The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1899-04-05
FPOM INDIA.
Rev. L. A. Core Writes of Some
of his Interesting Ex-
periences.

ShASA4SS0-
Great Density Of PopuIatien-How
/ Missionary has to do his Work Among
The Inhabitants efThat Far on Land
Humiliation Constantly Encounter
ed-Many Of the Strange Things he
Meets-A Very Interesting and read
able Letter.
The following letter has been re-
ceived from Rev. L. A. Core who is
stationed at Moradabad India. 1t
will be read with much interest by
our readers:
The central point of the circuit over
which / have charge is the city of Mo
radabad having population Of TO-
900 about equally divided between
Hindu, Mohamedans with sprinkling
of Christians. The county around,
which forms the larger portion of my
work, contains $50 villages embracing
a population of 1872, 900. The total
area of the circuit which has the same
boundary as the Government Tahsil is
311 square miles giving a density per
square mile of about IT'S people.
There are in this circuit about D.
900 christians half Of these live In the
city and the other half is distributed
among 80 villages varying anywhere
from to rs per village.
For some days in company with two
of my native helpers, three of the
school boys and boy to cook my food
have been itinerating among the
villages In this way become famil-
lar with my people and learn some
thing Of their condition, needs, and
am able to teach them the fundamen-
tai principles of our faith, as well as
to preach the Gospel to hundreds who
do not otherwise hear it. There are
no houses in which we can stop while
out on these preaching tours, so we
have our tents with us. Our camp
equipage is very modest consisting of
three little tents and small amount
of baggage all of which we put in one
great clumsy wooden bail Rari or a
cart, while we 60 on foot from village
to village. Reaching some central
village we seek convenient mango
grove containing good we'll and pitch
our camp, and work from this point
among all the surrounding villages. =
As may readily be learned from the
foregoing figures one does not have to
60 far to find village, on the plains
Of India. To-day as / was walking
along stopped to count the villages
in my horizon and was surprised to
find I could see thirty three without
moving. Each village is protected
from the fierce hot winds OF May, and
June by a Mango grove. They differ
little from each other. You always
see the same rude mud walls sur
rounded by the same matched roof.
There is the same absence Of all fur
niture save the ever present charpoli
or string bed which serves as. bed,
table, chairs and many other uses
known only to the native. You rare
ly find any doors or windows only
places where they might be put If de-
sired; the floors are of mud and usually
one room. Generally there is one
house larger and more prominent than
the others, also Of mud but sometimes
of brick and mud, belonging to the
zinnidar or land owner who owns the
village.
The fields are level, watered from
wells by a rea lily marvellous system of
irrigation. There are no fences dlvid-
ing the fields. There are no material
for fen ces, of stone there is almost
none, timber is little plentier but
the white ants would eat wood fence
in a month leaving in it's place only a
pile of dust. There is really no need
of fences as what few cattle there are
can easily be guarded by the small
boys and they have any amount of
them to spare village roads are to me
unsolvable mysteries, after ten years
of close association with them, / do
not pretend to understand them, they
wind, they twist and bend and turn
back on themselves with cheerful
indifference that is most perplexing to
any but a native.
Usually village roads run on the
border between cultivated fields but
they have no scruples about making a
highway through the middle of a field
of ripening grain; the owner accepting
the situation with characteristic orr
entail resignation. Their method of
blowing, sowing, reaping, and tbresh-
ing might be of interest, but anyone
DESTROYS Of knowing these things will
|. find them essentially in any hand book
of the Bible customs for western pro-
gress don't find favor In the eyes OF
the easy going east.
We are now encamped in a splendid
old mango grove of some acres in ex.
tent. The ground is level and clean
and open, it would be an ideal place
for camp meeting, Sunday school
picnic or for big political gathering.
The grove is literally alive with mon
keys of all sizes, of all capacities fol
mischief. 1t is to me an inexhausti-
BILE source of amusement to watch
them but especially at such times as
, these they assume the dimensions OF
a nuisance. AS my boy was cooking
my food under tree just now, ar
old monkey was perched on a branch
hid behind the trunk waiting his
chance. Had not the boy been some
what of monkey himself, matched
GINNING against cunning might now
instead of writing this been lamentine
the loss of my dinner. The grove is
! surrounded by wheat fields. About
twenty all but naked small boys patro
the edges Of the wheat fields with
strings and round mud marbles hard
as stone with which they admonist
, the too adventurous monkey that il
is high time he was Withdrawing to
the top branch of the nearest mango
tree.
. The village at which we are now en-
camped contains about $500 people
; IS of whom are Christians. TIL,
) larger portion of our people belong tc
| the lower or scavenger class. 1t sc
J happens that the Christians here al
r come from this class. No one who
has never lived in India can form any
conception of the scorn, contempt will
which the "bhaugi" or sweeper is re
i garded by the higher classes. Tt
them the word describes a thing ut
J terly mean and worthless. A high
caste man would not call his morta
, enemy by such name. 1t is among
, these despised down-troddeD people
} that we are at present doing our best
work, and we come in for liberia
, share Of the venom heaped on these
people. We teach them and touch
them and so are in the eyes OF the
high castles little better than thew.