- vals, by way of notifying his mistress that he was reaUy awake, and attending to his duty; occasionally, by way of variety and for the same purpose, shouting out in such a manner as to awaken the neighbors, if they were not accus- tomed to such weird midnight screams. During the day-time the Choivkidar was supposed to sleep ; but, as a matter of fact, he was often up and about; ready, if necessary, to go of an errand, post letters, etc. Concerning the Dhobie, or laundryman, an English writer has said: " I am an amateur phil- osopher and amuse myself detecting essence beneath semblance and tracing the same princi- ple running through things the outward aspect of which is widely different. I have studied the Dhobie in this spirit and find him to be nothing else than an example of the abnormal develop- ment, under favorable conditions, of a disposi- tion which is not only common to humanity, but pervades the whole animal kingdom. A puppy rending shppers, a child tearing up its picture books, a mungoose kilhng twenty chickens to feed on one, a freethinker demolishing ancient superstitions, what are they all but Dliobies in embryo ? 232 KHETWADI CASTLE ' ' Destruction is so much easier than construc- tion, and so much more rapid and abundant in its visible results, that the devastator feels jubi- lant joy in his work, of which the tardy builder knows nothing. As the lightning scorns the oak, as the fire triumphs over the venerable pile, so the Dhobie, dashing your cambric and fine linen against the stones, shattering a button, fraying a hem, or rending a seam at every stroke, feels a triumphant contempt for the miserable crea- ture whose plodding needle and thread put the garment together. This feeling is the germ from which the Dliohie has grown. Day after day he has stood before that great black stone and wreaked his rage upon shirt and trouser and coat, and coat and trowser and shirt. Then he has wrung them as if he were wringing the necks of poultry, and fixed them on his drying line with thorns and spikes, and finally he has taken the battered garments to his torture cham- ber and ploughed them with his iron, longwise and crosswise and slantwise, and dropped glow- ing cinders on their tenderest places. Son has followed father through countless generations in cultivating this passion for destruction, until it has become the monstrous growth which we see and shudder at in the Dhobte. "But I find in him, at least, an illustration of another human infirmity. He takes in hand to eradicate the dirt which defiles the garment. But the one is closely mingled with the very fibres of the other, the one is impalpable, the OUR SERVANTS 233 other bulky and substantial, and so the torrent of his zealous rage unconsciously turns against the very substance of that which he set himself lovingly to purge and restore to its primative purity. Indeed, I sometimes find that, while he has successfully wrecked the garment, he has overlooked the dirt! Greater and better men than the DJiobie are employed in the same way. "Such are the consolations of philosophy, ' But there was never yet philosopher Who could endure the toothache patiently, ' much less the Dhohie. He is not tolerable. Submit to him we must, since resistance is futile ; but his craven spirit makes submission difficult and resignation impossible. If he had the soul of a conqueror, if he wasted you like Attilla, if he flung his iron into the clothes-basket and cried Vae victis, then a feeling of respect would soften the bitterness of the conquered; but he conceals his ravages like the white ant, and you are be- trayed in the hour of need. When he comes in, limping and groaning under his stupendous bun- dle and lays out khamees, pyatloon, and pjama, all so fair and decently folded, and delivers them by tale in a voice whose monotonous cadence seems to teU of some undercurrent of perennial sorrow in his life, who could guess what horrors his perfidious heart is privy to ? Next morning, when you spring from your tub and shake out the great jail towel which is to wrap your shivering person in its warm folds, lo ! it yawns from end to end. There is nothing 234 KHETWADI CASTLE but a border, a fringe, left. You fling on your clothes in unusual haste, for it is mail day morn- ing. The most indispensable of them all has scarcely a remnant of a button remaining. You snatch up another which seems in better condi- tion, and scramble into it ; but, in the course of the day, a cold current of wind, penetrating where it ought not, maizes you aware of what your friends behind your back have noticed for some time, viz., that the starch with which a gaping rent had been carefully gummed together, that you might not see it, has melted and given way. ' ' The thought of these things makes a man feel like Vesuvius on the eve of an eruption ; but you must wait for relief till Dhobie day next week, and then the poltroon has stayed at home, and sent his brother to report that he is suffering from a severe stomach ache. When the miscreant makes his next appearance in person, he stands on one leg, with joined palms and a piteous bleat, and pleads an alibi. He was absent about the marriage of a relation, and his brother washed the clothes. So your lava falls back into its crater, or, I am afraid, more often overflows the surrounding country. ' ' As a matter of fact, while all Dhobies may not be equally destructive to clothing, the Dhobie of Khetwadi Castle was not one but many, since we were ever searching for a better one ; which, however, we never succeeded in finding. The Gowlee, or Doodtvallah, that dignified per- OUR SERVANTS 235 sonage who walks into the back yard, erect as a palm tree, with a tiara of graduated milk-pods on his head and preceded by a snorting buffalo, is Gopal himself. The buffalo represents abso- lute milk and the pyramid of brass lotas, from the two-gallon vessel at the base to the one- quarter seer measure at the top, represent suc- cessive degrees of dilution with gutter water, taken from the roadside ditches. If interro- gated as to the lack of cream from the milk received on the previous day, Gopal assures me that he supposed we needed milk for coffee and tea, not for butter making. That kind of milk has no butter in it, but if I want milk for butter- making he will supply me with a different kind of milk ; which, however, will cost me something extra. His resources are very great, and he has various and sundry kinds of milk — there are kinds from which butter cannot be made, and there are kinds from which butter can be made. I tell him that I want the kind from which but- ter can be made, although I do not wish to make butter. Indeed, I ask him for the best quality of milk which he can give me. He then empties into my vessel a quantity of milk from the large copper vessel, at the base of his pyramid, assuring me that this is the best and richest milk that can be had anywhere. I bring my milk tester and pour a smaU quantity in, and then assure him that he has added precisely such or such a quantity of water to this milk. Whereupon he looks at me in amazement ; and, 236 KHETWADI CASTLE holding up both hands, declares that I am a goddess, that I have some witchery by which I can discover water, and the precise amount of water which has been added to the milk. After this I am able to induce him to bring his buffalo and milk it in my presence, which he does ; and, if I continue to test his milk on each particular occasion, and to watch him while the cow is being milked, I will in all probability obtain good pure milk ; but if, after the first two or three days of this method, I become careless, and trust to my Doodivallah' s integrity, leaving him to himself, or to be watched by one of the servants only, I wiU very soon find that my milk is not the kind which will produce cream, or from which butter can be made ; and, if I test it, I will find that it contains one-fourth, or perhaps one- half gutter water. In addition to the foregoing domestic servants there is the Matar and Matranie (sweeper man and woman), who, in Bombay, are supplied by the English Government, and one of whom comes to the Castle two or three times per day, and carries away all filth and rubbish from the premises, sweeping up the back yard each time. We do not in India board any servant ; but, in the metropolitan city of Bombay, where English customs prevail to such a great extent, and where the rules of caste are less strictly observed than, perhaps, in any other part of India, the servants usually supply themselves, and often their families as weU, with food from your MATRAKIE iMATAR [Sweeper servants enuiiged in their ordinary occupation of carrying :i\vuy tlie filth of the city.] OUR SERVANTS 239 pantry. To partake of European food, from dishes used by Christian people, is supposed to break the caste of any native in any part of In- dia; and, if this practice were reported at any caste meeting, the party thus transgressing the caste laws would be disgraced among his people, and would be considered to have broken his caste. Nevertheless this practice of petty larceny, among the servants of Bombay, is so universally prac- ticed that it is tacitly approved of by them; and a servant is considered to have a right to whatever food he may need from his master's supply closet. Indeed, when the matter comes to the knowledge of the master and mistress, they are apt to overlook it, and they certainly will do so if they are generous, kind-hearted people, and consider how very small is the salary paid to their servants, and how insufficient it must be for the needs of a family. Every morning immediately after breakfast, before any member of the family had left the table, and after aU our domestic servants had gathered in and taken their seats around us on the floor of our pleasant dining-room, it was my custom to conduct family worship. Usually I read some passage, a chapter or more, from God's Word in my own English tongue, after which Sunderbai Powar, or Mrs. Moses, would read the same, or some other scripture lesson, in the Hindoostani language; so that all the servants could understand. However, nearly all our ser- vants in Bombay were sufficiently famiUar with the Enghsh language to be able to understand. 24:0 KHETWADI CASTLE and even to speak in that tongue. After this a verse or two of some Christian hymn would be sung, sometimes in English and sometimes in Hindoostani, and then I would lead in prayer, my words being repeated by Sunderbai, or Mrs, Moses, in Hindoostani, sentence by sentence. At other times Sunderbai, or Mrs. Moses, would themselves lead in prayer in the Hindoostani language. At the close of the extemporaneous petition the Lord's prayer was always repeated in concert by all the members of the family, the servants often uniting with us. We never, while in Khetwadi Castle, had family worship in the evening, as we found it difficult if not im- possible to get the members of our family together at any evening hour. On Sunday afternoons, in the lecture room of the Castle, a regular Bible reading and prayer service was conducted for the benefit of the ser- vants. This meeting was generally led by Sun- derbai Powar; but I often attended it, and addressed a few words to the servants, and prayed with them. At other times I invited Mr. Bruere, the pastor of the native church, or Mrs. Bruere, or some other missionary, to conduct this ser- vice. The servants were all in the habit of at- tending this meeting regularly, none of them habitually absenting themselves, with the excep- tion of the cook, who was a Roman Catholic, and the sweeper woman who did not live on the premises, and who could not be allowed to attend a meeting with high caste natives. CHAPTER XVIII A CHRISTMAS DINNER FOR OUR SERVANTS During the evening of December 25, 1888, my sister and I gave a Christmas dinner to our ser- vants. Everything had been previously arranged, and we had gone to as much trouble, labor, ex- pense and painstaking as we could have done had the dinner been intended for a company^ of dis- tinguished guests. Of course there was no dining table needed, as our servants would not sit upon chairs at a table to partake of food. Therefore the dining table was drawn together as much as possible, and placed against the waU at one end of the room ; while the servants sat around on the floor in a half circle. A large quantity of the best Indian rice had been cooked in the manner pecu- liar to India, and with it was served chicken curry, egg curry, fish curry and meat curries, prepared in the most delicious manner. Besides this we had other, ordinary kinds of food, such as we would use upon our own table, not omit- ting the inevitable Christmas cake and Christmas pudding. We also had fruit, nuts and sweets in abundance. My sister, Sunderbai, Mrs. Moses, several of our Christian nurses and I constituted ourselves servants to our servants on that occa- sion, and served them. (241) 242 KHETWADI CASTLE When all was ready, and a plate piled with dehcious food had been set on the floor in front of each servant, but before any one had par- taken of it, the black Ayah spoke up and said, ' ' Now Bootlair, since the Dr. Sahib has given us this dinner, you should say grace as the Chris- tians do." This she said in great seriousness. Then the servants all bowed forward until their heads nearly touched the floor, and the Butler returned thanks in a few, simple appropriate words, as any Christian gentleman might do in any Christian home. Of course my sister and I were greatly surprised at this; but among the servants it caused no embarrassment or con- straint; and, immediately afterward, thinking they would better enjoy the dinner and visiting without me, I was about to leave the room, when the black Ayah detained me. She had risen to her feet, bowed in a low salaam, and began sing- ing a sweet, sad, Hindoostani air, which she con- tinued to its close. Then she spoke again in words to the follow- ing effect: ''Dr. Sahib, we have worked in many an English home, we have served many English masters and mistresses ; and, when their great day comes, they usually send to us a little money, or a new sari, or piigrah, or some pres- ent, because it is their big day ; but they do not come to see if we like it, or if we had need of it — they do not care whether we are happy or not. Never before in our lives did any master or mistress come down to make us a dinner, to A CHRISTMAS DINNER FOR OUR SERVANTS 243 serve us with their own hands, or to enjoy see- ing us happy. None of them ever cared if we were so or not. This is the greatest day of our lives. We will count our children's ages from this date, and will reckon all things good that come to us in our future lives as dated from this hour. ' ' When she had thus spoken she bowed low again and took her seat. Then the Butler stood up and said that the Ayah had spoken out of her own heart, but that she had expressed what they all felt. I could not then leave the little company until I had answered their kind, appreciative words. I began by telling them about the great Father of us all ; and how, when we had fallen into sin, He gave His Son to suffer and to die, in order that we might be brought back to Him, to His love, and to His home. This He did, not for me only, not for Enghsh people only, not for mis- sionaries only, but for them just as much as for us ; they were each and all His children, just as we were, and He loved them just as deeply, just as truly. I said, my gift of this dinner to you is nothing, it is the least thing that I can do ; but He, the great God and Father of us all, so loved us that He gave His well- beloved and only begotten Son, that we might not perish but might have everlasting life. The Lord Jesus Christ was born on this Christmas day ; and ever since that time Christian people, the world over, have kept this day in memory; and, because God gave His Son for us, we have learned to 244: KHETWADI CASTLE give good gifts to our friends, in memory of His great, best gift. I cannot now remember all that I said on the occasion of that Christmas dinner; but I do know I said words to the above effect; and that I also exhorted them earnestly to accept God's great gift in the person of His Son, and to love Him because of this gift, and to accept the salvation that the Lord had purchased for them by His suffering and death. After this my sister, my nurses and I withdrew, leaving the servants to enjoy their dinner together, as we afterward learned they did most thoroughly. ROMAN CATHOLIC ROSARY. .MOHAMMEDAN PRAYER HEADS. HINDU I'R.VYER I!E.U)S. HIDDHIST NUN PRAYER HEADS ** is SANDAL (^F A HINDI AKIR.OR RELIGIOUS DEVOTICE CHAPTER XIX HINDUISM, MOHAMMEDANISM, ROMANISM It is a curious and an interesting fact that in India, among the Hindus and Mohammedans ahke, we find superstitious prejudices and rehg- ious ceremonies and customs, in many respects, similar to those prevalent among the Eoman Catholic people of our own country. Beads of prayer very Uke the Roman Catholic rosary are used by both Mohammedan and Hindu people. Before us we have the picture of a Roman Catholic rosary, a string of Mohammedan prayer beads, and a string of Hindu prayer beads, aU of which were purchased at the same place. The Mohammedan and Roman Catholic rosaries are so similar as to be indistinguishable, except for the cross, which is attached to the end of the Roman Cathohc string, but not to that of the Moham- medan, These beads of prayer are used for the same purpose, and counted in the same manner by Hindus, Mohammedans and Roman Catholics. The fourth rosary in the picture before us is a rare trophy from China, whence it was brought by Rev, and Mrs. WoodaU, missionaries of the Methodist Episcopal Church in China, The beads were presented to Mrs, WoodaU by a Buddhist nun, whom she and her husband had befriended during a time of extreme emergency (247) 248 KHETWADI CASTLE and distress. Each bead is made from a very- hard kind of nut, being exquisitely carved by hand into a Buddhist idol, and each bead repre- sents a different deity. They are said to be very rare and costly. During prayer the worshiper is supposed to hold between the fingers the bead representing the particular deity whom she, or he, wishes to supplicate. The Buddhist nun, to whom the beads belonged, was clad in a single gray garment, which fell, robe-like, from the neck to the ankles. Her head was shaven and the scalp was marked, on the top of the head, by curiously shaped scars, where it had been branded by a hot iron. Mrs. Woodall assured me that, in China , the Buddhists have nuns, monks, priests, and mon- asteries, similar to those of the Roman Catholic Church. Hindus and Buddhists everywhere inflict upon themselves penance, and their priests require it of them. The sandal in the picture is rudely made from an ordinary block of wood, and is the kind worn by the Hindu fakir, or religious devotee. The tall, button-like projection near the toe of the sandal, passes between the great and second toes, being grasped by them in such a manner as to hold the sandal beneath the foot. The upper surface of the sandal is covered with small indentations, where sharp pebbles are placed, which serve to lacerate the feet of the wearer, as he makes his TWO SILVER CHARjr-CASES, SHOWING THE PROTECTIVE DOCUMENTS WHICH THEY COXTAIXED A DOUHLi;, KOMAX CATHOLIC rllAHM. OK SCAPULAR HINDUISM, MOHAMMEDANISM, ROMANISM 251 journey to some distant shrine or holy river. Thus his feet are torn and bruised, and become inflamed and ulcerated, until, perhaps, he faints by the wayside, on account of this self-inflicted torture. The two silver charms represented in the pic- ture were presented to me by Hindu servants after they became Christians, and had been worn on their persons from early childhood until the date of their conversion. They are pure silver cases, or boxes, which fold over at one end, and can be opened at discretion. These boxes contain a bit of paper, which has been written upon by a Hindu or Mohammedan priest, in an unknown tongue. This writing involves heavy expense to the par- ent of the child who is to wear the charm; but, when a son is born to any father in India, his life is considered to be so precious that the father will go to any expense, and make any sacrifice, in order to obtain charms of this sort, with which to protect the health and hfe of his son. Such a charm worn about the neck, on the arm, or on any part of the person, is supposed to protect the individual thus adorned from the evil eye, from cholera, small-pox, leprosy and the like. The silver cases containing the charm-paper, which has been written upon by the holy priest, may be made of almost any shape or size; but must be pure, unalloyed silver, and sufficiently large to contain the document. Young sons of wealthy Hindn and Mohamme- 252 KHETWADI CASTLE dan parents are usually adorned with a large number of these charms, and each one is sup- posed to protect the child from some special harm. From wealthy parents the priest exacts enormous fees for his service of writing the pro- tective words, and for performing the peculiar ceremonies necessary to make the charm effective. The curious double charm, represented in the picture, is an old, weU-worn Eoman Catholic charm. The circular tape is sufficiently large to pass over the head, so that one charm hangs over the breast, and the other down the back. On one of these charms there is a picture of the Virgin Mary, holding in her arms the infant Christ, while both hold in their hands a double charm, like the one before you. Beneath the picture are the following French words, as nearly as they can be deciphered: " M. E. garde-le comme un gage e ma protection speciale. ' ' The second charm has a picture of the Virgin Mary with the infant Christ, and a Eoman Catholic priest kneeling before them, and reach- ing up for the charm, while angels, or demons, fiU the air above them. Beneath the picture are the following French words: "E te le donne comme gage de pion amour et de ma protection. ' ' The Hindu idol and worship, even, are not un- hke the Roman Catholic Crucifix and manner of worship ; for, while the Roman Cathohc assures you that he does not worship the Crucifix, but only the Christ which it is supposed to repre- HINDUISM, MOHAMMEDANISM, ROMANISM 255 sent, he does no more and no better than the heathen Hindu, who, if he be educated and well informed in regard to his own religion, will as- sure you that he does not worship the curious idols represented in the picture before us, but only the deities which these images represent to him. Among Hindu and Mohammedan people the masses are kept in ignorance, the priest only being allowed the advantage of a liberal educa- tion; and upon him devolves the duty of ex- pounding to the ignorant worshiper the import of their religious books. As the laity in the Roman Catholic Church are not permitted to study our Holy Bible ; so the Mohammedan com- mon folk are not permitted to peruse their sacred Koran ; so the Hindu masses are not allowed the privilege of reading their sacred books — the Veda, Rig- Veda, Yojur-Veda, Sama-Veda, and Atharva-Veda. The picture before us represents an old, well- worn Mohammedan Koran stand. It is made of wood, and exquisitely painted by hand, so that the original material is entirely covered with the painted blossoms. It has the form of a camp-stool, and can be folded up and made quite flat. The Koran is considered to be so sacred a book, that it must not be touched by the hand of any ordinary Mohammedan, even though he be able to read, and is permitted by the priest to do so. He may, however, study his sacred book on 256 KHETWADI CASTLE special and stated occasions. This little stand is so arranged as to facilitate the reading of the Koran, while its sacred pages are protected from the contaminating touch of an ordinary mortal. The priest brings the Koran and lays it upon this little stand. Then the favored Mohammedan, who is thus permitted to peruse its pages, may bend above the open book and read without touching it. It is not often, however, that this privilege is granted. A WOODKX. IIAM)-l-AIX'l'i:U KORAN STAND CHAPTER XX PATIENTS OF KHETWADI CASTLE HOSPITAL Our Khetwadi Castle Hospital was capable of accommodating fifty patients comfortably ; and, while it was never full, yet there was usually a goodly number of patients within its wards. To recall the name of each patient — to enumer- ate them, giving even the briefest synopsis of each particular case, would suffice to fill a vol- ume, and would prove a heavy task. A few special, interesting cases, however, I wiU briefly mention. There was the wife of EUapa Ballaram, a wealthy Hindu architect of Bombay. My treat- ment of her really began on the 6 th day of April, 1887, before the opening of my Khetwadi Castle Hospital. Later on, however, she came to my Hospital for treatment. She was my very first regular, pay patient in Bombay. EUapa Ballaram was an exceptional Hindu in having but one wife, though wealthy and living in a fine residence in the English part of Bombay. His house was richly and elegantly furnished in English style ; and here his one wife presided as the sole mis- tress. In this house there was one large apart- ment full of Hindu idols, and my little patient spent several hours of every day doing puja (worship). She was a very pretty and other- (259) 260 KHETWADI CASTLE wise attractive little woman ; and her husband once said to me, ' ' I like my wife because she is so pious." This confession was made to me in confidence. It is by no means considered to be essential in India that a man should ' ' like ' ' his wife ; nor is it a matter that can be taken for granted. Indeed, it is quite exceptional for a native gentleman to be fond of his wife. Mrs. Isa Dass was also a little high-caste, wealthy Hindu patient. She was admitted to our Hospital wards for a surgical operation; and had to be kept in strict seclusion during the whole term of her stay vv^ith us. Mrs. Nanabhoy was a dear, little Parsee woman, who came into the Hospital for the purpose of an operation ; and who became so much attached to us all, and enjoyed herself so weU, that she remained long after complete recovery. Her husband was a vv^ealthy, weU-educated Parsee, reading and writing the English language, and speaking it fluently. He seemed anxious that his pretty little wife should gain similar ac- complishments; while she, on her part, took a child-like delight in learning to sit upon a chair at the dining table, to use her knife and fork in eating, to converse in the Eoglish language, etc. Indeed, the nurses assured me that she protracted her stay with us for the express pur- pose of learning English ; and familiarizing her- self with European manners and customs. She was a bright, sunshiny, happy-minded, affec- tionate creature, and endeared herself to every- " ilj ■ 11^ '^1 1 m BK i ■ ; '-^ ♦ i,.^^*'' vW 9k^ :.:*' m i 1 ^ ^-.f^"?^ .;^' PATIENTS OF KHETWADI CASTLE HOSTITAL 263 body in the institution. Her portrait scarcely does her justice, though that of her husband is excellent. (Mrs. ) Maneekbai Munchershaw Mody and her aunt were also wealthy Parsee ladies, who were admitted to the wards of our Khetwadi Castle Hospital for the purpose of surgical operations ; and who proved to be most agreeable and delight- ful inmates of our Castle home. (Mrs.) Zehaira Beebee Tyabjee and her sister- in-law, (Mrs.) Zubedah Beebee Ah Akbar, were two very pretty and attractive young Moham- medan women; the daughters of two of the wealthiest Mohammedan men in Bombay. They were, each in turn, occupants of one of our pri- vate Hospital wards for a considerable period. Each made a perfect recovery, and left us re- luctantly, having won the esteem and affection of us all. (Mrs.) Shewantibai Trimbuck Canaran is a well-known native, Christian lady of Bombay. Her parents were Brahmins, but became Chris- tians inany years ago. For some years past she has been engaged in mission work in the native city of Bombay. She was also one of our sur- gical patients. During the early spring of 1888, I was em- ployed as attending physician to the women of the Salvation Army, in their Bombay headquarters ; and all the ' ' Lassies ' ' of the Army, in Bombay, were under my professional care. On the 10th day of April, of that same year. Staff Captain 264 KHETWADI CASTLE Blanche Cox, having been previously stricken with small-pox, was brought to my Hospital, and placed in the large upper, back ward of the wing, where she was isolated with her nurse, Mrs. Moses. Four days later Captain Minnie Johnson was placed in another bed in the same ward, on account of the same dire malady ; and, two days later. Miss Frida Lantz and Miss Annie Hindmarsh followed. The first two of these became serously, horribly, and dangerously ill; but all four ultimately made a perfect recovery, having no pock-marks or other signs of the fell disease to remind them and their friends of the terrible suffering and peril through which they had passed. Mrs. Moses, who had small-pox during her early infancy, remained with my small-pox patients for a period of several weeks, until all possible danger of contagion was past. Mght and day she nursed these four patients, never leaving the ward for any purpose. She received her food, and the food for her patients, through a trap door in the floor of the veranda, where it had been placed by a servant, leaving the trays and dishes in the same place again to be received through the same trap door later on, by a ser- vant who would come for them after she had returned to her ward. How accurate in follow- ing out all instructions, how vigilant, how atten- tive, how careful, and how tender she was, only those who were thus cared for can fully under- stand. The adjoining ward was empty and under- f^ o ^ ^ "^ £ 5 o 5 z ^ 5^5 a =5 z Si o>^ a g -»! (E PATIENTS OF KHETWADI CASTLE HOSPITAL 267 going constant fumigation. Every morning and evening, before visiting my small- pox patients, I changed my apparel, and passed through this room vp^hich was being fumigated; and, after finishing my visit, I returned the same way, bathing and changing my clothing before visit- ing any other patients in the Hospital or else- where. Thus we made sure that the disease should not be spread by us — nor was it. At this time, however, small- pox prevailed to an alarming extent in Bombay, and many cases were daily reported; besides these there was a still larger number of cases among the natives, in the native city, that were attended to secretly, and never came to the knowledge of the city authorities. Indeed, you were liable to meet a small-pox patient on the street at any time, or to sit beside one in the tram car. The natives take no sanitary precautions whatever; and when they are smitten with small-pox, cholera, leprosy, or any serious malady, they say, " Yih hamara kismat hai ; hamara munh men Ukhha hai.^^ (This is my fate, it is written in my face.) They consider that no one is at fault, and never blame themselves for any misfortune which may befall them. Miss Blanche Cox was born of wealthy, aris- tocratic parents in London, England, was con- verted in a Salvation Army meeting, united with the Army, and soon became private secretary to one of General Booth's daughters. Later on, she went to India; and, at the time 268 KHETWADI CASTLE of which we are writing, she was a tall, slender maiden, scarcely out of her teens, with a face as fair, mien and manner as graceful, a smile as sweet, and a personality as fascinating as was her mind gifted, her heart pure and unsullied, her character beautiful and her nature simple, childlike, and affectionate. Altogether Miss Cox was, and is, a charming woman. How courage- ously she bore her terrible sufferings, never seem- ing to consider the danger of disfigurement to her beautiful face. During her long and tedious convalescence, for her health had been seriously impaired by previ- ous fastings and hardships in the Army, a friend- ship as warm, tender and close as mortal friend- ships can be, grew up between my dear patient and her doctor. Seven years afterward, to my surprise and delight, Miss Cox visited me in my home in Omaha, Nebraska; and I, in turn, visited her in her Salvation Army headquarters in Denver, Colorado. Frida Lantz came to India from Sweden, her native land. I know but little of her parent- age. She was left an orphan in early child- hood ; but she loved the land of her birth, and often sang to us sweet, sad melodies in her native tongue, afterward expressing her heart's deep longing for her native land. Fair of face, as the children of that northern clime are wont to be, delicate in form and constitution, she seemed as frail and lovely as a hly ; to know her was to protect her. Instinctively all felt hke To ->^^ Br - Rv\^w5/u -w/i^it SkUi h )avt tj^ «*^ STAFF CAPTAIX KLANCllI'; ]5. COX. IN INDLAX COSTUMK PATIENTS OF KHETWADI CASTLE HOSPITAL 2Y3 shielding Frida from every sorrow, every hard- ship, every anxious thought. Dear, sweet, gentle child; we could not help feeling sorry that it had ever fallen to her lot to be sent to India as a Salvation Army officer. The work seemed too arduous, too difficult, and the re- sponsibilities far too heavy for her sympathetic, affectionate young heart. During convalescence Frida often entertained the patients in her ward, and her nurse and doc- tor also, by singing some of her sweet, native airs, Hindoostani bhajan, or Christian hymns in her pretty, broken English. Her voice was very tender and melodious, and her whole soul seemed to go out in the words of the hymn which she sang. A bird with joyous song, a drooping flower in the valley, a tender clinging vine in a native forest, a laughing child at play Frida seemed to be ; but never a strong, self-sufficient, competent mortal, able to battle through life's rough tide. She always seemed to be sighing for the presence of her beloved doctor, and when the latter could not, on account of many pressing duties, be with her, then Frida wrote tender love-lines, or painted pictures of blossoms to pre- sent to her when she should next visit the ward. ' ' Hindmarsh ' ' was quite a different sort of a maiden ; and it never occurred to any of us to address her as "Captain", or, "Miss Hind- marsh ", or even, ' ' Annie ' ' ; just ' ' Hindmarsh ' ' seemed to be the only word that expressed the little woman who bore that name. She, some- 274 KHETWADI CASTLE how, seemed made of a stronger, hardier kind of material; though, perhaps, not less charming than either of the two beautiful girls above de- scribed. She was not really pretty of face, nor delicate and graceful in form, but just a good- looking, attractive, winsome maiden — full of spirit, energy, and zeal in the Master's service — unselfish, kind-hearted, merry, generous, and, well, self-sufficient. It was not everybody who loved Hindmarsh; she would be liable to make enemies as well as friends, but we, at the Castle, loved her dearly. Miss Minnie Johnson was not with us so long as the other three Salvation Army officers. Though very ill in the beginning, she recovered more quickly, and left the hospital before any of the others were able to go. She was afterward married to a Salvation Army officer; but both she and her husband soon left the Army, uniting with one of the church missions, just where, or what particular mission they became members of, I do not know. There was another Salvation Army officer, whose name I have forgotten; but who, for a short time, was a patient in one of the wards of our Khetwadi Castle Hospital. She was a little native woman, and a convert from Hinduism. She had become a raving maniac, and no one about the place could manage her except Mrs. Moses, whose wonderful tact and skill did not fail her in this most difficult case. It was my custom to read the Scriptures, sing ^ i J ^*^ ^ -^^^ 1^ ■• l^w^ I^B >' ^ m \ ' ^3 \l ^^ w V •: \ , W^ ^jii|w^y^i ■^m^gf \ /7 rmfl^ A^^^ tmm(fJ^Bir 1 f ^ Hi '1^ w K PATIENTS OF KHETWADI CASTLE HOSPITAL 277 a Gospel hymn and offer a prayer in each of my hospital wards every Sunday evening. My Hin- du, Mohammedan and Parsee patients seemed to appreciate and enjoy these services quite as much as did the Christian patients. Indeed, our dear httle Zubedah Beebee was never willing to wait until Sunday ; but often, during the week, she would beg me to pray with her ; and when I did so, kneeling at her bedside, she nearly always wept, holding my hand tightly within her own two tiny palms, and seemed to make the prayer her own. Afterward she used to say, ' ' How beautiful it is to hear you pray, it does me good, it makes me better. ' ' During the two years, less fourteen days, from June 15, 1887, to June 1, 1889, while our Khet- wadi Castle Hospital was open, we treated a very large number of patients, and a great variety of diseases; indeed, nearly every disease to which mortals are heir, from the simplest form of malarial fever to the terrible cholera scourge, including smaU-pox, leprosy, insanity, maligant remittent fever, typhoid fever, guinea- worm, abscess of the liver, cancer, tuberculosis, and the even more horrible, and unnameable diseases. Within our Khetwadi Castle Hospital wards were, from time to time, patients of almost every nationality : — Hindu, Mohammedan, Eura- sian, Parsee, American, Enghsh, Irish, Scotch, German, French, Swede, Turk, and Jew — the rich, the poor, and the middle classes; represent- 278 KHETWADI CASTLE ing every grade and caste of society from the poorest sweeper to the wealthy, high-caste Brah- man; missionaries also of almost every denomi- nation, from the simply appareled, plain-spoken Friend and the Salvation Army officer attired in the costume pecuhar to the native of India, to the Church of England zenana missionary and the wife of the Church of England clergyman — all were treated in the wards of our Khetwadi Castle Hospital. CHAPTER XXI TWO DEATH-BED SCENES It was a perfect night in February, 1888. The fuU moon, serene and fair, was at her zenith. The sky was clear as Bombay skies, during the cool season of the year, ever are. The stars seemed to vie with each other in brilliancy, and the verdant earth to rival the heavens in beauty. The tall palms, graceful custard apple, and lux- uriant mango trees cast their shadows upon the cool, fragrant ground, shrouding it in a mantle of lace; while the banana trees, forming the hedge, cast shadows upon the earth that seemed like grim and ghastly spectres of darkness. It was the midnight hour, and the great city of Bombay lay asleep. The streets were silent, save for an occasional thump of the watchman's cudgel upon the resounding sod, his weird hourly shriek, or the screech of a night owl, perched upon some neighboring tree. Within Khetwadi Castle all was silent as the tomb, save in one medical ward, where low- pitched voices might occasionally be heard; while softly clad, and silent-footed nurses moved noiselessly about through the dimly lighted halls, and into the chamber of death. Mrs. L — , a middle-aged Enghsh woman, one of the medical patients of our Khetwadi Castle (279) 280 KHETWADI CASTLE Hospital, was about to pass into eternity. She had been with us only a few days, being most seriously and fatally ill when first admitted to the hospital. From the beginning, her suffer- ings were so great that, even had she wished to do so, it would have been well-nigh impossible for her to make any intelligent preparation for the great change that awaited her. Her hus- band stood at the foot of her bed, and her nurse, Mrs. Moses, waited near by, while I sat at my patient's side, holding her hand and counting the weak, fluttering pulse. Suddenly the dying woman turned to Mrs. Moses and said, ' ' Do you love Jesus Christ ? ' ' Mrs. Moses replied, ' ' Yes, Mrs. L — , I love Jesus Christ. ' ' Then to her husband she put the same question. When he assured her that he did love Jesus Christ, she turned to me; and, with the same eager, anxious expression upon her face, she said, ' ' Doctor, do you love Jesus Christ ? ' ' To which I replied, ' ' Yes, dear, I do love Jesus Christ. Do ^ott love Jesus Christ?" The face of the poor, dying creature now became livid; while an expression of mingled anger, hatred, remorse, despair and horror transfixed her coun- tenance ; as, staring downward into empty space, she hissed, ' ' No, I do not love Jesus Christ ! ' ' With these words upon her drawn, stricken lips, and her face expressing all the bitterness and hatred that can be depicted upon a human countenance, she turned her eyes upon her hus- band; while he, overwhelmed with grief and TWO DEATH-BED SCENES 281 horror, crouched upon the floor, buried his face in his hands and cried aloud. The end, however, did not come until the eve- ning of the following day. In answer to an urgent professional call, I had gone to visit an out-patient, taking my interpreter, Mrs. Moses, with me. During my absence my sister re- mained in the ward with Mrs. L — , who still lingered on the border hne of eternity. She, my sister, having witnessed this last, dreadful strug- gle, describes it as follows : ' ' I sat by Mrs. L — all the afternoon alone ; occasionally moistening her lips with orange juice which I prepared and strained in the room and kept ready. She seemed to have no pain, and lay much of the time in a sort of stupor. Her pulse was very weak, and her breathing so light that sometimes I had to watch closely to see it. Once she fixed her eyes earnestly on my face and I inquired of her, ' Do you want any- thing ? ' "'No.' " Are you comfortable ? "'Yes.' ' ' Still she searched my face. ' ' Would you hke to have me read a chapter to you? " ' No! ' she exclaimed very emphatically, ' I don't want any Bible ! ' and her brows knit and there was a look of intense dishke on her face. I put my hand on her forehead and smoothed her hair. The look wore away and presently 282 KHETWADI CASTLE she lifted her eyes to mine again and said, ' I am going to die ? ' ' ' Yes, very soon. "'I know it.' ' ' Do you not wish for any prayer ? " ' No. I don't vv^ant any prayer. I used to pray and read the Bible, but that was a long while ago — a long while ago, when I was young — in Sunday school. I don't want any now ! ' ' ' This was toward evening, and just when she closed her eyes her husband came. He had been working all day and watching with her all night till he was almost overcome with weariness and anxiety. He asked if he might lie on a couch, which was in the same room with her, and sleep ; and I answered him that I would waken him if any change came. In a few seconds he was in a deep sleep. "As I watched her face it seemed to me that I saw a subtle change passing over it. After about an hour she awakened and cried out to me, ' Oh, carry me ! ' ' ' Dear Mrs. L — , I am not able to do that, but I will hft you a little, and we will see if that will not make you more comfortable. I hfted her shoulders and changed her pillows. " ' No, I want to be carried — I want you to hold me in your arms ! ' ' ' But you are so heavy, dear ! Shall I call Mr. L — ? — he is right here. " ' No ! ' imperiously ' I want you to carry me ! ' ' ' ' Miss Armstrong ! ' TWO DEATH-BED SCENES 283 "Yes, dear. " ' I want you to carry me ! ' ' ' But I am so little, and you are so big ! "In an instant she seemed to forget aU about it and was unconscious again. ' ' I had used up all my oranges and had sent for more. When the httle black Ayah brought them, I began to make one ready. ' ' ' Oh, carry me ! Oh, I want orange, orange, orange, I want orange ! ' " I glanced at her face while I hurried the prep- aration of the orange. It had changed markedly, and even as I went toward her with the juice she became unconscious again. After making sure of this, I went to rouse Mr. L — . He slept profoundly, but I shook him till he appeared to be awake. Then the bed began to shake and I beckoned Miss R — , who was just then passing the door, to come in. She came at once but was so terrified that she could not help me, and I asked her to send the black Ayah instead. Be- fore the httle black Ayah reached me, the patient was in struggles the most violent I had ever seen. It was all I could do to keep her on the bed. As soon as the Ayah came I aroused Mr. L — again, bidding him come quickly if he wished to see the end, ' ' Mrs. L — had no apparent consciousness dur- ing the physical struggles of her death ; but the contortions were so violent that it seemed we were seeing the soul hterally wrenched from the body by some invisible force. 284 KHETWADI CASTLE ' ' After awhile the resistance of the body grew weaker and weaker and finally ceased. The pulse had become irregular as well as weak, and the respirations were far apart. A third time I stepped to Mr. L — , shook him desperately and said in his ear. Come, she is dying! In a dazed way, with the help of my hand, he rose up, came with me and stood near her head. I said to him. Look to her eyes for recognition — if she is conscious it will be for a moment only. ' ' We waited a few seconds when, suddenly, her eyelids flew open, and her eyes fixed a strange look upon a point which seemed to be ten or fif- teen feet distant, half way upward and to her right. The expression was a concentration of unutterable horror. I saw a look of anger sweep her face, chased by a look of terror beyond de- scription. Beneath it her whole face changed, and she pressed her head backward into the pil- low and all her body united in the same impulse, even to her hands and her feet, and she became locked in that attitude; then the look in her eyes began to deepen till it seemed that we saw into the secret depth of her soul. All that I have ever conceived of rage and fear in posses- sion of a human consciousness could not, of it- self, produce in a face an expression equal to what we saw in hers. ' ' Her eyes seemed to widen more and more, and to grow more transparent, and to reveal more and more of the awfulness and utterness of the TWO DEATH BE>D SCENES 285 anger and terror in her. Her husband cried out her name again and again and then — ' Oh, nay- God ! My God ! It cannot be ! It cannot be ! ' ' ' I was fixed to the spot and dumb — thinking Oh, why did I call him! Why might I not have known ! ' ' While we watched her, suddenly, the light of life went out, and left that awful look frozen on her pitiful face. We led him out of the room. He was stupefied. The face never regained its old look — never grew quiet and peaceful and sweet as the faces of most dead do. It had to be covered away from the sight of the living at last, still frozen in that aivful look. ' ' That night, when I returned home from my out-visit, my sister related to me the above- described, painful experience ; and my own heart was filled with horror, when I beheld the look of anguish on the face of the corpse. Yes, even when shrouded for burial, and lying in her coffin, the dead face stiU bore that expression, horrible to see; and friends, gathering for the funeral service, begged that the coffin lid be screwed down, and regretted having looked upon the face of the departed even for one brief moment. Strangers, friends and kindred ahke, shuddered with horror when they beheld the almost fiendish expression graven upon the countenance of that dead woman. During the month of July, 1888, one of the leading missionaries of the Church of England, 286 KHETWADI CASTLE of Bombay, came to see me in regard to one, Shewanthibai, a little Hindu girl about fourteen or fifteen years of age, who had been a pupil in one of the Church of England girls' mission schools of Bombay; but who was now ill with cosumption, and was not expected to live until the morning. He said he felt it to be only right and fair that I should know in advance the facts concerning Shewanthibai, and that she was considered to be a very troublesome patient. She had, within the last year, been admitted to nearly every hos- pital in Bombay, except my own, and had been successively dismissed from each, on account of her ill-temper, dissatisfaction with the care she received, and general bad conduct. Only a few hours before his call at my office she had been sent home to their mission, from one of these city hospitals. At the mission there was no suitable place for her, and no one who could properly be expected to give her the care she so much needed. She might die at any moment; indeed, it seemed unlikely that she could live un- til the following day. Would I admit her to my hospital, and allow her to die there ? And could she come at once —to-night ? It was already 11 o'clock at night; but I agreed to admit the poor httle Hindu girl to one of my medical wards, and undertook to care for her as long as she Uved. Accordingly, Shewanthibai was, presently, brought in a carriage to Khetwadi Castle, and carried in the arms of Bhanna (being a low-caste TWO DEATH-BED SCENES 28T Hindu, she was not kept in seclusion) to one of our beautiful, large, upper medical wards; and put in charge of the night-nurse. I immediately examined her, and found her emaciated to a skeleton ; and very feeble indeed, but not actually dying, as I had expected her to be. I ordered warm baths, oil baths, and alcohol baths, to be given alternately, at suitable intervals; also, small quantities of nourishing food every hour, in addition to the needed medicinal treatment. On the following morning, instead of dying, our little patient declared herself to be very much better ; and thus, hour by hour and day by day, she continued to improve, increasing in flesh and strength, until she and her friends be- lieved her to be making a perfect recovery, and scarcely credited my words when I assured them that her disease was incurable and that, though now she seemed better, yet her condition was such as to render it impossible for her to make any permanent recovery. Not only did our httle patient improve in her general health and strength, but she very soon gave her heart to God and became an earnest, devout Christian. It seemed to us incredible that she could ever have been peevish, or in any wise ill-tempered. She became the very soul of cheerfulness, and was hke a ray of sunshine in her ward — dearly loved by patients, nurses, servants and all. How- ever ill she might be, however great her suffer- ings were, to my inquiry she would always answer, " I am better, so much better, Dr. 288 KHETWADI CASTLE Sahib." Always, always better, according to her own report ; she was happy, cheerful, unsel- fish, and deeply grateful for every service ren- dered. I had, of course, given her a good place in the hospital. Indeed, all patients who were admitted to Khetwadi Castle Hospital were treated alike, and were given all needed care and every possible attention. No trouble, no labor, no expense was spared in the care of our sick. At the expiration of one month, as Shewanthi- bai continued to improve in health, strength, and in every way, her friends being persuaded that she would ultimately recover, the Church of England missionary sent a messenger with a carriage to convey her home to the mission. I happened to be out at the time ; and, when the news was conveyed to my little patient, she be- came dangerously excited, wept bitterly, and begged the messenger to wait until the return of her doctor. When, finally, I did return, I vi^as immediately summoned to her ward, and Shewanthibai, caUing me to her side, threw her arms about my neck and, weeping, begged me not to send her away, not to allow them to take her from my hospital ; saying, ' ' Oh, Dr. Sahib, don't let them take me! Don't send me away! I just want to die here. It won't be long. Won't you let me die here ? I have been so happy here! You say I must surely die. I want to die, I don't want to live; but, Oh, let me die here ! ' ' I could not resist her pathetic pleading, and, of TWO DEATH-BED SCENES 289 course, I assured her that she should remain, that nobody should be allowed to take her from us. Then she fell back, trembling and exhausted from this undue excitement and much weeping, but happy in the assurance that she would be allowed to die in her own pleasant ward, and among the friends whom she had learned to love so dearly. Then I went to my office and wrote a note to the Church of England missionary, telling him that I would make no further charge for Shewanthi- bai's board and treatment in the hospital; but that we could not turn her away, nor suffer her to be taken away, as she had begged so hard to remain, that I had promised to keep her. For several weeks after this our little She wan - thibai lived on, the very light and joy of all about her, happy, contented, cheerful, ' ' better ' ' — the very soul of gratitude and affection. But the day of her departure finally came, when she must leave her dear hospital ward, and beloved hospital friends, not to return to any earthly home, but to take her joyous flight to the place prepared for her in her Father's house, among the many mansions. She recognized the approach of the death angel, but felt no fear. All day, aU night, we labored over her — for two days and two nights we looked for her death every hour. Dur- ing the whole of that time, though necessarily very weak, her sufferings were not great; and she seemed in a transport of joy and dehght. She wished us to be singing, or praying, or read- 290 KHETWADI CASTLE ing passages from the Bible almost continuously. She would say to my sister, or to one of the Christian nurses, " Won't you sing to me ? Sing something that has glad in it." At the conclusion of the hymn she would say, ' ' Bead to me, ' ' always meaning Bible reading. Often she would ask me to pray ; and so one or another of us was singing, reading the Bible, or praying with her almost continually night and day, during the last forty-eight hours of her life. All through the last night I sat by her side and held her hand, or allowed her to hold mine ; and, occasionally, I would say to her, " How is it with you now, Shewanthibai ? ' ' And she would answer, " Oh, I am happy, so happy." Then again, later on, I would say, " Are you stiU happy, Shewantibai ? " To which she would answer, ' ' Very, very happy. ' ' And thus it was throughout the whole night. Finally, when she could speak only one word at a time, and that with difficulty, just before her spirit took its everlasting flight, I said to her, ' ' Shewanthibai, are you still happy, are you still trusting in the Lord Jesus, do you feel his pres- ence with you now ? " To which she replied, looking upward, her face radiant with a holy hght, ' ' Yes, Dr. Sahib, I am happy, so happy ! ' ' With these words upon her lips she passed away; but the poor, wan, emanciated face did not seem like the face of a corpse; it was still radiant with the hght of her "■ glad^\ departing soul. Every line in that tiny, dark, dead face was a TWO DEATH-BED SCENES 291 line of beauty ; and we all gathered around and gazed upon it, and seemed spell-bound, and un- able to tear ourselves away. On the day of burial that wonderful expression of rapture still suffused her "glad", joyous countenance, having become a settled expression of unutterable joy and repose, making her seem like a sleeping child in a happy dream. Strang- ers, who never knew Shewanthibai in life, begged for another, and another look upon the face of the corpse. Friends who knew her before her conversion wondered, and were unable to explain the strange change in the expression of her face, and that look of joy which they had never seen there in life. Those of us who had witnessed the new birth, and who had known the beauti- ful Christian life that had sprung up and blos- somed in our midst within the few short preced- ing weeks, understood it all, and felt that we had seen, as far as mortal eye can see an immortal soul, her spirit take its flight to realms of end- less bHss. At last we reluctantly suffered the cruel lid to be fastened down upon its rude, pine coffin, hid- ing from our gaze the sweet, young face, which was more beautiful in death than it had ever been in life — which, though bronze in color, ir- regular in feature, and emaciated to a skeleton- face, yet had been rendered most exquisitely lovely by the imprint of its beautiful, departing spirit, in its transport of delight at being called home. CHAPTER XXII OUR GUESTS While residing in Khetwadi Castle, my sister and I enjoyed the privilege of entertaining a very large number of missionary guests. In the great, European, metropolitan city of Bombay there are several fine, Enghsh hotels; but the rates charged for entertainment greatly exceed the limits of any ordinary missionary's slender means; and, at that time, there really was no place where missionaries could be com- fortably entertained without having to pay an exorbitant charge. The private homes of the resident missionaries of Bombay were usually sufficiently large to accommodate their own famihes, and necessary missionary assistants; but not large enough to enable them to entertain several missionary guests, at any one time. When missionaries are about to return to America on sick leave, or on any other account, it is usually necessary for them to spend a few days, or, perhaps, even a week or more, in Bom- bay before saihng, in order to make necessary preparations for the long, homeward journey. When missionaries first arrive in India, and before proceeding to their several respective ap- pointments, it is often necessary for them to re- main in Bombay for a few days, or even a week (292) OUR GUESTS 293 or more, in order to get news as to their exact local appointments ; or, to prepare for a long resi- dence in some inland town where clothing, suit- able for such a chmate, cannot be easily obtained. Khetwadi Castle was so commodious a build- ing that, while our regular, ordinary family, in- cluding student nurses, adopted children, patients and servants, was always very large, yet it sel- dom happened that the Castle was so full that we could not accommodate several guests in addition. Thus it happened that I frequently received a hasty note from the leading missionary of some established mission in Bombay — Methodist Epis- copal, Wesleyan Methodist, Presbyterian, Con- gregational, Baptist, Quaker, Christian, or Church of England — stating that there were several of their missionaries who wished to re- main in Bombay for a few days, but whom they were unable to entertain on account of the crowd- ed condition of their missionary bungalow ; and asking if I would kindly receive and entertian these friends until they were ready to take ship for America, or to start for their inland appoint- ment, or appointments. Never did I refuse such a request. First, because I could conveniently and easily entertain them all in my large house. Secondly, because my heart bade me do so, and I felt it a privilege and a pleasure to receive such guests at any and all times, and to give them the freedom of my home. And, lastly, because I knew the need, and sympathized deeply with 294 KHETWADI CASTLE each particular missionary in this pecuUar situa- tion ; and I felt a real pleasure in affording them the little help which they so sorely required at the time. Thus our Khetwadi Castle was scarcely ever without a guest ; and sometimes we had a large number of missionary friends with us for a con- siderable period of time. During January, 1889, while the South India Conference was in session in Bombay, I enter- tained fifteen American missionaries of the Methodist Episcopal Church in my own home, for a period varying from ten to thirty-one days — several of the missionaries leaving before the others were ready to go. Six of these missionaries, however, namely. Doctors Sheldon and Ernsburger, the Misses Blair and Black, and Eev. Mr. and Mrs. Sim- mons, insisted upon reimbursing me in full for their board during the entire period of their stay in Khetwadi Castle. This I, at first, refused to accept ; but, when they told me that Bishop Tho- burn had especially requested that they pay me a reasonable sum for their board, I accepted the money. Of course I did not keep a boarding house, and never received any money for the entertainment of any missionary except in this one instance, nor did I take these six mission- aries with any such intention, or expectation. I wish also to state, in this connection, that each of the above-named six missionaries con- tributed something, a trifle, toward the main- OUR GUESTS 295 tainance of my free dispensary for sweepers; which was the only amount of money ever received by me from any source, for this or any other missionary enterprise, or charity, which I carried on during my six and a half years missionary labors in India. Among the many loved and honored mission- ary guests whom it was our privilege to enter- tain in our Khetwadi Castle, I am tempted to mention a few. Two American missionaries en route from New York to the inland China mission, after a fur- lough in the home land, were with us for a period of two weeks. Two stately and beautiful Quaker ladies, in their plain habit, stopped with us en route to their inland mission field. Miss Robinson, an American missionary of the Christian Church, was with us for an extended period of several weeks, and won the love and admiration of aU. Rev. George F. and Mrs. Kate D. Hopkins spent three days with us in Khetwadi Castle, en route to his appointment as pastor of the Cawnpore English-speaking Methodist Episcopal Church. Rev. Mr. HoUister was with us during an annual session of the South India Conference, in Bombay. Dr. Wycoff, a medical missionary of the Bos- ton Faith Mission, came to us as a patient, and afterward became a guest. 296 KHETWADI CASTLE Rev. and Mrs, Winters were both patients and guests within the Castle. Eev. and Mrs. G. I. Stone were also, on several occasions, patients within the wards of our Khetwadi Castle Hospital, and beloved guests in our home. Rev. WiUiam W. and Mrs. Carrie Bruere were likewise, at various times, patients and guests ; as were Rev. B. and Mrs. Laura Mitchell, Rev. and Mrs. S. P. Jacobs, Rev. D. 0. and Mrs. D. Stone Ernsburger, Miss Rumsay, of the Church of England, Miss Ellen Hall and Miss Louise Evans, Friends, and many others. Bishop and Mrs. Fowler, and their son, Carl, were also our guests in Khetwadi Castle, in the latter part of January and until February 9, 1889, during his Episcopal visit to missionary conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Besides our many missionary guests of various nationalities, coming from all parts of India and from many a foreign shore, and representing nearly every Christian denomination, we had a large number of transient visitors. Several noble, self-sacrificing laborers in Bombay missions, who received small, insufficient salaries, and who were sacrificing their all in the service of our blessed Lord, were frequent guests at the Castle ; and our servants had standing orders to prepare a comfortable meal and serve it at once, when- ever any one of these missionaries called — no matter at what hour they might come, day or night. IJISIIOI- C. II, I'OWLKK. D.I).. LL.D. our guests 299 [mrs. moses writes to father] Khetwadi Castle, Khetwadi Back Road, Bombay, February 22, 1889. Dr. W. L. Armstrong, Dear Sir : Doctor is sorry not to have written to you for so long a time, but she has been very busy lately. Bishop Fowler, his wife and son have been staying here during Conference; as have, also, four lady Doctors, and several other missionaries. Three of the Doctors were Homeo- pathists: Doctors Sheldon, Merrill and Bald- win. Miss Armstrong is quite well, and is visiting the chawls, gathering the children for Sunday school, and inviting others to the church ; so she is doing grand missionary work for the Master. Doctor is well, and so are all the children. The children were baptized by Bishop Fowler on Thursday evening, the seventh day of February. The coachman was converted a few weeks ago, and he was also baptized by the Bishop, on the Sunday before the children were baptized; so that we have had a good time lately. Doctor was very pleased when the coachman gave his heart to God, and publicly confessed Him by being baptized. The house has been whitewashed and done up ; but, instead of looking better, I think it is worse. Some of the rooms were done over three or four times, and now the dining-room, private room and veranda walls are falling off, leaving great. 300 KHETWADI CASTLE bare patches. The natives are so long at any- thing ; then, when it is done, it very seldom pays for doing; but it is one way of teaching us patience. It is rather trying for Doctor, as she likes things to look well when they are done. Doctor will be able to write to you soon, as the company is all gone now; but it was almost impossible while she was so busy. The butler was taken ill last week; and we are all very sorry. He does his work so well, and cannot be spared ; but the Hamal tries to do his best while the butler is ill. When the Hamal came here he was very dull and stupid, but he has improved so much, that no one would think him the same person ; and he is so obliging. Mrs. Smith came here on the fourteenth of this month, to be trained as a nurse. She seems a very nice person, and willing to learn. Doctor also expects several other new students soon. With tenderest love from Dr. and Miss Arm- strong, M.'E. Moses. CHAPTER XXIII A FREE DISPENSARY ON WHEELS Down through the lowest slums of Bombay native city, where the streets, reeking with filth, are so narrow as to be scarcely more than lanes, where the gutters are most shallow, stagnant and foul, where the sun never shines except with a deadly ray at the noon hour, where the heat is well-nigh unbearable, the stench sickening, and where the awful, squalid poverty of the people is so appalling as to beggar description ; there it was my custom, during my early life in Khet- wadi Castle, before other pressing duties rendered such work impossible, to pay daily visits ; and to drive up and down in my carriage through these narrow slum streets, examining patients at the door of my carriage, or on their own wretched doorsteps, and dispensing medicine along the way. The people were too poor to pay even the smallest trifle for medical advise, examination, treatment or drugs ; but their need was so press- ing that it was a real dehght to me to be able to supply, even in smaU measure, the terrible want. The guinea- worm is one of the commonest ailments from which these poor people suffer; and, during my visits to these wretched slums, I was called upon to remove a large number of them every day. (301) 302 KHETWADI CASTLE The worm is found deeply imbedded in the flesh — usually in the muscles of the leg, or thigh, where it has grown from a germ. It is white and flat like a tape- worm ; and, like a tape-worm, long and thin, being about as large in circumfer- ence as a knitting needle, only flat, and much longer. Indeed, it may be several feet in length. After having thus developed within the muscle, it finally makes its way to the surface ; and ap- pears on the foot, ankle, leg, or thigh, looking and feeling much like a boil. This must be poulticed, being very painful, hot, and inflamed. After the poultice has been applied for some days, the centre or head of the boil (which is really not a boil at all) may be pricked, and the head of the worm will then appear. This head must be grasped with a pair of dressing forceps, or tweezers of some sort, and gently drawn out. This little operation requires exquisite care, as the worm is apt to pull itself away, drawing back from the forceps ; and, if forcibly drawn upon, the worm is liable to break off at or above its neck. In this case the body wiU shrink back into the patient's muscle, where it will decompose, and thus give rise to serious trouble, as it cannot again be found without great difficulty, requiring to be cut down upon through the muscle to its deep-seated bed. With care, however, the worm may be gently drawn out. This is done by wrapping the head about a match, pencil, or something of the kind, and gently turning the piece of wood around and around until the worm A FEEE DISPENSARY ON WHEELS 303 can be drawn no further without considerable force. When this happens the stick, or pencil, must be tied fast in position until some hours later, or perhaps until the following day, when the match can again be rolled around and around, drawing the worm out a foot, two feet, more or less, until it becomes firm again. Sometimes this operation of removing the guinea- worm requires several days before the whole worm can be extracted. Sometimes it happens that several members of the same family are thus afflicted, or one person may have several guinea- worms at one time. The disease is so common in Bombay native city that, during this street dispensary work, I was usually called upon to remove a worm at every second or third door on each side of the street. Besides the guinea-worm, there were many horrible cases of leprosy; and the poor, unhappy victims did not hesitate to implore tem- porary relief from their loathsome sufferings. My first visits to this part of Bombay native city were paid in company with Rev, A. W. Prautch, a missionary of the Parent Board of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; but, later on, I went alone, accompanied only by my interpreter or a nurse. During this medical work in the slums, I never did any regular street preaching; but, now and again, wherever opportunity afforded, I pointed individual patients to " The Lamb of God, which taketh away the gin of the world. ' ' CHAPTEE XXIV A SWEEPER DISTRICT As Her Majesty, the gracious Empress of In- dia, has provided asylums for the insane, hos- pitals for the diseased, places of refuge and restraint for the rabid ; and quarantine hospitals for poor mortals who are stricken with leprosy, cholera, smaU-pox, and other fatal and contagious maladies, in order that their neighbors and friends may escape infection ; so has she provided ' ' Districts ' ' for her sweeper population, in order that the higher caste community may escape the contamination of their touch. During the early spring of 1888 my friend, a Methodist Episcopal missionary of the Parent Board, Rev. A. W. Prautch, during one of his frequent calls at the Castle, informed me that the poor sweepers, in each of their several dis- tricts, were dying at the rate of from eight to twelve per day, from a very malignant form of remittent malarial fever, brought on by the crowded condition of their districts, insufficient food, and from many other unwholesome and baneful conditions peculiar to their surroundings and manner of life. He begged me to visit one of the districts with him, assuring me that nothing was being done for their relief ; and that there was no source from which they could re- (304) ENTRANCE TO ONIO OB' Till': ISOMHAY S\V ICKl'lCR DISTRICTS A SWEEPER DISTRICT 307 ceive medical aid. I promised to take him in my carriage to one of the sweeper districts on the following morning at six o'clock. Upon this visit I wish to invite you, dear reader, to accompany us. Promptly at five o'clock, as usual, my good butler brings the chhota haziri, consisting of a cup of hot tea and two thin slices of dry toast stingily spread with buffalo butter. Half an hour later Mr. Prautch arrives, and finds me ready and waiting. Tom, my horse, harnessed to the brougham, stands at the front hall door ; while Bhanna, tall, lank and wiry ; but quick and supple as a wild panther, and able to see more with his one eye than most men can see with two, waits with his hand upon the carriage door. A short drive through Khetwadi Back Road brings us to Grant Road ; and we drive along at the left of the tramway ; for in India one always keeps to the left, not to the right side of the road, in riding, driving or walking. Soon we reach the market, and thence pass through the bazaar into the native city. On through the narrow, crowded, filthy streets of the native city, and down to the lowest slums we go. At length Bhanna brings his carriage to a halt, and informs us that he can proceed no further, as the streets have become so narrow that they will no longer admit the passage of our carriage. We now alight and pick our way through the narrow, filthy alleys; so narrow, indeed, that we are obliged to, walk single file. 308 KHETWADI CASTLE At length we come to a rather low, crumbling wall. We pass around this wall until we find a small gate-way. This small opening in the wall admits us to the interior of the sweeper district ; and when you have inspected this one, you know what every other sweeper district in Bom- bay is like, as they are all built upon the same plan. Having passed through the little gate, we now stand in the open court. Above our heads is the smokey, gray-blue sky; and this is the only clean spot to be seen. Beneath our feet is the ground floor of the enclosure ; very much littered and reeking with filth. Opening into the wall from this court-yard, at the right of us, at the left of us, and in front, at an interval of from eight to ten feet, are doors. These are hke old- fashioned, double barn-doors, which close in the centre ; and may be f ast'ened at the top by means of a padlock. Passing through one of these doors, we enter a tiny room from eight to ten feet square, and with ceiling so low that your hand can easily reach it. Its floor is on a level with the court-yard, a ground floor, without cement, carpet, matting, or any intervening substance to protect our feet from the unwhole- some, filthy soil. There is no door except the one through which we have entered, leading into the court-yard; no window, no hole through which God's sunlight and fresh air may enter. The walls are built of brick, and plastered over with mud; the ceiling also is plastered with A MUU COOK STOVE A SWEEPER DISTRICT 311 niud. There are no pictures upon the walls, no articles of furniture in the room, no comforts or conveniences of any sort. There is no bed, chair, stool, table or crockery. Behind the door, in the corner on the floor, you will observe the cook stove; but you wiU not recognize it as a stove of any sort. It is one foot or less across the top, and stands six inches high from the ground. It is moulded from common soil, and dried in the sun; and, as often as it crumbles down, another is made by one of the little daughters-in-law of that home. Its shape is that of a horse-shoe, being hollow in the centre, open at the top and bottom, and having a small opening at one side. A little fire is kindled in the centre, and the degcha, a copper cooking utensil varying in size and shape, is placed upon the top, and thus the rice for the family meal is cooked. The fuel used for this purpose is cow- dung. This is gathered from the streets, moulded by hand into cakes, and dried in the sun. This is the only fuel that these poor people can afford. Near this home-made, hand-made stove, may be seen one large flat stone, and upon it another round, or oblong, stone, something like a wooden rolling-pin, only shorter. These two articles constitute what is called the '" curry stone ", used for grinding the curry stuff, which consists prin- cipally of peppers, green and ripe. Of course the wealthier natives purchase all manner of species for their curry stuff ; cloves, cardamom, aUspice, cocoanut, etc. The poor sweepers, however, are 312 KHETWADI CASTLE not able to afford these luxuries, and their curry- stuff contains Httle that is palatable ; but has the pepper which renders it hot, and enables them to eat the rice with relish. If they are able to purchase some cheap fish, or vegetables, this is a great addition, and luxury ; but often the most they are able to afford is some green leaves or weeds, gathered from the road-side on the out- skirts of the city. The peppers thus ground, and the fish or vegetables, are then cooked with a little ghee — rancid butter which has been melted. This is eaten with the boiled rice, and constitutes the one scant meal per day which these people allow themselves, and which is the same every day throughout the year. In this blessed land of America we often hear people speak of the difficulty of obtaining a variety in diet ; and there are seasons in the year when our thrifty housewives complain of the difficulty they find in providing appetizing and tempting dishes from the market supplies. We would think it hard indeed if we were obliged to subsist upon one meal a day, and if that one meal must consist of the same two articles the year around. The httle mud stove in the corner has no chim- ney, no stove pipe hole and no means of escape for the smoke; which must, therefore, come straight into the face of the cook and fill the room. In addition to this little stove, the curry stone near by, and a copper degcha or two, there may possibly be seen a long wooden spoon, A SWEEPER DISTRICT 313 which serves to stir the cooking rice. With the exception of these three or four articles, there is absolutely no furniture in this httle place ; which must serve as the home of a large family of sweepers. There can scarcely be a small family among the natives of India; as you will readily see when you remember that a son never builds a new home for himself and his young bride, but brings her home to his father's house. If there be a dozen sons they all do the same ; and they all remain at home as long as their father Uves, and even afterward; for, in case of the father's death, the eldest son takes his place ; and aU the younger brothers pay over their earnings into the hand of this elder brother, as they did be- fore into the hand of their father. The father is master of the house as long as he lives ; his chief, or favorite wife, is the mistress of that home as long as she lives. Her daughters-in-law are her servants, her slaves. In these sweeper districts only one tiny room is allowed for one family. You wiU wonder how so many persons can possibly hve in a room of such small dimensions. They cannot, of course ; it would be impossible for them aU to he down upon the floor to rest at night in such a small place; they must, therefore, of necessity sleep in the open court. To describe one home is to describe them all, for each one is exactly like every other. The court -yard is perhaps fifty by seventy feet 314 KHETWADI CASTLE in size ; and each sweeper district is supposed to accommodate about two hundred persons. On the occasion of this, my first visit, I found the court-yard very much crowded, although it was the morning hour, when all who had employment were away from home, engaged in their regular and only occupation of sweeping, and carrying away the filth of the city. Of those who re- mained behind a large number were ill, and lying flat upon the ground; the men enveloped in their one scant garment, or dhoti, the women in their sarees. A few, however, of these ill folk, enjoyed the luxury of a cot. Four vv^ooden legs with four poles extending between ; and a coarse, coir rope interwoven across the top — this consti- tutes the cot. A few of these cots w^ere covered with small pieces of old, worn out, floor matting, which had been picked up from the litter of some European back yard, and which now served to protect the emaciated forms of the invalids from the rough cords of rope. No mattress, no straw or hay tick, no quilt, no blanket, no rug of any kind, no sheet did I ever see on a cot in any sweeper district. Indeed there were very few cots, the majority of the sick folk being obliged to lie upon the filthy ground. Mr. Prautch soon established himself in one corner of the court-yard, and began to preach to the people in their native language; while my interpreter and I went about, in and out, among the patients; I examining them, and prescrib- ing; she administering the remedies, and inter- A SWEEPER DISTRICT 315 preting my questions and their answers. Some of them had glazed eyes, several were actually dying ; many were so ill that they never knew a stranger bended above them, and were unable to swallow even a drop of liquid medicine. At ten o'clock we made our way out through the nttle gate into the open space just beyond the sweeper district. Here the poor sweepers fairly besieged us, prostrating their bodies in the dust at our feet and imploring me to remain a little longer; to see another, and another, and another suffering one. One poor woman came entreating me just to step into an alley and see her mother, who was dying, but who would, she said, be saved by my English medicine. An- other brought her babe, weeping and praying that I would examine it and prescribe. Yet an- other had a son who could not walk to me, but whom she was sure I could rescue from the grave if I would only stop a moment to see him. These calls, though urgent and pitiful, were so numerous that I knew the whole day would not enable me to see all of the many sick people who needed attention. I promised to return at six o'clock on the following morning, and asked them to have aU the patients collected inside of the court-yard; so that I could see them all without having to go about from place to place, and thus save time. Then the poor sweepers moved aside and allowed me to pass on home- ward. The following morning found me in this 316 KHETWADI CASTLE sweeper district at the appointed hour; and I promised to come every morning at six, and to remain until ten o'clock, and so I did. I did not go to the same district every day; but to one district one morning, to another the next, and so on, until I had made the rounds of all the sweeper districts in the city ; and then began again at the one first visited. Each morning, at the close of my medical rounds, it was my habit to stop in the shade of a great tree just outside of the sweeper district ; or, where there was no tree, in the little open space which is nearly always found at that point ; and very soon a crowd of men, women and chil- dren, of the sweeper caste, would gather about me. Mrs. Moses would then read a passage of scripture in the Gruzratti language, and sing a hymn. After this we would all kneel upon the ground, and I would offer prayer, Mrs. Moses interpreting what I said, word by word ; so that the poor people might know what I was taking to the Lord about. After prayer I would select some one of the many beautiful passages from the Lord's Sermon on the Mount, and suggest to Mrs. Moses just a few leading thoughts, such as seemed to be the natural outgrowth of the text ; and with these suggestions she would preach to them in the Guzratti language. Of course I could not understand a word of that native tongue ; but I have been assured by missionaries, who occasionally accompanied me on such occasions and who understood the Ian- A SWEEPER DISTRICT 317 guage, that she really preached beautifully, and with great power and eloquence. After this short address, another hymn, and perhaps a few words from me, interpreted by Mrs. Moses ; we then returned to our waiting carriage and to Khetwadi Castle. Before I could go to the breakfast table, or mingle with other members of the family, how- ever, I must bathe and change my apparel. Omitting this precaution, in a single instance, would be liable to interfere seriously with my practice among the wealthy classes. My ser- vants would certainly report the matter ; and no wealthy, high-caste patient would come to me for treatment after I had been in a sweeper district, unless I had taken every such precaution. CHAPTER XXV OUR FREE DISPENSARY FOR SWEEPERS There being several sweeper districts in Bom- bay native city, and the needs of each being so many and so urgent, I soon found that the few morning hours which I was able to devote to this great work were not sufficient to enable me to attend upon even the most serious cases. I therefore dedicated one large, lower room in the back wing of Khetwadi Castle for the purpose of a dispensary for these poor sweeper people. Also a somewhat smaller, but light and pleasant communicating room, I utilized as an examin- ing office. From two o'clock until four in the afternoon this dispensary was supposed to be open; but, as a matter of fact, it was seldom closed before six o'clock in the evening. To this, our free sweeper dispensary, crowds of men, women and children came daily ; and brought their friends, afflicted with cholera, small-pox, leprosy, and every other serious and fatal, as well as trivial, malady to which mortals in that climate are heir. They filed in at the right hand door, the moment it was unbolted in the afternoon, and seated themselves close together on the right side of the great apartment, which was large enough to accommodate nearly two hundred per- (318) OUR FREE DISPENSARY FOR SWEEPERS 319 sons. One of my nurses, sitting near the en- trance door, recorded the name, age, and all necessary particulars concerning each patient, and then passed them on to me. When I had examined them, they passed on to the medicine cupboard, where my dear Httle interpreter, Mrs. Moses, administered the drugs which I had pre- scribed ; after which they passed around and out at the left hand door, from the same side of the house at which they had entered. Not only did I administer drugs of the best quality, and anything and everything which was needful; but I also supplied a great deal of nourishment. Many of these sufferers were found to be in a condition of chronic starvation. On the lowest shelf of the medicine cupboard stood a row of large, open-mouthed, earthen jars, filled with oat -meal, rice, flour, and other nutritious articles of diet. The shelf above these jars was filled with bottles containing meat ex- tracts, broths, soups, and other nourishing Eng- lish preparations. When I found a feeble old woman or man, or a wee infant, in a state of chronic starvation, I prescribed some one of these nourishing and easily digested meat ex- tracts, broths or soups. In cases where the patients were more rugged, and perhaps in the prime of life, Mrs. Moses would take a bowlful of oat-meal or rice and give it to the patient ; if a woman, she would tie it in the corner of her sari ; if a man, he would tie it in the corner of his dhoti; and, having received full directions as 320 KHETWADI CASTLE to the correct mode of preparation of this special kind of food, they would go their way grate- fully ; and take the food at stated intervals, as though it were some medicinal preparation. CHAPTEE XXVI OUR FREE SCHOOL FOR SWEEPER CHILDREN Though I was spending from three to four hours in the sweeper districts every morning, going from couch to couch, and from one pros- trate form to another, administering remedies, and doing whatever was needful for these poor stricken, suffering, starving sweepers ; and, though our dispensary was open from two to four hours every afternoon, I soon found that even this was not sufficient to meet the needs of the sweepers of Bombay native city. The sweeper children thronged the streets of Bombay, many of them not knowing who their true parents were, not knowing which of the many rooms in a certain district was their home. Unrestrained, untutored, undiscipUned, they hve upon the streets, stealing a bit of food here and there, picking it up from the streets — potato peelings, or cores or rinds of fruit — or gathering it from garbage barrels. Thus they become learned in all manner of vice, fluent in the use of many languages ; but ignorant, absolutely ignorant, of every right thing, of every pure, ennobling principle. For many days I cast about in my mind to know what I could do for the sweeper children. Soon I decided to dedicate another large room, (321) 322 KHETWADI CASTLE one adjoiniDg the dispensary, on the lower floor of the back wing of our Khetwadi Castle, for the purpose of a free school for the children of the sweeper community. A fine, large, bright room it was, having two large windows on its western exposure, and two large, folding doors opening through its eastern side into a deep veranda, and into the back yard, or compound, of our Khetwadi Castle. We required no benches, desks, or chairs for this school, as all natives sit upon the floor, and a sweeper would scarcely knov^^ how to occupy any kind of an elevated seat. Maps, slates, pencils, pictures, etc., I did provide — everything which would be required in a primary school, where children go for the first time, without any knowledge of books or ever having previously entered a school-room. A native Christian sweeper, who had been educated in one of our Christian mission schools, and who was competent to teach, I engaged. The difiiculty which con- fronted me was that of collecting the children together, and inducing them to regularly attend school. This, Mrs. Moses assured me, would be a thing well-nigh impossible of accomplishment, as these children had never been accustomed to any kind of restraint or discipline. It would be difficult to keep them quiet, to hold their atten- tion, or to induce them to do anything except that which they might be prompted to do by their own wild, untutored, unrestrained natures. Obedience was a thing utterly unknown to them ; A STRING OF INDIAN MONKY OUR FREE SCHOOL FOR SWEEPER CHILDREN 325 although abuse of every sort, kicks, and beatings from the people of their own caste, and abusive language from others, had been their daily por- tion nearly all their lives. The string of money in the picture before us represents the various coins peculiar to India. The rupee, a silver piece almost the exact size of a silver half-dollar, is the largest Indian coin ; and is worth about thirty-three cents. There are hundreds, I suppose thousands, of people in India who are so extremely poor, and who have spent their hves in country villages where all the people are so poor, that they have never in their lives even seen so large a piece of money as the rupee ; and would not recognize it if they were to see it. There are sixteen annas in one rupee ; and one anna is equal to about two cents. A tiny sea- shell, like that in the picture, also passes for money in India. It is called a cowrie, and is worth about the one one-hundred and twentieth part of a cent. In the interior of India; or, " up country ", as we say there, the usual wage of the sweeper is from two to four rupees per month, without board. We do not board any of our native ser- vants in India. In Bombay, however, where living expenses are greater, sweepers are em- ployed by government, and receive a higher sal- ary than in any other part of India, the regular amount paid them in Bombay being fifteen rupees per month. This is considered to be very handsome wages, and it is a matter of surprise 326 KHETWADI CASTLE that the sweepers of that city are yet so desper- ately poor. This fact is due to various causes. As above intimated, the expense of living in Bombay is considerably greater than it is in the interior. Of course there is not employment for all. Only a few, comparatively, can obtain service. Often the family is large ; and perhaps only one person in the family has regular employment, the others being idle. On account of the larger salary given there, sweepers flock from suburban towns and from the interior to Bombay, seeking employment. Relatives also gather from distant villages, and are dependent upon their Bombay friends for support. Often it happens that the one individual in the family who is earning wages falls ill ; and then the whole family is in want of the direst kind. Vacancies, arising through sickness and death, are quickly filled from the ranks of the many who are idle and waiting for such openings. Thus the children, who are too young to obtain employment, are driven to the streets to steal, or to gather from garbage barrels enough food to keep themselves from starvation. Soon after deciding upon a free school for these vagabond, sweeper children, I sent Mrs. Moses and my other Christian nurses to all the sweeper districts of Bombay, and up and down the streets of Bombay native city, to announce to sweeper parents and their children that each sweeper child, who would come to the hospital dispensary OUR FREE SCHOOL FOR SWEEPER CHILDREN 327 at nine o'clock on the following Monday morn- ing, would receive a gift of money. Saturday afternoon I sent my butler to the bank with several rupees to be changed into pies. The pie is the smallest copper coin, worth about one- sixth of a cent. My school-room was in readiness, and my native Christian teacher on hand, to greet the crowd of sweeper children who gathered at the appointed time. They were seated on the floor of the school-room, and listened attentively while I acquainted them with my plan. I found no difficulty in making myself under- stood, as these vagabond children had, on the streets of Bombay, acquired a sufficient knowl- edge of the EQgUsh language to be able to under stand and answer me in English. I represented to them the many and great advantages of an education, and endeavored to inspire in their young hearts an ambition for something better than anything which they had heretofore hoped for ; representing the possibility of their gaining English Government appointments, clerkships, etc., if they would only acquire sufficient educa- tion to enable them to fill such positions. I then presented each child with one pie, and promised to give another to every one who would remain until the close of school, at four o'clock in the afternoon, and who should prove attentive and obedient during school hours. There was no need to dismiss them at noon, as there is but one meal per day in the sweeper home, and that oc- 328 KHETWADI CASTLE curs late in the evening ; so that it was not neces- sary for them to return to their homes for dinner at the noon hour. I need hardly say that every child remained until the close of school, when they each received another pie. This was a great thing for these poor sweeper children, I doubt whether many of them, if any, had ever before in their lives owned so much money as one pie in their own right. As I presented the second pie to each pupil, I promised another to every one who would return on the following morning at nine o'clock, and remain until four, being attentive, studious and obedient during school hours. I never again gave Uvo pies to any one pupil during a single day ; but one only, and that at the close of the school, to all who had fulfilled the conditions. Our school-room never lacked for pupils ; and it rarely happened that a single pupil was tardy, disobedient, or in any-wise unruly. Having established my free school for the sweeper children, I immediately decided to have a Sunday school as well. At four o'clock on Saturday afternoon, for we had school on Satur- day as well as on every other day in the week, I invited the children to return on Sunday at nine o'clock, as usual, and promised them, in addition to the usual pie, a treat of sweets. Native sweets are very delicious. They are not hard, like cheap American candy, but soft, delicious and very cheap. For a small amount of money I was able to get a bucket full of these OUR FREE SCHOOL FOR SWEEPER CHILDREN 329 delicious candies, which I provided on the preced- ing Saturday. Our Sunday school was not merely one of an hour, or two hours session; but continued from nine o'clock in the morning until four in the afternoon. It seemed as neces- sary to keep the sweeper children off the streets on Sunday as on any other day in the week ; and far more necessary to teach them the blessed Gospel of Jesus Christ, than to teach them the rudiments of an ordinary education. On Sun- day, therefore, my sister, Mrs. Moses, my other Christian nurses and I went down to the school- room ; and there we conducted an all-day Sunday school for these poor sweeper children ; teaching them the blessed truths of the Gospel, singing, praying and talking. Of course there were Sun- days when I could give them only a part of the time; but there were other teachers enough to keep the Sunday school open during the whole day. We found the children bright, intelligent, in- terested, apt to learn, quick-witted; and alto- gether equal to any crowd of children that could be found in any land. They were quiet and at- tentive throughout, never giving trouble of any kind during the day school, or during the Sun- day school; and this notwithstanding the fact that they had led such utterly wild, unrestrained lives on the streets of that great city. This free work for the sweeper community — the day and Sunday school for the poor vagabond children, the morning visits to the sweeper dis- 330 KHETWADI CASTLE tricts, and the free dispensary for the ill, starv- ing, and suffering ones of the community, soon became intensely, engrossingly interesting. Never before had I engaged in any service which was so delightful as this. The needs were so great, so numerous, and so urgent; the dis- tress so apparent and so terrible, that it was a real luxury to be able to afford the help so sorely needed, and to do it without compensation. In- deed I often wished that it were possible for me to rehnquish my office and out-practice, turn my hospital into a charity hospital for sweepers ; and devote my whole time, strength and life to this work among the sweepers of Bombay. Of course this was impossible, as I was laboring up- on the self-supporting basis, and had no income whatever, from any source, except that which I earned myself by the practice of my profession among the wealthy classes. It was my pay practice — office, hospital, and out- practice among the wealthy classes, which supported aU this charity enterprise ; it was by these means only that I was able to supply my free dispensary with drugs and nourishment for my poor sweeper patients. It was by these means only that I was able to pay the native teacher for teaching my sweeper school ; and to meet all other necessary expenses incidental to this great charity. CHAPTER XXVII A BANQUET FOR OUR SWEEPER FRIENDS You wiU be wondering what I did for the spiritual welfare of my adult sweepers, the patients who came to my dispensary. Even in the midst of my busiest professional life in India I could never forget that I was not only a physician, not only a money earner, not only a home-maker ; but that I was first, most, and pre-eminently a missionary • and that I had gone to India in obedience to a divine call. Very soon, therefore, after opening my free dispensary for sweepers and free school for sweeper children, I began to caste about in my mind as to the best method of reaching the hearts and consciences of my poor sweeper patients and their friends. There is a trite saying to the effect that one should not preach to a hungry man, but first satisfy his appetite, and then instruct him. If this adage holds true in a country hke ours, where so few people ever know what it is to be really hungry, then it must be more true in India and among sweeper people, who are seldom, if ever, fully satisfied with food; who, perhaps, never in their fives have had a sufficient quantity of food at any one time to fully satisfy their appetites ; and who know not the taste of palata- ble, appetizing dishes. Upon considering this, I (331) 332 KHETAYADI CASTLE decided to give a banquet to my sweeper patients, their children and friends — indeed, to all the sweepers of Bombay. When I first announced this purpose to Mrs. Moses she stood aghast, and assured me that such a thing would ruin my business. She had often previously intimated to me the fact of there being a mutinous feeling among my ser- vants ; that they were in the habit of gathering in groups and discussing the work that I was do- ing for the sweeper community ; that they looked with great disfavor upon the whole matter of my free dispensary, free school, Sunday school and morning visits to the sweeper districts. Now, she assured me, if it were even mooted that I intended giving a dinner to the sweepers, and allowing them to come into my compoimd and partake of food there, my servants would immediately desert me ; and that I would not be able to find others whom I could engage ; as the news would spread among all the servants of Bombay, until no one would consent to serve in my institution. We had at that time eighteen servants in con- nection with the hospital, training school for nurses and private home. Many of these occu- pied the servants' quarters behind our Khetwadi Castle. * It would be impossible to keep the insti- tution open without them — a hospital capable of *For a full explanation of this servant question, see " Heroes and Heroines of Zion", Book III of "Within the Purdah", pages 191 to 197 inclusive. A BANQUET FOR OUR SWEEPER FRIENDS 333 accommodating fifty patients, although not al- ways full, yet nearly always having a large number of patients in its wards ; a Medical Mis- sionary Training School, having from six to twelve student nurses; and a large, double nursery, containing seven adopted children, five of whom were less than six months old. I also had a large out-practice, and a still larger office- practice. For me to lose my servants, and to be unable to engage others, would of necessity ruin my business ; and oblige me to close my institu- tion. Nevertheless, after further consideration and much earnest prayer, I determined to give the proposed banquet for my sweeper friends, and so announced. It required no written invitation, and no per- sonal invitation to spread the tidings. In my morning rounds, and at my dispensary, I an- nounced that all the sweepers of Bombay, and their families and friends, were invited to come to the hospital compound at seven o'clock on a certain evening to a dinner which would be served at that hour. The news soon spread over all the city, until it was in the mouth of sweeper man, woman, and child, and httle else was thought about, or talked of until the ap- pointed day arrived. Meanwhile my servants, of course, heard the news ; and, first of aU, my butler came to me, bowing down before me in a low salaam, and begging leave to visit his mother ; who, he said, lived at Poona and now lay at the point of death. 334 KHETWADI CASTLE He wept much, declaring that he was the only son of his only mother ; and that it would break his heart if she should die before he reached her. He must take the one o'clock train that day, else he would be too late. Meanwhile, as the butler stood before me weeping and begging leave of absence, Mrs. Moses stood behind me interpreting his words, and assuring me, in Eng- lish, that it was all a gotten up story; that he was leaving me on account of the banquet, that he did not intend to return, that his mother was not ill, that she did not hve in Poona, that he had no intention of leaving the city, etc. I did not know Mrs. Moses at that time, as I came to know her later on, and it seemed incred- ible that my butler could thus weep and misrep- resent to me. He said he would furnish a supply during his absence, and that he would return on the following Monday morning. I asked him to call his supply, in order that I might see him. He presently returned with a strange, native man, who declared that he would supply the place of my butler during his absence. I then paid my butler the amount due, and allowed him to go. He had scarcely left my presence, when the Hamal came and declared his intention of leaving me. He was much more honest than the butler had been, and did not hesitate to say that he ob- jected to having sweepers partake of food in my compound. Thus one after another came, until every servant in my employ, save our Christian Bhanna, the cook, and the sweeper woman, had taken their leave of me. A BANQUET FOR OUR SWEEPER FRIENDS 335 I had scarcely finished dismissing my servants, when I observed that it was already past luncheon time, and wondered at hearing no lunch bell. I inquired as to the cause of this, and Mrs. Moses suggested that I accompany her to the dining- room. I saw in her manner and tone that there was mischief to pay. Upon entering the dining-room I found that no preparations had been made for luncheon. The cupboards, where the hospital stores were kept, and which were usually securely padlocked, were now wide open, several of the locks having been broken, and all of the stores were gone. There was not even milk for lunch, nor bread, nor any other thing. Towels, napkins, sheets, pillow- shps, and many other articles, besides fifty rupees in cash, were missing. I looked about for the new butler, who was to supply the place of my old one, but he was nowhere to be found. I went to the kitchen, and found that the cook had departed without even asking leave. Thus I was left with my hospital, whose wards were nearly full of patients, my student nurses, seven foundling children and several missionary guests, without a morsel of food in the house, and with- out a servant to prepare a meal, or to attend to any other domestic matter. Of course my own time was more than fully occupied, my hands and heart and brain being burdened, and over- burdened, with the many and great labors which devolved upon me. I was at a loss to know what to do, or how to proceed. 336 KHETWADI CASTLE At length, however, Mrs. Moses volunteered to go to the market and bring food for the patients; and I gave instructions to the nurses to prepare luncheon for the patients, and to serve it as quickly as possible. Meanwhile I called upon several of my missionary neighbor- friends, and explained to them the dilemma 1 was in; asking them kindly to speak to their servants, and to try and send me a staff of hos- pital servants with the least possible delay. This seemed well-nigh impossible ; and one after another of my missionary friends reported the difficulties which they found. The tidings of my proposed banquet for the sweepers had spread rapidly ; and no native ser- vant was willing to enter my service. The ser- vants, who had so unceremoniously deserted me, had sent out the warning, ' ' Do not go to that Dr. Sahib, or your caste will be broken; you will be contaminated and polluted by the sweep- ers, who throng the place. She has a free dis- pensary for sweepers, and a free school for their children ; and now she is to give a great dinner for all the sweepers of Bombay ; and you will be asked to cook for them, to wash the dishes which they have used, to serve them while they eat ; and, who knows what not ? ' ' Thus were the unemployed servants of Bombay warned against my service. At length, however, a few native Christian servants were found, whom I gladly engaged ; and, later on, others came, who were not Christians, but who were induced to A BANQUET FOR OUR SWEEPER FRIENDS 337 try the place ; and these proved to be more or less satisfactory. As the time appointed for the banquet drew near, other difficulties confronted me. I had purchased a large quantity of the best rice ; and all sorts of curry stuffs, melted butter, cocoanuts, spices, green and ripe peppers, fish, chickens, eggs, various kinds of meat, etc. Sweepers have no objections to eating meat, or anything else. They are the lowest caste, and will take food from the hand of anyone ; because, all other people being of a higher caste than themselves, they cannot be polluted by others. The difficulty was to find some one willing to pre- pare this food for the sweeper dinner. No higher caste servant will cook for sweepers. Finally, my dear little Mrs. Moses, who never failed me in any emergency, and who was as in- terested in my work for swepers as I myself could be, kindly volunteered. She said that she never cooked in her own home, she had always hired a servant to do that; but she knew lioiu to cook curry and rice; and, if I could not get any one else to do it, she would cook the dinner for the sweepers. This was a great relief. Of course I accepted her offer gladly, as there was no one else upon whom I could call to do such a service. My sister then offered her services, saying that she did not know how to make curry and rice, but that she would help. If Mrs. Moses would tell her what to do, she wouldr gladly do all she 338 KHETWADI CASTLE could toward the dinner for our sweeper friends. My Christian nurses then offered to help ; and so Mrs. Moses, my sister, and the nurses all went out to the kitchen in the back yard ; and there, in that small, dark, hot room, full of smoke, they cooked nearly all day; preparing meat- curry, fish-curry, chicken-curry, egg-curry, vege- table-curry — all in the greatest abundance, and of the most delicious kinds, using everything which was necessary to make each dish palatable and appetizing. Though the hour announced for the banquet was seven o'clock in the evening, yet our sweeper friends began coming at one in the afternoon; and we were rather glad they did; for there were so many of them that our back yard would hardly have been large enough to hold them, had they all arrived at one time ; so we fed them and let them go, while others crowded in. No room in our great Castle would have been large enough to hold our guests on that occasion. Of course I never entertained the thought of receiving them into the house. Had I done so, it would have ruined my business permanently ; as no high- caste, wealthy native patient would have come to me for treatment, after my house had been polluted by a company of sweepers dining in it. At seven o'clock our back yard, or compound, which was by no means small, was crowded with sweeper guests. We seated them on the ground as close together as possible ; while my sister, Mrs. Moses, my Christian nurses and my- A BANQUET FOR OUR SWEEPER FRIENDS 339 self went in and out among them, serving them with the deHcious curry and rice which had been prepared for them. For once in their hves every man, woman and child of that commuinfcy had enough to eat, and all they could eat, of some- thing which was, to them, and even to us, pala- table and appetizing in the highest degree. When all had eaten, and were fully satisfied, then came the better part of the feast ; for we had reserved " The best of the wine for the last of the feast ". I had invited several native local preachers to be present, and to make short ad- dresses. This they did, interspersing the Gospel talks with singing, prayer, and exhortation ; and thus we held a "protracted meeting" — pro- tracted until far into the night. I wish I could tell you that a great revival of religion ensued, that all my guests were con- verted, or that a large number of those present experienced a change of heart ; but I cannot do so. I am not even sure that any one single soul was saved on this occasion. I do know, how- ever, that during subsequent services several adult sweepers did profess to experience a change of heart ; and, as far as we were able to ascer- tain, lived true, consistent Christian hves as long as we remained in Bombay. Whether the work were really genuine, whether they have contin- ued faithful since, I do not know; but I hope and trust that, at the great judgment day, when all records shall be opened, and all faithful work tried, we shall see some of our poor sweeper patients standing at the right hand of the King. CHAPTER XXVIII OUR SERVANTS UNDER ARREST After the death of our good butler, and after all our other good servants of his time, except our Christian Bhanna, had departed from Khet- wadi Castle on account of the obnoxious presence of our poor sweeper patients, we were never again able to secure the services of equally com- petent, reliable and trustworthy servants, I soon found it difficult to purchase a sufficient quantity of milk in the morning to last us through the day. The monthly stores, which had previously been sufficient, ran out long be- fore the month was through. The key to the supply closet mysteriously disappeared, and could never again be found. A new one was al- so lost, and it seemed impossible to keep the place in repair; for, while we had a key, the lock of the door was sure to get out of order, and so our supply closet was most difficult to keep supplied. Table-cloths, table-napkins, towels, sheets, pillow- slips, baby clothes, and various and sundry other articles too numerous to mention, seemed to take to themselves wings and fly away. At length smaU sums of money were missed from my private drawer and elsewhere ; until, in one week, I lost fifty rupees. Then, in my dis- tress, I made the matter known to our friend, (340) OUR SERVANTS UNDER ARREST 341 Rev. William W. Bruere, who was at the time a guest in the Castle, and whose wife was a patient in one of our hospital wards, and he un- dertook to right it. He went to our mutual friend, Mr. Crummey, an Englishman and the chief of police, whose wife was also a patient in my hospital. Mr. C. immediately sent officers to arrest my whole staff of servants. I had no intimation of their ap- proach until they stood at the front hall door of the Castle. When they made known their errand, I felt loath to subject my poor servants to such humiliation, and hesitated about permitting their arrest ; but the dire situation, together with the persuasion of friends, led me to yield. The servants' quarters were searched, and the ser- vants themselves were carried off to the police station, where they were required to give evi- dence. Nothing belonging to the Castle being found in their possession, except only a few sheets, towels, etc., they were released, after be- ing soundly scolded and threatened by the officers of the law. The butler's evidence ran as follows: " No, Sahib, no, we never stole money from the Dr. Sahib ; we did, all of us, live off her, and Uved hke cocks, but we never stole money ! ' ' This my butler considered to be a very mild confession to make. To Uve off their mistress or master (meaning to steal sufficient for the maintenance of themselves and famihes) he considered to be so light a matter, so small a misdemeanor, that 342 KHETWADI CASTLE it would be easily overlooked ; but to steal money in any considerable quantity would, as they all well knew, be a theft punishable by law; and this they stoutly denied, although, from circum- stantial evidence, the chief of police and all the rest of us believed them to be guilty. They would have been punished but for my own remonstrance. Nor did the poor servants realize, perhaps, that for a crowd of seventeen or eighteen, together with their families, to " live off ' ' their Dr. Sahib, and ' ' to live like cocks ' ' meant more to her than any small money loss. However, I dismissed these servants, afterward engaging others who proved to be equally un- reliable. As a matter of fact, no native thief in India ever keeps stolen property about his own person, or on his own premises. He passes the stolen article on to his neighbor, his neighbor passes it on to another, and so it goes from place to place until it is quite beyond the reach of the party from whom it was stolen ; and there it re- mains until all search is abandoned, and the mat- ter is quite forgotten ; when it is returned to the party who made the theft. On this account we never entertained a hope of finding any of our lost articles in possession of our servants. Sheets, table-cloths, and the like, can always be utilized by native servants ; as their dhoti, and other native garments are made of plain, white muslin or linen. When all search for such arti cles is discontinued, the sheet, table-cloth, pillow- OUR SERVANTS UNDER ARREST 343 slip, or whatever the article may be, is cut into native garments, and pieced in such a manner as to make it quite unrecognizable ; then it may be worn by your own servants, in your own pres- ence, and you will be quite ignorant of the fact. CHAPTER XXIX THE MISSIONARY BISHOP OF INDIAN METHODISM ARRIVES At the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, held in Omaha, Nebraska, during the month of May, 1888, Rev. James M. Thoburn, D.D., was elected Missionary Bishop of India. During January, 1889, together with a large company of missionaries, he arrived in Bombay. January 31, 1889, the 13th ses- sion of the South India Conference of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church convened in Grrant Road Methodist Episcopal Church, Bishop Thoburn presiding, for the first time, in the capacity of Missionary Bishop. When I first learned that Dr. Thoburn was soon to arrive in Bombay, and that he was then Missionary Bishop of India, I felt no forebodings. It seemed to me that, ere this, he must have learned the facts concerning me ; that upon his arrival he would be ready, wilHng and glad to retract the untrue and wicked things which he had written about me; and that his coming could bode me no harm. I had long since forgiven ; and, in the midst of my great success, had weU-nigh forgotten his former enmity, and I feared no further trouble from him. My hopes (344) THE MISSIONARY BISHOP ARRIVES 345 and confidence, however, were doomed to bitter disappointment . Soon after his arrival in Bombay harbor, a reception was tendered him in Grant Road Methodist Episcopal Church. Up to this time, though having suffered so much at his hands, I had never personally met Dr. Thoburn ; and, for the first time, I saw him in the pulpit of Grant Eoad Church, while my presence was unknown to him, being but one of a great crowd. Together with this throng, in a procession, I marched around and was formally introduced. I do not know whether, at the time, Bishop Thoburn caught my name, or recognized me as the person about whom he had written such evil statements. On this occasion, also, I met, for the first and only time, Bishop Thoburn 's wife, the beautiful, accomplished and saintly woman, Mrs. Thoburn, M.D. Some friend, I have now forgotten who, brought her and introduced me. I can never forget her kind greeting ; and I distinctly remem- ber the words she used : "I hear that you have met with great success in your work here. God must have blessed you wonderfully. ' ' To which I replied, " Yes, I have had success. God has been with me, and is with me, and does bless me. ' ' This was all that passed between us. Others pressed up, and claimed her attention ; nor have I ever met her since. Bishop Thoburn did not speak to me personally on that occasion, nor I to him. 34:6 KHETWADI CASTLE At this time Bishop Fowler, his wife and son, together with twelve other missionaries, were guests in our Khetwadi Castle home. Some of these missionary guests were special and personal friends of Bishop Thoburn; and, through cour- tesy to them, I sent an invitation for Bishop Thoburn to take dinner with them and me in our home, which invitation he accepted. When he arrived somewhat early, however, I was out, in company with Bishop and Mrs. Fowler. We had been unavoidably detained, and returned later than we expected. After our return, din- ner was served almost immediately. With six- teen missionary guests, in addition to my regular family, which never numbered less than fifteen at the dining table, not counting patients or orphan children in the wards and nurseries, it can readily be understood that I could give but little attention to any one individual guest. At the long dinner table, my sister occupied one end, and I the opposite. Bishop Fowler sit- ting at my right, and Bishop Thoburn at my sister's right hand. Immediately after dinner Bishop Thoburn excused himself to meet an engagement. Thus no opportunity was afforded for any personal conversation between us. Some days later, I took Bishop Fowler, Mrs. Fowler, their son Carl, and some other mission- ary guests, on a picnic excursion to visit the Elephanta Caves. At the wharf we met Miss De Line, with Bishop Thoburn and others, on a similar picnic excursion, with the same THE MISSIONARY BISHOP ARRIVES 347 destination in view. We journeyed thither in company; and yet not altogether in company, as each party remained somewhat separate and distinct — we having our dinner at one table, to- gether; while Miss De Line and her party took their luncheon at another table, within speaking distance of us. This was the third occasion of my meeting Bishop Thoburn, I have never seen him since; nor have I ever conversed with him for a period of even five minutes. CHAPTEE XXX THE BEGINNING OF THE END Hitherto, from the time of my own arrival in India until the arrival of Bishop Thoburn, my hospital, office, and out-practice had consisted largely, though not of course wholly, of Ameri- can and European missionaries and their parish- ioners. I had received a very large number of missionaries, of all denominations, into my hos- pital; and had treated and operated upon them there; besides having attended upon many in my office, and in their own homes. For medical advice, consultation, local treat- ment, or professional visits to their homes, I made no charge whatever to any missionary, or any member of any missionary's family ; indeed, I seldom even charged them for drugs, which I supplied at my own expense. When, however, they entered my hospital, and were boarded, nursed, operated upon, or treated in whatever manner might be necessary, within the walls of our Khetwadi Castle Hospital, my charge to them was just half that which I made to an ordinary European or native patient. Notwithstanding this fact, my success was largely due to the patronage of European and American mission- aries in India. Not only did I receive a consid- erable sum of money from them ; but they sent (848) THE BEGINNING OF THE END 349 me many patients from their parishes, who paid me full fees. After the departure of Dr. and Mrs. Stone from Bombay, until the arrival of Bishop Thoburn and his company of missionaries, a period of al- most unprecedented success and prosperity at- tended my missionary and professional labors in Bombay. During the month of May, 1888, I earned and received, from the practice of my profession, something over three thousand rupees,' and, during all the months of that year, my monthly income averaged never less than one thousand rupees. For a brief description of professional services rendered to wealthy, high-caste patients, during this period, I refer my readers to ' ' In the Zenana Homes of Indian Princes", the second book of "Within the Purdah", published by Messrs. Eaton & Mains, New York City. From the time of Bishop Thoburn 's arrival in India, all this practice began to fall off, and soon ceased altogether. The missionary friends who had partaken of my hospitahty, and who had received my professional services, medical and surgical, without charge, now strangely and un- accountably left me ; seldom, if ever, even call- ing at the Castle, though they had been wont to drop in at frequent intervals, if not daily. All this was a matter which could not be de- fined. There were no charges preferred. There was no absolute slander afloat, so far as I was able to learn. Yet, somehow, by shrugs, intona- 350 KHETWADI CASTLE tions of voice, and insinutaions, the missionaries came to feel that there was something wrong; and that they must keep aloof from us, and from our Khetwadi Castle home. Some of them, whose names I cannot now remember, did con- fess to me that they were afraid to have it known that they were our friends; not because there was really anything against us, but because Bis- hop Thoburn did not approve of us, and that thej feared him. Thus my large medical and surgical practice, which had grown from nothing to such great proportions, and all within a period of two years, gradually decreased more and more, until my earnings were not sufficient to cover the actual running expenses of our Khetwadi Castle Hospital, Medical Missionary Training School for Nurses, Free Dispensary for Sweepers, Free School for Sweeper Children and small Orphan- age of seven wee children. At this juncture, from long protracted over-taxation of body and mind, together with the added trouble and sorrow which had so quickly come to me after Bishop Thoburn 's arrival, my health failed; I feU ill, and was confined to my bed for a period of three, nearly four months. CHAPTER XXXI TROUBLE WITH A STUDENT NURSE On the 25th day of July, 1887, soon after opening my Khetwadi Castle Hospital, and be- fore getting fully settled in our new home, Miss Lilian Lucy Seitz became a student in my Woman's Medical Missionary Training School for Nurses; and the following article of agree- ment was prepared by her legal adviser, and signed by her grandmother, Mrs. Ruth A, Seitz, by herself, and by me : ' ' Know all men by these presents that I, Saleni Armstrong, Doctor of Medicine, residing in Bom- bay, do undertake to receive into the institution known as. The Woman's Medical Missionary Training School, of which I am the Superintend- ent, Miss Lilian Lucy Seitz, for a full term of four years, and agree to give her the full course of medical training of the aforesaid institution, and I agree to provide her board and lodging for the above mentioned term of years on condition that: 1st That a lump sum of Rs. 1,000 be paid to me the day she enters the school, and in addition the sum of Rs. — be paid me monthly, so long as she remains in the institution. (2) That the said Lilian Lucy Seitz do pay for her dliohi and clothe herself. (351) 352 • KHETWADI CASTLE (3) That she conform to all the rules and regulations of the school. (4) That she retains health and reason. In case of her removal by death, or loss of health or reason, before the expiration of the four years, as above mentioned, I agree to pay her heirs what remains of the deposit of Rs.lOOO, after having deducted an amount sufficient to cover the cost of her tuition, board and lodging from the date of her entrance into the school, to the day of her removal, computed at the rate of Rs. 50 a month. In case of the dissolution of the school for any cause, I agree and bind my heirs or executors to pay to her or her heirs or exe- cutors, the portion of the deposit of Rs. 1,000 which remains after deducting the cost of her tuition, board and lodging, computed from date of her admission, to date of the dissolution of said school, at the rate of Rs. 50 a month. Should she withdraw for any other than the above reasons, she shall receive no refund. She will be expected to give me at least one hour of special assistance each day. July 25th, 1887. C Ruth A. Seitz, Signed -< L. L. Seitz, ( S. Armstrong. Miss Seitz is an Eurasian. I do not know her correct age ; but I judge her to be about my own age, or not much younger. Her parents were {^^ "^^-t-ZJ*^ ^'^fet/^^^es* A€u^ ^ ^(^ cC^^iyl^ y-CiciZ^ XjU