Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1911-11-16
A DRIVE THROUGH
THE HEART Of A
HEATHEN CITY
Written by Mrs. c. C. Herman,
a Neice of Mrs. !. R. Rrgan
and Known by Some Grand
Rapids People.
JubbuIpore. G. P. India.

RapJdS People.
Jubbulpore, G. P India
1t is a long time since I have writ
ten you, know, but 1 have been busy
getting articles out for our Field
Sketch paper and also for some of
the Home Church papers, and have
waited until I found something new
to tell you. I can not realize that l
have been in India almost a year, but
I am sure 1 have learned more about
India, as a country, the climate, the
language, people and customs than
could have read about at home in
years. I am glad 1 am here. There
is a certain fascination about the O.
rient that gets into your blood and
you can't help but like it. And yet
sometimes [ fairly long to hurry home
and tell the many friends and those
who are interested in this country a
bout all the dreadful things of heath
enism and the poor little children
that never know any childhood and
the neglected babies, and the poor
tired mothers, who do the hard work,
carrying the heavy burdens as well
as working in the road and carrying
baskets full of dirt and stones on
their heads and the inhuman treat
ment they receive from thet' hus-
bands in a good many cases.
The other day, 1 asked Mr.. Herr
mann to take me for a drive through
the city. l was thinking about writ
ing this letter and only needed to
refresh my mind. 1 want to call this
"A Drive Through the Heart of a
Heather City, And so 1 am going
to depict to you some of the scenes
and sights that We saw as we drove
along.
Our bungalow is about a mile from
the real city. We live in what is
called Civil Lines as this is a
military station where several tAOu-
sand of His Majesty's troops are
stationed. Then, there are native
troops and cavalaries belonging to
the British Government, but these art
located in what is called the Can
tonments. The roads in the resi-
Dental part are wide and there are
beautiful avenues of bamboo trees.
There are no sidewalks here, and
everybody walks in the middle OF
the road, with the tongas, bullock
carts, goats and buffaloes. We drove
on past the bamboo avenues and soO1l
we were on the outskirts of the city,
with its thousands upon thousands
of inhabitants. On one side of us were
two buildings, rather small. These
we would call meat markets at home,
but strange to say, in one beef is
sold; in the other mutton. No pork
is gotten here at all as the Mohamme
dan and the Hindu would not touch
this animal. Meat is rather cheap.
Tor instance, we get a pound Of beef
for four cents and mutton for five
| cents a pound. But, I would rather
go into a butcher shop at home and
get some choice cuts of meat and
sausages and boiled ham, and q pork
roast above everything else. Eggs
are only twelve cents a dozen, but
they are very small as are the chic
kens too, for which one pays ten to
fifteen cents each.
Passing the meat shops, We found
ourselves in the narrow streets of
the city. What dirt, and filth, and
sickness and noise and crowds. We
had to keep a bell ringing all the
time for fear Of running over some
body. Passing down a side street
we noticed a number of pOrches on
the road in front of the house with
some peculiar decoration and learned
that this was a special festival day.
On the floor or ground, they had
marked some design with chalk and
on this stood a bunch of grain or
pampas grass, intertwined with a
bright piece of colored cloth, while
a handful of rice was thrown beside
it and some had candles burning.
The people We're worshipping before
this in the name of their god.
And the temples. If 1 were talk
ing to you face to face, I could not
then tell you the awfulness of some
of these things. We got to look in
to a good many of the temples as
we passed by. What kind of gods?
Stone dogs, bulls, elephants, and
even human beings. Some were
combinations, such as a human body
with an elephants head Many
stones represented the lowest types
of immortality. A good many images
and stones were hideously painted
with red paint. Outside of many
temples were sitting big fat, lazy,
dirty, looking Mohammedans or fax
irs. These are often called holy
men" They are objects of disgust
rather than commanding respect for
they wear littI9, if any clothing; their
hair is long, matted and filthy and
often their body's are covered with
ashes or painted. But their faces de-
pict their characters, which are vile
and immoral Some of the temples
are deliberately decorated, and as we
drove by, We heard strains of music
strange tinkIing sounds and bells.
This was the call to temple worship.
It almost made me cringe as I saw
these men bow to craven images and
horrible incarpatiops of their deity.
1t reminded me of the time when A
aron sinned and made the moulten
images and then said to the people,
these be thy gods, o Israeli" Here
were these heather fakirs or corrupt
ed Mohammedans saying to the wor
shippers, these be thy gods, o people
of India" We cannot help but cry
out to our God, How long, o Lord,
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