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OF

',':, ,

;~_~, TH~E WORK.IN INJ~.I)A,

.' ;J~;;~'Vz·J" $',~ii{ ~.,,' /t '~~'-"" ':',:' ::i-;_-.~:'/'~~' ,., .' - .~ -"'~ "".'"~-: .. ~.,.:.,.' '-

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.THE M. E. CH URCH INcAMERICA.~

LUCKNOW: . ,

,~BUTTJJ)'~A'T'THE ::AMlllR1c!ii' UTHonIST;\USSION. PRESS.

. . '~'._<T~ . O~ VE!l~-8'Uperin~endB~t.

1.8.80.

" .

TENTH

• OF

TliE WORK I N INDIA,

OlP l'HE

WOMAN'S FOREIGN MISSIONARY SO-CIETY

OF

T~E M b-:. CHURCH IN AMr:RICA . .. , ,

• Ll:CKNOW:

I'n.I~'l'l!:1J .\'j' TUJ!: ,\ ~I EItIUAN MwrUODIS1' MI8~)(lN PIlE:;S

ItJr.y T. Cn.\ n:s, ~1lJ1erillt~lIdent.

l~bO.

-

110n.\nlItAn.

MRS. PARKER, } MRS. CUNNINGHAM,

J1J.iss.iollaTies.

Gil'ls' lJoa1j'dh;g School:

M HlS MARIA SIi:Y:\IOUll, I SOPHIA H .-\KK,

~ LIZZIE, . . LVDU f::;WIPT,

KATHlaNA, PHEBE WRIGUT~

GIRLS' BOAIWING SCHOOL.

THE work in this school has bel~n cfll'l'ied on during tLe year in the same place as heretofore. The gil'ls have theil' regulat' haul's fOi' school, sludy nnd wOl'k, and each girl thkes h01· regular time in ench kind of work dnne in tbe school. In tbis way the giris not only leal'n to renrl anel write, but nlso leaI'D to (10 the different kinus of work which will be required of them nrtet' they leave t.he school.

rrhere have not been many new accessions to the school this year, 'rhe twelve girls temporarily here last yeal' froUl the Girls' Ol'phl1.nnge l'etul'neJ to B:l.reilly early in· the year. There have been ninety-nine different girls in the school but not more than ninety nt allY one time.

One who had been 111 the school Lnt a short time died early in the year, and one lit.LIe girl died on Chl'istmus duy last year. These are the only deaths that have occulTed. One of the girls from the fhst clnss went to Bareilly to st.ndy medicine, nnd to be mal'ried.

Several of the oldel' gil'Is who have finished eithel' the l'egu 18.1' course of stndy, 01' a pal,tinl conl'se prepnred for those coming to the school aftcr they were gl'OWll up, will go out of the school at the close of the yenl'. It is expected that

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all of these win in some capacity nct as helpers in the wOl'k in the different places where they may go. '1'108e who know' the le~st, know so much more thf\.ll the average village woman that they will be able to do something oy way of teaching

'others. There is great need of- more Lelpel's in the village· : work as all engaged in, this work can testlify. And as it has

been· found tlmt some of the· lllOSt successful workers are ·thosewhohave recently been taught themselves, and ha-ve ~ot forgotten from whence they came, it· is hoped t~at some pf this class of girls w.ho will soon leave ,the school Win prove efficient helpers. : The educational department of the school under the charge of Miss Seym~oUl\ was carried on very successfully llntil the last of August when the school was broken up by an epidemic fever. More than fifty girls were sick at one time, and but few escaped without repeR Led atl:acks of the fever. The school was reopened as soon as a few girls were able to commence study, lmt' a very limited nUmbel" have been able to be present regularly in their classes, so that all bas 'not been accomplished in this dep!ll'tme,nt which had been arranged· for.

The religious services connected with the school have navel" been more Jnl;eresting 01' more profitabletban duriog the present year, Several of the girls give e.Videnceof hav­ingeommeoced to _lea..dnewlives •• ap{all haJ:;eo<:>~_{}c<?~,,~~ ~~l!~~a~_t_~!!!,~,i~ their relig~_d.l!~es. '

- CITY .SOHOOTJS.

,During the early part of the year tue work in these sohools went on very satisfactorily, "The Government gl'ant­in-aid was· increased, so that two new schools were opened,

. ma)dngfourteen in' all with more than three hundred girls in regular attendance. Besides these there are two smnllscnools for low caste girls which arc proving very useful in preparing the way for WOl'ka;:llong tLisclass of people. ~f.1he three schools Eupported . by city municipality funds Lave remained. under OUI' ch~rge:~he, same as last year.

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All t.his work has heen greatly interrupted fil'st by tbe he~vy l'ains, and theh by sickness which was very genel'a} and long continued. Many of the houses in which the schools were held were washed uown by the rain' and no suitable places in their stead could be ohtf:l.jned until tueelose of ,the rains.' Meavtime the girls could only come togetller Oll pleasant days and sit ,wherever a plnee could, be found while they learned their lessons. Under sucheircumstance~ we. could not expect very marked progress. Before, we ba hardly become settled agaill after the rains, the epidemi .fever came, and teachers, scholnrs, and parents wereprostl'ated, so that' in many of the schools there could .not be h singlet, girl found to read when the Christian women went for thejr regular visits. In one school eleven of the girls died, in another six, and in all the schools but one some have died. Among these were some of our 1110St hopeful girls. Those who havel'ecovered are many of them so weak that their parents are not willing to send·them to scl1001, so that in most of the schools not more'than one-half the usual number of girls are present. Bnt the teachers a.re hopeful that they will soon be able to colJect· the girls and go on with their work regularly again.

The Sunday-schools in connection with these, which al'e attended not only by the girls but by the women living l

near by, have been kept up,as far as possible. There is an ! '".

in,Cl'eaSiug ,in.,tel~e~~, i~_~i~t"e~il~,9",,}(),,~.~li~~~US, instI,'nct.ion... The •. {" '1',''''';' , great mortali~y in the city' lias brought' death very near to. .'

them and they have beeD. led to think very seriously with regard , to their hopes of a future state. They often express their dis- i'

satisfaction with the deceptive practices cI.mnected with their i Qwn 'religions, and their faith in idolatry in every form is 1 .....;. gl'owing weaker with i~creased knowledge. While they ac-l " cept our teaching and' often say to us: cUfhis is the right t way /' yet they are botlud with the chains of custom and re. \, ligious Buperstition and can go. no farther outwardly. Per-ha.,psJ however, in the honr of distress and trouble some may be able to exercise that fni.th in Christ which lllny bl-jog peace even in the dying hour.

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I In one of the Sunday-schools three generations of women are being taught, the grund-mother, mother and daughter. A few days since the g'1'and-mother started to at tend a religi-OllS fair on the banks of tbe Ganges, When she had gone a short distallce a lllan met her saying: " Y Ollr gt'and son is very ill at a certain place, you lllust make ml 'offering or he will die and you will become hlind.') 'rho pOOl' woman said, (( I will return to my house and find someLhing." The lllun replied, c; j\·otLillg but gold 01' silver will answer," The woman took out what 8ilver she 11ad wilh her and offercd it to him. The Illun said: "No, you keep it in yom' own hand, but turn your head the othcl' way while I perform some religi­ous ceremony over it then you can l'etu rIi it to yonr bng and keep it yourself." She did as directed but fouud wIlen the ceremony was finished that the man ball disnppeal'ed and only SOUle lumps of dirt were in her hancl. SLe happened to be neal' the house of her Sunday.school Leacher, so she went to her with the story of hcr loss. 'l'his gave the Leacher a fine opportunity lo talk with the woman and tell her of a "better way." One grent hope is ill the children who are learning the. truth in these schools before fixed habils of life are acquired and supel'titious iueas are settled in their nJind·s.

ZENANA WORK AND CITY SCHOOLS.

~lIss MARGARET SEYJ,IOUI~,

I.JAURA IVA,

MATILDA ADAMS,

LOUISA CONN,

J ElfIMA ANGELO,

nlAH.Y LIST,

Lucy WALKER,

SUNDAR!.

THIS department of thewol'k has suffered in common with the other work here on account of the excesblve rains; Hnd the prevalence of fever. Still.in looking over what hns been done in the homes of the womeu there is reason for than.kfulness, Lflat we have had so many opportunities fOl·

reading God's word and teaching othel's to tend it for them­selves. One young woman a few days blnce asked for a full

~ copy of the Bible) saying that she not only wished to read it

l

( 7 )

herself, but alsQ to read it to a blind persall who had expressed a desire to hear it read.

A fe~ new families have been added to the number visit­ed last year. A grent deal of teaching has also been done in sevel'al phwos in the outskirt,s of the city where shoe-makers reside. Large numbers of women will come together in sonle central place to listen to the Gospel message. The Bible­wowen have also had a regular circuit of' evening work, going four days in the week to near villages. From forty to fifty women usually came together at these places. Thus the seed is being sown, sOlIletimes in the homes of the high and wealthy Dnd sometimes among the lowly - Thus far results have been most apparent- from the work among the poor and the lowly, but we ale not without hope that fruit" will yet appeal' among a.ll to whom we go with the words of eternal life.

One of t,he Bible-womeu is at pl'esent itinerating in the villages, working mostly amOllg' inqujl'er~"

The regular monthly ~fissiollalY Meetings have been seasons of interest and profit to t.he Christian women. .A school for sweeper girls is kept up with the funds raised. rrbe oldest girl in this school is very int.elligent and has several tilDes expL'essed her desire to become a Christian.

rl'wo Maternal Associations have been organized, one in the city and one on the Mission plelllises. Uegulat· monthly meetings are held and once la.st· quarter the two associations meet together. The meetillg~ have bad a decided inHu­Sllee for good on those who have attended them. At our last meeting a Hindoo woman with hel'two c:hildl'en was present und listened with iutense iutel'est to the experiences given by several of tho mothers. 'rlle work among Christian women necessarily denwnds III uell tille and attention.

\Vil,h sincere gratitude to God we record the fact that no deaLhtl occurred amOllg' the OLLisLiuu women 01' Christian adults here this year, notwitilstlUlding the fact that during the epidemiclifteen thousund deaths occurred ill this city and country ill a single month.

Looking b~ck over twenty years we recognise gratefully that G0d's blessing has been upon this work which existed then only in illlagi~ation. The Gospel message has gone to the women in every corner of . this city and to lllany of the surrounding villages, alid some have believed. .A large and efficient band of helpers has been raised up, and our fuith is strong that God will use these women for the salvation of many still in darkness.

MEDICAL WORK.

HENRIETTA B. WOOLSTON I Y. D. .i.1Fissio'nat'!I.

SHU~LUK SINGH, } Assistants. JANE PLUMER,

SINCE the 22nd of January, the medical work has been gradually increasing: the number of patients during'deleven months attending morning clinics and recorded in the dis­pensary books was 1,468; prescriptions numbered·5,086; 303 patients were vibited at their homes, and 600 prescriptions were given to out-patients. I have t.aken the ad vice of those more experienced than myself in regll1·d to asking fees, permitting the patients to give as they deemed proper. Fees were received to the amount ofRs. 160. Several wealthy families have not yet paid their bills but iutend to do so as soon as they can collect their money.

During the year one of the assistants, .Jane Plumer, hav­ing a family of three small children requiring her attendanco, has retired from the work which has consequently been more onerous for those wIlo remained. Shull uk Singh has lmd poor health but has kept at her post most of the time. I have found bel' a faithful assistant, seeming always. happy in her work, and she now has her usual health.

During the epidemic of in termittent fever which pre­vailed to such an alarming extent over all North India, we were permitted to entel'many homes hitherto inaccossiLloto 1\{is~iontLl'ies. But all account of the excess of medical work, I have not devoted as riluch time to direct Missionary work

as i otherwise would have done. It is encouraging, however, to know. that the doors of those homes still stand ajar for us to enter in the future.

I am thankful that the Spirit of the Master has led me here to work for these people; and I trust that same Spirit has enabled me to be kind and forbearing towards those whose souls I ~sire shoQ.ld be saved. Truly the Lord has been with us and has helped us in treating these unfortunate sisters. The smile of welcome with which we are greeted as we Cl'OSS the threshold bids us hope that in the futul!.6 we may be instrumental in saving some souls.

lEss ,V-oolston, M, D., is supported by the Philadelphia Branch, Miss Margaret Seymour, by the Baltimore Branch, a. part of the Boarding School, by the N orth-Western Branch, RI;ld the remainder of the work, by the New Englancl Branch,

C.HJb\rNJ[;!~t!Jsu t\~~ KtrN!l~RKt·

RyUTJI SWEE'f, .•• } Bible-women. AnTRA, .••

THE work in Chandausi has Buffered much from changes in the workerso When Ruth Sweet commenced work in J o.ly it was hoped that a perm~nent arrangement had been made, but before the close of the year the place was again vacant,and as yet no one has been fO{Jnd to filljt. Chandaq.si is an important centre for work, and there seem to be someimpol'tant openings th~re especially among the Chunlars and Mahommedan weavers~

OIle school for Mahommedan girls has been kept up, and while .the Bible-women remained a Sunday-school and other religious services were held in connection with it. Many women from the houses near by came in to these services an~ became greatly interested in them.

There have been other opportunities for opening schools and we are only waiting for a suitable person to take charge.

lfartha's work is in Kunderki and the sUt°rounding viI· luS'es and is mostly among Ohl'istian and OhuIllal' women. Th~

( io j

Christian community is increasing in these villages and there seems to be a demand .for a small school for girls which inay be opened soon, as a teacher is now available for this place.

This work is supported by the N orth-Western Branch.

ORPHANAGE.

MISS F. J. SPARKES, ... Superinte·hdent. Teachers:

:Miss E. A. JORE,

MOULVEE KASW ALLAH,

ELIZA JOEL,

I Miss E. DURAND,

J ~OONSHElll JOHN MOSES,

I PANDIT,

RASHA.

Pupil 'l'eachers : MARY WELSH,

CARRIE TRUESLOW, /' MARY STEWART, HANNAH MOORE ALLISON, ELIZA BARKER,

MARGARET B. PASCOE, EMMA ELIZA WEST, :MARY CROCKER, :MARY GARETTSON,

SARAH A. SCOTT, MARILLA PIERCE,

HESTER A. POOLE'; ADDIE ROSA REES.

GRACE PECK.

MRS. E. HALLIDAY, Matron. ORPHANAGE REPORT.

IN taking up the Orphanage work in February this yeari the engrossing thought was How shall we manage to care for so many during the coming, months of trying weather and with such insufficient accommodations?

Ordinarily buildings in Indias exposed as they are to heavy rains, do not last many years. The Orphanage build­ings had stood nearly twenty years and were exceedingly dilapidated. In the beginning of the year, the buildings were carefully examined by a competent Government as well as Conference Committee and about half of the rooms

( 11 )

.eondemned as unsafe; others, but little better, were scarceiy habitable. As soon as possible, a building plan with esti~ mates was forwarded 101' the approval of the home authorities. 'lhe need being so urgent, it was deemed best for once, to break over our rules and to begin building before waiting for news of the approval by the General Executive Committee~ We w.ere sure our Father meant these little ones to be cared for, or He would not have se;nt them to us, and the distress being still great throughout all the lanu, we knew nolt but there were many more outside the fold for whom He wisl;led us this year to cal'e; and remembering that the silver and the gold also are His, we felt sure He would not fail to send tho needed portion for these least of all His little ones. Our faith too, in the sym.pathy and appreciation of our need 0iD the part of. the Executive Committee and their unfailing ~e~diness and abili.ty to supply, proven as it had been in the past, made us doubly sure we need not fear. We began puilding in March, the needed means cam.e and the work is still going on. The constant shifting about required durin~ the year has occasioned us great inconve'D.ience, but our pleas:­ant accommodatioI;ls now more than compensate for it.

The two open court-yards around which the dormitories are built and into which they op.en, have been thrown into one by removing the miudle line of condemned rooms, thus making the place more airy and healthful. The servants' houses, formerly occupying a part of the school-yard, have been removed and new ones built outside of the wall on a portiol;l of the medical property adjoining, (the land has bee:z;t rented by the Orphanage for a terJl). of years at a n"ominal sum.) " Our wall has been e~tended, taking in the spa.ce formerly appropriated by the servants and some additional. This gives 1;lS for the interior of the Orphanage a large, oblong piece of land~ the length north and south, the breadth, east and west, enclosed on the north, west, and south by a brick wall and on the east by a row of buildings. This row of b~ildiDgS is separated. at Olle end" ~y a gateway leadin~iIlt()

( 12

the outer yal·d. Dormitories 13 by 15 extend nlong the south and west sides, each room opening into the court: a half row of dormitories extend east and west through the middle of the court, thus fOl'ming a division. The northern portion thus separated is set apart for the very little girls and will afford space for their rooms yet to be built, and for a playground to themselves. There is a well and bath-room at the south end of the court.

At the left of the gateway mentioned,. going from the inner yard into the outer,. are., first the Matron's two rooms which have beeR enlarged and remodelled; then a room in which the cl<>thing,. bedding, &c., is kept; next to this are two long dining rooms with verandahs in front: the dining p{)om intended for the little ones, is now used as a dormitory in which thirty-five girls from six: to eight years of age, live with two older ones who care for them. Adjoining the din­ing room is a commodious, airy, cook-room, not furnished as are .American cook-rooms with large stoves and all the mo .. del'll impr.ovements, but it is what we consider here a modern improvement on Hindustanee cook rooms in general. Its only furniture besides cooking utensils a-nd vessels for holding water, is a large, old fashioned chimney at either end, sur­rounded by a number of places for cooking, built of brick and mortar. These always remind me of play-house stoves, which we children at home used to build by making two Ii ttle piles of stones or bricks, closed up at the back and building a fire of dried leaves or bits of sticks between. F.oUl' of these places are large enough to snpport the big kettles in which the rice &0., is cooked, the others are jost sufficient for bak­ing their l'ittle oakes of u-nleavened bread. Hindustanea people generally cook their food over similar places and with­out a chimney for the escape of smoke. After the cook-room comes the grinding-room j one end of this is set apart for spinning. The mills for grinding are made by building on the mud floor a little mound of clay about half a foot high ~d one and-a:~half f~e~ iu dia.meter. Two heavy round stones

{ 13

with a hole in the centre are fitted over each of these mounds. Tbe wheat is thrown in the hole, a handful at a time and the stone kept revolving around a very little short iron axle, thus crushing the wheat as it sifts down between the two stones. A wooden handle is fastened to the upper stone by which it is turned. In our grinding room are three rows of these mills, siX in a row; two or three girls grind at each mill and about sixty girls have to grind three hours each day in order to supply the daily bread. While one set of the girls grind, the others old enou'gb, take their turn at cooking and draw­ing water. Our girls nearly always sing at their grinding, for they say it makes the mills turn more easily. Two store rooms in which rice, wheat, &c., a;re kept, complete the row of buildings at the left of the gate. These, with the exception of th8 matron's and clothes· rooms, are all new.

At the right of the gate is a pleasant school room and two small recitation rooms, with verandah front and back of each. These are used for the very little girls who are learn .. iog to read and also for sewing rooms,.

The outer yard or compound is used as a playground and in' it is a Hower garden and also many pleasant shade and fruit trees, with a well at one end from which to water the trees: at the other end and near the entrance, stands the sehool-building, which consists of one large room and three recitation rooms with a verand~h all around. The large room will seat all of the girls, for our girls sit in rows on the 'matted floor and thus require 'less room than if we used henches. The walls are hung with pleasant pictures, maps and mottoes. At one end of the room is an altar surround­ing a platform, a table, chairs, &c. This room is used not only for school, but for Sunday-school, and weekly prayer and class meetings: baptisms, marriages &c., amongst the girls, are always celebrated in this room, and, what the children think is best of all, once a year we hold our Christmas festi .. val here.

Mr~ McGrew ha.s kiodly and most efficienbly managed

( 14

tLe Orphanage buildings, thus relieving the Superintendent of what this year of all others, WOllld ha v~ seemed a burden. Much of the time from one to two hund~'ed workmen have· been employed and to look after them with their indolent natures and laok of conscientiousness, has been 110 light task. Dr. Scott and j\ir. McGrew have also aided us greatly in the weekly IJrayer meetings.

'rhe work of the Orphanage this year has been more than usually trying. Our numbers were larger than ever before at the beginning of the year and since then fifty-s~yep. new ones have been received. Fourteen girls have married and fifteen have died. Our prasent number is two hundred and sixty-soven. Of these eighty are between one and six years of age, about fifty are between si:t and eight. These are all famine children and very delicate in constitution. If some of the mothers in Christian lands where God's blessing maketh all things to abound, could see thaselittle waifs, whom th.ey are helping to support; bright, interesting little ones as full of winsome ways and cunning sayings as are those of whiter skins, yet so emaciated and enfeebled for want of food, their hearts would ache for them as mine has oft this year; th.e ache too would often give place to joy and thankfulness with the thought of what they are and may become compared with what they were only so short a time since. These very little ones are in classes of about twenty-five each with two oldel" girls in charge of each class. These monitors haye to see that these little ones ar.e prop.erly bathed and combed, keep their clothing mended, look after their food,&c. One of theil' daily duties is to rub each little one thoroughly with oil, while they are taking their su;n baths, a thing which thrifty Rj;ndustanee mothers seldom fail to d J) if they can afl'ol'd the oil.

The rains this year have been more severe than for many years previous, occasioning great want aud distress. This was followed by such a time of malarial fever as has never b,e.en known here beforeJsom~times as man.y as a h~ndr~d

deaths occurring in the city in one day. For weeks we 'had tit the Orphanage, from fifty to sixty at a time down with the fever, bnt nearly all recovered. Of the fifteen girls who died this year, twelve were very little ones. Mrs. McGrew has been untiring in her mcdicaL-eare of the sick iiI the Orphan.; age and many little ones are now well and strong for whose recovery we felt at times there was no reason to hope, but these little ones had not strength to rally. The other three died each of quick consumption: two were jnature Christians and died in the tl'uimph of faith; for the other we felt great anxiety, when we knew she could not Ii ve; for she had never ma.de a profession of Christ. She seemed at first, indifferent in regard to the fnture, but tow~rds the last evinced great concern. .About a week before her death she wept bitterly while we were trying one day to point her to Christ and to commit her in prayer .to Him. During her illness she had be~

.come blind and it was sad indeed to see the tears force them,; gelves through her closed lids and course down her cheeks. While we were praying she broke out in earnest, audible prayer fdr herself. We said to her; " You have given yourself fully to Christ; rest q:uietly now in the assurance that He accepts of you." She replied "I will" and began singing the hymns" I'm a pilgriin and I'm a stranger," "I want to be an angel" a.nd " Just as I am," singing each hymn through; while singing " Just as I am,' every barrier seemed to be broken down and Christ's love to fill her heart; her tears con­tinued to flow; butthey were tears of joy; she then sang, "Joy­fully, joyfully onward I move," after which she sunk into a quiet sleep. She continued happy and trustful after this, until the time of her death. She had been unable to speak for several days and just before her death, we told her she was passing away and said, " If you are still resting jn Christ and have no fear of the future, place your hand upon your heart." Slowly and with greatdi$culty, ehe raised her emaciated arm and placed one hand upon her breast; she attempted to place the other ha.nd also, hut was too weak to accomplish it

{ 16

a"nd the halt-raised arm: fell back: she "turned her sightless eyes toward he9.ven, a smile played over her features and she was gone. Those of her schoolmates who witnessed her death will not soon forget it. We had asked believingly at the beginning of the year, that none of our number should be called to meet death unprepared and we rejoiced that we had again proven" His counsels of old~' to be "f~ithfulDess and truth/'

Eight of the girls who married this year are working' succe~sfully in different parts of the Mission as Bible-women and teachers. Those remaining in school have in spite of the many interrnptions, made good progress in their studies. The school has been broken in upon, not by sickness but for want of room. Much of the year the school-rooms, dining-rooms &c. had to be used as living rooms. The classes were taught

, on the verandahs and under the trees when the weather would permit. The food was also cooked and served out-doors. Two of the norma.l class girls have been engaged with MrB~ McGrew in the Hospital, the others have accompanied the Bible-women regularly to the zenanas, helping and at the same time learning to become good helpers. The first-olass girls have taught during school hours and had their recitations out of school. They have worked well and the yea.r has in many respects been an encouraging one. Miss Jore, -who has been our faithful a.ssistant for six years; expects to leave us SOOD.

She will be a loss to the work and we shall miss her greatly, but arefortuna.te in being able to retain the services of Miss Durand, who is proving a very efficient worker. Miss Jore draws her support from the North-West Branch and 'Miss Durand from the New York Branch.

17

ZENANA WORK.

Mrss F. J. SPARKES, MISS E. FLOYD,

Missionary. Zenana Teacher.

Bible-women.

ANNT .JAFFRl!:Y,

MARY DRAKEJ

BIBA.

LINDA COlT,

LOIS JUDD,

THE retrospect of the zenana work at the close of this ye:1l' is on the whole encoueaging. As is always the case in this branch of the wOl'k pa.rticularly, we are conscious of having sown much seed which has been choked and other­wise destroyed, bnt some seed we kn.ow has sprung up and brought forth fruit.

Some of the women visited evince gl'eat iuterest in the words taught them and look furward to the visits of the Bible­women with eagerness. Seventy-two new families have been opened to us this year, making our presen t nambel' one hundred and twenty; of these sixty. five are Maho.medans, fifty-five Hilldoos. These families have all been visited regularly. Many who are learning to read are visited twice a week, others weekly, with the exception of a very few whom we visit fOl·t,night.ly. One- of the most encouraging features of the work has been the increased zeal and love for the work on the part of those engaged in it. Miss Floyd our zenana teacher ha.s readily won her way to the hea.rts of the women she visits and some of her pupils at'e most inter­esting. The Bible-women are all earnest Christian workers" who Qvince a real love for souls. Miss Floyd and the Bible-women are accompanied each, by one of the Orphanage Normal class' girls who hn.ve given good assisbance in the work. and because of it, will be the better prepal'ed to work successfully when it fll,lIs to them to go out alone.

In many families where we visit, the women tell us they have given up the worship of idols and express very

( 18 )

little faith in their former religion, bu t they do not readily grasp the spiritual truths in our religion and a few who do appreciate and understand such truths have many obstacles to overcome before they can publicly profess Christ. Only yesterday we visited a woman, the wife of a prominent Hindu, of whom we could but say" Thou art not far from the king­dom." She was expecting us and we found her reading the Bible; she showed an eager, interested desire to understand all she read, and some of the questions she asked showed that she had thought much upon these things. Her neighbours speak of her as a Christian but so long as she is not baptized she does not separate herself from her friends. Her husband is greatly interested in the truths of our religiun and himself reads the 'restament given to his wife. 'fhe woman told us with much satisfac~ion that her husband did not object to her praying to our God even, and added, "I kneel down and pray every night and morning, sometimes before him, but I am afraid I do not know how to pray aright." We tried to get her to tell what prayer she generally prayed, but she replied, " I cannot remember to tell it, for my heart's feelings are not always the same and whatever my heart cries out for, I ask, only God is so great and so far away, I wonder some­times if He hears me." She knelt with us when we prayed, although two of her neighboul·g were looking on.

Another family who are regularly visited, avow open­ly their determination to become Christians. In this and the other family 0130 the husband often remains while the lesson is given. He says, and we think sincerely, he is ready to be baptized any time, he and his family, if we will- only promise that work shall be given him so that his family may not Buffer, for he feels assured his friends would not help him to work after he becomes a Christian. We dare not give him the promise, lest we encourage him in asking f?r loaves and fishes, bu t al'e trying to teach them the meaning of II If ye love fat.her, mother, brothers more than me ye p.re not worthy of me."

19

One of our Orphanage girls in visiting with a Bible woman one day, accidentally learned that she had relatives living in the city, She was about seven years old when she came to the Orphanage and it seems she belonged to a good family of considerable means, She was married as is the custom here, very young and had many valuable jewels and other presents given her at the time of her wedding. Shortly after this both parents died. Hester was left in the care of an older brother who suffered her one day, and some Bay purposely, to wander away. Some one finding her, brought her to the OrphauAge and her friends, although great in­quiries were made, never learned her whereabouts. This brother appropriated her jewels, &c., and has made way with all that belonged to the family. A sister, who is enough like Hester to be twin sister to her, was delighted to see her and so was the brother's wife and other friends: indeed her arrival amoug them occ.1.sioned much excitement and she was called into lllany houses near that they might see if she really were the lost daughter or not. The brother, however, seemed annoyed and did not want her to repeat her visit and he being the oldel' :1nd his word law, for a time it seemed that Our hopes Ilad been raised only to fall again. We now ha ve permission to go thet'e and that neighbourhood is one of our regular visiting places. We believe God has given us this as a token for good. Hostel' as well as the Bible-women are very eal'nest io pl'.l.ying t.hat hel' friends may be brought to Christ. 'Phis \vol'k i~ supported mainly by the New York Bl'anch and ought to ha.ve engaged in it a lady from Amerioa who can give hel' eu tire time to this alone.

20

MEDICAL WORK.

MRS. J. L. McGREW, M.D.,

REBECCA GOWAN,

lIHssionary. DispenSar?1 Assis{a1it.

MATILDA,

LORAINE,

ROiiANNA,

RUTH SWEET,

::: } Student •.

Dispensary Bible-woman.

AN annual report must of necessity contain much and hint at more that is mere repetition. Perhaps a few points may be noted} which, if not entirely new, have been of yet more than previous importAnce. .A s usual the chief work has been that dOlle in the DispensaI'y, where our numbers have reached as high as ninety a day j the statistics given below will show that in this department there lias been a decided increase in t1:o Dumber of patients over lRElt year, and indeed over any pre'dous year siDce the opening of Medica! work in Bareilly.

The corps of Assistanb has been strengthenecl by three new Medical students, two of wbom nrc fl'O~;l the !-7ormal Class in the Orpbanago herB, and the third coming fl'OlD the school in Moradabad. 'fIley haye completed t.he study of a Hmall Anatomy in Hindee and have studied Pharmacy and Materia Medica. They can read and write prescriptions l'endily and have had a great <leal of practice in compounding 11ledicines and in the care of the sick children in the Orphanage. 'rheil' interest and ambition in their work has been highly gratify­ing.Bertha Siglet· whose name has appeared for sevel'al years in the list of Medical students, died early in the year. She had long been wearing away (she dieu of consumption) and at the last expressed her willingness to depart, for her hope in Christ was strong, but she said with much feeling that she had wanted to work for Him here in Hindustan. She was always ambitious in her work and was ve;y promising.

( 21 )

Rebecca, supported by the Baltimore Branch, has been faithfully at her post as in previous years but has greatly added to her reputation among the women by her success in treating the prevailing fever during my absence through a. part of September and October.

For nearly two yea rs th~ post of Dispensary Bible-woman has been vacant because we knew of noone who seemed fitted to fill the place. It requires a woman of tact and adJress, one too who has living experience in her heal·t of Christ's power t') save; such an one we think we have seoured in Rutb who has been working for t be last two months of the year. About the same time we began the practice of meeting to­gether in a room of the Dispensary the first thing in the morn­ing to ask God's especial blessing on the labors of the day, and this means has been signally blessed in increasing the heart preparation for our work in each one of us. Occasion­ally such patients as have been present have been invited to join us, but the intention of the 'prayer-meeting is that thus the hearts of the workers may be fully prepared and that we may always remember that there is a spiritual side to our work.

In the Hospital we have had sixty-one patients; of these forty-eight were the ID0St miserable of tlle famine children from the Orphanage. We treated many in the school, and only took into the hospital the very worst cases. Of these eight died. Five of our patients 'in hospital have been women of our Christian community, four were Hindus, and three were ~rahomedanB one of whom came- from Pilibhit.

The city practice has been rather smaner than )ast year but nearly every case has been of special interest aside from the professional interest of physician in patient. In one Hin­du family the women gathered their neighbors together and we ,had a most intelligent congregation to whom the new Testament and Bhajans in Hindee seemed to be of unfailing interest. In anuther house our patient, the wife of a pleader, became greatly interested in reading the cc MUm'llksh Brit­tant," (Indian Pilgrim.) We have been called also to some

of tbe highe~t castes of MalIom~dan~.. It seemed s.trange to be told here in B~eilly that we were the first white facQa they had seen.

The chief work of theyear,~owever,ha.B been that men­tioned first, viz., the dispensa:ry: there the interest and the energy put into the work have,been centred. If a dispensary could be opened in the city proper it would be highly advan­tageous to the work in many respects. There will of course always be the necessity of keeping up the disl.ensary here becaase of the Orphanage and the Christian Community. Bat a city dispensary would be a feeder to the hospital here as· we would thus secure a much larger number of patients when the a~stance to the dispensary would be decreased about two mIles, and' thus the city practice would also be increased. It could easily be accomplished by hiring a good house in a desirable locality which could be done for Rs. 12 or 15 pel' mensem an~, putting the Bible-woman and the dispensary assistant to live there with their families.

In conclusion we have o,nly to add that the year of work now closing has been full of those little notes of encourage­men't which come in accidentally and give courage and hope tp the workers. May each ensuing year be ever brighter and more hopeful to all who may find in this work their portion of labor in the vineyard of our Lord.

STATISTICS OF MEDICAL WORK FOR 1879.

Patients, Hindus.

1,774 Makom'B.

366 Oh,istians.

881 1.'otal. 3,621

Prescriptions, 6,000 Fecs, Rs. 181.

The Dispensary Bible-woman and Medical work is sup­ported by the New England Branch~

( 23 )

SCHOOLS.

MRS. T. J. SCOTT, ... CHRISTIAN WOMEN'S SCHOOL.

FANNY E. RAYBOLD; alias FANNY P .... TRAS,

DITY GIRLS' SCHOOLS.

MJ.RTHA SILAS, ••• ..• Teaohers:

Mi8sion'arll.

Teacher.

Inspectre88 .

PARBAT! OR BHAUSE,

MAHOMADEE, I N AN HI BEGAM.

W ALAITI BEGAM. RAM PRIYARE, J ISRA" (part of the year.J

THE SCHOOL FOR CHRISTIAN WOMEN AND CHILDREN.

WE have been greatly encouraged and not a Httle com­forted at seeing the progress made by our women pupils during the past year.

In 'DO previous one has the attendance been so good or the genuine interest in learning so manifest.

They really seem to learn for the love of it and not be­cause we insist upon it.

Nearly every day some of them tell me how glad they are that they have been taught and thank us for the interest we have taken in them even when they did not appreciate their privileges-and that we required them to come whether they wished or not. N ow they -say, "We value knowledge for we have learnad a little of its worth." Most of these women were villagers and very ignorant ones too, having be­come Christians because their husbands did.

They are not lacking in ability. however, and most of them learn fast. Some of them attend school under difficulties, having their own cooking, housework, and little children also to look after; i~deed most of them bring a child in arms along with them, perhaps another hanging to their skirts. Others have come when they were hardly able to be out of bed. But notwithstanding all this, there is D{)t one who ha.s not learnod

(24 )

to read and· write, eithel' in Urdu or Hindee, the majority in both languages. They have been drilled in the catechism, one day in the w.eek being set apart fur this, and the learn­ing of their Sunday-school lesson,. the Berean series. We have tl'iedin humility to teach them some of the best ways of cal-ing for, and training their chil drel;l. (In this we have not succeeded very weH, for they have their own ideas of these matters which are hSt'd to change.) They often say, "Oh Mem Sahib your wa.y is best for English, but our's for Hin­dustani children."

The necessity of leading theEe women is apparent. They a.re wives of Mission helpers, i. e., those who are now prepa.r­ing themselves to become so. They will either be a help or a. great hindrance to their husbands,-a help if capable of teaching or able to read the Bible to the heathen: and by set­ing ·the right kind of au example to those around them they can do more than in any other way.

We trust they are all hetteL'Christians, better wives and mothers for the training they receive here by the blessing of God. There are sixteen names enrolled. Besides these twenty-one children attend the school, girls from the ages of five to twelve. They too are taught both Hindee and Urdu, a.nd have done well. ~'anny E. Raybold who has been the teach­er of this school, has been most faithful and has been success­ful as a teacher. We see the necessity for a Boarding school for girls who live in adjacent villages. We should shield 'our Chlistian girls from the terrible influences .that surround them in this heathen land. The monthly Missionary meeting among the Native Christian women has been rather more interesting than before. We have had lfuartel'ly tea-meetings with very much the saUle effect as has been noticed in similar organizations at home. But the besttbing in the meeting bas been the volunteer service of many of the members in making regular visitations at theil' places in the city. Six have offered themselves each month and have .gone by twos once a week to hold pra.yermeetings in the city among the heathen

( !5

,or. semi-ohristians ... The class meetings a~oDg the women have been .very well attended and growth in grace in many of the si:)tel's is very notioeable.

'rH. CITY GIRLS' SCHOOLS.

'rHERE were sevellMission " Gid~' Schools" at the begin­ning of the yea.·, but one was closed for want of funds, in April. The teachet' of the mehtal' gil'ls' school became ill and it was thought best to close it, hence only five are now in existence, with f\ pl'ospect of auy number if we can get funds to .Clll'ry them on wjth. I receive almost daily requests from different pa~ts of the city to start new schools. Those form­erly fupported by Government al'e all closed-three c. which were veley pl'omising. I muoh desire to take them over 8,8

l\lission schools, next year. The attendance has been fail' notwithstanding the sick­

ness that prevailed during the~l~ainy season. The progress in studies, satisfactory, though not what t.eacbers at home would· expect, We h'lve learned to make due aHowance. The girls are SlllA.l1, as a rule under twelve years of age-diffioulties to overcome, many. Martha. "\Valker has visited them regularly, and brings me daily reports of each one. As she finds so much to do in them, she goes to only one a day, giving them a thorough drilling each time in all theil' studies, Three are fOl' Mahomedan and two for Hindu girls; 011e of the former is taught by a woman who has been baptized. Sunday-selwol, have been taught in eaoh one of these by the Bible women who teacl) in zenanas aided by Miss Floyd.

It rejoices OUt' hearts to report that these little girls are learning a great deal n.bout our holy religion. They 1eal'n vel'se aftet' verse of Scriptul'e, the Cateohisin, repeat the LOl'd's prayer with theil'little hends bowed nnd hands clasped, sing. OUl' .hymns beautifully, aQd seet:n to love the Sunday­school best. Those schools are all effectual doors to the zenanas, We oan have access to all the homes of these

( 28 )

children, indeed I never visit a school that I do not meet a number of the mothel's, who invite me to visit them at their homes. I often find opportunities to speak a wOl'd for Jesus to the women of the UloBulla~ in which our schools al'e.

Not long ago, a mother came to me with streaming eyes, telling me of the death of one of her little girls who had attended a Mission school. Shi said Tulsa had prayed to Christ, and had said, "I Wish I could see the Mem Sahib once 111ore: I am going to heaven to be with Jesus." She said they· could not induce her to pray to the Hindu gods, but that she did not seem to fear death at all.

We trust there are ma~y little Christians at heart in our schools though they may not openly profess it. We will continue to sow the good seed knowing that in due time it, will take root and grow and bring forth a fl'uitful ha.rvest. The Christian and City schools 0.1'0 supported by the New York Branch.

~;.II!'!:)~--

8UtlllJ t~B~NPlJH.

~fRS. A. R. JOHNSON, ... CASSIA. BARNES,

ltfATILDA TODD,

ANN E HAMIW'ON,

URSA,

:,MINBBVA ADAM'::,

BELLA PLUMER,

CBARLOTTE ~lA.SIH, ANN COCKEIt,

RANI, .

K!UNUM T111~~ER, HEERA,

MA&Y ELLEN SINGH,

1 J }

MU8ionarv·

l'each~'·8.

MARY E. SVT1'ON, ... Zenana visitot·.

ON the whole the past year's work has Dot been entirely satisfactory. Thero have been mauy hindrallces. The heavy raiDS.

( 27 )

washed away the bridge so that it was impossible toget to the city from Lodipore. Then the sickness, fever nnd chills; both teachers and fcbolars were unable to attend the schools. The attendanoe has been very irregular, in schools formerly averaging 18 or 20, would be seen only 5 Or 6 girls. The Bible-woOlen in visiting the zenanas found sick people every where. A Medical Missions)'y Ia.dy would have been very popular this year. We have 8 schools in the city, 7 Hindu, 1 ~lahomedan; these schools arc all bettel' attended now, this last month of the year, and things look brightel'.

The Bible-women have visited the zenanas nnd schools regularly, and new zenanas have been opened. 'l'uel'e m'e over 90 in all, and we shall have to increase our number of Bible-women. Beside the teachers in the schools, there are four Bible-women.

BELU, PLUMER, Native Pastor's wife. IN Tilbur are two girls' schools and a small zenana work,

superintended by the Native pastor"s wife. A Bible-woman is sadly needed at Tilhur, and more schools could be opened there.

~AWAYAIMJ·

CBARLOTTI MASIB, Native Pasio)"s wife. IN PawsYlln are also two schools and a small zenana work

superintended by the Native Pastor's wife, These schools are always prosperous and muc~ good is done.

'AMlAM'@Rg,

KSANUM TURNER, Teacher. HEIRA. SUKH, A8sistant'l'eaclter. BANI, Bible-woman. MINERVA ADAMS, NaUve Pastor's wffe.

OUK work at Pannbpore is about as usual. The school has changed teachers during the year. The Pastor's wife

( 2~

beps up Doon-day seryice c'Yith t~e wome~. Th~, Bible­woman visits the adjoining villages, and is kindly received.

We are opening out work in Jalalablld. Ann Cocker, wife of the Native Pastor ther~, has already gaine~ access to the family of Hanuman Singh, the thakur lately ba.ptiz~d, nnd hopes to extend ~he worl{.

The Bengali work has not ~een a snccess here in ShajehaDpore, so has been-given up partially; the hottles are visited regularly but no special time given to teaching fancy work; _only Hindee is taught, and 80me as~istnnce given in work. The pOOl' people receive us gladly cveJ''ywh~re. No special effort is made to get into the higher clllsses, although we have some zenanas ftmongst them. We occupy all the homes as they open to us, rich, poor, high or low. The zeDfIDn. visitor and myself have vibited over 60 of the zenunas, and some of them many times. We need Dl are walkers, and hope to be reinforced next year.

= BIJNOIJK.

:MRS. McHENRY, AlisBionary.

{ :Mat'ron of Girl,;' Boarding

.MRS •. ROGEl/S, ••• School.

EMILY McAnTH VR, } .....•. Teachers. JENNIE F. WlLLlNG"

AGNES OUT.l'ER, }

.

... '. Bible-women. ELLA POETER,

EMMA SHIrLEY, Medical 'Biblo-woman. JOSEPHINE MERRILL" Native Pador'3 'Wife. N h f MRS. LUI:E, .~. NatiY8 PastOt·'s wife.

ageena • l. M .. TTIE SINGH,.. Bible-woman. Najibabad.-M .. s. MCGREGOR, .Head Master's·wiJe.:

. ~ e-women. Jfandaur.-. RANEE, ••• } B'bl Bashta.-HAl5CNAB" ... THE Bible-women and Mahomedan girls' schools are snp­

ported by the New England Branoh. ,

( 29 ~)

The Christian Girls' Boarding School With the excep­tion of six Scholarships, is supported by tIle N ortli" Western Branch. Six scholarships are' held by ~he Cincinnati Branch.

Twelve ,Bible-women are engAged in the work. Three of these work without "compensAtion. SeveD ,are in Bijnour and five in the di~tl~ict. TtJl'ee 0'£ tho~e in llijriour are em­ployed in the Boal'liing School. They have been diligent and ear~est du rii1g the year. IIi addition to theili rtguh1r' work they have made a number of trips to the surrounding villages. Em ma Shipl~y has had chal'gc of the zenana work and Mahomedun girls' sch0ds ill the city. Her knowledge of medicine hAS been of much s~rvice both here and in itinei'­ating. rrhe Boarding School has tal(en so much of my' time that I have only been able to Bupel'vise the City work in a genel'al way. Anum bel' of wealthy families have opened their dOQl's to us. We Lave taught English to two nieces of the Synd Ahmad Khan, the Mahomedan I'eformer. We hav~ four pu pils learning Hindee in a Serislitadar's family. They are very affectionate and are. fond of our hymns. The poor hear us 'gladly. The women ard always ready to stop their work and talk awhile al?out the things of God. ~fe have many fl'iends among the children. They run· after the buggy and call out, "You have not been in om' qUartel' of the city in a. long while: the women talk of you daily.'; As we drive on We hear them ehout, " Come vel'y' soon, come to-morrow."

CHRISTIAN GIRLS' BOAftbiNG SCHOOL.

The pl'eEent number of boarders is 36. We had 41 the fit'st term of the year, but being pressed for funds we refused after the midsummer vRcatioD to receive auy pupils out of Bijnoul' district who had s(;hool accommodations iu tbeir own districts. Two orphans have beeD sent to the Orphanage after spending sevel'al months in the school. The progress of the girls in their studies bas been for tbe most part satis­factory-. In the early part of the year we had no efficient Ul'du teaoOOl' and since Septembel' sickness has much inter-

( .30 )

fered with school work. AU but two of the girls have had the prevailing fever. The moral tone of the school is good. At first, quarreling, calling of names and petty theft were of frequent occurrence and also lying to uonceal a fault. They have almost entirely ceased. I oCten am met by a girl as I enter the yard who comes forward to acknowledge sbe has broken a dish or torn her dress. I have not bad to settle a quarrel during the year and but one petty theft has Qccurred.. Three pice were stolen from a little girl and after an unsuc­cessful inquil'Y after the offendel' we left it with the Lord with tbe request that for the good of all the guilty one might be discovereJ. A few days after the pice were found wrapped in a bit of cloth in the thatch. The child who had stolen them had been seen by a playmate putting the bit of cloth there. All wel'e impressed with the speedy answer to prayel' and were thoughtful and solemn in their class meeting tho t came that day.

VILLAGE SCHOOLS.

Two little schools have been opened for Christian girls in Mandaur and Mahomedpore. The parents are very poor and igJj.orant. The girls earn a few annas a month by tend­ing swine an~ g"ther fuel for the family while in the fields With their droves. This pittance, small as it is, seems more valuable to their parf)nts than an education, and thus far we have been unable to get them into the Boarding School. Six gil'Is are reading in each village. Scholarships of 25, 12, and 6 cents per month according to the age are given as a compensation for the time lost (!) to the parents while the children are in 8chool. We hope to get 80me of them into the Boarding School in course of time or if not to train them in Christian truth where they are. They learn the catechism and hymns as a part of their daily lesson.

M.AHOMEDAN GIRLS' SCHOOLS.

These are six in number, a new one having been opened in Najibabad in the middle of the year. The Ohandpore

( 31 )

school will be closed December 81, 8S there is now· no Bible­woman there to give religious instruction. It. is hoped Emma Shipley may be able to open one in NageenabJ her n~w fjeld of labor. We have never been able to open one there 8S yet. These schools are more and more a center of Christian influ­ence. The girls read Christian books and sing our hymns in their homes. We meet their mothers at the Etchool and neighboring women who call us to their houses and thus new zenanas are opened for our visi\s.

THE DISTRICT WORK.

THIS has been nnusually interesting this year. I often meet women from the district at the houses of their friends where I visit In the city. If a friendship is formed I always renew it if possible in their own hODles when we itinerate. On visiting such a village a great crowd of women assemble. Often we are the first white women taey have ever seen. Thus our one acquaintance, who feel. highly honored by" the distinction conferred upon her honse, ~~comes the means of our p: el\cbing Christ to a multitude. About ten days ago we tUl'ned off from the maiD l'oad and sought the "little Vil­lage of Bhanera where we had promised to visit the zenana of a zamindal'. We were out on a regular preaching tour with three preachel's, 8 colporteur and two Bible-women. The cavalcade co~aisting of preachc!son horse-back, Bible­women in a baily and ourselves in the boggy made a tre­mendous stir in the village. I quite feared we should frigliteD our friends into closing their doors against us, Halting under a iree we waited an answer to our message. It was favorable and we went inside, Charpoys were drawn oot for us to ait on and I heard my hostess cautioning her rural neighbors not to sit Oll the charpoy with me as it would be rude to do so. Before we" were hardly settled one of 'he women said "Sing' Stop and think 0 careleee ones.':' I had met several of these women a year and It half ago in Bijnour

( 82 )

.and was· surpri!ed t1fftt'sb~ remembered ~he .hYPln sung on t~t occasion. 'I DOQ't YQg remember me r" she cOlltiJlued : u.I .. am the wo~an who ,v"s so "fr.ai4 to di~, ~nd I must confess

.1 h!;'ve a terrible fear of it yct/' _llu<liqgtQ th~ con.Vefsation that tovk pl~ft tit ~ our former mee~i~g. We had' a. plain earn~st talk abolJt Ohrl$t, the Son Qf God, th,e S~vi9ur from sin,. the, conqQltror. of d~ath. We could hardly get away frQlIl their aifectiollate entreaties. ~o .,tay . longer. Ou~side we found Mr. McHent·y nnd ~he .nativq br.et,hren surt'ounded by all the men and boys of the village apparently listening to ihe gospel meHsage. We have made fouL' visits of this kind and have several other clues to follow up in. other parts of the distl'jct. At the Ganges mela we hsd a grand' time. We had fogr Bible-women and four of the large school girls. While 'lheMissionary and Native preachers were holding 'forth before their tent we spread mats befol'e the Bible­women's tent and invited' tbe women to sit down and listen. S. ace fails to tell oC all t.be heart, cheering incidents. One thing struck we forcibly that in every group there was at least one woman that listened with manifest hunger of soul to hear of God. A sa.d-eyed Brahmineemotberwh'o hadlosttwo little one. dUI,jng t~elate fever scoul'ge, sat-as if drinking in words of life while we told her of It. hope beyond death, of clasping Javed oq~1 again and enjoying their society forever. These poor creatlires believe that the 80uls of the departed go at death f~ so~e animal o~ .rep~.. Their prie~ts often pre­tend to teU by means of dlVlnatlOn lnto what anImal the soul has gone~ Rising to go she sa.id, "YOU\' worda and bymnl hi\ve made my -heart 'so glad, tbat I feel like one who has conie to the fair and purcha.sed her 81'ms full of good things." She came the next day briDging a number of her acquaint­ances to hear the same good words. We met' women; from all over the distriot; '~ome came to us again and again and we promised to see them in aheir villages if pos.ibie. We were both cbeered and cnst .down by OUl' expel'ienoes bere : cheered that we found 80 many hllDgry 80uls : cast down 'bat

( 33 )

we could re~ch so few,of the vast mul . udfS asse.~bled. 4f:d when our mInd went farther and took ~~t8tfb,~~ included in our field of labor, the small fractIOn 0 W om we could hope to reach with our best efforLs,_the exultation and enthusiasm which we had· felt in these-few days of OPPOl'tU"

nity was materially modified.

c- '

BIJD . .\ON.

MRS. HOSKINS, OAROLINE ROBERTS,

CAROLINE WRIGHT,

MARY ANN ARTHUR,

MAHARANI KHAN,

NANNIE TURNER SCOTT,

M'l'S8'iona1'Y" School Inspec·l'J'esfJ.

Bible Readers.

CHRISTIAN GIRLs' BOARiHNG SCHOOL-.

Mat'ron. MA.ULVI AHMAD HOSAIN, TeaclLef·. AGNES HAWES, (Jl~ris~ian Teacher. ELIZABETH SliMUEL, P1-irnary Dept. MARTHA, } Oh1'isJian teachers J OBODH!:, in city Schools. Kakra'lila NELLIE MORRIS, I Ghota ..• SARAH ELLEN ROSE, " B-is8ouli and Muna.ia MARTHA BRUCE, Bible Read. Dalaganj BELLE LEONARD, ~ ers & Teach .. Manauta CORNELIA JORDAN, I ers. Saisloan TORINA DATT, •

Bilsi, CLAUDIA DATT, J A REVIEW of the year shows much labor expended,

much good accomplished, and some paipable results. The City Girls' Schools have been well attended, with a bet~et' average attendanee than in any' previous year. The pTe­sent Scho'ol Iospectre'ss is well fitted, by educu.tion and

experi~nce in teachingJ f~r the position she fins, and uDder her supervision, the schools are becoming quite satisfactory. VVe are often discouraged from the fact that the older girl's leave school just when they are attaining proficiency in 'theil' studiesjbut we ha.ve the satisfaction of knowing that they take with them to their new homes some knowledge of divine truths, and in some instances we have' followed them to their zenana homes and co~tinued there to instruct them and their associates.

One day when I was visiting the schools I was sent for to go to a zenana near, and, on entering was welcomed by a well dressed and heavily jeweled woman, who introduced me to the other female occupants of the house ns her Mem Sahiba. After a little conversation she brought out some books and told me that she had =Ueen going on with her studies since she left school and nsked me ~o examine her in them. I asked her some questions (rom Barth's Scripture History which she held in her hand, and not only she, but some of the other women ans­wered readily. The women told nle they very llluch en­joyed sitting down together and listening to her as she read from her books. When I was leaving my young friend told me she had I'ead through all her books and asked me to send her a New Testament. The Bible women occasionally visit this honse and always find an attentive

,audience. A similar instance occurred in anothel' Mohulla, .. and in a neigh bouriug village we found one of our fgrmer pupils readjng the Testament to hel' friends .

.A new feature in our school work is a mixed school of sixteen boys and twelve girls in the Kahar MohullaJ taught by a Kahar who was educated in the :Missioll School. The boys and girls al'e about equal in the studies and· seem quite to enjoy learning from books. They all attend the .City Mission Sunday-school and after that is over they have a Sunda'y-sc~oo! ill theiJ' own achool-l·o~m.

( 3-5 )

.All the City SUDouy-schools are fully attended,tli-e _nnmber being larger on Sundays than on week days. Tn one retired Mohulla from thirty to fifty women gather in to heal' the instruotionevery . Sunday, and in every .school there are nlways present several who are .not enrolled pupils.

The zenana work has been carried on vigorously. The Bible-women receive more invitations than. they can well accept and we have been obliged to refuse a ~acher to several families~ because of inability to give as much time to tbem as was needed. With one exception, every :Mohulla in the city is visited by our Christian women. As a 'rule I should prefer a less extended field, as it is impossible to visit each place weekly while our working force is so smal1, but the Bible-wowen find it very hard to resist th_e urgent entreaties of those who are anxious to sea thew and listen to their message.

During June and July the Bible-women itinerated among the villages Dear Budaon, especially those where some of our famine girls formerly lived, and these visits of the Christians, who took with them the girls belonging to t,he seve~'al vjllag-es, had a good influence on the people. In some places they were urged to remain or to come again very soon, and since that time the fl'!ends and relatives of the girls have come to see th.em here, sometimes bringing a little gift of parched grain or a handful of vegetables. Through one of these fanline waifs whom we took with us au our December itine~a.ting trip, we have reached a new class of people and have opened an interesting work. In three villages the whole caste are earnestly inquiring about Christianity, and .in two villages several were anxiolls to be baptized.

Sevel,ltl of the girls, children of Christian parents, re­turned to th~it· homes for a few weeks during the hot weath.er vacation, and in visiting the vill!lges we are glad to find that the deportment and visible improvement iu the girls was lJighly commended by their frionds, rrlW. greater Dumber of

( 36 )

girls' in the school whether of Christian 01' heathen parentage, were given to us dUI-ing the famine, and are entirely under our control, but we seek to keep up a connection with their fami­lies by taking or sending the girls to their homes and encour­aging the relativ.es to come to see them. There are at pre­sent forty-seven in the school two or three of the girls being now at home with their relatives. A few of the smaller girls we sent home early in the year on account of our limited accommodations, but they will probably return when we have onr new buildings, and we shall also be able to receive sever­al Christian girls whose parents are anxious to send them and will pay something towards their support.

The girls, in addition to their school studies, are taught such work as will be useful to them in village life. The old­er girls have each their appointed time to grind, spin, cook, take car~ of the sleeping apartments and to look after the younger children. They make their own clothes, and make and mend also for the little ones. The girls in the upper class teach for an hour a day week by week.

The tw'O class meetings for the older girls are well attended and there is a good spiritual influence amoJlg them. Some have been converted during the year, and their lives testify to the genuineness of the change of heart. The girls all attend the Gity :Mission Sunday-school and the regu­lar Sunday services. .

The prayer and class m.eetipgs fur th.e Christian wome~ have usually been seasons of deep interest. The women have grow~ in grace and spiritual power and al'e,collsequently, better prepared to teach others the way of I"ife.

The monthly Missionary Meetings have b~e;n made v.ery profitable by pr.evious preparation on the part of the members. This has been wholly under the control of the native sist.ers, all the officers of the So.ciety, ,except the Treasurer, beiDg from among them.

'J'he work a;Qlong th.B :yi1la~es ip,c.rcu.ses in interest.

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We have spent some timo among the villages of the Bilsi Circuit and found a feeling of mark,od interest and inquiry among the people~ especialIy of tho Thakur caste. In several villages the Bible-woman is giving weekly inst.ruc .. tion to zenana women, and in Bain, Nai, and Khera she has services with the Christian women and teaches the children the catechism and hymns. For a part of the year she has also taught the Bilsi schoo], no other teacher being ava.ilable. I have been much pleased to observe llow faithfully the work hus been carried on both in the Bilsi and Bissowli Circuits.

The work in Dataganj and the adjacent villages is very encouraging. The Christian women are well received and theil' words listened to with a,ttention, and frequently the neighboriug women come to see them when they can do so unobsOl'ved. A good, impetus was given to this work in the ho"t season by the visits of the Bible-women to the villages, and we hope during our present itinerating toU!' to accomplish -much here for the Master.

The Kakraula work has suffered from the unusual sickness which has prevailed in this part of the country. The Bible-woman was ill for two months and members of her family for a still longer time, but as far as possible sho bas kept up the work, meeting and instructing the women, and teaching a school when well enough to do so. Her heart is in the work and we feel sure that if circum­stances had been diffet'ent, more would have been accom­plished. This has been the case al~o in Saiswan. Parbatti, who was appointed to the work, was really in earnest in endeavoring to win souls to Chl'ist, but the continued illness of her child seriously interfered with her plans for work, and she, reluctantly, has been obliged to give up regular work. VVe hope, however, that the seed that she has sown will yield a harvest to her successor, who has been iu the sawe work for 11 short time at llahl'era whel'e her

( 38 )

lUlsbnnd, by faithful labor has gatllered together a small Christian community. Bibba, who was formerly a teacher in Hareilly, takes up the work in :Mah'rera ;hich Torino. Datt has just left, and, although not regularly appointed to the work, will do what she can to teach and help th{:) jnquiring.

For some months we have been eagerly inquiring for a. suitable person to develop the work begun in Manauta, and the appointment of James Jordan and his wife'to that work is very gratifying to ns. A number of persons, men 'and women,· have been converted there during the past year and there is a favorable opportunity for work which will yield speedy r!3sults. Some of the children of the~e fa.milies have been sent to the Lucknow schools, and others are to come to us as soon as onl' accommodations will admit of an increase of scholars.

The Ghota work is well car.ed for by the faithful Christ.~ ian woman who has for years labored on that Circuit and also in the Karan pore circle. Nearly evel:] year women who have been instructed by her have bean added to the Church, and many others, who have not 'openly professed Chlist, ha.ve given up idol-worship and yield obedience to tho one true God.

The work in the District has never seemed to me so heart-cheering as at the present time. Our itinerating tour has been full of incidents of interest and encourage.­ment, a foreshadowing, we hope, of the ingathermg of 80uls.

'l'he :Medieal work has been rather a'tax on our tin.~, strength, alld means. Over one hundred rupees have beep. invested in medicines for gratuitouB distribution} and seve~'­a1 thousand cases have been treated. During the last few m"nths one hundred or more prescriptions has not been a.I1 unusual morning's work. While I have been out in th~

,villages women. of all classes have Lbeen brought to me to be cured, . and I have been gll~d to uso my slight knowl·

39 1

edge of' simple remedies, but in many cases I wa~ una.Ll'e f() do more than recommend them to go to the 'IV oman's Hos­pital in Bareilly. Oue old woman walked seven miles ana n'iorning to beg me to cure her eyes. In one village thero was Dot a house where there was not oneo! more lying ill.

Yve are planning to have an efficient helper in this bi'anch of our work next year.

The wOl'k of Budaon District is supportedby the New York, Western, and North-vVestern Branches.

NYN.~t1 1'_lL.

MRS. BUCK~ ... l!-'LORENCE GO'WAN,

BERNICE STEEL,

JANE, MYRIAN,

TULSEE,

Missionm·y. . Native Pastot's wife.

:::} Teachers.

:::} Bible-Reade1's.

WE began the year feeling we were treading on conse-crated ground. Sister Judd \)Tho had given her labor and prayers 10 this field for so nlany years, was compelled on ac­count of feeble health to return to America. Then in the zenana and homes everywhere we heard the name spoken softly and lovingly of the one who had so recently been called to join our Mission band on the other side, who are, we often feel, ministering spirits who with loving hearts and angel sympathies still yearn over and love the work that once absorbed them.

We have had much to encourage us : on every hand the wOl'k has opened up. In the early part of the year there was considerable visiting among the women in Huldwani and in the villages surroul&ding. The girls' school was also kept up here during the cold season. On OU·l' removal to Na-ini

,( 40 J

Tal early in March tho work there was regularly ,taken u.p. ,~r e wore intorrupted slightly (luring the season ~rst by the cholera and then by the heavy rains, still the good w.ork went on, and as we look ha.ck through the year our hearts are filled with gladness. We have had from 2'0' to 2'5 families whore we taught .. generally in Hindi, and few in Urdu, and among the better educated some in English. Some made good progress in their fStndies~ In some places where they knew how to read we gaV'e them lessons in the Bible, Barth's Scripture History and the Zenana Reader. Aside fl'om the houses where we taught, we had an almost equal number where we visited, some regularly, .others occasionally. But in all we had a. warm welcome and ready liste~ers to our songs and the CI Old Story."

In some respects the work is different from that on the Plains. The hazar during the season is very much crowded. The houses are generally three stories high, and in, fJvery l'oom or two are usually crowded whole fa.milies who, if having learned the ·first laws of cleanliness,. have no means of obser .. ving them. Often as you climb up the dirty stairways you see the filth and slime trickling down the walls to the cess­po.ol in the little entrance-court below. Your sense of sight and smell are violated in such a. manner that pen cQ:Uld not touch or describe. But all is Dot offensive. We ha ve pleasant memories of scenes after the height has been guined of seats­on the housetops of the lower or secluded range of houses, where whole neighborhoods of women have gathered and listened with the keenest interest.

Another feature of the work here is that we reach many of the best families-wives and children of the higher native officials who come up for .the season with the different Govern­ment Offices. They live in the front-rooms- of the houses. Many of thoir husbands ha.ve .dl'iftedawaJ from the old moorings. They are educated, thinking men, most of their wives have been taught to read, and in a few years will be­drifting like them I if we do not give them Christ to anchor to~

( 41

We were greatly straightened during part of the year to know what to do for some of these families: we could not give them the regular careful attention tbey needed. Florence is ac­ceptable and beloved in every place, but she has a large work among other classes. A woman without education or Borne position would not be received by them. Then many of them were studying English. In this strait Miss Mary Doyle, a devoted Christian girl, a member of our English congregation came as sent by God. She has long been wanting to work for the Master. She offered her services for the few remaining months of the year, we only giving her a moollshee to help her in her studies.

The girls' school has been kept during most of the season in N aini Tal. During the latter part of the year it was .moved to the Mission-house where we gave it our direct per­sona.l care. The school consisted of eight Ohristian girls and women and about a dozen Hindu girls, generally from the near village mentioned in Mrs. Judd's l'ellOrt last year. A cou pIe of wumen from the same village came a few times to our sew­ing class which we had twice a week in connection with the school. One, the mother of Pesli, one of our nicest, brightest girls we were quite surprised to filld, knew a great manybymns &c., and had not forgotten what she had learned as a little girl in Mrs. Thoburn's school some fifteen years ago. Bernice had charge of the school.

We have had a very pleasant work recently among a. number of families ban!las of or shop-keepers. .As the cold weather came on, and the women were drive in from their cold, shaded houses to seats by the road-side where t.hey would bring their sewing and little children, we had many opportunities for pleasant little Cchats with them. These hill women are not often kept closely confined to their homes like the ones in the Plains. We had g,~thered together quite a number of the girls for a school and were taking steps to secure a room when with the migrating population we had to move to the foot

( 42

of the mountains to Took after the work tllere. We can but hope with the return of the season we may be able to gather them together for they represent a large wealtllY class of these hill people whom it is difficult to reach. Aside from our native work, there is much among the large English and English-speaking' people that must claim some of our care and time. ",Ve would acknowledge grat.efully the help given to the different departments of our work by numbers of our -missionary ladies who spent the whole or rart of the season at our Sanitarium here. The work in lIuldwani has opened nicely. 1'Ve have already 28 girls in our scbool, which meets on the veranda of am' 11isEion-house and it 'is increasing daily. Jane, one of the Orphanage girls marl'jed und living here, has charge of it.

The number of persons has increased in IF-ai Nagar our Chl'istian village. There have beeD SOD:e twenty baptisms there of late. Tulsa, OUf native helper's wife, living thel'e has been giving part of her time to instructing the women. Recently Florence spent a month to great advantage among thorn, teach­ing and instructing the new converts, and visiting the near villages. Miriam has been at work during the year at Dhapla. where we have a Dumber of Christians.

Our missionary collection will a·mount to About Rs. 12 which has been expended in books and tracts for our WOl'k.

Thus the yoar closes with so Ii ttlo .done cODl:lidel'ing the great masses still unl'eached, aud yet may the little be as the leaven which a woman took and hid in three meRSUI'es or meal, and may the Divine blessing rest upon it till the glad tidings reaches out and permeates the whol~.

This work is supported by the Baltimore Bran?h .

. c

c· 43)

Pll'HORAG.!nU.

MRS. GRAY, •.• Missionary. THE work in Pithoragarh has been represented at some

length in two letters to the Healht'n Woman's Friend, so there does not seem to he much necessity for writing at great length here. This year, however, has been one of great encouragement in the work, especially among the girls in the school. Since May last five of the older girls have come out from their homes and people and joined 11S, and thus has bf'en begun a Boarding School for Christian girls. One more little girl, an orphan, has beQD taken in since, which makes the number six. Since Sep­tember it has been entirely in the charge of Mrs. Gray's sister Miss Annie Budden, who also fl'orn;that time hasjoined the ranks of the W F. ~L Society, to our great joy, and greatly to the strengthening and upholding of our hands and our work. Four of these girls have been attending the day school very regularly for the last 4 years, and for a long time past showed signs of their hearts being much touched and drawn by the love of Ghrist and all they had learnt about Him. They were finally brought to a decision to take this step of leaving their people, in con­sequence of the oldest girl in the school, and sister of one of these who has come to us, being found to be living a life of sin, and she was therefore turned out of the school. She had been a.girl ofmore promise perhaps than any, but her parents had delayed till so late in getting her married and temptations sur­rounded her-and she fell. These girls were fully conscious of being in like danger, and in order to escape it, when we spoke to them on the matter, said' they:· wished -to be Christians alJd be saved from sin.

The most kind and faithful teaching they have had for the last few months, sirendy shows signs of a new moral con­sciousness and a young spiritual life, which are most delightful and encouraging to witness, and OU1" hopes are strong and our prayers many that the influence may be powerful for good, aDd t.he light shining [l'om this Home/ol' Christian girls be bright"

( 44 )

nnd. reach the anl·k, sad, sinful homes they have left. In consequence of the coming of these girls, the numbers in the day school have somewhat diminished, butit still continues and " our girls" help us considerably in teaching those who for~ merly were "heir companions, and indeed for some time have been working the school aimost by themselves. There are three or four in it who wish to come to us also-but their paren·.s will not allow them, still we hope they may coma in time.

The work among the worn ell though not showing like results, has not been without encouragement. The numbers who have &ttended throughout the year both at· the mothers' work class and at Sunday-school have been very good and many show groat interest and attention in learning what is taught.

Hopes, that wele e,;:pressed in the last repOJ·t, about visiting the villages this year have not been realized, from want of time and opportunity, also at one time of the year cholera. prevailed all round us and prevented all work of this kind. But in the coming year, if we are permitted to keep. the helping hands which have been granted this branch of, the work, shall surely with the :Master's help, be taken up again. The School in a way nnites all these branches, gathers all into one and this has been going on all through the year very well both in nnmbers and interest: all who attend the Sunday-school seem to enjoy it.

45 )

MRS. GILL, MissiollU1·Y. r {Mat,'on of Orphanage and

MA.RY '\\ HEELER G REENEWOLD, p' . l J.f' P , S h 1 nnclp!, oJ aU1"l C 00.

M'ARY BEI.LA KIER, •••

SARAH O'DELL,

SUNDARI (SARAH GAGE

DE CONDERS),

} Teache,'s in Paftr; School.

THAGLr, } Teacltet's and Bible-PnuLMANI (N A.NCY W BITE) , Readers.

EMILY ALEXANDER) ••• ( Teacher in S'rinogm' pm't 1 oj the yea'}'.

HINDI PUNDIT, In Dz'st'l'ict Scltool.

OWING to the state of my health and domestic arrange­mentsI have not been p,ble to give any attention to Srinagar or any other district work. Early jn t.he year the Christian man and his wife mentioned in my former report were removed from Erinagar to their own village and I was obliged" to close the only girls' school there, and because there was no suitable teacher or helper I have had no work there since. It is not for lack of opportunity however, for we could not only have one or two good schools but also some zenana visiting if thera was some one to do it.

The school in the Pundit's village, begun four years ago, has 'been 'continued, but I have not been able to examine it Binee February and cannot give any report of its present con­ai·tion. A few weeks ago Sarah O'Dell's husband who has been our Native Doctor for S0rne years, got a Government appointment to a dispensary at Kotdwara and they have gQne there tQ,'li:ve •. It is an important place at the foot of the hills and the only entrance into Gurhwal from the plains. The Assistant Commissioner with all his servants and Camp stop ther.e in the cold season and then the place is full.

·My husband has recently opened a boys' school and hopes

(_ 46 )

to stntion 3. nntive preacher there nex.t year. I hope to have S lrah open a gids' school there soon. There are several other intel'esting openings fOl' work at othe!" places in -the district -.vhere great good could be Clone if there was anyone who could superintend, advise, and direot the wives of our native preachers. It is in this work that I especially feel the need of anothel' Missionary in- GUl'hwal, for with five little children and the care of the work at Pauri if is impossible for me to get out into the district. The work in Ohapra has been kept up with steady progress and increasing interest. It is so neal" that it can be carefully look.ed after. All the Christian women here and in near villages have met regularly every week for prayer and religious instruction, and, as I mentioned last year, s8v61·a.l heathen women have come into this meeting from time to time. W ~ have had a "Mothers' Meetiug," also monthly, and an Auxiliary W F. M. S. which has also held monthly meetings. We have raised Rs. 10-10, which it has been proposed that we spend to defray the expenses of Milda, the wife of our Local Preacher at Dekhwali (near Ohhippleghat) when she accompanies her husband to the villages on his circuit as she now wants to do~ The intel'est among a class of people on this circuit is very encouraging and I hope Milda may be able to go and teach the wives and children of those men who seem to be earnestly see!dng to be Christians. She is herself an earnest qhristian, but needs advice and training as to how best to teach those who know nothing of Jesus 01' His gosp.el.

ORPHANAGE AND BOARDING SCHOOL.

I spea.k of the two together because the girls are all in one sQnool and so intimately associat"ed in other ways as to make it difficult to report them separately. There are now twenty-eight girls in the Orphanage proper. Four have beeu received during the year and one little girl (:Mary 'Vilt) about nineyeal's old, died giving good evidence that she knew and loved the Saviour. All girls who have par",

ents living, and are not made over to us, are 1 eckoned as Boarders, though all are partiaIly or wholly supported. 'fhe time has not come yet in Gurhwal when parents consider it an advnntage in itself to edllcatetheir daughtel's-.;....not even Christian pA.rents. On the contrary, they seem to think it spoils t.hem for work in the fields and that somehow or other they will never have to do {t. The principal motive in send­ing them here is to get them supported. f).'here are now thirteen gil-Is: two are the daughters of native Christians who partly support them but they board in the Orphanage. ·Five others also board with the Ol'phan girls and are in all respects treated as they are. Three have been baptized (two of these are engaged to Christian men, or rather boys) and two are yet unbaptized. because all of these families are still heathen. ·Five girls ;eceive a scholarship and board themselves, but in the Orphanage Compound and subject to the same rules and regulations as all the other girls. One 1ittle girl gets Rs. 2 per month and her clothes and lives with her grandmothel' outside. Five Orphan girls are too young for school, Lut the attendance of the daughters of Christians and servants makes forty connected w:ith the school. The school is now 1al'ge enough to be organized into classes And they follow a regular course of Instruction. For two yeat·s they have only Hindee, after that Urdu, first in the Roman and then in the Persian character, and the first class has Lad a little Englibh hut I see so little prac­tical benefit arising from the study of ElJglish that I do not intend to have any others begin it. 'fhe teaclling has all been done by native Christian women and the older pupils whom I have had organized now for two years into a sort of Normal class which I have taught myself. I find the classes are much better tnught, fOl' the instruction I have been able to give the teachers in the valions text-books and as all the first class have also bt!cn in my class, I hope to send out some pretty well tl'ained teachers fvr other schoolB, some of these days. I tlJink we need u " Normnl school" or at least a department attaclled to some school in the mission where our best girls

( 48

coulJ be sent and taugl1t better ancl more thorough methods of teaching than they now know. Here as elsewbere in tbe Mission, there has been a great deal of sickness, mostly fever. At one time more than half the girls were sick and Borne for two or three months. This necessarily interfered with their school and other work, but they have on the wholie made good progress., V{ e have aU th'e girls so far as possble do their own work, including their washing and sewing. All who are old enough have been taught also to knit and spin. They spin woollen yarn on a sma.H ~pindle held in the hand as the people here in the hills do. It is slow work but several gids have lef1.rned to do it quite well and they have knit several pairs of socks and stockings from ynrn they have themselves spun. They have also worked in their garden and have been encouraged as far as possible to consider all wOI'k honorable and not to think as most of the people do, that because they cau read they ought not therefore to do any manual labol'. Much of their progress in every way is due to tho untiring zeal and labor of their matron and teacher, Mary Gre~nwold.

She has become so established tbat I sometimes think I could not manage the girls at all without her.

:M.EDICAL.

The small allowance received for medicines has been en­til'ely inadequate to the need this year. Government gives meJiclnes but of some most important medicines, such as quinine when there is so much fever, they do not furnish in sufficient qnantitieg, and some medicines supposeu to be found in baz!trs, not at all. In Gurhwul we cannot .get many of these and have to send for them elsewhere. Then thelo is extra food and bedding for the sick which they cannot get for themselves. The Parent Society built tbe dispensary and Local money built a comfortable little house for patients. 1.'he Pit,rent Society also pays the doctor but gives nothing for these extras. If a woman or child becomes sick I Lave

49

sometimes to hire them a servant. The medical account is in this way considerable in debt. From the calls made upon me to give medicine and go to see the sick I cannot help but feel that some extra female help is needed in this department. A lady missionary docbol' could have plenty of hard work. But if Pauri does not need one, a native woman with Bome knowledge of medicine is greatly needed. Every year the work in every deplu;tlllent grows and with increasing domestic oares I canno~ do it justice. I am doing all I can however, and hoping and praying that God will- send laborers into this so needy field. 'rhe work is supported by the Western, North­western, Philadelphia and Gincinuati Branches.

--~-

ZENANA WORK.

MISS BLACKMAR,

Teachers:

Superintendent.

M ISS HEMIN G,

MISS ~f ISPELAR,

MISS GARDINER,

Philadelph£a Branch.

Bible-women:

Oincinnati N.- Western

CAl~OLINE RICHARDS,

SAMERA JOHN, ...

KATE EMO[{Y, ••• ::: } New York

ROSAMOND HERRING, •• •

"

"

... Oincinnati

ELLEN RICHAIWS, }

ELIZA.BETH CHARLES, •• • H

JEMIMA ANGELO,

THE work has increased during the year to such an ex­tent that tbe pl'e:,:ent st:lff uf wOl'kQl'P cannot do justice to nll, ao.d new hOl1se~ are c:a~~ing fl.!~.uost daily. r:Phe question was

( 50~ )

asked' by one of the teachers, ,t If there are to be no more helpers shall we not refuse to respond to any further calls ?" Talking this over with one of the mos't experienced Bible­women, she remarked, "How can we refuse to go when called? Perhaps in so doing we would refuse to take the news of a Savior to some one whose heart the Lord had opened!" It is true, and we dare not decide to tU1'l~ any away.

As t.he salary asked for Miss Gardiner was not allowed, she left at the close of June. A teacher is much needed in her place. Oatherine Masih worked Lill May, but because in the face of warning she broke a rule the Cbristinns are r.e'· qnired to ob~,erve, we with sorrow and reluctance were com­pelled to dismiss her. Ruth Sweet moved to another station. Sam era came to the work in MRrch Kate Emor.v came from the Bal'eilly Orphanage Normal class in Angnst, and Jemima Angelo came from Moradlbad in September, but has been able to work but about two montlls. Another Bible­woman is much needed. Nearly all the workers bave seemed to be more in earnest, and there has been increased and growing spl ritual life espeoially since the Dasahra meetings during Octobl~r.

The work during the year hns been ellcournging. As regards the wll{.]r) the truth haR undoubtedly heen marching o,n. Among the Bengalis, there have been the same changes and irregularities nlC'ntioned in previous reports, caused by the Bahus being mLved from station to station in the Govern­ment offices. For some reason the average of houses and pupils has been about twenty per cent. less than last year. The increase of Hindu and Mahomed~n houses has been about fifty per cent. and those learning to read and work seven tr­five per cent. A few have ambition to learn EngliRh A l'i th. metic and Geography, and several are learning DeAdle work. Bengali women in a.1l these things are mnch more ambitious and much in advance of Hindu and Mabomedan women. As we rarely enter a house uninvited we are at liberty to teacb

( 51 )

Bible truth freely. When called to a new house, aftor the usual s:Llams and polite inquil'ies we ask "Wha.t can we do for you? Why did you call us?" The reply is, " We wish to learn from you." "What will you learn ?" " Whatever you may be pleased to teach." Wo reply," We teach reading and needle woo k, but our chief object in visiting the zenana is to talk of God and his truth." 'fhere is rarely any objec­tion but should there be we say decidedly, (( There are many who wish to hear our talk about God, and we cannot spend OUI' ti me whore people object to such talk." The methods of teaching tl'Uth are various. In all new houses as clear an idea as possible of the nature and soul-destroying influence of sin is developed in the minds of the heal'ers. 'l'he remedy in the life and sfl.crifice of Christ is then presented. Christ's pUl-iliy, love, kindness and pity with illustrations fl'om the Gospels are subjects of conversation for many days. In some cases where practicable, the women learn texts upon these different subjects. .A. book of " Selected Lessonsn in Urdu prepared by a missionary, has been used for some months with success. The lessons begin with the creation and are very convenient for systematic teaching. Before new lessons are giveu, there are usually reviews of those previously given. Many of the women are able to give a connected account of the hIstory of creation and nlan and events as far fiS the les­sons have been given. But many do not remember. .A. Bengali widow has read all the Gospels' by herself, and is very intelli­gent l'egal'ding theil' teaching. She teaches a small schoo], is ambitious to be .and to do. Sometimes she calls her neigh­bors in, to Leal' her read and talk of the' wonderful things she finds in her Bible. Sbe as yet has not faith and courage to come out openly and acknowledge herself a Christian, hut God sees her as one who desires to do right. There is a Bengali Ohristian woman in w Lose history we were much interested. While a child in school she had learned in books about Ohrist, and said to her people she d(\sired to be a Ohl'istian. For some years with her childish understanding

( 52 )

she tried to do as she thought she should if indAed a Christ­ian. She finally told her people that she wished to be baptized and become a real Christian; considering her a child only, her friends gave po heed. But one day she left them quietly and was baptized: as she was then cast off, the missionaries took care of her. She is a woman of much intelligence,and is married to a Christian.

A family of Hindus interest us greatly. There are two wives. One is old, with two grown daughters; the second is younger. Years since she was left helpless by tbe death of her rela.tives. The man of this house was a friend, and in his understanding there was no way to assist hel' but by making her his wife, He has read much, and has had service where there were opportunities to learn the principles of 'the religion of Christ. Of these he has always talked freely in his family. The truth had taken hold of the mind of the younger woman and she desired to learn more. Bearing of our visits in the nigbborhood, she sent for us. All our visits to this family are pleasant. At first the old woman and the daughters did not seem interested, but now they wel­come us and listen attentively. The young woman assures us that she does not worship idols, has not since we began. to teach her. One day we asked her if we might pray with her. She.at once assented saying, "I have often wondered how you Christians worship." We explained that the usual custom was to sing a hymn, read a portion of God's word and pray. She said sadly. "But I cannot read, I can fling a little as you have taught me." She was assured that there was a way to worship God even if she could not read. We then kneeled by the charpoys and Caroline began to pray. OU}' friend went around when she could face UB, and exclaimed " Wahl they kneel down! they clo~e their eyes I" I beckoned to her to be quiet, and she dropped upon her knees and covered her face, listening quietly . Upon the conclusion all the women looked pleased and expressed themselves as greatly delighted. Words of appreciation and earnest, eon-,

( 53

versations showing that the word is doing its appointed work have been of daily Occurrence during the year. As far as , we can see or jl:ldge tIlere Lave been no remarkable results·..,;. or wonderful instances of women -coming over wholly on the Lord's side; 'y~t in the hearts of the \VoI'kel's thel'e is the conviction that. there is a silen t influel1ccof the Spil'i t becoming deeper and broader in lllany zanaBas.

BOARDING SCHOOL.

MISS rraOBURN, ... . Mrss GIBSON,

1\frss R'JWE,

MISS DUNCAN,

VICTOR[A JANVIER,

SOPHlA DECASTRO,

BINTO GATAN, .••

Superintendent •

::: } Assistants.

::: } Pupil 'i'cacher ••

THER£C ha.ve not been as many pupils in the school as the preceding J ear, but the average attendance has been better: only ] 1-7 names have been enrolled, of whom 51 wel'e board­ers. Of the latter) eigh.t receive scholal'ships ftom Amei'ica, all from the Cincinnati Branch, e:x;cept one, which comes from the North- Western. Six aro supported by benevolent f:'iends in this country, and all the others by parents 01' guardians. There have been few bad billS' this year. 'fhe pressure of hal'd times is somewhat lightened and the prospect for the coming year is that all the rooms will be again filled. Nearly all the pupils· are to l'eturn, and a number of Dew ones are already promised.

\Vhile fever has been so prevctlent and so fatal all around •• us, and other schools have been almost broken up, we have

had only three cases) and those not severe. The general health of the gil'ls throughout the year has never been so good. Miss Bielby, of the English ;Zella,nll Mission, has kindly treated th ,se who needed a pl'Jsiciun.

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The superintendent was absent for a. time in the hot weather, and froln the middle of August to the end of tb e year Miss Rowe was engaged in the zenana. work in Cawn­pore.

The two girls who were for some years supported by the girls of Drew Young Ladies' Seminary were married at the close of the year. One of them we beli~ve is thoroughly furnished unto every good work; her home influence and her direct efforts will be for Christ wherever she may live. She writes me a week after reaching her new home; "Do not) be troubled about me, for I am ha.ppy here, and I am held closely in my Father's hand. We have prayer in our home nl0rning and evening, wLich makes me very happy."

Mjss Rowe is supported by the N Olth-Westel'n Branch, Miss Duncan by the Cincinnati Branch.

crry SCHOOLS.

MRS. BADLEY, LILLIA SINGH, •••

HARMUZI GRACE HAQQ,

MARY LAL, HARRIET FARNON,

MARY SAHIB DEEN,

BEGUM SAHIB, •••

NANNIA BEGUM,

ZOHRA BEGUM, •••

I!IAMEE BEGUM,

S'ltpe1·intendent. Inspectress.

j j ~ } Ohristian Teach~s.

~~~ } Molwmedan Teder •.

KRISHNA, Hindoo 'l'eache1·.

~lHERE are at preE'ent scattered all over the city nine schools in which at the close of the last quarter 170 girls were enrolled. The utteudance during the last six months has been much smaller tlJan in tbe beginning uf tbe year. This has been eal1~ed by sickness, a fever plague having swept over all North Iodin and carried away thousands of'the poor people. M.any gil'Is have died, and the teacLe.l' at Mak-

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ka Gunge died during the rainy season, thus breaking up one of our earliest established schools. In the place of it we have organized a new one in Punjabi Tob, which is at present one of the best. The teacher is a .bright, active Mahomedan woman, whose father is one of our oldest Christians and a preacher. His wife and daughter (lul'ing all these years have not been persuaded to give up t.heil' faith ~nd Accept Cllfist. In this school there are three interesting children. 'rhey are sisters. The eldest, a girl of thil'teen, has a fair complexionJ

very large, deep-brown expressjve eJcs and auburn hair. Her whole appearance is English. SLe seemed to know imme­diately that I thought she was out uf lip!, place, for as I ques­tioned her about her hOllle and parents she blushed painfully. I f~It convinced she wns not native and yet her purely ~fa­homedan style of dress perplexed me. She told me LeI' father is an Englishman, who had been living with her mother many years, but had lately deFerted them and married an English woman. Her name tt Pussy" she sflid her father gave her as a pet name, but her right name is Walaiti Begum or English lady. Her sisters, both bright girls, do not resem­ble her; they look like native cl:n<irc~. The youngest rejoices in the pet name of" wild pig," ~:lt why, I am unable to say, as she is a dear, bashfullittla chile.

Pussy was learning English but when her father left she had to give it p. I never felt ,more interested in any chil-d than I do in her. I think of her in the night wIlen I lie awake and wonder how she is to be rescued fl'om that unhappy life which will inevitably be hers if she remains in LeI' own home. A Sunday-school will now be begun in this place.

'i'he Mnkarib Nagar work bas agnin revived: the school was closed last year and for want of a good teacller had not been re-opcned. 'rhel'e is a good aLtendance now.

The doolie.9 have all been taken away and we have now no pardah schools. The at tendance has' decreased some in consequence of this nnd the girls are not of the highest castes, still they are doing very well.

56

A great many girls have finished books and received their prizes according to the scale which I revised at the be­ginning of the year. It now sta.nds; Alphabet 2 annas, First Book 4 annas, Second Book 6 annas, Third Book I Rupee. I find it a. better plan thlln Lhat of giving the largest amount for the First Book as it was formerly. The interest is lUore easily kept up with the incentive of a rupee at the last. Ten rupees have been expended for prizes.

Mary La], the Christian teacher in Saadut Gunge, -was very ill during the year and we thought it probable she would never be well again. A change fl'om the city for a few months effected so much of a cure that she is now in her l,lace again. Speed the day when every scbool shall be taught by a good christian woman.

The Christmas treat has been delayed later than usual. A Mahomedan festival interfered with it. I hope to make the gil'ls happy soon with fr.uit, sweet-meats and presents. I have many anticipations that the coming year may be our best and most prosperous and productive for good. Sev· era1 new schools are und~r contemplation.

SUNDAY-SCHOOLS.

Freqnently during the year I have been disheartened with the progress or rather want of progress made in the day schools,but the hopeful, enthusiastic way in which the teach. ers go about their Sunday labor of love hns filled my hesl't with zeal aniJ put new life into my work. In these schools the text.-books are left in various nooks and corners, while the Bible, the catechism, and the bhajan books are liRtened to with attention and gladlless. The Begums and Hindoo t ench­ers sit aside while the young lad-ies who work so faithfully Sunday after-Sunday, try to give these bl'ight.eyed girls some idea of Christ Rnd OUl' wonderful religion. I find upon in­quiry that the Sunday attendance in some of the sr-hools is much larger tban during the week. This is indeed an en.

( 57 )

cOUl'aging fact, especialJy as the object of day schools ia to keep up the Sunday·schools.

The Chaupatiya Sunday-schoo), taught by Miss Rowe, was opened eight years ago. She says, most of the girls who were here when the school began have left, but come back now and then to visit us. One especially shows much love for us. She was one of the most troublesome, but be· fore she left she was greatly changed. I was glad to hear her say she prayed to Jesus when she felt unhappy, and was helped. During the four lIlonths the progress in singing has been great and two little prayers which the very youngest can repeat have been lear~ed. Some of the girls pray at home. One said, "I pl'ay evet'y night and morning." The school is always closed with prayer'. ODe Sunday I asked what they would like most to pray for and one said, "Ask Pc.lrmeshwal' to help me remember what I learn." We are encouraged to find that some of the girls have learned to answer thoughtfully. Irhey do not say" Yes" to every thing. When I ask if dur'ing the past week any of them Lave made use of improper language, occasionally one says, (( I did, l\iem Sahib."

'1,1he Randnt GllDge school, of which;Miss DLl.llcan i~ the teacher, was begun a bout two years ag0. Dnl'ing the first year the attendance was good, but sickness bas been so great this year that the schoul bas been smnll. Tho Ten COlIlmand­ments, Lord's Prayer, a.nd texts of scripture llave been cum· witted tu memory. \Vhen about six texts have been taught they recite them in concert. The girls belong to a low caste but are bright and ready to learn. 'rh·e great advantage this school has is that its teacher during the week is a good Chris­tian woman. She has charge on Sunday of a class of wo­men. The girls here enjoy singing hymns very much and are good singers. .A great lUany women come in to hear them and so hear tIle BiLle too. One of the larger girls WIIO

is a Hindoo is living EO far as she kllOWS, a Christian life.

58 )

The Naubasta school taught. by Miss Heming, is one of the most int.eresting. Of this the average weekly attend­ance is 17, the Sunday, 25. The gil·ls were first taught the story of the Creation, then the Fall of ilI an, then the Life of Christ. The teacher assures me that t.he girls are able to answer readily any question put to them pel'tllilllug to the Life of Christ. At present they are learning about 'Moses, Abraham, and the prophets. With the study of Abraham they have taken up the subject of Faith. To the questions about these Old Testamen t characters tllO girls give answers either from the Koran or the Bible jllst as theil' fancy sug­gests or their memory prompts them.

The women of the l\lohulla many of them attend regu­larly and sing all the bhajllns.

A little girl about six: yeal's dd, named Laddon, who lives in Ram Nagar, three miles di::-iti\nt, walks to school every Sunday. She has to leave her home verr early to reach it in season" but she is there every time. She is very bl'ig~t and sings Dicely, Her favOI'ite bhajuns ::,l.uw a mind far be­yond her years. rrhey are" A.re JtJana lJkui," (( Dunya men dil nahin lagana," and others of this sentiment. "T11O can tell wpat thoughts throb in the little JleRl't beneath the string of charms and the carelessly worll chadJll1'. vVlw can tell what desires pI'om pt her little feet, hea"'y witIl the silver ban­gles and anklets, to trip so quickly ovcr tllat long road? Who but Jesus, who called a little child unlo Him and said, "Except ye be conv'el'ted and become as one of these ye can­not enter into the kingdom of Henven."

B-ut I have no time to give to each school a pI'Opel' place in the Rcport, but must say fOl' all that they are doing good. Each one has its bright pupil, its interesting women, its own peculiar charm to the teacher who is really anel truly in love with the work in which she is engaged.

One 01' two of the Sunday-schools are taught by the da.y teachers ,vho are ChristianA. In tbe Fateh Gunge School which I teach there was at the beginning a lovely little Ma-

{ 59

homedan girl. Her large eyes first attracted my attention and t.hen I noticed that she looked very delicate. After one or two Sundays her place was vacant and I found she was too ill to come. I went often to se'e her and she liked mo to sit on the bed beside her and sing that sJveet Ii ttIe verse,

" Chate larke, chote larke, Ja Rabb ko piyal' karte,"

(Precious Jewels.) I tried to make h(,l' realize that she was one of the precious Jewels referred to ftnd that God was soon going to take her away to His TJ'easuJ'e House. She was taken away one day when I was not tl1ere and the nC'xt time I asked my little girls, " How is Abasi to-day," they sald quietly, "She has gone to Heaven." I was glad.

--~--

~11'.\PITI~.

E~il\1A MOORE SOOTT, ANNIE JACOBS, .••

~hNERVA N ICKE1~SON, VICTORIA GRAY,

HELEN MCGEE, ...

Missiona'J'Y·

::: } Bible-womm,.

Teaclte)'.

THE past year has not been an uneventful one. The zenana work has beeu carried on with more system and en­husi!lsm than formerly, new houses have been added to our lists, and a In.rge and interesting work commenced at Khaira­bad. The day-schools and Sunda:y-schools arc encouraging, and the dispensary at 1\1isrikh proves a success. The Cinclnnati Branch has assumod our SUppOl't this year. In SitflllUl', as for­merly, the zenana work is undeL' the chn,rge (If Annie Jacobs find is supportod by the Auxiliary at 'Marion, Ohio. Annie is a good Bible-woman ana througb her efforts several new houses have been opened to us. She also has a greater number of pllpils in reading and knitting than last yea]'. She visits the Pitpur school once a week, where she' teaches religious truths and

( 60 )

sewing. On Sundays she oonducts the Sunday-scllool there. I have carefully inspected her work, and I think she is doing it thoroughly. AltJJOngh no one of whom we Know, 118S bee brought to Christ throngh her year's labors, yet I confidently believe the seed sown will not be fruitless. Of the zenana work at Misrikh I know least} on account of its distance from Sitapur. According to the monthly reports of each day's labors, I judge it is much the same as last y~ar. I was in Misrikh in November and was pleased to find that the women in the zenanas seem to have been well instl'Ucted by Minerva Nickerson in Bible stories. The Lancaster ( Ohio) Auxiliary support her. Of the new work at Khairabad, I think it is the best. The families visited are of the better class and the wealthy. It is entirely a llew field, :these houses never having before been visited by a zenana teacher. I can truly say ofVictol'ia " She works for souls." I believe through her efforts and prayers a Brahmini was brought to Chl'ist, for although she did not make a public profession yet she repeatedly said to Victoria, "I believe in Jesus," and when suddenly stricken down, she died trLlsting in the Saviour. rj'he Auxiliary of Lake-side Camp-meeting have assumed this work. The two schools have done much bettel' this year than last. The Christian girls' school is small' but interesting. I had seriously thought of closing it, and opening one in Khail abad which promised a. large attendance, yet it did seem so neces-8u.ry that OUl' Chri~tian women and children should be edu­cated, and the school is doing so well under Helen McGee's management, thnt I have long since come to the conclusion that it is a necessity here. It is supported by the Cambridge (Ohio) Auxiliary. The school at Pitpur is still taught by the Pundit and is about as last year, except a decided improvement in the Sunday-school. During the year one (jf the children ha.s died, and another 'i1wr1"1:ed, yet since a new Ilame has been enrolled there has been but a decrease of one. 'fhe Dispensary at Misl'ikh was not opened until Novembel', as I could not go to make the arl'angenlenta u,:r:tti1 then. Misri:i,{h

( 61 J

has had a scourge of fever this year, one hundred and five dying in n. l:iingle month, and since there is not a physicinn in the place, nor any medicilles to be had, the opening of our Dispensary was a veritnble "(lad-send." Scal'cely had I gotten the medicines in the house before a poor sick woman came to be treated. The Civil Surgeon DC Sit~pur, Dr, Ellis, heartily approves of the movement, and even himself kindly sent for tho medicines. The work is carried on by }.finerva who is n pupil of ~liss Swain, lI.D. She J'eceives llothing for LeI' additional 8el'vices. During the year J'egular meeLiugs of the ~1issional'y Society have been held, which hnve been VOJ'y interestiug, The money collected has been devoted to buy­ing materials fur the zenana and school work, also tickets for the Sunday-schools. My wants for the coming year are more school money. a1.!d a new Bible-woman for Sitapur, as Annie goes with her husband to Lakampur where she will open up a new zenana work. 1\1 y hope and pra.yer is that the coming year may find us better prepared to do the Lord's work thun ever befot'e.

-----===::;:,.-----

MRS. Mcjf A RON, It.fissional'Y· MRS, GRAN1',... Zenana 'l'eachel',

SALOME Is! DAB, .. , ) Bible-women Q1ul HARRIET FISKE, ... f 0' .. , 1

.. , fl.1"lshan, 'I eaNtel'S •

. M AltlA ALEXANDER,

MURADAN, ... l Joron-Ohristian MOULVIE AU.A RUl(llU, ..• ... J Teachers.

WE record with thankfulllesR the fllct that the work has been opening <luring the latter pflrt of the year. .Mrs. Grant and H ,tl'l'iet ha.ve made friends in many houses and thns opened the door for the Gospel. '1"'lIe work of the former is the 1110re prized in the zenanas because it is volllntarJ, a work of love.

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The schools are the same as last yen.r. Tho workers speak for themselves.

Harriet writes:-

" This year I have both taught in the school and in the zenanas and had God's help in both; and because I have had His h~lp I have had no trouble nor discomfort except that sometimes I nave beell very weary. :My spirit has alwayS been ready to do my work, God has rewarded m~ in saving me and my family from the prevailing sicknessJ fever and ague.

There are some women who used only cal'e to see me and did not wish to hear the glorious Gospel. Ouce when I was singing the verse whose meaning is "If you wish for ever­lasting life take it from Jesus. He i. the world's intercessor, His name is Saviour," several of these women stopped their ears. N ow those very ones listen willingly.

They learn to sew and knit. Since Mrs, Grant has taken up -zenana work, we have access to the houses of the rich and they welcome us with kindness and affection wishing to keep us with them as long as possible at every visit. We visit such houses three days in every week spending four and five hours each day. Thus' day by day thel'e is a better cha.nce of working among the women of Rai Ba.reli. Would that they might quickly be converted to Him!

The girls' school has nlso greatly improved this year, although the numbers, owing to reVel' ann. ague have been less. We are thankful that none have died. Some have be­come very weak and been kept away altogetller.

'fhel'e are sixteen girl:;:, reading in the second and third Hindee book, with great intere~t and ",ttention, These girls evel,. Sundny are present in :Mrs. Grunt's class and l'epeat from memory the Tc'n COHlmnndmellts, the Lord's Prayer, the twenty-third Psalm and many hymns. They Bing so sweetly that Illy heart is refreshed in hearing tIH.'m. The older girls learn to sew and to knit.

63

I am very thankful to have the privilege of teaching them and that they have made such good progress. Their parents 11ave not. opposed them this year, allowing them to come even duil'ng the prevailing sickness. Many of their evil practices are giving way, and these children are learning to read and write just as Christian children do."

~lrs. Gran t writes of lwl' work in Rai Bareli:-"I took up this work in August. .My first day's work

was anything but eucouraging. Mrs. JIcMahon and I went togetl,er. One hOllEe that we visit.cd was a well-to-do native's. The mistress of the house, an ignorant woman, received us kindly, curiosity conquering nny dislike she may have felt towards us as 011 l'istian teachers. Hel' daughter, a pretty intelligent girl, look('d UpOl! us with proud disdain. On our mentiouing the ohject of our visit, slJe refused to have any­thing to do with -us. 'Ve said we would teach fancy work and knitting to any who would learn if they would consent to listen to the reading of the Bible. She said she had no desire to learn anything on those conditions.

Nevvs of our visits spread to npighbol'ing houses. Num­bers of womrn flocked in, old find young, among them two intet'esting . young married women. By them we were asked to sing.. Our hostess did not like it, but her objections were ovel'ruled and we sung two or three hymns. The gids showed neither pleasure nor appreciat.ion but rather the re­verse. She knows the Koran by heart, and being more intel­ligent and religious t.han the others, is looked upon as an authority. As those who deny themsel ves . earthly pleasure are sure of a rich reward in hea,ven, she being desirous of this I'eward lives very strictly, dresses plainly, moves about quietly, never siugs, and does not care to hear others do so; She lives in the thought of tbe Lliss that is to be hel' portion hereafter.

On my next visit with Harriet, she said very little to us and sat apart. Theothet' young women came again and asked to be taught crewel work and said' sing us those sweet words

( 64

agnin.' I took hope from t1llS: I left· the l'eading of tIle Bible until their int erest in us shou14 be at'oused as I feared thnt our vioits might be forbidden if we pressed lhe point. I have not regl·etted this. \Ve had not paid many visits befure the young lady seeing her friend's succeRS in wurk aE-keu to be taught, and on our Rsking perJllission to read she gave it, not williligly but it W:l8 sufficient; the lce was broken, 11e1' prido and reserve gave way. I t.ook my sewing mnchine which interested them gren tly 'Such numbel's pressed round in their anxiet.y to wa.tch this wonderful thing, that hreathing became difficult. On seeing me look distressed they't.hought­fully stood back anel one said, ' \Vhy have you taken all ihis trouble for us,' I sllid 'That YOll may learn from my Book which will give you great peace nnd comfort.' One said , God must bc good if he has given you wisdom to make a thing like this:'

One of the women who learnt work was only a visitor, wished us to come often, and on our last meeting wished us to SiDg 'Here we suffer grief and pain.' It was a favorite with all of them and she said (I pt'ay that I may meet you where Borrow shall be no more; I may never again Lenr sLlch beautiful words.' Anothel' wit'Led us to siDg of th'it (Happy land' s:tying 'I wish I knew more of that lInd'

In one family theIe is an aged grandmother. She said to me, (Let me hear somethir:g from Jour Book, my time is f\hoL·t. I want to learn s(lJ~',ething good.' 'Vhen I l'o::;c to leayc, one spoke of the shortness of my stay, Sho said, (You did not ask her to read or sing, of course sbe does not care to stay.'

Lately the young lady I first visited has been learning to rend and has made excellent progress, taking such interest in her book that I s0metimes remind her of tbe t·imo when she Bcor'ned the thought of learning as fit only for those who wou1d earn their livelihood. I at one time tbought of stop-

65

ping my visits at hel' bouse, as unprofitable, but am very glad I pel'sev,e,'od. .A young widow is also learning to read, and still another. A Mahomedan of the servant class wished his daughters taught tt) read, work, and anything from 'the Bible, as wbat we teach could be only good. He did not wish his daughters to grow up in ignorance llke their mother. We bave more eaUs to houses than we can attend to.

1 find tbe .Bengali women more jntelligent. Some of them have been taught bl·fore. One woman oft,en says she has no faith in her own ceremoni('s and worship and would like to give them all up. Once wIlen I was speaking to her on this subject and on caste, she said 'J know it is uot right and God h.elping me I will try to give them up.' SiDce then even wbElD she bas betel in bel' mouth, she comes and sits near me and touches me. She ha.s two daughters, nice girls, both young, one married. They are learning English, making good progress. This woman always joins in our hymns and seems seeking the wily' of salvation. She says her heart is often sad an'd she wants light and comfort. I go twice a week to those who leaI'n English and once a week to those learning' Urdu. As I think of the change that has c~me over SOnl e of these houses in their willingness to hear the truth, I am gre;ltly encouraged to go on."

Salome wl'i tes of the work in the village of Bhojpore and vicinity :-

" rrhanks be to God who helps me in the work I have to do for him. Those women who hated the very name of Cb "ist now 10ie to hear about Him. There were a few famili of who were unwilling to come to me and did not allow me to visit them, but now they come to my house and I go to their honses

J• and they willingly heat' the Word of God and the

hytn.ns. In SOll.e degree they ,obey Christ and their love for Him is increasing. Nine 01' ten women often come to my house to hear me read the Bible. When for the marriage of Lheit" childreu or on son~e other occasion their relatives come to visit them J they send fOl' me that I may read the Bible

66

and sing. As long as these l'elatives r£.main with tLem, the invit.e me and do not cn1'~ if I tOlH"h tlJcir disuee:, llu t. give my every opportuuity to l: how them the way of trul h,

Those women who remembel' whatJ IlH,\"c taught them, help me in singing and ill t.oaching oiLel's wlHlt t hey have learned. Some of the women so fHI' believe in Christ as to send for me when their children fall ill 01' they are in flny

trouble and fisk me to pray 1n Bis nnme and want to giye pice t.o buy sweetmeats to distJ-ibute ill His Dallle. I tpll them He is not pleased with such offerings wit hou t the gifts of the whole heart. Give Him your heHlt, then trusting Inny to Him, nnd TIc willl'elease you from youI' troublt:'s.

'l'be grcat fair of Mahabil' wlJich is held on every Tues­day in t.he montlJ of' A pril is never missed by llIe, because tbe greater llun.bel' of those who attend al'e women. This yenl' my friends came to me aud said,' we have not C0ll1e t.o wor­ship lfuhnbi,., for we do not wO),f'IJip nlly idol, Lecnll~e we know as yon }·tl\'e told us that God hlltes idolatry, but we have brouglat our friends wbom we haye told :lhout you to hear you.' ] hnd an excellent opportunity to talk to them aDd I improved it."

-~-

CiWNPOItI'~.

CAvrNPORE GIRLS' SCHOOL.

M.ISS EAsrrON, :M ISS CARY, ...

MRS. OLDHAM,

MISS D'SOUZA, MISS BI.ON'l',

SlIpe1·iniendent.

~~~ } Tea"" .. · •.

MRS. JACKSON, Mail·on.

WIBLE in ronny re:o:pects tbe third yenl' of this school hns been quite tiS prosperuus ns cither of the pl'('C'ediug, it has

this year b!ld pecldill~' difficulties to co:pteud with.

67

The sohool opened in February with fift,y-six boardea's and nine day pupil:.!. There were few changes during the year, and as fast as a V:lcanoy oocurred there was some one ready to fill it, so thnt the year dosed with the exact Dumber with which it opened. 'fhe past, being a wet year following a number of rainless ones, has been again a fever year for India. During the lll.st three mon·ths of the year no class was oomplete, there being days wllen as many as eighteen were absent at the same time. June 8th, a litLle one, who in April came a long jour­ney to sehoul, went a longer joul'ney to her everlasting llome; and eight days hter tIle playmate, who had aoool'panied her, followed her thitl1l3r. At this time the general health of the school was good and the v:llne of the " Martha Cole CottRge" was demonstJ'iited, as the patients were removed at once to that house, to the mut~lal advantage of both the sick and the well. In OotoLer another of our number was taken fl'om us. Contraoting a sudden cold, oongestion followed and though the heal thiest., she demonstrated anow the lesson that in the midst of life death finds U:-i, Well for us and for her, t.hat she had not defel'red to sickness the work that belongs t.o well houl's! She had testified by word and by deed that she was" trying hard to live a Chl'istian."

The want of sufficient buildings spoken of in the last report, has been more severely felt than ever; not only in sick­ness but iu health this want presses upon us. To remove the annoyance of practising from the school it was kansferred to private rooms, and while the First and Seoond Classes J'ecited in the same room, the Primary occupied the dining-room, sharing its acoommodation often with a class reoiting. But with these infelicities, forgotten when passed, there have been great blessingd and mel'cies for which we render thanks to OU1' ~'ather.J whose presence we reoognize cont.inually.

'Ihe servioes of Dr. Garden, Civil Surgeon of the statioll, have been invaluable and have been ungrudgingly giv,en. The kindness of friends in A Ulerica has provided UR with many ... Rl'tioles of ne~essity that wo had been unable to pr,",or1~e for ourselves, whilo tho two principal teachers, haviD81 !~1'

68

the past year been appointees of the W.- F. :rvr. Society, the income of the school has sufficed for repairs and improvements that leaves little but new buildings necessary.

And now of the pupils-for whom the school exists, for whom all labor and hope and pra.y-it is with thankfulness we speak of their progress during the year just closed. The improvement made by the girls in deportment, in knowledge ahd in character has been marl{ed and iu{']'easing from month to month. Habits of industry and a growing fondness for ~eading prevail; so that- we have l'ea~(;n to expect tbe hope of its founders will be fully met, and tha.t, by the blessing of God, this scbool will be a nm'se)'y of piety; a school in which hundreds will be tr'ained to be Iw.ppy and useful women, spread­ing the blessings of home auJ a well fuunded hope of heaven throughout this part of India.

ZENANA VVORK.

MRS. ",VAUGH,

THB P8.st year has been ono of s'c:ccess ill a great meaS­ure. Miss Cc)(.k's work has increased in interest among the Bengalis. Many new Hindu and l\Iahomedan bouses hava also been opened til ns where the women not only learn t.o read and do needle work, but gladly listen to the Word, nnd seem in many cales, 11uugering fOl' the light and truth of t be Gospel. The Bathing Ghat work has been carried on uy our Bible-woman, Rosamond, during tbe first-half of the year with increasing interest, though many days wel'e days of trial to her, when the women refused to listen because of the priests who had forbidden it; and the women were afraid to come near her, but often from a distance would look and make an encouraging" salam" which meant, " I'd come noa'r if I dared."

The Missionary through failing health was obliged to leave the work early in April, and go to the hills for the season. In July, Miss Cook was married and left Cawnpore to work

( 69 )

elsewhere; but Miss Rowe vel'y kindly ca.me from Locknow to carryon the work till we should have Miss Cook's place sup­plied. Later in the year ROf:amond, our only Bible woman, was obliged to return to Lucknow, leaving us only one worker.

Miss Rowe in speaking of the wor~ in Cawnpore, 'says: Ie The work at tbe bathing ghat is t.lIe mORt interesting. Women from the highest classes come eady in the morning: before day-break they are seen hurrying along on the roads, or in close carriages or palankeens; later in the day the lower castes are seen walking quietly undertbe avenue of neem trees, counting their beads as they go. Occasionally a merry party pass by singing find ta,1king, gaily dressed in their white chaddars tl'irnmed in scarlet 01' yellow" withtbeil' arms and ankles loaded with lead and brass jewelry. We meet women here whom we could not see elsewhere, for they dare not .ask us to tbeir homes; a few would not stop to listen to us; but the majority are attracted by the singing, and stop not only to hear it, but to ask questions about the truths the hymns contain, and to listen while they are ex­plained. The early part of December is devoted to specilll worship. The women formed in groups all along the enclo­SUI'e on the banks of the river, carrying in one hand a plate or basket containing offerings fOl' the Pf'cpu1 tree of rice, sweet­meats, red l·aint, flowers, picp-, and a ,Toniety of articles; and in the other, vessels ofGnnges water, whlch they p.oured out on Tulsi plants, chantlug all t he time, the plnn ts were blought in and stuck in sand or mud fol' tile purpose of worship. DUl'iug these days:it was impossible to get tLem to listen to us-our going was in vRln. Our hearts are often cLeertd by meeting those who believe all we teach them} and though we may lleyer meet them again, othpJ's will surely lead tbem into -the'ligLt. One old woman who had. come to batbe and pray to the Gauges to restore her son to health, heard the singing and was so interested in what she learned that she caUle regulnrly to Leal' more, 'rhe women who came with her, said she gave them no peace from the time she opened hel.' eyes ill the morning) till she arrived at the Ghat, where

70

she could heal' the singing and listen to the good words we told her. 'l'hrough her we became acquainted with the other members of t.ho falllily, some of whom are now being regularly taught.

The Zennl1rL woi·k is also vcry interesting: we hnye about twenty hou!'e~, Hindu and Mnhnmcdan, wllere 'we tench rf'gll­

larly. Some of our pupils we consider real Chri~tjtll1s at hearL; they have accept e-l Clllist, UIHl n 11 their fl'iel1lls :lDd neighburs know it; but ns t.hey have not urok('n ca:..;tp, they a.re still pelmitted to Jive at horne.

Our native Christian comm unity is small and people are very poor. We have tried with our other work to visit them regularly and to keep up a woman's pnLyer-meeting in con­nection wit.h tbe Missionary Society. We would beg of ntH

dear sisters in America to pray much for them." Miss King came to us in N ovembor fl'om the C. jf. So­

ciety; she has had a Normal school training and is an expe­rienced worker; she takes the zena.na. work among Hindus and. M:ahomednntr. Ollr Bengali work we have beeu obliged to give up since Miss Cook left but hope in t.ime to have means and some one to tat(e it up ngain.

rl'bis wOl'k is snpported by the Philadelphia ilrauc1l.

---""'-.-...~--.---.

GO~J}.\ .-\NO ItUIIC.ll()U.

MRS. MONELLE.l\fANSELL, M D., Missionary. Nlcr,l,lE PETER~, •••

NETTIE SIGLlm.,

BETSY PAUL,

SUSANNAH, ••.•

l\10HUNIYA, ••

I I

... (Bible-women.

. .. I I . .. )

THE work ill Gonua is gradually assuming no more hope. ful aspect. 'l'uo people are beginuillg to lr)ok with mOl e fnvor upon missionary efforts and are more willing to admit 118

( 71 )

into thElh' houses. I have adopted a different plan thisyeal' for becoming acquainted with the people. I usually walk with n,y Imsband every morning, through the streets and lanes and alleys of Gonda, speaking to the people as they sit at their doors sunn:ng themselves. They have seen us 80

often that they know us, and now they bring us a charpai to rest upon and often invite us inside. Sometimes a crowd collecLs to see us and to make 0111' acquaintance, and thus we find excellent opport.uuities to drop a few good words, that may spring up and bear fl'uit, even an llUndl'ed fold. I find I can approach the womeu better by this method, than by lnaking' formal visits at Rtated times, as is the usual practice. 'l'hey .do not flee fi'om me or dread me, as though I were ex­pected Lo attack theit· customs and religion. The women tIlUs reached, are teachable ond grateful and unreserved in mau­neI', and are fal' I1IOl'e than kful fol' a visit t118n those who live behind tho pQ1·dah. I believe that three-fourths of all the W'Olllen of India might be renched by this means.

Dllring the year one or two f:tmilies from lll.l'get· ciles have settled in Gonda, who seeUl i 0 appreciate missionary efforts aud arc very wiUing that their women sba11 receive instruction in Ohl'istianity - 'fhis is a source of great pleas­ure aud encourngement to me.

'file year has been an unusual one on account of sick­ness. In foul' months small-pox of fL vil'ulent type raged fearfully especially among children. During ,the month of October scvcnty-ji,ve lJe'J' cent. of the people of Gonda lind vicin­ity were stricken with jungle fevcr, su that thC'le were not enough well ones left to nttend to the b.usiness of the place. Our native Christians suffered considerably from small-pox und frOTH fever. It was pitiful to go from house to house, nnd find so many prostrated by this terrible fev.er. Frequently out of a hrge tinnily not one would be well enough to serve the ot.llers. Of course so much sickness has seriously in­terril pted the reg-ubI' zeuana work. Dl1ring the year I have tl'eatcu 1,12.3 patieuts, most of whom were suffering from dysentery OL' fever.

Nellie Petel's (wife of the native preacher of Gonda) has charge of the zenana work, and in hel' report says: "Gonda is stony ground, very little of the good seed takes root; The stat,e of our heathen sisters is like that of wild animals, which when they see tame ones, rnn away, lest they too should be snared aud tamed. Some run from us, others cover them­selves with charms before the,v admit us. There are a few exceptions and these welcome us and love to helll' the Bible stories, and listen to t.he bhajans. Sometimes they feel that they are sinners and desire to be beUer. Sometime ago one said to'me-" Since you tola me not to worship MoJuldeo and Gungajee I have not done so, I have worshiperl God only.

-Since then I have felt happier and more encouraged.,)J Nettie Sigler also assists in the zenana work her.e. )

translate a little fl'om her report:-~'Sistel' Nellie and I genel'all y go out, together. Our plan

of work is this. .After talking a little we sing a bhajan. They like our singiug. We explain the meaning of the bhajan to them and it seems to comfort their hearts. We sometimes read from the Holy Book, and sometimes from other books sueh as "Ram Tested," "Weighing the Truth," &0. After this we teach them to kuit if they wish to learn. The best fami­lies will not allow us insiue their bouses, but show great con­tempt for UR~ and refuse to let us speak to their women. 'rhere is one man, a doctor, who calls us with grent delight and asks us to teach his wife and daughters. The devil holds the citizens of Gonda firmly in his grA.sp. I pray God that He will give me the sword of the Spirit and the sLieid of the Holy Word that my work Lere lllay be in the fut,ure -more successful."

~~, ~J;; Ni iF UJ a. During tIle early part of the year OUI" 1\lission work here

was nearly terminated on account of tIle immoral conduct of the n!l.tive preacher. He was dismissed from preaching and from the Church. Another preaeber was sent here, and his wife Betsy Paul was placed in charge of the zenana work. I extract

( 73 )

the following from. her report: tt I came here eight months ago and found all the doors shut against me, for this reason my heart was very heavy; I wept much, and prayed that God would show me how to begin. After this the doors began to be ajar, and I found my way gradually inside. I go from house to houae among the cultivators of the soil. Sometimes they are all gone to the fields to work, sometimes they are at home working, and then they leave their work and listen to me. They do not understand much, but I hope they will improve under my instruction. The richer and higher families will not receive visits from me. I have quite an important work among the native Christians also, who begin to be some­what encouraged. By the guidance of the Holy Spirit,I am trying to do much for them. My prayer is, that God wilt help my weakness, and spread His Word throughout the village."

Ml6\WJ~g~MN~I.

The work and the girls' school increased, and were doing very well for several months until small-pox broke out in the village. After this interruption, the teacher became neglect­ful of her charge, and was so bad in every other way that I discharged her. I expect another teacher to begin work next week.

e@~@~i~~WJRCIlI.

The two girls' schools in Colonelgunge are very interest­ing. They have increased in numbers and in knowledge during the year and are exerting quite a marked influence upon the inhabitants of this busy, thriving little village. They know many scripture verses, the Commandments and the Lord's Prayer.

The zenana work is Dot thriving. It is very poorly done

IAMlR4m0tifl.

This continues to be the most interesting and the most progressive work in this large oirouit. S1lsannah and Mohuniya

( 14 )

work honestly and efficiently. They have very little eduoa­tion, but their religion makes their influence extensive. The three girls' sc11.ools are flourishing, and are growing in numbers.

The two older schools assemble under one roof every Sun­dayfor Sunday-school. There were 53 present l~st Sun:day. The aptness with which they rep-lied to questions in the Bible, was really surprising. They sang bhajans very well; they recited scripture verseSj hymns, catechism; t.he Command­ments, and the Lord's Pra1er very satisfactoril:v. The Rajah of Kappartallah's wife frequently visits these schoolEl, examines the classes, and gives little presents for their encouragement. The zenana work remains about as it was last year. Thirty families receive the Bible-women very willingly. And thus the year has passed in honest endeavours to faithfully fulfill the Master's command, tt Preach tny gospel to every creature."

= HtJRDIJI.

MRS. P.AUL" ... . .. Native Pastor's wiJe. THlIRB are :flve zenana schools in this district, attended

by about a hundred girls, besides the women. Owing to the general prevalence of fever throughout the district the aver­age has not been as good as usual, but since the cold weather has set in it is improving. "

Zenana visl tingis more encouraging thaB work in the schools. The WOlr~en are always attenti-ve and make us very welcome. We can not but believe that their interest is genuine, and that good fruit will reBult in time.

---..... ....--NA W.lBGIJNJ.

LIBBIE JOEL, Native PaStor's wife. DURING the past year the" zenana work has done well.

Nineteen families have been visited. Some of these are learn .. Bing to sew and lwit" but all are bewg taught the Word of

( 75 )

God. The blliajatn8 ave alwa.ys aoceptable. The women in the zenanas love me and are always glad to have me talk and sing. I can say truthfully, that there has been progress during this year. I believe the seed sown will spring up and bring forth fruit. God grant that our eyes may behold many, from among onr sisters, coming to Christ and being saved.

J3EL~A CU'l'TINGJ ••• ••• Native Pastor's Wife. Bible-women and Teachers:

ELIZA MITCHELL, ~ATHIYA MANPHOH,

LYDIA DAUD, PHE;BE G~DUL, ;ELIZ.A:BJilTH,.l N A'l'IDA.

THE native pastor in charge of this circuit writes as follows concerning the work among the women :-

" The work among the women on this circuit h~s be~Jl carried an as usual during the ye~r, except during the time that fever pl',evailed Q.Jld nearly all the people in the villages were ai,ek. There seems to be nothing Xlew to rell).te in CO:Q,­

nection, with this work. I am sorry that' I cannot r~po~ more success. The women ha.ve worked very faithfully in the villages an.d towne among the heathen Women but I do not know that any have through their labol's been led to AC:,

cept Christ this year. But the kingdom of Ch,rist COJ,lletl?­not with observ~tiQn and I feel aure t~t tbe word of God is hid in many hearts and like le.,:\v.en it is 'working' silently yet surely. This word which is ah~pel' .than a two-edged sword will do its work, and will yet lead many of these heathen wom~n to -Christ.

I have great hope from the wo* of the Woman'! Mission­ary Society. There ja a. l~rge :fiel~ of labor on this circuit still lying waste and uncultivated. There are in al,i,these v-illages about seven hundred Christians and much work is be­ing done among them, but there is great need for much more.

( 16 )

Many olthe preachers' wives are uneducated' themselves and hence can do little in teaching others except by their pure lives and Christian homes being a "living epistle." Those who are able to teach have many family cares and duties, so that they can give but little time to the work. Only two of the women working on this circuit are able· to give their full time to the work. There should be one Bible-woman in each one of the seven sub-circuits who would be free to spend most of her time in visiting from village to village among both Christian and heatgen women.

I wish to express my thanks ,to the Sooiety for the aid already given by which great good has been done by teaching the women who wei'e formerly very ignorant. Now many are faithful in the performance of their daily duties, and in the observance of the Sabbath. They desire to walk in the footsteps of their lo~ng Saviour. Sunday-schools are held in several places on the circuit. A day-school for heathen girls was kept up for some time in Hussipur, but had to be closed for want of a suitable person to superintendent it.

In Amroha city there is a Boarding School for Christian gb-ls in which twenty-four girls are receiving instruction. This School in connection with the one in Moradabad is suffi­cient for the present wants of the circuit. Each year as the older girls leave the Moradabad School, the more advanced girls here go to Moradabad, and new ones are received here in their places,

This work is supported by the New England Branch.

SITIIBHAL.

MBS. HAKK, ••• •• eo Native Pastor' 8 wife.

EMIU. HIlDGBS; ••• • • • Bible-women. RACHEL,

ELLDN ANGBLO, }

MRS. Hakk has charge of this work and gives the following' account of it :-

( 77. )

"There is a school at the Mission honse for girls and women in which religious instruction specially -is given. There are' fifteen girls and women in this school There are two schools in the city in which about forty girls are being taught. There are Sunday-schools in connection with each of these schools, so that the Sunday-sohool papers, the Ten Commandments and the Catechism are regularly taught. At one place a prayer-meeting is held every Sunday, and many of the girls join in the singing and prayers. Usually about ten non-christian women attend this meeting and seem to re­ceive benefit from it.

About six miles from Sumbhal in the village of Sirsee there are two schools for Mahommedan girls in which about fifty girls are learning. These are botl:t very good schools.

At Hemm Barai in one part of the city of Sumbhal there are many people who are friendly and some seem to be sincere inquirers. Rachel regularly visits and works among the women, ana although there has seemed sorne decrease in this work during the year, still it is really a very hopeful work. Some of the people sing and pray, and call themselves Chris­tians, but do not give up caste, and receive baptism and fully accept Christ.

In Rasulpoor there is a small Church, and Emma Hedges works among the women there. The condition of the people there is gradually improving. Several girls from this com­munity are being taught in the Moradabad School.

At Sharikhpoor there is a very good community of Christians, and there are many nominal Christian women who need instruction, but there has been no suitable woman available for this work. We hope some arrangement may

-be made for this work the coming year. There is a large village called Gangesri about twenty

miles from SumbhaI. One of the girls from the Bareilly Or­phanage married a. man whose home was in this village. Her husband was in service with a gentleman at the time of their marriage. Afterwards losing his service he went home to his

( 18 )

village where there were no Christians. The teaohings and the Ohristian. life of· this woman Rebecca had 80 very good in­Huenoo in the village so that in Ootober when the native pastar visited the vi&ge, one family was ready for ba.ptism. When the woman of the family was baptized she was very· happy and prayed aiond, t 0 Lord forgive aU my sins of the past and for the future help me that I may be saved from sin for the sake of Jesus Christ.' The women present were greatlyaft'eoted by the sijfht, the joy, and the prayer of the woman and came to the pastor the next morning asking him to come again, and all promised to become Christians. My own joy was greatly increased to hear of the work in that large village, opened especially by the labqrs of one of our sisters who was unex­pectedly taken there to live. The people desire to have their children taught and we already have a little school there

In Bumbhal Mother's Meetings and Missio~ry Meeting. have j,een kept up regularly during the year.J1

This work is supported by the Western Branch.

---._._--KHIR~ B.lJDER.l.

Tms little U out station" has some points of inter~8t not belonging generally to la.rgecentral stations. It is some 3t ·miles removed from any large city and consequently the villagers are more simple hearted and come mQ;re r~adi1y UDder the influence of Gospel instruction. The villagers remember Col. Gowan the good man who was sheltered here fot" months while the devasta~iDg wave of rebellion surged over the country J and by whose liberality this station was first opened. More than a scor~ of years have passed but the Colonel still remembers and prays for this community.

We have but one girls1 school' here at present} one having been closed in July through want of funds. The school ·that remains consists of 1 T girl~. ~ome are begiDD~~s

( 79 )

while some can)ead the New Testament fluently. All sing Christian hymns and repeat the Lord's prayer. Their ideas are more Christian than pagan. In this we see the blessed influence of these schools. The little ones begin here to think and study, and their opening minds are fed first with Christian thoughts woven in with the very letters they learn. Many girls who have learned to read and sing and pray in this school, have married and gone to other villages. It is not possible to erase what they have learned and the leaven of Christian thought must certainly to some measure be felt in their homes. Now that funds have been secured we purpose opening the school that was closed.

Milcah,the Bible reader, goes on with her work having from 15 to 20 families aD her list to be visited, besides her work in the school, teaching the girls to sing and pray.

One cannot estimate the extent of the impressions made in this quiet work in these pagan homes. It is not to be measured by the number of cases that come forward for baptisDl or entrance into the Church. But it all enters into that preparing of the way of the Lord which must go before -the coming of the Son of man in power among this people. Within the past two years three women have desir ... ed openly to become Christians. Two of them are mothers and the heads of families. One of these women came to the helpers' house and remained till she was forcibly taken away by her friends. Paul did not feel called so much to baptize as to preach, so we may be much more concerned about a real change in the belief andf-eelings of these women than the matter of their baptism, which most certainly would break up their homes and make them outcastes.

During the months of fever which have brought de;lO solation to many homes in this village, the Bible-woman has assisted in distributing medicine- and we hope in saviag many lives.

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YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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