St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-08-20

C0lSlS dHU JcdCHcIS, tuC NiidSC UOih n,
the baptisms and the communicates
received at our stations, the house wish
tations, tent meetings, etc., etc., we
were filled with wonder, and could only
praise the Lord and take courage,
thanking him that we were to be fellow
workers with such band of noble men
and women.
We are hard at work upon the Ian
guage, with = good native Munshee.
Besides our regular lesson in the gram
mar and reader, am learning some
portions of Scripture and the catechism.
can sing already, "Come to Jesus, y
"The Sweet By-and-Bye," and parts
of other hymns in Tamil. l think in a
week or so shall pronounce with suffl-
cient correctness to be able to join IN
the congregational singing. The first
Sabbath / was here Mrs. Rowland gave
me the care of the infant Sunday School
class. They come from the chapel to
nv veranda, and all sit around me on a
mat, and look up with such bright, in
telligent faces that already am be-
ginning to love them very much. They
number sixty little girls, all under ten
years of age. Perhaps some people
pretty, and say something about beauty
unadOrDed but though many OF them
wear only single garment, yet their
eager faces and attractive, quiet ways
make up for a good many Deficiencies.
About forty native children come
upon my veranda every afternoon to
sew, and talk to them, through an in
terpreter, and teach them Bible verses.
MY sister and 1 have gone out several
times into the villages with the Bible
women. The natives seem glad to see
US, and ready to listen. Some of them
say they do not believe in idols, and
would become Christians if it were not
that they would lose caste, and be per-
secuted by all their friends.
The missionaries of this station work
very faithfully, going out every morn
ing, and often in the cool of tho even
ing, to hold meetings in the different
villages. They have mothers meetings
at their homes, which are we'll attended
by the heather women. Sometimes
they go out with the tent, remaining
several days at time in one place, and
thus gain access to those who could not
be reached in any other way. A few
days ago Mr.. and Mrs. Rowland had
the tent pitched at TOndenuah. In the
afternoon the girls of this boarding
school went down in a body to sing, as
the natives are very fond of music, and
can often be moved by Christian songs.
After they had sung several hymns, as
there was a large number of heather
women and childen present, Mrs. How
land suggested that each girl take one
OF two women and talk with them for a
little while. They received and acted
upon the suggestion most beautifully,
each one sitting right down on the mats
by the side of the one she was going to
talk with, and one or two of the high
caste girls of the school gathered some
of the little dirty fisher-casce children
around them. They talked very earn
estly, and when, after a time, Mrs.
Rowland changed the order of exercises,
they came to her, one after another,
with such glowing faces, saying, "Oh,
ANNA 1 did have such a pleasant time
with the little children ~ or, "Oh, am
ma the woman l was talking with
promised to begin to pray tonight ;
and oh wont we pray for her when we
get home Wont we all meet together
and pray for these women ~
A few days after our arrival we had
the pleasure of spending a day at
OodOoville, seeing Miss Agnew and
visiting the boarding school. Here,
also, they had prepared lyric for us.
We listened to five Rotations, and we
were all much pleased with the appear
ance of the school, which would COM
pare favOrably with those in America.
New buildings are in process of cree
ton, and the cornerstone is to be laid
February 10th. We also attended the
annual examination and commencement
exercises of Jaffna College. 1t was a
most interesting occasion. All the ex-
were in English, and con-
that whatever the boys ac-
guired concerning the sciences, mathe-
MATES, philosophy and history, had
been learned and must be repeated in a
foreign tongue, the boys did great cred
it to their instructors.
l should like to tell you of the Com
mencement exercises of the OOdOOpitty
Boarding School and of the monthly
missionary meeting, where we met all
from the Wesleyan and Church societies,
as we'll as our own, but l am writing
too long letter.
This is harvest time, and the fields
are full of reapers and cleaners. The
work is all done by hand, the grain
carried home on the heads of men and
women, and threshed or trOdden out by
cattle. am glad that our first i'm
pressions of the country should be re-
ceived now, after the rainy season,
when the island is covered with verdure,
and looks fruitful and inviting.