The Press., 1897-04-01
.AONKEYS IN CHURCH.
OPEN AIR CONGREGATION WHICH
 THEY VOLUNTARILY JOINED.

Some of Them Brought Their Babies With
 Them and Boxed Their Ears When They
 Showed Signs of Levity-Experience of
 Missionaries In India.
 The most singular audience that I ever saw gathered to listen to preaching was an audience of monkeys, says an India correspondent of the Boston Gold en Rule.
 When I commenced work in the re- zion which I have now occupied for more than 80 years, asked two fellow missionaries to join me in a preaching tour in the adjacent taluk, or county. We first went with three native assist ants to the taluk town, or county seat. Our tents were pitched in a grove ad- joining the town. We usually on our tours went two and two to preach in the villages; but, this being the taluk town, and the first of our preaching the gospel in that region, we went in 8 body into the native city.
 Walking through the cloth, spice, grain and iron merchants bazaar streets, and then through the goldsmiths and silversmiths' street, around through the temple street, and then through the street of Brahman residences, to adver- tise our presence and incite curiosity to know what we were about. we finally took our stand in the Brahman street, and all joined in singing one of the beautiful Telugu Christian lyrics and gathered an audience of interested lis teners.
 We stood upon a little raised platform on one side of the street against the house walls. The houses were all of one story, joined together like city block, with flat roofs and low parapet along the front of the roof. One of our native assistants read a portion from the gos- pels, and another preached briefly then one of my fellow missionaries followed, preaching more at length, while I watched the audience, to study the coun- tenances of the people among whom I expected to work.
 had noticed that behind the houses on the opposite side of the street there was a long row of trees growing in their back yards, the branches of which stretched out over the flat roofs.
 Chancing to raise my eyes, l noticed many branches of these trees beginning to bend downward toward the roofs and saw the faces of some old jack monkeys peering out through the foliage. Soon some of them jumped down and came forward to see what their "big broth ers' in the street were about, as they stood gazing so intently at these white men standing on the platform. Spring ing upon the parapet, they seated them selves, with their hind feet banging over ill front, and gazing with fixedness at the preacher, as they saw the people in the street doing.
 Other monkeys followed, until there was long row of them thus seated on the parapet. The late corners I could see walking along behind the parapet, look ing for @ place wide enough to get Q seat. Failing to find a wide enough place between two already seated mon keys, they would put up their hands, and, pushing each one sidewise, would seem to be saying, "Sit along 8 little, please, and give fellow a seat, ," until the "bench" was crowded.
 The audience in the street, standing with their backs toward that row of houses, did not notice the monkeys, and so their attention was not distracted by them.
 had noticed that many mother mon- keys had brought their babies to church with them. These little baby monkeys sat upon the thigh of the mother, while her hand was placed around them in 8 very human fashion, but the sermon was evidently too high for these little folks to comprehend. Glancing up, I saw one of the little monkeys cautiously reach his hand around, and, catching hold of another baby monkeys tail, give it a pull. The other little monkey struck back, but each mother monkey evidently disapproved of this levity in church, and each gave its own baby a box on the ears, as though saying: "Sit downl Don't you know how to behave in church?" The little monkeys, thus reprimanded, turned the most solemn faces toward the preacher and seemed to listen intently to what he was saying.
 With the exception of a monkey now and then trying to catch flea that was biting him in some tender spot, they thus sat demurely until the preacher finished his sermon and until we had distributed gospels and tracts among the audience and had started for our tents.
 Our ''oeiestial audience," seeing our terrestrial audience" dispensing, then, and not until then, left their seats and demurely walked back and sprang upon the branches again. There were no monkey capers'' as they went They were as serious as a congregation leav- ing church and sat upon the branches in meditative mood as though think ing over what they had heard the preach CT say. And thus we left our unique monkey audience.