Famine Experiences in India

Dear Guardian,— You were kind enough to ask me to write another letter. So now I thankfully take this opportunity to tell you about a few things which I saw in my second visit to the Central Provinces.

I left Poona on the evening of January 24, with the intention of gather- ing a few more widows. I felt that it was a clear call from the Lord, and that I should not lose time, but go to work, though I could scarcely see my way. The future looked rather dark. I had no money in hand, nor any friend to help me in finding the girls. In this condition I reached Itarsi; and, through the help of Mr. G. Swan, of the Friends’ Mission, I made the acquaintance of the Hindu superintendent of Bager Relief Works. ‘This Mr. Buckhle is a very kind-hearted gentleman, and takes great interest in the poor people. He, like myself, has experienced something of the sufferings of the famine-stricken people, and told me that he had been helped by one of our well-known reformers, educated at his expense, and is now filling a very good position in the government service. He naturally feels sympathy for the poor people working under him, and is conscientiously doing everything in his power to relieve their suffering.

Would to God that there were many good people like him, looking after the interests of the poor famished people in the Central Provinces,— in relief camps and government poorhouses! He helped me to gather sixteen orphan children, whom I sent to the Friends’ Mission, to be placed in their orphanages. There seemed nothing further to be done in that place, so I waited there till the next morning to take the first train for another place. But I did not know where to go or what to do: I was alone and downcast; but, as I opened my Bible, the Lord gave me Psalm lv. 22 as my portion for that day and forever. I did cast my burden upon Him, and was sitting quietly waiting for the train to come. It wasa fine morning, and nature seemed to smile all over.

_ Atrain came at last; and in that came an angel to help me, in the shape of our dear Miss Richardson. I was very, very glad indeed to see her, and asked her if she had any special work in hand. She said she had noth- | ing special to do, but was waiting upon the Lord to guideher. I knew very well what God had sent her there for. I needed somebody to help me, and she was just the person who would take a hearty interest in the work.

I told her what the Lord had told me to do, and said that he had sent her to help me at this special time of difficulty. She kindly consented to co- operate with me for some time; and God so arranged everything for us that we lost no time, but set to work at once.

Miss Richardson made the acquaintance of several deputy commissioners of famine districts, and induced them to accord us special permission to get the widows and orphan children from poorhouses. I was able to get over one hundred widows in this second visit, and Miss Richardson has, I believe, sent over one hundred and fifty children to different mission orphanages, and the Lord also gave me nearly one hundred and fifty orphan children to send to different orphanages. I have one hundred and thirty-nine widows and six non-widow girls in all. Some forty more girls have left or have been sent away for various reasons. All my girls are doing well, and learning to read and write. Later on I shall give you the particulars of what is being done for them. But, first of all, I must tell you something of what the missionaries are doing for the poor people of the Central Provinces.

The Friends’ Mission at Itarsi, Hoshangabad, Seoni, and Sohagpur, are doing splendid work. Miss Hooper, of Hoshangabad, has started an industrial home for widows. She is teaching different industries to the women she has gathered around her, but she greatly needs a good helper and money to go on with her special mission. She is an able and sympathetic woman. I do not know another woman in the Central Provinces who is more fitted to work among the widows. I wish to see one hundred or more widows gathered in her home, and taught by her to love and serve God and work for their own country. Christian people who have the means cannot do better than aid such a good work as that of Miss Tlooper. |

My heart is specially drawn toward another heroic young lady, Miss Franklin, of the Christian Mission at Damoh. Damoh is the worst famine district in the Central Provinces. It is situated in the midst of vast tracts of uncultivated land, and miles of jungle surround it. The people there are dreadfully poor and uncivilized. Miss Franklin has been at Damoh for more than three years, and has witnessed dreadful suffering of the famine-stricken people all that time. No one who has not lived in that part of the country can have any idea how hard and dreary a field of work is Damoh district. But missionary women have gone there in the name of the Lord to live and work in that desert place. I could not but love and admire Miss Franklin and her sister when I saw them laboring day and night for people who are not the least grateful for what is done for them. It is a thankless and weary task, but these two Christian women are engaged in it for the sake of love. Nothing but the constrain- ing love of Christ could induce any person to go and live at such a place as Damoh. 5

I wished very much that I had the means and time to help Miss Franklin in her work among orphan children and the poor people in the villages all around Damoh. If Miss Franklin had money and two good Christian helpers, she would be able to help hundreds more of these dying people. She has about one hundred and twenty little boys in her orphanage. Al most all of them came to her in a very poor state, and some in a dying condition; but she and her good sister have become true, loving mothers to these poor orphans. The boys have been so well taken care of that they do not look like famine boys now. ‘They are getting to be quite fat and well-behaved civilized children. The little ones who have been deserted by their parents and relatives, and by them given up as dead, are living in the sunshine of love. It did my heart good to see those dear boys laughing, skipping, dancing, and bounding after their adopted mothers. To-day, after being a few months under the motherly care of Miss Franklin, these boys are tasting the love of God, reading the Word of God, and singing hymns. Miss Franklin has not worked in vain. God has blessed her disinterested efforts for the good of the people of Damoh; and one hundred and twenty children growing up under her care, and hundreds of women whom she visits in the villages around, will rise and bless her. God bless them! I hope He will put it in the hearts of many good Christian people to help these sisters. I wished very much that Miss Franklin had at least 1,000 boys and girls.

I was very much pleased with the industrial training given by the Friends’ Mission to their converts and orphan children. I saw one hundred or more men and women working in the weaving establishment at the Friends’ Mission at Itarsi. Under the able management of Messrs. Swan and Kilby, the weavers are producing different kinds of excellent cloth of a very good and durable quality. JI have bought a quantity of it for my famine girls. It costs a little more than the cloth in the bazaars, but it will be cheaper in the long run. The colors are very good and the patterns tastefully harmonized, and the cloth washes well. Missionaries and other friends who have large orphanages will do well to send their orders for cloth to the Christian Weavers’ Company of Itarsi. They will be encouraging the self-support of the Christian weavers. It is more important to encourage such industries for Indian Christian people than simply to teach them to read and write.

One special feature of the Friends’ Mission which attracted and pleased me was that the Christian people and orphanage under their care were not Anglicized in arly way. European boots and shoes and jackets and Memsaheb’s dresses and European Padree saheb’s dresses are unknown to the

Indian Christian people of the Friends’ Mission. ‘They are contented with their simple da/ and rotz, and never miss tea, coffee, English bread and biscuits. Smoking of tobacco and drinking wine is altogether discouraged. I wish it was so everywhere; but, unfortunately, many of our Western India Christians try to make themselves look like Europeans; and, not being contented with Indian food and dress, they live above their means, and run into debt. The habit of smoking and drinking also overcomes many Indian Christians of Western India. Catechists, preachers, and pastors, following their heavenly calling, are not ashamed of their parched lips made impure by the smoke of tobacco and alcoholic drink. Oh that their lips were touched by one of the seraphims with the live coal taken from the heavenly altar! Then they would preach the pure gospel, and turn the hearts of many wicked people to our heavenly Father.

The C. M. S. Mission at Jabalpur is doing a very noble work for the famine people of that district. Mr. Gill, the former superintendent, started a poorhouse for all people at Jabalpur,,and established another poorhouse for children only, at Cutni. At both these places the work was so nicely and systematically carried on that the poorhouses looked like comfortable camps. Poor people and children are well fed and comfortably housed in huts specially built for them. Cutni is one of the worst places near Jabalpur, but the children’s orphanage started by Mr. Gill

. looked like a beautiful oasis in the desert. I saw over one hundred and ninety boys and girls, beautifully clean and nicely dressed and well cared for, at Cutni orphanage. Mr. Gill was working at Jabalpur for six years, and he is well beloved by Christian people. The poorhouse at Jabalpur and the orphanage at Cutni may be called the crown of his missionary work. He has, however, left for England; but the work will not suffer, as it is placed under the care of Mr. Latham, who is as good and kind and able a worker as Mr. Gill.

The Wesleyan and Methodist Missions at Jabalpur are also doing a splendid work for orphan children. They have hundreds of boys and girls under their care. The Wesleyan Mission establishment has started weaving and spinning industries for its children. Some of the boys in that establishment are showing great intelligence and ability, and it is pleasant to see them deeply interested and busily engaged in their work.

Mr. and Mrs. Lundborg, of the Swedish Mission, are also carrying on a — deeply interesting work for boys and girls at Saugor. They have large orphanages. ‘The children in them are very well cared for. Mrs. Lundborg is a truly good mother to these children; although she has a large household and is occupied with many duties, yet she gives them personal care. Mr. Lundborg laid the foundation for a large substantial building some years ago; but the directors of his mission disapproved of his building am expensive house, for they thought there was no use for it. So the building was given up, and the foundation was left as though it was laid in vain; but the Lord knew what was going to happen. Mr. Lundborg’s work of many years is now crowned with success; and the building on the old foundation is going on rapidly, and will soon be occupied by over one hundred boys, who are being brought up and trained under these good missionaries. Not only is the new building going up, but a large workshop, formerly built by government and given up by the city authorities as a profitless work, has been placed at Mr. Lundborg’s disposal; and he will make very good use of it. Here many of the orphan boys of Saugor will be trained as smiths and carpenters. May the Lord bless the good missionary in his efforts to raise the condition of the starving people of the Saugor district! |

Mr. and Mrs. Denning, of the Methodist Episcopal Mission at Nursingpur, have started an orphanage at their station. I have not had the pleasure of seeing it, but hear hopeful and encouraging accounts of good work. being done by them. They have gathered hundreds of children and sent them to different orphanages, and have very kindly helped me to gather widows from poorhouses in Nursingpur district.

I owe a great debt of gratitude to all these missionaries whose names I have mentioned here, and many other good kind people who have helped. in the Central Provinces; and I most gratefully thank them for being so kind to my people and myself.

You will be interested to hear of the early days of Mrs. Bruere’s work. for the famine children. It was at the time of the India National W. C. T. U. Convention at Poona that Mrs. Bruere expressed a wish to: me to get some famine children. She had no money in hand. Her wise friends advised her not to venture into this work in the absence of all means. These good friends, to whom she naturally looked for sympathy and support, discouraged her in every way; but she looked to God for support, and made a beginning of the splendid work for famine orphans. which she and her husband are now carrying on. ‘Those were the days of great heart agony, and dear Mrs. Bruere seemed almost crushed under the: terrible burden. But God honored her faith. He gave her nearly one hundred children and the means to support them. To see her go forward. in this God-inspired work, against the dictates of human wisdom, was a great inspiration tome. May the Lord bless her and her husband, and. strengthen their hands!

I have heard with joy that Miss Patteson, a veteran zenana missionary, has opened a home for destitute widows. Ido not think a worthier and more capable lady worker can be found to do this special work in the:

North-western Provinces. She has begun her splendid work at Chunar, near Benares; and I hope Christian people in India and abroad will help her with their prayers and their money.

Notwithstanding all that is done for the famine people, they seem to be wanting more help. I have not changed my opinion in regard to government poorhouses and relief camps. I know that in some places the management of poorhouses is better now than it used to be in the earlier months of the famine. The bodies of persons taking shelter in them are no doubt better cared for, but they are morally and spiritually imperilled. It cannot be otherwise while inferior, irreligious, and brutish young men continue to be employed as Mukadams, cooks, store-keepers, watchers, and managers in the poorhouses and relief camps.

In one of the poorhouses, when looking for young girls and widows, I inquired of a girl about fourteen if she would like to accompany me. She said she would, but that she was “kept,” there by some one. I did not understand her at first. So I asked her three times over, to know if she was detained there against her wish; but I understood the dreadful meaning of that word “kept,” when an old woman sitting beside her explained it to me. This was in a government poorhouse, where the government officers are supposed to protect the virtue of young women detained under some pretence or other. I told the deputy commissioner of that district about it. He was staying in the same town. He nodded his head, and said that it is quite possible that such things are happening in the poorhouses, but he cannot help it.

The poor workers in the relief camps are not only underpaid, but out of their little pay they have to spend a certain sum to please the A7Zukadams, who in their turn have to bribe their superiors in order to get employment. Young women have either to starve or sell their virtue. There is no other alternative for them. Se

While travelling in Central India, I came to know that the average Anglo-Indian’s attitude toward missionaries and their work is not only that of indifference, but of opposition. In Bundelkhund and other native territories the Rajas, I hear, are not so much opposed to missionaries going to live among their people as are English soldiers and other white

Some of the ladies of the American Friends’ Mission tried to live in the Guna Cantonment, so that they might be able to extend their work round about the place. But the British soldiers living there opposed their plan, and refused to allow the missionary ladies to stay in their neighborhood.

An English lady, the wife of a military officer, and the only lady living there, asked why these missionary ladies should not be,allowed to remain at Guna,— they were but women, and could not do any harm to the soldiers. But the English soldiers knew better than she the power and influence of godly women. They said the women are the worst creatures; for did not Dr. Kate Bushnell and Mrs. Andrews — those two dreadful women— expose the doings of the high military officers? And can they ever forgive the sect and sex to which those two women belong? So their resolution about not allowing those missionary ladies to stay at Guna was unanimously passed and carried out.

The reasons for not allowing the missionaries to gain a footing in native territories are that many of the British soldiers and officers are given to dreadful vices; and, as they can have their own way in native territories much better than in British India, they do not want anybody who may be a check to their waywardness to live near them.

Guna and many other places are thickly peopled with simple, submissive, ignorant people. The soldiers get hold of any pretty girls they may take a fancy to, and “keep” them. The parents of the girls, many of them high caste and respectable, bewail their fate, but are powerless in the presence of the British soldiers. These devils in human shape keep the girls so long as they want, and turn them away when they get tired of them, and get new ones to satisfy their lust. Wicked men and women, who trade in young girls, know well where to find their customers; and government relief camps and poorhouses help their trade.

Detaining the young girls in poorhouses and relief camps, and not allowing the real friends and well-wishers of these poor creatures to rescue them, means helping sinners in their awful trade. For the wicked gain time, make acquaintance with the girls, tempt them with fair promises, and get them to run away where they are beyond the reach of their friends and relatives. I suppose the advocates of legalized vice do not mind this, and will not take notice of it. But Christians in India and England must wake up at this time, and try their best not to allow the dreadful demon, the C. D. act, to come into existence again. The birthright of Indian women had been trampled down long enough. If the C. D. act comes into existence again, British iniquity will reach its climax, and God’s ven- | geance is sure to come down on the ruling nation. The wicked must not think that the poor, ignorant women of this country have no defender; for ‘their Redeemer is strong, the Lord of hosts is His name: He shall thoroughly plead their cause.”’

Several friends have advised me not to try to get any more girls from the famine districts, but I leave it to God to decide. If He will that I should get more girls, He will send them to me. If not, I shall be contented to stop where I am. I do not want to come in the way of some one else; nor have I any ambition in regard to filling my school with a large number of girls, but simply want to help as many as will come to my home according to God’s will. I am hoping that I may be able to save a few more girls from the famine districts.

Some domestic difficulties necessitated my return earlier than I expected. Great trials and distress awaited me here, but I was mercifully kept ignorant of these while I was in Central India. One of these many trials was that some strange, unknown cause had prevented our American friends from sending the usual allowance. For more than six weeks we were daily kept in fear of starvation. But the Father of the fatherless and the God of the widow knew our needs, and He somehow put it in the hearts of His children to send me money for the support of my girls. The accounts given below will show that many good people have kindly and generously helped me in this undertaking.

Want of means to support the girls was not the only difficulty I had to face on my return home from the Central Provinces. Some of my special friends were angry and displeased with me for having gone to get girls from the famine districts. To add to this, the plague had come on us. The suburban municipality of Poona came down upon me like a thunderstorm. Order after order was sent by the city authorities to do this, that, and the other thing within twenty-four hours.

I was to remove over one hundred girls within two days. I had neither the place nor the means to take them away. When I said this to the city magistrate (Mr. Plunkett), he said that, as I had brought the girls from the famine districts, I might send them away if I liked; but he did not think it necessary to take any further notice of our distress and difficulty. To have brought the girls here to save them from starvation and death was my great sin. He told me to take the girls to the segregation camp if I had no other place to send them. He would not aliow me to keep any famine girls in Poona even if I hired large houses at great expense.

I was not to be allowed to enlarge my old school buildings at Poona. Our compound, containing nearly three acres of ground, was to be occupied by only thirty people. The reign of terror had begun in Poona. Unsym.

pathetic Moghuls, and not Christians and civilized men, seemed to have begun reigning over this city. An old, experienced man should have known better than to order me to take over one hundred girls to an open ground, and expose them to public gaze. Our Poona men, of all men in India, are famous for their disregard of women’s feelings; and our dear old magistrate has sadly come under their influence. He is but a weak human being, after all; and I do not wonder at his contracting uncivilized habits of treating women in such a way as he treated us. He thinks that women are a bad lot and very difficult to manage, but I cannot help being glad to think that he had a woman to nurse him and rock his cradle when he was a helpless little baby. Our city magistrate ought to be very thankful to God that he created women to care for man and make him happy.

Mr. Plunkett ordered me to remove my girls from this place within forty-eight hours. I knew I could not keep them all in the house, and had put up sheds for them in the compound; but the sheds were of no use now. I could not send the girls to the segregation camp; and I therefore made up my mind to send them to Telegaum, about twenty miles away. They had no proper shelter there. The water was bad, and sun very hot. One of our old girls, a nice, healthy child, the only child of her old father, died of sunstroke within a week after their removal to Telegaum; and several other girls became very ill. Two other girls died later on. They were too weak to stand the hardships of outdoor life.

The removal of the girls from place to place, and consequent increase of sickness among them, added largely to my expenses and anxiety; but I was upheld by the merciful Father in all these trials. We could not stay long at Telegaum, so I had to make some arrangement for the girls. There is a farm at Kedgaum belonging to our school. It is about forty miles from here. We have a large piece of ground, but there are no shadetrees anywhere near the place; and to live there in this hot season is not safe. But there was no other place where I could take my girls. So several large sheds were erected on a suitable piece of ground, which was fenced with babul thorns. A little over five weeks ago I took ail my girls to dwell at Kedgaum. The heat is intense there. Notwithstanding all our efforts to keep the girls well, they are getting sick. They are too delicate to stand the heat. They get fever and sore eyes. Our old girls and some of the helpers who are staying at Kedgaum are suffering from the effects of, the unbearable heat.

My eyes have been nearly blinded, and I cannot do much writing; and my business has to be neglected against my wish. A house must be built to shelter the girls. Our Poona municipality is determined not to allow me to enlarge our school-house. So I am thinking of requesting the collector to allow me to build a house on our ground at Kedgaum. A | large cattle-shed is under construction there, and we shall be obliged to live in it with our cows and bullocks when the rains come down. But we cannot always live in the company of our brute friends. I am planning to build several little houses for our new girls, so that they may live in separate little families. Some of my old girls who have been trained for the work in this school will take charge of these houses.

The houses to be built at Kedgaum will cost over 40,000 rupees. ‘The new structure in our Poona compound for some of the new girls (commenced before the trouble with the magistrate) will cost 7,o00 rupees. I have paid 4,o0o0 of this amount, and have money in hand to pay the remaining part, Iam sure that the Lord, who knows our needs, will send me the money to build the new houses on the farm.

The bright and intelligent girls can be taught in this school; and others can stay in the farm, learn to read and write a little, and acquire some industry which will help them in after life. They will also help in gardening and dairy work in the farm. Had it not been for the heat and a few other disadvantages, I would not be sorry to have my school at Kedgaum. The new school seems to be taking shape, and the work is becoming well organized. ‘The wild famine girls are divided into little classes, and given in charge of their trained sisters. They are learning regular habits of life and getting to be quite nice and civilized. Each girl has some work to do, and learns in school certain hours of the day. My old girls have nobly come forward to assist me in this work. It has been quite an inspiration to some of them, and they are glad to practise what they learned in books and talks all these years.

It is quite pleasing to see some of the old girls vying with each other in doing deeds of kindness and helping their new sisters. The youngest girl in charge of one of the classes is about fourteen years of age. She was left to die, when a baby, by her own father, and was kindly taken care of by a good man and his wife. The man died a few years ago. His wife and the adopted child came to our school. The widow, after being five years in my school, became a Christian of her own accord; and her adopted child followed her example.

This child has adopted a little famine girl about three years of age, and is truly a mother to the helpless, unattractive baby. The little mother has twenty-three small children in her charge, and this class is really the best managed in the whole new school. I have brought six little girl-children along with the young widows. All these have been adopted by six of the old girls, and are very well taken care of. All of these new little ones were in a sad condition, and would have died, had they not been so well cared for.

A baby of about two years was found by a policeman on the roadside in Damoh district. The deputy commissioner sent her to the missionaries there, and I took her from them. No one knows whose child she is, nor what her name is. ‘The child seemed to have lost all sense. She would neither cry nor laugh nor smile, and would sit for hours like a stone statue, her sad little head turned on one side. She would not talk, or ask for food if no one gave her anything to eat; nor would she cry for hunger and pain, if beaten by unkind famine girls. ‘This was most sad to see; and I could not bear to leave the little one, and come away from Damoh.

As I was bringing some girls from Damoh, I found two little girls wandering away in the jungle in the dark night. We were travelling in bullock-carts, and stopped for an hour or so to rest, in the midnight, on the roadside in the jungle. 7

A wolf was prowling around that place in search of food, and came very near one of our carts as we were getting ready to go away. Just at this time two little girls about eight or nine years of age came near us. We found out from them that they had no one to take care of them. ‘Their parents had ‘died; and the two little girls — one of them a Brahmin, and the other a Chamar girl— were wandering in search of food. They had no place to rest, nor a friend who would care for them. I asked them if they would come with me, and they gladly consented. It was a great joy to feed these hungry little ones and to rescue them from death, as it were; for the hungry wolf would have killed them that night, had not the merciful heavenly Father guided our footsteps to that place. I left the Chamar girl with the missionaries at Jabalpur, and brought the little Brahmin widow with me.

Two days and nights of hard travelling in the bullock-carts brought us to the banks of the river Herna, about twenty-three miles west of Jabalpur. It was a fine morning, and nice scenery around; and the clear stream of water flowing at the foot of the mountain was a great inducement for us to stop and rest a little on the lovely banks of the Herna. We all got down from the bullock-carts, washed and refreshed ourselves with a cold meal and a drink of the clear, cool water of the river. By and by one of the famine girls — not satisfied with what she had to eat —made her way into the field, and picked some green gram from it. Others were about to follow her example, when, my attention having been drawn by their suspicious movements, the mischief-maker was brought back to the resting-place, and the corn taken from her, and quietly returned to the owner of the field. After this the little girl and her followers had a lecture on honesty, and were left to reflect upon what they had seen and heard. Soon after it became evident that the lecture had not done much good to the ringleader of this band of little thieves; for she had left the party, and disappeared.

I thought I would let her go her own way, and not try to get her back, so did not say anything about it. But one of the drivers of our bullockcarts went after her a long way, and brought her back. I thought I would like to teach a lesson to her and to others by making an example of her, and told her that she need not have run away in that manner, that I was perfectly willing she should go if she did not care to remain with. us, and I was not willing to take her back in our family, as she had not shown herself worthy of such a privilege. She pretended to cry and repent, but I could see from her face that it was not true. Not wishing to encourage such bad conduct before the other girls, I told her that she Tae go away, and I would not take her with me.

The evening came. At about five o’clock all our carts were loaded and made ready for the night’s journey. The long procession of seven bullockcarts started slowly. My cart was in the rear, so I could look on the scenery behind. The little offender spoke a few words, and said she had made a mistake in going away, but now wanted to go with us. I thought she did not speak all this from her heart, and still refused ‘to take her. She said she would follow us on foot if I did not take her in the cart. I wanted to see if what she said was true, and ordered the carts to start without allowing her to get in any one. ‘The poor girl stood there for some moments; and then, her thin legs seeming not able to carry the weight of the body, she sat down on the ground and looked on the starting procession of carts in silence. [I still held on, ordering my driver to go slowly, hoping all the time that the girl would get up and follow us. But she did not. Her repentance did not seem genuine. A few of the passers-by gathered around her after we left her. They spoke to her, but she did not get up; and they went their way. They did not care for her.

I had seemed very cold and indifferent; and perhaps the poor girl thought that I did not love her, and did not care to come to such a loveless person. So she sat there quite still, and my cart went on. It was getting dark, the sky was clouded and looked as though it was going to rain. The dark mountain range and the river bank, now deserted by people, formed the background of that living picture of misery and helplessness. The world seemed very, very wide; and on it was thrown one little girl, friendless, homeless, and helpless. The picture is everlastingly engraved on my heart. I shall never forget the lonely figure sitting there on the elevated ground under the dark sky. The sad picture was too much, too much for me. I ordered the driver to stop the cart, for I could not move an inch from that place.

My heart burnt within me, and I thought of the sublime love of the dear heavenly Father for me. How often I have rebelled against Him and gone my own way, and how many countless times He has called me back and taken me to Himself! ‘TI have spread out My hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts.” ‘This is as true of me as of Israel. And yet how often has the loving Father caused me to hear His voice, saying, ‘How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter?”’ ‘JI have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.” ‘¢ Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not cause Mine anger to fall upon you; for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever.” The Lord taught me a precious object-lesson of His love in that desert place; and His Holy Spirit took Rom. v. 8 for a text, and showed me that, just as I was the object of His love, so ought the poor wandering girl to be an object of my love.

I sat still in the cart for a few moments to take in the whole picture of the thing before me, and then motioned that girl to come tome. She was too far to hear my voice; but she saw the motion of the hand calling her, -and at once bounded and ran toward me, looking as though a new life had been put into her dead soul. I felt very happy to see her face brightened with hope, and it was such a relief to me to take her back in my family. This girl, Girija, a child of the mountain,—for thisis the meaning of her name,— is a well-behaved child, and is now getting to be civilized, and learns her lessons well.

In conclusion, I must thank all the good and kind friends who have so generously given toward the support of my poor famine girls. I am very grateful to them and to you for all the kindness you have shown to me. The Lord will bless you, and reward you as you deserve..

You will see from the accounts that I have not much money left in hand, but I shall look to God. He says, ‘I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will filyit,”

Yours in the Lord’s service,