The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-06-13

The Story Of a Converted
Hill Girls Return to
Her Native Sayagery.

night in their onlypoppy field just above
the Sutlej valley on the Kotgarh side; SO,
next season, they turned Christian, and
brought their baby to the mission to be
baptized. The Kotgarh chaplain chris
tened her Elizabeth, and 'Lispeth' is the
Hill or pahari pronunciation.
Later, cholera came into the Kotgarh
valley and carried Off Sonoo and Jadeh,
and Lispeth became half servant, hall
companion, to the wife of the then chap
lain Of Kotgarh. This was after the
reign of the Moravian missionaries, but
before Kotgarh had quite forgotten her
title of Mistress of the Northern Hills
Whether Christianity improved Lis
peth, or whether the gods Of her own
people would have done as much for her
under any circumstances, lido not know;
but she grew very lovely. When a Hill
girl grows lovely she is worth travelling
fifty miles over bad ground to look upon.
Lispeth had a Greek face-one of those
faces people paint SO often and see SO
seldom. She was Of a pale, ivory color
and, for her race, extremely tall. Also,
she possessed eyes that were wonderful;
and, had she not been dressed in the
abominable print cloths affected by Mis-
sions, You would, meeting her on the
hillside unexpectedly, have thought her
the original Diana of the Romans going
out to slay.
Lispeth took to Christianity readily,
and did not abandon it when she reached
womanhood, as do some Hill girls. Her
own people hated her, because she had,
they said, become a memsahib and
washed herself daily; and the chaplain's
wife did not know what to do with her.
Somehow, one cannot ask a stately god
dess, five foot ten in her Shoes. to clean
plates and dishes. So she played with
the chaplain's children, and took classes
in the Sunday school, and read all the
books in the house, and grew more and
more beautiful, like the princesses in
fairy tales. The chaplain's wife said
that the girl onght to take service in
Simla as a nurse or something ssgenteel."
But Lispeth did not want to take ser
vice. She was very happy where she was
When travelers-there Were not many
in those years-came into Kotgarh, Lis
peth used to lock herself into her W
room for fear they might take her away
to Simla, or somewhere out into the I'M
known world.
One day, a few months after she was
II years old, Lispeth went out for a
walk. She did not walk in the manner
of English ladies-a mile and o half out
and a ride back again. She covered be-
tween twenty and thirty miles in her
little constitutionals, all about and
about, between Kotgarh and Narkunda.
This time she came back at full dusk,
stepping down the break neck descent
into Kotgarh with something heavy in
her arms. The ~chaplain's wife was doz-
ing in the drawing room when Lispeth
came IN breathing hard and very ex-
hausted with her burden. Lispeth put
it down on the sofa, and ssid simply
"This is my husband. found him on
the Bagi road. He has hurt himself. We
viii nurse him, and when he is well
your husband shall marry him to me-"
This was the first mention Lispeth had
ever made of her matrimonial views,
and the c~haplain's wife shrieked with
horror. However, the man on the sofa
needed attention first. He was a young
Englishman, and his head had been cut
to the bone by something Jagged. Lispeth
said she had found him down the khud,
SO she had brought him in. He was
breathing queerly and was unconscious.
He was put to bed and tended by the
chaplain, who knew something Of medi
cine; and Lispeth waited outside the
door in case she could be useful. She ex.
planned to the chaplain that this was
the man she meant to marry; and the
chaplain and his wife lectured her Sc
verely ON the improperly of her conduct.
Lispeth listened quietly, and repeated
her first proposition. It takes u great
deal of Christianity to wipe out uncivil
lied eastern instincts, such as falling in
love at first sight. Lispeth, having
found the man she worshiped, did not
see why she should keep silent as to her
choice. She had no intention of being
sent away, either. She was going tc
nurse that Englishman until he was
well enough to marry her. This was
her little programme.
After a fortnight of slight fever and
Inflammation the E~nglishman recovered
Conference and thanked the chaplain and
his wife, and Lispeth-especially Lispeth
for their kindness. He was a traveller
in the east, he said-they never talked
about globe trotters" in those days.
when the P. & o. feet was young and
small-and had come from Dehra Dun
to hunt for plants and butterflies among
the Siinla hills. No one at Simla, there
fore, knew anything about him. He
fancied he must have fallen over the cliff
while stalking a fern on a rotten tree
trunk. and that his coolies must have
stolen his baggage and fled. He thought
he would so back to Simla when he was
q little stronger. He desired no more
mountaineering.
He made small haste to go away, and
recovered his strength slowly. Lispeth
objected to being advised either by the
chaplain or his wife, SO the latter spoket to
the Englishman and told him how matters
stood in Lispeth's heart. He laughed a
good deal, and said it was very pretty
and romantic, a perfect idyl of the Him
alayas; bat, as he was engaged to a girl
at home, he fancied that nothing would
happen. Certainly he would behave
with discretion. He did that. Still he
4 a