New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-12-23
WEDNESDAY

Commission which had been appointed by the
Government to examine into the whole ques-
ton OF education, stated in his report thai
9 the most successful efforts yet made to edu-
cate women after leaving school had been con-
Quoted by missionaries and that IN every prov,
ince Of India Christian ladies had devoted
themselves to the work of teaching in the homes
of such native families as were willing to re-
ccvc them, and such WAS the result OF TINS
investigation that the Commission closed its
report with specific recommendations THAT
grants for zcnana teaching be recognized as a
proper charge on public funds, and be given
under rules which will enable those engaged in
it to obtain substantial ali for such secular
teaching as may be tested by an inspectress or
other female agency.
sionary Conference held in Calcutta, December,
1882, showed that the growth of the Protestant
missionary churches in the decade between 1851
and 1861 was 50 per cent, from 1861 to 1871, I'll
per cent, and from 1871 to 1881. Sc per cent, IA
growth several times greater than that of tho
CHrStlan churches OF cur own land. CORE
spOGdent of 1.-THE Pail Mall Gazette evident
ly referring to these exhibits, wrote from India.
Statistics have been established in II startling
and unexpected manner that Christianity IL Il
really living faith among the natives of India.
and that it is spreading ut rate which was
unsuSpectcd by the general public. The report
shows very honestly that the missionary work
in India is an educational quite as much as a
pr0scly tZng enterprise"
nhc native ministry in India has more than
doubled in the last ten years. The number of
native teachers has doubled, while zenana
teaching has increased nearly five fold
Perhaps one OF the most remarkable Incl
dental proofs of the success which has been
gained in India, particularly as relating to the
female sex, il the Iaci that three months ago
an article appeared in Mohammedan paper of
Lahore, urging upon the prOpagatOrs Of Islam
IN effort for the instruction of women IN the
zcnanas, alleging that such were the inr0ads
now being made by the representatives Of
Christian women upon the homes of India that
unless q counter fl OIt should be made the very
foundations of Islam would be gradually de
strOyCd.
But overwhelmingly great as these testi-
mon les are, every missionary like the one that
your correspondent cites will confess that
with respect TO the immense masses yet to be
reached IN India, beginning only has been
great moral transformations of people or a
race have small beginnings at the first like the
mustard seed or the leavcn in our SayiOurs
discourse. The CIVILIZATION and Chri tan
:za,ion OF our own race from the land
ing OF the heather SaxOnS in BlitOn
has occupied centuries, and it was
not till after a thou'and generations that
our ancestors gained even those simple prin-
cpcs of religious and political freedom which
we now enjoy. IL in comparison with our own
history we contemplate the mOmcHtOuS changes
which have occurred in half century in India
il il net ChmCrlcal to expect that the same sub
tie processes of gospel enlightenment will
much more rapidly penetrate and diSintcgrato
the supcrStitiOns of Indian society aS the SUM-
mcr sunlight upon the iceberg s0ftens and
wcakcne it, perhaps almost imperccptibly for
4 time. until at length it c1mblcs rapidly and
disappears beneath the waves.
Secretary Presbyterian Board Foreign Missions
NcT ICrL, Dec. 10. 1885.