New-York tribune., 1907-06-30

Women's Christian Association work commends it
In a peculiar manner.
Like, and yet unlike, home are tho native Saliva
ton Army lassies. in the familiar red waist and
wearing the nickel shield badge whom one meets
IN Ceylon. Ihey do not. however, wear the hid
eous poke bonnet, but Ike all native women here
go bareheaded. In travelling into the interior one
finds them at almost every station Offering with
the melting smiles that make all Singhalese women
attractive, subscription book. In lieu of The War
Cry. The report is that good work is done bv
the Salvation Army among the lower classes of
natives; they make an impression upon the higher
castes.
Caste obtains here. as In India. and Is a barrier
to religious work The schools do more than a
little to overcome It, While these articles con-
fined to American and Canadian missions the ex-
celent work done by the many British societies IS
met with at every turn Most of the missions that
dot Ceylon British; ii is to their praise that
there Is little criticism of missions here and most
of that is echo of the prejudice against mis-
sions which exists In the world of travel The
educational side of missionary service has been en-
phasized; there is less need for medical missions
than In some other lands. This is a British crown
colony, and the government maintains system Of
medical dispensaries these being. by the way a
development of medical missions. The only two
missionary hospitals in Ceylon are maintained by
the American board at Jaffna
1t is claimed that 'Inda's coral strand" IS really
at Janna. Northern Ceylon. where the coral forma-
uon Is extensive. Probably that had nothing 10 do
with the planting at Jaffna. ninety years ago, of
the American Boards second Oldest mission This
mission. the only strictly American one the
island, was established in 1926. and 1t has main
tanned successful existence ever since. In truth
so soundly established and reputable has Chris
tanity become that of the missionaries com
planned 70 mo that the church members are in
danger OF becoming worldly, Just like church mem
bers at homei
The oldest mission school for girls is at Jaffna.
having been in continuous existence since 1928 1t
now has two hundred girls In dormtory The stu
dents are chiefly high caste natives, as are most
Of the Christians. and recently n notable victory
has been won by the missionaries in requiring the
high caste pupils TO associate closely, on n basis
of equality in all things. with number Of low
caste students who have been admitted In the
school there caste lines whatever. Despite
this fact and despite the fact that the school is
strongly Christian in character nine-tenths of its
pupils becoming members of the church. high
caste heathen Hindu parents continue to send their
daughters, paying higher tuition than elsewhere
Jaffna district has a Protestant population Of
449s, of whom half belong to the American mis-
sion. the other being divided among several Eng
lish missions There are T,161 Roman Catholics in
1265 square miles The American mission when
all its Workers in the field has force of four
teen missionaries. eighteen churches, ten ordained
pastors, twenty-three unOrdained catechiss thirty
nine Bible women, five higher educational institu-
tons. 12s lower schools and one industrial school,