The San Francisco call., 1897-01-25
Ravages of the Famine and
Plague Described by
Missionaries.
One.Third of the Population of
Bombay Flee for Their
Safety.
Children of Afflicted Natives Rescued
by Christian Workers From
This Country.

BOSTON, MASS, Jan. 24-The American
board has received a group of letters from
its missionaries and correspondents In
India relating to the plague and famine.
Rev. E. S. Hume of Bombay, who went TO
India IN 1875, says:
Things have been going from bad to
worse until the situation is most grave
and even alarming. One-third OF the pop
ulation OF the city is SAID TO have hed ana
multitudes are still leaving. One OF the
railroads has put on six extra trains day
/and hundreds crowd about the municipal
stations waiting for an opportunity 10 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
Europeans have suffered from it. The
public reports have greatly under-esti-
mated the number of deaths, which is not
less than 200 and 800 day.
"Tne 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
Tor special prayer to be observed by all
of the Church of England congregations,
and has invited all other Christians to
Join with them. This has been done none
too soon. Hindus Mohammedans and
Parsees have in their own way shown that
they recognize the hand OF God in the
af1iction and know that deliverance must
come from 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 story OF the efficiency and demands
OF missionary work. The letter is dated
from Calcutta, but refers to previous ex-
periences in Bonn bay. He says:
Leaving the steamer we step into boat
and enter Bombay, a town OF nearly
million people. The streets are thronged
with dark-skinned natives, whose differ.
ing turbans and dress indicate their re-
ligion and caste. Here We pass group of
women tearing their breasts to dirge;
the plague has another victim. From the
busy street we enter the acre of mission
ary compound with its low buildings.
After the finest welcome we ever received
we go TO breakfast, just such a one as we
would have at home. AS we leave break
fast 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. We pass a
group of swarthy men from the famine
district waiting to ask the missionary for
work. After helping them he crosses the
compound to the schooIhouse. About 200
of the brightest faces one ever saw are be-
fore him, the boys with bright eyes, the
girls neatly dressed in white.
while we are singing we are noting
some of the more striking faces. That
dark, wistfuI child was rescued from IN
der blows Notice those few black faces,
evidently African, among the lighter In
dian brown. Those girls were captured
from a siaver. The missionary rescued
them g second time from the Mohamme-
dams here, who almost had 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
heart-broken father.
"'Madam,' he said, my wife has Just
died and our law requires that l turn nv
little girl of six out from under nv own
roof A man al forty has offered me 200
rupees for her this morning. l cannot
give her to him for it will mean her death.
Our priests are waiting at my door, de-
manding my child for the degrading ser
vice of the temple. They shall not have
her, for I love her. All of these years l
have watched your school girls pass nv
door and | have never seen an unhappy
face. Some one must love them. Oh,
will you love my little girl2 1t will cost
me caste and everything, but give her to
you
"If you could see the peaceful face of
this little girl and the filthy temple priests
at the tenn pie waiting for their prey like
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
1 famine and vice for $35 a year.
I'VE next visit & low caste school for
y boys. Last week the best scholar died.
He had fallen from tree, and the parents
called their heather doctor, who said that
a spirit pushed him from the tree and it
must be driven out of him. He is seized
by the hair and beaten with stick. From
the fear and pain fever sets in and the
little boy dies. This is civilized Bonn bay.
In the last famine, half of the children in
this school ate salt so 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 that he could study"
Rev. Mr.. Barton, DID,, secretary of the
American board, says that while the pop
ulation of Bombay are leaving it, the
missionaries remain, in order to render
assistance to the stricken people, and, by
their presence, even to restore confidence
and impart knowledge to those who can
not get away. The plague has reached
very near to their premises.
BOMBAY AND THE PLAGUE.
squGIfd Quarters of Natives Where the
Disease Breeds.