The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-04-12
BooTH-TUcKER IN INDIA.
The salvation Army Commanders
story OF His Work There.

New York Evening Post.
Commander Booth-Tucker said: 81 have
spent the last twenty years. of and on. In
India, anii1 think know the country as
well any hzdve. Our work there has gone
on lines entirely different from those Of the
ordinary missionaries. and in consequence Of
that we have had pretty stiff battle to
fight In fact. 1 am very doubtful whether,
If we had not had a perfect organization
like the Army to use. II would have been
possible to do anything on the lines we
struck cut even experimentally.
81 was government official for some time
in India, and as a Christian 1 wished to
help the people. I felt that the ordinary
missionary methods, which may have been
good as far as they went, were very INSULT
Gent What impressed me most was the
enormous gulf fixed between the natives OF
the country and their European rulers.
You can imagine what the feeling
would be in America If France or Germany
please do not say Ensland) were to conquer
the country and settle garrison on it and
rule 1t with an absolutely beaurocratic gov
eminent. Well, the feeling that would exist
here actually exists in India. Human
nature is a general quality. This enormous
gulf, then, was the great thing to reckon
with. For gentleman TO sit down on the
side Of the gulf, comfortable, and throw his
Bibles, prayer books and sermons across the
gulf to the natives may have been good
thing but it was not enough. If should
stand on that tower and talk at the crowd in
Fourteenth street ii would be good, IL i had
good message, and the air would be fresh.
a an vssf Sa Ge are human
nature 1 believed in the government of In
dia by the English, for / believed that the
natives, II left to themselves now, would cut
one anothers threats At any rate that was
not our business and the government was
help to US in getting at them. said, Now
will jump the gulf. get on the other side; put
on their clothes. make myself an Indian.
Then, of course, all the people on the Euro
pean side said 'Horriblei Such a thing has
never been done. You will lower our prestige.
You will diminish the respect of the native
for the superior race. You VIII cause the
work Of God to be hurt, and all kinds of
are a thousands Gus Of niss;onaries doing the other
thing. They don't need to jump Ttey might
break their necks i should like tn take the
risk Fiat experimentum in corpore Will |
Will nave try You go your way and Will
go mine
THAT was just fourteen years ago. and
have not the least hesitation in saying that
our action placed Christianity in India on
different footing. Not only did it have the
effect of putting us in the midst of the native
life and making the Indians love us and do
everything for us. but it changed their at
titude toward all Christians. As we had won
their confidence. they thought the other
Christians tau who threw the Blble and ana ser
thing to say. Well, you might imagine that
the man on the tower would thank the man
who had jumped into the street for getting
him a hearing, but of course the natural
question of the audience was Why don't you
jump down, too? Then the man on the tower
begins to say, You ought to come back here.
You have been failure and a fraud, and
have been sent back to England, and have
run away to America, such a perfect fail
ure are YOU
but seriously. take an Illustration of the
difference it has made to the natives. have
been on both sides of the hedge. / have
lived as the ordinary European lives in
India, in q bungalow, with fifteen servants,
cut off from the people, and L have known
what ii is TO live in their houses" To Illus
trate the ignorance of India that is charac-
teristic of almost all foreigners there, he
told OF conversation with an Englishman
who had been in the country thrity-eight
years, making a special study of it from
the outside, who thought he knew the life
of the people Yet that man did not be-
leve there was either poverty suffering
in India The commander gave many in
stances of the wretchedness and starvation
that is out of sight. He said that the seven
thousand weavers of India live from one
year to the next on nothing but diluted
Duttermlk. Once he went into a beautiful
village with his begging pail and at the
first house he was given the rice he asked
for. Shortly after he learned that that was
the last rice OF a starving FAMILY. 'They are
a kind people, bless them" said the COM
mander quietly. OF course he sent back the
rice with interest. That same night a rob-
berry was committed in the village. There
was no doubt of the culprit For five days
there had been no rice in the house of
certain man. and now there was found there
just the same three small measures, few
pints. that had been taken. He was al
lowed TO escape and no effort was made
to punish him. This was but one of many
instances where the temper of the people
was clear TO the commander as it could not
be to one who did not live as one of them
They knew the character of the man who
stole the rice and the desperate crcum-
stances that forced him to it, a starving
family.
The details of the adaptations made under
the lead OF the commander of the army are
as many as the peculiaritieS of Indian life.
The open-air meetings were attractive to
them, from their resemblance to rites with
which they were familiar. When 1t came to
arguing, the whole question had to be
worked out seated. Commissioner Booth
Tucker wore yellow the religious emblem,
dian food, never touched meat and. in
short, became entirely a native in his life.
On this line the army has gone steadily
forward, evangelizing the Indians, not by
forcing something foreign on them, but by
becoming part of them, giving them a re-
better Interpretation of their own. work.
ing as much as possible with Indian con-
vertS. The army now has in India and
Ceylon 757 officers and cadets. 2S2 corps.
626 outoosts, fifteen training homes, four
rescue homes, one prison-gate home, three
farms and three homes of rest. The COM
mander expressed the greatest confidence
in the Generals new scheme, now before
Parliament where he says 1t has been
fayorably received 1t is an adaptation to
III - Tlar lost mo la W