The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-03-26
AS TO INDIA.
Rev. j. P. Graham, a Returned Mis-
siOnary, Speaks at Vance Church.
THE DREAD BUBONIC PLAGUE

lhE DREAD BUBUNlC PLAGUE
It's Ravages Described and the Fear
Expressed That It May Visit
America, Cases Having Cropped
Out at San Francisco-Rev. Mr..
Graham, Who Spent Twenty-eight
Years in India, VIII Return Next
Fall.
Rev. j. F. Graham. for twenty-eIght
years a missionary in India. and a
brother OF MIR. W. t. Graham, the tin
plate mag1ate, formerly OF Bridgeport,
occupied the. pulpit last night OF the
Vance Memorial church, speaking in
most interesting vein of missions in In
dla, and urging on the part Of the
church in America more Intelligent
and sympathetic interest in the mis-
sIonary and the people he is trying to
save. Rev. Mr.. Graham sought to con-
vey the idea that the prayers Of the
American people were needful. since the
Hlndoo would not pray for himself. He
said it was IL common error to suppose
thar the Hindoo had only to hear the
Gospel and he would accept Christ;
but in many cases the heather was In
different. In making this clear, the
speaker gave number OF apt illustra-
lions bearing on the Hlndoo character.
In some ways the Hinduo compared
fayorably with the people OF this coun-
try, said Mr.. Graham. The Hlndoos
were polite and courteous: they were a
mild race, and drunkenness was sell
dom seen among them. The speaker
then enumerated their faults, chief Of
which was their tendency to untruth-
fulness. They would lie on the slightest
provocation, and the sin was so general
that there was an Indian proverb which
says. "He who tells the truth, dimes
but once day, but he who lies gets
three meals" 1t was almost impossible
to get the natives to tell the truth,
even in the courts, and Mr.. Graham
gave many instances in support of his
assertion Reconstruction was another
striking attribute OF the native char
acter.
Mr.. Graham spoke OF the buboRic
plague, or black death" This dread
epidemic was making great ravages in
the vicinity Of Bombay, near which Mr..
Graham was stationed when he left last
May. 1t was quite prevalent before he
departed, and for the first few months
the mortality rate was feartully high.
The plague would visit house. and in
a week or less all It's inmates would be
dead The natives were opposed to re-
strlctlve regulations and tried to con-
ceal the existence OF the disease at their
homes, bu-ying their dead at night.
The plague does not sweep over sec
ton of the country like cyclone, but
Is slow In It's progress, sticking to one
town for months and then spreading to
the next It was contagious where Peo-
pie were in close contact with the suf-
ferers, and 1t was communicated to a
great extent by rats. Ordinarily, said
Mr.. Graham, rat is shy but when he
gets the plague he is Indifferent to hu-
man beings, and It is not unusual to
see the rodents stagger in a house as
II intoxicated. and after Keeling on the
floor die in full view.
Speaking along this line. Mr.. GA
ham said he was afraid that some day
the United States may be visited by
the plague, and he noted the recent
cases that were discovered in the Chin
csc section of San Francisco. Inocu-
lation isresorted to as preventative, on
the order OF vaccination where smallpox
is feared. Very few Europeans or
Americans contracted the plague in In
dia, because they were governed by
more sanitary rules, and Mr.. Graham
said that he had been inoculated
three times during his stay in that
country and when the disease broke
out at his station he gathered into the
mission house all who would conform
" 1AAC NuthA thllh OIHtL ANbulAAlullS
he laid down, system which bore good
results. The three things that we're
favorable to inducing the contagion
were darkness, cold and dampness.
Mr.. Graham, who went to India in
1872, will return to his mission next
September. He is stationed near Bonn
bay. He speaks the language of the
natives Huentiy, yet keeps in touch with
the home land by means Of daily papers
and also those published in Bombay.
The latter, he said, is cosmopolitan
city, possessing all modern facilities.
The people are consumers of American
ice and kerosene. Russian oil is COM
petitor with the American product, yet
the American is so superior that 1t
commands a much higher price. Mr..
Graham is the guest of relatives at
Bridgeport. He is OF small stature, but
singularly strong and wlry, and the
Indian climate evidently agrees with
him, since he hasn't been sick day
during his stay in that land for twenty
eight years,