The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1876-08-23

prayer and watching, of anxiety ana TOLL
in which he did not visit the cell OF the young
prisoner with words of tenderness and en-
couragement, with counsels of wisdom ana
with persuasions eloquent from their SINGER
ty and fearful earnestness. Drop by drop
water works through the granite rock. 80
looks and tones and words and acts of kind
ness persisted in for years, despite ingrati-
tude and opposition, cannot fall. never DO
fail, to make in the end an impression upon
the hardest of human hearts. This youth,
though stepped in crime from infancy,
formed no exception to the rule. The medi-
cine at length took effect; the cure was radi'
cal and complete. He left the prison a
changed man; changed through and through;
changed in heart, purpose and life.
For some time-a year or more-he work
ed at the trade he had learned in prison and
ate honest bread. But there was something
in him higher, nobler, diviner than bodily
toll, honorable as that is, and it burned to
come out. He felt an irrepreSsible longing
to do something for Christ, for humanity
He offered himself-stating honestly his an
tecedents-to an association organized for
Christian work, first to be suitably educated
and then to do missionary work wherever
field might open to him. He was accepted
and placed at school. For several years he
toiled at learning with the energy of man
struggling for his life. He developed ge-
MUS for language, and took in Latin, Greek,
Hebrew and other more modern tongues as
sponge absorbs water. At the seminary
he made the acquaintance of kindred spirit,
between whom friendship was knit like that
of David and Jonathan. They determined
to work together on some heather field
They plunged into the very heart of hea-
thendom, divinely led to tribe whose soil
had never been pressed by foot of missionary.
India is peopled by two distinct races-the
Hindoos and the aborigines. 1t is to the
last named of these races that the Santhas
belong, who, according to their own tradl,
tons, came originally from Armenia, from
the Mount Harratta Ararat. They first
settled in the Punjab, where they say their
institutions were formed, and where they
lived in prosperity for many generations
Moreover they claim that before that time
they served the true God, that created the
heavens and the earth; but that coming to
the Pupjab they forsook Him and served 9TH
err gods. The Santhals, according to tradi-
ton, lived in the Purjab along time before
the Hindoos came into India; and when these
latter came they drove the Santhals back in
to the mountains. The Santhals are much
more unsopbisticated than the Hindoos in
their institutions, habits, character and man
ners. They lived in villages numbering sew
eral hundred, each presided over by chief
and four other officers, beside two priests
The tribe has three courts. The first, or
lowest, is the Munchee, composed of the head
people of the village; the second is the Ia
ragna, or district chief, who has many vii,
lagos under him and the third is the Gene
raj Assembly, which meets once year dur
ing the hunting season. When the two young
missionaries first went among the Santhals,
they were living in great misery-oppressed
by Hindoo rsjahs, defrauded by Hindoo
money lenders, and cheated by Hindoo ven-
ders. But through their Efforts with the
Bengal government matters are. much iu-
proved, and it is now possible for the San
thals to keep their own. They also found
the members of the tribe, on their first going
among them, not only in great misery from
the causes just mentioned, but also in very
low moral condition from the extreme preva.
lence of drunkenness aud RIGHTEOUSNESS
Their religious ideas are excessively crude.
They worshipped the sun as good God, and
many ghosts of malevolent deities; and they
offered up all sorts of sacrifices to appease
these evil beings. Like the apostle on Mars
Hill, the hearts of the missionaries were stir
red in them when they saw the people wholly
given to idolatry. Then and there they re-
solved to devote the rest of their lives to the
work of bringing these poor benighted San
thals to Christ. To effect this they thought
it necessary to go into the forest and live
amongst them. At once they translated
this purpose into action. They threw them
selves right in among the people, and be-
came, as it were, part and parcel of them
They accompanied them on their hunting ex-
cursions, to their funerals, their marriage fes.
tivities, their religious ceremonies, and also
to the field and the forest when they went to
cut and fetch fuel. They studied their in
situations, mythology, traditions, habits and
character, thinking it necessary to know the
people thoroughly before they could hope to
accomplish much for their benefi'. They sat
with them on the floor, ate as they did with
their hands and slept in their cow-houses-
rough sheds in which were huddled together
COWS, sheep, goats, and even pigs. But as
hunger is the best sauce, so fatigue is the
best opiate; and they slept there very
soundly. The colleague of my correspon-
dent, being skilled engineer and availing
himself of the labor of the people to that end,
for them an excellent system of
roads. In these various ways they made
friends with them and stood high in their ia
vor. Sometimes, at their public gatherings,