St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1908-01-04

| pieases, without inspection at the
door.
A PoIyglOt Institution.
The vigor and popularity of the as.
ISOLATION in Ceylon are attested by the
fact that there are 10 branches scat.
tered over the island, with 1850 mem.
bers, of whom $50 are members of stu.
dent associations comprising Burghers
| las the half-castes, or Eurasians, are
called here), Europeans, Singhalese
and Tamils. Religiously, these are d.
V1ded into Parsees, Mohammedans
Buddhists, Hindus and Christians. In
one OF the small branches four men
lodge; one Of these is a Canadian,
one Burgher, one a Singhalese and
one Tamil. Altogether, the associa-
ton provides residence for % men. A
strong body of leading European resi-.
dents direct the work, and there are
many Europeans in the membership,
put these are such principally from
aitruist1c motives; the membership
that enjoys the privileges of the asso-
citation Is clearly native. I found the
reading room and restaurant and game
| room being well patronized The dis
tinctively religious work is we'll devel.
oped, IA weekly classes for Bible study
being maintained A young Canadian,
Mr.. G. A. Adams, of Magill university,
is the secretary in charge of the Y. M.
Z. A. work throughout the islands.
Young Women's Mission Work.
1t is somewhat noteworthy that in
this old and famous mission field SO
prominent place should be occupied
by those modern organizations, the
Young Mems Christian association and
the Young Women's Christian assoei.
alton. Of the latter there are Is
branches in Ceylon, Miss Campbell, of
Handy, an English young woman, be-
ing general secretary. A young woman
from Iowa, who was for some time sec-
rotary OF the 7. w. C. A. at German
town, Pa, Miss NJ F. Cross, is in
charge Of the association in Colombo.
! In q charming palm-shaded bungalow
home is provided for young women,
and a social and religious center main.
ciaL work is done among young women,
the success of the religious department
has overshadowed all else Fourteen
weekly Bible classes for young WON.
en-, IL in English, one in Singhalese
and one in Portuguese, are main.
tanned in Colombo alone. The re.
fined, unprofessional atmosphere of
the Young Women's Christian associa.
ton work commends it in peculiar
manner.
Dusky Salvation Army Lassies.
Like, and yet unlike, home are the
native Salvation Army lassies, in the
familiar red waist and wearing the
nickel shield badge, whom one meets
In Ceylon. They do not, however,
wear the hideous poke bonnet, but,
like all native women here, go bare
headed. 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 very
good work is done by the Salvation
Army among the lower classes of ma.
tives.
Caste obtains here, as in India, and
is barrier to religious work. The
schools do more than little to over
come it. While these articles are
confined to American and Canadian
missions, the excellent work done by
10 nr34s to- x-yS& 4,
at every turn. Most of the missions
that dot Ceylon are British; it is to
their praise that there is very little
criticism of missions here, and most
Of that is mere echo of the prejudice
against missions which exists in the
world of travel. The educational side
Of missionary service has been en-
phasized; there is less need for medi.
cal missions than in some other lands.
This is British crown colony, and
the government maintains system Of
medical dispensaries, these being, by
the way, development of medical
missions. The only two missionary
hospitals in Ceylon are maintained by
the American board at Jaffna.
It is claimed that sIndia's coral
strand" is really at Jaffna, northern
Cey1on, where the coral formation il
extensive. Probably that had nothing
to do with the planting at Jaffna, 80
years ago, of the American boards
second oldest mission. This mission,
the only strictly American one on the
island, was established in 1926, and 1t
has maintained q successful existence
ever since.
The Oldest mission school for girls
is at Jaffna, having been in continuous
existence since 1923. It now has 200
girls in dormitory. The students are
chiefly high caste natives, as are most
of the Christians, and recently nota.
Bile victory has been won by the mis-
sionaries in requiring the high caste
pupils TO associate closely, on basis
of equality in all things, with num-
Der of low caste students who have
been admitted In the school there
are no caste lines whatever. Despite
this fact, and despite the fact that the
school is strongly Christian in eharac-
ter, nine-tenths of its pupils becoming
members of the church, high-caste,
heather Hindu parents continue to
send their daughters, paying higher
tuition than elsewhere.
Jaffna district has Protestant pop
ulation of 4,499, of whom half belong
to the American mission, the other be.
ing divided among seyeral English
missions. There are 27,161 Roman
Catholics in 1855 square miles. The
whole population is 300,S51. The