The morning times., 1897-01-25
THE LAND OF THE PLAGUE
American Missionaries Write Of
the Conditions i'm India.
AN APPALLING DEATH RATE
Between 200 and 800 People Die
dren A re Being Cared for at the
Missionary Schools-The Noble
Work of Christians.

! Boston, Jan. 24-The American board
has received letters fIom it's missionaries
and correspondents in India relating to the
! plague and famine. Rev. E. s. Hume, of
Bombay, who wentto India in 1875, writes
as follows:
Things have been going from bad to
worse until the situation is most grave
| and even alarming. One-third OF the pop
| ulat!on of the city is said to have fled
| and multitudes are still leaving. One of
| the rail- Dads has put ON six extra trains
a day and hundreds crowd about the
municipal stations waiting for an op-
| portunity to get away. At first the plague
was confined to one ward Of the city, but
it has spread from place to place until
10 section is free from the disease.
''AlI classes of Europeans have suffered
fromit. The published reports have greatly
underestimatedthenu number of deaths, which
is probably not less than 200 or goo day.
The native Christians have been mar
velously protected. Not one, so far as L
know, has suffered from the plague The
bishop of Bombay has appointed day
for special prayer to be observed by all
OF the Church of England congregations,
and has invited all other Christian 10 Join
with them. This has been done none too
soon Hindus, Mohammedans and PasSis
have III their own ways shown that they
recognize the hand OF God in the afflictiOn
and know that deIiverance must come
from a higher than human power
G. s. Eddy, one of the secretaries OF the
students volunteer movement, mingles an
account of the effects OF the famine with
a story of the efficiency and demands Of
missionary work. The letter is dated from
Calcutta, but refers 10 previous experiences
in Bombay. He says:
Leaving the steamer we step into "a
horse car and enter Bombay, fine city
OF nearly million people. The streets are
thronged with dark-skinned natives, whose
differing turbans and dress indicate their
religion and caste. Here we pass a group
of W omen beating their breasts 20 dirge;
the city plague has another victim. From
the busy street we enter the acre of mis-
sionaTy compound with its low stone
buildings After the warmest welcome
we ever received, we go to breakfast, just
such a one as we would have at home.
AS we leave breakfast, we notice q
native woman working quietly in the cor
ner of the hail. The few pennies she is
earning keep her from starving in these
times, when her only food has been cold
water At the door we pass a group OF
swarthy men from the famine district,
waiting to ask the missionary for work.
After helping them he crosses the conI-
pound to the school. About 200 of the
lri. Hnf
us, the boys with their swapping bright
eyes, the girls neatly dressed in white.
While we are singing we are noting some
ofthe more striking faces. That dark, visit
fuI little girl of SIX was rescued from
under blows. n otice those few black
faces, evidently African, among the lighter
Indian-brown. Those girls were captured
from SLAYER The missionary rescued
them seoondtime from the Mohammedaus
here, who almost ma d them in their clutches.
That fair Indian girl, the beauty of whose
character is written on her face, was
brought here one day By her heaTtbroken
father
Madam he said, my wife has just
died and our law requires that l turn
my little girl of six out from under my
own roof A man OF forty has offersd ne
200 rupees for her this morning. / cannot
give her to him for it will mean her death.
Our priests are waiting at my door de-
1nandlng my child for the degrading ser
vice of the temple. They shall not have
her, for l love her. All of these years
have watched your school girls pass my
door and 1 have never seen an unhappy
face. Some one must love them. oh.
will you love my little glrl? 1t will cost
me caste and everything, but / give her
to you.
IF you could have seen the peaceful face
of this little girl and the filthy temple
priests at the temples, waiting for their
prey like the vuitures at the ParSee bury
ing ground, you would never ask again if
missions paid in sustaining girls in this
Christian boarding school, rescued from
filth and famine and vice, for $50 u scar.
I'VE next visit low caste school for
boys. Last week the best scholar died. He
had fallen from tree, and the parents
called their heather doctor, who declared
that spirit pushed him from the tree and
must be driven out of him He was seized
by the hair and beaten with a stick From
the fear and pain fever set in and the little
boy died This in civilized Bombay. In
the last famine half the children in this
school ate salt so that they could fill up
with water and not require food. One
little boy was discovered wearing a big
knot tied against his stomach, TO tie down
the pain so he could study"
The Rev. James l.. Barton, D. D., secre-
tary of the foreign department of the
American board, says that while the popu-
laticn of Bombay is leaving it, the mis-
sionaries remain, in order TO render as
sistance to the stricken people, and by their
presence to restore confidence in and i'm
part coura ge to those who cannotg get away.
The plague has approached very near to
their premises.
THIEVES FULL OF ENTERPRISE.