On the tenth day of December, 1895, the native pastor came to me at noon and said that a Mohammedan girl who had just been beaten by her master, as she had often been before, had run to his house and asked to be brought to the bungalow. This girl had been an orphan for several years, having come when a little child from Ceylon with her parents to the town of Dindigul, where they both died of cholera. She had relatives there, but she was allowed to wander about the streets, finding her food where she could, for there were too many other little mouths in the homes of her relatives to be filled with food to allow them to keep her. It happened that a man from Palani saw her wandering in the streets one day, and he took her with him to Palani to act as a servant in his family. Then began a life of greater hardship than her former one, for she had to work hard and was beaten besides; her clothing was very scant and very dirty, and her food barely sufficient to sustain her life. swer. One day the pastor's wife was teaching some Hindu women near where this girl lived, and one of the women asked her if orphans were received at the bungalow as they were in the time of the great famine. "Would the missionary. take such a girl as that one there?" pointing to Narnnee, the Mohammedan. They were told that she would be received. The women must have told the girl, for she asked the same question for herself later on and received the same anSo the next time she was beaten she ran to the pastor's house. I told the pastor that the girl might come, but that she had better come after dark. At about eight o'clock in the evening, while reading, the doors all being open, I heard a cough on the veranda. Hearing it a second time, I sent the ayah out to see who it was and to bring the person in. What a spectacle she was as she came in! She was thin from lack of food, dirty, her long hair standing out straight from all sides, filthy and tangled, and her expression one of fear and utter hopelessness. A few questions were asked her and then she was taken to the school where the children, just receiving their food, contributed enough for her. Afterward the girls took her in hand and gave her a good cleansing, but the tangles of years did not yield at once. The next morning her master came for her, but as he admitted that he had no legal claim on the girl, and as she refused to go, he had to leave without her. Two days after another Mohammedan came and demanded that I send her away, but he was informed that as long as the girl wished to stay she should stay, unless some legal claimant appeared. He said that he was a relative and demanded her on that ground. He was told to prove his claim, and the next day he came with a dozen men, all of whom testified that he was a relative. It was all false, yet I feared that in spite of my best efforts the girl would be taken away. They made an appeal to her, and asked, "Are we not your relatives?" She answered, "If you are my relatives, why am I forsaken thus?" To that they had nothing to say, and they went away. That evening I had a talk with her and showed her her danger and asked her if she could not return to Madura by herself, as she would be well cared for there. But she replied, "If you forsake me I shall drown myself in a well." The only thing to do after such a statement was to defend her to the last, whatever might come. But it proved that the going away of those two men was the end of any special need to defend her. On her baptism Narnnee took the name of Ruth, or rather it was given to her on account of its appropriateness. She was a long time in learning how to read and she seemed to have little mind to learn, but she settled down to it at last and now she is making rapid progress. She has been by no means sinless since she came here. She did not seem to know what sin was till Evangelist David came, and she learned then by the aid of the Holy Spirit. Her conduct is all that one could ask for now. It was a wonderful way in which the Lord saved her. THE SCHOOL AT PALANI (MOHAMMEDAN BOYS WITH TURBANS). PUBLIC LIBRARY MISSIONARY HERALD. VOL. XCIV. - FEBRUARY, 1898. — No. II. China. FOR several years our missions in China have been urging that a deputation be sent from the American Board to visit and report on the present work and Deputation to future needs of these missions. The value of such a deputation has been clearly recognized, and the Prudential Committee has more than once voted to comply with the request. Circumstances, however, have prevented the securing of such a deputation until now. At last, arrangements have been perfected and Secretary Smith and Col. C. A. Hopkins, of the Prudential Committee, will constitute the deputation. It was hoped that a third person could be secured to undertake the duty, but that now seems improbable. Secretary Smith will go by way of Vancouver, sailing from that port on January 31, and Colonel Hopkins will follow a little later, joining Dr. Smith at Foochow. It is a singular fact, and one not to be regarded complacently, that during all these sixty-eight years of extended labor in China no secretary and no other representative of the Board has visited that empire. The importance of such visits is understood by all intelligent friends of missions. The Presbyterian Board has just sent its secretary, Mr. Speer, around the world; the Methodist Board sends annually one of its bishops to visit its missions in foreign lands; Secretary Chester, of the Southern Presbyterian Board, has just returned from an inspection of its work abroad. The British missionary societies send frequent deputations into their several fields of labor. The workers abroad and their supporters at home cannot be in the best condition to attend to their several duties save as they are informed and stimulated by personal contact. The reiterated request of our missions in China for this deputation has been postponed quite too long, and it will be a great occasion for rejoicing with them that they are to receive this long delayed visit. There are no serious difficulties in any of our four missions in that empire calling for adjudication, but there is much to be learned and much stimulus to be given and received. We heartily commend this deputation to the prayers of our Christian people. CHEERING tidings reach us of a special work of grace in Harpoot, Eastern Turkey, especially in the College. Miss Daniels reports, under date of DecemRevival at ber 8, that they are having many blessed experiences, and the joys Harpoot. and hopes of the missionaries are abounding. A Christian gentleman from England, Mr. Millard, who came to aid in the relief work at Harpoot, is aiding greatly in the special services which have been held, and the hope is expressed that this quickening may extend to all parts of the thirsty land. THE action of the German government in the forcible occupation of a Chinese port and the seizing of Chinese territory is most deplorable in every way. The excuse for this high-handed act is most flimsy. Germany Germany in China. unquestionably had a right to demand some reparation for the act of the Chinese mob in taking the lives of two of its citizens, though it is a fact to be noted that these two men were Jesuit missionaries said to have been driven out of Germany. But, as Li Hung Chang has well said, outlawry exists. in other countries than China, and no government can entirely suppress such outbreaks. In this instance the Chinese government acted commendably, offering compensation for the families of the murdered missionaries to the extraordinary amount of 200,000 taels, the erection of a memorial church on the Grand Canal, the degradation of the governor of Shantung, beside other concessions. The demands of justice were more than met, and there was no reason whatever why Germany should seize a port for the protection of her citizens in China. That a nation like Germany, recognized by the Chinese as one of the Christian nations, and supposed to be under the power of the Christian religion, should act with such manifest injustice will serve to make our whole faith a byword and reproach. Christianity is wholly misrepresented in this action. The injustice of the act, and the hypocritical defence made of it, must inevitably prejudice the intelligent Chinese against the religious faith of the Western world. The utterances cf Li Hung Chang in relation to this matter are both dignified and pathetic. Recognizing that his people are emerging from an ancient and corrupt civilization, and are without strength to resist the assaults of other nations, he deplores the action of the Great Powers in seizing this opportunity to advance their own interests to the detriment of China. The attitude of this high-minded Chinese statesman is in striking contrast to the blatant folly of the German emperor. What a spectacle it is to the world that Prince Henry, as he took command of the war vessels about to sail for China, should say, in addressing his brother, the emperor," One thing is the aim that draws me on; it is to declare in foreign lands the gospel of your Majesty's hallowed person, to preach it to every one who will hear it, and also to those who will not hear it." China. THE report given by Dr. Bliss in a letter from Shao-wu, printed on another page, shows what a remarkable Christian movement there is in the interior disAdvance in trict of our Foochow Mission. The leaven has been working secretly. Communities wholly unknown heretofore have suddenly been found to have a company of inquirers sufficiently developed to build a chapel and steadfast enough to endure serious persecution. Appeals for help to reap this harvest of souls should be responded to, but they cannot be in the present state of the Board's treasury. Read the brief story and consider whether you have anything to do in the matter. Since the pages of this number of the Herald were filled, letters have arrived from Foochow city, which we are obliged to put over until our next issue, reporting the annual meeting of the native churches, with their pastors and the missionaries. The report given is most cheering, an extraordinary feature of the meetings being that many of them were held in a heathen temple, rented for the occasion, as no church was large enough to hold the numbers in attendance. Financial. THE estimated expenses of the American Board for 1897-1898 are $650,000. This will involve an average monthly expenditure of about $54,000. The regular donations from the churches and individuals for the month of December amounted to. $42,636.27 The legacies amounted to Total for December. 20,200.86 $62,837.13 This is a good showing for this month, but legacies are one third of the receipts. For four months of the fiscal year the regular donations have amounted to Total for four months $111,584.33 61,384.54 $172,968.87 Here the legacies are more than half of the total receipts, which are about $44,000 less than the amount needed for the expenses of this period. Aside from the above there was received for the debt in December $3,081.16, and within the four months $15,977.97. The receipts for special objects in December amounted to $2,602.36, and for the four months $7,950.78. These gifts, marked "special," are applied according to the will of the donors, and in no wise help in meeting the regular appropriations or pledges of the Board. As promised in our last number, a leaflet of eight pages has been sent to all pastors, giving brief programs for twelve missionary concerts for the current year. Missionary Concert Copies will freely be sent to all who apply for them at any of Programs. the offices of the Board. This list of topics has been heartily commended by several pastors and others who have examined it as not involving matters which are out of the range of average Christians in our churches, but can be treated with the material which they have, or easily can have, at hand. Would that there might be a great revival in our churches in reference to the observance of the Missionary Concert. Any energetic pastor, if he will exercise his wits and take the time, can make the Missionary Concert as attractive as any meeting that can be held. But it will take the time. Why should not the time be taken? Does not the progress of the kingdom of Christ on earth have as important a bearing upon the life of Christians as any sermon can have? It will be seen, by the statements given among our Notes from the Wide Field, that our brethren of the English Church Missionary Society are passing The Conflict in through deep waters in their mission in Uganda. This mission Uganda. has been prospered so wonderfully, and the converts have been so numerous and so hopeful, that this revolt on the part of the Soudanese troops comes as a great disappointment. It is gratifying to know that the defection has not been on the part of the converts or the native people, but among outsiders brought in as a military force to support the British authorities. It is interesting to find that the camp at which the loyal party of Buganda is pitched is close to the very spot where Bishop Hannington was martyred. While there has been much loss of life, it is a matter of thanksgiving that the missionaries, though compelled to take part in the conflict, have so far escaped injury. In the midst of their perils they are brave and hopeful. |