The record-union., 1897-01-25
enpiified.

pGdi HAS received d group Ol leltci
from its missionaries and correspon-
dents in India relating to the plague
and famine. Rev. E. S. Hume of Bonn
bay, who went to India in 1870, says:
Things have been going from bad to
worse until the situation is most grave
and even alarming. One-third of the
population of the city is said to have
fled and multitudes are still leaving.
One of the railroads has put ON six eX-
ira trains a day and hundreds crowd
the municipal stations waiting for an
opportunity to get away. AT first the
plague was confined to one ward of the
city, but it has spread from place to
place until no section is free from the
disease. So also all classes of Euro
peans have suffered from it.
The native Christians have been
marvelously protected. Not one, SO
far as L know, has suffered from the
plague. The Bishop of Bombay has
appointed a day for special prayer, to
be observed by all of the Church of
England congregations and has invited
all other Christians to join with this.
This has been none too SOon--Hundus,
Mohammadansa and Parsees havein their
own way shown that they recognize the
hand of God in the affliction and know
that deliverance 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
to previous experiences in Bombay. He
says:
Leaving the steamer we step into
a horse car for Bombay, a fine city of
nearly a million people.
THE streets are thronged with dark
skinned natives, whose differing tur-
lars and dress indicate their religion
and caste. Here we pass a group of
women beating their breasts to a dirge,
the city plague has another victim.
From the busy street we enter the acre
of missionary 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 a native woman working
quietly in the corner of the hall. 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 districts waiting
to ask the missionary for work.
After helping them he crosses the
compound to the school. About 200
of the brightest faces one ever saw are
before us, the boys with their swapping
bright eyes, the girls neatly dressed
in white. While we are singing we
are noting some of the more striking
faces. That dark, wistful little girl of
q was rescued from blows Notice
those few black faces, evidently Afri
can, among lighter Indian brown These
girls We're captured from SLAYER. The
missionary rescues them a second time
from the Mohammadans here, who al
most had them in their clutches. The
fair Indian girl, the beauty of whose
character was written on her face, was
brought here one day by her heart
broken father. Madam he said my
wife has just died and the law requires
that l turn my little girl of 6 out from
under my own roof. A man Of 40 has
offered me 200 rupees for her this
morning. l cannot give her to him for
it win mean her death. Our priests are
waiting ait my door demanding my
child for the degrading services of the
temple. They shall not have her, for
love her. All of these years I have
waited, for your school girls pass my
door, and / have not seen an unhappy
face. Some one must love them. Oh,
win you love my little girl? 1t will
cost me caste and everything, but I
give her to you
"If you could see the peaceful face
of this little girl and the filthy priests
waiting for their prey like the vultures
at the Parsee burying ground you
would never ask again if missions paid
in sustaining girls in this Christian
boarding school, rescued from filth and
famine.
I'VE next visit a low caste school for
boys Last week the best scholar died.
He had fallen from a tree and the par
ents called their heather doctor. who
said spirit pushed him from the tree
and must be driven out of him. He is
seized by the hair and beaten with a
stick. From the fear and pain fever
sets in and the little boy dies. This in
civilized Bombay
"One little boy was discovered wear
ing big knot tied against his stom-
ach to tie down the pain so he could
study
Rev. James Barton, d. D.. Secretary
of the Foreign Department. of the
American Board, says that while the
population of Bombay are leaving it,
the missionaries remain in order to
render assistance to those who cannot