Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1879-01-08
Letters to the Children---N0. 10.

here we are TeduN lOT u NlSlJ 10 SChOOl
in Ceylon. OFF here in the ocean, two
miles away, is small island called Ka-
radivo. 1t is too small to be down on
your map, Tom, but it belongs to what
we call the Batticotta Mission field Sup
pose we go over there. Tom will like the
idea. He is always ready for sail on the
water if it is not long enough to make him
seasick. I do not think little Nellie will OBJ
ect either after we get half way over there.
Here comes our ship. Tis only handy
such as we have ridden in before, with its
little white oxen tied to pole in front. On
the pole sits the driver who is TO be our
captain and steersman. Well, all aboard
| We tumble in and sit down on the straw
| The captain calls out "Po," which means
CO. and we are Off We hold on as they dash
away down the street at full run. Men,
our captain shouts out " Iii h" and they
scatter to the right and left and give us the
road. The road is pretty good most of the
way, and if our captain does not fall off we
over to Karadivo with brother missionary,
and the driver captain fell off and was left
| behind, and our oxen raced away around
turn in the road where there was a pretty
rough place and on one side steep bank
| not far from the wheel track. We mission
aries had been talking about faith and
works, and little while after we agreed that
we had pretty good illustration that the
right kind of faith and the right kind of
works were both useful things. He jumped
out and was not hurt at all, and stayed in
and was not hurt at all. But hold on, Tom,
and the oxen will get tired of it before long,
and will go slow enough.
| Here we come to the ocean. Now what
shall we do? Why, have faith and go ahead,
of course. Our little oxen do not stop, but
go along right into the water. Out there
in the distance over the blue water you can
see the island to which we are going. 1t
does require some faith to set out to ride
over there in an OK cart, doesn't it ? But it
is safe enough. Did you ever hear of any
men building a road up from the bottom of
the ocean SO that they could ride right out
two miles from the land never did. But,
children, men are not the people who do the
| greatest works on earth. Some little folks,
the biggest of them perhaps not larger than
a good sized pin head, have built road for
us out here that is ten thousand times as
great work as the Hoosac Tunnel or the
Pacific Railroad was. They had no steam
engines to do it with, either. No, Nellie,
they didn't even do it with shovels and hoes.
In fact, they had no hands to hold shovel
with, or any eyes even to see how to build
it. They had no heads or legs, or indeed any
thing else scarcely except mouths. And they
built this great road for us here out of their
bones. They are called coral insects. There
are great many millions of them at work
in the water of the ocean building up roads
and mountains from the bottom. Most of
the northern part of Ceylon seems to have
been built by them. A great many of the
islands of the Pacific and Indian oceans
have been made 10y these little workers.
| Children, do not let any one hinder you from
trying to do good because you are not yet
men and women. Remember that even lit.
| tie folks can do a great deal of good There,
our two miles of ocean ride are finished and
the water has not come into our cart at all.
| 1t has been hard to keep Tom from jump
ing out to pick up some of those beautiful
| shells i'll the water, or to gather a handful Of
the more beautiful seaweeds. But we have
done it by a promise that by-and-by he shall
go out on the other side OF the island where
| the live coral makes the most beautiful pic
ture that can be found on earth and where
the shells are such as only the Ceylon coast
can furnish, and have chance then to
gather all he pleases.
And now we come to the island and soon
to the school-house. What a noise Re
cess No, Nellie, you are wrong. That is
a sign that school has begun-not recess.
| They do not make so much noise as that at
recess. Wait few minutes and we will see.
1t is all still as we come in. They all rise up
to welcome us. The teacher comes to shake
hands and seems very glad to see us all. He
is good man who was heather few years
ago. When knew him few years ago,
his salary was only three dollars and twelve
cents a month. The school-house is simply
four posts of palmwood with Stats and palm
leaves for a roof. The walls of the house
are of mud, hardened by the sun, about a
yard high. Then are no desks or benches
in it. The scholars sit right down on the
hard, smooth ground floor. Perhaps there
are forty of the scholars here. They are
bright looking boys and girls, with glossy
black hair, or else with no hair at all, for it
has just been shaver off by the barber.
Their sparkling black eyes show us at once
that even if the monkeys were the ancestors
of some of those great scholars Of England
and Germany, still there is great difference
between these Ceylon school children and
the monkeys who live near their schoolhouse.
Let us hear some of their lessons. Here
comes the first class the little ones who are
Just learning their letters. They learn to
write as well as to read them, so they bring
their states and pencils with them. Queer
states, aren't they Tom2 Hands full of sand.
They put it down on the ground near them,
and smooth it nicely down with their hands.
Their fingers are their pencils. They write
the letter very neatly in the sand and then
pronounce its name at the top of their voices.
That's the noise we heard Nellie. The