The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1897-02-11

"The present drought in India is one
of the most severe ever KNOWN" said
Mr.. Vincent L. Tissera recently.
II am from Ceylon and know what
the horrors of a famine resulting from
drought are. Ten or IL years ago the
Ceylonese were the victims of a com.
paratively mild water famine, but the
suffering | witnessed then wrung my
heart and can see as plain as though I
were in the country the agony of tho
starving Hindoos. The British papers
have not given the truth in it's pitiful
completeness, and even though they did
all in their power to alleviate the pres
ent distress thousands must die Of
starvation. Russia's proffered aid was
refused by the English for political rea-
sons. John Bull wants nothing done
that will augment the kindly feelings
Of the Hindoos for tho Russians. There
are s00, 900 900 people and nearly all of
them are vegeterians. They believe It
a sin to kill an animal and the result is
easily seen. No vegetation ON which
they can subsist can escape the drought,
and pathetically sincere in their belief
Of the teachings Of Buddha, the poor,
ignorant people will starve rather than
prove unfaithful to this time-honored
tenet of their religion and eat the flesh
Of animals.
America has spent millions of dol
lars in sending and maintaining mis-
sionaries in India and !, as a Christian,
am thankful for It, but now Is the time
when the Americans, and the churches
especially, can show that the love and
charity they have preached so many
years to my countrymen are not merely
subjects Of discourse but real condi-
tions. Aid from America would do more
for the conversion Of these people than
all the preaching that has been done in
all the years since missions were first
established in India. It Is a charity
the ignorant could understand and
know and God knows how woefully they
are in need of it now.
"a car load of husks would be re-
ceived with the Joy of a people who
have been living on roots that the
drought has spared. Millions of people
have no other food and knowing the
likely results of such diet they still
must eat. Leprosy is the outcome in
many cases, but what will not starv-
ing man do? Think of your own arctic
explorers who resorted to cannibalism.
But leprosy, though the most dreaded
disease and q common one in India, is
! not the most prevalent or fatal of the
ills that come from root diet and inn
pure water. A plague called in tho
native tongue 'burbonic' fever, some
thing like yellow fever, carries of
thousands. I hear daily that it has be-
gun It's ravages to add to the horror of
starvation and poverty. One day 800
died of 1t, but 1t has not begun to do it's
worst yet"
Mr.. Nssera is q Ceylonese. At the
time Of the worlds fair he came TO
America in charge Of the agricultural
products of Ceylon. Obtaining three
months leave from the railway by which
he Yves employed at home that he might
visit further the country with which he
was fast becoming impressed he trav-
eled all over the union. That decided
him and he resolved to make America
his home. He is the first Of his nation
ahty to go into business in this city.
Beside his native tongue, he speaks
Portuguese. Tamil, the tongue of south
ern India, Spanish, English and Is now
mastering the German language. he
is not a recent convert to Christianity,
as the religion has been handed down in
the family from the time Of the first
missionaries, 100 years ago, when the
forefather of the present Tissera was
converted.- News,